cause God to suspend divine grace This is certain That David by his fall had lost that presence and familiarity of the Spirit of God with him which he had before his fall and therefore he prayes Psal 51.11 Take not thy holy Spirit from me The Spirit of God was so far departed from him that he was afraid of losing the Spirit of God quite and clean so in the twelfth Verse Uphold me with thy free Spirit He did not feel that power and presence and energy of the Spirit of God in his heart as he was wont to do If the Spirit of God have taken any offence and distast at us by reason of any miscarriage of ours that offence must be removed and the Spirit of God treated very kindly before he will return again Ezek. 39. last Verse the Lord promiseth there that he will no more hide his face from the house of Israel for he had poured out his Spirit upon them Neither will I hide my face any more from them for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel saith the Lord God Observe it Gods pouring out of his Spirit is a sign that he is reconciled to us it is a sign of reconciliation and we cannot expect that God should pour out his Spirit upon us so as that we should find that free and familiar operation of the Spirit of God in our hearts till all things be clear between God and us therefore the guilt of any sin lying on the conscience unpardoned may obstruct the communications of Divine Grace and may hinder that intimate familiar presence of the Spirit of God which sometimes we have had 5. Another Obstruction of divine grace is some corruption or sin indulged and continued in The Saints are said to be an habitation of God by the Spirit Eph. 2.22 Now the Spirit of God loves a pure and chast habitation If we sully and defile our souls by the love of any sin by indulging our selves in any corruption we render our hearts a very unfit habitation for that pure and holy Spirit to dwell in Know you not saith the Apostle that your bodyes are the Temple of the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 6.19 Our Souls and Bodies are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and certainly if we defile this Temple of the Holy Ghost we cannot expect that the Spirit of God will make his residence in it Prov. 1.23 Turn you at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit upon you If the Spirit of God rebuke us for any sin we ought presently to take this rebuke If the Spirit of God give us a secret hint and intimation that such a thing is amiss we ought to reform that thing we ought to take such a hint and what then then God will pour out his Spirit upon us But if we retain the love of sin and persist and go on in sin after God hath rebuked and check'd us for it we cannot expect that God will pour out his Spirit upon us For the Promise runs Turn ye at my reproof and I will pour out my Spirit upon you not otherwise so that if we retain the love of sin after God hath check'd and rebuked us for it we cannot expect the communication of divine grace Lastly The last impediment of divine grace that I shall mention is security and presumption of our own strength and sufficiency If we think we have a stock in our own hand and have quickening and inlargement at command and can act at our own pleasure in the waies of God without Divine Assistance nothing provokes God sooner to withdraw his grace from us These are the impediments and obstructions of divine grace Now if we would have constant supplies of grace we must take heed of all those things that obstruct the passage of grace and do hinder the communication of it to our souls The end of the Eighteenth Sermon SERMON XIX Solomon's Song 1.4 Draw me we will run after thee THere is one Doctrine more which lies in the words which yet remains to be spoken to and that is this Doct. 3. The end why we should desire the drawings of divine grace it is that our hearts may be the more carryed forth after God Draw me saith the Church and we will run after thee The end why the Church desires to be drawn is that her heart may be carryed forth the more after Christ Here we have two things to speak unto 1. What the import of the phrase is what this running doth imply Draw me we will run after thee 2. How it is that the Saints have their hearts carryed out after God 1. What this phrase of running doth import Running notes several things 1. It notes quickness and liveliness of affection Draw me we will run after thee that is our affections shall then be elevated and inlarged towards thee Amâ—â— est Pes Aninae Love is the foot of the soul The feet are the instruments of motion the feet are they that carry us from one place to another thus the soul by its affections is carryed forth to the object that it loves Running therefore notes the raisedness of the affections Thus we read how Elisha run after Elijah 1 Kings 19.20 He left the Oxen and run after Elijah that is his affections were now up and he must needs follow Elijah So that running notes the elevation of the affections when the affections that were dead and lumpish before begin to move and spring afresh towards God Cant. 6.12 Or ever I was aware my soul made me like