For the raising good thoughts 2. Preventing bad 3. Ordering bad when they do intrude 4. Ordering good when they appear in us 1. For raising good thoughts 1. Get renewed hearts The fountain must be cleansed which breeds the vermine Pure vapors can never ascend from a filthy quagmire What issue can there be of a vain heart 2 Cor. 5.17 Jer. 4.14 Wash thy heart from wickedness c. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee but vain imaginations Thoughts will not become new till a man is in Christ We must be holy before we can think holily Sanctification is necessary for the dislodging of vain thoughts and the introducing of good A sanctified reason would both discover and shame our natural follies As all animal operations so all the spiritual motions of our heads depend upon the life of our hearts * Prov. 4.23 as the principium originis As there is a law in our members to bring us into Captivity to the law of sin Rom. 7.23 so there must be a law in our minds to bring our thoughts to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 We must be renewed in the spirit of our minds Ephes 4.23 in our reasonings and thoughts which are the spirits whereby the understanding acts as the animal spirits are the instruments of corporeal motion Till the understanding be born of the spirit †John 3 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit it will delight in and think of nothing but things suitable to its fleshly original but when 't is spiritual it receives new impressions new reasonings and motions suitable to the Holy Ghost of whom it is born A stone if thrown upwards a thousand times will fall backward because 't is a forced motion but if the nature of this stone were changed into that of fire it would mount as naturally upward as before it sunk downward You may force some thoughts toward heaven sometimes but they will not be natural till nature be changed Grace only gives stability †Heb. 13.9 It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace and prevents fluctuation by fixing the soul upon God as its chief end and what is our end will not only be first in our intentions but most frequent in our considerations Hence a sanctified heart is called in Scripture a stedfast heart There must be an enmity against Satan put into our hearts according to the first promise before we can have an enmity against his imps or any thing that is like him 2. Study Scripture Original corruption stuffs us with bad thoughts and Scripture-knowledge would stock us with good ones for it proposeth things in such terms as exceedingly suit our imaginative faculty as well as strengthen our understanding Judicious knowledge would make us approve things that are excellent and where such things are approved Phil. 1.9 10. toys cannot be welcom Fulness is the cause of stedfastness The cause of an intent and piercing eye is the multitude of animal spirits Without this skill in the Word we shall have as foolish conceits of Divine things as ignorant men without the Rules of Art have of the Sun and Stars or things in other Countries which they never saw The Word is call'd a Lamp to our feet i. e. the affections a light to our eyes i. e the understanding Psa 119.105 Psal 19.8 enlightens the ey s. It will direct the glances of our minds and the motions of our affections It enlightens the eyes and makes us have a new prospect of things as a Scholar newly entred into Logick and studied the Predicaments c. looks upon every thing with a new eye and more rational thoughts and is mightily delighted with every thing he sees because he eyes them as clothed with those notions he hath newly studied The Devil had not his engines so ready to assault Christ as Christ from his knowledg had Scripture-precepts to oppose him Lectione assidua meditatione diuturna pectus suum bibliothecam Christi secerat Hierom Ep. 3. As our Saviour by this means stifled thoughts offered so by the same we may be able to smother thoughts arising in us Converse therefore often with the Scripture transcribe it in your heart and turn it in succum sanguinem whereby a vigor will be derived into every part of your soul as there is by what you eat to every member of your body Thus you will make your mind Christ's library as Hierom speaks of Nepotianus 3. Reflect often upon the frame of your mind at your first conversion None have more settled and more pleasant thoughts of divine things than new converts when they first clasp about Christ partly because of the novelty of their state and partly because God puts a full stock into them and diligent trades-men at their first setting up have their minds intent upon improving their stock Endeavour to put your mind in the same posture it was then Or if you cannot tell the time when you did first close with Christ recollect those seasons wherein you have found your affections most fervent your thoughts most united and your mind most elevated as when you renewed repentance upon any fall or had some notable chearings from God and consider what matter it was which carried your heart upward what employment you were engaged in when good thoughts did fill your soul and try the same experiment again Asaph would oppose God's ancient works to his murmuring thoughts he would remember his song in the night i. e. the matter of his song and read over the records of God's kindness * Psal 77.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. David too would never forget i. e. frequently renew the remembrance of those precepts whereby God had particularly quicken'd him †Psa 119.93 Yea he would reflect upon the places too where he had formerly conversed with God to rescue himself from dejecting thoughts therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill Missar ‖ Psal 42.6 Some elevations surely David had felt in those places the remembrance whereof would sweeten the sharpness of his present grief When our former sins visit our minds pleading to be speculatively reacted let us remember the holy dispositions we had in our repentance for them Luke 24.32 Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures and the thankful frames when God pardoned them The Disciples at Christ's second appearance reflected upon their own warm temper at his first discourse with them in a disguise to confirm their faith and expel their unbelieving conceits Strive to recollect truths precepts promises with the same affection which possest your Souls when they first appeared in their glory and sweetness to you 4. Ballast your heart with a Love to God David thought all the day of
her v. 5. v. 1. His Foundation The Foundation of God i. e. That which God hath founded that Jerusalem which is of God's building is seated in the holy Mountain the City was built before Joshuah conquered Canaan But God is said to be the Founder of it in regard of that peculiar glory to which it was designed to be the rest of his Ark the place of his Worship the Throne of the Types of the Messiah the Seat whence the Evangelick Law was to be publisht to all Nations and the Messiah revealed as the Redeemer and Ruler of the World In the holy Mountains Jerusalem was seated upon high Mountains The Palace of the Kings was built upon Sion and the Temple the House of the Most High was built upon Moriah and encompast with Mountains round about Psal 125.2 an emblem of the strength and stability of the Church * Daillé Melange part 2. page 354. Holy Mountains not that there was any inherent holiness in them more than in the other Mountains of the Earth or that they were naturally more beautiful and stately than other Mountains but because they were separated for the Worship and Service of God and had been ennobled by the performance of a Worship there before the building of the Temple It was upon Moriah that Isaac was designed for a Sacrifice and the most signal act of obedience performed to God by the Father of the Faithful It was there also that David appeased the wrath of God by Sacrifice after it had issued out upon the People in a Plague for the numbring of them And the very name Moriah hath something sacred in it it signifying either God teaching or God manifested which name might be given it by God with respect to the manifestation of Christ who was to come during the standing of the second Temple v. 2. The Lord loves the Gates of Sion By Gates in Scripture is meant the strength or wisdom or justice of a place Gates were the Magazines of Arms and the places of Judicature He had manifested his love to her in chusing that City before all the Cities of Israel and Judah wherein to place his Name and have his Worship celebrated and that place in Jerusalem particularly where his Law should be given by the Spirit to the Apostles upon the day of Pentecost and to apply it to the Gospel-Church it signifies the special respect God bears to her above all the Rites Observancies and Ceremonies of the Judaick Institution It was in this Gospel-Church the true Sion that he desired to dwell and will remain for ever Psal 68.17 Which is a Prophetick Psalm of the Gospel-times and the Ascension of Christ 1. The Stability of the Church is here asserted * Geierus in loc The Church is not built upon the Sand which may fall with a Storm nor upon the Waters that may float with the waves nor spread out as a Tent in the Desert that may be taken up and carried away to another place but upon a Mountain not to be removed * Psal 125.1 Mount Sion cannot be removed 't is built upon a Rock the Rock of Ages upon a Mountain which is not shatter'd by waves or shaken by storms upon Christ who hath the strength of many Mountains in himself 2. The necessity of holiness in a Church What though the Church be a Mountain for strength and eminency have the honour and priviledg of Sacraments and be the Ark of the Oracles of God 't is not established unless it be a holy Mountain Holiness is the only becoming thing in the House of God as it is consecrated to the glory of God so it must be exercis'd in things pertaining to the glory of God As the Foundation is holy so ought the Superstructure to be There was no filth in the framing it there must be no filth in the continuance of it v. 3. He speaks with some kind of astonishment of the glorious things spoken of her or promised to her and concludes it with a note of attention or a mark of eminency Selah * v. 