ask the possession of it You cannot ask more then he is intended to give you He takes more contentment in giving I do not say then you can take in asking though that be much but then you can have in enjoying The Propriety you have in God is by a Mediator so that he by whose means you come by this Propriety hath all things put into his hand and he is in stead of God to you as it is said of Joseph that he was in stead of God to his Brethren He that hath obliged us to be whatsoever we can to those that are ours hath much more obliged himself to be all that he can for us Christ was made so great not for his own sake but for our sakes if he be set on the Throne it is for our sakes What shall we need to fear when we come to ask any thing of him He stands more obliged to us then we can be to ours because it is easier for him to do what his place calls upon him for then it is for us for the engagement is strongest where the performance is easiest and because we are dearer to him then ours are to us the dearest child is not so dear to its mother as we are dear to him and the hurt that would come to those that are beloved of God if he should fail them is greater then can come to children by the neglect of their parents Again The honor that Christ hath engaged is of infinite more concernment If a father be unnatural that is a stain upon him but what is a spot of dishonor upon a piece of dirt But if the Prince of Glory should be unnatural this would highly reflect dishonor upon him How may we walk with confidence and security and account our selves richer then Princes and stronger then Armies Though all this nothing concerns those that stand out and are as strangers and aliens that will call God Father whether he will or no that are not taught it from above but have learned it of themselves If a man cannot call God his Father and his God upon good grounds what a miserable state is that man in He is nothing he hath nothing and there is nothing between him and everlasting misery but a moment of time He goes up and down pleasing himself with vain shews pleasing himself with painted Butterflies but hath nothing to live on he is utterly unprovided for Eternity CHAP. IV. Saints have not only the Portion but the Spirit of Children Ingenious walking greatly requisite in those who pretend Interest in God God more easily pleased with his people then with others Tastes of Gods sweetness are obligatory Careless walking weakens hope in prayer Vse 2d IF the sight of our Interest in God be the life of Saints then let those who plead an Interest in God walk worthy of it It is precious for it is their life it is worth all that is required of you That which God calls for at your hands takes nothing from your happiness but adds much to it It is the Apostle's exhortation Col. 1.10 Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing Let me propound to your Considerations a few things to put you on to this First You are deeply obliged to please God and thereby to walk worthy of him for being in so near relation to him you have not only the portion but the spirit of children Because you are sons therefore he hath sent the Spirit of Adoption into your hearts Gal. 4. Other relations This was touched in the foregoing Sermon because they want strength are not always beautified and sweetened with a convenient spirit The relation of a husband cannot communicate a meek spirit to his wife nor the relation of a parent to the child because of their impotency their will is strong but their hand is short But God in that gracious relation wherin he stands unto his own gives them a Spirit like unto himself that so he may have Children answerable to himself and to his Will In Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his He that is joyned to the Lord saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.7 is one Spirit As persons conjoyned in marriage are one flesh so he that is married to the Lord that is brought into that near relation unto him is one Spirit they are one in their affections propensions dispositions and designs As we say of a multitude they are of one heart and of one spirit when they conspire in one so God and his people are one Spirit because they center in one he in governing them and they in subjection and subordination to him so one as things ruled and the Rule is one This argument the Apostle urgeth in 2 Tim. 1.7 God hath not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power Love and of a Sound Mind He had in the words before exhorted to this Therefore saith he I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God that is in thee by the putting on of my hands But Timothy might say How can I do that Why saith the Apostle we have received not the spirit of fear but of power It is a time of danger indeed and a hard work to preach the Gospel in such days as these but he that is gifted and fitted by Christ to that work hath received a spirit of courage and power by which he is able to mannage the things that he hath received of God Then I say having received the Spirit of children the obligation lyes the stronger upon you to walk as children This is a Rule The more proportionably a man hath received strength and ability to his work the more he is bound to it therefore the more of the Spirit you have received the more you are obliged And this Spirit of Christ in his people acts according to its primitive original Pattern as it wrought in Christ so it will work in you according to your proportion This moving will be strong because it moves upon the highest grounds that which is most taking and prevailing it moves upon hopes and sense of eternal life If you walk not so as to please God you walk with much frowardness of heart and your sin is the greater It 's true though you have received this Spirit yet there is much of the spirit of this world in your hearts but this is our duty and our work not to suffer the better Spirit to be quel'd and damp'd by the other But yet again that you may see it more fully remember if you please not God you act against your own Interest and advantage for your life is bound up in the favor of God when you therefore act against God you act against your selves The Apostle useth such an argument in Ephes 5. where he exhorts husbands to love their wives for no man ever hated his own flesh He means this that they being one the husband cannot cease to love his wife
