did he ever revenge himself Nay when he was reviled saith Peter he reviled not again but suffered quietly c. He had satisfied Eyes What Covetousness was he ever guilty of he had a bag indeed but it was for the poor he had not an hole where to hide his head Yet he neither coveted the holes of the Fox nor the Nests of the Birds He had Benign Eyes upon whom did not he look kindly To whom was he not ready to do good He had meek and lowly Eyes he says of himself Learn of me for I am meek and lowly He had simple Eyes no guile was found in his mouth no deceit in his heart no doubleness in his actions c. He had clean Eyes he delighted not in filthy conversation not in filthy company or places if he came at a publicanes and sinners house it was to make it clean and a fit habitation for his holiness He had mournful Eyes he wept over Hierusalem as truly as a Turtle that hath lost its mate He hath chast Eyes not only in a carnal but a Spiritual sense all his delight is in the Sons of men in the Souls of his People By Doves Eyes Christians you shall be like the Lord Jesus Christ whose Eyes you see were such and like the holy Spirit which descended in the form of a Dove and what more honourable for a Christian then to be like Christ for a godly man then to be like God Thus Thirdly you shall distinguish your selves from those who only glory in appearance The Apostle tells us of some that glory in appearance only but not in heart 2. Cor. 5. 12. Now it should be the great business of a Christian to distinguish himself from these Christ tells his disciples Joh. 8. 31. that if they would continue in his word then they should be his disciples indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there are many in the World that are so but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in shew and appearance The Doves Eye is a certain note of a disciple of Christ many have the countenance of Doves and the voice of Doves but they have not the Eye of Doves an Hypocrite may groan like a Dove and may look like a Dove in some part of his conversation but yet want the Eye of a Dove The Eye is a noble part of the body it discovers a man much and it serves him much Our Saviour saith the light of the body is the Eye Matth. 6. 22. if therefore thine Eye be single thy whole body is full of light But if thine Eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness He speaks chiefly of the danger of an evil Eye and its unprofitableness to the body It is true concerning the Soul an evil Eye discovers an evil Soul in a great measure O labour therefore for Doves Eyes that you may have an evidence to your own Souls and that you may by them evidence unto others that you are such as glory not in appearance only but in deed My last argument shall be from the honour repute which by them you will gain to your Master to his Gospel in the World It is one of the great things that a Christian hath to take care of that the name of God for his sake be not Blasphemed in the World and on the contrary it should be his great care so to order his conversation as that by the ordering of it he may in the World gain a name and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel and bring up a good report of the land of Canaan and the Inhabitants thereof Now could we find a Christian that were harmless and innocent doing injury to none slow to conceive wrath ready to forgive free from greediness of the World and covetousness after that to which he hath no right kind and courteous meek and lowly simple in heart and of a single Eye tender spirited of a clean conversation chast and sober of a broken Spirit observing his waies and circumspect in his walking how lovely would this Christian appear even in an evil World How likely were a company of such Christians to recover the honour which others have lost to Religion in the World Oh! let the honour of the Gospel move you that the report of your faith may spread and others may see that Religion is not an empty thing and glorify God in the day of their visitation Obj. But you will say are these things in our power Can we create to our selves Doves Eyes If not why do you persuade us And why do you not rather spend your time in praying to God for us Sol. I answer that for the habits of these graces the exercise of which I call to you for they are the gift of God The Creator gives the Dove its Eye and the God of grace must create in men Doves Eyes But yet 1. As to the outward exercise of these things some of them at least much lyes in a mans power in the use of that Common grace which the Lord denies to none till by their abuse of it they have provoked him to deal so with them they may doubtless restrain their hands and tongues from acts of cruelty revenge and malice their bodies from unchast acts c. it is true these acts as done by them cannot please God because not done from a right Principle to a right manner nor to a right End nor are they able to mortify their inward lusts but the outward acts are their duty and would take off much of the reproach cast upon Religion 2. For those who have received the habits of regenerating grace 't is true the Lord must excite them to action And the Lord by the influence of his Spirit must also assist us in the exercise or we shall do nothing but these are such influences of graces as he 1. Grants to use in the use of our indeavours And such influences 2. as he ordinarily doth not deny to his Children putting forth themselves to what they can in the performance of their duty So that asserting yet those great truths of God That it is the Lord that gives to will and to do The first by the infusion of the habit of the grace of regeneration the second by the influence of his grace upon his People exciting those habits to exercise and assisting them in their exercise yet there is room enough for exhortations of this Nature Sermon LVIII Canticles 1. 16. Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea pleasant also our Bed is green IT is generally agreed that the person spoken to in this verse is he who is in this Song represented under the notion of a Beloved by which I have told you that we understand the Lord Jesus Christ and the person speaking is she whom he calls his Love the fairest amongst women c. By her the Caldee Paraphrast all along understands the Congregation of Israel which by that antient Interpreter is
communion with Christ 1. Some will pretend to the Spirit as their rule They have an anointing they tell us which teacheth them all things and so pretend to follow the motions and impressions of the holy Spirit But there is no certainty in this pretended Rule for all Spirits are not of God The Spirit hath given us the Rule of the word for you heard before That all Scripture is given us by divine inspiration and that it is able to make the man of God wise to Salvation The Spirit teacheth nothing contrary to the Word The Word directs us to follow the footsteps of the Flock There can be no certainty in pretended impressions from the Spirit which are contrary to the Word of God no nor any security For all such pretences must Issue in the deceit of our own hearts we following our own lusts and imaginations in stead of the holy Spirit or which is worse the impressions of the evil Spirit Yet this is the rule of all Enthusiasts 2. Others call out to us to follow the Church the practice of the Church in all ages And indeed if they could make appear to us what that was they would say something but what certainty can there be in this rule while they that talk of it can neither make that Church appear to us nor yet what their practice was we know who were the Church in the Apostles age and we know what their practice was by the records of holy Writ but who the Church were and what their practice was in latter ages we cannot tell and by consequence there is no certainty in this rule we may follow the steps of the Synagogue of Sat an instead of the steps of the flock of Christ 3. The Papists call to us to follow Traditions and indeed for the Traditions delivered us by the Apostles we see reason to follow them and if they could by an unquestionable record make out any thing to us which had been received as an Vniversal Tradition of the Vniversal Church we should have a great respect and reverence for it but for unwritten Traditions which the Papists put into an equal ballance with the Word of God for Christians rule being as they pretend delivered as rules by the Apostles to the Church of God as we know no need we have of such so we have no certainty that any such things were ever so delivered and therefore can see no security in receiving them or giving any ear unto them 4. There is a 4th sort that in distresses are much for seeking God and walking according to the impressions we have upon such seeking this practice is founded upon an excellent bottom 1. A Precept for the owning and acknowledging of God in all our ways 2. A Promise that he will direct our steps Prov. 3. v. 6. Seeking of God at all times at such times especially is the great duty of Christians and if rightly done cannot be in vain but for the right performance of it a Christian must have respect both to the matter of his Prayer and also to the manner of it It is to the matter of our Prayers onely that I am here concerned to speak As to this our rule is that it must be something consonant to the will of God I mean his will revealed in his Word Hence it followeth 1. That when God hath revealed his will in his Word for or against a thing which we are about to do for us to seek God whether we should do it or no forbear it or no is to tempt and provoke God This is like Balaams going to inquire of God whether he should go with the Messengers of Balak after that God had plainly told him he should not go We ought to acquiesce in the determination of Gods will in his Word whether in the Precepts or the examples of the Servants of God recorded there and for things forbidden to avoid them for things commanded to do them here 's no place for seeking God as to the doing or forbearing so that although for things of this nature as to what God hath commanded us to do we may and ought to seek God for direction help and assistance in the doing of them And as to things forbidden we may seek God for strength to avoid them and all temptations to them yet we may not seek God whether we should do the things so commanded and forbear the things so forbidden yea or no. Such seeking of God is but asking leave to sin against him 2. In particular actions as to which Gods Word hath not particularly directed us it is our duty to seek God for direction and having first well considered the general rules of the Word of God if we find the action neither commanded nor forbidden according to them we may for ought I know attend the impressions we find upon our Spirits after such sincere and serious seeking of God And take them to be the will of God concerning us as to such actions But this is but a digression from my subject This is enough to shew you there is no such security or certainty in any direction we can have as in following the footsteps of the flock of Christ the prints of whose feet we find in the Word of God 2. It is as reasonable that we should feed by the Shepherds Tents that is attend upon Divine institutions if we would enjoy any fellowship and communion with God for it is unreasonable to expect the influences of Divine Grace in any way but such only as God hath promised he will give them in much less in the neglect or contempt of any such means as he hath appointed The promise is Exod. 20. 