with him Psal 139.18 Psa 139.18 When I awake I am still with thee they end the day with him thus the Spouse Cant. 3.1 Cant. 3.1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth you have mention of both these Esay 26.9 Esay 26.9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Now this sin that I am treating of like that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that lawless person that we read of 2 Thes 2.8 2 Thes 2.8 that man of sin ver 3. opposeth and exalteth its self in the soul above all that is called God and sitteth in the seat of God A beloved lust is usually the sinners first and last Psa 36.4 he gives it entertainment first in the morning and takes his leave of it last in the evening yea this darling sin must be entertained and made much on in the Bed-chamber the Psalmist speaking of a wicked man Psal 36.4 tels us he deviseth mischief on his bed for the most part that as a very friend that we admit to our bed-sides 11. That sin which most infests us and troubles us in our solitudes and retirements that is our beloved sin my meaning is when a man is alone in his Closet or in the Fields and his thoughts run a drift that sin which of themselves they move towards and close with that may be his beloved sin the current of the soul is that way Oh Christian mark the workings of thy heart in private and thou mayst possibly make some discoveries When a man retires himself into some solitary place it is usually absurd to trouble him t is a friend indeed that falls in with him and offers his company in that case that sin is more then ordinary beloved by us that interposes in our privacies 12. And lastly that sin that we are willing to endure greatest hardships and sufferings for that is our beloved sin for instance suppose Covetousness be the darling sin what base absurd unreasonable offices will it put a man upon how scraping and niggardly and dunghill-like will that man live in his Town or in his Parish and expose himself to scorn and contempt from every one that knows him Suppose Ambition be the beloved sin how will a man in that case swear and forswear and temporize and like the Boat-men look one way and row another almost any thing for preferment If Vncleanness be the mans particular sin how will he destroy his body disgrace his name overthrow his estate for the gratifying of his lust I dare aver that the worst and basest drudgery imaginable to scoure Kettles and Dishes to tug at the Oar to dig at the Mine are honourable imployments in comparison of this Vse 3. Is for Exhortation and Direction Col 3.5 to press you to the mortification of your beloved sin and shew you how it may be mortified let me take up that Scripture again mortifie your members which are upon the earth that is let every sin be mortified for you must know as death is to the members of the natural body so is mortification to the members of the sinful body Now in death the soul is separated not only from one member as it is in a paralysis or numb Palsey but from all even from the principal parts of the body as well as others so t is in spiritual death there is a separation of the soul not only from this or that sinful member but from the whole body of sin from the principal parts and members of this body as well as others the right eye is dead the right hand is dead it must needs be so the one is pluckt out and the other is cut off A Christian must deal by his darling lust as the Israelites dealt by Adonibezek they cut of his thumbs and his great toes so must thou deal with this sin hack it maim it that it may not be able to go nor stand nor act nor stir if it were possible and for that purpose take these directions 1. Labour to have your heart steeled with an holy courage and resolution against this sin it is upon the account of baseness and cowardliness of spirit that people fall by the right hand of their spiritual enemy shall I give you some instances for this doth the Devil tempt thee to uncleanness is that thy right eye sin or thy right hand sin take up St Pauls resolution 1 Cor. 6.15 Gen. 39.9 Psal 39.1 Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God forbid Josephs resolution How shall I do this wickedness and sin against God doth the Devil tempt the to blasphemy or to perjury or to lying or to any other sin of that nature take up the Psalmists resolution I said I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue I will keep my mouth with a birdle while the wicked are before me Art thou tempted to Idolatry to deny the truths of Christ to make shipwrack of faith and a good Conscience take up the three childrens resolution Be it known unto thee oh King Dan. 3.18 that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up Every man should be a Prince over his lusts and like Joshuas Captains should put his feet upon the necks of them here courage resolution severity is very successful and in special exercise your revenge on your beloved lust fight not against small or great comparatively but against this kingly this master sin 2. Let your repentance be particular for your particular iniquity it is not enough to confess your sins in the lump in the general but in prayer you must take particular notice of your right eye sin your right hand sin thus David was particular in his repentance Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight Psal 51.4 this evil of murder and this evil of adultery pointing as it were with the finger to particular sins Lâ—k 19.8 Zacheus makes a particular confession of that wrong and injustice that he had been guilty of Behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation I restore him fourfold this particle if in that place may not be a note of doubting but supposition if I have taken that is seeing I have taken from men by false accusation si Deus est animus seeing God is a Spirit 3. Beware of those things that may occasion the commission of this sin for instance if thou art prone to the sin of lying keep a door before thy lips if to gluttony and drunkenness when thou goest to a feast put a knife to thy throat We use to say proverbially occasion makes a thief this is true also in other cases occasion makes a lyar occasion makes a drunkard
