of wickedness and under the most signal judgments of thy displeasure men plead signal testimonies of thine acceptance even in what thy soul hates thy Word condemns and thy wrath pursues § 4. Whilst I see Covenants and Engagements entred with a seeming zeal but broken with open perjurie whilst I see Sacriledge possess yea demolish thy Temples and yet Hypocrisie pretend a propagating thy Gospel whilst I see injustice in the seat of Judgment Profaneness invade Devotion and Violence suppress what is sacred and religious sure these waies of the world are none other then the waies of deceit and lead into the chambers of death But thy waies Prov. 6 27. O Lord are waies of truth and lead in the paths of life wherefore shew me thy waies and teach me thy paths Psal 16.11 § 5. Do thou shew me and do thou teach me While others take upon them to shew me thy waies they teach me to throw off the sacred Order thou hast establishe in thy Church as wicked and antichristian they teach me to desert thy publick Worship as Popery and Superstition yea they teach me Heresie and pretend it is thy Word they teach me Blasphemie and pretend it is saving Doctrine they teach me Schism and pretend it is the Communion of Saints they teach me to prophane thine Ordinances Joh. 4 24. and pretend it is to worship thee in Spirit Wherefore do thou thou Lord shew me do thou teach me as shew me thy waies in thy Word so teach me thy paths by thy Spirit yea lead me in thy truth and teach me make me to learn by practising let the experiences thou givest me of thy sanctifying grace confirm my soul in the sincere profession of thy saving truth § 6. But O my Jesus behold me here another poor Bartimaeus so blind that to shew me thy waies thou must not only point them out but also give me eyes to see Yea I here present my self at thy Table as another impotent Cripple in the Temple Act 3 2â— so that to lead â—e in thy truth thou must not onely go before me but give me feet also to run after thee And that thou my Jesus who art the same yesterday today and for ever wilt now by a miraculous power of thy grace and truth Heb. 13 8. even cure my spiritual lameness and ignorant blindness this is the ground of my hopes thy Promises this is my encouragementâ— thy Sacrament in which Sacrament and Promises thou art exhibited unto my soul as the God of my salvation In thy word thou hast given the promise and in thy Sacrament that promise is sealed that thou wilt save me from the pathes of death and lead me in the way of everlasting life and so faithful art thou who hast promised that safer it is for my soul to be as low as Hell with a promise Heb. 10.23 then to be as high as Heaven without it though as low as hell yet would hope bear me up and though as high as heaven yet would presumption throw me down Jer. 17.5 1 King 13.4 § 7. Thou O God who art my trust art my salvation my trust is not in the arm of flesh that like Jeroboams hand doth suddenly wither my trust is not in humane power or policie that I see by daily experiments Jon. 4 7. proves like Jonas Gourd when the Sun beats hottest when trouble and disâ—â—ess is the the greatest then doth it vanish and come to nothing what then is my trust Truly Lord my trust is even in thee Psa 146.5 6. who hast made heaven and earth whose Wisdom will find out the way and Power effect the means of my salvation notwithstanding all the present difficulties and seeming impossibilities of deliverance § 8. Yea thou O Lord my joy my Jesus thou art the God of my salvation Oh transcendent love Oh rich mercy Oh incomprehensible goodness the God of my salvation Blessed Saviour had the efficacie of thy merits extended no further to the race of mankind then mine own self yet wouldst thou glory and make me rejoyce in being the God of my salvation And Oh firm salvation which is founded upon the Grace Wisdom Power and Faithfulness of my God! in all which attributes my God my Jesus communicates himself unto me in this his Ordinance sealing me the salvation of my God and giving me a communion with the God of my salvation in this holy Sacrament § 9. O how willingly could my soul dwel upon this Mount and build Tabernacles for this contemplation of my Saviours love how do I behold him through faith communicating himself unto me in all his fulness Which fulness is in his Church and in his chosen as the soul is in the body and in the members whole in the whole and whole in every part So that though he gives salvation unto all yet does he communicate himself unto my soul in that fulness of his merits and grace as if I were saved alone And Oh that my soul could imitate my Savior Oh that my heart might return like love in giving my self my whole self unto my Jesus even in that fervor of affection and ravishment of spirit as if I alone were wholly to possess him joying in him and enjoyed by h m as the one and onely God of my salvation § 10. Seeing then thou art the God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day so that If I find not present comfort in thy blessed Sacrament yet on thee will I wait the husbandman doth not sow his seed and reap his crop in a day wherefore if thou art pleased to defer thy salvation for the trial of my faith and love yet on thee will I wait in a constant use of those sacred means thou hast ordained and the continued practise of those holy duties thou hast enjoyned and though this be all my daies Oh let not my faith faint seeing I cannot wait too long for the grace I so much desire and which am assured I shall at last obtain Matth â—24 23. seeing he who indures to the end shall be saved § 11. On thee do I wait on thee whose hand of bountie whose bo om of love yea whose bowels of mercy are not onely opened but inlarged to all humble penitents on thee do I wait wait to hear the secret voice of thy Spirit speaking peace unto my conscience wait to feel the reviving vâ—gor of thy grace quickning mine obedience wait to see the subduing power of thy holy Spirit quelling my rebellious sin wait to feel the chearing vertue of thy heavenly comforts refreshing my fainting soul for all these thy blessings O thou God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day All the day being never so satisfied with thy goodness as not more eagerly to long after thy heavenly fuâ—ness wherefore now refresh my faintings quench not my desires but the more freely thou gives let me the more eagerly covet the more
the ministration of the Sacraments Now to spoil us of the treasure to rob us of the comfort of this salvation is Satans grand design in his temptations unto sin and his suggestions of distrust for by these he labors to withdraw us from our God and deprive us of communion with Christ who is our love and our life But when the bird is mounted on the wing it is safe from the Fowlers net and the soul raised in communion with Christ is preserved from Satans snare And if through infirmity the soul flag and fall to the earth and so become intangled in carnal and worldly affections yet keeping the eye fixt upon Christ looking to him in his Ordinances to rece ve the quickening power of his grace though corrupt affections may intangle Rom. 8 2. Rom. 6.14 yet shall they not inthral the soul which becomes restored by the power of Christs Spirit a Spirit of life and liberty a Spirit of Grace and holiness delivering from the power of Satan and from the dominion of sin § 2. And this this is Davids practise and experience registred here by the Holy Ghost for our pattern and comfort when to the meditation of Gods promise and the manifestations of his love he joyns this profession of faith saying Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord c. In which profession of Davids faith we have two particulars 1. It s firm affiance 2. It s comfortable assurance 1. It s firm affiance Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord. 2. It s comfortable assurance For he shall pluck my feet out of the net § 3. First The firm affiance of Davids faith Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord. Mine eyes so general and sovereign an influence hath faith into the actual exercise of the divine graces that it does supply the office of the choycest members in the spiritual man therefore is Faith the legs that support the hand that receives the arms that imbrace the pallate that tastes the eye that beholds yea it is the heart of the inward man the seat of spiritual life for so says the Apostle the just shall live by faith and again I live Rom. 1 17. Gal. 2.20 yet not I but Christ that liveth in me and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God And very apt is this metaphor of faith that it is the eye of the soul whereby it discerns those things which are invisible invisible to the eye of sence and the eye of reason 2 Cor 4.18 yet made evident and visible by an enlightning power of the Spirit to the eye of faith and therefore is faith called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.1 a sacred evidence and divine demonstration of the truth of those things which neither sence nor reason can apprehend § 4. Many indeed there are eminent in Caldean learning and Mathematical science who in the height of their knowledge and with the eye of reason pierce the clouds discern the coelestâ—al motions of the heavenly bodies the inclining not necessitating influence of the Stars and Constellations yet how far short is all this of that Philo calls fides oculata an illuminated Faith the eye of the sanctified soul whereby it pierceth within the vail Heb. 6 19. looks into the holy of holies the most sacred and secret mysteries of grace and glory This is that Eagles eye which can receive the Rays of the Sun of righteousness being ever towards the Lord in the sweetness of his love and the riches of his fulness By this piercing eye of faith it is that Abraham through a bleeding sword and a sacrificed son does see a posterity numerous as the stars in heaven by this piercing eye of faith it is that Israel through a red Sea and a barren Wilderness does see a land of promise a Canaan of rest By this piercing eye of faith it is that David through a despised Crown and a broken Scepter does see a glorious Throne and famous Government yea by this peircing eye of faith it is that Jerusalem a type of the Church through a night of distress and a grave of capcaptivity does see a resurrection of peace and a full Noon of glory § 5. An enlightned faith is not discouraged with difficulties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian in Cyp. nor dampt with dangers knowing well that God oftentimes so orders the administrations of his Providence as that he works his own ends even by contrary means So that man is at a stand to determine whether is greater the wonder or the mercy of his Churches deliverance Now where lies the strength of faith why know not in the habit but in the object even in the Lord the creatures the Word the Sacraments they are good mediums but no full objects we must look thorow them as thorow a glass by which we behold God and Christ as the full and final object whereon to fix the the eye of faith and wherewith to terminate the sight of the soul § 6. Yea the blessings of providence and the graces of the spirit they are but the streams the Lord the Lord he is the fountain so that when all outward hopes fail and all inward comforts faint when there is a perfect vacuum in the creatures a seeming emptiness in the Ordinances even then the poor soul and afflicted Saint doth find rest and comfort in the Lord. Psal 116.7 In him faith sees an Almighty power and an omniscient wisdom an infinite grace and an all-sufficient merit yea an all-compassionating mercy So that were there indeed no life in the Ordinances no comfort in the Promises yet would faith by Christs assistance fetch both life and comfort from this fountain of the Lords fulness § 7. Who art thou then O thou afflicted soul who in thy spiritual desertions walkest in darkness clouded with sorrows Oh in thy greatest dejections lift up thine eyes unto the Lord Psal 123.1 that when the rising Sun appears thou mayst see his refreshing light and however now by reason of thy present anguish thou canst not serve God in alacrity of performance yet do it in sincerity of obedience and this this will be a cranny to convey some beams of light even in the lowest dungeon of thy spiritual distress Wait upon the Lord having thy eye of faith still towards him Psal 27.14 and so shall comforts be redoubled in a life recovered and thy difficulties of obtaining shall the more sweeten thy delights of injoying even of injoying God and Christ in the refreshing comforts of the Spirit conveyed and confirmed in his blessed Sacrament In which blessed Sacrament especially let thine eyes be still towards the Lord in his merits in his grace in his benefits in his love let him have thy fixed heart and thine intent eye yea let him have thy whole man for to this end it is that he here gives thee his whole self § 8. And Oh the sweet converses of the devout