24. In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee and bless thee Our communion with God depends upon his coming to us and blessing us Where God will come unto us and bless us there we may there we shall have communion with him Now where will God come unto us and bless us In all places where he recordeth his Name to dwell what doth that signify but in all his sacred ordinances and institutions Conformable to this is his promise in the New Testament Mat. 18. 20. Where two or three are gathered together in my name that is at my command or by my order there am I in the midst amongst them and to his Ministers his promise is made Mat. 28. 19 Go you therefore and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you alway to the end of the world Where can we expect communion with God but where he hath promised to be with his People to meet them and to bless them Observe from hence how unreasonable they are that talk of a communion with God or expect any such thing who make not the Word of God a light to their Feet who go not
they have in them cravings and lustings of the flesh David prayeth hard for his life Psal 39. ult and Abraham for a Child and Job for health Jonas is fond of a gourd and Agur beggeth food convenient for him and although Rachel may be too importunate for a Child and Paul for the removal of the Thorn in his flesh yet there is a lawful desire of the good things of this life allowed yea commanded us in that form of Prayer which our Saviour prescribes We are bid to pray Give us this day our daily bread But the Child of God first seeks the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof according to our Saviours prescript Mat. 6. 33. I remember David hath such an expression as this Psal 27. 4. 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 to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his holy Temple If a Child of God had but one thing to ask of God this should be it that it might behold the face of God this is that which it would seek after and look out for Yea this is that which their Souls desire eminenter These are the things for which they will wrestle with God and will not let him go until he shall bless them with them Other things they will beg but these are the things their Souls will spend their strength in and lay the stress upon did you hear the secret pleadings of the awakened Soul with God you would easily discern the difference between the desires it hath towards outward things and those which are in it towards Spiritual and distinguishing mercies and be easily able to say Those are the things that this Soul would have pardon of Sins sense of Gods love victory over its lusts and corruptions strength and inlargement of heart in the service of God These are the things which this Soul would have It asks a Ring but the kiss is that to which it hath most mind And all this must be understood of the gracious Soul when it is itself not in its fits of passion and infirmity then Elijah and Job and Jonah and any of the Children of God may speak according to the flesh the law of their members prevailing against the law of their mind hath brought them into captivity to the law of Sin These things being premised for the explication the truth of the proposition will be abundantly evidenced from the example of the man according to Gods own heart holy David and that in several Psalms Psal 4. 6. Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me There be many that say who will shew us any good but Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon me The light of the Sun will please others but 't is only the light of thy Countenance that will please me Psal 63. v. 1. 2. My Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is To see thy power and thy glory in the Sanctuary The sight of the Sanctuary will please another but nothing will please David but the sight of Gods power and glory in the Sanctuary Other-where he prays that the Lord would shew him his way and unite his heart to fear his name That God would come unto him and shew himself unto him c. Nor is it hard to find out the reason of it which lies In the sanctification of the renewed man he hath a new heart given unto him A new heart signifies a new understanding a new will and new affections New not as to the faculties themselves but as to the motions and operations of them in which the soul still follows the dictates of reason and proceedeth in the method of a rational creature 1. The Soul is renewed in its understanding from whence proceedeth a new notion and Judgment concerning things The old Serpent cheated our first Parent when he persuaded her that the fruit of the forbidden Tree was to be desired because in the day she should eat thereof her Eyes should be opened and she should be as God knowing good and evil for from that day forward she was struck blind and the Disease according to Divine ordination proved hereditary All we who are the Children of Adam are born blind neither able to take the true notion of good and evil nor yet to make up a Judgment concerning either discerning the things that differ but naturally every one calleth Evil good and good Evil. The Psalmist saith that man stood not in honour but became like the Beast that perisheth In this much like the Beast indeed that we are meerly led by the conduct of a sensitive appetite not discerning those things which are truly and spiritually good and the reason of this is our not understanding our selves for the nature of all good lying in a conveniency and sutableness of the object to us a knowledge of our own state and wants must reasonably be supposed to a right judgment concerning good and Evil. But amongst other Evils accrewing to us by the fall this was one that we are by nature Blind as to our own State and Strangers to our own Souls not understanding that we are by Nature Children of Wrath poor miserable blind and naked but conceiting that we have need of nothing Hence it is that the Soul is not able to judge of the goodness of Union and Communion with God pardon of sin reconciliation with God c. Nor indeed doth it come to understand it until the Eyes of the understanding be opened by the application of Spiritual Eye-salve laid on by the Finger of the holy Spirit of God Till this time the Soul seeth no beauty in Christ nothing for which he should be desired The goodness of Riches and Pleasures and Honours it knows but as for that transcendent goodness and Excellency which is in Christ what it is it doth not understand Hence it naturally desires life health riches honours success in worldly affairs and such common gifts as may serve it in the world with credit and applause and reputation But for spiritual things for distinguishing tokens of love it is not able to take the heighth and length and depth and breadth of the love of God in them nor to discern their conveniency and sutableness to its undone state and condition hence with the Cock in in the Fable it prefers the Barly Corn before that Pearl of great price for the purchase of which the wise Merchant is willing to sell all that he hath But now the regenerate soul hath its Eyes open to discern the things that are excellent and as it is taught by the Spirit of conviction the truth of its natural and unregenerate Estate so its Eyes are opened to see that nothing but the special love of God in Christ is a good suitable to it or worthy of its caring for
which the Soul apprehends of obtaining all grace Let a thing appear to us never so beautiful never so useful yet if we lye under an apprehension of its impossibility to obtain it this moderateth its desires after if nay extinguisheth them for our Reason forbids our Wills to move after things which we apprehend not possible to be obtained But such is the goodness of God towards us that there is no dispensation of his love but he hath somewhere or other promised and revealed to us as possible to be obtained by us Now good apprehended possible to be obtained by us is the proper object of the desires of our Souls we are told that it hath pleased the father that in Christ all fulness should dwell And that the fulness of the God-Head dwelt in him bodily 1 Col. 19. 2 Col. 12. and of his fulness saith the Evangelist Joh. 1. 