some are sensless and therefore perceive it not will be filled with God Then a Strand will be set to that deplorable forgetfulness of God which hath swell'd to such unreasonable heights that it hath left the tops of very few mountains discernable above it Then those which have pure minds will be stirred up to run after their Lord The Children of the Kingdom will enjoy more of the promises and by them partake of a Divine nature in greater measures inherit more of the holy Land trade in true life be tyed in Heavenly Galleries having their eyes set continually upon Christ who with his will take away their hearts and keep them with himself and be a Covering of the eyes to them from all false ones for ever I have no more to adde but the continuance of these wishes and prayers humbly begging a remembrance also in yours for From my Study in Eton Colledg June 1. 1653. Your weak Fellow-servant in the hopes of the Gospel Nathanael Ingelo THE CONTENTS Of the Ensuing TREATISES I. The Fixed Eye or the Mindful Heart on PSAL. 25.15 Chap. 1. EYes of Saints set upon God In what sence Ever and how many ways Pag. 1. Chap. 2. The Way of Eying God in heavenly Meditation Thoughts setled upon God include much choyce and pleasantness Pag. 5 Chap. 3. Holy thoughts of God are mixed with awful love leave deep impressions transform the spirit and are the Trade of good Souls Pag. 13 Chap. 4. Disconformity to the forementioned Principles a great fault in Christians The Discovery of it Slumbering Eyes and wandering Hearts Pag. 18 Chap. 5. How the Soul comes to wander from God of divine Permission in this Case Discouragements pretended The heart pleased with something else more then God Pag. 28 Chap. 6. False Meditation subdueth not the heart A wicked heart hath no joy in the thoughts of God What 's done and not according to Rule is as if it were undone The heart which mindeth not God in a constant course is not right Pag. 33 Chap. 7. Man wanders from God having lost the government of his spirit Thoughts of God suit not perverted Souls are above them and against them Satan lord of the imaginations and master of the affections in those which forget God Pag. 43 Chap. 8. Perswasions to frequent Emanations and contentful abode of Soul with God Minding of God a work possible to Christians A work of the most exellent power Spiritual actions easier then bodily Contemplative life everlasting Natural propensity of Soul to God renewed in Saints A blessing of love in true mindfulness of God Pag. 51 Chap. 9. Jesus Christ a Pattern of Eying the Father Greatest mindfulness of God due God our best Friend All we have is in his hands and af his gift All Religion founded upon a due mindfulness of God Anguish awails wandering hearts Pag. 62 Chap. 10. Directions cencerning Eying of God Truths to be received in their power Saints are to keep in their hearts a meetness for their work Saints are to preserve their capacities for God Saints must maintain a deep sense of divine engagements A lively sense of necessities is useful Pure hearts are meet for divine converse The mind will'd without Sanctification Pag. 69 Chap. 11. Advantages that come by minding of God are to be duly considered The more we mind God the more we may Those which eye God most know themselves best Those which eye God most have most of God Forgetfulness of God cuts the nerves of Holiness Forgetfulness of God betrays to Apostacy Pag. 86 II. The Principal Interest or the Propriety of Saints in God on MICAH 7.7 Chap. 1. Interest in God the true Spring of Consolation How it is Propriety with Community Best because God is best by a Confluence of all Excellencies Pag. 92 Chap. 2. Interest in God of a perfect extent to all in God Gods love lasts is not broke off by offences is not hindred by distance Interest in God effectual to all good ends Divine friendship not burdensom Pag. 97 Chap. 3. Saints engaged to live upon God by the Law of Nature Love and Judgment Spiritual Relation is mutual True Resignation hath Conscience with Love A divine Power in and over Saints The grace and peace of Saints furthered as they mind their Interest in God Pag. 102 Chap. 4. Saints have not only the Portion but the Spirit of Children Ingenious walking greatly requisite in those who pretend Interest in God God more easily pleased with his people then with others Tastes of Gods sweetness are obligatory Carless walking weakens hope in prayer Pag. 110 Chap. 5. Saints Interest is through great Condescension Conjunction of God and his people very intimate A Priviledg restored and how by Jesus Christ Pag. 116 Chap. 6. God content to be ours though we had disowned him and depraved our selves Gods Interest in us chargeable to him God owns not all but some Peculiar frowns upon those which walk unworthy of God Pag. 124 Chap. 7. The Absolute Necessity of Interest in God God is either with or against his Creatures Whosoever hath not God hath no true Interest in any thing Pag. 128 Chap. 8. Interest in God most attainable Goodness and Fulness the Springs of Communication Desire easily and with most success revealed to God Poor strangers impotent persons not bar'd from God as from men Interest in God incomparable in the enjoyment Pag. 133 Chap. 9. Christians ought to clear their hopes from their Uncertainties Beleevers doubt through their own fault They that seek God must pursue their end Pag. 142 Chap. 10. God hath fully made known whom he loves Christians able to know themselves Gods Spirit strengthens the testimony of our spirits Christians hindered by Slothfulness and Discouragements Pag. 148 Chap. 11. Encouragements to endeavor the clearing of our Interest in God Love cannot hide it self Love will not deny what may be easily granted and is much needed Pag. 159 Chap. 12. They are not right who are careless to clear their Evidence Wisdom and Love make the Saints seek after full satisfaction Two sorts of Content in the want of God Pag. 164 Chap. 13. Those which seek not to clear their Interest offer inexpressible violence to their own Souls How the sense of divine Love gives strength to two useful Principles of holy life Pag. 171 Chap. 14. The Evil of Doubting as it is a denyal of the Truth of God a diminution of his Love and Favors and a mis-interpretation of his Dispensations The vexation of doubting to enlightened persons in an evil day Pag. 177 Chap. 15. Interest in God more knowable then any other and yet unknown to most The Reasons of both Pag. 183 Chap. 16. How the knowledg of blessed Interest in God may be attained Desires to have the question determined A spirit free to yield to the determination Arguments proper for the deciding of the question Those that have an Interest in God are much in holy resignation Of taking answers when they are