it deprives of communion with God is the most afflicting Ps 61.11 12. In which affliction these are the words of Complaint The Words of Complaint Oh! how how can mine heart be right with God which so often revolts from him How can mine heart be sound which is continually sore When with sighs and groans in humiliation I have confess'd and bewail'd my sin presently upon temptation I commit and repeat it Thus my wounds daily bleed afresh and thereby my spirit faints and my hope fails I shall one day perish by the hand of sin as David complain'd he should do by the hand of Saul for that daily my strength decays my grace diminisheth my comforts fade mine Evidences for Heaven ar blotted my seals defac'd my life is become my trouble and death it is my terror I fear to die and yet have no joy to live Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin and of death The Grounds of Comfort 1. The holy dispensation of the all-wise God according to which it is that neither the merit of Christs blood nor the sanctification of Christs Spirit doth yet so far prevail as to root out the being of corruption though it wipe off the guilt and weaken the power of sin Damnatum est peccatum sed non extinctum Christ hath condemn'd sin in the flesh condemn'd but not extinguished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom 8 3. Cajet in loc he hath condemn'd The word is metaphorical for that Condemnation implies a depr vation of all preceding priviledges and power Thus our Lord Jesus Christ he hath dealt with sin he hath so disanull'd it in the faithful that it hath no more place to appear in judgment Col. 2.14 no more guilt to bind over unto death Rom. 8.1 there being no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus 2. Our nature is pure and perfect in Christ in which he h th satisfied the justice of our God Joh. 2.29 as being the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world even the sin of nature as well as of our lives our original as well as our actual sin Col. 1 19. Joh. 1.16 And seeing it hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell He will communicate to us of his fulness till he hath wholly destroyed the Serpents seed 1 Joh 3.3 1 Pet. 1.16 till he hath made us pure even as he is pure not only subduing the dominion and reign of sin by grace but also destroying the life and being of sin by glory 3. No man is sensible of sickness but who hath life and therefore sense of sin is a sure symptome of the life of grace So that O thou afflicted soul in thy conflict with sin thy very grief is a ground of comfort this being a sure testimony of true Sanctification Gal. 5.16 17 18. that thou canst not endure the close workings of thy secret corruption but art still sollicitous to cast out the enemy to establish the peace to vomit up the poison to preserve the health of thy soul 4. It is a free and willing subjection to the commands of sin Rom. 6.12 14. which declares the soul to be under the power and dominion of sin but by our opposing and resisting our lamenting and bewailing our sin we manifest plainly sin does rebell but does not reign prevails as a Tyrant but rules not as a King And where Grace hath the Throne of the heart and sways the Scepter theâ—e Christ rules by his Spirit and will in the end make us to overcome by his power The battel is the Lords and the victory shall be ours notwithstanding all oppositions of sin and Satan of the flesh and the world of earth and of hell 1 Pet. 1.5 we shall be kept by the power of God through faith to salvation For what hath our Lord Jesus Christ begun and shall he not perfect the work of grace Hath he made the purchase Phil. 1.6 and shall he not make us to possess the inheritance of glory Lastly Seeing thou cleavest unto the Lord with purpose of heart though thou servest him not in perâ—ection of holiness these infirmities and failings which are thy burden they shall not be thy bane If the ravisht Virgin cry out Deut. 22.27 she is in the censure of rhe Law guiltless by her cry having prov'd her rape And thus a sure testimony it is Sin hath committed a rape upon our souls and ravish'd our hearts when we cry out in our trouble unto the Lord And sure God who commanded indulgence unto the ravish'd Virgin will vouchsafe pardon to the ravish'd Soul The Rules of Direction 1. Be constant in thy Conflict in the sense of thine own wants looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ in his fulness and in the weakness of thine own strength Phil 4 13. Joh. 15.5 relying upon the almightiness of Christs power Be not dishearten'd by some losses not discourag'd by some foils not dismayed by some wounds but by fasting and prayer renew thy strength and then by diligence and Zeal renew the combat Thus shalt thou gain by thy losses get ground by thy falls increase thy graces by thine infirmities Phil. 1 9 10. 2. Preserve the judgment of thy mind clear and the frame of thine heart tender that so the Understanding may discover to thee what is evil by its light and the Heart restrain thee from it by its tenderness Restrain by some secret checks of Conscience upon the first risings of corruptions Psal 19.13 Eph. 4.30 that so they get not head by any rebellious wickedness to grieve Gods Spirit and to disquiet yea wound thine own Let it be thy pious policie to fight thine Enemy when he is at the weakest Thus set upon Sin in its first motions quell it in its first risings for indeed that which increaseth our guilt and destroyeth our peace is our willing entertainment of sinful motions our ready cherishing corrupt desires Prov. 4.23 3. Keep up an holy jealousie over thine own heart for it is not in the power of Satan to hurt the soul but by its self it s own weapons must wound it it s own treacherous affections must betray and destroy it Jer. 17.9 And such is the Hearts deceitfulness that those corruptions lurk in it which we think have no affinity with our nature but are most contrary to our frame and disposition As who could have imagin'd Moses's his meekness could have become guilty of murmuring Ps 106.32 33. Psal 51.14 Matth. 26.24 or David's tenderness guilty of murder or Peter's zeal of denying his Master Wherefore in this holy jealousie over thy self search diligently and examine frequently the state of thy soul the temper of thine heart and know assuredly this strict examination will weary the soul of sin thereby subduing thy heart from allowing approving or delighting in it And thus however with the Sheep thou slip
to his Enemies as he requires us to be to ours It is his own Law If thou meet thine enemies Ox or his Ass going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again Exod. 23 4. Now God meets us sinners Rom. 5 8 10. and all sinners as such are his Enemies he meets us straying-like the beast without understanding and what will he not bring us again unto himself the sole proprietarie by that first right of Creation and that more firm right of Redemption § 4. Our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus blessed for ever he comes to seek those that are lost to raise those that are faln yea read his Commission Luk. 4.18 he comes to preach the Gospel to the poor to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives to recover sight to the blind and to set at liberty them that are bruised Joh. 6.27 to this to all this is he sealed of the Father and that he will do it he seals unto us in the Sacrament so that as sure as the Lord is good and upright merciful and faithful so sure it is he will not cast off the penitent he will not reject the humble but will teach even sinners in the way § 5. The way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By an excellencie above all the waies of men and of the world in respect of the Author that prescribes it Isa 40.3 it is the way of the Lord in respect of the hand that points it out it is the way of truth 2 Pet. 2 2. in respect of the passengers which read it it is the way of the just Psal 1 6. and in respect of the end to which it brings us it is the way of life Psa 16.11 but as to the proper nature and essential being of this way Rom. 16 26. this the way it is the obedience of faith the obedience of faith that Gospel-path in which we have Christ for our leader the Saints for our fellow-travellers Psa 119.105 and the Word of God for a light unto our feet and the blessed Sacrament our best Viaticum the choicest provision for our spiritual journey in this our earthly pilgrimage to the heavenly Canaan § 6. Be it so then that when now my soul would raise it self on the wing of prayer and approach the Throne of Grace in this blessed Ordinance be it so that my accusing conscience tells me I am a sinner and therefore not worthy the knowledge of God or the quicknings of his grace not worthy a communion with Christ a participation of his fulness yet to this shall my afflicted soul reply in the returns of faith God even teacheth sinners in the way so they be humble penitent sinners and from hence know I that the Lord teacheth sinners even from hence that he is good and upright Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way § 7. Further yet The meek he will guid in judgement and the meek will he teach his way the humble and meek God will enlighten and instruct to a right discerning the waies of his providence and the misteries of his truth he will not suffer them to be lead away with the error of the wicked 2 Pet. 3.17 but amidst the many secular changes and seducing heresies he gives them the Spirit of VVisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Ephes 1.17 â—8 and thus the eye of their understanding being enlightned whatsoever is the condition of their temporal being they know what is the hope of their spiritual calling even the glorious riches of an heavenly inheritance § 8. Thus then does God give grace to the humble to the humble not so properly said to the humbled for humbled we may be when prest down under the weight of punishment but humble we cannot be unless laid low in the sence of sin without this sence of sin we shall be as far from being humble as from having grace But Oh the languishings of my soul under the weight of my sin Psal 38 4. My sins are gone over my head and are become a sore burden too heavy for me to bear too heavy not onely in their punishment and wrath but even in their pollution and guilt If so yet though humbled be not dejected O my soul but rather comfort O comfort thy self in this holy Sacrament of thy Jesus through faith in the promises of his grace for that by how much the more thou art humbled for thy sin by so much the more do those promises of grace and glory belong to thee in the Gospel which are peculiarly made of God in Christ and by Christ conveyed in his Sacrament to the meek and lowly in heart Matth. 11.29 § 9. To such to such it is Christ here calls with a venite ad me Come unto me And all those who thus come unto Christ even unto Christ in this his Ordinance they shall find rest unto their souls Matth. 11.29 to whom belongs the promise here that he will guid them in judgement and learn them his ways whereby they became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of God he will so judge them as to guid them in judgement so correct them as that their corrections shall draw them to him not drive them from him their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their corrections shall be their instructions they shall teach them his waies § 10. If God then teach sinners they must be such as are humbled for their sin and in their humiliation become meek and lowly in heart and well might the Apostle say of a meek spirit 1 Pet. 3.4 that it is in the sight that is in the judgement and approbation of God of great price of much value when here the whole work of sanctification is comprised in the one grace of meekness and no wonder then if so few know the waies of God when so many are inraged with passion filled with envy swoln with malice to be far from meekness is to be far from God far from holiness far from truth for it is the meek that he will guide in judgement it is the meek that he will teach his waies § 11. But further yet All the pathes of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies It is the mournful complaint of the devout soul saying Since I came last to this Table of the Lord and entred anew into covenant wi h my God oh how have I broken my sacred vows by my sinful relapses Yea notwithstanding mine often sincere desires and seemingly firm resolutions yet how weak have been my holy endeavors and much more imperfect my spiritual performances To this sad complaint of mournful penitence the Word of God returns this gracious answer of divine comforts that all his paths are mercy and truth mercy goes before his face to prepare a way to make plain a path for the