16. We have all received grace for grace To pass by other interpretations of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some understand Grace suited to all that Grace which is in Christ There is no habit of Grace in Christ suited to our human nature and state but believers may receive something from him in proportion to it There is no love of God to Christ which fitteth us or may fit us in our proportions but we may receive Nay there is no love of God which floweth from the fulness of the Divine Nature of which we are capable but the believer may receive For saith the Apostle the Fulness of the God-Head dwelt in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bodily In him as our mediator that he might communicate to those that are the members of his body and that I take to be the properest sense of those words Of his fulness that is of the fulness of the God-Head which dwelt in him as Mediator and dwelt in him so as that he could communicate it to those that believed in him Hence he tells us that all power was given unto him both in Heaven and Earth and that the Son of Man had power upon Earth to forgive Sins and that God had given unto him Eternal life that he might give it to whomsoever he pleased so as the Soul apprehends all grace not only beautiful and lovely but also as possible to be obtained by it from Christ and having such apprehensions of it conjoined with its before-mentioned apprehensions of the beauty and excellency of it and the usefulness of it with respect to the various and renewing wants of the Soul it must necessarily desire it This notion may as the other which I have handled shew you 〈◊〉 difference betwixt the desires of the Hypocrite and those of the true Child of God after Grace There may be some desires after Grace in Souls in whom there is no true and real change of heart but they are either terminated 1. In the common gifts and graces of the Spirit Or 2. in the Comfortable manifestations of it 3. Or at furthest in some particular dispensations of it The common gifts and graces of the Spirit of God may be desired by those in whom the love of God doth not dwell By common gifts I mean knowledge utterance an ability to pray to discourse of the things of God c. And the reason is because these may serve a double end which an Hypocrite may have 1. His honour and credit and reputation in the world Common gifts and graces may give Men and Women a great name in the Church of God though they will give a Man no place in the Kingdom of God They may especially as times may go much serve a man both as to his lust of gain and covetousness and also as to his lust of Ambition and seeking after the honour which is from men and serve him to appear as some body in the world and to make him pass for a great Professor and help him to preferments also in the Church and so serve his Belly You have an eminent instance of this in Simon Magus Acts 8. 9. of whom it is said That he used Sorcery and bewitched the People of Samaria giving out himself to be some great one v. 13. He beheld the signs and miracles that were done this Man now to augment his reputation and probably that he might be in a capacity to get more mony than he had been able to get by his tricks of Hocus Pocus and diabolical Arts seeing the Apostles conveying the Holy Ghost to their Disciples by their laying on of hands he did not only desire the graces of the Spirit thus far but offered them mony for that power that upon whomsoever he laid his hands they also might receive the Holy Ghost There is no doubt but whatsoever may promove the lusts of an Hypocrites heart may be the object of his desire Now as a National knowledge of the things of God or the common practical gifts and graces of the Spirit may serve a man as to his profit and advantage or as to his honour and reputation so they mightily gratify the lusts of an Hypocrites heart who doth all to be seen of Men and whose utmost design is but to glory in appearance and in the praise of Men. Besides this they may also serve him very far in the quieting of his natural conscience Natural light discovering to us that there is a God doth also shew us that there is some homage due to him and hence ariseth a natural obligation upon men to be doing something in discharge of this homage to which these common gifts are subservient The like might be said of moral habits which are but common grace men that are 〈◊〉 touched with the love of God or desire to please him may yet see a beauty and a profit too in a moral just and righteous conversation and desire so much grace as may keep him from the scandal and reproach of the world and from the ruining of himself and Family or Relations Nay Secondly his desires may extend to the consolatory manifestations of the love of God the pardon of his sins and the sense of that pardon what should hinder In a time when a Prince is free of his pardons it is not impossible that some of his Subjects may take out their pardons that it may be have no great sense or apprehension that they stand in need of them Hypocrites that live within the compass of the Church of God are often hearing of sin and the wrath of God due to sin to Original sin to Actual Sins to Sins of Omission and Negligence as well as those of Commission and Presumption they also hear daily proclamations of Gods grace and readiness to forgive what should hinder but that they ex abundanti cautela tho they be not touched with any great sense of sin tho they have some good opinion of their own Righteousness may yet earnestly desire to know their iniquities are forgiven and that the Righteousness of Christ might be imputed to them
and Christ himself speaking to me him of whom God hath said This is my well beloved Son hear ye him For though it be a man that speaketh yet it is a man sent of God cloathed with the Authority of Jesus Christ and speaking to me his Words and in his Name nor am I to regard any thing I hear but what agreeth with what he hath spoken or his holy Prophets and Apostles who were immediately inspired by him The setting right of a Persons first end design and intention gives a mighty conduct to his Actions And as I before said it is very unreasonable to expect Gods presence and Blessing with and upon us where the Heart is not set right with reference to its Intention and Design It is true as to the first Grace God is found of those that seek him not and of those who do not enquire after him No Soul would ever be converted and brought home to God if God did not meet it in his Word before it had thus rightly fixed its design and intention in coming to hear the word of God but what God may do and sometimes doth out of his abounding and preventing Grace is one thing what a Soul may expect from God upon the account of any promise is another thing the Archer may possibly hit the mark though he hath never by his Eye levelled his Arrow at it but he cannot promise himself that good hap No Soul that setteth not his heart aright to seek God in any Ordinance particularly this of hearing his word who doth not before he go set his Face towards Jerusalem set this as a mark in his Eye as the thing which he proposeth to himself Secondly It doth not only comprehend the end of Intention and Design but also the manner and certainly none can pretend to hear the word as the word of God but he must go to it without any levity and with all manner of Seriousness and composure of Spirit No Reverence and Submission of Spirit can be imagined too much for the great Majesty of Heaven We ought not to go to hear the word as if we were going to hear an Oration much less as if we were going to a Play Thirdly We cannot be thought to hear it as the word of God without some previous lookings up to God for a Blessing upon it We go for the Teachings of the Spirit Our Saviour tells us Luk. 11. 14. He gives his holy Spirit to them that ask him Christ first begg'd the Spirit for us John 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall send you another Comforter That comforting Spirit is the Teaching Spirit v. 26. The Comforter which the Father shall send in my Name shall teach you all things As Christ at first prayed to the Father to send the Comforter the Spirit that should teach us all things So he expecteth that we should pray for him for our selves The holy Spirit is given to those that ask him this is a piece of our Houshold Preparation Attend particularly to those Impulses which at some times thou mayest have to hear A Christian shall sometimes find some particular impulses upon him to hear I would not be hear I would not be here mistaken I know there is a dangerous Opinion imbibed and promoved by some Enthusiasts that Christians should never go to perform a Duty whether praying or hearing but upon some particular Impulse or Motion I call this a dangerous Principle because it is the first step to casting off all Duties and Ordinances But yet let no Christian neglect such special Impulses Impulses to Actions that are contrary to our Duty in the revealed Will of God ought to be rejected contemned and abhorred they must come from the boilings of corruption in our own hearts or from the evil Spirit Impulses to Actions which are not expresly commanded nor yet forbidden must be considered and we ought to obey or not obey them as Circumstances pro hic nunc at this or that time may determine it lawful or not lawful expedient or not expedient with Reference to the General rules which God in his word hath given us to guide all our Actions by Impulses to the Performance of our Duty under due Circumstances ought never to be neglected It may be well presumed that God hath something to say to the Soul in particular at such a time when he gives it a special item and monition to go to hear Thirdly be sure thou goest to hear with an humble Heart and with as much of a poor broken and contrite Spirit as thou canst There is a Promise Psal 25. 9. The humble he will teach and another Isa 57. v. 15. Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity and whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the hearts of the contrite ones And Isa 66. v. 2. To the man will I look even to him that is of a poor and contrite Spirit and that trembleth at my word God sendeth the proud Soul empty away take heed of going to hear with a proud Heart self-opinionated as to Knowledge or self-conceited God teacheth the humble dwelleth with the humble looketh upon the humble The Rain that dasheth off and runneth down the Mountains resteth in the Valleys the Instructions Reproofs Convictions of the word which fall upon Men of proud and high Conceits and Opinions of themselves rest and are drunk in by low and humble Souls The broken and contrite Heart is like the plowed ground which is in itself more apt to receive and drink in the word than that ground where the surface is not at all broken but there is besides particular Promises made to Broken Hearts The word you know is compared to Seed in the Parable of the Sower Matth. 13. and in several other Texts the Husbandman useth not to sow his Seed in the whole but in the broken ground Fourthly Be sure you go to hear with unprejudised Hearts willing and desirous to learn Prejudice naturally barreth the Ear to Instruction Ahab's prejudice against Micajah stopt his Ears against the word of the Lord to him and proved his fatal Ruine and Destruction I should never advise Christians to sit under the Ministry of any person they are prejudised against it much contributeth to a prejudice against the word of the Lord spoken by them if therefore in that case I could not remove my Prejudice I would chuse another Preacher but I further added that you should go with Hearts willing and desirous to know the Will of God It is the chapt thirsty ground that most drinks in the Rain and is made most fruitful by it it is the Soul that hungers and thirsteth after the word that profiteth by it and hath a communion with God in it though the Word be Gods and he breatheth upon the Soul according to his own