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God No place enjoy'd an equal happiness with Jerusalem while it remained faithful to its Founder It maintain'd its standing in the midst of its enemies no weapon formed against it was able to prosper Heaven planted it and the dews of Heaven watered it it had a continual succession of Prophets the best Kings that ever were in the world swayed the Scepter in it it was blessed with more miraculous deliverances than any part of the Universe the Nations that loved it not yet feared its power and feared the displeasure of its Guardian It was here the Son of God delivered the Messages of Heaven by the order of his father It was here the spirit first filled the heads and hearts of the Apostles in order to the conversion of a world from Idolatry to the Scepter of God but more glorious things are spoken of the Spiritual Sion than of the material Jerusalem that had Christ in the flesh and the Gospel-Church hath Christ in the spirit he went from thence to heaven but he comes from heaven to visit them with his comforts he hath left the walls of Jerusalem in its ruins but he hath not he will not leave his Spiritual Sion fatherless and comfortless Joh. 14.18 his spirit abides for ever with his Church Glorious things are spoken of it when he pronounced it impregnable and that the gates of Hell the power and policy of all the Apostate Angels and their instruments should not prevail against her when he assured her he would be present with her not to the end of an age or two but till the period of time the consummation of the world priviledges that material Jerusalem could never boast of whatsoever countries have been applauded for secular excellencies or been famous for wisdom none can claym such elogies as Gospel Sion where God hath declared his will publisht himself a God of salvation placed the laws of heaven and poured out that wisdom which comes from above These are glorious things above humane expectations above humane desires The Glorious things mentioned of the Gospel-Church are in v. 4. where he speaks of the enlargement of her bounds the increase of her inhabitants and the numerous muster-rolls of those that shall list themselves in her service * I will make mention of Rahaâ— and Babylon to them that know me Behold Philistia and Tyre with Aethiopâ—â— this man was born there The time shall come when those nations that are most alienated from the profession of truth shall come under her wing and pay allegiance to her empire Strangers shall be brought into her bosom not only Philistia and Tyre nations upon her confines but Aegypt and Aethiopia nations more remote nations born and bred at a distance shall be registred as born from her womb and nurst in her lap distance of place shall not hinder the relation
rank what are the weeds Satan's devices and our thoughts are of the same nature 1 Cor. 2.11 2 Cor. 10.5 and sometimes in Scripture exprest by the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As he hath his devices so have we against the authority of God's Law the power of the Gospel and the Kingdom of Christ The Devils are call'd spiritual wickednesses because they are not capable of carnal sins Eph. 6.12 Prophaneness is an Uniformity with the world and intellectual sins are an Uniformity with the God of it Ephes 2.2 3. There is a double walking answerable to a double pattern in v. 2. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh is a walking according to the course of this world or making the world our copy and fulfilling the desires of the mind is a walking according to the Prince of the power of the air or a making the Devil our pattern In carnal sins Satan is a tempter in mental an actor Therefore in the one we are conformed to his will in the other we are transformed into his likeness In outward we evidence more of obedience to his laws in inward more of affection to his person as all imitations of others do Therefore there is more of enmity to God because more of similitude and love to the Devil a nearer approach to the Diabolical nature implying a greater distance from the Divine Christ never gave so black a character as that of the Devil's children to the prophane world but to the Pharisees who had left the sins of men to take up those of Devils and were most guilty of those high imaginations which ought to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 5. In respect of contrariety and odiousness to God Imaginations were only evil Rom. 8.7 and so most directly contrary to God who is only good Our natural enmity against God is seated in the mind The sensitive part aims at its own gratification and in mens serving their lusts they serve their pleasures but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prince in man Titus 3.3 serving divers lusts and pleasures is possest with principles of a more direct contrariety whence it must follow that all the thoughts and counsels of it are tinctured with this hatred They are indeed a defilement of the higher part of the Soul and that which belongs more peculiarly to God And the nearer any part doth approach to God the more abominable is a spot upon it as to cast dirt upon a Prince's house is not so heinous as to deface his Image The understanding the seat of thoughts is more excellent than the will both because we know and judge before we will or ought to will only so much as the understanding thinks fit to be willed and because God hath bestowed the highest gifts upon it adorning it with more lively lineaments of his own Image Col. 3.10 Renewed in knowledge after the Image of Him that created him implying that there was more of the Image of God at the first Creation bestowed upon the understanding the seat of knowledge than on any other part yea than on all the bodies of men distill'd together Father of Spirits is one of God's titles To bespatter His Children then so near a relation Heb. 12.9 the Jewel that he is choice of must needs be more heinous He being the Father of Spirits this spiritual wickedness of nourishing evil thoughts is a cashiering all child-like likeness to him The traiterous acts of the mind are most offensive to God as 't is a greater despite for a Son to whom the Father hath given the greater portion to shut him out of his house only to revel in it with a company of Rioters and Strumpets than in a Child who never was so much the subject of his Father's favour And 't is more heinous and odious if these thoughts which possess our Souls be at any time conversant about some Idea of our own framing It were not altogether so bad if we loved something of God's creating which had a physical goodness and a real usefulness in it to allure us but to run wildly to embrace an Ens rationis to prefer a thing of no existence but what is colour'd by our own imagination of no vertue no usefulness a thing that God never created nor pronounced good is a greater enmity and a higher slight of God 6. In respect of Connaturalness and Voluntariness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch Moral 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thales Diog. Laert. They are the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart and they are continually evil They are as natural as the aestuations of the Sea the bubblings of a Fountain or the twinklings of the Stars The more natural any motion is ordinarily the quicker it is Time is requisite to action but thoughts have an instantaneous motion The body is a heavy piece of clay but the mind can start out on every occasion Actions have their stated times and places but these solicit us and are entertain'd by us at all seasons Neither day nor night street nor closet exchange nor temple can priviledge us from them We meet them at every turn and they strike upon our Souls as often as light upon our Eyes There is no restraint for them the Laws of men the constitution of the body the interest of profit or credit are mighty bars in the way of outward profaneness but nothing lays the reins upon thoughts but the Law of God and this man is not subject to neither can be Rom. 8.7 Besides the natural Atheism in man is a special friend and nurse of these few firmly believing either the omniscience of God or his Government of the world which the Scripture speaks of frequently as the cause of most sins among the sons of men †Isa 29.15 Ezek. 9.9 Job 22.13 14 Actions are done with some reluctance and nips of natural conscience Conscience will start at a gross temptation but it is not frighted at thoughts Men may commit speculative folly and their conscience look on without so much as a nod against it Men may tear out their neighbours bowels in secret wishes and their conscience never interpose to part the fray Conscience indeed cannot take notice of all of them they are too subtil in their nature and too quick for the observation of a finite principle They are many †Prov. 19.21 There are many devices in a man's heart Florus l. 2. c. 3. Major aliquanto labor erat invenire quam vincere and they are nimble too like the bubblings of a boyling pot or the rising of a wave that presently slides into its level and as Florus saith of the Ligurians the difficulty is more to find than conquer them They are secret sins and are no more discerned than motes in the air without a spiritual sun-beam whence David cryes out Psal 19.12 Cleanse me from secret sins which some explain of sins of thoughts that were like sudden and