troubled Certainly his absence cannot but be lamented with greatest greif whose presence the soul prizeâ—h above all earthly joy when the evidence of salvation is obscured the light of Gods countenance darkned the comforts of the Spirit detained then the heavens appear not so clear the promises taste not so sweet the Ordinances prove not so lively yea the clouds which hang over the soul they gather blackness doubts arise fears over-flow terrors increase troubles inlarge and the soul becomes languishingly afflicted even with all variety of disquietments § 10. Oh how does the experience of former happiness sharpen the sence of present misery Every evil after the experience of the opposite good becomes the greater evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. Epist 37. when the soul then calls to mind how it hath been inlarged in its devout accesses to the Throne of grace and found no solace like that of communion with God through Christ and withall now sees its communion cut off and the comforts vanished the spring stop'd and the streams ceast O how great must needs be the bitterness of her grief miserum est fuisse felicem we commonly say it is a miserable thing to have been happy it is the souls trouble that she is without Christ but it is the increase of her trouble the sharpning of her affliction that she hath lost him him whose presence was once so sweet that it makes his absence to be most bitter § 11. Many indeed there are well enough as to present sorrow without Christ because they never injoyed him but what soul ever injoyed Christ that can injoy it self and want him without Christ that soul may see her wounds but cannot see her cure she may see her danger but cannot see her refuge and when God shall conceal his love and reveal our guilt hide his face and discover our sin what can be more greivous and afflicting So that well might David joyn his spiritual dereliction and his secret anguish saying I am desolate and afflicted § 12. 3 The high aggravation the troubles of my heart are inlarged the heart of man is the greatest Tyrant the cruellest persecutor to himself he needs none other fury who hath that of an accusing spirit this this alone will be Accuser and Witness Law and Judge Executioner and Punishment the very rack and gibbet of the soul Oh the piercing sting Oh the loud clamors of an accusing conscience this this alone doth make a hell upon earth distracting direful and accusing thoughts are worse then chains then stripes then death needs must that mans troubles be inlarged his anguish increased when his soul left to its own darkness and unbelief with Saul it falls upon its own sword becomes its own executioner Witness those dreadful complaints of a deserted soul and wounded conscience in that 88. Prov. 18.14 Psalm For a wounded spirit saith Solomon Who can bear And a wounded spirit who can declare its troubles its distresses they are as unexpressible as they are insupportable especially when the soul is in desertion § 13. When the humble Penitent apprehending the vastness of eternity both as to heavens joys and hells misery hath labored under the pressing weight of sins guilt and the laws curse And when in this Agony the soul hath thrown it self upon God in Christ and felt a sweet peace in the assurance of pardon and love after all this for him to be in so great darkness as to doubt whether Christ will own him whether God will regard him what can this darkness be but the very valley and shadow of death Psal 13 4. O how does a man in desertion through distrust fight against himself if we go about to bind up his wounds he rends them wider give supplying oyle and healing balm and he will make it a very corrosive to his bleeding soul he will fetch misery out of mercy and hell out of heaven for if to comfort his afflicted soul we tell him of Gods fatherly compassion and mercy his riches of grace and love O how does he thus reason against himself this this the accent of my misery to die in the midst of life to perish in the midst of salvation § 14. Surely God is a Father and were I his child his bowels would not be restrained he is infinitely gracious and were I at all in his heart in his love he that receives millions would not reject me he is so mercifull Rom. 10.20 that he is found of them that seek him not and sure if his displeasure were not irreconcileable I that so carefully seek him should at last find him God is goodness it self and sure my evil must needs be great that goodness cast me off nothing then can heal me but that which has wounded me I have lost the presence of my God I have lost the embraces of my Jesus and nothing but that presence and those embraces can bring comfort to my soul but whilst I am desolate I shall be afflicted and the troubles of mine heart will be enlarged This the Case rightly stated in a mournful complaint I am desolate and aflicted the troubles of my heart are enlarged § 15. 2. The Cure fitly applied and 1. To the spiritual dereliction the manifestation of Divine love Turn thou unto me In desertions of comfort God does not cease to be present but to be manifest He withdraws himself not by departing from the soul but by not manifesting himself to the soul By hiding his face Venit cum manifestatur cum â—ccultatur abscedit S. Aug. ep 3. God departs and by manifesting his favor he returns And therefore saith David Turn thee unto me The freest fountain yields the fullest stream and the best good the greatest comfort And the best good is God who being the Object as well as the Author of our comfort the measure of our joy must needs be according to the degree of our enjoyment In heaven we enjoy him fully and therefore have a fulness of joy but on earth having an imperfect possession Psal 16.11 we have but an imperfect consolation So that it is when God turns his face to us that we can say with David Return unto thy rest O my soul He alone who gives life can give comfort Psal 116.7 He alone who gives grace can give peace The Spirit of sanctification is the Spirit of consolation § 16. Indeed that which can satisfie the soul must be the bounty of a soveraign goodness such as is pardon of sin deliverance from hell conquest over Satan hope of glory and the like Yea who or what can quiet the terrors of Conscience but he who is the Prince of peace and greater then the Conscience When the soul like Hagar languisheth Gen. 21.19 it 's the Spirit of grace and truth that can open the eye enlighten the understanding and discover the â—rue well of life and waters of comfort Darkness of mind is the womb of doubts and the shop
sed materiam voluntati subministrat Tert. exhort cast c. 2. for that the Devil cannot impose upon the will a force and necessity but propose to the will an object and opportunity of sinning It is by confederacie with the Traitor in our bosom by conspiracie with our Rebel-lusts that Satan doth seise the Citadel of our hearts and surprise the strongest Fort and tower of our wills § 5 Again as for the World her temptations and allurements they are without us but it is the enemy within that destroys us The causes of corruption and guilt are not in our allurements Causas corruptelarum non in illecebris sed in cordibus habemus Salv. l. de gubern 6. but in our lusts not in the world but in our hearts And therefore We overcome the enemies that are without us by subduing the enemies that are within us even our lusts by whose treachery and violence Satan and the world bear sway in our hearts Eos qui foris nobis oppugnant intus vincimus vincendo concupiscentias per quas nobis dominatur Aug. tom 3. l. de agone Christ c. 2. and send forth their imperial edicts and command the soul A mans enemies then are those of his own house his own heart even his own lusts And of these we may complain with David in the greatness of their number they are many many streams from one fountain many branches from one root many lustful Affections from one original Concupiscence § 6. Which concupiscence is in the Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin that dwelleth in us The sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7.17 in an eminencie of evil as having in it the seed of all sins And therefore the Author of the Book De duplici martyrio attributed to S. Cypr. he gives us the quaint and experienc'd truth that plus est tollere peccatum quà m peccata it is a matter of greater difficulty to mortifie this one sin then to subdue all other sins We may say of original concupiscence strengthened and heightned by customary transgressions its name is Legeon for it is many Hydra-like it is a body with many heads and when we cut off one head one enormous impiety there presently sprouts up another of like monstrous nature like venemous guilt From the womb then it is of original sin and sinful custom as from the belly of the Trojan horse there does issue forth an whole Army of unclean lusts to surround the soul in all its faculties and the body too in all its members § 7. As for the faculties of the soul view we the Understanding and how do we see it surrounded with fleshly wisdom carnal reasonings humane inventions curious enquiries vain imaginations earthly contrivances View we the Conscience and how do we see it surrounded with erroneous principles misguided zeal false accusations and as false excuses groundless fears and a fearless stupidity The like might be said of the Memory and of the Will of the Heart and of the affections But pass we from the Faculties of the Soul to the Members of the Body and in them we see the Eyes surrounded with envy covetousness and adultery the Tongue with deceit revilings blasphemies and corrupt communications the Ears with slanders Heresies and false doctrines the Hands and Feet with theft murder violence and oppressions § 8. Yea from the particular members of the Body pass we to the several conditions of life And in them see how divers lusts not onely attend but pursue us if young intemperance if aged covetousness if rich vain confidence if poor murmurings if ignorant blind zeal if learned vain-glory if honourable pride if mean envy Lastly from our several conditions pass we to our best Imployments and we find how even in holy duties as in Tamar's womb Gen. 38.29 Zarah first thrusts out the hand but Pharez crowds him by and first gets forth the body thus in holy duties how often is it that the Spirit begins the work but the Flesh crowds forth into the action See it in Prayer when the soul quickened in devotion and raised by faith doth take wing and fly aloft in some gracious inlargements even then how doe worldly and carnal thoughts intrude themselves into the Closet of the heart and by their earthly weight pull down the soul from its heavenly height or else how do some suggestions of spiritual pride cast water upon the fire of the Sanctuary quench the heavenly flame the enlarged devotion of the pious soul Again in the attending of the worship of God and the ministry of his Word when the soul becomes affected with the beauty of holiness Psal 29.2 and begins to relish the sweetness of the Gospels promises yea to be inlarged in spiritual desires after a nearer communion with God and Christ in his Ordinances even then how do fleshly lusts oppose their carnal reasonings framing arguments of disswasion and discouragement from worldly interests erroneous principles and prejudicate opinions § 9. Yea in the solemn ministration of the blessed Eucharist when the longings of the the soul are enlarged its fervour of devotion heightned its very joy in communion with Christ encreased even then how do worldly and carnal suggestions or else nice and needless scruples or dark cloudy imaginations how do they too too often damp our faith dead our devotions perplex our thoughts and if possible hinder the gracious fruit and comfortable benefit of the most sacred service and most blessed Ordinance And now if the least atome of sin do spot the soul and the smallest transgressions qualifie for death and hell what shall we do whilst we behold an infinite swarm of corrupt desires an whole Army of lustful affectioâ—s surrounding us in all the faculties of the soul and members of the body in our several conditions and even in our best imployments what shall we do but fly to the Lord for succour even to the Lord of hosts the Captain of our salvation Christ Jesus blessed for ever Heb. 2.10 and cry we unto him as David here does Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with a cruel hatred O keep my soul and deliver me § 10. 2. The violence of their hate they hate me with a cruel hatred From that Rom. 6.12 we observe that Sin hath the power of a King even to reign over them who cast off Kingly power and from Rom. 7.23 we observe Sin hath the force of a Law to command them who bear down all Law by force they whom no Law of God or man can bind the Law of Sin holds fast the most licentious and lawless are to their lusts the greatest captives and slaves This for the power but see further the violence and rage of Lust when once it steps into the royal chariot of soveraign command how does it Jehu-like drive furiously 2 King 9 20. though it be upon the very precipice of death and hell The wickedness of the ungodly the Prophet
fulness here set open in this Ordinance Psal 36.8 9. may satisfie and fill them here behold the promises of life sealed here feel the riches of grace communicated here see the earnest of salvation and glory confirmed yea here shall the soul find Davids double petition of prayer accepted and his twofold argument of faith approved O let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee Vers ult Redeem Israel O God out of all his troubles § 1. AS there is no greater incentive of divine wrath then sin so nor is there any greater obstructive of devout prayer in removing that wrath then impenitence impenitence clogs yea clips the wing of devotion so that it cannot mount aloft it cannot reach the Throne of Grace and of this David himself gives us his profession from his experience saying Psal 66 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Quantum à praeceptis tantum ab auribus Dei longè summ So Tertul. Look how far our lives are from Gods precepts to obey them so far are Gods ears from our prayers to hearken to them The person then must be accepted before the petition and so a sincere penitent is the best suppliant for that our Lord Jesus Christ being the Priest that offers Heb. 4.14.15.16 and the Altar that sanctifies all our services there can be no acceptation without his mediation and sure I am he will not be our Advocate unless he be our Lord he will not be our Priest unless he be our King he will not present God our prayers unless we present him our persons and whom faith and repentance consecrates through the spirit him grace and mercy accepts through Christ § 2. Very aptly then doth David in his penitence as put up supplications for himself so make intercession for the Church the guilt of his transgressions he knew well did add to the heap of the Churches afflictions and therefore when he bewails his sin with penitent tears he remembers her trouble in a compassionate sorrow And that he might make the Church some amends whereas his guilt did help to the heightenâ—ng her distress his prayers shall contribute to the hastening her deliverance and for this reason doth he close this penitential Psalm with this pathetical petition Deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles Which words are Davids intercession for Gods Church And in them we have first the subject matter of his intercession Israels deliverance deliver Israel which deliv rance is set forth in its Author and its extent its Author God and its extent out of all trouble Redeem or deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles § 3. 