But I have I fear said enough not only to convince you that the most men and women in the world are guilty of a false judgment either judging Wine in the literal sense or at least in the figurative sense better than Christs love but also to convince Gods own People that they do not sufficiently live up to and practice what they profess to Believe I might add another thing 6. Whosoever purchaseth Wine or a satisfaction from any creature by a disobedience to the commands of Christ doth most certainly judge that Wine that creature better then Christs loves The demonstration of this depends upon this That no man or woman can truly say they love Christ or groundedly expect that Christ should love them that doth not keep his Commandments or that wilfully ordinarily and presumptuously breaketh them tho there none lives who doth not sin against God I shall shut up this discourse with a word of exhortation which must be to a preference of the loves of Christ before Wine I shall press this exhortation upon you by some arguments My first argument shall be drawn from the reasonableness of this That a reasonable Soul should judge of things not according to any appearances from false representations but as they are I have spoken enough to persuade any person that believeth that he is not a meer lump of flesh but hath a reasonable Soul and that he is not a creature of this life meerly but ordained to an Eternal Existence and that the Soul of every man by nature and his state is such as the holy Scriptures speak it to be that the loves of Christ are more suited to his necessities his true real wants than it is possible that any created comforts should be now admitting this what more doth become areasonable creature than to judge them so All other judgment is but fallacy and deceit and of all deceit and fallacy there 's nothing so unworthy of a man as to cheat and deceive himself Thus every Soul doth that judgeth any thing better than the Loves of Christ Further yet there is nothing more unworthy of a man then to outlaw himself and suffer his passion to domineer over his reason the course of mans Soul according to reason is for his will to follow the dictate of his understanding for him to pursue the things which he judgeth most excellent and though in other things indeed man doth not so ' he seeth that which is better and doth that which he confesseth and judgeth worst yet all this is passion and so far as a man walketh or acteth thus he acteth not reasonably but this is but the first argument and considereth them meerly as men 2. The second shall concern you as Creatures What an indignity do you put upon the Creator to prefer the Creature before him Wine is but a Creature Riches Honours the World and all that is therein it is all but a Creature Christ is God over all blessed for ever It is a mighty degradation of God in our hearts to prefer any thing to his loves How can any man think that God should look upon that Soul that dethroneth him and preferreth some of his creatures yea of the meanest of his Creatures in his affections before him how righteously shall God leave that Soul to the creature as its portion that chuseth it and chuseth it in preference to his loves Thirdly Consider what an ill requital this is of Christs love to you This argument now concerneth you as you are Christians and believe that Christ in the fulness of time left his Fathers Throne and took not upon him the nature of Angels but the nature of Man Christ in his love his redeeming love to you hath manifested a double preference 1. A preference of your good to his own glory and manifestative favour from God his Father Christ indeed in his estate of humiliation was the beloved Son of his Father his Father in that time proclaimed him his only begotten Son in whom he was well pleased But he had not those manifestations of that love as before he was incarnate He was made a curse for us that the blessing of Abraham might come down upon us he cryed out upon the Cross my God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me 2. A preference of you to Angels He took not upon him the nature of Angels but your nature now how ill do you requite this love of your Saviour in preferring a creature to it how can we believe the Gospel and all that it telleth us of the dying loves of Christ and do this Oh therefore let not this be the condemnation of any poor Soul that heareth me this day let none of us incur the guilt of this Idolatry God aggravateth the Peoples sin of Idolatry from this that they said to a stack and to a stone thou art our Father the more base and low and unworthy the object is that is preferred before another the greater is the provocation of the preference Let us then so live so walk as by our conversation to evidence to the world that the Loves of Christ to our Souls are better than all the Wine which the world can afford us Let us not break a divine Precept to embrace any thing which this World can afford us in this we shall be so far from acting like to Christians or Creatures that we shall not act like men possessed of reasonable Souls Let us in our hearts more thirst in the Spirit after Christs Love than the worlds imbraces let us delight more in any reports of the love of Christ any discourses concerning it than in any worldly objects Let us be more diligent in use of means to gain Christs love than to gain the whole world Let us be more satisfied in the enjoyment of any thing of it than if we enjoyed all the World can afford us I remember Solomon saith The blessing of God maketh rich and addeth no sorrow therewith The Loves of Christ make the Soul happy and mixeth no sorrow with that happiness Wine is a sweet liquor but it will intoxicate in time it will grow flat and acid and there is no created good but will at one time or other grow flat sharp if the Soul be not drunk with it There is a satiety in pleasure riches honour there is a time when there will be no pleasure in them when we shall be able to see no goodness at all in them Let us neglect them upon the prospect of the vanity of them and the vexation of Spirit that is in them before we come to experience their vanity and rottenness I have shewed you a far more excellent object Christs loves are better than Wine Sermon XI Cnt. 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth For thy loves are better than Wine FOr thy loves are better then Wine I have handled these 2 Propositions which the matter of these words affords us I have now only
cause of any true Spiritual saving motion and so inequal vertues are as I said before ascribed to Souls of the same kind under the same circumstances and endowed with the same rational faculties Secondly They also agree That the operations of Divine Grace are no other than what may by the power of mans will be not only opposed but finally resisted so as they shall produce no effect and that drawing grace is no more then an intreating and moral suasion no such act of power as we would have it to be man comes to Christ alone he is not drawn Therein they agree with the other 3. Finally they say the converted Soul can of itself do acts of righteousness obey the Commandments of God and ordinarily needs no quickning only assisting Grace This is not to be allowed in the Latitude though there be something of truth in it there is certainly a greater power and ability to spiritual good in the converted then in the unregenerate and unconverted Soul we dare not say the Soul converted moves not acts not but as acted and is also in that state meerly passive God hath now infused a principle of life into it his Spirit dwelleth in it But we say that even the justified Soul still stands in need of a constant divine influx and that in a powerful degree and Bellarmine himself grants that as the Soul hath at all times need of Gods assisting exciting and protecting grace for Christ saith without me you can do nothing so in some hard cases and in the performance of some hard difficult duties he hath need of powerful influences of Grace So as the Jesuite himselfdurst not ascribe so much to the power of mans will though altered by grace as those bold men amongst our selves who will have man have a power not only in ordinary cases but to resist the strongest temptations It is a sign they neither ever knew what a strong temptation meant Nor what it is to resist and evercome them But this is enough to shew you the vanity of these Doctrines Secondly My discourse on this proposition will let all of us see the exceeding solly of resisting and vexing or grieving or quenching the holy Spirit of God at any time in its operations or motions you meet in Scripture with all these terms expressing the opposition which vain man maketh to the holy Spirit of God two of them resisting and vexing are applied to men wicked and unregenerate Acts 7. 51. You do always resist the Holy Ghost and thus you read of vexing the Spirit The Apostle writes to the Thessalonians not to quench the Spirit 1 Thes 5. 19. and to the Ephesians Eph. 4. 