the Chariots of Aminadab Many make these to be the words of Christ to the Church But some there are that make these to be the words of the Church to Christ Or ever I was aware my soul made me like the Chariots of Aminadab And if so then it notes the spiritual motion and affection that was in the Church towards Christ Her soul made her as the Chariots of Aminadab that is her affections did move swiftly towards Christ Draw me we will run after thee Running here in the Text is opposed to deadness the Church found her affections flat and dead before therefore she prays to be drawn by divine grace Now when she is drawn she saith she will run that is she shall have new affections Her affections that were dead and flat before shall now be quick and lively towards God and Christ 2. Running notes progress in Faith and Holiness Gal. 5.7 Ye did run well who did hinder you the meaning is you once did make a good progress in the Faith but now ye are slidden back A Christian ought alwaies to make a progress Col. 1.10 Increasing in the knowledge of God 2 Pet. 3.18 Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Non progredi â—st regredi Not to go forward is to go backward A Christian is seldom at a stand if he be not going forward he is
For as we may not do evil that good may come of it so neither may we desire evil that good may come of it But this we may safely say when God permits it to be so that a man is in great danger to be lifted up with spiritual pride and he is overtaken with some other sin we may then conclude that Gods intention in such a permission it was to cure a greater evil and so in the event it turns to good Let us not mistake here that sin proves medicinal to any to heal them this is not from the nature of sin the nature of sin is quite contrary the nature of sin is to harden and to damn Therefore when at any time sin doth prove medicinal this is from the power of Divine grace that knows how to turn that which is a disease in it self into a remedy yet this is a trembling consideration that so great is the evil of pride that God suffers his children to fall into other diseases to cure this disease which is most pernicious of all other 7. To shew the evil of pride consider that pride is such a sin that hinders and puts a stop to the communication of Divine grace Vas Gratiarum God gives grace to the humble 1 Pet. 5. Look as it is said that humility is the vessel that receives and contains other graces So pride is that which excludes other graces When a man hath a self-fulness he is not prepared to take in Divine grace God fills the hungry with good things but the rich he sends empty away we must be empty of self before we can be capable of receiving Divine grace Some of the schoolmen conceive that the cause of the Angels sin was that they thought to attain the lasi happiness which was the vision of God Per virtutem naturae suae absque gratiâ alicajus superioris by vertue of their own nature without the grace and help of any superior to themselves This conceit of their own sufficiency was the occasion of their fall When a man supposeth he hath some vertue or root in himself to resist temptation and carry him forth to any holy action this is such a thing as is exclusive of Divine grace He that supposeth that he hath a self-sufficiency cannot see the need he hath of Divine grace Therefore pride puts a stop to the communication of Divine grace 8. Pride is a sin that is most contrary to our communion with God Isa 57.15 Thus saith the high and lofty one whose name is holy who dwells in the high and holy place with him also that is of an humble and contrite spirit God dwells with humble and contrite souls unto such he delights to manifest himself A man must be reduced to nothing in himself before he be fit to receive divine manifestations It is the usual method of God to bring his people to great abasement in themselves before he manifests himself to them It is a great Scripture Psal 138.6 Though the Lord be high yet he hath respect to the lowly but he beholds the proud afar off God keeps himself at a distance from proud persons but if he observe any in the world it is the humble lowly soul that is the soul he delights in Though the Lord be high yet he hath respect to the lowly Nothing indangers a mans spiritual comforts more than pride when a man hath had the comforts of the spirit of God and God hath been affable and familiar with him and he begins to be lifted up in himself this causeth God to suspend his comforts When a man is proud of those things that are meerly the gift of God this causeth God to take away his gifts from him and so shews him what a poor and empty creature he is in himself when the gifts of God are withdrawn 9. Consider pride makes a man to forget himself pride transports and carries a man beyond himself pride makes a man forget his own frailty pride makes a man forget that he is a mutable creature Every man at his best state is altogether vanity Take a man in his best state and he is subject to changes and death Should a piece of clay be proud You must shortly be turned into a clod of earth and be crumbled into dust Pride