and furniture whereby wee beleeve is of God Next these spirituall acts being pure as they come of him yet they have some blemish in them because of our corruption as water from a pure fountaine doeth taste of the brasen or myrie channell through which it runneth For our very righteousnesse is as a filthy clout For woe to the life otherwise commendable if it be judged without mercie Yet he winketh at these blemishes and taketh our service as perfect He taketh a weake faith like a Graine of mustard-seed as though it were a Cedar Our will for deed Our purposes for performances Our very desires of grace for grace and for a sufficient preparation to fill us with grace yea and the desire of a desire is as welcome to him as though it were a greater degree We would not take so little of our neighbour no not of our selves as he taketh of us yea ofttimes we are most acceptable to him when wee are least content with our selves The people a part of this beautie SEcondly this beautie is in respect of the people and that either in themselves or in their worke In themselves they are the Lords choice and portion They have a spirituall and inward beautie in the image of God by regeneration and their love to God maketh them beautifull The love of no other beautifull thing can change us into it but the love of God maketh us beautifull like him For by loving him who is ever beautifull we become beautifull and how much that love groweth in us so much groweth that beautie because that love is the beautie of the soule The people in their work are beautifull when they flow to the Sanctuarie I rejoyced when they said Wee will go unto the house of the Lord They are like the chickens gathered under the hens wings in that dispensation of grace to be warmed with the heat of that same love of God that hath elected them It is like the Angels moving of the waters of that poole but with this difference that there only one was healed but here all are healed who can by faith but touch the hem of his garment Or it is rather like the spirit moving upon the waters in the creation Because the holy Spirit working mightily upon the hearts of the godly produceth such motions and affections as he thinketh good And in a word it is like innumerable empty vessels set about an over-running fountaine so godly soules compassing God in the Sanctuarie are sensible of their owne wants and desirous of God his supply And he in the riches of his grace furnisheth to every one as they have need In the Gospell sometimes a leper craved to be cleansed Sometimes a blind man to receave his sight Sometimes a deaf man to get his hearing c. But in the sanctuarie all these are spiritually for therein some are blinde in ignorance some are lepers in naturall corruption others are deaf and cannot heare God Others are lame and cannot walk in the wayes of God yea and more there is not one soule who hath not all these spirituall diseases by nature and Christ in his owne time healeth them by parts In this beautie the diversitie of peoples disposition and God his operation are to be considered For as many men and women as many severall dispositions and God answerably worketh on them all His word is the extract of his infinit wisedome so accommodat to man that it both informeth his minde with light and stampeth his heart with a divine power So it hath a varietie of that stamping according to the disposition of the hearer Some that are guilty of great sinnes and yet senselesse it will waken and pierce them and make them cry Men and brethren what shall we doe Some againe are wounded with conscience of sinne and feare of Gods wrath but they shall heare At what time ever a sinner repenteth I will pardon him and the conscience of his faith beleeving in Christ and repenting sinne shall be followed with this sweet whispering of his spirit Sonne be of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiven thee A contrite heart is a pleasant spectacle to God when it is brayed in the mortar of conscience Some againe borne downe with heavie affliction and in feare that they be rejected of God because they are daily afflicted their wearie hearts shall heare this word in due season That whom I love I chasten and the only way to follow him is to take up our crosse daily and that affliction is our best lot because it telleth us we are not bastards but children and that it is a part of our conformity with Christ here and a pledge that we shall be like him in glorie Moreover that same variety will be found in one godly soule at one time for being in the hand of God it is like soft waxe for the stamp and as the points of doctrine go along is answerably moved so that in one Sermon it will finde downe-cast and raising up griefe and comfort and be sensible of all these changes of operation This beautie is inward seene of God and felt of them that have it yet so that outwardly it will appeare For there is such harmonie betweene the heart and face as scarcely can any affection be in the heart that appeareth not some way in the countenance which as it ought to be expressed with modestie so should it be exponed of other in charitie Sometimes the heart will be so moved when Gods hand toucheth it that it cannot containe it selfe but will breake forth into teares of sorrow and joy but prudence commandeth us to convoy these things in publick as modestly as we can Our chambers or the fields are more convenient places for the full uttering of these affections for there we may use gestures of body speeches c. which we cannot before man for even the most sincere affection any wayes uttered will finde such uncharitable censure as Hannahs teares found at the hand of Eli. Therefore in publicke the expressions of our affections must be moderat our teares that would burst out must be turned into groanes and these groanes must be suppressed and turned into ejaculations and these brought to a soul-speech with God admiring our vilenesse and his goodnesse that taketh such paines on us Praising him where we finde his grace hath kept us in obedience resolving promising and vowing better obedience in time to come That is the joy of our heart when as it can poure out it selfe wholly on God in spirituall affections Affection hath the own voice whereby it is known of God Sometimes it requireth no other expression but is content with sighs and these sighs will breake out not only when we will but also when we know not What more pleasant thing than to see Gods people taught of him All hearers are not taught of God