are peculiarly breath'd in by the spirit There are ordinary bubblings of grace in a renewed mind as there are of sins in an unregenerate heart for grace is as active a principle as any because 't is a participation of the divine nature But there are other thoughts darted in beyond the ordinary strain of thinking which like the beams of the Sun evidence both themselves and their original And as concerning these motions joyn'd together take these Directions in short 1. Welcom and entertain them As 't is our happiness as well as our duty to stifle evil motions so 't is our misery as well as our sin to extinguish heavenly Strange fire should be presently quench'd but that which descends from heaven upon the Altar of a holy soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polycarp Epist ad Phil. terms holy persons must be kept alive by quickning meditation When a holy thought lights suddenly upon you which hath no connexion with any antecedent business in your mind provided it be not unseasonable nor hinder you from any absolutely necessary duty either of religion or your calling receive it as a messenger from heaven and the rather because 't is a stranger You know not but you may entertain an Angel yea something greater than an Angel even the Holy Ghost Open all the powers of your souls like so many Organ-pipes to receive the breath of this Spirit when he blows upon you 'T is a sign of an agreeableness between the heart and heaven when we close with and preserve spiritual motions We need not stand long to examine them they are evident by their holiness sweetness and spirituality We may as easily discern them as we can exotick plants from those that grow naturally in our own soil or as a palate at the first tast can distinguish between a rich and generous wine and a rough water The thoughts instill'd by the Spirit of adoption are not violent tumultuous full of perturbation but like himself gentle and dove-like solicitings Gal. 5.22 warm and holy impulses and when cherished leave the soul in a more humble heavenly pure and believing temper than they found it 'T is a high aggravation of sin to resist the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 Yet we may quench his motions by neglect as well as by opposition and by that means lose both the profit and pleasure which would have attended the entertainment Salvation came both to Zacheus his house and heart upon embracing the first motion our Saviour was pleased to make him Had he slighted that 't is uncertain whether another should have been bestowed upon him The more such sprouts are planted and nourished in us the less room will stinking weeds have to root themselves and disperse their influence And for thy own good thoughts feed them and keep them alive that they may not be like a blaze of straw which takes birth and expires the same minute Brood upon them and kill them not as some birds do their young ones by too often flying from their nests David kept up a staple of sound and good thoughts he would scarce else have desired God to try and know them Psal 139.23 Tâ—y me and know my thoughts had they been only some few weak flashes at uncertain times 2. Improve them for those ends to which they naturally tend 'T is not enough to give them a bare reception and forbear the smothering of them but we must consider what affections are proper to be rais'd by them either in the search of some truth or performance of some duty Those gleams with shoot into us on the sudden have some lesson seal'd up in them to be opened and learned by us When Peter upon the crowing of the cock call'd to mind his Master's admonition he thought thereon and wept †Mar. 14 72. he did not only receive the spark but kindled a suitable affection A choice graff though kept very carefully by us yet if not presently set will wither and disappoint our expectation of the desired fruit No man is without some secret whispers to disswade him from some alluring and busie sin †Job 33.14 17. God speaks once yea twice that he may withdraw man from his purpose as Cain had by an audible voice Gen. 4.7 which had he observed to the damping the revengeful motion against his brother he had prevented his brother's death his own despair and eternal ruin Have you any motion to seek God's face as David had Let your hearts reply Thy face Lord will I seek * Psal 27.8 The address will be most acceptable at such a time when your heart is tuned by One that searcheth the deep things of God †1 Cor. 2.10 and knows his mind and what airs are most delightful to Him Let our motion be quick in any duty which the Spirit doth suggest and while he heaves our hearts and oyls our wheels we shall do more in any religious service and that more pleasantly and successfully than at another time with all our own art and industry for his injections are like water poured into a pump to raise up more and as Satan's motions are not without a main body to second them so neither do the Spirit 's go unattended without a sufficient strength to assist the entertainers of them Well then lye not at anchor when a fresh gale would fill thy sails but lay hold of the present opportunity These seasons are often like those influences from certain conjunctions of the Planets which if not according to the Astrologer's opinion presently applied pass away and return not again in many ages So the Spirit 's breathings are often determined that if they be not entertained with suitable affections the time will be unregainable and the same gracious opportunities of a sweet entercourse may be for ever lost for God will not have his holy Spirit dishonoured in always striving with wilful man Gen. 6.3 When Judas neglected our Saviour's advertisement John 13.21 the Devil quickly enters and hurries him to the execution of his traiterous project v. 27. and he never meets with any motion afterwards but from his new Master and that eternally fatal both to his body and soul 3. Refer them if possible to assist your Morning Meditation that like little Brooks arising from several Springs they may meet in one channel and compose a more useful Stream What straggling good thoughts arise though they may owe their birth to several occasions and tend divers ways yet list them in the service of that truth to which you have committed the government of your mind that day As Constables in a time of necessary business for the King take up men that are going about their honest and lawful occasions and force them to joyn in one employ for the publick Service Many accidental glances as was observed before will serve both to fix and illustrate your Morning Proposition But if it be an extraordinary injection and cannot be referred to your
of her children And when God shall count the people of forraign nations he shall set a mark upon every true believer and reckon him as one born in Sion a Denizen of Jerusalem though not a Jew in the flesh De Dieu in loc I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me or rather among them that know me or for them that know me * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will remember them as persons inlightned by me and acquainted with me The Psalmist reckons up here nations that were greatest enemies to the Church Rahab or Aegypt * For so Aegypt is named Isa 51.9 her antient enemy Philistia her perpetual invader Rahab signifies pride or fierceness the fiercest people shall be subdued to Sion by the power of the Gospel Aegypt the wisest and learnedst nation the most Idolatrous and Superstitious men that rest in their own parts and strength shall cast away their Idols Babylon the strongest and most powerful Empire the subjects of which the Scripture often describes as luxurious cruel proud Tyre the greatest mart whose Citizens were the greatest merchants The Aethiopians the posterity of Cursed Cham whose souls are blacker than their bodies men buried in sin benighted with ignorance poysoned with pride the most fierce and envenom'd enemies shall be brought in by an infinite grace and make up one body with her and shall be counted as related to her by a new birth and be made members of her by regeneration this is properly to be born in Sion * This man was born there as without regeneration we have not God for our father so neither have we Sion or the Church for our mother this is the great priviledg we should inquire after without which we are not in Gods register this 2d birth God only approves of he enrolls no man in the number of the Citizens of Sion nor indows them with the special priviledges of it upon the account of their first wherein they lye buried in the corruption of Adam and are Citizens of Hell not of Jerusalem Again this 2d birth is never without the knowledge of God * Among those that know me Ignorance is a bar to this enrolment he is no man that is not a rational creature and he no regenerate man that hath not some knowledg in the great mysteries of God in Christ In v. 5. 1. The honour of Sion is described by her fruitfulness 1. In regard of the eminency of her births she is not wholly barren she hath her births of men and worthy men the carnal world hath not exceeded the Church in men of raised intellectuals Sion hath not been a City of fools Dionysius the Areopagite hath been her production as well as Damaris a woman Kings also have been nurst at her breasts that they might be nursing fathers to her by their power but the honour of Sion consists in the inward change it makes on men dispossessing them of the nature of wolves for that of lambs rendring them the Loyal subjects of God instead of his active enemies 'T is the glory of Sion that this or that man born in her was changed to such principles and such affections that all the education and politeness of the most accomplisht Cities in the world could not furnish them with 2. In regard of the multitude of them this and that man of all sorts and conditions and multitudes of them so that more are the children of the desolate than of the marryed wife The tents were prophesied to be inlarged the curtains of the habitations of Sion to be stretched out and her cords to be lengthened to receive and entertain that multitude of children that should be brought forth by her after the Sacrifice of the Son of God Isa 54.1 2. For that exhortation follows upon the description of the death and exaltation of Christ Isa 53. 2. The happiness of Sion The highest himself shall establish her 1. Security in her glory Establish her 2. The Author of that security and perpetuity The Highest and that exclusive of any other The Highest himself * Coccei in loc all that are not the most high are excluded from having a share in the establishment of the Church 'T is a work peculiar to him 'T is not the excellent learning strength of the wise or mighty men that are born in her that doth preserve her but God alone he spirits and acts them means God doth use in bringing in inward grace means he doth use in setling the outward form But such means that have in reason no strength to effect so great a business means different from those which are used in the establishment of other Kingdoms whereby the hand that acts them is more visible and plain than the means that are used * Folang 'T is not the wit of man which is folly nor the strength of man which is weakness nor the holiness of man which is nothing can claim the honour of this work God himself picks stones out of the quarry smooths them for the building fixeth them in their places he himself is the only architect his wisdom contrives it his grace erects it his power preserves it and accomplisheth his own work 't is the highest none higher to over-power him none so high as to check and mate him Shall establish her This cannot be meant of the literal or local Sion though that indeed was preserved while the legal service was to indure excepting that interruption by the Babylonish captivity but now Mahomets horse tramples upon it and it retains none of the ancient inhabitants but of the true mystical Sion the Gospel state of the Church which shall continue in being as Christ the head of it hath setled it till time shall be no more Other Kingdoms may crumble away the foundations of them be dissolved But that God which laid the foundation of Sion and built her walls will preserve her palaces that the gates of Hell the subtilty of Hereticks the fury of Tyrants the Apostacy of some of her pretended Children all the locusts and spawn of the bottomless-pit shall not be able to root her up Shall establish her The word signifies the affording all things necessary for defence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 increase of victory preparations of it the knitting of it Doct. The Gospel-Church is a perpetual Society establisht by the highest Power in Heaven or Earth It shall continue as long as the World and out-live the Dissolution of Nature she shall bring forth her Man-child maugre all the vigilancy of the Dragon which shall be caught up to God and his Throne and though she be forced to flie into the wilderness yet a place is prepared for her habitation and food for her support during that state no less than 1260 days or years and this by no weaker no meaner a hand than that of God himself * Rev. 12.3 4 5 6. where she hath a place prepared of God that