makes us forget that we are mortal Whatever external excellencies men are proud of they are fading and withering All flesh is grass and the glory of it as the flower of the grass And if a man have some spiritual excellency and be proud of some gifts and graces of the spirit of God let God but withdraw his spirit and he shall soon see that he is nothing 10. Pride causeth a man to break off his dependance upon God and deny subjection to him The perfection of the creature lies in dependance upon God and subjection to him The perfection of a thing is to remain in the condition in which it was naturally set Now the creature is placed from the very frame and constitution of its being in a condition of dependance upon God and subjection to him Now pride causeth a man to cast off his dependance upon God and subjection to him A proud person thinks he hath all of himself and from himself and therefore seeth no need of dependance A proud person makes himself his last end and so refuseth to be subject to another 11. Pride maketh a man to stick at no sin pride is the mother and root of other sins A proud person that makes himself his own end will stick at nothing to serve himself and accomplish his own ends These and many more are the evils of pride Now it concerns us greatly to watch against this sin and that for these two Reasons 1. Because pride is apt to arise secretly and insensibly in us The root of pride is ever budding and putting forth it self There are many risings and ebullitions of pride that arise and spring out of our hearts before we are aware Pride bubbles up in our duties services and actions before we think or are aware of it it is a thing that grows up secretly Then 2. If we do not watch against it we may soon grieve the spirit of God and cause it to retire There is no sin causeth the spirit of God to withdraw and retire from a child of God more than spiritual pride Now pride being so incident to our nature and so apt to rise upon all occasions we may too soon lose the presence and familiarity of the spirit of God unless we narrowly watch against this fin The end of the Fourth Sermon SERMON V. 2 Cor. 12.7 8 9. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me And he said unto me My grace is sufficient
for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness I Come now to propoun some remedies against this sin The disease of pride is such a disease as is hardly cured nay it is not wholly cured in the best of the Saints while they live in the body and all the remedies we can think of are little enough to heal this disease 1. Remedy Let us study much our own infirmities and imperfections It is a sure rule The foundation of humility F adamentum humilitatis cogni io proprii def ctus is the knowledge of our own defects Nothing laies so great a foundation of humility in us as the knowledge of our own defects We keep our eyes and pore upon our own supposed perfections but we sorget our infirmities and imperfections The true sense of our infirmities would strike a holy shame into us As the apprehension of what is good and excellent in us is apt to lift us up in pride So in order to the suppressing and keeping down our pride it is good to consider our natural infirmities and our sinful infirmities 1. Let us consider our natural infirmities we are but mutable dying creatures at best we are but poor pieces of clay What little reason hath he to be proud that remembers he is mortal and must shortly be turned into rottenness and dust We may say to every one that finds his heart lifted up in pride as one did that was appointed to come to Alexander and use these words Remember that thou art a man so may we say Remember that thou art a mortal creature As high as thou art and as much lifted up as thou art in thy own apprehension thou must shortly be turned into rottenness worms must feed upon thee 2. Let us consider our sinful infirmities 1. Consider our great defects in grace consider our great defects in knowledge 1 Cor. 8.2 If any man think he knows any thing he knows nothing as he ought to know How little is it that the best of us do know concerning the nature of God Concerning the Divine nature and attributes How little do we know concerning the Mysterie of the Trinity How little do we know concerning the union of the two natures in Christ the Hypostatical union as it is commonly called How little do we know of the mystical union the union of believers with Christ how little are we acquainted with any of these Articles of Faith In all these respects we may say with him I am more bruitish than any man I have not the understanding of a man Prov. 30.2 And as we are desective in knowledge so we are defective in faith in love in self-denial in heavenly mindedness and many other graces If some graces may seem to flourish in us yet are we not greatly defective in other graces And if there be some good in us is there not a great deal of evil mixed with that little good Are there not many sinful circumstances that do attend the best of our actions It was the speech of an eminently holy man There was not the best action that ever I did in my life but God