1. The subject matter Israels deliverance deliver Israel God in a gracious vouchsafement of love will have hâ—s Saints to be his Remembrancers Isa 62.6 7. by the importunity of their prayers minding him of his promises Not giving him rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem even his Church a praise in the earth And therefore hear the Prophets zealous devotion well worthy our devoutest imitation For Zions sake will I not hold my peace Isa 62.1 and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest untill the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth even made visible and glorious in the sight of mâ—n and of Angels § 4. But what in the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in her fixt season and determined method of deliverance is not the decree past Dan. 8.19 Hab. 2.3 Psal 102.13 and the time set And so as that we cannot hasten the time nor alter the decree by our prayers and if so to what purpose is it to importune God for the Churches deliverance I answer True it is that Gods will being immutable in its determinations his providence must needs be infallible in its administrations yet neither the deliberations of councels the industry of endeavours nor the importunity of prayers are taken away or made void but rather confirmed and made good by the infallibility of God providence in the determinations of his will For that God determining the end doth also order the means means proportionable and agreeable to that end which maketh much for the strengthning our faith quickening our obedience and confirming our hope hope of obtaining the end as determined by Gods will when we observe the means as appointed in Gods word § 5. So that to establish the means and deny the providence of God determining the end is a part of Atheism to establish the providence of God determining the end and despise the means is great prophaneness but to use the means so as withall to trust and attend Gods providence for obtaning the end Hab. 2.3 this this is the way of truth and a work of righteousness knowing this that prayers and councels and endevours they are appointed of God not whereby we should alter his Will but perform it not whereby we should change his Decree but fulfill it and in what we as yet obtain not our desires we testifie our obedience Wherefore God having past the Decree and given the promise of his Churches deliverance through his will be unchangeable and his Decrees immutable Heb. 6.17 18. yet are not our prayers fruitless our supplications needless for that the Decrees of Gods counsel and the Prayers of Gods chosen they are subordinate and we say Subordinata non inter se pugnant Things subordinate in their being oppose not each other in their working The wâ—mb of all Gods blessings to his Church it is his gracious Decree and the Midwife to bring them forth is the Prayer of the faithful § 6. Further yet whereas God hath given many promises of deliverance to his Church we must know that his promises to us they are the very ground of our prayers to him Thus Dan. 9. and thus Psal 102. Yea God having given the Promise it is an implied Condition that we ask by Prayer thereby testifying that his Promises are of free grace not of due debt of mercy in him not of merit in us Yea as we subscribe to the acknowledgment of his mercy and goodness in giving the Promise so we submit to the dispose of his wisdom and power in ordering the performance And thus whatsoever blessing it is of life of grace or of glory of supply of support or of deliverance upon our selves in particular or upon the Church in general whatsoever blessing I say it is which we receive from Gods hand it must be on our knees as an effect of his Promise so a fruit of our Prayer § 7. Thus God having promised to build the ruin'd places Ezek. 36.36.37 and to plant the desolate he tels the house of Israel that for this he will be enquired of to do it for them And again hear the promise God makes unto Israel by the Prophet Jeremy Thus saith
the incense of his merits offered up before the Mercy-seat Rev. 8.3 the Throne of Grace And indeed our fervor being that of faith not of vision we may not expect the fire of our sacrifice to burn so clear as to have no smoke upon the Altar no Judg. 13.20 it is purely Angelical to ascend in a flame to heaven Whilst we are here Pilgrims and Sojourners dwelling in the earthly Tabernacles of our bodies 2 Cor. 5 1. vain Thoughts will still attend if not accompany our divinest services and devoutest supplications and when our supplications are most devout it is not the raised affection of the heart or fixt attention of the mind but the blessed mediation of our holy Jesus which makes the enlarged Suppliant to be accepted Let this then quiet thy soul amidst all the distractions of thy disturbing thoughts thou hast the mediation of Christ 1 Tim. 2.5 to make the secret desires of thine heart accepted of thy God 5. As thou hast the gracious Mediation of an alsufficient Saviour to supply thy defects so hast thou the strengthening power of his holy Spirit to help thine infirmities Rom. 8.26 2 Cor. 12.9 which strength is made perfect in weakness And when thou art emptied it shall fill thee when thou art stumbled it shall raise thee when thou art lost in thy self it shall by a secret evidence of divine love discover thee to be found in Christ who treading Satan under thy feet Rom. 16.20 Rom. 8.37 Phil. 3.10 shall make thee more then conqueror by fellowship with him in his death and in his victory The experience of Gods Saints will tell thee that they have many moneths ay some many years languished under this cross of vain thoughts and earthly distractions yet after long conflict have obtained a joyful conquest Ezek 7.16 Isa 40 31. and their mourning as Doves hath been changed into mounting up as Eagles in sweet enlargements yea ravishments of spirit by the grace of supplication and in their raised communions wiah God through Christ in the sacred duties of his holy Worship Know then O thou afflicted soul know assuredly that bearing thy Cross with patience waiting upon God in hope and relying upon Christ by faith thy vain thoughts resisted with diligence and bewail'd with sorrow shall neither deprive thee of Gods blessing nor declare thee void of his grace The Rules of Direction 1. In the duties of Gods worship affect thy soul with a rais'd apprehension of Gods sacred presence and an awful fear of his divine Majesty so mighty in power so excellent in purity his perfections infinite his presence glorious For this this is the main reason why the elect Angels and blessed Saints are so fixt in their thoughts so intent in their service Rev. 7.15 not liable to any the least wanderings even because their thoughts their hearts their whole selves are concentred in an heavenly contemplation of the majesty purity and holiness of Gods infinite essence Mat. 18 10. Rev 4 8. Ay and amongst men who is it that will play with a feather whilst he is speaking with a King This know then assuredly by how much the soul doth receive the deeper impressions of an awful reverence Heb. 12.28 by so much it shall find the less prevailings of worldly distractions 2. Keep thy faith fixt upon Christs mediation especially in the close of thy devotions Rev. 8.3 beholding his incense when thou offers thy sacrifice and though distractions have drawn thee from thy self yet let not distrust drive thee from thy Jesus But remember when vain Thoughts have taken off thy minds attention in Gods service then to breath forth some secret sighs and send them up to God as the winged messengers of thy Souls desires which shall certainly have their audience and acceptance at the Throne of Grace when their access is from the hand of Christ Eph. 2.18 It may be God suffers thy Thoughts to be loose that thy faith may be fixt Wherefore by how much Satan is the more busie to distract thy thoughts by so much be thou the more zealous to quicken thy devotions not being discouraged by any difficulties from the sincere though weak performance of thy holy duties especially closing still with an eye of faith Heb. 7.25 fixt upon Christ in his intercession And when Satan sees his suggestions help to increase the flame not put out the fire of thy devout zeal he will then in policie withdraw the temptation which in malice he hath continued to withdraw thee from thy God thy Jesus and thy devotion 3. Get an increase of saving knowledge as a sure means of sanctified thoughts The mysteries of Grace and sacred truths of the Gospel Mat 12.35 Luk. 6 45. they enrich the mind and become a good treasure which laid up in the heart doth still furnish the soul with sacred matter for divine meditation The Mind is a Mint continually going and whatsoever metal is cast in receives its stamp is form'd and fashion'd into thoughts of good or evil Mat 15.19 according to the matter which is administred Hereby then we give weight and worth to our thoughts by fixing them upon heavenly objects which heavenly objects are presented to the mind according to the knowledg of God and of Christ laid up in the Heart which when we are awake Deut. 6.7 Pro. 6.22 is said to talk with us For there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Soliloquy of Thoughts as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Conference of the Tongue yea by those we talk with God and with Christ So David When thou saidst Seek ye my face my heart said unto thee Thy face Lord will I seek Ps 27.8 As the best communion is that of the Spirit so the best communication is that of the Thoughts which are spiritual 4. Mortifie vile affections and inordinate passions as availing much to the restraining evil thoughts and vain imaginations For as wet wood when stirr'd so are our passions when mov'd Mat. 9.4 Luk. 11.17 Jer. 4.14 they send forth an whole crowd of thoughts which rise like thick vapors and fumes to cloud and oppress the mind The better then to subdue our passions we must strongly guard our senses for that a rebellion of affections within is oftentimes from an invasion of objects without Thus David he sees and then lusts and Job that he might not lust 2 Sam. 11.2.3 Job 31.1 he would not see And here O man whilst thou guardest thy senses and restrainest thine affections as to external objects beware oh beware of acting over that sin in inward speculation which thou hast formerly committed in outward action This speculative wickedness is the most polluting filth and most provoking guilt To have the outward enjoyments of sin is a committing fornication with the creature but to beget imaginations of sin and then pollute our selves with the brats of our own bosoms the children of
minds from Gods holy worship Indeed our natures are too weak to bâ—held always intent upon holy duties and therefore Gods woship hath its necessary intermissions in which intermissions the works of our callings are ordain'd for the keeping our minds innocent in their thoughts and renewed in their vigor for his more holy service Here then O thou afflicted soul who complainest of the secret trouble and vexing importunity of thy Vain thoughts here thou hast thy Grounds of Comfort and Rules of Direction God give thee his Spirit of Grace and Truth to order thy practice and administer thee Consolation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen! CHAP. II. The Souls Conflict from the frightful Suggestions of Foul Thoughts GReat is the activity of the Soul discovered by the Thoughts which are more quick in their motion then Lightening darting forth in a moment from Earth to Heaven Ps 139.17 18. Phil. 3.20 and back again from Heaven to Earth Which excellencie of Man in the activity of the Mind was given of God for this end that he might turn away from sin at the first appearance of evil But now oh how hath the guilt of sin laid fetters upon this freedom of the mind and made it servile unto Satan if not to act his suggestions yet to suffer his buffetings 2 Cor. 12.7 So that those very thoughts of sin which the soul abhors those the imagination receives and the mind cannot free it self from horror Ps 19 4. through fear of guilt knowing well that as Devout meditations are acceptable so Foul imaginations must needs be abominable abominable to that God Hab. 1.13 who is of most pure eyes and such as cannot behold iniquity Besides whereas our Thoughts present the Idols which our hearts worship and that the Israelites bowing the knee to Baalim and Ashtaroth were not more truly Idolaters Judg. 2.13 Col. 3.5 then the Covetous the Ambitious the Voluptuous who bow the heart to Riches to Honors to Pleasures and the like Therefore the afflicted soul dreads the guilt of the vilest Idolatry even lest by its blasphemous thoughts it fall down to Satan Mat. 4.9 and worship him Oh! how doth the sad experience of many pious souls witness a dreadful horror in their sudden and frequent thoughts of Infidelity Atheism and Blasphemy calling into question the Truth of Gods Word the Order of his Providence and the very Being of his Deity yea such thoughts as for their foulness are not fit to be uttered And therefore many souls languish in dejection asham'd to declare their grief These the Cogitationes onerosae in the language of S. Bernard the burdensom thoughts which load the soul with an unsupportable weight of mournful distress and press it down with an inconceivable anguish of spiritual dejections In which Dejections and Distress hear and compassionate the Souls Complaint The Words of Complaint Oh! oh the Dunghil of mine unclean Heart which sends forth such filthy vapors Needs must my soul be a very Sink of sin whilst there ariseth from thence such a noisom stench of corrupt Thoughts Sure if ever I had been wash'd with the least drop of my Saviours blood or purified with the least spark of his Spirit and grace so great a filth and so foul a corruption could never cleave unto my soul But oh wo is me I see I am so far from being the Temple of the Lord that I am become the very Den