see him and also in restoring life to our dead bodies in the Resurrection It is God who giveth spiritual life and who giveeth the aboundings of spiritual life who first quickeneth the soul and who further quickeneth it and keepeth it up in its spiritual operations and it is God who quickneth the dead Rom. 4. 17. The words thus opened afford us two things as grounds of Davids satisfaction in that dark condition in which he was Though his state was but at present sad and uncomfortable though lately he neither had seen God nor heard from him only had seen and felt the srowns and thunderings of his providence against him yet he would be satisfied 1. If he found God inabling him in this his sad perplexed persecuted state to wait upon him and exercise grace in watching for him 2. In the assurance he had that though as yet he were unsatisfied and might possibly fall asleep so in death yet in the resurrection of the just he should awake from that sleep then he should have enough of God and be fully satisfied with his likeness I have only that one term more to open With thy likeness The Hebrew word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the imaginary form of a thing Job 14. 16. An Image was before mine eyes Sometimes the real form of a thing presented to the bodily eye Deut. 4. 16. You saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire that is God did not appear to you in any real sensible shape Sometimes it signifieth some real fignature of a thing presented not to the eye of the body but to the eye of the mind to the understanding So Numb 12. 8. The similitude of the Lord shall he behold That is I will make an impression of my divine Nature and Majesty upon him by which he shall be able in some measure to conceive of and to comprehend me We cannot see the divine Essence such glory is too great for mortal eyes we are not able to fix our eyes upon the Sun riding in the Firmament in its full triumph of light much less upon his Essence whose brightness is such that even the Sun in its fullest glory is darkness to him God told Moses he could not see his face and live but his similitude he should behold he would make upon his spirit an impression of his Majesty and Goodness But let us now inquire more strictly what this likeness of God in the text is The Septuagint interpret it The glory of God I shall be satisfied with thy glory that is a truth but whether the whole of the truth I doubt Some think the Ark of God is meant which the wife of Phinehas called the glory of Israel And that David in this his afflicted state comforted himself with this consideration that he one day should again see the Ark of God the power and the glory of God in his Sanctuary We read also that when he fled from Absolom and Abiathar brought the Ark after him he bid him carry it back again if the Lord had a pleasure in him he would bring him back and he should see it and his holy habitation But I think we shall find that glorious Symbol of Gods presence no where stiled Gods likeness Others think that by Gods likeness here David understands Christ who is indeed called the brightness of his Fathers glory the express Image of his person And that David here comforts himself as Job before him that he should see his Redeemer with those eyes Those who interpret the text as the words of Christ by Gods likeness here understand the glory of God wherewith Christ was glorified after his resurrection from the dead and ascension But I take all these senses to be too much forced upon the text There are three things which I think may be all comprehended under this term 1. There is a likeness of God in us Adam was at first created in Gods image or likeness Gen. 1. 26. And in our Regeneration the Gen. 1. 26. image of God is said to be renewed in us Col. 3. 10. And we are said to be created after Col. 3. 10. the image of God in righteousness and holiness Thus we are commanded to be holy as the Lord is holy This is now the image of God within us the impression of the spirit of Grace upon our hearts by which we are made partakers of the Divine Nature I take this to be much the sense of the place Lord if thou shalt inable me in my dark hours to study and to perfect holiness I shall be satisfied though I want comfort yet I shall be much satisfied â—f I be but inabled to watch for a further degree in holiness 2. Secondly We may take likeness for Gods manifestations of himself to us by his spirit of consolation In this life we do not see God as he is but he sometimes makes gracious manifestations of his love unto his people in the sensible consolations of his Spirit reflecting divine Love upon the souls of the Saints and sealing them up to the day of Redemption Now saith the Psalmist though I do not see the Lord in this likeness of his though I want the assurances of his love and comfortable manifestations of his gracious Spirit yet Lord it shall stay me if I find thy grace inabling me but to wait for these manifestations 3. Lastly Gods likeness may be taken for the glorious manifestation of himself to his Saints in another life and this I take to come fullest up to Davids meaning O Lord though while I live here I walk in the dark and see no light while I am beholding thy face in righteousness and watching for thee though I may go down to the grave and sleep my sleep in the dust not fully satisfied not seeing what of God I would do yet this I know that in the resurrection I shall awake and then I shall be made amends for all which my soul hath suffered in its dark and sad hours under the ecclipses of divine light I shall then be filled with God I shall see him as he is face to face and my vile body shall be made like to my Redeemers glorious body Thus I have largely opened the words take the substance of them shortly David was at this time in a sad condition both 1. In respect of the persecution against him from without And 2. The divine desertion which at this time clouded his inward man 3. And the temptations which attended him in these straits In this verse he takes up his resolution what he would do and also shews us what stayed his heart and gave him something of satisfaction in his perplexity That which he resolveth to do is to labour for the Righteousness of Christ in which to behold the face of God to live an holy life and conversation and to manage his cause against his enemies in a just and
Carter late Minister of St. Peters Mancraft in Norwich of whom she was a constant Hearer Her pious Soul having thus been kindled with an holy fire quickly flamed in a Gospel conversation her light shining out so before others that they saw her good works and glorified her Father which was in Heaven And I doubt not but many in the view of them glorified God in the day of their Visitation I know not whether in the memory of any the City of Norwich was blessed with any person of her quality who in any proportion to her incouraged the wayes of God with her Purse and recommended them by her unparallel'd example Let us take the due proportion of a Christian single-woman from the great Apostle of the Gentiles and compare her with his Rule He speaking 1 Cor. 7. 34. of married and unmarried Christian women saith The unmarried 1 Cor. 7. 34. woman careth for the things of the Lord that she may be holy both in body and spirit but she that is married careth for the things of the world that she may please her husband And the same Apostle giving us the description of a Widow indeed deciphereth her thus 1. Negatively she is one that liveth not in pleasures for saith he The woman that liveth in pleasure is 1 Tim. 5. 