man live according to the principles of that Religion and as it is with the principle of naturall life it is not made more lively active and vigorous by arguing and disputing wherein it doth consist and what are the proper acts of it but by putting it forth in the due acts and exercises of that life even so the principle of spirituall life in the soul gets no strength by zealous and hot disputing what and which is the true Religion and which be true and proper acts of Religion but by humble practice of what we know to be Religion not but that it is both lawfull and commendable to be able to understand and defend the grounds and principles of our Religion and all the holy exercises of it but I only caution against letting that sap run out in unfruitfull suckers which should nourish the fruit-bearing branches 6. Be the more carefull to observe and close with the inward stirrings of Gods Spirit in your hearts moving you to prayer meditation c. When you are in a valley of vision you will have many calls and motions from without to hear the Word and pray and receive the Sacrament but when you are abroad in a land of darknesse God must not only be your best but your only friend by his Spirit to jog and stir you up to holy duties and therefore it doth more than ordinarily concern us at a such time not to send away Gods Spirit grieved with our backwardnesse to that which is our own concernment 7. Observe and keep a register or diary of Gods mercies and your own sins that you may be often minded what God hath been to you and what you have been to him with how many thousand kindnesses he hath obliged you and with how many thousand sins you have disobliged him When we enjoy publick Ordinances we may there be often minded both of Gods goodnesse to us and our sinfulnesse against him and so may have our hearts stirred up to have very good thoughts of God and very low thoughts of our selves but when we want publick Ordinances we should labour to supply that want by a more strict observation and recording both the one and the other that by reviewing our register we may be enabled to affect our souls sutably either to praise the Lord or abase our selves 8. Lay a charge upon your selves to sleep and awake with the thoughts of God and eternity upon your souls and indeed though this is exceeding usefull for all men yet most of all for those who are deprived of Ordinances 'T is sure that the same truths which at first work upon the soul to the begetting grace are of force afterwards to quicken grace and make it lively and vigorous in the soul and certainly the belief of what God is in himself and to us and the thoughts of eternity have a great force to perswade carelesse sinners to sober and serious consideration the necessary instrument by which grace and a spirit of true and reall Religion is begot in the soul and therefore when we want those publick Ordinances which might be often presenting these great truths to our souls it will be of great use to charge our selves more severely with the daily serious thoughts of them 9. Take heed as for your life of indulging any secret sin for that will keep down the life of Religion in the midst of all Ordinances and therefore much more in the want of them a secret disease in the body which spends upon the stock of the radicall moysture will keep a man from being lively and vigorous though he have plenty of very good nourishing food much more will it endanger one in a famine even so a secret sin lodged within and indulged will weaken and enervate the principle of Religion in the soul amidst the fullest provision of Gospel-Ordinances much more when there is a famine or scarcity of the bread of life A Tradesman that hath some secret vent where his estate runs wast may prove a beggar in the midst of daily incomes by a good Trade much more if he spends upon a dead stock and so a man who spends the strength of his soul in some close and secret sin may prove a spirituall beggar in the fullest Trade of Gospel-Ordinances and though he have daily incomes of convictions informations reproofs counsels sollicitations c. from publick Ordinances much more in the want of them and therefore they who value the life of Religion or the life of their souls must take heed of indulging secret sins 10. Be the more carefull often to feel the pulse of thine own soul we use to say every man at a competent age is either a fool or a Physician and though he be a fool indeed who when he needs and may have wiser Physicians will trust to himself yet when we cannot have others a man should the more study himself and the oftener try his own pulse and truly he is but a babe in spirituall things that is not something of a Physician to himself and though we should not trust our own skill or experience where we need and may have the help of others yet when we are deprived of them we should the more diligently converse with our own souls and be the oftener trying how our pulse beats towards God and Heaven and the things of another life 11. Be so much the more in private secret prayer reading and meditation when we want the showrs of publick Ordinances we should the more diligently use the watring pot and water our souls with our foot as the phrase is concerning Egypt Deut. 11.10 If our lot should be cast where there be no publick Markets where Corn might be bought every one would plow and sow reap and thrash in his own grounds Even so if we should live where there be no publick Gospel-Ordinances where the Truths of the Gospel are not publickly to be had where we cannot partake of the labours of the Gospel-Ministry than it would concern us to be the more diligent in plowing and sowing in reaping and thrashing by our own private endeavours and I think it would be fit for us in such a condition to spend that time at least in private duties which others spend in superstitious or Idolatrous services let not us think much to give God and our souls that time which others give to their own superstitious fancies 12. In the use of all private helps act faith in God as being able to supply the want of outward means by the gracious influence of his good and holy Spirit When there was no rain from heaven God could cause a mist to arise and water the earth Gen. 2.6 even so if the Lord should bring us whore there be no showres of publick Ordinances he can stir up in our souls those holy and heavenly meditations which shall again drop down like an heavenly dew upon the face of our souls and keep up an holy verdure and freshness upon the face