of the Devil the flames of Hell already flash in my face and the amazing terrors of cursed Blasphemies torture my soul and wound my Conscience even unto death yea I could rather chuse to die ten thousand deaths then undergo the fears and frights and bitter pangs of my amazing thoughts and dreadful imaginations Ah what what shall I do with these Egyptian frogs my foul Suggestions which are still croaking In every place and in every action in the Church and in the Closet in my meditations and in my prayers still they crawl in and dead my heart yea their noisom stink makes me loath my self and all my services Oh I faint I die I perish whilst asham'd to speak what I abhor to think I must needs despair of cure not knowing how to lay open my sore The Grounds of Comfort 1. The horrid Blasphemies which affright thy soul though they are thy thoughts yet are they Satans suggestions and not having thy consent of will they bring no guilt upon the conscience Jam. 1.44 15. Non nocet sensus ubi non est consensus is the resolution of S. Bernard agreeable to the truth of Gods Word and the judgment of all both Antient and Modern Divines that where the Will yields no consent there the soul may suffer a temptation but act no sin Yea 2 Cor. 12.7 Quod resistentem fatigat vincentem coronat saith the same Father The importunity and frepuencie of the suggestions which weary the soul resisting shall bring the greater crown of glory in its overcoming True it is He that is born of God keepeth himself 1 Joh. 5 18. and that wicked one toucheth him not But how toucheth him not Is it meant of wicked temptations No sure but of wilful transgressions He toucheth him not tachi qualitativo we say and that aright not so touch as to make like himself in an impress of sin and guilt upon the soul Now then that it is no sin to be tempted is more then evident from this one argument That otherwise our Lord and Saviour himself Heb. 4.15 who was tempted had also finn'd Wherefore this is sin to admit the temptation wish allowance or delight 2. That these foul and frightful suggestions have not thy consent of will appears by this that thou hast a loathing and an abhorring of them which speaks the greatest aversion Desst 7.26 Rom. 22.9 and so is far from a consenting of the will As when the stomach loaths any meat though it be forceably cast into the belly yet can it not be said to be receiv'd with rppetite So when the Will abhorrs any suggestion though forcibly cast into the mind yet can it not be said to be receiv'd with Consent And know we are less able to keep the Mind free from Satans suggesting thoughts we abhor then we are to keep the stomach free from anothers forcing meats we loath Thy thoughts then O distressed soul being injected not inbred thoughts cast in from some suggestion without not rais'd up from some corruption within they are only brats laid at thy door not children of thine own begetting they are Satans buffetings in which the soul is meerly passive a sufferer not a doer 2 Cor. 12.7 And therefore as much need of patience as of penitence of fortitude to resist as of contrition to bewail Obj. 1 Ay but thou sayest Sure it is the corruption of my heart from whence these foul thoughts are rais'd and so though the Devil in his malice be the Father yet my corrupt flesh
God gracious and merciful accept me in thy Beloved even Jesus Christ in whom alone thou art well pleased and for his sake let me not go from before thee without a blessing a blessing of pardon and of peace a blessing of thy Spirit and of thy grace a blessing of thy favor and of thy love in the Lord Jesus Thus Lord say of me Thou hast blessed me and that I shall be blessed for ever Amen Amen Here rising up and making thine humble adoration before the Throne ot Glory say Halleluiah Salvation be unto our God and to the Lamb for ever Amen Halleluiah 4. After all this if thy foul thoughts shall yet continue or renew their assaults as it may be they will for a time let them pass like lightening and so though they suddenly startle yet let them not long discontent thy soul for this slighting is the best resisting and thou shalt sooner be quit of them by a pious neglect then by an eager opposition Like angry Bees such are foul and blasphemous thoughts Isa 30.15 Ps 118.12 they are better avoided in passing by then in beating off This Direction is well attested by the experience of a Minister of Christ with whom I have had intimate acquaintance who being devoutly employed in the ministration of the holy Eucharist Satan to disturb his devotion and thereby disquiet his soul assaults him with the sudden suggestion of foul thoughts He startled with their appearance in so sacred an action began a contest of holy indignation which contest heightened their rage and the more entangled his soul In this secret trouble he observes how busie the Flies were in that hot season about the Cup which he was administring and that he in prudence as well as piety was regardless of their buzzing and kept himself intent upon the holy service This became presently his instruction from thence raising this sudden Meditation Sure Satan envies the sweet comforts of my soul in communion with my Jesus and therefore sends these busie Thoughts to suck up their sweetness which if I strive to beat off they do but the more disturb my soul I will therefore do with Satans suggestions as with the Flies pass them by in a silent contempt not think to drive them away by a forcible opposition And he thus resolv'd they soon vanish'd keeping his heart fixt upon his God and his eye intent upon the present Solemnity 5. And lastly O thou afflicted soul do wth thy God when assaulted with frightful thoughts as children do with their parents when they behold any frightful thing even cling closer and hold faster to him And doubt not when Satan sees that what he intends to drive thee from thy God draws thee neerer to him he will soon cease the violence of his temptations And when the Devil hath left thee Mat. 4.11 Isa 63.9 Mal 3.1 Angels will come and minister unto thee especially the Angel of the Covenant Christ Jesus he shall revive and glad thy soul with the quickening graces and chearing comforts of his Spirit CHAP. III. The Souls Conflict from some late Relapses into Sin AS Physicians make a soveraign Antidote of the Vipers flesh to destroy its poison Heb. 2.17 18. Heb. 4.15 16. so doth Christ a saving Medicine of Satans temptations to defeat his malice Christ being tempted even to sanctifie our temptations and to be himself at once our refuge and our pattern that as we are guarded by his power so we may be instructed by his example Mat. 4.4.7.10 Eph. 6.17 Jam. 4.7 And what is the instruction but that of spiritual wisdom and holy resolution in opposing the Word of God to the wiles of Satan and so resisting till he flie from us And when Satan is beat back in his temptations oh how do the comforts of Christs Spirit return upon our souls to quicken strengthen and establish them Whensoever then we hear the mournful complaints of languishing souls upon Relapses into sin Job 13.24 Job 14.17 Ps 43 2. that God accounts them his enemies seals up their transgressions and casts them off They are the passionate Expressions of a distrustful impatience Satan by his suggestions so aggravating their guilt and heightening their provocation Luk. 5.31 1 Joh. 1.7 that thereby the soul becomes wholly fixt upon the disease eying neither the Physician not his remedy neither Christ nor his blood Yea the soul becomes so overburdened with its debt that it views neither the Surety Heb. 7.22 Joh. 1.16 Luk. 24.47 Joh 3.16.34 nor his sufficiencie neither Jesus nor his fulness both which are presented to the Penitent in the Promises In this distress of soul hear the Words of Complaint yea hear the deep and mournful lamentations of the relapsed Saint plung'd in the sink of sin and sunk in the mire of uncleanness The Words of Complaint Oh woe is me how is the Crown fallen from my head How is all my joy and comfort fled from my soul How are my sins and my sorrows together increased Oh my backslidings from my God! Oh my sinful departings from my Saviour Wretched man how have I forsaken my first love cast off my former zeal and by my sinful Apostacie quenched yea griev'd the Spirit of my God So that whereas before I did delight in his serviâ—e I now shame and fear to come into his presence whereas before his Spirit did enlarge my heart with comforts now my sin doth fill my soul with horrors Oh what shall I do I have abused the mercy of my God despised his love profan'd his holiness and offended his Majesty And what hope of pardon from an abused mercy What hope of favor from a despised love What hope of Communion with a profan'd Holiness What hope of acceptance with an offended Majesty These the Words of Complaint And now to set open a safe Harbor for the humble and penitent not to set up a vain shelter for the profane and presumptuous Observe The Grounds of Comfort 1. The immutability of Gods love The grace and love of God as the Agent is not founded upon any motives or reasons in man as the Object as if merit or worth in man did either beget or continue favor or love in God No He justifies us when ungodly Rom. 4.5 Rom. 5.10 Eph. 2.6 Rom. 3.24 He reconciles us when enemies He quickens us when dead And therefore needs must it be that we are freely justified and so eternally saved by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Now if when enemies by wicked works we were reconciled by the death of Christ if when dead in trespasses and sins we were quickened by the Spirit of Grace how much more being reconciled being quickened shall our persons be accepted our sins pardon'd and our falls repair'd So that as by the operation of his Spirit we are regenerated so by the power of the same Spirit we shall be restored The love wherewith God loveth us in Christ it
the flesh less danger and damage in overworking then in too much indulging the outward man For where one man sails his course of piety with too full a gale of zeal an hundred lie becalm'd with lukewarmness Rev. 3.16 In the Close Beware of attributing to duties what is proper to Christ A chief reason doubtless though little notice be taken of it a chief reason it is of dryness and barrenness in holy performances that we have an overprising opinion an overvaluing esteem of them For the softning and melting the raising and enlarging the comforting and reviving the heart Ps 11â— 32 Isa 57 18. 2 Cor. 1.3 Ps 34 15. these are all the works of Christ and his Spirit not to be attain'd by labour and toil but by humility and faith Hear David The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry First Gods eyes are upon their persons and then his ears are open unto their prayers It is not the duty we perform but the promise Christ gives or rather Christ in the Promise which brings rest to the soul And he vouchsafe thee O thou afflicted soul a gracious portion of this spiritual rest as a pledg and earnest of that full inheritance even rest eternal Amen CHAP. VII The Souls Conflict from the misapprehension of Gods withdrawing the Comforts of his gracious presence SUch is the deceitfulness of mans heart and the subtlety of Satans suggestions that many there are who forsake God yet think they have him and many that have him yet think themselves forsaken of him Many are so enlighten'd that they come near to the Kingdom of Heaven which yet are cast down to Hell Again many there are so dejected as to come nigh to Hell which yet are received to Heaven The discomforts of the faithful through their frailty do cause their great dejection Isa 49 14 Isa 14.12 13. but the enlightenings of the wicked through their pride make for their greater condemnation Such is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the exceeding craft and cunning of Satan Eph. 6.11 in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his arts and methods of temptations made the more expert by many thousand years experience such I say is Satans art and cunning that he suits his suggestions to our affections and tempers his temptations to our dispositions And therefore the va n Enthusiast who prides himself in his fancied converses with God and conceiteâ— raptures of his spirit him Satan heightens in his presumption But the afflicted Saint from whom God hath hid his face and withdrawn the comforts of his gracious presence him Satan presseth down in his dejections He heightens the Enthusiast in his presumption by feeding his fancy with renewed delusions of false joys and the imagined ravishments of Gods love Again he depresseth the afflicted Saint in his dejection by filling his heart with renewed jealousies of false fears and imagined terrors of Gods wrath Thus there is none more near or dear unto man then himself yet none more a stranger more an enemy For what man is he that can fadom the depth Jer 17 9. and so know the deceitfulness of his own heart Again what man is he that doth not cause the wounds and destroy the comforts of his own soul by diffidence impatience throwing off the healing balm and casting away the reviving cordials of grace and mercy Ps 143 9. So that well might S. Bernard cry out in a devout gloss upon the Psalmists text Libera me Domine ab inimico meo id est à me ipso Deliver me O Lord from mine enemy that is from my self See this true in the afflicted Saint dejected in soul distressed in conscience deep in desertions Oh! how doth his soul become cruel to it self refusing to be comforted With him Mourning observes no method but his full sorrow poures out its Complaints as a bottle doth its liquor in sudden and disordered eruptions rather thâ—n effusions Thus then complains the languishing Soul The Words of Complaint Oh! what a misery is it to have been happy The thoughts of those comforts I once felt sharpen the sense of those sorrows I now feel Time was when