but he loseth so much of his own life because they are one therefore crossness and untowardness between them strikes them dead In unequal relations the inferior is more dependant and so should be more subordinate In the relation between the father and the child the child is the lower part and lives more upon the father and therefore ought to live more according to the Father according to his Will or else he acts against himself he offends his father to his own hurt And the goodness of Superiors is of greater influence and force then that of Inferiors Take a child in the goodness of a child be it never so high that cannot work so much to the good of the father as the goodness of the father doth for the child The love goodness and mercy of God who is infinitely greater then we is of unspeakable influence to our good and therefore to be tendered and preserved Sin in the nature of it is a violation of the Law that is of the Will of God the effect of sin is a provocation of wrath and anger Hence it is that the Wise-man speaks so in Prov. 8. He that sins against me wrongs his own Soul He offers violence he spoils his own Soul he becomes a robber of himself The nature of sin aims at the destruction of that against which it is set although it do not attain this effect because of the power of him against whom it is for it 's a denying of all that God is as that he is infinitely wise infinitely good c. Therefore the Apostle speaks of some in Tit. 1.16 that profess they know God but in works they deny him how is that that is by their works they declare that they do not acknowledg him as he is Men therefore that seek not to please God do no otherwise then as if men in a Ship should with Axes or such like Instruments seek to cut holes in the Ship wherein their lives lie To act therefore against God is to act most desperately against our own good and by this we see how we are engaged to please him Again take this in that God will more easily be pleased with his people then with others therefore they are the more bound He takes that well from some hands that will not pass from others It is true we are all under one Law and Rule God did not destroy the Law by taking his people into a Gospel state but established it nay the Law binds more then it did before only as the binding power of it is encreased so the rigor of it is abated that is the terms of obedience required are changed God said before If you do not this and this and every thing to the height of it you shall dye but he doth not hold his people to those terms now that we are reconciled to him all is due that is commanded but he accepts of what we can perform so that here is the difference The Law speaks to one sort to those that are in the flesh that are out of Christ as in Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Law to do them To the other sort whom God accepts in Christ he speaks as in 2 Cor. 8.12 He accepts according to what a man hath if there be a willing mind Now if less will pass with God and be well taken from thine hand then from others thy sin is greater then others if thou dost it not Further You are engaged much because you have had tastes of the sweetness of walking with God This is that which made that aggravation of their sin which God hath said he will not forgive Heb. 6. That they had tasted of the powers of the world to come But it 's a greater engagement to have a taste of God himself then to have a taste of the things of God to have a taste of that excellency and goodness that is in him is far a greater bond then to taste of all his favors Nay you have had a taste of the bitterness of wandering from God and neglecting him witness the blows and stripes of your own spirits and the frowns of God upon you How hath your unwary walking led you into a wilderness of darkness and fears and will you yet sin thus against God Have you not said in those dismal days as in Hos 2.7 I 'le return to my first husband for then it was better with me then now And have you given your selves to God again and again and do you now neglect him Will you not endevor to fulfil your promises Mark how God carried himself to his people that neglected him Jer. 2.20 Of old time I broke thy yoke and burst thy bonds and thou saidst I will not transgress thou saidst thou wouldst not but thou didst for under every green tree and upon every high hill thou wanderest playing the harlot Yet I planted thee a noble vine How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me It is a dangerous thing to break promise with God he will plead your own words against you That then is one main Consideration why such as plead an Interest in God should labor to walk in all pleasing to him from that Engagement that lies upon such to God A second Consideration is this Otherwise you will weaken the comfort of your hope and expectation in prayer How can you rationally with any satisfaction to your own spirits expect that God should fulful your will that are not willing to fulfil his How dis-ingenious and base is it for a man to wish in his heart that God would act so as to please him when in the mean time he is not careful to please God It doth horribly impose upon God it argues a most vile and base spirit it imposes upon Gods Wisdom upon his Goodness and indeed upon all that God is and God takes it very ill to be thus dealt with as he expresseth himself Mic. 3.11 The heads thereof judg for reward and the Priests teach for hire and the Prophets divine for mony yet they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us none evil can come upon us What followed Therefore Zion for your sakes shall be plowed like a field God will not be so put off This sin borders upon that in Deut. 29.20 If any man say I shall have peace though I walk after the imaginations of mine own heart my wrath and jealousie shall smoke against that man and I will strike out his name from under Heaven You come to me saith God and say O Father arise and save us in Jer. 5.3 but you do all the evil against me that you can or as some read it you do evil and you can or and you prevail that is Whereas before I told you how ready I was to do you all good you have now so tempted me and provoked me with your sins as to prevail with me
appointed his going forth as the morning that is as the Sun riseth and fails not as the Sun goes forth in its light and grows so will Gods appearance to his people be And as the rain comes upon the thirsty Earth and causeth all things to spring afresh so shall the manifestation of Gods love be to those that seek him without ceasing What if God appear not presently and you have not that full answer to your desires Though he come slowly yet he will be sure to come his staying is not a denyal and his not shewing himself is not an hiding himself He is uncovering himself and making way for the appearance of that which you would fain have a sight of He stays a while to make his love the more visible afterward by his absence he raiseth the mind and enlargeth the heart to desire and long after his presence and then his manifestation will be fullest God is as ready nay more ready to open then you are to knock he loves that thirst in you which is after himself he loves to be loved let him be pleased as well as you It may be seeking Christians are not so ingenuous as they should be We are not to seek him only but to please him Psal 119.2 Blessed are they that keep his Testimonies and that seek him with their whole heart That seek him and his Love and keep his Law Or it may be offences have been but not bewailed Impotency is the continuation of sin You are ever doing that evil which you have not been humbled for nothing nulls