happinesse Thirdly that as his revealed will directing us should be done by us so the secret will of his purpose may be performed on us in our happinesse Likewise the petition for remission of sinnes committed and the other for escaping tentation to sinnes that might be committed Of all these petitions only one is for daily bread or temporall things and that cast in the mids where is least either attention or intention So Christ hath put the matter of happinesse in that prayer that wee may daily aske this one necessarie thing of God though the most part rehearse the words without thinking on that matter Next we may inferre that our praying for happinesse is a worke of happinesse in us That chiefe good communicateth it selfe to us diversly according to our necessities As sinne originall is not a single sin but a multitude and masse of corruptions defiling all our powers like a pulpous or chairie root which in one containeth many severall roots as in garlick or such like So that naturall vitiousnesse containeth ignorance senselesnesse infidelitie pride and all other corruptions in us Even so the chiefe good hath all goods in it and sendeth out it selfe to men to cure these miseries It is light to inlighten our ignorance It is life to quicken our senselesnesse It is mercie to pardon our sinne and strength to keepe us from falling It is good to allure us and a prevening power to stirre us up to pray for it so that our very praying for it is its prevening worke This is all of God who worketh powerfully and abundantly in us He biddâ—th us open our mouth wide and promiseth to fill it And he himselfe openeth the mouth in moving our desire As Physitians force up the mouths of some patients under their convulsions and then powre in some cordials to refresh them So God by the convictions of our conscience openeth our hearts to desire and then giveth us the happinesse that we desire Thus the chiefe good giveth it selfe to us in this life by parts and degrees but in heaven Goâ— shall be all in all and we shall possesse our chiefe good once at once and eternally Lastly we have here sure grounds of hope to be heard in this prayer for we pray not alone but have moe intercessors than we know of We feele when we pray our selves and are sensible of the assistance of Gods spirit when he helpeth our infirmities with groans that cannot be expressed But our necessitie cryes also to God and he heareth it though wee know it not Yea before wee were and before our necessitie was in us it cryed to his commiseration from eternall and his bowels were moved toward us Christ also prayeth for us that the fruit of his obedience may be applied to us The covenant also supplicateth for us and casteth it selfe open before him intreating him to accomplish all that he hath promised to us And his owne name and glorie pleadeth for us For my owne names sake I will doe this Besides these his justice intercedeth for us If wee confesse our sinne he is faithfull and just to forgive us It is as native to justice to absolve the innocent as to punish the guiltie And wee are cleane before him when we are clad with Christ the Lord our righteousnesse It is as just to pardon the faithfull penitent as to punish the faithlesse impenitent So when Christ hath applied to us the fruit of his obedience Gods justice pleadeth for happinesse to us It is mercie enough in God to heare us when we call but this is more before they call I will answer These things may assure us we shall be heard All this is bred in the bowels of Gods commiseration and the brood of so tender mercies must be acceptable to him and so our happinesse sure withall Where his will and our weale and so many intercessours concur who can stay our happinesse SECTION IIII. Of happinesse it selfe That I may dwell WE have heard the first three parts of this doctrine That one thing The Authour of it Jehovah The way to finde it by prayer and searching Followeth the fourth to wit happinesse it selfe expressed in a dwelling or remaining and that not every where but in Gods house Not for a short time but all the dayes of his life And for this end to see the beautie of the Lord and partake that happinesse that God there offereth to the Saints And because of our imperfection here to be still inquiring more and more for happinesse The notion of dwelling or mansion expresseth happinesse well because it is the end of the inclinations intentions and worke of all creatures For the senselesse creatures incline to a rest in their places the reasonable intend and labour for it Christ calleth it the place of our Mansions the Apostle our biding Citie and S. John A rest from our labours God provided the earth a dwelling place for the creatures and a paradise in the midst of it a dwelling place for man and it was Cains punishment that he found no rest but was a vagabond This dwelling we consider in peace and rest Peace with God is the speciall part of our happinesse and the first whereof we are sensible For albeit we be in God from eternall and his mercie secretly yet strongly doth follow us from the womb in our adoption baptismall regeneration c. yet we are never sensible of that happinesse till our effectuall calling wherein repenting our sinnes we finde remission and so peace with God Being justified by faith we have peace with God he is our chief good and our union with him maketh us happy In his favour is life yea it is better than life and a separation from him is our miserie wee may flee from the anger of men but whither can we flee from the anger of God This is the peace that passeth all understanding for even the mindes that have it cannot expresse the sweetnesse of it And God hath wisely so provided that he shaketh the conscience with some feare and terrour ere he powre this peace into it and that not only as a fruit of our sin but for two other ends The one to make the change more sensible to us For if we be translated from nature to grace without any griefe for sin or feare of wrath wee could not so well know our translating but when wee are even now swallowed up in sorrow and feare and repenting and beleeving in Christ feele our selves perswaded of remission and the tormenting conscience turning a comforter and the joyes of the spirit filling the heart in the sense of that peace then wee are sensible of a change The next cause is for proportion that as the measure of our griefe is so shall the measure of our peace and joy be so that they who are most grieved at their conversion afterward are usually acquainted with greatest
increase of possessours because it is not divided and everyone hath that entirely which many possesse in concord There is no matter of envie because it is sufficient for all and no mans measure doth prejudice another Neither is their disposition to envie in them who are advanced to happines Christs disciples envied other in the beginning but when they were filled with the holy Ghost they did not so Envie reigneth in carnall men about temporall things they are so small in themselves that they cannot suffice all and so proper in their possession that what one hath another wants But if God dwell in us his fulnesse excludeth occasion of envie and his goodnesse excludeth the possibilitie of it For God is love and filleth the heart with love to make us count the lot of our neighbour as our own The more grace the lesse envie and the lesse grace the more envie It is not a sociall happinesse that envieth another but remove envie and that that is mine is thine also In heaven there shall be no envie and the more heavenly on earth the lesse envie for they have that that they love in their neighbour Fourthly for the efficacie It is an uniting good and bindeth all in one who partake it That participation is an union and adherence and by vertue of that union with it they are unite to other the goodnesse they receive is a band among themselves as well as to it God is that fountain-goodnesse and hath summed up all in himself they are all of one originally in one by sustaining and to one finally The foure elements concurre to make one body the body and soul make up one man many men make up one citie or kingdome or armie But