from the Mount Nebo of Divine Contemplation I could by the Perspective of Faith take a view of the Heavenly Canaan in the riches pleasure and glory of it But now my belly cleaveth unto the dust I lie down in the valley and shadow of death clouds of darkness cover me and the light of all heavenly comforts is hid from mine eyes Those holy duties Ordinances and Promises which have been as honey sweet to my soul at once feeding and delighting mine inward man they are all become bitterness and barrenness anguish and distress misery and mourning Oh what were those quickening beams from the Sun of Righteousness those refreshing those ravishing delights in communion with God through Christ Alas O my soul those blessed delights were but pleasant dreams and now thy fancied Paradise is become a real Wilderness And oh how do I wander and weary my self in a maze of perplexities the bitter waters of Marah flowing in upon my soul and the fiery Serpents of hellish fears stinging my Conscience All my streams of Comfort are turn'd into floods of Sorrow and oh that I could drown my sorrow in tears But my misery is beyond moans my grief beyond tears yea my torments beyond death For I have lost that treasure those joys that bliss which I would willingly redeem with the loss of life O sweet and joyful presence O sad and dreadful absence of my Jesus and oh the filthy lusts of my foul heart which have made him quit his lodging and be gone and with him all peace all comfort all joy all life all bliss are fled from my soul Woe is me that I should receive mercy to make miserable once enjoy a Saviour and after cast him off to the loss of all salvation yea to the heightning the horror of my condemnation Oh he came in love and he is gone in anger and woe is me I not only lose his favor but also bear his displeasure He is gone and I fear never oh this this the deep wound more deadly then death it self He is gone and I fear never to return more In his favor is life and therefore when he hides his face in wrath needs must my soul be in death Oh! my spirits waste my strength faints my flesh consumes mine whole man languisheth yea my stroke is heavier then my groans my sorrow more bitter then my complaints so that with Job My soul is weary of my life and yet though my life be full of torment death is full of terror lest be everlastingly shut out from Gods presence Oh Eternity Eternity how does this gulf swallow up my soul how does this weight more heavy then a mountain press down my drooping heart and crush my fainting spirits yet whilst there is life there is hope though my
with Absalom 2 Sam. 14.24 Notwithstanding Absalom hath Davids heart yet must he not see his face Thus when God rebukes the soul for sin though his love be great yet his face shall not appear gracious And this for wise and holy ends most advancing his own glory and the souls good Some of which ends may be these 1. To chastise some stubbornness of spirit and to correct some wilful disobedience Be the Saints of God never so dear to him yet if they put out the light of councel he will put out the light of comfort if they break his bonds of rule he will bind them in chains of distress Wilful disobedience is that cursed bramble Judg. 9.15 from whence as in Jotham's parable there does come forth the fire of divine displeasure to parch and wither the tallest Cedars of Lebanon the devoutest Saints of Christs Church Or 2. It may be we grow wanton with Gods ordinances and he therefore uncloaths them of their quickening vertue and refreshing vigor because we approach them without awful reverence and an holy fear Or 3. It may be the Heart begins to harden and exalt it self and therefore God withdraws his favor and secretly rebukes the soul with terrors to bring the offender upon his knees and lay him low in humiliations melting him like wax thereby fitted as more pliable to receive the impressions of his grace and the seal of his love O the streams of spiritual comforts Jam. 4.6 which water the fruitful vallies of humble souls whilst the lofty mountains of spiritual pride are parch'd with thirst Or 4. It maybe God withdraws himself in his gracious presence from the soul to sweeten enlarge and establish its fuller comforts The toil and troubles of a barren Wilderness make more sweet the milk and honey of a fruitful Canaan As Nature hath its times and seasons so hath Grace the Winter-frosts prepare for Summer-fruits and the pruning furthers a better growth Thus Spiritual afflictions make for the Spirits further consolations Heb. 12 11. and to be exercised with inward distresses helps to the increase of grace and a further strengthening of the inward man It is indeed the method of Gods dealing with a soul first to humble it by a spirit of bondage Rom. 8 15. then to raise it by a spirit of adoption Again he withdraws himself in his spiritual comforts wherewith he cherisht our faith and love that he may try their strength and prove their sincerity further rooting the soul in humility and godly fear and after this Grace having taken deep root in the heart it brings forth the more abundant fruit of peace and comfort to the soul Yea hereby God not only tries our love to him but the more endears his love to us in that when we seem'd in our selves to be wholly lost and quite cast off he then appeared in the Mount in our greatest extremity for succor and salvation turning the signs of his wrath into testimonies of his love and changing our dismal estate of doubts and fears and mournings into a glad condition of holy confidence enlarg'd hope and refreshing comforts Oh how must this needs win the heart to a greater enlargement of love when it feels it self restor'd to so great an enlargement of delight yea so cleer an evidence of Gods favor in having brought us through the fire Mal. 3.2.3 2 Tim 2 21. 1 Pet. 2.9 and purified us to himself a peculiar treasure even vessels of honor Lastly To this end also God hides his face and withholds the light of his countenance even to quicken our longing desires after Christ and to convince the soul of its immediate dependance upon him For by how much we are the more dejected distressed and restless in our selves by so much shall we be the more eager in our longings after and the more zealous in our enjoyments of the Lord Jesus who alone can bring peace and comfort and rest to the inward man The brightest stars in the firmament of heaven the holiest Saints in the Church of Christ derive their light as of grace so of peace as of life so of comfort from Christ the Sun of righteousness Mal. 4 2. and therefore that they may know and own their dependance upon him he oftentimes shuts in his light and then the soul presently finds it self in a dismal and darksom deep of mournful distress And oh what a shop of fears is this gulf of darkness what sad apprehensions amaze the soul But now when Christ breaks forth in his light of comfort and peace oh the transporting joy that attends this return of love The devout Saint as they redeem'd from Babylons Captivity becomes as one that dreams Ps 126 1. he is strangely enwrapt with spiritual rejoycings so that he makes his boast of the Lord and his praise is continually in his mouth his thankfulness is redoubled with his joys Ps 34.1 2. and his duties enlarged with his delights 5. Though God is least in appearance yet is he most in power though he is not chearing and refreshing with his favor yet is he guiding and supporting with his hand making spiritual temptations his chief preparations when he designs any of his Saints to eminent actings or glorious sufferings David's Worthies are best acquainted with the experiences of War the skilful Pilate knows well what it is to be in winds and storms the choise Vessel is the oftner cast into the fire for its refining and certain it is the eminentest Saints in Christ Church have been well tutor'd in his School of temptations Hear Elihu Job 33.22 speaking of a man whose soul draweth near to the grave and his life to the destroyers v. 23. He tels us that Messenger that Interpreter who can shew unto him his uprightness raising him in his dejections 2 Cor. 12.7 he is as rare as excellent one of a thousand That S. Paul was so strongly tempted so fiercely buffeted it was not so much to his personal as to his ministerial advantage that he might the better have the tongue of the learned learn'd by experience in himself how to speak a word in season to him that is weary Isa 50.4 And see what Cordials the Apostle doth administer such as himself had tasted and tryed That he comforts others 2 Cor. 1.4 it is by the same comfort wherewith he himself was comforted of God And as thus spiritual temptations are Gods chief preparations when he designs any of his Saints to eminent actings so secondly when he designs them to glorious sufferings For he who hath been exercised in spiritual afflictions knows well how insufficient and vain the best things of the world are to administer true solace to the soul and therefore he will not be so loth to part with and despise that which he knows by best experience to be empty and vain yea the soul will not fear to grapple with the Worlds fury which hath once wrestled
of thy soul and the comforts of his Spirit which pardon obtain'd peace restor'd comforts recover'd are all strengthened confirm'd and seal'd by servent prayer devout meditation and a worthy receiving the blessed Eucharist These these holy duties are the oil which keeps the lamp burning the sacred means ordain'd of God and Christ for the quickening of our graces and the enlarging of our comforts The Objections answered Obj. 1 Obj. 1. These Rules I have according to my best endevours observ'd and yet notwithstanding all Gospel-ministrations my wound ah my deep wound is not healed mine anguish my secret anguish is not abated Oh! sure my hope is perished from the Lord He hath cut me off Oh that I had never been born or that I had never liv'd to behold my wretchedness Answ Wo is me what shall I do Answ Do what thou sayest thou hast already done still endeavour that thy spiritual comforts may take their rise from thy penitential sorrows enquire still after God in Christ in the means of grace press near to him in his ordinances let no discouragements beat thee back Joh 6. â—7 Hear the promise of thy Jesus He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out O the stay of faith and staff of the soul O divine word of grace O gracious promise of love He receives us into his bosom when we cast our selves into his arms He will sustain and hold fast He will in no wise cast off and forsake Heb. 13.5 Wherefore O thou afflicted soul though thou art forsaken of comfort yet do not lie down in despair nor sleep in sloth but let faith hold up thy hope and hope keep up thine obedience and do not rest quiet till finding thy God in Christ thou obtain a quiet rest And how shalt thou find God in Christ but in the application of the Gospels promises and in the exercise of holy duties Obj. 2. What tell you me of holy duties As Absalom said of Obj. 2 David so I say of Christ What are all these to me if I cannot see the Kings face What are the Ordinances and the Promises 2 Sam. 14.32 what are holy duties and religious performances These have no sweetness but when I can taste Christ in them they have no beauty but when I can behold Christ in them by his presence all my troubles would soon be dispersed and by his absence all comforts they are embitter'd Answ Christ is present with thee in all his ordinances Answ though thou seest him not He purposely hides his face to try thy love and permits thee to be tempted that thou mayst be approved approved as one of those who truly fear God obeying his voice Isa 50.10 though they walk in darkness and have no light It is no great matter to see the Child express much love when pleas'd with the Fathers smiles and chear'd with his embraces but if when the Father seems with frowns to put the Child from him and it then cling close to him it is a sure argument of dutiful affection Thus when the mind is raised the heart enlarg'd the soul ravish'd with the sweet delights of holiness and the divine manifestations of Gods love what great matter is it to be pious and faithful in his service But here 's the trial of grace here 's the proof of our faith our love our obedience if when God withdraws the light of his countenance we then seek him if when Christ seems to depart from us we then lay hold on him and not let him go but resolve though he kill us to trust in him though he chide us Joh 13.15 to call upon him and though he seem to reject us yet faithfully to serve and obey him But besides O thou afflicted soul in the holy Sacrament thou canst not miss of what thy soul longs after Christ and Christ in all his fulness Mat. 26.27 28. For hear how our Saviour in the ministration of this sacred ordinance he saith of the bread broken Eat this is my body and of the wine poured out Drink this is my blood whereby we are to believe in a firm assent of faith that our blessed Lord and Saviour hath appointed and ordain'd this holy Sacrament to be a most effectual means to convey and most sure seal to confirm the actual efficacie and merit of his body crucified and his blood shed So that the bread and wine do not only sacramentally represent but also really exhibit to each faithful though languishing soul whole Christ with all his benefits then which what can be more effectual to the repairing thy peace of conscience and the renewing thy comforts of the Spirit Obj. Obj. 3. I know not how nor what to do For besides my trouble of conscience and terror of soul I find such a stupifying dulness and amazed deadness upon my spirits that I cannot apply my self to any holy duties with a fixed Answ much less an enlarged heart Answ Apply thy self to some faithful Minister or some other experienc'd Saint of God For seeing the Mind under spiritual afflictions is as a bone out of joint Gal. 6 1. who is it that shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joint it again but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spiritual man he who is acquainted with the motions methods and actings of the Spirit Yea seeing the afflicting of the soul is a breaking of the bones so with David Make me to hear of joy and goodness Ps 51.8 that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice We stand in need to be careful to make use of some skilful in Soul-chyrurgerie who may so help so heal the wound set right the bones that no splinters be left to fret the Patient no scruple to vex the Conscience Yea sure I am there is not so much danger to the body in the ill setting of a bone as there is to the soul in the unsound resolving of Conscience But further Let the faithful Minister or other experienc'd Saint that shall have to do with his clouded and dull as well as afflicted and troubled soul let him see well to it whether Melancholy hath not penn'd up the soul in its darksom cell whose adust humors are aptly call'd Balneum Diaboli the Devils Bath Melancholy distempers beget afflicting thoughts and afflicting thoughts beget melancholy distempers and thus is the poor soul whirl'd about in a circle and maze of disquiets and distractions which disquiets and distractions are the more increased by Satans malice and subtlety in that as some men do deceive others in a dark shop with false colours so does Satan deceive the soul in a dark body with false imaginations Act 4.36 Now here an Hippocrates is as proper as a Barnabas a Physitian as a Minister for that say what we can it will be with the soul in a melancholy body as with a candle in a dark lantern its light still dim and dismal and oh what terrors of strange imaginations and strong