it but repentance and humbling your selves in the sight of God With what face can you say to God Let thy love O Lord be upon me when as you cannot say to God Lord I love thee That man cannot say he loves God that desires not to please him Can he say his heart is with God who suffers his heart to go out after other things Why should he desire so to impose upon God that God should love him whom he desires not to love and please it is unreasonable What father would be so dealt with that the child walking in stubborn courses would have his father shew nothing but clearness of countenance and love to him David all the while he was under clouds of guilt and sorrow wished that God would shew forth the light of his countenance to him but he suffered many wrackings in his Soul till he confessed his sins Psal 32. What God hath said he will have fulfilled Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not one tittle of his Promise If he hear not it is not because he is not a God hearing prayer but because you hear not him Isai 45.19 I said not unto the seed of Jacob Seek ye me in vain I the Lord speak righteousness I declare things that are right I speak as I mean my words and my heart agree in one What ever our offences have been if we be ingenuous in our approaches to God God will not look upon our offences but upon our persons In 2 Chron. 7.14 you have this promise If my people that are called by my Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their Land If thy Soul be sick and thou mournest after God that hideth himself from thee and humblest thy self and repentest of thy sins with abasedness of spirit before him he will hear CHAP. X. God hath fully made known whom he loves Christians able to know themselves Gods Spirit strengthens the testimony of our spirits Christians hindered by Slothfulness and Discouragements A Second Fault is That God doth give the manifestation of his Love and we receive it not we accept it not I will for the more full clearing of this lay down these Considerations First That God hath given to his people sufficient means for the knowledg of their Interest in him for he hath told us who they are that he loves whom he hath chosen and called out of this world and made his peculiar people If he had carried on a design of love to particular persons in his own brest no man could have known who was loved of him then we had been left in the dark for no man knows the things of a man but the spirit of a man as the Apostle speaks But as the Angel marked those in Jerusalem that were to be spared so there is a mark that God hath set upon his own by which they may be known to what fold and flock they do belong And indeed the end of the Scripture so discovering and setting forth the marks of the people of God is for this purpose that we may know our Happiness So in 1 Joh. 5.13 this was the end of writing his Epistle These things saith he have I written unto you that beleeve on the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may beleeve on the Name of the Son of God Wherefore was it that he had told them how many ways they might know that God dwelt in them and they in God Wherefore did he make so many descriptions of those whom God had set his love upon but that you may know saith he that you have eternal life because you are such And he hath not only done thus but hath given us understanding also by which we are able to know not only other things but our selves by which we may judg our selves and our actions and what is within us Neither hath he given us an understanding meerly natural but it is raised being illuminated with his own light that we may be able to find out the work of God in us an understanding that can reflect upon it self not only in way of simple vision and apprehension of what is within us but by way of argumentation and reasoning 1 Joh. 2.3 5. Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments And whoso keepeth his Word in him verily is the love of God perfected hereby we know that we are in him God hath given us understanding to reflect upon our selves in a way of reasoning to make certain to our selves our Interest in these things Nay he hath given us his Spirit that bears witness to our spirits that we are the sons of God Rom. 8. We must not think that was a special favor given to the Saints then but it 's common to all the people of God The Spirit of Adoption hath a double office of quickening and comforting and whosoever is a son hath the testimony of that Spirit There is a double Testimony A Testimony of the things themselves so that which is of God in us doth bear witness as the effect bears witness of the cause There 's another Testimony and that is of God himself by his Spirit and that Testimony doth help our spirits it helps the testimony of the things
Heb. 10. He saves those that come unto God through Him We are very apt rather to come to God as he is the great God our Creator then to come to him through a Mediator Therefore since there is no other way of life but this we had need be taught it Fourthly We are apt to think it almost impossible to live such a life as this Oh how do we greaten the matter of our duty We make mountains of mole-hills The fault is not in God but in us Certainly we might have more What saith the Gospel Doth it not call us to all joy all peace and to rejoyce always What 's the meaning of this Doth not God speak realities Shall we rather have hard thoughts of God then of our selves No no it is because we will not we thirst not It is not because water is not to be had but because we will not take the pains to draw it We say the Well is deep and the water will not come but he hath said he will meet those that rejoyce and work righteousness and that he will draw near to those that draw near to him and he will be as good as his word Certainly the fault lies either in our not seeking or not seeking as we should or in our not taking what is offered to us Do you not find that when you come to the door of grace it stands open and that God is ready to give the comfort and refreshings of a Father when you come overwhelmed with sorrows Is not he always the same Will he hear one prayer and not another If you did continue in prayer and seeking might you not have more It is very ill to fancy such impossibilities Why do you set bounds where God hath set none and make that so hard to get which God is so willing to give and so straiten your selves when you have license to ask Lastly We are apt to live much by patterns and examples We see how Christians live at the common rate it 's neither night nor day with them they have a trembling hope a mingled joy a mourning life sometimes bright sometimes clouded and this sight doth form other Christians to the same life and makes them say Seeing others live so I 'le live so too Examples are mighty Of what force was Peter's example of to the Galatians in another case Beggers form one anothers spirits to