30. not to grieve it As the man that is unregenerate may resist and vex so those that are renewed may quench and grieve the Holy Spirit The Proposition which I have opened to you shewing you the necessity of our being drawn by this Holy Spirit if we ever come to Christ or being come if we hold on in our way and run after him and walk with him justifies those reproofs and exhortations of the Apostles evincing it to be the greatest folly imaginable voluntarily to do any such acts by which this blessed Spirit should be resisted vexed quenched or grieved 1. This may be done by persons whose hearts are not yet changed they sit under the ministration of the Gospel which is the ministration of the Spirit and a glorious ministration and besides the suasion of the potent arguments contained in it set on by all the art of the Ministers of Christ gifted by God for this end and authorized by God to this work there is hardly any of them but find some inward impressions of the Holy Spirit shewing them a necessity of believing and obeying the Gospel if they would ever obtain Eternal life this they cannot deny but cannot through the prevalency of their passions above their reason obtain of themselves to hearken to these admonitions and yield obedience to these impressions but after the prickings of their lusts they must go they cannot deny themselves in their pleasures or profits be they never such forbidden fruit yet on the other side possibly their consciences bear so hard upon them that they cannot quiet them without promising that they will amend their ways they will turn to God they only beg a little time and cry out with the Sluggard yet a little sleep yet a little slnmber a little folding of the hands to sleep like Trades-men that know they must not spend all their time in their Beds if they do their Families must starve yet their Eyes are heavy and they cry to those that call them It is not time to rise yet an hour or two hence is time enough So these men sitting under the sound of the Gospel will grant you that if they live and die in such courses as at present they walk in their Souls must perish to all Eternity But this they intend not only it is not time yet to awake ouâ— of sle p a year or two hence is time enough let them have some lâ—tâ—sâ—â—ction in the pleasures of youth they will repeat and believe before they die and upon this presumption they at present 〈◊〉 the holv Spirit of God from time to time and vâ—x iâ— noâ— only appearing in the Ministration of the Gospel but in its more common motions and impressions This is what I would shortly shew you the vanity of from the asserted truth of this proposition Two things I would say to these Souls That whatsoever humane action is to be done naturally requireth time and place and that the Earth is the place and this life is the time for such actions for saith Solomon Eâ—â—l 9. 10. There is no work no device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goâ—st upon which he exhorts us Whatsoever thy hand fâ—â—dâ—â—h to do do it with all thy might It is only while we are upon the Earth that we are in the way with God whom we have made our adversary and whom we are concerned quickly to agree with when we die we are delivered to the Judge the Spirit returneth to God that gave it When our Dust returns to its Dust Our comp sâ—um is then dissolved and no action can be the action of the whole man When our bodies come to be covered with Earth our bodies move and act no more In the Grave none repents believeth prayeth or praiseth or any way remembreth God Thou sayest to morrow or within a few years I will amend I will repent how knowest thou in what capacity thou shalt then be what a day or a month or a year will as to thee bring forth The present time alone is thine and but a little of that neither that which as Gerard speaks dicendo praeterit currendo praeterlabitur is gone while thou speakest of it slipt away while thou thinkest of it What talkest thou of to morrow of the next week month year who
Jesus Christ Of whom he said This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased What are the fatlings kill'd how are all things ready the Lord Jesus Christ hath dyed there is in his blood a sufficiency of merit The Gospel is Preached the Ministers of Christ are sent out to offer reconciliation with God union with Christ to all those to whom the Gospel is Preached a great part of them will not come they make light of the tender of Grace and Salvation what is the matter that they find any difficulty to make hast to their own happiness The three great causes are mentioned and they fall under these three heads 1. Worldly enjoyments 2. Worldly imployments 3. Sensual and sensible satisfactions these have all a power upon man by reason of that lust which is in them either the lust of the Eye or the lust of the flesh or the pride of life 1. Wordly enjoyments hinder some The first said I have bought a Farm I must go and see it The young man Mat. 19. seems to have a good mind to follow Christ Christ bids him first go and sell all that he had and he should have riches in Heaven The Text saith he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions Mat 19. 22. Our Saviour upon it saith to his Disciples Verily I say unto you a rich man shalt hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It is easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle then for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Another Evangelist expounds this by one that trusteth in his riches The desire of getting riches and the over-much complacency and delight of the Soul in them together with mens valuing themselves upon them are three great drawers of the Soul from Christ The first as it over-ruleth the Soul to an evil covetousness oppression and unjust methods and measures of gain and so brings him into the herd of those that shall never come into Heaven The Second as it melteth the Soul into sensuality and hindereth those acts of Self-denial and Mortification without which a man cannot be Christs Disciple nor ever come into Heaven The 3d As it swells the Soul with pride and lifts it above religious Duties which it judgeth too mean for it suited to poor people but not to Persons of its degree and quality in the world 2. Worldly Employments hinder others Alass That Men and Women should be too busie to attend the making their calling and election sure but so it is The second said I have bought five yoke of Oxen and I must go and prove them Some Men and Women are not at leasure to be saved as they are not at leasure to pray that the thoughts of their heart might be forgiven them or to hear that their Souls might live Licitis perimus As many perish by the ill uses of lawful things as by reaching their hands to absolutely forbidden fruit more die by meat then by poison Though the Drunkard cannot keep the narrow path that leads to Eternal life yet what hindereth but that a sober Person should what more lawful then to buy five yoke of Oxen and to try and use them when we have them It is the command of God that In the sweat of our Face we should eat our Bread Ah! But if the Cart draws to the Market when God calls to the Solemn Assemblies of his People the five yoke of Oxen prove of fatal consequence O cupide negotiator saith De-Ponte when a man hath so much business about his body that he hath no leasure to attend the business of his Soul he is over-busy and makes his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when his Trading is so much in the world as is inconsistent with having his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his conversation in Heaven then much business makes him mad and his time is but like Domitians spent in catching of flies instead of attending the concerns of the Roman Empire the concerns I mean of his immortal Soul I would have the active men of the world sometimes think whether they have not too much business to manage and go to Heaven too This made our holy Mr. Palmer bless God who had call'd him to the work of the Ministry which drew mens minds towards God whereas most other imployments divert the Soul from God 3. Sensual and sensible satisfactions are another kind of things which potently seduce and draw off the Soul from God Another said I have married a Wise and cannot come Never yet any mist of Heaven but had some impediments or other the others prayed to be excused this guest saith I cannot come Riches draw hard so do worldly business and imployments but ah Pleasures pleasures are the bane of Souls like the silly Bee they are drowned in their own Hony Gods voice grates upon the Ears accustomed to Musick and all manner of delightful sounds A bleeding crucified Christ is a most ingrateful object to the wanton Eye that hath been used only to behold pleasant things Yet it is to be observed that he doth not say I am going to an Harlot but I have married a Wife cannot come Still Licitis perimus These are those potent Seducers which suiting with the strong natural byass inclinations of our hearts draw off from Christ Man is too weak to withstand the force of them God doth not please upon every Soul to whom the Gospel is Preached to put forth his power Hence Souls of the same species under the same means and assistances yet incline and move diversely There is there can be nothing in man that makes him in practice to differ from his Neighbour Let not therefore he who is thus drawn glory for it is God who hath drawn him Nor let any murmur on the behalf of those who are not thus drawn Grace is the Lords own he may do with it what he pleaseth Augustine saith well concerning Grace the cause why it is given to one not to another may be hidden and secret but unjust it cannot be In the mean time as I said before I believe at the great day there will be not be found so much as one Soul that shall be able to accuse God for the denial of this Grace this powerful and effectual Grace who hath not voluntarily resisted and vexed the holy Spirit of God in the use of that common Grace for the want of which he hath no reason to complain and shall not the Lord be justified in refusing to draw those who have first suffered a base lust which was in their power to have resisted to draw them away from him Shall not this powerful Grace be righteously denied to them who have suffered themselves by a revel to be drawn from a Sermon 2. Further yet we may from hence have an account of those many startings aside from God of which his own People are guilty and the inequality of gracious motions and actions Some seem to us to stand still