5. dead while she lives 2. Positively he describes her thus She trusteth in God and continues in 9. supplications night and day and directing what Widow he would have dignified in the Church he saith If she hath been the Wife of one husband by which I conceive he understands Chastity if she be well reported of for good works if she have brought up children and lodged strangers if she have washed the Saints feet if she hath relieved the afflicted and diligently followed every good work We shall find this excellent Lady Saint Pauls qualified Widow 1. Negatively She was none of those who lived in pleasure while she lived Very far from spending her precious time in sleep or banquets at Balls or profane Playes or insignificant Visits or that spend their Estates in soft and gay Garments or indulging their Palats besides what time she necessarily spent in the services of her body she spent all her hours either in the more publick or private exercises of Religion or in such Visits where she might either do or receive good if she made any other they were her burthen rather than pleasure to repay the civilities of others never being patient of being out-done in Civilities She seldom spent half an hour either in a Dinner or Supper and both ate and drank in so small proportions that not denying allowances for particular constitutions she was a perfect demonstration how little Nature would be content with she was so far from taking pleasure in costly raiment that for some years after the loss of her dear husband she could not be perswaded to wear a silk Gown and professed to do it that she might have abundantly to relieve poor Christians in want and when at any time she saw an object of charity requiring a greater proportion than suited her present stock of money she would yet do it telling me it was but wearing a Gown two or three moneths longer For Musick Dancings Gaming 's her serious mortified Soul was grown a perfect stranger to them Untill some few years before her death when infirmities increasing upon her suffered her not to do as formerly This was the constant course of her life She seldom was in her bed after Four of the Clock in the morning towards her latter end her health inforced her to abide in it longer yet to the last Seven was her utmost hour from the time she rose till Seven of the Clock she spent her time in the private Devotions and retirements of her Closet then she came out to the more publick duties of the family which she never missed and seldom but was first in the room in Prayer Reading the Scriptures Expounding one or more of these Exercises as opportunity served and some discourses afterward she then usually spent more than an hour the rest of her time till Noon was spent in her Chamber in dressing or in her Closet reading looking over Accounts c. Sometimes for half an hour she walked Then she came out again to Prayer in her Family in which and in Dinner and following Discourses she usually spent two hours and sometimes exercised her self for half an hour afterward Her afternoon was spent in reading or making Visits chiefly to such Christians as she had an Interest in or sometimes in spinning or sowing with her Maids About Six she again came to her Family-duties in which at Supper and discourses after it she ordinarily spent three hours and then withdrew to her Closet for many years together there she abode reading and praying till Twelve or One of the Clock till at last with no ordinary difficulty she was perswaded by her learned Physitian to abate an hour or two of that excess for her health sake Thus she lived a most mortified life to all the contents of this World excepting only what arose from Communion with God and his people using as great severity to her self as those who judge such Castigations of their body the price of Heaven 2. The Positive part of St. Pauls description in the first place respects Religion so he describeth her to be one 1. Trusting in God 2. Continuing in supplications night and day 3. Caring for the things of the Lord that she might be holy in body and minde and spirit The first is an internal the second a more external Act of Religion Trusting in God as it speaketh our secret affiance in and adherence to the promises for this life or that to come is so secret an act of the soul that oft-times the Soul that doth it cannot discern the truth of its own act much less can another discern it otherwise than from the effects Some of those effects which will come nearest the certain discovery of this habit are an unfained love to the Word and Ordinances of God Freedom from distracting eares for to morrow Love to God Fear of offending him Hope in his mercy c. How much this admirable Lady valued the Word and Ordinances of God was conspicuous to all that knew her most to us who had the advantage of more intimate communion with her Besides that she was rarely to be found alone without her Bible before her she had drawn up for her self a method for reading the Scripture to which she was very strict so as every year she read over the Psalms Twelve times the New Testament thrice and the other part of the Old Testament once Besides this that she might want no satisfaction to any doubt arising upon her reading the Scripture she had furnished her self with a large Library of English Divines which cost her not much less than 100 l. of which she made a daily use She was while in health
gave another a kiss what was he angry for the Ring for use in the world was more worth than a kiss What use could be made of that Oh! but the kiss spake an eminent degree of the Princes love and so imprinted a greater excellency upon him that had it When the Lord giveth unto any strength beauty riches honour they are but as so many Rings But where he gives his fear there he gives the kiss and this speaketh a greater excellency in the fear of the Lord and in the person blessed with it than in any other thing or person the soul that hath this hath indeed ascended above them all in the favour of God that soul hath ascended above them all As you see the strength of this demonstration dependeth upon these two postulata 1. That the person in favour with God iâ— upon that account more excellent than any other person that is not so And this is no hard thing to be granted by those who judge that the favour of an earthly Prince who is but a mortal man doâ—h give an excellency to the person blessed with it 2. That the greater degree of favour any soul hath with God the greater is his excellency which easily followeth if the former be granted This is the first thing But secondly Let us consider the particular subject which the fear of the Lord blesseth Or if you will the special channel in which it runneth or indeed the capacity in which it blesseth the soul Take the most of the aforementioned gifts they only innance the price and value of the outward man Beauty is subjected in the surface of the body strength in the nerves and bodily parts riches honour favour great friends and relations they are indeed the gifts of God and of great use and advantage but the advantage of them is from their usefulness to the well-being of the outward man and the accommodation of a man in this life Some indeed of the things aforementioned innoble the inward man that doth knowledge prudence moral vertue Some distinguish betwixt the body the mind and the Spirit The Apostle seemeth to allow that distinction 1 Thes 5. 23. If it be allowable 1 Thes 5. 