Do not envy them Be not troubled at their prosperity 2. Do not imitate them Be not provoked by their Glow-worm happiness to practice the same wickedness to arrive to the same prosperity 3. Be not sinfully impatient and quarrel not with God because he hath not by his providence allowed thee the same measures of prosperity in the world Accuse him not of injustice and cruelty because he afflicts the good and is indulgent to the wicked Leave him to dispense his blessings according to his own mind 4. Condemn not the way of Piety and Religion wherein thou art Think not the worse of thy Profession because it is attended with Affliction The reason of this Exhortation is rendred v. 2. For they shall soon be cut down as the grass and wither as the green herb amplified by a similitude or resemblance of their prosperity to grass Their happiness hath no stability it hath like grass more of colour and show than strength and substance Grass nods this and that way with every wind The mouth of a Beast may pull it up or the foot of a Beast may tread it down the scorching Sun in Summer or the fainting Sun in Winter will deface its complexion The Psalmist then proceeds to positive duties v. 3. 1. Faith Trust in the Lord. This is a grace most fit to quell such impatiencies The stronger the faith the weaker the passion Impatient motions are signs of a flagging faith Many times Men are ready to cast off their help in Jehovah and address to the God of Ekron multitudes of friends or riches But trust thou in the Lord in the promises of God in the providence of God 2. Obedience Do good Trust in God's promises and observance of his precepts must be linkt together 'T is but a pretended trust in God where there is a real walking in the paths of wickedness Let not the glister of the world render thee faint and languid in a course of Piety 3. The keeping our station Do good Because wicked men flourish hide not thy self therefore in a corner but keep thy sphere run thy Race And verily thou shalt be fed have every thing needful for thee And now because men delight in that wherein they trust the Psalmist diverts us from all other objects of delight to God as the true object Delight thy self in the Lord place all thy pleasure and joy in him And because the motive expresseth the answer of prayer the duty enjoyned seems to respect the act of prayer as well as the object of prayer Prayer coming from a delight in God and a delight in seeking him Trust is both the spring of joy and the spring of Supplication When we trust him for sustenance and preservation we shall receive them so when we delight in seeking him we shall be answered by him 1. The Duty In the act Delight In the object the Lord. 2. The motive He shall give thee the desires of thy heart the most substantial desires those desires which he approves of The desire of thy heart as gracious though not the desire of thy heart as carnal The desire of thy heart as a Christian though not the desire of thy heart as a creature He shall give God is the object of our joy and the author of our comfort Doctrine Delight in God in seeking him only procures gracious answers or without chearful prayers we cannot have gracious answers There are two parts 1. Chearfulness on our parts 2. Grants on Gods part 1 Chearfulness and delight on our parts Joy is the tuning the Soul The command to rejoyce precedes the command to pray 1 Thes 5.16 17. Rejoyce evermore pray without ceasing Delight makes the melody prayer else will be but a harsh sound God accepts the heart only when it is a gift given not forc'd Delight is the marrow of Religion 1. Dulness is not suitable to the great things we are chiefly to beg for Gospel-discoveries are a feast Isa 25.6 Dulness becomes not such a solemnity Manna must not be sought for with a dumpish heart With joy we are to draw water out of the Wells of Salvation Isa 12.3 Faith is the bucket but joy and love are the hands that move it They are the Hur and Aaron that hold up the hands of this Moses God doth not value that mans service who accounts not his service a priviledge and a pleasure 2. Dulness is not suitable to the Duty Gospel-duties are to be performed with a Gospel-temper God's People ought to be a willing people Psa 110.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a people of willingness As though in prayer no other faculty of the Soul had its exercise but the will This must breathe fully in every word as the spirit in Ezekiel's wheels Delight like the Angel * Judg. 13.20 must ascend in the smoke and flame of the Soul Though there be a kind of union by contemplation yet the real union is by affection A man cannot be said to be a spiritual King if he doth not present his performances with a Royal and Prince-like spirit 'T is for vigorous wrestling that Jacob is called a Prince Gen. 32.28 This Temper is essential to grace Natural men are described to be of a heavy and weary temper in the offering of Sacrifices Mal. 1.13 It was but a sickly lame Lamb they brought for an offering and yet weary of it that which was not fit for their table they thought fit for the Altar In the handling this Doctrine I shall shew 1. What this delight is 2. Whence it springs 3. The reasons of the doctrine 4. The use 1. What this delight is Delight properly is an affection of the mind that Springs from the possession of a good which hath been ardently desired This is the top stone the highest step delight is but an Embryo till it come to fruition and that certain and immutable Otherwise if there be probability or possibility of losing that which we have present possession of the fear of it is as a drop of gall that infects the sweetness of this passion delight properly is a silencing of desire and the banquet of the Soul on the presence of its desired object But there is a delight of a lower stamp 1. In desires There is a delight in desire as well as in fruition A chearfulness in labour as well as in attainment The desire of Canaan made the good Israelites chearful in the wilderness There is an inchoate delight in motion but a consummate delight in rest and fruition 2. In hopes Desired happiness affects the Soul much more expected happiness Rom. 5.2 We rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Joy is the natural issue of a well grounded hope A tottering expectation will engender but a tottering delight Such a delight will Mad-men have which is rather to be pitied than desired But if an imaginary hope can affect the heart with some real joy much more a hope setled upon a sure bottom and raised upon a good
such an end As Balaam and Balak offered their Sacrifice chearfully hoping to ingratiate themselves with God and to have liberty to curse his people 3. A delight in the precepts and promises of God which are the ground and rules of Prayer First David delights in Gods testimonies and then calls upon him with his whole heart A gracious heart must first delight in precepts and promises before it can turn them into prayers For prayer is nothing else but a presenting God with his own promise desiring to work that in us and for us which he hath promised to us None was more chearful in prayer than David because none was more rejoycing in the statutes of God Gods statutes were his Songs Psa 119.54 And the divine Word was sweeter to him than the hony and hony-comb If our hearts leap not at divine promises we are like to have but drowsy Souls in desiring them If our eye be not upon the dainties God sets before us our desires cannot be strong for him If we have no delight in the great charters of heaven the rich legacies of God how can we sue for them If we delight not in the covenant of grace we shall not delight in prayers for grace It was the hopes of reward made Moses so valiant in suffering and the joy set before Christ in a promise made him so chearful in enduring the shame Heb. 12.1.2 4. A delight in prayer itself A Christians heart is in secret ravisht into heaven There is a delight in coming near God and warming the soul by the fire of his love The Angels are chearful in the act of praise their work is their glory A holy Soul doth so delight in this duty that if there were no command to engage him no promise to encourage him he would be stepping into Gods Courts He thinks it not a good day that passeth without some intercourse with God David would have taken up his lodgings in the Courts of God and regards it as the only blessedness Psalm 65.4 And so great a delight he had in being in Gods presence that he envies the birds the happiness of building their nests near his Tabernacle A delight there is in the holiness of Prayer a natural man under some troubles may delight in Gods comforting and easing presence but not in his sanctifying presence He may delight to pray to God as a storehouse to supply his wants but not as a refiners fire to purge away his dross Prayer as Praise is a melody to God in the heart Eph. 5.19 And the Soul loves to be fingering the instrument and touching the strings 5. A delight in the things askt This heavenly chearfulness is most in heavenly things What delight others have in asking worldly goods that a gracious heart hath in begging the light of Gods countenance That soul cannot be dull in prayer that seriously considers he prays for no less than heaven and happiness no less than the glory of the great God A gracious man is never weary of spiritual things as men are never weary of the Sun but though it is enjoyed every day yet long for the rising of it again From this delight in the matter of prayer it is that the Saints