beggery and a poor kind of life Remember that counsel of the Apostle in Rom. 12. Be not conform'd unto this world Make no patterns to your selves further then they agree with the Rule that you are to go by How low did the Jews bring themselves by the traditions of their Fathers Their Fathers did so and so That 's a poor beggerly life Shall I say one thing more We are subject to slothfulness It 's strange that a Christian should be slothful of all men Should we not wonder if we saw a man slothful to gather up Pearls and Jewels of great worth Was ever any man so slothful that he would not take the pains to eat his meat when he was hungry Can a poor man be so slothful that he will not dig a Myne of Gold when he may have it What should make a Christian slothful What is it the difficulty of this Life Certainly if we say so we speak evil of God and his goodness as those Spies did of the good Land What is there difficulty in eating and drinking Our way all along is pleasure even the pleasure of living in God and enjoying of him Or is the work unsuccessful Dare you say you have let down your bucket and drew up nothing Dare you say that you went sincerely to God and could not procure him to hear you No you cannot for when his servants have come to him in their worst conditions he hath received and embraced them Could a man come to God in a worse condition then David did Psal 32. When he had run from God desperately and stayed out a great while you may well think how often he quenched the spirit in that time and contended with God and yet when he returned and came home God did not despise him God did not say to him Away wretch what hast thou to do to expect mercy but pardoned refreshed and cheered him and David tells it abroad For this saith he shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayst be found Say not then with thy self that thy coming shall be unsuccessful To that which hath been said we may add these pertinent Considerations 1. If we live in God and fetch all our peace strength and satisfaction from him we shall have the best enjoyment of all things else The taste of Gods love sweetens all enjoyments 2. This puts the Soul into a secure state against all dangers it cannot be ill with him that enjoys God It puts a man into a state of conquest and victory over all things When a man enjoys God and lies upon his Love he is above all things 3. This fulfils the end of our Creation For this was Gods appointment that we might be for the demonstration of his infinite Excellency and to the enhappying of our selves in the enjoyment of him 4. This keeps the Soul in a preparedness to all holy walkings and obedience When a man lives in God his heart is tuned to all duties CHAP. XXI Several Questions concerning the forementioned Doctrine answered Saints not always equally strong Some afflictions sweetened more then others Sometimes God will have his Rod smart I Proceed now to answer two or three Questions which concern this Doctrine and Truth 1 Quest Seeing the Saints have this way for Life and that their Interest in God doth so ballance their Souls whence is it that they are so frequently dejected so under hatches 2 Quest If Interest in God be so effectual to lift up Christians spirits whence is it that there are so many weaknesses deformities and contrarieties to God in their spirits 3 Quest Whence is it that they who have no Interest in God oftentimes seem to go through very great troubles with much strength 1 Quest If the Saints life springs from their Interest in God how is it then that they are so often broken in spirit that there dwells with them heaviness confusion and distraction oftentimes as with others Answer In the first place let us know that the Saints do not all live this life equally they have not all received such measures of grace that they can with equal magnanimity pass through their troubles in this world Some pass through trouble with a spirit of glory being highly lifted up above their sufferings So Paul in Rom. 5. We glory in tribulation In Heb. 10.34 They sâ—ffered joyfully the spoiling of their goods And Acts 5. when the Apostles were scourged they went away rejoycing that they were accounted worthy to suffer for the Name of Jesus Others go not on triumphantly but stedfastly though
To be able no otherwise to say I am thine is but sad In a family the meanest things that are scarce fit to be retained in the house are his to whom the house belongs All things are Gods even the meanest creatures and to have no other relation to God then this is but to be in the condition of things most contemptible In Deut. 10.14 God speaks of a better relation to his people Behold the Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lord thy Gods the Earth also with all that therein is Now the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them and chose his seed after them even you above all people as appeareth this day We must be his upon a better account then that of Creation There is a second Interest that God hath in man and that is acquired and that partly by Redemption God having redeemed both by price and power a certain number to himself out of the lump of mankind these in an especial manner are his So Isai 43.1 Thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and formed thee O Israel Fear not I have redeemed thee I have called thee by name thou art mine I have redeemed thee that is I have delivered thee from the great power of the mighty Ones that bare Rule over thee and under whom thou sufferedst hard things Therefore thou art mine This we know is a Law that is amongst men That those that are conquered and saved from the sword become his by whom they are so subdued There is a second acquired Interest that God hath in man and that is by Contract wherein man engageth himself to a resignation of himself to God In which sence David spake also when he said I am thine The Contract between God and man which is the foundation of this Interest is a mutual engaging to be each others according to their capacities I 'le not insist upon opening this description but will a little hint at some of those strange things that are in this Contract between God and man And First A word as to Gods part It 's a Contract where there is the greatest disparity that is imaginable between the two parties For here is he that is the highest and the other party that is lower then the lowest and meanest creature more contemptible then the worm Princes do not make contracts with beggers and yet they may have need of such though not for their assistance yet as theaters to display their bounty and goodness on God needs not the whole Creation to set forth his glory who is absolute in himself God al sufficient To this add that disparity that is between the things which God requires of man and the things which God engageth himself to do for man Was there ever such a Contract made Saith God Do you but your part which is not a