23. none of the things aforesaid the fear of the Lord only excepted reach further than the mind that is the soul of a man considered as a a rational substance Look upon the soul as a noble immortal beeing under an ordination to an eternal existence in happiness or misery and these things signifie little to it A noble person may go to Hell A rich and honourable man a knowing prudent man a comely beautiful person may have their portion in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone Yea and the Apostle saith not many of them will go to Heaven Not many noble not many wise c. But now the most noble inward part of man and that not considered only as a rational substance but in its most excellent capacity ordained to eternity is the subject wherein this excellent quality resides That which it blesseth The price of the body is raised by strength beauty a good and healthy constitution The price of the mind is raised by knowledge wit judgement memory and by moral vertues But the value of the soul considered as a spiritual beeing that is immortal and under ordination to eternity is raised by grace by the fear of the Lord and indeed by that only This is that which marketh out a soul for Heaven while another is left in the road to everlasting burnings The seat of this noble quality is not the surface of the outward man which is the throne of that pitiful thing which the world so much doteth on which we call beauty nor yet the bones sinews nerves of a man which are the seat of strength nor the head of a man which is the seat of knowledge and prudence nor the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rational part of a man which is the seat of moral vertue where it sitteth as a Queen and giveth Laws to brutish passions and all motious of the sensitive appetite But it is the immortal soul considered as a spiritual substance and destinated to immortality and life and an eternal existence Now this soul and thus considered is the better part of man man considered in his most excellent capacity and whatsoever blesseth adorneth and advantageth the soul considered in this notion and under this capacity must needs be more excellent than what only commendeth the body which is but the outside of a rational creature or the mind which a Pagan may have in as good a condition as a Christian As that house is the more noble and excellent house which hath the best inside and where the rooms are best furnished not that which hath nothing but a lofty gay front So doubtless in the judgement of reason that man or woman whose soul is ennobled with the most excellent qualities is far more valuable than he or she who have nothing to commend them but a well proportioned body or an hansom face Pro. 11. 22. Pro. 11. 22. As a Jewel of gold in a Swines snout so is a woman of beauty we may add pari ratione a woman of strength wit parts c. without discretion without the fear of the Lord. The woman fearing the Lord is The Kings Daughter all glorious within She is excellent in the most excellent part and in the most excellent capacity Others may have an excellent outside she hath a most excellent inside Others may be painted Sepulchres she hath a most excellent soul They have excellent limbs and features in their faces she hath the most excellent qualities in her nobler and more inward part They are it may be well accommodated for this life she is best prepared for eternity therefore she must needs ascend or be lifted up above them all It is an usual saying amongst Philosophers Animus cujusque est quisque The mind of the man is the man It is much more true of the soul considered in the capacity I mentioned The bodies indeed of the Saints are called The Temples of the Holy Ghost but it is by reason of the redeemed souls which inform them The Holy Ghost dwelleth in the whole person of the believer as his Temple The body is but as the Outward Court into which common excellency comes such as strength beauty c. The mind of man is as the Inner Court into which come a better sort of divine gifts this is ennobled with knowledge prudence c. and other habits of intellectual and moral vertues But the soul considered in the capacity before expressed as a spiritual immortal substance is that part of man into which the Holy Ghost entreth and which is as it were his throne Here the fear of the Lord resideth and maketh it truly excellent I shall now conclude my second demonstration That is the most excellent quality which ennobleth the most excellent part and that in the
conclude that happiness even on this side of Heaven must lie in the enjoyment of this God having an interest and portion in him nor can any assent to principles of reason above Atheism but his reason will inforce his subscription to this for if he believes there is a God he must acknowledge him supremely good and his reason will tell him happiness must needs lie in an union with the highest good The Heathen Philosophers indeed having not the light of divine revelation according to their various humours not knowing of any possibility of enjoying God judged pleasures riches honours knowledge vertue to be the greatest good and consequently mans happiness to lie in the fruition of them But we though our common share in reason with them enforceth us to agree with them in that main principle That mans chiefest happiness must necessary lie in his union to and fruition of the greatest good Yet being further enlightened cannot agree with their notion of that good for although they had their dark notions of a divine beeing yet the possibility of a creatures union with God through Christ Gods in-dwelling in the soul the having of God for their God reconciled in Christ were things which Aristotle and Plate never dreamt of But we having by the light of the divine Spirit made these discoveries even their reasonable principle enforceth us to conclude That the highest enjoyments and happiness of man even in this life must needs be his union with and enjoyment of God His being made partaker of the Divine Nature and transformation into the Divine Image So that all those other things do not reach so much as this end the happy beeing of a man in this life for we all know it is possible that men and women may have strength beauty knowledge prudence wit great relations riches honours c. and yet enjoy nothing of God but be at infinite distance from him whom we acknowledge the supreme and chiefest good But now this excellent habit The fear of the Lord doth both evidence our present union with God and his special favour to us and also it worketh us up to further degrees of union and communion with him But further yet we who are Christians are taught to look beyond this life to consider our selves as creatures under an ordination to a certain Eternity either in happiness or misery We know that our souls are immortal substances and will not as the sensitive souls of beasts when they die evaporate into air Hence we are concerned to consider wherein the happiness of a soul in its state of separation lyes and believing the Scriptures we cannot but believe that even these immortal bodies shall in the Resurrection put upon immortality these corruptibles incorruption and so are concerned further to inquire wherein the happiness of the soul and body lies in its state of reunion Here again we cannot but with the Philosophers agree that it must needs lie in an union with and an enjoyment of the best and chiefest good which the holy Scripture calleth A seeing of God as he is knowing him as we are known being ever with the Lord In one word Eternal life This now our reason naturally working upon Scripture hypotheses inforceth us to believe and that this is the noblest and highest end of man as to priviledge to which it is but reasonable that he who knoweth it should direct all his actions Now let us consider all those other pretty things and see what they signifie with relation to this end The strong man the beautiful woman the knowing the prudent and politick person may all of them go to Hell the morally vertuous person may be for ever excluded the Kingdom of God that righteousness exceedeth not the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees The Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 26. speaking of those whom God hath chosen saith Not many noble not many wise after the flesh not many mighty but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise The poor of this world hath God chosen saith St. James Could you look into the black dungeon of infernal spirits where miserable souls are reserved in chains unto the further judgement of the great and terrible day you would see there many a Goliah whose strength could not rescue him from the potent arm of divine Justice Many a Thais whose beauty instead of commending her to those eyes which see not as man sees rather betrayed her into that miserable pit Many a Prince and Emperour who knew not God nor obeyed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Many a cunning Achitophel whom God took in his craftiness Many an ingenuous Atheist many a rich Dives but amongst them all you would not find one single man or woman that in this life feared the Lord. No Prov. 3. 