former Proposition where I told you it signified a powerful gracious influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Soul persuading alluring and commanding the Soul's Obedience It is an act both sweet and powerful Sweet for God draws with the Cords of Love as he speaks Jer. 31. 3. yet powerful for the Soul is made willing the will is not forced but melted renewed and changed and contrariwise inclined to what was before its inclination So as my meaning is that when God hath once by the sweet and powerful influence of his Spirit upon the Soul of a man allured persuaded and commanded the Soul to its duty then it will run after him The only question to be spoken to is what is meant by Running When I opened the Text I told you of several things imported by this term I shall now more largely discourse them 1. Running implieth willingness to the motion It implieth motion and so is opposed to lying or siâ—ting still It is a saying of Augustine Certum est nos velle quum volumus agere quum agimur It is saith he certain that we will when we are made willing that we act when we are acted sed ille facit ut velimus it is God that maketh us to be willing He giveth to will and to do Men may run that are not originally willing it is a mischief that they fear which makes them run but yet even then they move willingly though it be a danger imminent upon them which maketh them so willing But this motion is a much sweeter motion they are made willing first and then they move out of choice willingly until the Soul be renewed and changed it moveth not at all toward God it may move to natural actions from that principle of natural life of which it is possessed It may move to moral actions from that principle of life which every reasonable Soul is possessed of But it moveth not to any truly spiritual actions because it wanteth a principle of Spiritual life But this being infused in regeneration to will being given unto it it moveth in the ways of God and that from a principle within itself You saith the Apostle Eph. 2. 1. hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins It moveth not as a meer Machine or Instrument from the power and force of a forreign agent but as a living creature from itself and a principle within itself Yet not without a divine influence look as it is in natural motions though they flow from a a principle of life in a man yet they are not without an influence of more ordinary common providence upholding our natural faculties hence the Apostle saith of God in him we live move and have our being So it is as to our Spiritual motions the Soul moveth from the principles of Spiritual life infused into it from the principles of the new creature but yet not without the influence of the Spirit of Grace upon it upholding those habits of Grace which are infused into the Soul and exciting it to and assisting of it in Spiritual actions Without me saith Christ you can do nothing he doth not say without me you cannot do much or you cannot do great things but you can do nothing But yet to will is present with the Soul yea and to do though it hath no strength to do what it would And as the Soul hath need of a daily influence of Grace in its ordinary course of Spiritual action so it hath need of more special and powerful influences when it meets with a work more difficult for saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3. 5. We are not sufficient to think one good thought as of our selves for now our sufficiency is from God This is now Gratia co-operans co-operating Grace in the exercises of which we are not mcerly passive as in the reception of the first Grace as it was with the Israelites in their journey towards Canaan Numb 9. 17. 18. c. They kept pace with the Cloud and with the Pillar of fire when the Cloud moved they moved when the Cloud stood still they stood still At the Commandment of the Lord they journied and at the Commandment of the Lord they pitched as long as the Cloud abode upon the Tabernacle they rested in their Tents And when the Cloud tarried long upon the Tabernacle many days then they journied not So it is with such as are Israelites indeed in their spiritual motions toward the new Hierusalem the City of God If the Grace of God assists not they move not and according to the degree of its influence they move more or less But yet they move and willingly move though not without the co-operating and assisting Grace of God 2. Secondly Running implyeth strength in the motion thus it is opposed to creeping or walking saintly The weak man may creep and go slowly but he cannot run When the Lord draweth the Soul will not only move towards God and that freely and willingly but it will move strongly it will find strength against sin and strength unto duties Job 17. 9. The righteous man will hold on in his way and he that is of clean hanas shall grow stronger and stronger God commandeth that we should love h m with all our strength Luk. 10. 27. When the Lord draweth the Soul then it runneth with all its strength loveth God with a love that is stronger than the Grave then it believeth with a strong saith and obeyeth with a perfect heart While God was present with Sampson though they tied his Hair to a Beam and shut up the Gates of the City he could carry away Beam and Gates though he had no more then the jaw-bone of an Ass he could with it slay a thousand men when God was departed from him he could not get out of his Enemies hands though he had no such opposition when a Soul finds the power and presence of Divine Grace though it hath strong corruptions and meet with strong Temptations yet they are all nothing to it it easily over all becomes more than Conqueror Peter at one time at the command of Christ walks to him upon the Sea at another time wanting the same special assistance is overcome by a silly Maid in the High Priests Hall the opposite Temptation was much the same in both cases viz. from the sear of his life which was in as apparent danger from the Sea as from the Enemies in the Hall of the High Priest 3. Running argues speed so it is opposed to walking a foot-pace or step by step When the Soul is by God drawn unto him and wants not his co-operating Grace drawing him after him it will not only move towards God and that with strength and courage but it will move with nimbleness and readiness As it is with the body sometimes though it hath its usual strength and be able to work as usually yet it is seized with a torpor and laziness there is a dulness and inactivity upon it So it
used it seemeth to be something more then the secret desire of the Soul the desires of our Souls expressed by the words of our lips is what is generally called prayer in holy writs but words without inward affections words not thrust out from the force of our internal desires and affections are the least thing in prayer which lieth not in the pouring forth of words but in the pourings out of our Souls before God Labour Christians to understand the nature of prayer both as to the matter you should pray for and as to the right manner of the performance of it you all know what you would have what you have need of what is truly good for you under your present circumstances this you know not some things are absolutely good universally necessary such things as all Souls at all times have need of such are pardon of sins sanctification further grace to honour and glorify God in your circumstances and relations an heart to honour and glorify God in whatsoever state and condition you are these and such like things you may beg importunately and absolutely and that at all times But there are other things which are not so absolutely and universally good but are good or evil as they are well used or abused These must be asked of God with a submission to his will and a reference to his wisdom It is of mighty concern for a Christian rightly to understand the matter of prayer what he may or may not ask of God what he may ask absolutely what but conditionally and with limitation an ignorance of this may make Christians too bold too importunate with God in asking some things and to sin by impatience and murmuring because they do not receive presently what they ask when as the reason is because they ask amiss James tells those to whom he wrote Jam. 4. 3. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss he instanceth but in one way wherein they asked amiss that you might consume it upon your lusts That indeed is one way by which men may miscarry in prayer not directing their prayer to the honour and glory of God but meerly to a self-satisfaction and indeed taking the words in that sense as spending upon their lusts signifies a gratifying our selves and giving our selves a pleasure and satisfaction so all asking amiss will fall under it and such asking amiss is the cause of all our not receiving no man can ask any thing for the honour and glory of God who doth not ask according to the will of God God is glorified by the fulfilling of his will and whosoever prays and the sum of his prayer is not let the Lord be glorified let the will of the Lord be done doth but ask that he may consume upon his lust and give himself a satisfaction now all this is asking amiss which is the cause of our not receiving It is therefore I say of a very great concernment for a Christian to know what he may pray for what he may pray for absolutely and peremptorily what but limitedly and conditionally with submission to the Divine will and with a reference to the Divine wisdom how else is it possible that he should pray in faith or how else will he be able to command his Spirit into a due silence and patience if he doth not presently receive what he asketh of God Nay the servency of a Soul in prayer doth much depend upon this knowledge no prayer can be fervent but the prayer of faith No prayer receiveth a present answer but the prayer of faith Study therefore Christian the due matter and manner of prayer There may be many prayers put up and yet God not hear Isa 1. 15. Though saith God you spread forth your hands I will hide my Eyes from you yea when you make many prayers I will not hear the reason there assigned is because their hands were full of blood which amounts to that of David If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear my Prayer and to that of Solomon The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight He that lifteth up hands unto God must lift up pure hands But a man may lift up pure hands yet not be heard David complaineth that he did so Psal 22. therefore the Apostle adds 1 Tim. 2. 8. Holy hands without wrath or doubting for saith James ch 1. v. 7. Let not him that wavereth think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. Now it is impossible that a man should pray without doubting for any thing of which he is not fully persuaded that it is the will of God that he should receive it this therefore is of very great concern that a Soul should know that he asks according to the will of God and that must be when he knows that God hath somewhere in Scripture promised it Be not therefore only much in prayer but see that you do not ask amiss that you ask so that you may receive yea that while you are speaking God may give you a gracious answer Thirdly This Doctrine calls to you for an holy and close walking with God A loose liver may receive some good things from God as he is a God of compassion full of pity and tender compassion that hears even the young Ravens when they cry unto him for their food thus did Ahab thus did the King of Nineveth and this was a ground for Simon Magus to pray though he was in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity but he can receive nothing from God as he is a God of truth and faithfulness there is not in all the Book of God one promise made to a wicked mans prayer God hath said though they make many prayers he will not hear them Isaiah 1. 