spiritually it is more wonderfull how many gifts graces and powers make a renewed man and many renewed men make up one mysticall body of Christ all of them are one in that head and with that head they are all one with God I in them and thou in me that they may be one as we are one Not that our union with him is equall to his union with the Father the one is consubstantiall but ours is consentible That is in substance but this is in spirit for we are one spirit with God that is native but this is factitious or wrought by grace That is properly an union in unitie but this is only in unition In like manner he uniteth us among our selves the multitude of the faithfull were of one heart and of one minde because who ever see and love the divine face are one He is as a center and sendeth out his divine power and sheddeth abroad his love in the hearts of his own and all these hearts meet in him again So the faith love of Abraham meeteth with our faith and love in him Thus then he tieth us to himself when he is our chief good and worketh the good in us to adhere to him As for me it is good to adhere to the Lord. He adhereth to the Lord who being beloved of God sucketh God in himself again by love So when God and man inhere mutually in other and are enbowelled by mutuall love then God is in man and man in God This is our happie adherence to our chief good It is our first and greatest and chiefest good to abide in him Finally this unitie is seen in the order degrees and cession Order because all order is from one to one Degrees because there is an ascension of goodnesse to one God in whom all good things are most only one for truth wisedome power which we consider diversly and work divers affections and actions in us are all one in him and our straitnesse maketh him communicate them to us but partially as his knowledge to help our ignorance his wisedome to cure our folly his power our weaknesse Cession because everie good thing naturally yeeldeth to a better good as the body yeelds to the soul the senses to reason c. Hereof we may learn first that happinesse is not in many things The multitude think otherwise for they are led by sense and must have their eye filled with a multitude of things riches honour wealth and these increased and multiplied are their choice Many things import not perfection but weaknesse and the necessitie of their number proveth the infirmitie of their worth If one sufficed there were no need of moe but when a number serveth not necessitie all are proven to be weak They feel a bodily and present necessitie but not a spirituall and therefore seek a sufficient supply of some bodily thing but cannot finde it As a man falling in water grippeth sticks or straw that swim beside him for help but he and all go to the ground together and as a man in fever changeth many places to finde rest but in stead of rest increaseth restlesnesse So every one that seeketh happines in other things beside God findeth nought but an increase of miserie Besides these things bring not contentment but rather with their increase augment their desire The skin of a boy is sound but when he commeth to age it is full of wrinkles crying for more flesh and bones So in the infancie of our lot we are most content but in its greatnesse and old age our inflamed desires cry with the horse-leach Give give This is their painfull abundance and abundant povertie while they seek one thing after another and nothing remaineth but in end they conquish vanitie of vanities Many have been better content when they had but one attendant than when they are thronged with a great train and some have thought themselves richer with a small estate than when it is multiplied an hundred fold The love of money groweth ever with money Gods blessings are good indeed yet none of them the chief good they are but as pettie goods and a small shadow of the true good and as a drop of water out of that great fountain and ocean God himself They go on their kindes degrees and numbers but God hath none of these he is his own number and his own measure he only is and calleth himself by the name I am and to be to live and to live happily are not divers things because he is his own blessednesse To close this first point our dutie is to take God for this one thing that he be most in our minde to know him most in our heart to love him most in our mouth to honour and most in our life to obey and imitate him that as bees hyve upon a branch so all the powers of our soul adhere unto him So the prophet glorieth in it The Lord is my portion for God is the summe of all our good he is our chief good We ought not run down-ward neither forward to seek another for the one is dangerous the other wicked If we seek any thing beside God we will lose him for
a nation but God gave more to the Jewes in the Temple and Synagogues than to the Assyrians Persians Grecians Romans in their flourishing Monarchies He giveth to other nations without the Church great naturall and politick gifts but they are nothing to the sanctuarie Albeit they excell the Sainâ—s in these common gifts yet the spirituall gifts are infinitely better For as the waxing power is stronger in plants than in beasts because in them it is eminent but in the other subject to the sensitive power and in beasts the sensitive power is stronger than in man in whom it is subject to reason so among men they who have nothing but Nature it is eminent in them as in the own sphere Without the Church many have excelled in common gifts for mankinds civill perfection and because they had no other purpose to exercise their spirit But the Saints are taken up in things supernaturall and so are weaker in the naturall And this is a fruit of Gods dwelling among them when their soules runne out on things supernaturall rather than naturall Thirdly our duty in two things First that wee frequent the house of God in reverence for God is there in a singular maner and our salvation and happinesse is proponed there Therefore since he keepeth both time and place of trysting let us not be so ingrate as not to meet with him Many in opinion of greater spirituall profit in private abstain from temples but let them remember that David was a Prophet and laden with revelations yet in the statute times of worship hee chose to bee in the Sanctuarie rather than in private For albeit God bid us worship him privately lest we be found hypocrites yet he wil have us honour the publike meetings because larger grace descendeth from God and more groans ascend to him Moreover when we come to the sanctuarie let us remember that we are come to get happinesse which is proponed there For to passe by humanitie and phâ—losophie which treat not of happinesse and come to the schooles of divinitie Happinesse is not there so clearly proponed as in Churches For there truth is almost lost by jangling Happinesse is rather obscured than cleared new questions augmented and all more for the glorie of the disputer than edification of the hearer but nothing of heart or conscience But in the Churches happines is clearly proponed Here a man shall bee convinced of his own miserie he shall heare many are blessed whom the world count miserable for their crosses and that many are miserable whom they count happie for their prosperitie And that the best have need to look to the deceit of their heart that they