passions does this distemper work in the whole man Wherefore seeing it is no Natural cause that can calm the soul nor any Spiritual remedy that shall cure the body they must be join'd together the Physitian for the body and the Minister for the soul and Gods blessing for both Which blessing he vouchsafe through Jesus Christ Amen CHAP. VIII The Souls Conflict from the misinterpretation of the order of Gods Providence in the Tribulations of the Godly and the Prosperity of the Wicked TEmporal afflictions when sanctified by grace they become the spiritual physick of the soul which though administred by the no less tender then skilful hand of Providence how do we vain and foolish Patients how do we embitter our condition by chewing the pills we should swallow We mingle our passions with our crosses and through impatience struggle with our yoke thereby making our burden the more heavy our afflictions the more grievous whereas did we by a divine art poise the burden we bear by casting one part upon God as to support and deliverance Ps 55.22 1 Pet. 5.6 7. and taking the other part upon our selves as to duty and obedience the weight of our present Cross would be the less and of our future Crown the greater But now amidst the many troubles of anxious thoughts and various temptations nothing more afflicts yea endangers the soul then the murmuring discontents of an envious impatience beholding perjury and murder violence and oppression made as steps to mount the throne whilst innocencie and integrity faith and truth are trampled in the dust Job who so bitterly complains of the arrows of God Job 6.4 ch 21.6 7 c. was deeply wounded with this dart of Satan this murmuring impatience of afflicted souls in an envious discontent griev'd that iniquity prospers in their enemies whâ—lst innocencie suffers in themselves But that we may calm this bosom-tempest and still this secret murmur we will give answer to the Souls Complaint whilst buffeted by Satan in this Spiritual conflict The Words of Complaint Oh the deep infidelity of my false heart and diffident impatiencie of my troubled soul wounding my Conscience and grieving my Spirit with a secret muttering yea sometimes an open complaint against God in the order of his providence Whilst I behold the prosperity of the wicked and the tribulations of the godly Babylon sit as a Queen and Jerusalem lie in the dust yea whilst I see Religion supprest with Violence Truth blasphemed by Heresie and Piety smother'd with Contempt and on the contrary I see Profaneness exalted Sacriledge magnified and Injustice prosper Upon these thoughts oh how does Satan suggest to my troubled mind and discontented soul no less then blasphemy either against Gods omniscience or against his justice Against his omniscience denying that all-seeing eye of his providence as if the world were govern'd blindfold and ready I am to say with those the Psalmist speaks of Ps 73.11 Doth God know and is there knowledge in the most High If this cloud be dispell'd this temptation repulst Satan he renews his assault and my affliction by blasphemous thoughts against Gods justice as if he regarded not the sufferings of the good notwithstanding their innocencie he continuing his blessings upon the evil notwithstanding their iniquity Mal. 3.14 So that I am ready to say with those profane persons and distrustful souls It is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we keep his ordinances Oh! these these thoughts of Atheism and infidelity of envy and impatience I find by sinful and sad experience they are a smoky vapor ascending from the infernal pit which clouds the judgment of my mind damps the comfort of my soul choaks the life of grace and even drives away the Spirit of my God 1. The Grounds of Comfort as to the Tribulattons of the Godly Job 5.6 1. The order of Gods providence Affliction cometh not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground it is not a thing that happens by chance but is ordered by providence Which providence of God as it is general over all the Creatures so is it special over all his Children in which special providence of his it is that as he afflicts in mercy and truth so he saves in wisdom and power 1. He afflicts in mercy and truth God it is that afflicts Men that injure or oppress Isa 10.5 are but his Instruments to chastise by his providence ordering their rage for the trial of the faithful their malice for the correction of his children Thus Deliver my soul says David deliver my soul from the wicked which is thy sword Ps 17.13 14. from the men which are thy hand O Lord. The wicked who persecute are Gods sword with which he wounds his hand with which he strikes Job 2.7 ch 19.2 Thus Job when Satan himself had smote him yet we hear his complaint Have pitty upon me have pitty upon me O my friends for the hand of the Lord hath touched me Thus God it is that afflicts and that in mercy God we say he hath paternum animum as well as maternum affectum his love is fatherly for care as well as motherly for tenderness As a Father then he will sometimes humble his children by afflictions sustaining them with his hand not as a mother still indulge them in delights cockering them on his knee And as he afflicts in mercy so in truth Hear David's acknowledgment unto God saying I know Ps 119.73 O Lord that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me Wherefore it 's well said that all the troubles and distresses which befall the faithful though amarae sagittae yet ex dulci manu Dei though bitter arrows yet from the sweet hand of God whose special providence over his children is such that he afflicts them even in mercy and in truth 2. He saves them too in wisdom and in power his wisdom ordering the means and his power effecting the work of their salvation notwithstanding all difficulties and seeming impossibilities of their deliverance all secondary causes being linkt together in one chain of Divine providence which the Heathens feigned to be fastened at Jupiters Chair and we Christians believe to be held in Gods hand Isa 41.10 in him is the sole ordering and disposing of them And therefore Fear thou not says God to the true Israel fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness Gods patronage and protection is not like that of men of which Salvian complain'd in his times that Hac lege defendunt miseros Salv. de gub Dei l. 3. ut miseriores faciant defendendo Upon this account they defend the miserable that they may make them the more miserable by defending them like the thorny bush to which
Rom. 6.6 Col. 2.11 but in the whole body not reserving any lust which we are not willing to sacrifice on his Cross Thus is our repentance sincere when free when full and thereby to mortifie sin is the readiest way to remove wrath and abate the prosperity of the Church's enemies 3. Let not the calamities of the Church deter thee or the prosperity of her enemies seduce thee from the stedfastness of thy faith the integrity of her cause and the innocency of thy sufferings Innocency is the surest guard Goliah fenc'd with brass is not so safe as a naked man arm'd with innocency and whilst we hold fast our innocency in all our tribulation God sets us forth not as Malefactors to suffer but as Champions to conquer and after conquest follows a crown The way of the Lord is our surest path and safest walk in this the Lord will be our stay and strength and his Angels our guardians He shall give his Angels charge over us Ps 91 11. to keep us in all our ways Observe it is in viis non in praecipitiis in our lawful actions not our unlawful presumptions we have no promise of support or protection unless we retain our innocency and uprightness Being beaten then with the storms and distrest with the tempest of Gods judgments take we heed how we offer to land at any shore of carnal interest or worldly policy This is dangerous to the soul lest it shipwrack its faith and its self Rather as is best prudence as well as piety keep we in the Main though pursued with the storm God will at last rebuke the wind and the sea and so still the tempest and save the ship cease his judgments and deliver his Church To wind our selves out of worldly troubles by entangling our selves in sinful courses is such a folly or madness rather as is like his who thinks to heal his wound by an invenom'd plaister or cure his disease with a poison'd potion or indeed to quench the flame by pouring in oil And as a sure testimony of our greater integrity do we with much zeal mortifie that corrupt root of all sinful desires our self-love From hence not only come many mens Apostacies but also most mens complaints yea all mens impatiencies How many in a self love are griev'd for publique calamities out of a respect to their private interest Whereas the upright heart is griev'd for the contempt of Gods ordinances and truth the profanation of his Sanctuary and service These these should be the subject of our complaint and the matter of our mourning But alas Ps 78 34.37 P◠147.9 how many with the Israelites when God smites them then they seek him but their heart is not right with him They call upon God as the Ravens because hunger-bitten or as the gaping Earth because parcht with heat Their devotion is from an impulse of nature weary of pain and seeking for ease not from a principle of grace griev'd for sin and suing for holiness Such men could they enjoy their corn and their wine their peace and their plenty their full trade and their full stock their full barns and their full purse they would neither regard the Sanctuary nor the Service neither the Ordinances nor the Worship no neither the truth nor the faith of Christian religion and righteousness Wherefore O thou afflicted soul do thou mortifie self-love to keep sound thine integrity that so neither the calamities of the Church may deter nor the prosperity of her enemies seduce thee from the stedfastness of thy faith the uprightness of her cause and the innocencie of thy sufferings 4. By how much God does the more increase his temporal blessings upon the wicked by so much the more do thou implore his spiritual graces upon his Church and her temporal deliverance out of troubles And thus the greater conformity thy prayers have unto Gods will the easier access shall they find to his ear and the readier acceptance at his hand What can give peace if God withhold grace what can bring succor if he refuse favor All wealth honor pleasure Scepters Crowns the whole World with its fulness or rather its vanity and emptiness cannot speak comfort where God strikes terror they cannot give rest if he refrain love But if the peace of God dwell in us Phil. 4.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall keep our hearts yea praesidio custodiet so Beza it shall keep them as with a Guard So that amidst all outward distractions and distresses all temporal troubles and trials Gods wing of providence shall be our shield of protection the comforts of his promises the encouragements of our faith and the secret of his presence the safety of our souls Indeed Gods grace is the only refuge from Gods anger And therefore as to get within him that strikes at us is the way to avoid the force of his blow so by a communion of prayer to close with God that corrects us is the way to escape the judgment of his wrath And to encourage us in the duty of prayer for the restoring of the Church and the subduing of her enemies know there is no power of earth or hell that is able to withstand the force of prayer Rev. 12.9 1 Pet. 5.8 Rev. 20.2 The Scriptures represent Satan unto us in a threefold resemblance of a Serpent a Lyon and a Dragon a Serpent for the wiliness of his subtlety a Lyon for the mightiness of his strength and a Dragon for the fierceness of his malice Now what is the Churches safest guard to repell and her surest weapon to overthrow this malice might and subtlety of Satan what but the importunity of fervent prayer See it in David Asa and Esther By prayer David befools the counsel of Achitophel 2 Sam. 15.31 2 Chro. 14.11 and therein defeats his and Satans subtlety Again by prayer Asa vanquisheth the Aethiopian host consisting of a Thousand thousand Esth 4.16 and therein he quells theirs and Satans might Lastly by prayer Esther disappoints the design of Haman and therein overthrows his and Satans malice And no wonder if prayer do overthrow the greatest malice might and subtlety of Satan and the world seeing it does fetch in the infinite grace power and wisdom of God and of Christ Yea prayer does besiege heaven and takes it by force Exod. 32.10 and puts God himself to a Dimitte me Let me alone yea such is the prevailing importunity of fervent prayer as breaks through a repulse and is not denied with a denial I will deliver you no more Judg. 10.13 14 15. saith God to Israel yet which shews what stock they came of right Israelites indeed they wrestle with God and conquer him before they conquer their enemies they first overcome God by the importunity of prayer and then through God they overcome the Ammonites by force of arms When God goes on in a resolved wrath and purposed desolation he stops the mouth of prayer