shewed me some sinful circumstance attending it Consider what the wise man saith Eccles 10.1 Dead Flies cause the ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour A little sin is like a little poyson mixed with the greatest delicacies it mars and spoils all It is true God out of his grace forgets the sinful circumstances that attend his peoples services but sin is of that nature that the least mixture of it is enough to stain and blemish the best action 2. Consider as there are great defects of grace in us so we all carry about with us the body of sin and death O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7. In me that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 There is nothing that is truly and spiritually good that proceeds from our nature Whatsoever is good proceeds from the spirit of God and the grace of the spirit in us Corrupt nature that is in us is prone to evil and nothing else but evil and if we do not always perceive the buddings and puttings forth of this root yet it is in us that evil root sticks in us when it doth not always act in that sensible manner Now what a humbling consideration is this that we should carry such a root of evil in us that bears such a contrariety in it to the holiness of God The holy Angels never had such a root in them they never had their natures vitiated and tainted as we have and the glorified Saints though sometimes they had the root of original sin in them as we have yet now they have no such root remaining in them What matter of humiliation is this to us that we have that root remaining in us that is so contrary to the holiness of God The holy Angels have it not in them and the glorified Saints are delivered from it There is little cause for any creature the most perfect and innocent creature to be proud because he is but a creature and a dependant thing But how much less cause is there of pride in a sinful creature that carries the marks of his shame about him and hath lost that purity that was stampt upon him in his first creation When we have attained the highest measure of holiness upon earth yet remember it is not with us as in innocency we have the root of original sin still remaining in us 3. Consider what great eruptions of sin and corruption there have been in us Whatever we are at present we are by the grace of God It is by grace that we are what we are But whatever we are at present hath not the time been when there hath been great breakings out of corruption in us I was saith Paul a Blasphemer and a Persecutor 1 Tim. 1.16 Thou that thinkest thou hast received most grace and hast attained most holiness hast thou not been so and so If thou hast not been guilty of scandalous sins yet have there not many things fallen out in the course of thy conversation which thou hast cause to be asbamed of What fruit Rom. 7.21 saith the Apostle had ye in those things whereof you are now ashamed Let us remember the things that have fallen out in our conversation they will be matter of humiliation to us all our days This is the first Remedy against pride to study our own defects and imperfections The 2. great Remedy against pride and that which I take to be the main of all is this Let us study the humility of God-incarnate This is certain no such remedy against pride as the study of the humility of God incarnate Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart Matth. 11.29 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus Phil. 2.5 6. What was the mind
and actings of pride Remedy 6. and also over the root of it 1. We should mourn over the ebullitions and actings of pride in us It is said of Hezekiah That he humbled himself for the pride of his heart When that good man shewed his riches and treasures to the Embassadors of the King of Babylon there was pride in it and God made him sensible of it and he humbled himself for the actings of pride We ought to be sensible of all the buddings and puttings forth of pride and to be humbled for it And as we should be sensible of the buddings and puttings forth of pride so 2. We should be humbled over the root it self O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death When we do not find these sensible actings and stirrings of pride in us yet the root of it is there Now we should be humbled that there is such a root in us Pride was the first venom or poyson that was breathed by the old serpent into our nature Pride is most contrary to the glory of God and it is the core and heart of all sin As the Naturalists say of the heart It is the first thing that lives and the last thing that dies so we may say of Pride It is the first sin that lives and the last sin that dies This should be matter of humiliation to us that we have such a bitter root as pride in us The 7. Remedy 7. Remedy against pride is this The more we find the stirrings of pride in us the more should we labour to abound in humility Be ye cloathed with humility 1 Pet. 5.5 The more we find the stirrings of pride in us the more should we labour to put on humility It 's one good means to mortifie a lust to labour to abound in the contrary grace to live in the exercise of