thousand part of what is due and I 'le do my part What is that More then he did at first indent for I 'le give you an eternal immutable life and that in my own Presence and Kingdom You may cast your eyes from that again and wonder more at the Mediator by whom and through whom this Covenant this Contract was made God sends his own Son into the world both to bespeak man to be willing to enter into this Contract and to seal up the Contract with his own blood That part which concerns man his resigning of himself unto God which is an absolute parting with himself and putting himself everlastingly under the power wisdom and soveraignty of God to be commanded ordered and disposed in all things by him according to his Will I shall now set before you certain peculiar things that are proper to this engagement of man and resignation of himself unto God 1. In resigning of our selves to God there is an act springing from the greatest necessity and wherein there is the greatest liberty and freedom of spirit It was ill done to put these two into a contrariety and opposition Necessity and Freedom which do most perfectly agree By how much the more any creature is excellent by so much the more he is necessarily what he is and yet most freely such The Angels love God necessarily and yet most freely Nay God himself is good most necessarily and yet is so and doth good most freely This might be manifested in sundry Instances where there is some degree of necessity and also a very excellent freedom and willingness As for example Take two friends fully suited to each other their hearts are necessarily carried to mutual embraces and yet most freely It is in this case as in flying from evil a man flies from evil by a kind of enforcement and yet freely especially from some great evil when he sees there is a necessity to fly he cannot but fly and yet doth it freely In resigning of our selves to God that which is the fundamental reason of it lays upon the Spirit of a man a strong necessity and yet leaves that spirit in a very sweet and excellent freedome Psal 110.10 You have both these exprest Thy people shal be willing in the day of thy power in the day when thou putest forth thy power who wilt rule in the midst of thine enemies and raise up to thy self a Kingdome not onely among strangers but Rebels in this day of thy power thy people shal be willing yea willingnesses very willing they shall come to thee with all earnestness The will of a man may truly and in good fence be subject to compulsion and yet not limited in its freedom it may be compel'd how Not by meer physicall power acting upon the Spirit of a man but by a moral power by force of Arguments and Reasons proposed and set on the soul so Sauls servants compel'd him to eat bread 1 Sam. 28. And they were sent to command and to compell them to come to the Feast Indeed this inforcing and commanding reason is the great instrument of the power of God whereby he commands the spirits of those whom he loves into obedience to himself This is the key that opens the heart as it is said Acts 16.14 God opened the heart of Lydia Resignation of a mans self to God is from the efficacie of Gods mighty appearance and manifestation of himself to the soul of a man by which he is over powr'd and cannot deny God but notwithstanding this necessity he doth most freely fall under the power that acts upon him 2. A second thing concerning Resignation is that Self is saved by being destroyed it lives â—y death A man finds himself by losing himself and doth best enjoy himself by parting with himself There is a great mistake and it is the fascination and witchery of the powers of darkness upon the spirits of men that by Nature corrupt nature we are apt to think that the giving of our selves to God is the giving of our selves away to our loss whereas it is our making it 's not the straitning
and start aside it 's a sin that wants a name it 's so haynous in its kind so horrid in its nature What high injustice is this in thee to arrogate a liberty to thy self whē thou hast so solemnly parted with it into his hands whose it was Nay was it not after thou hadst experience of walking in thine own ways Didst thou not know what sin meant It 's an argument the Apostle useth Colos 3.6 Wherein you sometimes walked You know what it is to be in your sins Did you not in the day of your sorrow say in your heart I will go to God again Oh! how happy was it when I was with him How sweet were those days wherein I walked under the Government of Jesus Christ and was blessed with the constant communication of the counsel of the Spirit of life and peace Was not that thy speech which was the Churches Hos 2.7 I 'le go and return to my first husband for then it was better with me then now Now after all this to sin against God to indulge your selves to take a liberty and freedom to transgress against him to whom you have so engaged your selves what a breaking of heart what shame of face should this be When now thou hast put weakness upon the strongest bonds what hast thou said Christ is nothing of no account there is more in my sins then in Christ there is more in the satisfaction of my own desires then in the enjoyment of Jesus Christ for thou hast left one for the other Thou didst think it was best when thou didst give thy self to him and what injury hast thou done to the great and holy one Thou hast set light by him to whom to be given thou thoughtst it thy happiness thou thoughtst it wonderful mercy that he would enter into a new Contract with thee thou thoughtst that should be an everlasting bond of Love upon thy Soul that God should again take thee a Run-away that he should again admit thee a Rebel and a Traytor and hast thou forgotten all this Is God after all this to be set by that thou canst walk so and do as thou list Therefore upon all Considerations the sins of those that are much with God are greatest because upon their conversings parlies and treaties that they hold with God still they acknowledg themselves not to be their own but his such therefore shew not the candor and sincerity of a right spirit It 's a sad demonstration of a heart not under the power of divine Love and very much alienated from God that upon sight of such miscarriages is not broken and melted I do as much wonder at the spirit and doctrine of some men as at any thing in the world that are lifting the heads of Christians above all sorrow that would absent them from all mourning that would have them to be all joy Poor men their language is unnatural They must mourn and cannot but mourn if their hearts be right He that knows and loves God cannot but feel the pain and burden of offences against him It 's as impossible that Nature should cease to feel the smart of stripes and wounds as that a spirit filled with or acted by divine Love should not feel the wounds and wrongs that it offers to his Maker Hezekiah shewed indeed his frailty 2 Chron. 