steale not Gods glorie ascribing his gifts to them Churches are types of heaven and of these two great places God hath set the earth under our feet and the heaven above our head and given our bodie a straight stature to tell we should tread on the earth and aspire to heaven Next that we try if we be the Temples of the holy Spirit if we have the altar of a cleane heart daily warmed with fire from above The daily offering of Repentance The shining Candlestick of a pure conscience The Shew-bread of sinceritie and truth in obedience The altar of Incense to praise God for his blessings we receive daily God sought not sacrifices under the Law for themselves but for the thing signified They represented Christ to us and that wee should sacrifice our selves upon that great altar If we be so that unction dwelleth in us he will reveale to us the chiefe good and apply our hearts to the love of it that we may enjoy it Hee maketh us also conscious and sensible of this work for he is an unction teaching and a seale confirming our union with the chiefe good This is a great happinesse when the temples of the holy Ghost and living members of Jesus Christ come to the house of God to seeke true happinesse and obtaine it Here is also a mutuall dwelling when God man dwelleth mutually in other He prepareth us Mansions when he prepareth us for these mansions His house is the godly and then the place is prepared when we live by Faith by beleaving wee desire him that by our desire we may have him The desire of our love to him is the preparing of our Mansion So Lord prepare what thou preparest thou preparest us to thee and thee to us because thou makest a place in us to thee and thee to us for thou hast said Abide in me and I will abide in you SECT VI. The Time of learning Happinesse All the dayes of my life FOlloweth the Time which is not a Day nor a yeare but all the Time of our life This may seem too much for neither God in the fourth Commandment craveth it neither his royall affaires could permit it But this must bee exponed by the Prophets desire flowing from his delight in the house of God which was so great that gladly he would have spent all his life in it And this desire is acceptable to God for as the wicked are punished eternally albeit they sinne but temporally because they sinne in their eternall and because they never repent nor change nor diminish their desire nor delight of sinning Yea if they lived eternally here they would sinne eternally So God respecteth the holy desires of the faithfull for albeit they cannot bide continually in the temple neither be ever exercised in holy things yet God accepteth their desire so as though they remained in the Temple Hereof we may gather the Saints Kalendar We number times from the course of the Sunne and thereby measure naturall and civill actions But the godly reckon their Kalendar from the Sun of righteousnesse his aspect and influence this reckoning is for the new man for he hath his spirituall being in Christ. That I may be found in him And his spirituall life Henceforth I live not but Christ liveth in me and the life that I live I live by the faith of the sonne of God so he hath his Sunne that measureth his time and seasons For the Lord is a Sunne and Shield Yea hee counteth these daies shorter than they are and no time runneth to him so swiftly as the time of Gods worship for he is so affected with the sweetnesse of God that hee is grieved that such sweet time doth so soone end The Sabbath is both the sweetest and shortest day to him so among hours is the houre of divine service but the profane count that a long time Gods house is a prison to them and his worship a torture This cleareth the contrary disposition of the godly and the wicked while they are in that same Church in that same work of Gods worship in that same houre The godly rejoyce as in their own element worshipping God and enjoying his presence Some mocked the Jews for keeping
of a purified minde this glorious God as the prime beautie of the Sanctuarie and the only object of our religious worship wherein true Christians excell all other people who worship not this true God Religious worship in the Sanctuarie is the greatest worke we act in this life because we seeke happinesse in the union with that we worship For therein three things go together First our highest estimation of it as chiefe good in it selfe and so communicative of that goodnesse to our happinesse Next our highest affection loving it above all And these are the two maine parts of inward worship The third is a religious reverence arising of them manifesting it selfe in the acts of outward worship to pray to him and praise him According to the object wee worship so is our fruit For if wee worship the true God alone then wee come to happinesse both because our estimation affection and reverence are right placed And more because thereby he communicateth himselfe to us even to our conformitie with him for our due estimation of him is our excellencie that maketh us misprise all things beside and seeke him alone Our due affection to him is our union with him and a partaking of his divine nature in that we loath all things beside and adhere to him as our only happinesse Thirdly our religious reverence holdeth him ever in our eye as the paterne to the which wee conforme our selves So thereby undoubtedly wee attaine true happinesse But if wee worship any thing beside we make our selves more and more miserable Though wee should worship Angels and Martyrs neither can they communicate goodnesse to make us happy and their worship is impious and idolatrous and separateth us from God The pretended cause why Julian forbad Christians children the use of secular learning was lest they being armed therewith might more dextrously refute the Pagans But the secret cause was lest by reading the fables and histories of the Gods they should finde just matter of mocking and insulting over them As the old Senat burnt Numaes books because they expressed the secrets of their religion For their owne histories maketh them the worst men of their time yea monsters rather than men and yet after their death the world seeking a colour to their owne wickednesse made them gods And the devils the promoters of their worship for their owne behoofe made the world thinke that adulterie murther drunkennesse and such were good service to them If Iupiter Mars Apollo Bacchus were now living as they were at their best in their life time they would be abhorred as pests and cast out of the common-wealth This then is our happinesse that wee worship that God alone who made the heaven and the earth and finding him that all the parts of religious worship begin in him continue and abide in him Secondly the beautie of God in the Sanctuarie is in his working with his people for happinesse which wee consider in three First as it proceedeth from him Secondly the worke of his grace in the people meeting him Thirdly the worke of pastours betwixt both Gods worke toward his people goeth in foure First his offering of happinesse Secondly his exacting of service Thirdly his conferring or giving the grace that he offereth to them Fourthly his accepting of his worke in them as if it were theirs only The first is his offer of salvation and happinesse At the first it is thought that wee come to offer to him but