have redoubled and repeated their Petitions and often double the Amen at the end of Prayer to manifest the great affections to those things they have askt The Soul loves to think of those things the heart is set upon and frequent thoughts express a delight 6. A delight in those graces and affections which are Exercised in Prayer A gracious heart is most delighted with that prayer wherein grace hath been more stirring and gracious affections have been boyling over The Soul desires not only to speak to God but to make melody to God the heart is the instrument but graces are the strings and prayer the touching them and therefore he is more displeased with the flagging of his graces than with missing an answer There may be a delight in gifts in a mans own gifts in the gifts of another in the pomp and varnish of devotion But a delight in exercising spiritual graces is an ingredient in this true delight The Pharisees are markt by Christ to make long prayers vaunting in an outward bravery of words as if they were playing the Courtiers with God and complementing him But the Publican had a short prayer but more grace Lord be merciful to me a sinner There is relyance and humility A gracious heart labours to bring flaming affections and if he cannot bring flaming grace he will bring smoaking grace he desires the preparation of his heart as well as the answer of his prayer Psalm 10.17 2. Whence this delight springs 1. From the Spirit of God Not a spark of fire upon our own hearth that is able to kindle this Spiritual delight 'T is the holy Ghost that breaths such an heavenly heat into our affections The Spirit is the fire that kindles the Soul the spring that moves the watch the wind that drives the ship The swiftest ship with spread sails will be but sluggish in its motion unless the wind fills its sails without this Spirit we are but in a weak and sickly condition our breath but short a heavy and troublesome Asthma is upon us Psal 138.3 When I cryed unto thee thou didst strengthen me with strength in my Soul As prayer is the work of the Spirit in the heart so doth delight in prayer owe itself to the same author God will make them joyful in his house of prayer Isa 56.7 2. From grace The Spirit kindles but gives us the Oyl of grace to make the lamp burn clear There must not only be wind to drive but sails to catch it a prayer without grace is a a prayer without wings There must be grace to begin it A dead man cannot rejoice in his Land Money or Food he cannot act and therefore cannot be chearful in action Chearfulness supposeth life dead men cannot perform a duty Psal 115.17 the dead praise not the Lord nor dead souls a chearful duty There must not only be grace infused but grace actuated No man in a sleep or swoon can rejoice There must not only be a living principle but a lively operation If the sap lurk only in the root the branches can bring forth no fruit our best prayers without the sap of grace diffusing itself will be but as withered branches Grace actuated puts heat into performances without which they are but benum'd and frozen * Reynolds Rusty grace as a rusty Key will not unlock will not enlarge the heart There must be grace to maintain it There is not only need of fire to kindle the lamp but of Oyl to preserve the flame natural men may have their affections kindled in a way of common working but they will presently faint and dye as the flame of cotton will dimm and vanish if there be no Oyl to nourish it There is a temporary joy in hearing the word
and if in one duty why not in another why not in prayer Mat. 13.20 Like a fire of thorns that makes a great blaze but a short stay 3. From a good Conscience A good heart is a continual feast Prov. 15.15 He that hath a good conscience must needs be chearful in his religious and civil duties Guilt will come trembling and with a sad countenance into the presence of Gods Majesty A guilty child cannot with chearfulness come into a displeased fathers presence A Soul smoakt with Hell cannot with delight approach to heaven Guilty Souls in regard of the injury they have done to God will be afraid to come and in regard of the soot of Sin wherewith they are defiled and the blackness they have contracted they will be ashamed to come They know that by their sins they should provoke his anger not allure his love A Soul under conscience of sin cannot look up to God Psal 40.12 Nor will God with favour look down upon it Psal 59.2 It must be a pure heart that must see him with pleasure Mat. 5.8 And pure hands must be lifted up to him 1 Tim. 2.8 Jonah was asleep after his sin and was out-stript in quickness to pray even by Idolaters The marriners jogg him but could not get him that we read of to call upon that God whom he had offended Jon. 1. Where there is corruption the sparks of sin will kindle that tinder and weaken a Spiritual delight A perfect heart and a willing mind are put together 1 Chron. 29.2 There cannot be willingness without sincerity nor sincerity without willingness 4. From a holy and frequent familiarity with God Where there is a great familiarity there is a great delight delight in one anothers company and delight in one anothers converse strangeness contracts and familiarity dilates the Soul There is more alacrity in going to a God with whom we are acquainted than to a God to whom we are strangers This doth encourage the Soul to go to God I go to a God whose face I have seen whose goodness I have tasted with whom I have often met in prayer Frequent familiarity makes us more apprehensive of the excellency of another an excellency apprehended will be beloved and being beloved will be delighted in 5. From hopes of speeding There is an expectative delight which ariseth from hopes of enjoying Rom. 12.12 Rejoycing in hope There cannot be a pleasant motion where there is a palsie of doubts How full of delight must that Soul be that can plead a promise and carry God's hand and seal to Heaven and shew him his own Bond when it can be pleaded not only as a favour to engage his mercy but in some sense a debt to engage his truth and righteousness Christ in his prayer which was his Swan-like song John 17. pleads the terms of the Covenant between his Father and himself I have glorified thee on Earth glorifie me with that golry I had with thee before the world was This is the case of a delightful approach when we carry a Covenant of grace with us for our selves and a promise of security and perpetuity for the Church Upon this account we have more cause of a pleasant motion to God than the ancient Believers had Fear acted them under the Law Love us under the Gospel He cannot but delight in prayer that hath Arguments of God's own framing to plead with God who cannot deny his own Arguments and Reasonings Little comfort can be suckt from a perhaps But when we come to seek Covenant-mercies God's faithfulness to his Covenant puts the mercy past a perhaps We come to a God sitting upon a Throne of Grace upon Mount Sion not on Mount Sinai to a God that desires our presence more than we desire his assistance 6. From a sense of former mercies and acceptation If Manna be rained down it doth not only take off our thoughts from Aegyptian Garlick but quickens our desires for a second shower A sense of God's Majesty will make us lose our garishness and a sense of God's Love will make us lose our dumpishness We may as well come again with a merry heart when God accepts our prayers as go away and eat our bread with joy when God accepts our works Eccles 9.7 The Doves will readily fly to the windows where they have formerly found shelter and the Beggar to the door where he hath often received an Alms. Because he hath inclined his ear to hear me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live Psal 116.2 I have found refuge with God before I have found my wants supplied my soul raised my temptations check'd my doubts answered and my prayers accepted therefore I will repeat my Addresses with chearfulness I might add also other Causes as a love to God a heavenliness of spirit a consideration of Christ's Intercession a deep humiliation The more unpleasant sin is to our rellish the more delightful will God be and the more chearful our Souls in Addresses to him The more unpleasant sin is to us the more spiritual our Souls are and the more spiritual our Souls the more spiritual our Affections The more stony the more lumpish and unapt for motion the more contrite the more agil From a spiritual tast report of a thing may contribute some pleasure but a tast greater 3. Reasons Without chearful seeking we cannot have a gracious Answer 1. God will not give an answer to those prayers that dishonour him A flat and dumpish temper is not for his honour The Heathens themselves thought their gods should not be put off with a Sacrifice dragg'd to the Altar We read of no Lead that lumpish earthly metal imployed about the Tabernacle or Temple but the purer and most glistering sorts of metals God will have the most excellent Service because he is the most excellent Being He will have the most delightful Service because he bestows the most delightful and excellent gifts All Sacrifices were to be offered up with fire which is the quickest and most active Element 'T is a dishonour to so great so glorious a Majesty to put him off with such low and dead-hearted Services Those Petitions cannot expect an answer which are offered in a manner injurious to the person we address to 'T is not for the credit of our great Master to have his Servants dejected in his work As though his Service were an uncomfortable thing as though God were a Wilderness and the World a Paradise 2. Dull and lumpish Prayer doth not reach him and therefore cannot expect an answer Such desires are as Arrows that sink down at our feet there is no force to carry them to Heaven The heart is as an unbent Bow that hath no strength When God will hear he makes first a prepared heart Psal 10.17 He first strings the Instrument and then receives the sound An enlarged heart only runs Psal 119.32 A contracted heart moves slowly and often faints in the Journey 3. Lumpishness speaks an