the contrary grace this the Apostle teacheth us in Gal. 5.16 Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh The way for us not to fulfil the lusts of the flesh is to walk in the spirit The way to keep down corruption is to live in the exercise of grace When we find our hearts inclined to pride we should pray for grace that we may find our hearts so much the more humble 8. Let us be sure to give God the glory of what he hath done for us Remedy 8. and bestowed upon us Herod is condemned for this that he gave not God the glory Acts 12.23 We are apt to pore upon what God hath done for us and to forget the giver whereas we should reflect all upon God and say Not I but the grace of God in me Lastly Let us labour for a holy magnanimity and greatness of spirit Remedy 9. There is that which some of the ancients call a holy pride Sancta superbia that is this when the soul having a sense of its own excellency and nobleness thinks that it is beneath it self to prostitute it self to these inferiour things Nullum nisi omnipotentissimum sapientissimum pulcherrimum super omnia amare dignatur It would be joyned and united to the highest thing It thinks that 't is beneath it self to be joyned to any thing but the highest good It can vouchsafe to love none above all things but he that is most omnipotent most wise most beautiful This is holy pride when the soul ceaseth to admire every thing but God when it ceaseth to admire it self and all creatures and is wholly taken up in the admiration of God who is the first supream infinite and eternal perfection This is holy pride in the soul when it self and all the creatures seem vile and base to it in comparison of God This is a great but a good pride Magna sed bona superbia as one of the Ancients calls it This holy magnanimity of spirit is in the Angels and glorified Saints to whom not only all creatures but they themselves seem to be vile to themselves in comparison of God whom they love The end of the Fifth Sermon SERMON VI. 2 Cor. 12.7 8 9. And lest I should be exalteu above measure through the abundance of revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me And he said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness 3. Observ Observ 3. THE Observation that next comes in order to be handled is this That the principal end why God permits and orders it to be so that his people should be tempted and undergo sore conflicts it is to keep them from being lifted up Lest I should be exalted above measure there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me It is very observable that the end of this exercise and conflict of Paul is twice repeated in the text in the beginning and end of the verse 1. It is mentioned in the beginning of the verse Lest I should be exalted above measure And then it is repeated again in the close of the verse Lest I should be exalted above measure So that clear it is that the main and principal end of God in bringing his servant under this exercise it was to suppress spiritual pride in him to keep his spirit low and humble This therefore is the point that now I shall speak something to Doctrine That the principal end why God permits and orders it to be so that his people should be tempted and undergo sore conflicts it is to keep them from being lifted up And here I shall first lay down some propositions for the clearing of the point And then make some application I shall lay down two or three propositions for the clearing of the doctrine The first is this Propos 1. Pride is such a sin that God cannot bear with in his Children God indeed can bear with no sin for he is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity as the Prophet speaks Hab. 1.13 And evil shall not dwell with him Psal 5.4 God cannot bear with any sin But of all sins God doth in a more peculiar manner set himself against the sin of Pride Pride is such a sin as doth in a peculiar manner strike at the glory of God and therefore God in a peculiar manner sets himself against that sin Hence it is said That God resists the proud 1 Pet. 5.5 God is the professed enemy of Pride and proud persons God saith Luther Is the God of humble persons he cannot bear with pride Deus est humilium Deus non potest feire supâ—rbiam vult salvam esse suam Majestatem Luth. God will have his own glory and Majesty kept safe and inviolable My glory I will not give to another Now a