18. Wisdom is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her All those other notes of distinction make some difference betwixt one creature and another as to this life but as to the noblest and highest end of man the blessed and happy enjoyment of God to all eternity nothing but grace nothing but the fear of the Lord makes any difference at all without this all persons noble and base rich and poor beautiful or deformed knowing or ignorant witty or heavy prudent or foolish vertuous or vitious will go to the same place of torments This therefore must be the most excellent habit and the person possessed with it the most excellent person because leading to and prepared for the most noble and excellent end Again the fear of the Lord will appear to be the most excellent thing and the person possessed of it to be the most excellent person if we consider those noble actions to which the soul is by this principled Humane actions are ordinarily divided unto such as are natural such as eating drinking c. moral and civil or political such are the works of our callings giving to every one their due living soberly and temperately c. and such as are Religious which are our actions of homage to God of these now the second are more noble than the first and the last the noblest of all Again as to our religious actions they are either more imperfectly or more perfectly such I call those more imperfectly such which indeed are so as to the matter of the act but not as to the manner or form of the performance so prayer hearing the Word of God c. But these are not so in a perfect and true notion unless performed from a due principle in a due manner and to that due end which God hath commanded Now those are our most noble and perfect actions which are religious in the most proper and perfect sense and to those this excellent quality The fear of the Lord principleth the soul Others do but dispose and fit the body or mind for natural or moral actions strength bodily activity do no more no more do knowledge prudence or the habits
glass and espying a little better air of her countenance a better mixture of colours in her cheeks than in other womens thinks this is warrant enough for her to admire her self stretch out her neck and mince it with her feet all the day after Or if the view of her face doth not in all points please her she thinketh it worth the while to spend both her money and her precious time to mend it with patchings and paintings with trickings and trimmings of her self And doth not the vain gallant think Beauty something who is so bewitched with it that forgetting the noble soul of which he is possessed ordained to higher imployments and the reason which he inheriteth which should guide him to a better purpose thinks his money and his time well spent while both are miserably expended to evidence his dotage upon this painted Sepulchre which it may be within is nothing but darkness filth and rottenness In the mean time let us look wistly upon this thing which we call Beauty is it any more than a perfection of bâ—dily parts plâ—ced in a due proportion each to other and with a due and proportioned mixture of such colours as are proper to flesh and blood As to the former what is there in it more than is to be found in many an Horse or Dog it may be an higher degree As to the latter what is there more than in a Rose or a Lilly Nay what so much as in many a flower of the field or in many a picture As to many of these it may be said as our Saviour said of Solomon compared with the Lilly The most beautiful woman is not for colour like one of them Oh what a lye is beauty then that which in outward appearance is such that a vain woman will sacrifice her soul life estate time to obtain preserve or maintain it that which a vain man will spend all that he is worth in a base service and homage to it when in reality it is no further perfection than may be found in a Dog an Horse or other brute creature yea in a vegetable creature in a pittiful flower or plant above what can be found in any of the Sons and Daughters of men For Favour or Honour it is a thing that carrieth a great shew in the world what high thoughts of themselves doth it raise in them that are â—â—gnified with it what a supercilious eye do those that have it but in a superiour degree cast upon those but a step beneath them How much doth it make vain man admired served complemented in the world But in reality what is this gay thing The world is yet at a loss where to find its residence whether in honorante or in honorato in the person that giveth or that receiveth it Certain it is that it is a meer air and in reality just nothing that which is often gained by fordid persons which neither betters the man as to his body mind nor soul only serveth him as to a comfortable subsistence in this life and gains him the wall a cap and a knee and a title Take Riches another thing which in vulgar opinion carries with it a great notion of excellency and imprinteth upon man a considerable difference from his neighbour They make a fair shew and have a great appearance hence whoso hath them swells in the opinion of himself and all he world does him homage But what is silver and gold in reality What is gold more than yellow sand and silver more than white earth considered in it self without the relative value which men put upon it Indeed more by far is to be said for the inward habits of the mind Knowledge Prudence Sobriety and the rest of the moral vertues but neither are they without their vanity as I shall shew you anon I shall add no more to this first thing demonstrating the vanity and emptiness of such other things as inhance the price of one man above another They are a great deal more in appearance than they are in reality 2. The second thing which I instanced in was this They are such as never fill or satisfie the mind of the person possessed of them like dreams of feasts notwithstanding which we are hungry lyes in our right hand like wind in the body which often filleth the stomach and spoileth the appetite to its proper food but never nourisheth the body nor satisfieth the hunger I shall shew 1. That they will not satisfie the wants of the soul 2. That they less satisfie the souls expectation 1. I say first They will not satisfie the souls wants The true wants of the reasonable soul are and can be satisfied with nothing but divine influences It is a noble spirit and none but the Father of spirits can fill its emptiness The soul while it sleeps in the Lethargy of sin while it sojourneth in its estate of estrangement from God like the Prodigal it feedeth Swine and filleth its belly with the husks but after it hath once fixed its resolution to return to its Fathers house nothing less than God can fill it it cries out as once Rachel for children Lord give me Christ or else I die It is plainly impossible that any thing but the favour of God and the sense of that favour or at least good hopes of it through grace should ever satisfie that soul that is once awakened to consider its self as in its natural constitution a spiritual immortal being ordained to an Eternity and as it is in its depraved estate by nature a child of wrath I say again the soul thus reflecting upon it self can be satisfied with nothing less than the sense or firm hopes of Gods favour making over the Righteousness of Christ unto it and accepting it as righteous in and through Christ and whatsoever soul is satisfied without this is either ignorant of its own state and capacity or exceeding vain and careless not regarding its highest concerns As Abraham when God bid him ask what he would and he would give it him replied What canst thou give me whiles I go childless So the awakened soul saith What can God give me whiles I go childless Beauty is a pretty thing but what is it to Eternity Riches are useful things but they will not ransom my soul from the pit of Hell Honour will serve me to take a place or the wall in this world but it will not give me a place at Gods right hand Pleasure is a sweet thing oh but endless torments will be a dreadful issue of it Great Friends and Relations are great blessings but it is Christ alone can stand my friend in the Court of Heaven to speak for me that I may not be sent unto eternal burnings 2. And as nothing but divine influences will satisfie the souls wants so nothing else will satisfie the souls expectation The wise man who had as great experience as any mortal man ever had cries out The eye is not satisfied