Sanctuary Or do we delight in it not when our Tongues are most quick but our hearts most warm not because we have the best words but the most spiritualiz'd affections We may have Angels gifts in prayer without an Angels spirit 2. Is there a delight in all parts of a duty Not only in asking temporal blessings or some spiritual as pardoning mercy but in begging for refining grace Are we earnest only when we have bosom quarrels and conscience-convulsions but flag when we come to pray for sanctifying mercy The rise of this is a displicency with the trouble and danger not with the sin and cause 3. Doth our delight in prayer and spiritual things out do our delight in outward things The Psalmists joy in God was more than his delight in the Harvest or Vintage Psal 7.4 Are we like Ravens that delight to hover in the Air sometimes but our greatest delight is to feed upon Carrion Though we have and may have a sensible delight in worldly things yet is it as solid and rational as that we have in duty 4. Is our delight in Prayer an humble delight Is it a rejoycing with humbling Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with gladness and rejoyce before him with trembling If our service be right it will be chearful and if truly chearful it will be humble 5. Is our delight in Prayer accompanied with a delight in waiting Do we like Merchants not only delight in the first lanching of a Ship or the setting it out of the Haven with a full fraught but also in expectations of a rich return of spiritual mercies Do we delight to pray though God for the present doth not delight to give and wait like David with an owning God's Wisdom in delaying Psal 130.6 Or do we shoot them only as Arrows at random and never look after them where they light or where to find them 6. Is our delight in praising God when mercy comes answerable to the delight in praying when a wanted mercy was begged The ten Lepers desired mercy with an equal chearfulness in hopes of having their Leprosie cured but his delight that returned only was genuine As he prayed with a loud voice so he praised with a loud voice Luke 17.13 15. And Christ tells him his faith had made him whole As he had an answer in a way of grace so he had before a gracious delight in his asking the others had a natural delight and so a return in a way of common providence 3 Use Of Exhortation Let us delight in Prayer God loves a chearful giver in Alms and a chearful petitioner in Prayer God would have his children free with him He takes special notice of a spiritual frame Jer. 30.21 Who hath engaged his heart The more delight we have in God the more delight he will have in us He takes no pleasure in a lumpish Service 'T is an uncomely sight to see a joyful Sinner and a dumpish Petitioner Why should we not exercise as much joy in holy duties as formerly we did in sinful practices How delightfully will men sit at their games and spend their days in gluttony and luxury And shall not a Christian find much more delight in applying himself to God We should delight that we can and have hearts to ask such gifts that thousands in the world never dream of begging To be dull is a discontentedness with our own Petitions Delight in prayer is the way to gain assurance To seek God and treat him as our chiefest good endears the Soul to him Delighting in Accesses to him will enflame our love And there is no greater sign of an interest in him than a prevalent estimation of him God casts off none that affectionately clasp about his Throne To this purpose 1. Pray for quickening grace How often do we find David upon his knees for it God only gives this grace and God only stirs this grace 2. Meditate on the Promises you intend to plead Unbelief is the great root of all dumpishness It was by the belief of the Word we had life at first and by an exercise of that belief we gain liveliness What maintains our love will maintain our delight the amiableness of God and the excellency of the Promises are the incentives and fuel both of the one and of the other Think that they are eternal things you are to pray for and that you have as much invitation to beg them and as good a promise to attain them as David Paul or any other ever had How would this awaken our drowzy Souls and elevate our heavy hearts and open the lazy eye-lids to look up And whatever meditation we find begin to kindle our Souls let us follow it on that the spark may not go out 3. Chuse the time when your hearts are most revived Observe when God sends an invitation and hoist up the sails when the wind begins to blow There is no Christian but hath one time or another a greater activeness of spirit Chuse none of those seasons which may quench the heat and dull the spriteliness of your affections Resolve before hand this To delight your selves in the Lord and thereby you shall gain the desire of your hearts A DISCOURSE OF Mourning for other Mens Sins Ezekiel 9.4 And the Lord said unto him Go thorow the midst of the City thorow the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the Abominations that be done in the midst thereof WHen God in the former Chapter had charged the Jews with their Idolatry and the multiplicity of abominations committed in his Temple And v. 18. had past a resolve that he would not spare them but deal in fury with them though they should solicit him with the strongest and most importunate supplications In this Chapter he calls and commissions the Executioners of his just Decree Ver. 1. He cryed also in mine ears with a loud voice saying Cause them that have charge over the City to draw near even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand And declares whom and in what manner he would punish and whom he would pardon The Executioners of God's vengeance are the Chaldeans described by the situation of them from Judea and the direct Road from that Country to Jerusalem v. 2. Six men came from the way of the higher gate which lies towards the North. Babylon lay North-East from Jerusalem and this gate was the way of entrance for Travellers from those parts it led also into the Court of the Priests which shews from whence the Judgment should come and upon whom it should light Six men A certain number Whether the Holy Ghost alludes to a particular number of Nations which the Chaldean Army might be composed of under their Prince who reign'd over several Countries or respects the other chief Captains or Marshals of his Army which are nam'd Jer. 39.3 or speaks with reference to the other places wherein the City was assaulted by
of the Devil 6. From the New Nature of a Christian which hinders him from sin v. 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin c. Various expositions there are of this The greatest difficulty lies in those words Doth not commit sin and cannot sin 1. He ought not to sin Cannot indeed is sometimes taken for ought not as Acts 4.20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard They had a Physical ability to hold their peace but morally they could not because of Christ's Precept to them to publish those things What we cannot lawfully do we cannot do Non possumus quod non jure possumus what we cannot honourably do we are said not to be able to do Mark 6.5 He could there do no mighty work Christ had natural ability to do mighty works there but morally he could not honourably he could not because of their unbelief which was a moral hinderance and according to God's Methods there was no hope of doing any good among them their unbelief was so strong they gave him no opportunity to do any mighty work But this is not the meaning of cannot here ought not For an unrenewed man ought not to sin any more than a regenerate man But the Apostle attributes here something peculiar to the regenerate adding the reason because he is born of God Though it carry in it something of an obligation in a higher manner than upon a meer natural man He ought not to sin not only upon the general obligation which lies upon all men not to sin but upon the more special one of his state being a Son of God which ought to be counted a moral impossibility by a righteous man Regeneration gives a man no advantage to sin no external licence no internal liberty or ability to sin for the Apostle useth this as an argument to them as well as an establishment not to sin because they are born of God which was a more special obligation upon them not to sin than what they had by nature 2. He cannot sin so easily 'T is not impossible but difficult for him to sin because by receiving grace he receives a principle contrary to sin and so hath a principle of resistance against it Or because by that grace he is inclined not to sin and so there is inchoativè an impossibility of sinning which shall hereafter be perfected Not a simple impossibility but secundum quid He endeavours to work as one born of God and follows the motions of the Spirit against the sin to which he is tempted He cannot sin i. e. 't is a hard matter for him to sin for considering the efficacy of grace and the assistances attending it it is a difficult thing for a righteous man to be brought under the power of sin he may sin easily in respect of the frailty of the flesh but not so easily in regard of the abiding of the Seed in him which helps him to beware of sin Grace being a divine habit hath the nature of a habit which is to incline the person to acts proper to that habit and facilitate those acts as a man that hath the habit of an Art or Trade can with more ease work in it than any other 3. He cannot sin in sensu formali as he is regenerate or ex vi talis nativitatis Grace cannot sin because it can do nothing but what pertains to the nature of it as the heat cannot cool unrighteousness cannot do good Fire doth not moisten per se nor Water naturally heat But it is not said The Seed of God cannot sin but in the Concrete He that is born of God and he that hath the Seed remaining in him cannot sin A gracious man as a gracious man cannot sin for grace being a good habit is not capable of producing acts contrary to its nature Sin in a regenerate man proceeds not from his grace but from his corruption Grace cannot be the principle of evil But because his grace is imperfect dwelling among remainders of sin therefore a man sins though this principle in him keeps sin from attaining a full dominion and superiority Yet though he doth sin his sin is not the proper fruit of the form whereby he is regenerate 4. He cannot sin in sensu composito as long as he is regenerate as long as the Seed remains in him as long as he follows the motions of the Spirit and Grace which are able to overcome the motions of concupiscence but he may give up the grace As an impregnable Tower cannot be taken as long as it is defended by those within but they may fling away their Arms and deliver it up Grace quantum est ex parte sua renders a man impeccable as long as it continues in him as Innocency did render Adam immortal as long as he persisted in it But we may ex culpâ nostrâ lose it by mortal sin and so perish as Adam by his own will lost the integrity of his Nature and was thereby made subject to death This is founded upon a false Hypothesis viz. That Grace