us we should certainly do as they have done Our Saviour bids us pray Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil and what is the meaning of those two Petitions but that we might have grace to keep us from temptation and grace to deliver us from evil Now if we ought to pray to be delivered from evil certainly we cannot keep our selves from the evil of sin without the power of Divine grace therefore if we are kept from the like falls wherewith others are overtaken let us not be high-minded but fear let us remember that it is by grace that we stand 2. As Divine grace keeps us from falling so far as we are kept so it is Divine grace that recovers us out of our falls We should remain long enough under our falls did not Divine grace raise us up and recover us out of them It is conceived by Divines that David did continue some time under his fall before he was recovered out of it Look as when God leaves us to our selves first of all our own hearts will hurry us to the greatest exorbitancies so if God continue to leave us to our selves we shall pine and languish under our distempers our own corruptions will tumultuate more and more For though corruption cannot not reign in a godly man as it doth in a wicked man it is inconsistent with grace for sin to reign in any that have grace yet it may rage in him for a time and Luther hath a saying to this purpose That sin may rage in a godly man for a time more than in a wicked man Oh but how very sad and bitter is it where God permits and suffers corruption thus to tumultuate and rage in us Truly till Divine grace do recover us corruption will have its raging fits It is Divine grace that doth recover us He restoreth my soul saith David Oh until Divine grace do restore us it will be long enough till we restore our selves nay we shall never be restored Not that we are to sit still but the more we find corruption to rage the more ought we to groan to Heaven and cry out so much the louder for Divine grace but this is certain till Divine grace recover us we shall never be recovered When Peter was left to himself left by Divine grace he denied his Master the first second and third time and there was no sign of his recovery till Christ gave him a look with his eye It must be some powerful touch of Divine grace that must recover us when we are fallen by corruption and temptation 7. It is Divine grace that quickens Consid 7. enlivens and raises the affections after they have been flat and dead Holy men persons that have walked with God do often complain of damps and deadnesses that they feel coming upon themselves It is not so with them as sometimes it hath been with them They do not feel that fervency in prayer that liveliness in holy duties that activity for God those meltÃngs in their affections as sometimes they have found Oftentimes there is great listlesness to holy duties much coldness and deadness in their hearts much streightness in their affections in their performance of holy duties David prays in Psal 119. Uphold me that I may live that was an argument that he was sensible that his spiritual life was greatly decayed that he was grown dead and heavy and lumpish in the ways of God that he had lost that quickness and liveliness of his affections that once he had Thus is it with others of the people of God they find deadness coldness lumpishness too often coming upon them and the cause of this spiritual deadness is commonly one of these things either 1. Unthankfulness for former quicknings or else 2. Presumption of our selves and our own strength and thinking that we had quickning and inlargement at command Or else 3. Neglect of some of the means of grace publick or private Or else 4. Some inordinate affection springing up in the soul Or else 5. Some secret indulgence to some sin that grieves the Spirit and causeth the Spirit to withdraw from us These are ordinarily the causes of those deadnesses that fall upon the Saints Now when the Saints fall under these deadnesses it is Divine grace must quicken them they cannot raise themselves from under these deadnesses they cannot get from under them We may think to rise and shake our selves and do as at other times but believe it if the Spirit of God be departed from us as from Sampson we shall fall flat to the ground as a man that is wounded may essay to rise up and to walk but presently falls down to the earth again But now Divine grace that puts new life and strength into the soul a fresh gale of the Spirit elevates and raises a dead soul Look as a ship when it is becalmed and there is no wind stirring can make no way but then a fresh gale comes and then it sails amain So when a soul hath received a fresh gale of Divine grace then it begins to move afresh then it can act afresh whereas before it was becalmed and found littie stirring little motion Godward Draw me saith the Church and then we will run after thee Cant. 1.4 8. The excellency of divine grace appears in this Consid 8. that it elevates a man above the world What is it that makes some of the Saints to contemn the world when others do so much admire it it is the the power of Divine grace that elevates and raiseth their hearts above the world It is grace that makes the world seem a little thing Grace shews a man something higher than the world and causeth a man to look down upon the world with a holy disdain and contempt as a thing that is much beneath him Gal. 6.14 I am crucified to the world saith the Apostle and we look not to the things that are seen 2 Cor. 4.18 Grace carries up the soul above temporal things Grace causeth a man to look upon the things of this world as mean and of short continuance Other men admire the world and pursue it as their chief good but now a man that is acted by Divine grace doth not so he hath no such admiring thoughts of it he doth not apprehend so much good so much excellency in it but his heart is carried out to something higher 9. Grace Consid 9. it enables a man to bear afflictions grace quiets the soul under affliction and strengthens it to bear up with patience under it 1 Col. 7. Strengthned unto all patience It is Divine grace that strengthens us to bear afflictions with patience we should sink and succumb and despond did not Divine grace strengthen us to bear up under affliction Isa 40. last He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength Truly a little affliction will sink us if Divine grace do not help us whereas on the