King 21. 19 20 21. to tell him in short that God would ruine him and his family and all that belonged to him v. 27. Ahab hears those words he rends his cloths puts sackcloth upon his flesh fasteth lyeth in sackcloth and goes softly Here 's the best of a carnal man if his dread of God in his Judgements worketh thus far and to a temporary abstaining from some gross sins it is all you read not a word of Ahabs tending to inquire of the Lord not a word of any cordial humiliation or resolved reformation 2 King 22. 11. Josiah findeth the Book of the Law and heareth there of the wrath of God he rends his cloths so did Ahab but he resteth not here v. 13. He tends to inquire of the Lord for him and for the people and for all Judah c. was this all No chap. 23. He sets upon a real and effectual reformation with all his might Thus you see how the dread and awe of God upon the heart of a child of God doth not drive him from God but unto him it doth not stupifie but quicken him it doth not put him upon a formal temporary particular reformation but upon a fixed real general reformation Pharaohs fear flartled him and put him upon sending to Moses to pray for him and put him upon some good thoughts and resolutions at present but yet Pharaoh notwithstanding this was one who feared not the Lord. But thus much may serve to have spoken to this branch of Application I come now to the last branch I will shut up this discourse with a few words of Exhortation I will reduce all to three particulars 1. To such as have not this fear of God in Exhort their hearts to perswade them to labour for it 2. To such as have this fear of God to perswade them 1. To labour to grow in this habit and exercise 2. To live like excellent persons and to shew they have this excellent blessing 3. Lastly To the men of the world in general to perswade them 1. To an undervaluing of all other excellencies 2. To a true value of this excellent thing and these excellent persons 3. To give them of the fruit of their hands and to suffer their works to praise them in the gates In the first place let me press a word of 1 Branch Exhortation upon such as yet fear not Goâ— to perswade them to it It is a frequent precept in holy Writ Levit. 19. 14. Fear thy God I am the Lord ch 25. v. 17. 43. Eccles 5. 7. Matth. 10. 28. 1 Pet. 2. 17. Rev. 14. 7. Eccles 12. 13. God calls to you Fear God Solomon calls to you Fear God Our Saviour calls to you Fear him that can cast both body and soul into Hell fire The Angels in Heaven call to you Fear God All the Prophets and Apostles call to you unâvoce and this is that which they say Fear God The meaning of this you have heard Not only dread the great and living God in the secrets of your hearts but let all your conversation savour of this fear so comport your selves in your whole carriage both towards God and towards your neighbours as you may evidence to the world not only that you have a natural sense of that infinite distance which is between your Creatour and you and the power that he hath over you but that you may shew that you have this gracious habit of fear wrought in you and that you fear God in the Scripture phrase You see this is a great picce of the will of God concerning you pressed upon you again and again in holy Writ Give me leave to inlarge a little in pressing it upon you I shall first give you some Arguments Secondly I shall offer you some directions in the case from the text And what I have said furnisheth me with two great Arguments 1. This is Wisdom This is Grace Job 28. 28. â—â—e fear of the Lord that is wisdom Prov. 1. 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge That man who hath nothing of the fear of God in him hath nothing of God nothing of the Grace of God in him On the other side that person who hath in him the fear of God hath all that is an holy that is a gracious man There can be no more said of any than that he or she are persons not fearing God Nor can there be better said of any that he or she is a person fearing God 2. Secondly You have heard a person fearing God is the most excellent person in the world Favour is deceitful Beauty is vain but a woman fearing the Lord she shall be praised Others may call themselves excellent and the men of the world may call the proud happy but the truly happy the truly excellent person is one fearing God I might add a third 3. This is the only person who deserveth to be praised and whose works will truly praise him Let others be commended and admired for beauty for riches and honour and another for learning as the end of all is to fear God and keep his Commandments So that person that truly answereth this end and doth fear God and keep his Commandments will upon the best evidence which is that of Scripture and reason appear to be the person that is most worthy of praise and commendation Now if I could say no more than this to engage any to this study yet in other things this would be enough Every one naturally desireth the things that are excellent and is naturally covetous of honour and praise Would you have that which is in it self most excellent that which will make you above all others excellent that which most truly deserveth praise and will make you the truest objects of praise Oh get this fear of the Lord Give me leave to add another Argument or two 4. In the fourth place Consider the many Promises made in Scripture to the fear of the Lord Prov. 10. 27. The fear of the Lord prolongeth daies Prov. 14. 26 27. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and his children shall have a place of refuge The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death Prov. 15. 16. Little with the fear of the Lord is great gain v. 33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom Prov. 19. 23. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life ch 22. 4. By the fear of the Lord are riches Psal 112. Psal 128. are full of Promises to the man that feareth God The things promised in these and those many other Promises annexed to the fear of the Lord are such as every one defireth Who would not have long life riches and honour Either you believe the Scriptures or you do not believe them if you believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God you must assent to whatsoever Propositions are revealed in them as Propofitions of eternal and
There is a bundle of Principles some of which have grown too fast too in these evil times which are calculated for the very Meridian of Atheism and devised as if it had been on purpose to banish all dread of God out of mens hearts That things are not ordered by Providence but come in a meer series and succession of necessary natural causes That there are no spirits no such things as indications of divine wrath That there is no Judgement to be made from Providences If we should see the Earth open and swallow up Corah Dathan and Abiram yet there is nothing to be concluded but these may be as honest men as those that do not go down quick into the pit These and such like Principles are Doctrines devised on purpose to make men faces of Brass that they might not blush and necks of Iron that they might not bow at any divine rebukes but might out-face God to the utmost until he tear them in pieces and there be none to deliver 2. Secondly Take heed of customary sinning against God Frequency in sin taketh away the sense of it and a custom of daring God makes men to forget all kind of fear and dread of the Divine Majesty Sin naturally hardens the heart and takes away all natural modesty 4. Fourthly Nothing so contributes to fear as faith Both faith of assent and faith of adherence Faith of assent is that habit by which we give assent to the Proposition of the word Faith of Reliance is a gracious habit by which we rest upon the person of the Mediatour