is the mind distracted with contrary opinions still restless and uncertain Whereas if the judgment be cleer the purposes will be resolute Dâ—â— 3.17 18. and where the purposes are resolute there the soul is at rest Ps 112.7 If then we would not change in these times of Changes then fix we upon him who is unchangeable For as Quicksilver so is the heart and soul of man still moving rolling and unsetled Jam. 1.6 till a spirit of constancie in the faith from God does fix and fasten it Men unsetled in faith will be unquiet in their thoughts and therefore keep faith Act. 24.16 but with a good conscience too that of S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men For where the Conscience is not pure it cannot be pacified It is as proper for sin to raise doubts and fears as for rotten flesh to breed worms Jon. 1 11 12. or a corrupt sink to send forth noisom vapors Yea sure I am the storm will not be laid whilst Jonah is in the ship nor the troubles of conscience ceased whilst guilt is in the soul Beware then above all things that thou yield not to sins commission to avoid the trouble of Satans temptation For what were this but to sink the ship to avoid the storm or to yield the Fort because of hard duty Jam. 4 7. 2. Resist Satan and let thy resistance be arm'd with fortitude fortified with constancie and constant in obedience To strengthen thy fortitude take in by faith the might wisdom goodness mercy truth and faithfulness of thy God take in by faith the power merits victory and triumph the passion resurrection and ascension of thy Jesus Thus thus strengthen thy fortitude And to fortifie thy constancie Rev. 2.10 2 Tim. 7 8. see the Crown to him that overcometh see the reward of life blessedness and glory to him who is faithful unto death That Satan is restless let that make thee watchful that he is malicious let that make thee resolute and as he renews his assaults with rage and subtiety so do thou renew thy prayers with fervor and importunity and fear not but that as Christ hath overcome Satan for thee so he will also overcome Satan in thee Rom. 8.37 and by a communion with him in his victory and triumph make thee more then conqueror through him that loved thee Thus art thou fortified in thy Constancie But thou must be also constant in thine obedience knowing this that we stand obliged to the performance of holy duties though God should never vouchsafe us the enlargements of divine comforts The gracious manifestations of Gods love they are the priviledge of some devout souls not the propriety of every sincere heart Isa 50.10 they are Gods bounty not mans right and therefore to be disposed of in a free act of goodness as to the gift and measure and in a fit order of wisdom as to the time and manner of bestowing Do we then our duties of obedience Ps 27 14. Joh. 5.2 c. Mal. 3.1 and in those holy duties wait upon God for his enlargements of comfort Lie still O thou distressed soul lie still at the Pool of Bethesda attend God in his Ordinances the Angel of the Covenant will descend yea he is descended the waters are troubled And know then it is his method first to trouble and then to cure first to afflict and then to comfort on purpose to make us prize the grace whereby we are comforted and cur'd and to hate the sin whereby we become troubled and afflicted Thus in all the tedious toil of our continued temptations resist we Satan having that resistance arm'd with fortitude fortified with constancie and constant in obedience 3. Stay thy self upon some promise of thy God And if thou search the sacred treasury of the holy Scriptures there is no Affliction which thou mayst not suit with a Promise which Promise do thou convert into prayer and press God in an humble importunity for the performance Only remember that though thy prayer be importunate yet thy soul be not impatient let Davids practice be thy pattern and his success thine encouragement We hear him complain how he is weary with his groaning and his soul even fainting in him with long waiting for his God My soul is sore vexed Ps 6.3.6 but thou O Lord how long O divine Aposiopesis At once he breathes and stops that breath he complains and checks that complaint his desires are hot which yet he gently cools with the awfulness of Gods majesty and silently reproves his own haste not Gods delay his own rashness not Gods forgetfulness And see the event of his devout prayer accompanied with an humble reverence The Lord hears the voice of his weeping and graciously grants his supplication v. 8 9. Such is Gods wisdom and goodness that he does but delay to grant till it be a fit time to give Nazarat 2. adv Euuoâ— So that with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen speaks it is a mercy to hold back his mercies and a favor to defer his loving kindness for that hereby the faithful become the better fitted to receive his blessings and to keep them their hands more pure their hearts more thankful that being the more thankfully received which is the more difficultly obtained and that the more diligently kept which is the more thankfully receiv'd Wherefore O thou languishing and distressed soul who stayest thy self upon the promises of thy God made unto thee in Christ as thou convert'st it into prayer so wait for its performance with patience Yea as the Prophet speaks of its vision Though it tarry wait for it Hab. 2.3 S. Aug. med 41. for it will surely come Veniet Redemptor tuus quia bonus est nec tardabit quia pius est Thy Redeemer will come for he is gracious and he will not stay his coming too long for he is holy holy in his faithfulness and truth making good his word his promise upon which he hath caused thee to hope Though for the present then Ps 119.49 such is the violence and continuance of thy temptation that thou hast luctam luctnosam a sorrowful combat yet be constant in thy prayer and patience and through faith in the promise thou shalt have laetam victoriam a joyful conquest Objections answered Obj. 1 Obj. 1. Alas the promises we have in Scripture they are general whereas the promise to Israel of deliverance from Egypt and from Babylon the promise to David of establishing his throne and kingdom and other the promises to the Saints and servants of God in Scripture they were given them in particular And thus if I had some particular promise of deliverance out of my particular distress I could then quiet my soul in a patient waiting for the salvation of my God being assured that if the Laws of Medes and Persians Dan. 6.8 much more
thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord c. See David here right according to his own Emblem Ps 42.1 even as the Hart panting after the water-brooks As the Hart so he wounded and pursued wounded with distress and pursued with danger he pants after the water-brooks eagerly longs after the refreshing comforts of Gods Sanctuary Division In the Division of the words observe two general parts Davids Petition with its Divine Reason 1. Davids Petition One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life 2. The divine reason of Davids Petition To behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire c. In the first General observe two Particulars the Object and the Acts. The Object 1. Emphatically asserted to be unum one thing 2. That one thing expresly described to be this That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life This the Object Secondly the Acts they are two The one speaks the inward affection that of desire the other speaks his eager prosecution of what he desired in seeking after it One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life This is Davids Petition to which he is moved by a twofold reason of Delight and of Devotion 1. Of Delight relating to the types and the antitypes the shadowing figures and glorious mysteries even a beholding the beauty of the Lord. 2. That of Devotion relating to the Oracle and the Altar the Incense and the Sacrifice to which answers our Preaching and Prayer with the Administration of the Sacraments And this David calls a visiting or an enquiring into Gods temple Thus the wounded Hart pants thus Davids troubled soul longs and longing breaths forth his distress concentred in this Petition One thing have I desired of the Lord c. Explic. First General Davids Petition and therein the Object emphatically asserted to be unum one thing In the beginning of the Psalm David keeps an Audit of his Souls accounts reckoning up the large incomes and lasting treasures of Gods bounty grace and mercy the sum whereof is this The Lord is my light and my life my strength and my salvation And now where shall David design his presence but where is his light where shall he desire his person but where is his strength where shall he wish his soul but where is his life and where shall he fix his habitation but where is his salvation even in communion with his God and this especially in the holy Worship of his Sanctuary No wonder then if above all things he desires and seeks after this one thing to dwell in the house of the Lord c. There are quos interpellat ad desiderandum finis ipse desiderandi says Tertullian well Tert. de paen Isa 57.20 There are those whom the end of one desire provoketh to another fluctuating souls whose motion is that of a troubled Sea in continual waves and no wonder if the Needle flit up and down the Compass whilst it is not fixt upon his Pole So no wonder if the mind of man wanders in multiplicity of desires whilst 't is not fixt upon Davids unum his one thing the enjoyment of his God 1 Pet. 2.11 We are here strangers and pilgrims The soul then pursuing sensual delights may haply find some Inne for a nights lodging but no house to make its home no object to make its center Our right habitation can there only be where is our true contentation our repose where is our rest and that is God and this by communion with him in Christ which communion with him in Christ we have in his ordinances and Christs ordinances are in Gods house Gods house then is that one thing above all things which most conduceth to the good of souls yea and welfare of States For no Nation ever prospered in which Gods house was prophaned and when judgment reacheth the Sanctuary who shall secure the City Ezec◠9 ◠6. Ps 75.3 Gen 32.26 The Prayers of the Church are the prosperity of a People whose united force is beyond that of men and Angels it prevails with God Eph. 2.3 it overcomes the Almighty not letting him go without a blessing But from whence is the Churches unity why from Loves union From which union of love it is that the faithful become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-members of the same mystical body fellow heirs of the same eternal Kingdom fellow-citizens of the same heavenly Jerusalem Yea such is the communion of love as not only makes many one but also one many hereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Chrysostom love not only combines ten thousand into one but also multiplies one into ten thousand For look how many lovers a man hath so manifold he is he hath so many eyes to see for him so many ears to hear for him so many feet to go for him so many hands to work for him so many tongues to speak for him and so many hearts to pray for him Thus the prayers of the Church by a communion of love become each mans in particular which are all theirs in the general And this is the incomparable benefit of the Churches Liturgy generally received that each one hath ten times ten thousand together imploring at the Throne of grace for that blessing he singly sues for Oh the sweet delight of those Closet contemplations when we could take a view of all the Congregations in England at one time of the Lords day in one place of the Lords house in one posture of bended knees and of lift up hands and eyes and hearts breathing one Prayer and closing one Amen! Oh how lovely were this in the sight of Angels how acceptable in the presence of God thus at once in an united force to wrestle with him for a blessing Gen. 32.14 as did Jacob And as such the Prayers such also the Praises of the Church the Militant being Eccho to the Triumphant Holy holy Isa 6.3 so in the Te Deum to Holy Lord God of Hosts that Song of the Cherubims in heaven and of Saints on earth Oh! had we this sacred Unity how soon would vanish our hateful Divisions O that all mens Ambitions and Covetousness were concentred in the Unity of David's desire to enjoy God in his Sanctuary to dwell in his house and devote themselves to his holy worship This the first particular of Davids Petition as to the Object emphatically asserted to be unum one thing 2. We proceed to this one thing as it is expresly described A dwelling in the house of the Lord. Of all the creatures God still hath some whom he calleth his as separate by a particular dedication and sanctification to himself Thus