indeed he bringeth us to his house to offer to us Here a great change God whome wee have made our enemie is our best friend Our Iudge who may plague us for our sinne turneth our repledger by his mercy rescuing us from Justice Our Creditour turneth our Pardoner and while hee might powre out all his wrath upon us he is to reconcile us to him And under this name our reconciliation goeth because he worketh the worke whereof wee are at first both ignorant and uncapable So in Scripture every where he calleth on us Come let us count together Come to mee yee that are wearie and laden and I will ease you Next in the Sanctuarie he exacteth service of us and that for our owne good only that seeing he is applying to us his happinesse purchased by his Son he craved of us preparations and dispositions to receive it So he craveth that wee lay up his word in our heart That wee repent our sinne unfainedly that we beleeve in him that wee love him with all our heart and all our soule and that we honour him in keeping his Commandements for even while he promiseth to ease us of our owne yoake he biddeth us take his yoake upon us That we pray to him for blessings wee have need of and that wee praise him for every blessing we receive For God commandeth no man any thing for his owne profit but for his profit whom he commandeth And all the businesse of our sacrifice under the Gospell is not for him but for our more profitable exercise in piety Thirdly he conferreth upon us and giveth the things that he both offereth and exacteth so hee worketh faith in us opening our hearts as hee did the heart of Lydia and while he biddeth us Come to his Sonne he draweth us to him both by alluring us with his excellencie and bowing of our wils to him He craveth of us that we understand his word and giveth us hearts to understand it when he circumciseth our eare and heart and writeth his Law therein As he commandeth that we love him with all our heart so he sheddeth abroad his love in our heart making all our heart powre it selfe out on him As he craveth obedience of us so he giveth the spirit of obedience putting his feare in our heart and causing us to walke in his Law His craving or exacting is not Legall but Evangelick for the legall is Doe and thou shalt live and yet gave no helpe to doe the thing that was commanded but the Evangelick exacting giveth us power to doe the thing that it commandeth giving us to know to will and to doe And their obedience differeth as well as the exaction for the legall obedience was to righteousnesse and salvation if they could attaine it but the Evangelick obedience is for gratitude and thankfulnesse to God for that happinesse which hee hath both purchased and applies to them freely Fourthly as a gracious Acceptor of that wee are able to doe by his grace which goeth in two First though it be his he counteth it ours for wee are not able of our selves as of our selves to thinke any good but all our sufficiencie is of him He giveth us the habite of faith of repentance and bringeth their acts out of them And though formally beleeving repenting c. be our worke because our wils moved by grace doe move themselves and so specifieth the acts of these habits yet the power
but only such as the unction teacheth He speaketh to the renewed eare and heart and the soft heart is only sensible of his working and giveth him the Echo of his voice When thou saidst Seek ye my face my heart answered Thy face Lord will I seek If he speak of sinne it groaneth under guiltinesse or praiseth him if it be free If hee speake of wrath it trembleth and prayeth for averting If hee command it prayeth for grace to obey And as clean paper taketh the stamp of everie type so the soft heart is stamped with all his word this is the writing of the Law in our heart The pen is his effectuall power the ink his unction the letters are Gods properties stamped on the powers of our soule the words are infused habits the lines are the lineaments of his image in righteousnesse and holinesse This is to heare to our happinesse when we heare in our heart and there remaineth no more doubting But oft times we know not what Christ speaketh because we feele not what he feeleth If any thinke this beauty to bee marred because therein possibly are Hypocrites and Atheists c. I answer that as there is a beautie of the universe which is not destroyed but decored by some naughtie things for ill vices argue a good nature wherin they are manifest good things to be better by their comparison By some things perfect and some things imperfect the universe is perfect God seeth them as blots in the Sanctuarie without prejudice of the godly who are his delight How Pastors are this beautie THe beautie of the sanctuarie in respect of Pastors is in their calling and work Their calling is to stand betwixt God and man They are Gods mouth to the people in doctrine and the peoples mouth to him in prayer and praise This is the onely calling that teacheth man true happinesse that openeth the heaven and leadeth him to it All the body of the heavens is pure yet the stars are most pure parts receiving light from the sunne and rendring it to the world So are Pastors among men the light of the world starres receiving light from God and rendring it to others They are as one of a thousand to declare to man the righteousnes of God and their very feet are beautifull because they bring good tidings to the world God sendeth them not of indigence but indulgence as a more fit way to teach man than either by himselfe or by Angels for man can peaceably receive instruction of man but the glorie of God or of Angels would overwhelme us It is likewise mans triall and the commendation of his Faith for if we were taught onely by God immediately and not of man there were no proofe of our obedience to Gods ordinance Pastors then are a part of this beautie when they stand between God who heareth the prayer and inhabiteth the praise of Israel and are remembrancers to both The beautie in respect of their work is as the mouth of God to the people and their mouth to him They are Gods mouth in preaching the beautie whereof standeth in the matter form the diversitie efficacie The matter that they preach Christ crucified and happines in him That it be sound without error or heresie and divine according to Scripture Mans minde enquireth a reason of all humane verities but when it heareth divine veritie it neither enquireth nor examineth but at the first resteth upon it with a divine faith Therefore the Ancients in their sermons were exceeding sparing of humane testimonies and contented them with Scripture because they knew to doe otherwise was to confound divine and humane faith in the hearer As now the Papists who have equalled traditions with Scriptures have brought their people that they know no difference betweene divine and humane truth or betwixt divine and humane faith respecting both When any thing is spoken beside Scripture the minde of the hearer will vage but when God speaketh all doubting ceaseth The second beautie of their doctrine is in the form that holy things be delivered holily As every science hath the owne proper matter so hath it the owne proper forme and Gods word which is holy hath the owne paterne of wholesome words wherein it should be delivered If therefore we propone it as Oratours in the schoole or