may be lost And the Text renders the being born of God and the Seed remaining in us to be the reason why we cannot sin not the condition of our not sinning for if it remains and we cannot sin therefore how can any sin come in to expel that which preserves us from it A man must cease according to what the Apostle here writes to be born of God before he can sin in that sense the Apostle means 5. He doth not commit sin and cannot sin i. e. Grave peccatum the mortal sin and persist in it The sin of unbelief which is called in Scripture by way of eminency Sin and the Sin 't is the chief sin the Spirit convinceth of 't is the sin that easily besets us Heb. 12.1 Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us i. e. especially unbelief Though this be true yet it is not the full meaning and sense of it 6. He doth not commit sin and cannot sin as the Devil doth or as one that is of a diabolical nature as one that is acted by the Devil which is clear by the Antithesis v. 8. He that commits sin is of the Devil for the Devil sins from the beginning He cannot set himself against Christ as the Devil doth as the Pharisees did in which respect our Saviour calls them the Children of the Devil for their remarkable and constant opposition to him He cannot make a practice of sin and persist in it as the Devil doth who began to sin presently after the Creation and continueth in it ever since He sins the present tence noting the continued act of the Devil Sin may be consider'd two ways viz. As to 1. The Act of sin Thus a Believer sins 2. The Habit of sin or custom in it When a man runs to sin freely willingly and is not displeased with it Thus a Believer
the Spirit of God There is a powerful voice behind him that brings him back when he turns either to the right hand or to the left from the ways of God Isa 30.21 By virtue of this seed within him and the Spirit of God exciting it that word which comes home to the Soul after a sin becomes efficaciously melting and raises up springs of penitential motions which could not arise so suddenly were the spiritual life wholly departed For a man that hath no habit of grace in him cannot so suddenly concur with Gods proposals and exercise a repentance In such an one we see first a stupefaction of mind and an unaptness to faith no motions of a true repentance though some preparation to it But with a regenerate man it is otherwise David being admonisht by Nathan was struck to the heart and Peter presently upon our Saviours look melted into tears Their grace like tinder took fire presently upon those small but powerful occasions though it did not act at the time of their sin yet it had an aptness to act upon the removal of the impediments Though Jonah seems to cast off all regard of God and his command yet upon the first occasion in the Whales Belly he brings forth excellent fruits of faith in a moment Jonah 2. Grace in an instant upon the first motion of the Spirit will rise up and take its place from whence it seems to be deposed As a natural man under some sting of Conscience and flash of a lightning conviction may be restrained from sin yet his natural inclination to it remains though suspended at the present and may be carried the quite contrary way as the stream of a river by the force of the Tide is turned against its natural current yet slides down its channel with its wonted calmness upon the removal of the force so a good man under the violence of some lust hath not his new nature changed though at present it is restrain'd by an extrinsick force so that as the one upon the taking off his conviction returns to his sin so the other upon the removal of his fetters returns to his holiness with a greater spirit and delight A wicked man may sometimes do a good action but he continues not in it As a Planet is sometimes retrograde but soon returns to its direct course When their Conscience pinches them they awake out of their trance So a good man may sin through infirmity but he will revoke it by repentance The seed of God remains in him as the Sap in the Root of a Tree that recovers the leaves the next return of the Sun at the spring He may sink by nature and rise again by grace but the Devil who sinned at the beginning fell and never rose more Vse of Examination If you find your selves in these cases in a course of known sin resolution to commit it were it not for such bars unwillingness to know Gods pleasure and injunction despising admonitions and reproofs a settled love to it a full consent of Will without any antecedent concomitant or consequent dissent tumbling in it without rising by repentance a circle of sinning and repenting without abhorrence of sin you may conclude your selves in an unregenerate state you sin like the Devil who sinned from the beginning A DISCOURSE OF The Pardon of Sin Psalm 32.1 2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity THis Psalm as Grotius thinks was made to be sung upon the Annual day of the Jewish Expiation when a general confession of their sins was made 'T is one of David's poenitential Psalms supposed to be composed by him after the Murder of Vriah and the pronouncing of his pardon by Nathan v. 5. and rather a Psalm of Thanksgiving 'T is called Maschil a Psalm of understanding Maschil is translated eruditio intelligentia and notes some excellent Doctrine in the Psalm not known by the light of Nature Blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessednesses Ex omni parte beatus Three words there are to discover the nature of sin and three words to discover the nature of pardon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transgression Prevarication Some understand by it sins of omission commission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin Some understand those inward inclinations lusts and motions whereby the Soul swerves from the Law of God and which are the immediate causes of external sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquity Notes original sin the root of all Three words that note pardon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levatus forgiven Eas'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to take away to bear to carry away Two words in Scripture are chiefly used to denote remission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to expiate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bear or carry away the one signifies the manner whereby it is done viz. atonement the other the effect of this expiation carrying away one notes the meritorious cause the other the consequent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covered Alluding to the covering of the Aegyptians in the Red Sea Menochius thinks it alludes to the manner of writing among the Hebrews which he thinks to be the same with that of the Romans as writing with a Pencil upon wax spread upon Tables which when they would blot out they made the Wax plain and drawing it over the writing covered the former letters And so it is equivalent with that expression of blotting out sin as in the other allusion it is with casting sin into the depths of the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impute Not charging upon account As sin is a defection from the Law so it is forgiven as it is offensive to God's holiness so it is covered as it is a debt involving man in a debt of punishment so it is not imputed They all note the certainty and extent and perfection of pardon The three words expressing sin here being the same that are used by God in the declaration of his Name Exod. 34.7 Here are to be considered 1. The Nature of Pardon 2. The Author of it God 3. The Extent of it Transgression Sin Iniquity 4. The Manner of it implied by Faith in Christ The Apostle quoting this place Rom. 4.7 to prove Justification by Faith As sin is not imputed so something is imputed instead of it Covering implies something wherewith a thing is covered as well as the act whereby it is covered 5. The Effect of it Blessedness I shall not divide than into distinct Propositions but take the words in order as they lie I. The Nature of Pardon 1. Consider the words and what notes they will afford to us 1. Covering as it alludes to the manner of writing and so is the same with blotting out Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blots out thy transgression whereby is implied that sin is a debt and pardon is the remitting of it It notes 1. The nullity of the debt A crossed book will not
against him 3. All the time thou livest unpardoned thy debts mount the higher Every new sin is an adding a figure to the former suns and every figure after the three first adds a thousand Every act of sin adds not only the guilt proper to that single act upon it but draws a new universal guilt from all the rest committed before because the persisting in any one sin is a renewed approbation of all the former acts of rebellion committed against God 4. 'T is that God who would have pardon'd thee if thou wouldst have accepted of it who will condemn if thou dost utterly refuse it 'T is that God thou hast provoked offended and dishonoured That power which would have been manifested in forgiving thee will be glorified in condemning thee That Justice which would have signed thy absolution if thou hadst accepted of its terms will sign the writ of execution upon thy refusal of them Nay the mercy that would have sav'd thee will have no compassion on thee The Law condemns thee because thou hast transgressed it and mercy will reject thee because thou hast despised it The Gospel wherein pardon was proclaimed will acquit others but condemn thee God would be false to his own word if after thy slighting so many promises of grace and threatnings of wrath thou shouldest be spar'd 2. Use Of comfort Pardon of sin may make thee hope for all other blessings Hath God done the hardest and will he stick at the easiest Hath he overthrown mountains and shall mole-hills stop him 'T is an easier thing to waft thee to Heaven than it was at first to remit thy guilt Rom. 5.