understand it or 2. For an expression of the prolonging of his sojourning for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to draw forth or to prolong and thus the Septuagint renders this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom the Arabick Syriack and vulgar Latine versions follow with some others and the next verse seems to favour this sense ver 6. My soul hath long dwelt c. but either way gives us the same ground of complaint only the first sense doubles the ground of the Psalmists trouble and the other suggests the circumstance of the long continuance of his sojourning By Kedar is understood part of Arabia the inhabitants whereof are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bochart ut sup or dwellers in tents because they had no fixed and setled habitation but were robbers and lived upon the prey Now we are not to suppose that David did really sojourn and dwell among these barbarous people but he speaks this of his wandring about from place to place without any setled habitation and to set forth the cruelty and inhumanity of those among whom he dwelt he doth expresse it thus Woe is me that I dwell c. as if one living among professed Christians who deal with him more like savages than Christians should say Woe is me that I sojourn among Turks and Saracens And thus you see Davids present condition which he bewails is his absence from Jerusalem and the Tabernacle or place of Gods solemn worship and his converse with wicked and ungodly men and then these two truths lye plain before us in the words It is oftentimes the lot and portion of good men to be deprived of the Doct. 1 society of the godly and of opportunities of publick serving God and to dwell among and converse with wicked and ungodly persons It is a real ground of trouble and sorrow to a good man to be thus deprived Doct. 2 c. 'T was that which here made David proclaim himself in a state of woe and misery 'T was that which the Apostle tells us did vexe the righteous soul of Lot 2 Pet. 2.7 and which made the holy Prophet Elijah even weary of his life 1 King 19.4 You may easily imagine what a sad heart a poor lamb might well have if it be driven from the green pastures and still waters and forced to lodge among Wolves and Foxes where it must feed upon Carrion or starve and be continually in danger of being lodged in the bellies of its cruel and bloody companions unless lome secret over-ruling hand do restrain their rage and feed it with wholesome food and truly such is the condition of those that follow the Lamb of God in holy Lamb-like qualities when deprived of green pastures and still waters of Gospel Ordinances and forc'd to converse with wicked and ungodly men In handling of this Point I shall first lay before you the grounds of it and then adjoyn such practical application as may be usefull and profitable The grounds of this Truth do partly refer to God partly to wicked men and partly to the godly themselves if in such a condition a beleeving soul either look upwards or outwards or inwards he will see much cause of grief and trouble 1. With reference unto God and that upon a double account 1. It is a real ground of sorrow to a beleeving soul to be deprived of occasions of solemn blessing and praysing God the soul that is full of the sense of the goodness of God that knows how many thousand wayes the Lord is continually obliging it to love and bless him cannot but be afflicted in spirit to be kept from making its publick acknowledgements of divine goodness The Psalmist tell us Psal 65 1. that Praise waiteth for God in Sion that is in the publick Assemblies of the Church and truly 't is a grief to a believing soul not to wait there with his thank-offerings not to pay his vows unto the Lord in the presence of all his people Psal 116.17 Psal 66.18 in the Courts of the Lords house c. not to declare to all that fear God what he hath done for their souls 2. It is a real ground of sorrow to live among those that are continually reproaching and blaspeming the Name of God to see sinners despise the goodness of God and trample upon his grace and mercy and scorn his love and kindness and kick at his bowels and spit in his face and stab at his heart who is our God our Father our Friend our good and gracious Lord and King This must needs make the beleeving soul cry out Woe is me that I live among such Let us suppose a person that hath been hugely obliged by a Prince to love him and that indeed loves him as his life if this Prince should be driven from his Throne and an usurper get into his place would it not be great affliction and sadning to the spirit of such a person to live among those who every day revile reproach scorn and abuse his gracious Prince Why Sirs if you and I be true beleevers we know that the Lord is our Soveraign King Prince such a one who hath infinitely more obliged us to love him than 't is possible for any Prince to oblige a subject we do love the Lord as our lives nay better than our lives or else we love him not at all must it not then be matter of grief to hear ungodly sinners who have driven God away from their hearts souls where his Throne should be set up and who have let that grand usurper the Devil set up his throne within them and among them and who daily say unto God as those wicked ones Job 21.14 Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes to hear such curse and swear and blaspheme God and in their lives by wicked ungodly courses do him all the despight dishonor that they can bring his Name to the Tavern to the Stews upon the stage and there foot and defile the great and glorious Name of God with the worst of polutions Certainly Sirs he cannot account God his Friend his Father his good and gracious Prince whose eye doth not run down with Rivers of tears to see men so far from keeping Gods Law 2. It is a trouble to good men to sojourn c. with reference to those wicked ungodly persons among whom they live it grieves their souls to see sinners run into all excess of riot eagerly pursuing hell and damnation greedily guzling down full draughts of the venome of Asps and the poyson of Dragons it pities them to see sinners stab themselves to the heart and laughing at their own plague sores jeasting away God and heaven and eternal happiness If any of us should see a company of men so far besotted and distracted as that one should rend and burn the Evidences of a great Inheritance which others labour to deprive him of another should cast inestimable pearls