Lawyers wee spill the native beautie of the word And this is it which the Apostle calleth the demonstration of spirit and power which is not so much to be expounded of an exact forme of reasoning as with a manifesting and kything of a spirituall power in doctrine Doctrine commeth of foure speciall grounds 1 Naturall quicknesse 2. Art and learning 3. Diligence in industrie hearing reading collecting and by grace in the inward teaching and inspiration of the Spirit Now publick doctrine is a kything how many of these or what of them are in us For a judicious hearer can well discerne from which of these one or moe or all it floweth And though we could rub the itching eare wonderfully with the first or the second or the third or all three of them together yet if the fourth be lacking it is not the Apostles demonstration of the spirit and power but of nature and industrie This commeth of the concurrence of the spirit who is first effectuall in them by sanctification and then effectuall by them in a heavenly doctrine in the hearts of people Then his Priests are clothed with salvation and his Saints shout for joy Thirdly the beautie of Pastors doctrine is in the diversitie of their gifts Gods house hath people of all complexions and his word hath a sufficiencie to every mans condition So wife Pastors propone it as milk for the weaker and as strong food for the perfect For they studie not to their owne vain honour and praise but to the profit of their hearers God is not like Isaac that hath but one blessing but out of his fulnesse to some hee giveth the gift of knowledge to some the gift of wisedome he hath given some to be Apostles some Pastors some Doctors c. and all to the edifying of the Church but these two are most eminent and ordinarie gifts Knowledge and Wisedome The first is doctrinall knowledge preserving the puritie of doctrine in the Church The other is pastorall wisedome dividing the bread of life aright and applying it to the hearts of people which Saint Austine preferreth to the other as farre as the Sunne is above the moone This commeth not only by ordinarie teaching of men and that measure of Instruction which the spirit giveth to every one but likewise by exercise of the crosse and experience For God schooleth some Pastors greatly in affliction and that not only for their personall sinnes which they have as great as any but also to make them fitter instruments to instruct and
earthen vessels that the excellencie of the power may be seene to be of God and not of man Yet it is their glorie and happinesse to be Gods instruments in bringing others to happinesse They have his assistance first because of their calling for God is never lacking to his owne ordinance Next because of their gifts which are a greater token of his presence than their simple calling Thirdly and most by sanctification when they sanctifie their persons and gifts for the worke and remove all things from them that may either offend God or his people and this is it that disposeth them for the manifestation of spirit and power The ministration of Sacraments is a part of this beautie The first giveth us the life of God the second nourisheth that life in us The first meeteth us with provision at our entrie in the valley of teares The second strengtheneth us for temptations in it Baptisme is our first Sacrament and scarcely are we borne naturally when we are borne againe spiritually Gods grace prevening our wit our will and our worth and sealing us before wee be sensible It is a prevening of sathans malice to marke us with the seale of the covenant ere he can abuse us to any actuall sinne Therein great workes are acted with little shew the death buriall aud resurrection of Christ is there represented Our Iustification death buriall and resurrection with him are there acted Therein the sonnes of Adam are made the sonnes of God The children of wrath are made heires of the kingdome of heaven What grace from eternall ordained us prevening grace as a midwife bringeth out By our first birth we increase the number of mankinde By our second birth wee increase the Church The grace of election griped us in eternitie the grace of Baptisme gripeth us in time by the beginnings and the grace of effectuall calling pulleth us fully to God As elect children receive the seeds of grace in Baptisme so in time they break out fully in them In our election though wee were in God yet we were neither in our selves nor sensible of that his choising grip In our Baptisme we are in our selves but not sensible of his working In our calling both wee are and are sensible of the worke of his grace in us The Sacrament of the Lords supper is another part of this beautie He gave us life in Baptisme and feedeth it conveniently in the Supper as a life for eternitie He is both our life and the food of it Neither can that life live without him neither can any thing beside him nourish it It is a precious food and dearely prepared He prepared it on the crosse when he suffered the punishment for our sinnes and giveth it to us in that Sacrament as that Manna that tasteth to every man according to his desire He is with these mysteries both sacramentally and spiritually and with us spiritually to make us one with him not by mixture of substances but by union of spirits for our eating of him is our biding in him To eat his flesh and drinke his bloud is not horrour but honour Because wee eat him spiritually we need not prepare our teeth but our minde for it is not the food of the belly but of the minde and our beleeving is our eating He both feedeth us with himselfe and is fed by our profit and increase in his grace refreshing us with his spirituall joy and rejoycing for our spirituall profit Our repentance our love and amendment are his meat We are eaten when we are reproved set over when we are instructed Wee are concocted when wee are changed We are digested when we are transformed and united when we are conformed to him Then wee eat him when we dissolve in the sense of his love When his heart sendeth out that love that pierced it before the souldiers speare Then our heart is drawen to his and sucketh his heart in us we thrust the tongue of our desire into his wounds drinke largely out of them The mother suffereth not her deare babe more lovingly to lay the mouth to her pap than he suffereth us to lay our heart to his We see his heart more gladned for the glorie of God in our salvation than grieved for the wounds and therein the love of God who from eternall loved us in Christ to such a happinesse This is a drunkennesse without sinne an excesse without fault He thinketh strange things and seeth wonderfull things and speaketh unheard things who is full of this Paschall Lamb and of this beautie of the house of God Thus much for Pastours worke as they are Gods mouth to his people They are the peoples mouth to God in prayer and praise the two tables of Gods immediat worship and a great part of this beautie In prayer all adore God as the fountaine of happinesse Therein we acknowledge our miserie in sinne and punishment and send up our faithfull desire for pardon Againe the good that wee want as holinesse righteousnesse and happinesse it selfe we crave in confidence There is no part of Gods worship wherein wee be more sensible of the Trinitie The Father as the fountaine the Sonne as Mediatour