Either of these hath an influence upon us to beget this fear and dread of God in our souls The one as it perswades us of the truth of what the Scripture reveals concerning the Glory and Majesty of God concerning his Purity and Holiness concerning his Justice and Severity all which represent God unto us as the true and proper object of our fear The other as it uniteth us to Christ and endeareth him to our soâ—ls and so layeth us under a sacred awe of sinning against him as we naturally fear to offend any person whom we dearly and intirely love and honour It is true the Apostle saith Rom. 8. We have not received the spirit for bondage again to fear And again Perfect love casteth out fear But those texts must be understood not of a filial reverential fear but of a slavish servile fear our daily experience teacheth us that the more intirely we love any person the more we fear to offend and grieve them and to do any thing which we think they will take ill at our hands Faith therefore as it is the root of hope and love so it is the kindest root of filial and ingenuous fear 5. Lastly Beg this Grace of God It is a plant of our heavenly Fathers it is a part of Gods Covenant I will put my fear into their heart that they shall never depart from me O beg of God that he would bestow his fear upon you The fear of God is prima gratia saith Bernard torius Religionis exordium radix est custos omnium bonorum i. e. The fear of the Lord is the first grace the very beginning of all Religion the root and the keeper of all good things therefore pray that above all things God would bestow this grace upon your souls But I shall add no more to the first branch of the Exhortation Let me in the next place speak to you in whom God hath created this fear of his great and glorious Name Two things this Doctrine calleth to you for 1. To grow in this excellent habit 2. To live like excellent persons 1. Labour to grow in this excellent habit There is a fear of God in which the more perfect a Christian is the more he decreaseth in it This is that servile and slavish fear which I mentioned dreading God as a Judge an Enemy one that can cast both body and soul into Hell fire The more a soul grows up into communion with God and into an assurance of union with him the more this fear dieth and weareth out of his soul It is a dread of God which attendeth the spirit of bondage and much possesseth the soul in the moment of its conversion and wears off as the soul comes to receive the spirit of Adoption touching it to cry Abba Father and groweth moâ—â— perfect in Love But there is another fear which as the soul groweth more perfect in love and in the exercise of grace the more this groweth up and increaseth in the soul this is that fearing of the Lord and his goodness of which the Scripture speaks Such a fear as the tender wife fears her husband with and the dutiful child its Parent who he knows intâ—rely loves him he feareth not his Fathers rod but he fears his frown he fears the change of his countenance towards him This is that habit of fear in which I would have you to grow 2. And as in this habit so in the performance of all acts and exercises by which you may testifiethis your reverencing of the great God of Heaven and Earth The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom saith Solomon it is both the beginning and the perfection of it The fear of the Lord is a grace necessary at all times especially in evil times Cyril saith that the soul that is full of the fear of the Lord velut nâ—uro obsepta fortis est is strong as a City guarded with a wall and in a manner invincible 2. This Doctrine calleth to you to live like excellent persons I hinted the reason of this before every one should live ratably to his honour and dignity Persons fearing God are the most excellent persons they should therefore live like the excellent of the Earth distinguishing themselves from others by their lives as God hath distinguished them by his favour But I have hinted this before and therefore shall not here inlarge upon that discourse I have but one word more to add That is to the men of the world in general To them I shall speak from the advantage of what you have heard for three things 1. To undervalue other excellencies in comparison with this Learn to speak after Solomon Favour is deceitful Beauty is vain Riches commend not a soul to God they profit not in the day of wrath Why should you set your eyes upon things that are not and admire things that have nothing of worth in them proportioned to your affection to them admiration of them pursuit after them Knowledge is a fine thing by it a man differs from a beast Wisdom and Moral Vertues are excellent things by these things men out-shine men and excel each other as light excelleth darkness But what are all these to the fear of the Lord O then let these things ride but in the second Chariot let the fear of God in the throne of your estimation be greater than they are Remember nothing so much
We translate it when I shall awake there 's no material difference I will begin with the first which is something different from our English I shall be satisfied in watching or while I watch for thy likeness Thus this very word is translated Ezek. 7. 6. An end is come it watcheth for thee I confess I am loth to exclude this sense of the words I' shall be satisfied in watching for thy likeness Watching is but an empty hungry action and gives the soul no satisfaction but here 's the difference betwixt watching for the world and watching for God As to worldly things Hope deferred makes the heart sick as to God it is not so A watching and waiting for God brings a proportionable satisfaction It ought in a great measure to satisfie a gracious soul in his hours of darkness if he doth but find God inabling him to watch for his likeness 2. But the word is otherwise translated and properly enough in waking or when I shall awake or be made to awake Thus the word is often translated in Scripture Psal 3. 6. and in many other texts Psal 3. 6. 1. Some apply this to God as if it should be when thou awakest Indeed the Hebrew is no more than in awaking or in being made to awake When thy faithfulness shall awake V. Vicars ad locum say they I shall be satisfied with thy likeness Indeed when God seemeth to us not to take care and regard his people he is said to sleep by a figure for he neither slumbereth nor sleepeth and the holy Psalmist calleth to him as to one asleep Awake why Psa 44. 23. sleepest thou O Lord God is said to sleep when according to humane sense and apprehension he carrieth himself toward his people like a man that is asleep and in a conformity of phrase when he turns his hand and appears for his people then he is said to awake and when God thus awakes his people use to be satisfied with his appearances for them But though there be a truth in this yet I do not think it the sense of the text 2. Others as I noted before making the words to be the words of Christ understand them of his Resurrection Our Saviour knew that when he by death had satisfied Divine Justice by the accursed death and born the brunt of his Fathers wrath he should awake the third day by a glorious Resurrection and having conquered death and satisfied justice he should again behold his Fathers face clear from all clouds and frowns ascending up on high and sitting on the right hand of God This is Hierom's notion of the text but doubtless the text is not to be so restrained 3. I agree therefore with those who make these words the words of holy David promising himself satisfaction with the image or likeness of God when he should awake 1. By his awaking I find some understanding his recovery and deliverance from that afflicted state in which at present he was Indeed the time of affliction is a time of night and often in Scripture is expressed under the notion of darkness which gives advantage to this interpretation which both Calvin and Mollerus favour thinking it by others applied to the Resurrection argutè magis quà m propriè more subtilly than properly According to them the sense is this At present it is night with me and I am as it were asleep and in a bed of trial and affliction but I know that this shall not be to me a dead sleep Though I am fallen yet I shall rise again though I be asleep I shall awake again and when Gods time cometh I shall be satisfied with the manifestations of his love and the evidences of his favour to me But with all due respect to those Interpreters whom this sense pleaseth I rather incline to those who interpret this awaking of the Resurrection To make it clear 1. It is plain it is a figurative expression Waking you know hath a reserence to sleeping Now sleep in Scripture is taken literally so it signifieth the locking or binding up of the exteriour senses and waking is the freeing of the senses in which sense it cannot be taken here though I meet with some who think that David here speaketh as a Prophet expecting the visions of the morning 2. Or else it is taken figuratively so it is very often used to express death Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Joh. 11. 