for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness THere are several other particulars that discover to us the excellency of Divine grace and you must carry this all along with you that I am not now speaking of that which Divines call habitual grace but I am speaking of the excellency of the influence of Divine grace or that which is commonly called actual grace Now I shall propound several things more concerning the excellency of grace over and above what I have already spoken of The 1. Particular is this It is by the help of Divine grace that we come to apprehend the reality the nature the beauty and excellency of spiritual things 1. It is grace that helps us to apprehend the reality of spiritual things Carnal men that are destitute of Divine grace hear of the things of God but they are only general notions swimming in their brain Carnal men may hear of Heaven and Hell they may hear of the preciousness of the soul they may hear of the excellency of Christ and the like but they are not acquainted with the reality of these things they have indeed some general confused notions of these things but these things are not represented to the mind of carnal men as real things Now here is one discovery of the excellency of Divine grace Divine grace discovers to the soul the reality of spiritual things it causeth a man to apprehend what is spoken concerning God to be real it causeth a man to apprehend that Heaven and the glory of it is a real thing and that the excellency of Christ is a real thing Heb. 11.1 Faith is the evidence of things not seen Faith causeth things that have a real being in themselves to have a real being and existence in a mans apprehension Faith makes things to be clear and plain and evident to the soul Those things that are dark obscure and uncertain to carnal men that have no grace these things appear with clearness and evidence to a man that hath Divine grace It is said of the antient Saints that They were perswaded of the promises Heb. 11.13 That is they were fully perswaded of the verity truth and certainty of the promises Other men have only some fluctuating wavering uncertain thoughts of spiritual things but they are not possest with the truth and reality of them It is Divine grace only that causeth spiritual things to appear to be real to the mind and apprehension of a man 2. It is Divine grace that causeth a man to apprehend the nature of spiritual things Other men hear of God and Christ and the mysteries of the Gospel but it is little they apprehend of the nature of these things 1 Cor. 2.14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned A man that hath not grace doth not know neither can he know spiritual things There must be a spiritual light let into the mind to cause a man to apprehend the nature of spiritual things otherwise he cannot understand them because as the Apostle saith they are spiritually discerned Now men that have no grace they are destitute of this light whereby they should apprehend spiritual things But now Divine grace that gives a spiritual apprehension of spiritual things To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom Matth. 13.11 It is a spicial gift of God to be acquainted with the nature of spiritual things for these things are riddles to other men A carnal man knows the outside of things but he is not led into the inside of truth as the Apostle speaks concerning the Law Heb. 10.1 That the Law had a shadow of things to come but it had not the very image of the things themselves So we may say a carnal man a man that is not illuminated by the light of Divine grace such a man may have a shadow of the knowledge of things in his mind he may have the form of knowledge in his mind but he hath not the very image and substance of things in his mind But now Divine grace makes spiritual things appear in some measure as they are By the help of Divine grace we are helped to see spiritual things as they are hence is that of the Apostle you received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the word of God 1 Thes 2.13 Other men receive the word as the word of men O but grace makes a man to receive the word as the word of God it discovers to him the nature of the word that it comes from God and hath a Divine stamp and impress upon it 3. Grace causeth a man to apprehend the excellency of spiritual things As Divine grace helps a man to understand the reality and nature of spiritual things so it causeth a man to apprehend the excellency of spiritual things 1 Cor. 2.6 We speak wisdom among them that are perfect By perfect here the Apostle doth not understand