in whose hand wee put up our prayers and the holy Spirit helping our infirmities and making us pray with groanes that cannot be expressed It is the sweetest exoneration of our heart for when it is oppressed with griefe or bound up in the owne hardnesse of senselesnesse if we get libertie to powre it out before the Lord wee finde a wonderfull release and God powring in joy for the griefe we powred out In the multitude of the thoughts of my heart thy comforts sustained me It is a worke of Gods grace in us for those whom he hath chosen to them he hath appointed all the blessings that follow election and so among the rest he giveth them the spirit of prayer to crave the performance of his promise By his grace they draw neere to that throne of grace by the way that Christ hath made new by his bloud and Christ who purchaseth accesse provideth also a successe to receave grace for help in time of need The more wee grow in grace the more wee are inlarged with confidence Thereof it is that wee both love more ardently and pray more confidently for that we want Privat prayers have greater libertie to feele and expresse these divine operations and is the diet that most nourisheth us but the prayers in the sanctuarie have their great fruit Therein all the prayers of the Saints are joyned with us to make an onset on God This is an holy violence wherin he delighteth It was not a reproofe of Moses Suffer mee to destroy this people but a commendation of his zeale for Gods glorie in the salvation of Israel and a professing that he cannot resist the earnest prayers of his owne He is liberty it selfe and
is when God so communicateth himselfe to the soule that it exceedeth the wonted disposition and is carried out of it selfe to him The excellencie of the object and singular sort of working maketh this unaccustomed sweetnesse for ordinarily wee can comprehend our disposition but when he transcendeth our ordinary diet wee must gather our wits afterward to consider the matter In our wonted diet the spirit can bide in it selfe though with reference to God and by the way can move our body in naturall and civill actions But when this excesse commeth the spirit is pulled out of it selfe and the body feebled So the Apostle knew not whether in the body or out of the body because of the excellencie of revelation so Daniels body was feebled because of the separation of the spirit taken up only with heavenly things For the soule in any degree of that excesse doeth not furnish power to the body but turneth it in halfe a carcase It is good that the body finde sometimes this feebling by the vigorous worke of the spirit because the vigour of the body often feebleth the spirit Though they both make up one person yet they have but a discording concord and doe not ay agree upon a common joy and griefe By this feebling the body resents its owne mortalitie and findeth that verified That no mortall man can see God and live and therefore is moved to long for immortalitie that it may joyfully brooke the fulnesse of that joy whose first fruits doe so affect us But this is not oft to be found no not in the best It is but as a sunne-blink in the mids of stormes that commeth rarely and bideth shortly God offereth it but rarely as a delicate lest we should thinke that it came of our owne deserving or working or lest the frequence of it should take away the sweetnesse or accompt of it And he giveth it for two speciall ends The one to refresh us after great afflictions or desertions when we have beene striving with hardnesse and witherednesse of heart But so soone as his spirit rusheth on us with that holy and heavenly satietie like the woman delivered of a sonne we forget our former sorrowes because we have found him whom our soule loveth The other is to strengthen us for some great temptation like Eliahs double supper But come what tentation may better to find that furnishing than to want it It hath also a further reach than for the present time for it leadeth us back to eternitie and maketh us feele our selves in Gods electing love whose infallible fruit wee finde in so full infusion of his love Next it leadeth us foreward to glorification and these joyes assure us that as now we have these first fruits so eternally we shall rejoyce with God for it is not as the small and warsh taste of the temporarie Christian as a drop but the full measure of Gods children as the outbreaking of a fountaine It reacheth also to a higher place than the sanctuarie for under this satietie we are in heaven with God For as he boweth downe and kisseth us with the kisses of inspiration infusion and delight so wee ascend to him in heaven and the soule is more there busied than the body in the sanctuarie This is also to assure us of life eternall for God never bringeth any to heaven but sometimes in this life he giveth them a taste of it by some transfiguration on the mountaine He hath promised it and Sathan would make us thinke his promise but winde therefore he giveth us such reall beginnings to assure us of the truth and to perswade us of the fulnesse of it in heaven For it is not a divided but a continuat thing like a chaine that cannot be broken so that he which getteth such beginnings shall also get the perfection Lastly it is to destroy the love of the world for the world will never be great in his eyes who hath seene God but the loathing of the world and the love of God will grow in his soule by equall degrees The soule thus filled with love and joy is full of God and under that disposition cannot be wrong charged to any doing or suffering for him For the sense of Christs love maketh his yoak easie his burden light That love constrained the Apostle to diligence and the nativenes of it seeketh out wayes to honour God The Martyrs were thereby moved to misregard their torments For as a drunken man neither heareth nor seeth what is done beside him so when their wives and children wept on them that they would pitie themselves they neither heard that diversion neither the paine of the torments And the Apostle met teares with What do yee weeping and breaking my heart I am not only content to be bound at Ierusalem but also to die for the name of the Lord Iesus On this excesse Moses desired to be cut off and the Apostle to be accursed for his brethren The love of God made them forget themselves with an holy oblivion But it was their best remembring of themselves to hold them fast in straitest union with God Hereof foure things arise 1. The agreement of sight and fruition 2. The compleatnesse of Gods beautie in the sanctuarie 3. The difference of religions 4. And of worshippers in the true religion 1. Sight and fruition goe well together as the double spirit of Eliseus for the illumination of the minde and the purging of the affections compleat the man for the minde knoweth and the affections will Sight or light without fruition is fruitlesse and fruition or affection without light is rash Light first wakeneth and then directeth the affection to affect things in that order and measure as it directeth And the affection followeth to justifie the trueth of that light Sight apprehendeth God as distant but fruition injoyeth him within and our selves in that union the minde is more easily inlightned than the affection bowed The Disciples knew Christ was to depart from them yet they were sorie for it their will crossing their minde But fruition is better than sight as Ephraim the younger brother was more fruitfull and mightie than Manasseh When God craveth the best of man he biddeth him love him with all his heart And the image of God consisteth most in righteousnesse and holinesse which are most in the heart Knowledge maketh a sort of mentall union and yet the heart may hate that same thing it is so united to but affection maketh a heartie and strong union which cannot be broken Knowledge is a great gift of God but if men stand at it as their happinesse and advance not to fruition they may be as hard in heart and profane in life as the ignorant Sathan hath his name Daemon from knowledge because being a compleat spirit he hath both great knowledge by creation and daily augmented by