15. he hath said They shall call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me Prov. 1. 28. For Hypocrites he hath said Job 27. 9. Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him but a close walking with God is not only commendable to us upon this account that our prayers may not be wholly shut out from God that we may not only in our distresses go to God as a fountain of mercy and goodness as a God of pity and tender compassion but as unto a God of truth and faithfulness with an hope and a confidence in him and an expectation upon him and with an holy boldness but also that we may have a present answer we are naturally hasty as to the supply of our wants and the satisfaction of our desires hence we say Bis dat qui cito dat and count that kindness double which is done for us quickly Now they are the favourites of Heaven that gain the quickest answers from God There 's nothing makes one Soul more the favourite of God then another but a more ardent love for God and a
keep my Commandments No Soul can so much as pretend to a love to Christ that makes no conscience of keeping the Commandments of Christ 9. The Soul lastly that hath a love for Christ will suffer any thing for his sake it will rather suffer the loss of all things then the loss of Christs favour By these and such like questions and notes as these it will be no hard matter for a Soul to judge of its love to Christ and by that it will be able to judge and determine concerning its uprightness In the last place doth every Soul that is upright love Christ and are the degrees of the Souls uprightness according to the degrees of the Souls love How do we then all stand concerned to love Christ In order to it 1. The Soul must be dispossest of other loves inconsistent and incompetent with the love of Christ Such is the love of all lust of any thing that is contrary to the will of God Such is the excessive and immoderate love of the world Love not the world nor the things that are in the world saith John 1. Joh. 2. 25. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him in like manner we may say If any man love the world the love of Jesus Christ is not in him 2. Do what in thee lies to persuade thy self of the suitableness of Christ to the staâ—e and needs of thy Soul we love nothing but what appeareth good that is some way suitable to and convenient for us All we can do as to this is to read the Scriptures which alone give a true account of the state of Souls To hear them opened and applied to our consciences by able and faithful Ministers to meditate upon what we read and hear Christ must appear to our Souls an amiable object before we can love him 3. Lastly Pray for the Spirit of Grace both effectually to discover Christs loveliness to you and also to draw out your hearts to love him if we must be taught of God to love our Brethren whom we have seen we must much more be taught of God to love Jesus Christ whom we have not seen Those that think man hath a power in his own will to love God do not consider that we have not a power in and of our selves as we often find upon experience to love a creature whom yet it were our great interest to love O pray pray without ceasing that you may love the Lord Jesus Christ remember that the upright love him there is no upright Soul in the World but loves him 2. Thus thou shalt shew thy self to be upright Nothing more discovereth an upright heart then a sincere Love to Christ Now of how great moment it is for a Christian to discern his uprightness I need not tell you I shall conclude with a bare naming of some Scriptures containing promises made to uprightness leaving them to you at your leisure to meditate upon them Psal 7. 10. The Lord saveth the upright in heart Gods Righteousness belongeth to the upright in heart Psal 36. 10. The End of the upright man is Peace Psal 37. v. 37. Gladness belongeth to the upright in heart Psal 97. v. 11. The Generation of the upright shall be blessed Psal 112. v. 2. Light shall arise upon them in obscurity v. 4. They shall dwell in Gods presence Psal 140. 13. They shall dwell in the land Prov. 2. 21. The way of the Lord is strength unto them Prov. 10. 29. The integrity of the upright shall guide him Prov. 11. 3. His Righteousness shall deliver him v. 6. The upright in the way are the Lords delight v. 20. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way but wickedness overthroweth the Sinner Prov. 13 6. Sermon XXXI Cant. 1. 5. I am black but comely O you Daughter of Hierusalem as the tâ—nts of Kedar as the Curtaines of Solomon v. 6. Look not upon me because I am black because the Sun hath looked upon me my Mothers Children were angry with me they made me the keeper of the Vineyards but my own Vineyard I have not kept IT is the Spouse in this excellent Song of Love that yet Speaks Twice we have heard her Speaking to her Beloved Once Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth begging some distinguishing token of his Special love Her heart suggesting to her that her beloved was far more ready to imbrace her then she was to run after him She spake a Second time Draw me and we will run after thee begging the sweet and powerfull influences of divine grace Here now she interrupteth her applications to her beloved with an Apostrophe to her companions whom she here calleth The Daughters of Hierusalem The verse contains a modest apology which the maketh for her self In which are considerable 1. The persons to whom she maketh it here stiled The Daughters of Jerusalem 2. The Apology it self I am black saith she as the tents of Kedar as the Curtains of Solomon c. In the latter is considerable 1. The thing which she apologizeth for That is her Blackness which she confesseth I am black saith she and illustrateth as the teints of Kedar c. 2. The arguments of her Apology or head from whence it is drawn They are four or five 1. The mixture of comeliness with her blackness I am black but comely 2. The Influence of heaven upon her The Sun saith she hath looked upon me 3. The oppositions she had met with on earth My mothers children were angry with me 4. Her worldly diversions and imployments They made me the Keeper of the Vineyards 5. Her own neglect But my own I have not kept Finally She pleadeth with them that they would not look upon her because she was black But what needed this Apology who faulted the Spouses blackness who questioned her comeliness This is not expressed in the letter of the Text but easily understood Patet quod dett axer ant ei nigredinem improper antes It is apparent saith Bernard that they did detract from her charging her with blackness Neither did the true Church of Christ nor any truely believing Soul ever want those that reproached them The man according to Gods own heart heard some telling him There was no help for him in God We must therefore Suppose our Spouse to have heard some saying to her to this purpose Canst thou think that Christ who is the fairest of ten thousand should kiss the with the kisses of his mouth Thee That art by nature an Ethiopian and by thy renewing actuall Sins hast made thy self much more black and ugly Surely when the King of glory humbleth himself to make love to his Subjects he will chuse one much fairer then thou art Did Aaron and Miriam wonder at reproach Moses because he had married an Ethiopian Num. 12. 1. And should not Christ be the wonderment of the whole creation if he should love one so black as thou art
for I delight in the law of God after the inward man 2. Let him Secondly examine himself whether there be not a comeliness in him in and under his blackness of Affliction and worldly opposition A wicked man may be black through affliction but his blackness is like the blackness of a coal which is a dead colour and hath no beauty in it The Child of God is also black from the same cause but his is like the blackness of a polished marble which hath a great beauty and comliness in it The trial of his faith in his afflictions appeareth more precious then that of gold that perisheth his love to God then appeareth by his panting after him and firm adherence of Soul unto him his meekness his patience all shine forth under his afflictions The demeanour of People under afflictions will much discover whose they are 3. Thirdly The comeliness of the Spouse of Christ is not a comeliness without blackness but a comeliness norwithstanding blackness That is to say It is not a Native but an adventitious and Superinduced comliness nor adventitious from any good dispositions or any acts or indeavours of our own singly but a gracious imputation and infusion The imputation of Christs righteousness the infusion of gracious habits a comeliness arising from Christs comeliness put upon the Soul So as tho the poor creature hath been guilty before God and iniquity yet doth sometimes prevail against it the righteousness of Christ being reckoned to him for righteousness and his heart being renewed Sanctified through the Spirit of Christ and the bent of it being set right for God notwithstanding his blackness the Lord doth judge him comely and beautiful overlooking his blackness by reason of sin and infirmity 4. Lastly Every Child of God will own and be truly sensible of his blackness I am black saith the Spouse The hypocrite boasteth of his whiteness come saith Jehu to Jonadab and see my zeal for the Lord God of hosts God I thank thee saith the Pharisee I am not as other men are Extortioners Unjust Adulterers or even as this Publican I fast twice in the week I give tythes of all that I possess Luk. 18. 