11. The Maid saith our Saviour is not dead but sleepeth And when Stephen died it is said he fell asleep I find this very word used to express an awaking from the sleep of death 2 King 4. 31. The child is not awaked meaning that it was dead Isa 26. 19. Awake and sing you that dwell in the dust But further yet the awaking here spoken of relates to David Now hearken what the Scripture saith of Davids sleeping Acts 13. 36. After that he had Act. 13. 36. according to the will of God served he fell V. Piscal Ames Engl. Annot. Diodate Ainsworth ad loc asleep What 's the meaning of that is it not that he died Now what is the awaking related to this sleep but the Resurrection and in this sense I find many eminent Expositors agreed The Learned de Muiâ— hath another interpretation in which I find none going along with him When I awake that is saith he when I shall dye while the soul is in the body it sleeps when it leaves the body it awakes Quum expergefactia fuerit anima mea De Muis ad locum de corpore in quo velut sepulta jacet evolaverit anima mea ad imaginem tuam creata To justifie this his notion he quoteth Jer. 51. 30. where the souls of the wicked are said to sleep a perpetual sleep In opposition to this he saith the souls of the Saints when they die are said to awake Indeed if we conâ—â—der sleep as it is the binding up of the exteriour senses and an hinderance to them in their operations and then reflect upon the soul while tied to the body how much it is hindered in the freedom of its communion with God There is some analogy betwixt the case of a soul in a state of conjunction with the body and sleep And it is true that in death the soul is restored to a greater freedom for communion with God But I do not think this the sense nor is this the usage of the metaphor I think to be justified by parallel Scriptures One thing I must further observe as to the form of the Hebrew word Grammarians observe that the conjugation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hiphil in which the word is found adds facio to the original signisication of a verb which if it hath place here it properly sigfies in being made to watch or being made to awake denoting to us the necessity of a divine influence both to uphold our souls in watching and waiting for God when we do not
in Eccles 7. 2. Death is the end of all Eccles 7. 2. and the living shall lay it to heart The wise man dieth as the fool Eccles 2. 16. This ceasing of godly men and failing of the faithful put David to his Help Lord Psal 12. 1. and made the Prophet of old complain that no man would considâ—r it The Apostle asserts it and also gives the reason of it Rom. 8. 10. And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin I take the words to have an Analogy in them and the sense to be The body shall die because of sin But although the great curse so far falls upon the best of men who are made alive by the second Adam although the decree of Heaven touching them as well as others and their house of clay be such as must be dissolved as well as others and they must undergo the common fate of flesh and blood and having been wearied with the labours of this life it is but reasonable they should a while rest in their beds in the grave yet they shall not be like those mentioned by the Prophet who shall sleep a perpetual sleep Though they Jer. 51. 39. sleep they shall awake though they fall they shall arise therefore their enemy death hath no cause to triumph over them Our friend Lazarus sleeps but I go saith Christ Joh. 11. 11. 23 24. that I may awake him out of sleep Thy Brother shall rise again saith Christ to Martha she assents to it I know that he shall rise again at the resurrection in the last day As death is called a sleep so the resurrection from the dead is called an awaking out of sleep Thus in Daniel Many that sleep in the dust shall awake Dan. 12. 2. Awake and sing you that dwell in the dust saith the Apostle That there shall be a resurrection is an article of our faith and so momentous aone that it is one of the pillars upon which Religion stands If the dead rise not then is not Christ risen saith the Apostle and if Christ be not risen then is our preaching in vain and your faith is also in vain and the Apostles are found false 1 Cor. 15. 13 14 15 16 17. witnesses for God because they have testified of God that he hath raised up Christ whom he raised not up if the dead rise not And if Christ be not risen your faith is yet in vain you are dead in your sins and they also who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished By this and a far greater plenty of arguments the Apostle confirms a necessity of a Resurrection It is true the Resurrection belongs to wicked men as well as to the children of God they also shall rise they shall come to judgement but the resurrection shall be so much to the damage and detriment of sinners that we shall find in Scripture the Resurrection mentioned as if it were the special priviledge of Gods people Phil. 3. 11. If by any means I Phil. 3. 11. might attain to the resurrection of the dead they are called the children of the resurrection Luke 20. 36. But I shall forbear any further Luk. 20. 36. discourse upon this Proposition remembring that I am in a Congregation of Christians of whose Religion this is one of the fundamental Doctrines Heb. 6. 2. I come to the last of Heb. 6. 2. these Propositions I told you were implied viz That in the Resurrection Believers shall be Prop. 5. satisfied with the Lords likeness By the likeness of God here I mean the beatifical vision the manifestation of God to his Saints in Heaven when they shall be satisfied with seeing him as he is and beholding him face to face I observed before to you the emphasis of the term satisfied I told you that it implieth two things 1. They shall be filled 2. They shall be so filled that themselves shall judge they have enough A man may be filled and not satisfied the glutton may be filled with meat the drunkard with wine and strong drink yet neither of them satisfied the voluptuous man may have a fulness of pleasure and yet not be satisfied the covetous man is filled with silver yet not satisfied The wise man saith There are four things that say not it is enough and there are three things that are never satisfied Many more might be added the ambitious man is never satisfied with honour the covetous man is never satisfied with gold and silver the voluptuous man is never satisfied with pleasure and the objects of his lust No sinner saies he hath of sin enough No Saint saith he hath enough of grace but especially as to all creature comforts this is a vanity which ordinarily doth attend them they fill but do not satisfie but are like the grass upon the house top which is got with a great dâ—â—l of danger and difficulty and with which the mower filleth not his arm nor be that gathereth sheaves his bosom The child of God while he lives here is ordinarily not satisfied with grace he knows in part and he prophecieth in part he is not holy enough he cannot so perfect holiness as he desireth nor ordinarily hath