32.26 But notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart That notwithstanding is a word to be observed When a mans heart waxeth proud before God and he can lift up himself and transgress with an high hand when the heart glories in any thing and by the brightness of other things a darkness is cast upon the spirit towards God when this man comes to be humbled it 's a great thing Hezekiah was in such a case as this yet notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself Vse 3 We may further improve this Truth by way of Exhortation partly to those that yet have not given themselves up to God that have not said in truth I am thine and partly to those that have done it There is a generation of men that are under no bonds to God they acknowledg him not that are free from righteousness as the Apostle saith Rom. 6.20 They have not so much many of them as felt the breakings of God and those contentions whereby he strives with their unkindness and frowardness they never so much as came to debate the matter or treat with God about this great business whether they should be his or no but live at peradventures and are at their own swinge walking after the will of the mind and of the flesh as the Apostle speaks There is another sort that have felt many tuggings of God upon them God hath been hammering the matter upon them but they have stood it out sometimes he hath brought them upon their knees and to tears nay to self-judging to condemn themselves in his presence sometimes they have cryed and roared in the presence of God such wretches there are in the world which have out-lived the workings of the power of God upon their spirits as those of whom it is said Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall no longer strive with man God spoke of that evil and wretched world that though he had striven not only by the preaching of Noah and of the Ark which was a very loud Sermon but also with his Spirit for there is no generation of men that are ever free from those contests of God but the light that is in them hath pleaded Gods cause against their wickedness and lusts Well saith God now I see they have stood out all this while my Spirit shall no longer strive with man Let them alone as he said concerning Ephraim Hos 13. The Apostles language 2 Cor. 10.5 besides many other Scriptures supposeth that there is often a fight in our Souls against God Bringing every thought of the heart into obedience That word bringing into obedience signifies a taking of the spirit of man as with a sword or spear God comes and arms himself against men and when he comes thus in power they yield themselves to him and they are blessed But there are such that always stand out that resist the Holy Ghost as those stiff-necked Jews in Acts 7. Or if they yield yet not in sincerity not in truth but as it 's said Jer. 3.10 Yet for all this her treacherous Sister did not turn to me with the whole heart but feignedly or in falshood Now concerning these persons I shall say but very few words Canst thou come to God with such a spirit as this What state art thou in O man Thou must not thou canst not forbear praying At one time or other the worst in the world lift up their eyes and hearts to their Maker The very Heathens do not cannot withhold from this If not the light that is in men yet their straits and afflictions will cause them to come as Petitioners to God and wilt thou come to God
with a petition in one hand and with weapons of defiance in the other hand Wilt thou come to God with the face of a Petitioner and with the spirit of a Rebel What infinite boldness is this with God I have before shewed you the horridness of this kind of prayer and the horrid things that such prayers impose upon God But consider further whilest thou retainest a resolution and bent of heart set towards thy sin and yet wilt pray thou art in a necessity of sinning do thou what thou canst If thou dost not pray thou sinnest by breaking of a Law of Nature which enjoyns the creature to acknowledg his dependance upon his Maker by prayer and supplication If in the day of thy distress thou comest to ask mercy thou sinnest more So that thou art as a Ship between two Rocks that must needs perish upon one there is no escaping so is thy Soul in the midst of sin and to be in the midst of sin is to be in the midst of death And thou every day makest thy condition more unhappy that wherein thou blessest thy self and rejoycest thy prayers are so far from being any reasonable relief unto thee that they are matter of amazement and astonishment to a man that rightly understands What have I done may such a man say I have been with God and mock'd him to his face I have called him Lord but I am not his servant but serve my self and divers lusts I called my self his Subject but I am a Rebel Nay this is a blaspheming of God Men commonly are afraid of blasphemy but thou that comest to God praying but sinning that is having thy heart upon thy evil ways thou that comest praying but not yielding thou blasphemest God to his face thus to make thy self equal with God is blasphemy it was so judg'd in the heart of that people Joh. 10. but they mistook in the Case But when thou makest thy self the chiefest of thine own affections thou makest thy self equal with God whose priviledg and supremacy it is to be chiefest in the affections of his Creature and to have the highest superintendency over the spirits of his people to command them Nay thou makest thy self greater then God because thou thinkest it nothing to transgress to offend and offer violence to his Commands but thou takest all pleasure and contentment in gratifying thine own wicked spirit Thou makest that greatest to which thou most yieldest when thou then yieldest unto sin and leavest God hast not thou made thy self greater then God Very high dishonors are offered to God in such a course past expression Mark that in Mal. 2.2 If you will not hear and lay to heart to give glory to my Name I will even send a curse upon you If you will not hear and yield your selves to my Commands to give me glory As if he had said If you will not acknowledg me to be what I am but deny me if you will not submit to the Authority and Wisdom of my Commands I 'le send a Curse upon you And by this means thou dost as thou canst destroy that which doth only difference thee from Devils for the Devils are cast into that condemnation which shall come upon the world but Man hath a possibility to escape Now thou dost what thou canst to make thy Salvation impossible and to fasten and tye up thy Soul to the condemnation of those apostate Angels whilest thou refusest to turn unto God from whom thou hast departed and dost not acknowledg the grace and mercy of that open door for poor creatures to return again to the God of mercy And be sure of this If you be not the Lords the Lord will not be yours You have such a passage They are not mine break down their bulwarks I 'le take no knowledg