11 12. he owneth nothing in himself but whiteness aversates all blackness yet v. 14. he went away to his house not justified Hypocrites are hardly perswaded to own in themselves any blackness The Children of God are as hardly perswaded to own any beauty or comliness in themselves I gave you before the Instances of David and of Paul The reason is because the hypocrite trusts to a Spiders web a righteousness from himself spun out of his own Bowels and he is concerned to justify his integrity and to make it as whole as he can again all that he doth is to be seen of men and therefore he must set the best face of his actions that he can the Child of God seeketh for no such things in himself but despairing in himself he flyeth to the righteousness of Christ and freely confesseth and owneth his own nakedness that he might be clothed with that righteousness again the Child of God seeketh not the praise of men nor his own honour and glory but seeketh the praise of God and the honour and glory of Christ alone Thirdly This notion affordeth a great relief to the People of God against their own dejections and despondencies 2. Satans temptations and 3. The worlds upbraidings 1. Against his own despondencyes and dejections A Child of God living under the power of that Precept 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your solves prous your selves whether you be in the faith or uâ— is often looking into his own heart and can seldom please himself with the prospect He seeth in his own heart much of Vnbelief much of Vaniâ—y much of Hypocrisy always some lust or other a body of death remaining in him iniquity prevailing against him he sinneth 7 times every day and he seeth it every night and oft times as much out of heart much dejected crying out Vnclean Vnclean I am black wofully black no better then a painted hypocrite I make a fair shew to the World and deceive some of my brethten but alas they do not see that luft and vanity that pride and passion that folly and hypocrisy which I can with half an Eye discorn in my own Soul surely I deceive myself I have no portion in God no relation to Christ I cannot be his Spouse Christian be of good Chear thou art black but art thou not also comely When a Child of God hath found out the best of himself all his comfort will be found to lie in that one text Rom. 8. v. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit He can neither look into his own heart and see his inward thoughts and the motions there nor consider his tongue and the issues of that nor compare the best of his actions with the Divine rule but he feeth himself by all condemned and findeth nothing to relieve him in is dark thoughts but in Christs imputed righteousness and that there no is condemnation to them that are in Christ And that is enough provided that he hath this evidence of his being in Christ That he walketh not after the flesh but after the Spirit 2. It affordeth the same relief against the most desperate temptations of our grand adversary the Devil Satan we say first tempteth to Sin and then he makes advantage of our hearkening to his temptations to tempt us to further sins and those of a more heinous and horrid nature to despair of Gods mercy to destroy our selves c. He first attempteth to make the Soul black by moving it to sinful acts then his next work is to perswade the Soul that God will never pardon such a sinner Christ can never Love such an Ethiopian Hence those strong violent impressions upon Souls under the power of temptations God is an holy God of purer eyes then to behold iniquity he can never set his heart upon such a polluted vile wretch as I am I have been guilty of thousands of willful Omissions of duty and Commissions contrary to my duty possibly some particular sin or sins lie as an heavy load upon the poor creatures conscience The Spouse here hath furnished such a Soul with an answer to the tempter The Spouse of Christ is black but yet comely Let then such a Soul thus answer these suggestions of the tempter O thou Prince of darkness it is true I have been a grievous sinner and as such Christ cannot Love me so far forth as I am black I am unlovely but I am not wholly black Christ cannot Love my sins but he can pardon my sin and Love my Soul The Lord hath been graciously pleased to pardon my sins upon my repentance and my acceptation of the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving him as my Saviour he hath said to me while I
such a time Other men may seem to do well enough so long as they have rest and ease and prosperity But what will they do in the day of their visitation God takes another care for his People when David can incourage himself in nothing else he can incourage himself in his God When the Fig-tree doth not blossom and there is no fruit in the vine when the fields yield no meat and the flock are cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stall yet even then they can rejoyce in the Lord and be glad in the God of their Salvation Habak 3. 17 18 19. Vnder his shades we shall live saith the Afflicted Church Lam. 4. 20. I state under his shadow with great delight saith the Spouse Cant. 2. 3. There are many promises which God hath made to his People to be their hiding place their rock their Covert their shadow from the storm and from the tempest To which I refer you In the next place What cause of rejoycing and lifting up of the head is here to the People of God whether such as lie under the present pressures of Tryals or Afflictions or such as have these storms in prospect though they be not already fallen upon them Is the noon of Tryals and Afflictions come upon any of you Hath the Lord taken away those gourds which heretofore were a shade to you your health friends estate your outward comforts of what kind soever yet be of good cheer God is only changing your Souls Pastures Hitherto you have lived more immediately upon the creature you shall only now live more immediately upon God hitherto you have lived by sight God is now calling you to live by Faith hitherto your great Shepherd hath fed you in the fields of sensible comforts and enjoyments things that are seen he is now calling you to live upon things that are invisible but every way as sufficient for the support and sustenance of the Soul he that hath fed thee in the morning will not leave thee at noon time Psal 37. v. 3. Trust in the Lord and do good and so shalt thou dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed David saith He never saw the righteous forsaken The Believer shall be fed either with that bread which the world knoweth and calleth so or with that bread which the world knoweth and calleth so or with that bread which the world knoweth not of There is a revolution of time a vicissitude of Providences but there is no change of the Word and Promises of God Verily they shall be fed There shall be no want to those that fear the Lord. A noon may come but Christ hath a shadow a feeding a resting place for his flocks at noon That God who hath kept thee in health will also keep thee in sickness He that hath hitherto kept thee from the malice of a most malicious world will keep thee under the pressures of their malice Only take care to Trust in the Lord and to do good Is not this thy case Hast thou the storm only in prospect but it is not yet fallen upon thee and art thou only tormented with the fears of what is likely to come upon thee oft-times slavish fear proves a great evil and an evil in prospect is greater than when it is fallen upon a person Let this incourage you to hear that Christ hath shades for his People at noon God hath said I will never leave you nor forsake you Let me only commend one Promise to you it is made to the Church and to every Believer as a Member of it it is that Isa 4. 5 6. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her Assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defence and there shall be a Tabernacle in the day-time from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from Storm and from Rain I will shut up this Discourse with a word or two of Exhortation First To such as are yet none of the Inhabitants of Mount Zion None of those I mean who are the true Members of the Church of Christ Those who have no title or are able to make out no title to the dwelling-places upon Mount Zion or any of them what a motive should this be to all such to indeavour what in them lieth to get into Christ's little Flock A noon must come Possibly it is now morning with you and you are more careless but man is born to trouble and it is as natural to humane nature as it is for sparks to fly upward as Job tells us The Children of God in respect to the world's hatred are more exposed to others but there is none who liveth and shall not see death none that lives but must look to be in deaths often of one nature or another It is certainly the highest prudence to be prepared for all Assayes Thou hast no way for this but to get an interest in Christ Whilst thou art an Egyptian thou canst not look for the Priviledges of one that is an Inhabitant in Goshen Doest thou ask me how can this be How should I who am a Goat be transformed into a Sheep Our Saviour answers thee Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God he can be none of that little Flock to whom it is God's will to give that Kingdom Regeneration a new Birth from the holy Spirit can only make this Spiritual Metamorphosis Thy work in order to it lyeth only in some external actions such as refraining what thou canst from sin waiting upon God in Ordinances calling upon God in Prayer not resisting the motions of his holy Spirit 2d Branch Secondly This Discourse ought to quicken such as are of the Flock of Christ in all their Noons of Affliction and Trial to betake themselves to Christ's shades to the places where Christ useth to feed and to make his Flocks to rest at Noon What those shades are I have shewed you our work is to betake our selves unto them It is natural to us when we are pursued to look for a covert for some refuge or shelter where we may hide our selves till the storm be passed over and to flee to such places where we think that we may be secure There is no true shelter but in Christ's shades Let us then inquire what is the duty of a good Christian in an evil day that he may bring his Soul to a rest and quiet 1. The first and great thing is to look out our Evidences to make out our title to and interest in the Lord Jesus Christ We must intitle our selves to the great Shepherd of our Souls as our Shepherd before we can expect that he should in a scorching time make us to lie down in green Pastures and lead us besides the still waters and encourage our selves as David Psal