he those clear and constant incomes of divine love and visions of peace as he wisheth for But in the Resurrection he shall be filled he shall be satisfied 1. He shall be plenteously filled 2. He shall be perfectly filled 1. He shall be plenteoâ—sly filled Here we are fed with morsels as we are able to digest and accordingly as our wise Father seeth best for us as the Israelites were fed with Manna when we shall come in the heavenly Canaanâ— we shall be fed with milk and hony and with a flow of it 2. Secondly He shall be perfectly filled When our corruptible shall have put on incorruption and our mortal shall have put on immortality we shall yet be but finite Beings and shall not be capacious enough to receive the fulness of divine light and glory The Schoolmen though they agree the immediate passage of the soul to God when it departeth from the body yet will not allow it to be perfectly blessed before the Resurrection because they say there will remain in the soul in its state of separation a desire to a second union and while one desire of the soul remaineth unsatisfied there cannot be a perfection of blessedness but in that day that which is in part shall be done away that which is perfect being come 1. The whole man shall then be satisfied with the likeness of God Here the soul sometimes beholdeth God by spiritual contemplation by the vision of faith by spiritual reflection when God is pleased so far to indulge his child but here the eye of the body sees nothing of him in the resurrection we shall see him with these eyes in our flesh saith Job After the dissolution of our bodies the soul indeed shall with open face behold the glory
of God but our bodies shall be rotting and putrifying in the graves but in the resurrection the whole man both soul and body shall see God and be happy in the enjoyment of him to all eternity In our flesh we shall see him 2. Secondly The degrees of satisfaction we shall have there are infinitely above what the souls of Gods people enjoy here Here we see but it is as in a glass darkly there we shall see face to face here if at any time God uncovereth his comfortable face to us yet we can but see him according to our present capacity but in that day the capacity of the soul will be inlarged and the soul to its utmost inlarged capacity shall be filled with the enjoyment of God Here we see him by the eye of faith sitting upon his Throne of Grace and that fight is full of glory there we shall see him by the eye of sense upon his Throne of Glory that sight will be infinitely more glorious and beatifical Here the child of God sometimes seeth God and though nothing be wanting ex parte objecti to make him perfectly happy in that vision God being an unchangeable fulness yet much is wanting ex parte subjecti our capacities not being able to receive in much of so glorious a light there is a deficiency in our sight and such a vastness of glory in the object that we can but comprehend a little of it In short the soul in that day shall be so filled with the likeness of God that it will be impossible for it to receive any further additions Yet to obviate the mistakes of some who know not what they say As in this life the measure of the fulness of the stature of Christ is but our mark not the attainment of any soul none so pure so holy so righteous as Christ so in that life which is to come none shall be so glorious as Christ The children of God shall like Joseph ride in the second Chariot but Christ who is the express Image of his Fathers person shall be greater in this Throne of Glory than any of Gods people can be he is of his Fathers Essence the brightness of his Glory the Word his Fathers express Image who so asserts an equality of the Saint either in grace or glory to the only begotten Son of God cannot avoid a double blasphemy The exalting a finite Being to the dignity of an infinite Subsistence or the degrading the Creatour and equalizing him with a creature But this is a digression Certain it is that the children of God in the resurrection shall be filled with the likeness of God though they shall not have so much of it as the only begotten Son of God The proof of this is evident from those many phrases in Scripture We shall see him as he is face to face we shall be like him in which I have before instanced I have now shortly opened those five Propofitions which I told you were implied in the Proposition I come now to what is expressed Here are two grounds of some satisfaction from Davids example according to the various sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a child of God living under such a dark dispensation yea if God should call them to die under it 1. They should be satisfied in watching for Gods likeness 2. This should satisfie them that they shall in the resurrection awake and then they shall be satisfied with the likeness of God Let me shortly discourse the reasonableness of both these First I say Though a Christian should in his life time walk without the sense of divine love yet he ought to be satisfied in case he findeth God inabling him to resist sin and to hope in him and by faith and patience to wait for him and to order his conversation aright before him or in short to watch for him when he or she doth not see him Yea if God should call him to die without those sensible comforts which others have and he possibly thirsteth after I must first open to you how and how far forth he ought to be satisfied and then give you some reasons for it Methinks I hear a child of God thus replying upon me Ah Sir is this possible that a Christian should be satisfied without the sense of Gods love a child that tenderly loves his Parent satisfied under his frown a wife under jealousies of her husbands love Are these things possible Can a soul be satisfied so long as it is crying out where is my God become Can a soul awakened to a sense of eternity be satisfied to leave the earth and go it knows not whither This is an hard chapter an hard saying who can hear it 1. I answer when I say a Christian should be satisfied my meaning is not that he should be so contented with such a dispensation as not to desire an alteration of it This is indeed plainly impossible that a Christian awakened to consider what the love of God to the soul is worth should live without desires of the manifestations of it to him they may be thus satisfied that never felt any thing of Gods wrath nor were ever warmed with any beams of his special favour but he that hath ever lived under any feeling of the wrath of God or that hath ever been perswaded of the love of God or felt any thing of the warm influences of it can never be in this sense satisfied he must pant and breath and thirst after Gods manifestations of himself to his soul and use all possible means for the obtaining of it 2. But as there is a Satisfaction of complacence and delight exclusive of any motions any indeavours any desires for an alteration so there is a Satisfaction of content in opposition to murmuring repining distrust and unbelief and in this sense he ought to be satisfied that is 1. Not to murmure and repine against God as not just or wise or good 2. Not to distrust God not to give over waiting upon him crying to him doing his duty not to despond and cast away his hope in God as to his eternal salvation for want of these sensible manifestations he ought to be so far satisfied as to be thankful for such influences of grace as he hath and with a meek and quiet spirit to commit himself to the good will and pleasure of God to trust in the Name of the Lord and to stay upon his God to continue waiting upon God and praying and ordering his conversation so aright that he may see the Lords solvation Thus far satisfied a Christian under these circumstances ought to be 1. First Because he hath what may reasonably give him satisfaction notwithstanding his want of such more sensible and comfortable reflections If you ask me what that is I answer that which the Apostle calleth A sure word of promise a word which shall not pass away though Heaven and Earth pass away Gods word of promise is security