experience but his affection is contrary to his knowledge for he neither loveth the good nor hateth the evill he knoweth We partake more of God by fruition than by sight To dispute of happinesse with a frosen and cold heart is great miserie Goodnesse is a speciall attribute of God expressing that fountaine and he revealeth it to make us good and happie in his goodnesse and that is more in the conformitie of our will and affections to him than of knowledge alone If it be true that wee know no more of God than wee affect him then fruition is better than knowledge which it both limiteth and exceedeth Instruction maketh men learned but affection maketh them wise It is one thing to know and another to possesse It is not the knowledge of riches but the possession that maketh men rich It is one thing to see God and another to feare and love him They may justly glorie of their power in being the sonnes of God in whom this sonly love burneth and this affection liveth Secondly the compleat beautie of the sanctuary is Gods presence which maketh up all the parts of it It is knowne in his working wherein wee consider foure things First the efficacie Secondly the secrecie Thirdly the sensiblenesse Fourthly the discerning His working in the Saints is the work of his omnipotencie whereby hee raised Christ from the dead for it is called a new Creation a regeneration and the Hebrewes call comfort the returning of the soule as though griefe had thrust it out of the bodie but God by comfort brought it back againe as a sort of resurrection And this is the power that goeth out with the word to make it conquering for it returneth not in vain but worketh the work wherefore it is sent Secondly the secrecie of his worke which is hid oft-times to those who have it The spirit bloweth where it listeth yea oft times we apprehend the contrarie for his diet with the godly is to lead them to heaven by the gates of hell For many a time hee plungeth us in fearefull terrors but his work endeth in joyfull comforts So David is mourning in the beginning of many Psalmes the 6 th 32. 51. c. but in the end hee is rejoycing and of a poore supplicant for himselfe is turned an Intercessour for the Church The childe in the belly feeleth not his growing yet he groweth and the hand of the horologue is not seene in the moving yet when it commeth to an houre it is manifest that it hath moved So the worke of grace hath a growing in us though hid and is manifest in some great degree of joy or great griefe Thirdly the sensiblenesse of it for wee are both the object of his work and reasonable and conscionable workers with him Sometimes wee feele the work but know not the Author as the disciples going to Emaus felt their hearts burning but knew not it came of Christ. Sometimes we know the author as Elizabeth knew the presence of Christ to be the cause of her joy at the blessed Virgins salutation And the fore-runner springing in her belly testified that he was spiritually sensible of his masters presence before he had the use of any bodily sense So the new man in us when he is not oppressed with senselesnesse leapeth for joy at the voyce of Christ. Fourthly the discerning of it goeth in three First for originall That it is a divine power though it specifie it selfe in our disposition which is humane yet it selfe is meerly divine Secondly in the force for it worketh infallibly in the Elect. Omnipotencie admitteth no resistance and mans will hath no losse when the Creator of it maketh it free from sinne no it is both the glorie and libertie of our will that God takes it in his hand boweth it what way he pleaseth And Gods best children endeavour to this as a perfection who have their wils altogether conformed to the will of God and that they can quite their owne will when they see his will revealed in his providence so farre are they from thinking their wils to be harmed when they are determined of God They strive to be like Gods who stand out in the question of free-will against God and are blasphemous while they affirm That God worketh no more mightily in the elect than Sathan doth in the reprobate But when wee finde his power to bee such that neither nature can imitate nor resist then we acknowledge it is the finger of God in us Thirdly the fruits are a change and calmenes The change is so sensible that it argueth a divine power For it goeth eyther from contrary to contrary as from joy to griefe or from griefe to joy or if it abide in either of them it commeth in a greater degree than was immediately before Yea all in us feeleth that working the old man to his wounding and the new man to his strengthning Calmenesse of spirit is the other fruit whereby with some sweet astonishment we rest in his bosome whom our soule loveth Then we break out with this or the like ejaculation Who am I that thou remembrest me with the favour of thy people and visitest me with thy salvation that thou makest me see the felicitie of thy chosen and rejoyce with the joy of thy people and glorie with thine inheritance Who am I that thou discernest mee making me both see and enjoy thee in the sanctuarie and so to be a part of the beautie of it Who can containe himselfe for joy when he findeth that divine majestie incline himselfe to his weaknesse and coâ—â— down to so familiar and sweetest societie Hereof commeth the Christian true contentment The world hath almost talked as much of contentment the marrow of happinesse as of happinesse it selfe on these same grounds in these same errors with the like fruit For they sought it never in God but in his gifts They fastened not their soules upon the chiefe good but loosed their desires upon every occasionall good and so they neither contained their lot nor were contained of it But increase of their lot inflamed their desire and augmented their miscontentment But true contentment is when the soule findeth it selfe embraced of God yea and possessed of him that it may say The Lord is the portion of my inheritance for it findeth it selfe contained of God is content to be so contained which is properly contentment As in it selfe it is so contained so in all the desires which runne no wayes out to other things for it hath a spirituall delicacie that being full of God it counteth not greatly of other things beside Therefore when the Prophet hath called God his portion hee said his inheritance was pleasant to him he found such contentment in God that hee saw nothing beside that could so much as draw his vaging desire to it Hee contemneth other things and that not