of Jerusalem because she takes no knowledg of me What a thing is this that God stands with both hands to give out mercy to the Creature as it is said of Wisdom Prov. 3.16 Length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour and that the Creature shall bend both his hands against God Such a passage you have in Micah 7.3 Men do evil with both hands earnestly Now then consider how much it concerns every one of you that have not yet given your selves to God to do it now What an unhappy creature art thou if God shall shut out thy prayers when straits fears and death come Thy prayers are no more then the howling of Dogs and Wolves because thou prayest to God and thy spirit is not given up in obedience to him I shall now turn to those who have given up their spirits to God You must do it still when you come to God Faith and Love which are two fundamental graces of universal influence to all the rest are to be continually used and acted Others are to be acted upon occasion but these have their constant work every day these must be acted When I say that upon our coming to God there must be a giving up of our selves to God I mean these three things 1. That there must be a willing and hearty acknowledgment that we are Gods and not our own We must see the bonds of God upon upon us and like it and own it we must hate all other freedom that is offered us we must account it true bondage and be glad that such a day is come wherein God took us out of our own hands and hath taken us into his Psal 119.106 I have sworn and will perform I confess Lord that is my hand and my bond I will not for a thousand worlds go back Certainly there should be no other spirit in you when you come to God but to acknowledg your selves to be his and under his Commands a Christian cannot but do it Partly because he sees his happiness lies in this he sees in his coming again to be the Lords there is a restitution of all that blessedness from which he fell by his Apostacy By becoming Gods he sees that God also is become his How may the Soul raise it self in joy when it can say this God is my God all he hath and is is mine he is mine to all Eternity The acknowledging of this engagement wherein he stands to God and of Gods engaging of himself to him is all his happiness from whence springs all his power and confidence in prayer I can go boldly saith he to Heaven because God is my God I can go and ask all things because he is mine and I am his Partly also because he loves him with a love of complacency the Soul hath all contentment in him Never did a spouse speak to her husband whom her Soul loved to the highest more willingly and say I am thine then the spirit of an upright man saith to God Lord I am thine And he loves him with a love of thankfulness Hast thou given thy self to me saith he and shall I then withhold
this will banish those fears from the Soul and make a man to go out of the body with peace as one that knows whether he is going even out of an unquiet Sea to a quiet Harbor which he sees fair before him and where he shall be free from danger This is that which John speaks of 1 Epist 4.17 Herein is love made perfect the love of God is herein perfected hath its utmost sweetness efficacy and operation that we may have boldness in the day of Judgment It doth secure and quiet our spirits and doth answer all sad thoughts of the Soul that we may have boldness in that day because as he is so are we in this world Because as he is faithful and real in his love to us so we are faithful and real in our love to him so that there is a firm union and conjunction between God and us Another Advantage is that Assurance makes the heart to long after God and to be with Jesus Christ That most assured Saint Paul was by faith put into this temper and having a sight of those things within the vail and looking at them as before him how abundantly as one burdened doth he groan and sigh that he may be in the enjoyment of those things whereof he had a sight and hope So that it is of very great concernment for a man to know God to be his God in reference to his appearance before him at the last day My Exhortation to you all therefore shall be That you would labor to make your Interest certain that you may be able to say with Job I know that my Redeemer lives and as David in the Text I am thine A man cannot be a good man that drives not after this he knows not God at all that hath no desire of this assurance That man also what ever he knows of God is in a sad miserable and wretched condition that doubts whether God be his God that lives floating between hope and fear and yet lives without vehement desires and endeavors to have this question cleared Certainly you cannot be right if you have not such a desire of the enjoyment of this Interest to be able to say God is my God This we are to seek in truth and purity not to the quieting of our spirits only or to the indulgence of the flesh as many seem to long after the consolations of God that know not what they are but that God having so filled us we may become a sacrifice to him You must effectually prosecute this also in the utmost improvement of your might and power without ceasing till you have obtained it till you have that word sealed up in your Souls Son daughter be of good comfort for thy sins are forgiven thee lift up thy head for thy Maker is thy Husband It is the greatest folly in the world for Christians to pretend a life of faith and cut the life and sinews of just and necessary endeavors for the attaining assurance of the love of God A man should take heed of presuming upon God when he cannot say God is his God and he must take heed of pretending to live a life of faith in such a way that weakens his endeavors after assurance Certainly the same principle that carries a man from the world to God will make a man restless till he knows that God is his God and what things are contained in that Interest which things as it is a great grief not to know so if they be clouded it is usually from Gods displeasure by which the Soul is left fluctuating tossing rouling and wasting it self in anxieties clouds and perplexing doubts I say not that it 's always from displeasure because God hath other ends then he hath acquainted us withall yet I say usually it is so But as a wise father full of bowels if he be strange to his child or take any relation of love if it be clouded and darkened it usually betokens all is not well something is amiss So I say thou mayst justly suspect and take occasion to make a search what is the difference between God and thee and what is the cause of those clouds that are interposed between God and thy Soul In Isai 54.8 God tells us the spring of this evil In a little wrath for a moment I hid my face In a little wrath So that the suspending of comfort from our spirits leaving the Souls of men dubious and anxious about this great matter doth usually betoken displeasure all is not well FINIS