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life To this the death and resurrection of the Son of God was necessary and there was to be composition and agreement made between mercy and justice But since this is compleated the Redeemer saves thee by his life since he hath dyed for thy remission there is no need of his dying for thy further Salvation Seeing he hath made manifestation of his pardoning grace unto thee he will not cease till he hath brought thee into a perfect state For to what purpose should the Creditor forgive the smaller part of the debt and cast the debtor into prison for an unpayable sum 1. If once pardoned thou will be always pardoned For the first pardon Christ paid his blood for the continuance he doth but plead his blood and we cannot be without a pardon till Christ be without a plea He merited the continuance as well as the first remission Will our Saviour be more backward to intercede for pardon than he was to bleed and pray for it on earth Would not our dearest Saviour let sin go unremitted when he was to contest with the Fathers wrath and will he let it go unpardoned when he is only to solicite his Fathers mercy Thou shalt not want the daily renewals of it since he is only to present his blood in the most holy place seeing an ignominious and painful death did not scare him from the purchase of it upon the Cross As Gods heart is more ready to give than we are to ask forgiveness so is Christs heart more ready to plead for the continuance of it than we are daily to begg it for he Loves his people more than they can Love him or Love themselves Our praying is according to self Love but Christs intercession is according to his own infinite Love with a more intense fervency 2 Thou art above the reach of all accusations Shall the law condemn thee No. Thou art not under the law but under grace And if grace hath forgiven thee the law cannot sentence thee Shall conscience No. Conscience is but the Eccho of the law within us That must speak what God speaks Gods Spirit and a believers Spirit are joint witnesses Rom. 8.16 For the Spirit it self bears witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Conscience is sprinkled by the blood of Christ which quite changeth the tenour of its Commission Will God condemn thee No. That were to lose the glory of all his pardoning mercy hitherto conferred upon thee that were to fling away the vast revenue grace hath all this while been gathering for him yea it were to deny his own covenant and promise Shall Christ condemn thee No. That were to discard all his offices to undo his death and bely his merits did he sweat and bleed pray and dye for thee and will he now condemn thee Hath he been pleading for thee in Heaven all this time and will he now at the upshot cast thee off Shall we imagine the severity of a Judg more pleasing to him than the charity of an Advocate since his primary intention in coming was to save the world not to condemn it No. It would not be for his honour to pay the price and to lose the purchase 3. There will be a solemn justification of thee at the last day Thou art here pardoned in Law and then thou shalt be justified by a final Sentence there is a secret grant here but a publick manifestation of it hereafter Thy Pardon was past by the Spirit of God in thy own Conscience it will then be past by the Son of God in thy own hearing That Saviour that did merit it upon his Cross will pronounce it upon his Throne The Book shall be laid out of sight there shall be no more writing in the Book of God's Omniscience to charge thee or of thy Conscience to affright thee His fatherly anger shall for ever cease and as all disposition to sin so all paternal correction for it shall be for ever abolisht and forgiveness be fully compleat in all the glorious effects of it 4. Faith doth interest us in all this though it be weak The grant of a Pardon doth not depend upon the strength of Faith though the sense of a Pardon doth A weak Faith as a Palsy person may not so well read a Pardon though it may receive it As a strong Faith gives more glory to God so it receives more comfort from him Christ made no difference in his Prayer John 17. between the feeblest and stoutest Believer His Lambs as well as Sheep were to be fed by his Apostle with Gospel-comforts and even those Lambs Isa 40.11 he himself carrys in his bosom Strong Faith doth not intitle us to it because it is strong or a feeble Faith debar us from it because it is weak but it is for the sake of a mighty Saviour that we are pardoned 'T is the same Christ that justifies thee as well as Abraham the Father of the faithful 'T is the same Righteousness whereby thou art justified as well as Paul and the most beloved Disciple 3 Use Of Examination Consider whether your sins are pardoned Will you examine whether your Estates are sure and will you not examine
102. 1338. Our need of him discovered by the Word as preparatory to the New-birth Page 235. All good conveyed by him Page 138 175 245 258. The end of the Creation and sum of the Law and Prophets Page 260 1. The naked declarations of him pleasing to God Page 319. Eternally beloved by him Page 321. His Mediation greatly valued by him Page 322. not carried into Heaven before his Death Page 300. to be glorifyed and praised Page 343. 754. a sufficient Mediator Page 351. the only one a Page 355. ad 358. 375. Vide Justification Blood of Christ and Intercession His Deity proved Page 206. 389. 668. 670. 711 2. 1147. 1178. Objections against it answered Page 388 9. 1158. the Medium of the Creation Page 493. his abundant fulness for his people Page 672. 1333. man an Enemy to him Page 749 750. highly esteemed by a Believer Page 801. his unspotted holiness Page 850. the only fit person in the Trinity to satisfie for man Page 941. necessary to own him as Messiah Page 1158. Vide Death of Christ and Sacrifice Christian Religion Vid. Religion Christians None are without Regeneration Page 19. 783. nor without knowledg Page 445. Church The forming one the end of Christ's coming Page 668. the greatest mercies to her attended with the greatest plagues on her Enemies Page 847. shall continue to the end of the World Page 744. 748. 1149. 21 †secur'd before her Enemies destroyed Page 847 65 †a particular one may be destroyed Page 1295 6 7. 23 †Vid. Gospel removed holiness necessary in it Page 21 †its stability Page 21 †when one is destroyed God will have another Page 24 †shall have a numerous progeny Page 25 †29 †hath been establisht against all opposition a Page 25 †ad 28 †shall be for the future and why Page 386. a 28. ad 36 †38 39 40 †a Gospel one hath greater grounds of confidence than the Jewish Page 38 †her establishment by God a comfort and wherein Page 38 9 †her Future Glory certain Page 40 †to be prayed for and loved Page 37 †40 †her establishment to be prayed for and endeavoured Page 41 †sometimes in desperate straits Page 44 †opposing her most fatal Page 44 †what times God takes to deliver her Page 45 6 †why he delivers her in those times Page 47 8 9 †and how Page 49 50 51 †very dear to God Page 51 †Vide Enemies of the Church Churches corruptions quickly creep into the best 747. 834. their actions observ'd by God Page 1293. the 7 of Asia their present sad condition Page 1296 7. Chearfulness in God's service a duty Page 57 †Vid. Delight Circumcision shadow'd the necessity of Regeneration Page 20. Cleansing to be desir'd as well as comfort Page 598. from sin 2 fold Page 1186 7. what it imports Page 1209. Vide Blood of Christ Commands of God to men to turn to him not unreasonable notwithstanding their impotence a Page 187. ad 196. Comfort none real without Regeneration Page 35. and the knowledge of it Page 52 3. a change of them upon Regeneration Page 82 3. ascribing Grace to our selves the way to lose it Page 202. Christ careful to give his people in distress Page 383. 553. 1157. 76 †none without Divine Knowledge Page 410 411. 504 5. encreased as we grow in it Page 456. studying Divine Mysteries the way to it Page 555. 844. not the measure of worthy or unworthy receiving the Supper Page 817. only by Faith in God and Christ in troubles Page 1159. all from above ibid. of Gracē may be eclipsed Page 1349. Coming of Christ two fold Page 768. Commission Christ had to redeem Page 299. ad 303. of Christ to be studied Page 304. Commonness of sin no argument of its pardon Page 114 †Communications of Christ can't be relisht or improved by the Unregenerate Page 35. Communion with God impossible without Regeneration Page 34 5. chiefly in the Supper Page 759. restored by the Death of Christ Page 896. founded on Union Page 1341. Company of good men keeping it a means of Divine Knowledge Page 473. Compassions to men Christ filled with Page 291. 296. manifested and improved in his Death Page 312. should be shewn to convinced sinners Page 596. of Christ to weak Saints great Page 1335. should be shewn to fallen Saints Page 1369. Conceptions of God carnal a hindrance of Divine Knowledge Page 465. the wisest Heathens had unworthy ones Page 485. debasing ones a sin Page 3 †Vide Imaginations Conditions of the Covenant very low and reasonable Page 374. 692. Conscience men oppose it Page 182. checks upon sin Page 183. its motions may be cherisht by a natural man Page 186. natural weak and false Page 567 8. excited and actuated by the Spirit in conviction Page 571. 574. terrors of it no argument of an unpardoned state Page 115 †Vid. Peace Consent not full in a Renewed Man when he sins Page 96 7 8 †Consideration natural men have power to exercise it Page 185. 6 7. intent caused by conviction Page 576 7. a necessary duty Page 1376. want of it one cause of a renewed mans sin Page 99 †Contemplation of God our work in Heaven Page 39. Content the duty of a renewed man Page 228. of a reconciled one Page 379. of every man Page 667. of a pardon'd man Page 118 †Contrivance of sin how hainous Page 5 †Conversation of a renewed man holy Page 84. and of him that hath saving knowledge a. Page 421. ad 424. Conversion hindred by Ambition Page 2. the critical Minute of it not necessary to be known Page 51. and Regeneration how they differ Page 70 71. of others to be endeavoured Page 130. further'd by Holy examples Page 132. the frame of our minds in it at first to be often reflected on Page 1375. 11 12 †Vid. Regeneration Convictions may be a long time before Conversion Page 2. alone not sufficient to Salvation Page 48. under them men find themselves unable to turn to God Page 166. the Spirit the Author of them all Page 560. 1 2. Spiritual he only can work a. Page 563. ad 570. 602 3. how wrought by him a. Page 218. ad 220. a. 570. ad 579 what is sinful in them the Spirit is not the Author of Page 570. by the Spirit of what sins and of what in sin a. Page 579. ad 583. of Nature and the Spirit their difference Page 583. 4 5. Legal and Evangelical their difference a. Page 585. ad 591. those of the Spirit and those by Satan their difference Page 591 2 3 4. the Devil the great stifler of them Page 595. comfort to those that have had them Page 595 6. and their duty Page 596. when under them what men should do Page 596 7. directions to prevent suppressing them Page 598. directions to obtain them Page 599. Pride often seen in men under them Page 735. should be oft review'd