such as are simply and absolutely perfect for there are none such in this world But he means comparatively perfect We speak wisdom among them that are perfect that is such as are perfect in comparison of other men We speak wisdom to them that are perfect that is unto enlightned souls We speak wisdom to them that are endowed with grace and the Spirit of God I suppose the Apostle by perfect here understands illuminated souls such as are illuminated by grace and the Spirit of God Now saith the Apostle We speak wisdom to them The Gospel and the Mysteries of it is the greatest and highest wisdom to illuminated souls to such as are enlightned by the Spirit of God however they may appear foolishness to other men who are not enlightned yet there is no such wisdom to an enlightned soul as there is in the mysteries of Christ The conjunction of the two natures in the person of Christ and the mysterie of Divine grace in carrying on the work of our Salvation by Christ in both his natures this is the greatest wisdom to an enlightned soul We speak wisdom to them that are perfect this is the wisdom the Apostle speaks of viz. The mysterie of Christ the mysterie of our salvation carried on by Christ this is the highest wisdom to an enlightned soul Divine grace makes a man to see the excellency of spiritual things An enlightned soul seeth the worth of pardon of sin the worth of Gods favour the beauty of holiness the preciousness of the promises whereas other men see no great excellency in these things Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the things that God hath prepared for them that love him But God hath revealed them to us by the spirit 1 Cor. 2.9 10. The Spirit of God reveals the excellency of those things to the children of God that other men see no excellency in
any spirit in them David complains Psal 119.25 My soul cleaveth to the very dust And a verse or two after he saith My soul droppeth or melteth away for heaviness And Jonah saith My soul fainted within me Jonah 2.7 Secure persons who live at ease and have no experience of temptation and spiritual conflicts know not the meaning of these things but holy experienced souls know the meaning of them The Saints of God are sometimes brought to such extremities by their afflictions and temptations that they are even in a manner overwhelmed by them The title of Psal 102. is remarkable to evidence this A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. The Saints then are sometimes overwhelmed by their sorrows and temptations Now these fainting fits the Saints are cast into make way for reviving or comforting grace 2 Cor. 7.6 God who comforts them that are cast down It is one of the titles given to God God that comforts them that are cast down and it is a great Text which was hinted before Isa 40.29 He gives power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength Were not the Saints brought to these faintings sometimes were they not brought to this to think they had no strength no might they would not see the power of God which revives them when they are brought to the very brink of the grave to the very brink of destruction This should teach us cheerfully to submit to those afflictions trials temptations and all manner of exercises that God is pleased to exercise us with Under the name of infirmitie all manner of afflictions and trials are comprehended Now if Christs power be perfected in our infirmity that is by our trials temptations exercises we should cheerfully submit to this discipline James 1.2 Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations that is when you fall into divers afflictions and trials count it all joy a strange Doctrine to flesh and blood what is it a matter of joy to be afflicted Is it a ground for all joy for a man to be afflicted Truly it is so in respect of the consequents it is not so in respect of it self Look upon affliction in it self and no affliction is for the present joyous but grievous so the Apostle tells us Heb. 12.11 But it is a matter of joy to fall into afflictions in respect of the consequents count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations Why so The following words tell us knowing that the trial of your faith worketh patience The Saints afflictions so far as they are sanctified are a means to increase their faith and patience and the gain of a little grace by our afflictions makes amends for all our afflictions If we gain faith or patience or any grace whatsoever by our afflictions the gain of a little grace is a greater good than there is evil in our afflictions Besides if Gods strength and power be manifested in our weakness and infirmity we ought willingly to submit to those trials and afflictions and temptations that he laies upon us We are bound though it be a hard lesson to flesh and blood to love the glory of God above our own ease and quiet If therefore the power and grace of Christ be illustrated in our afflictions and exercises it becomes us the more cheerfully to submit to them because God will have a revenue of glory this way I remember it is an expression of Luther Christianus sine afflictionibus nil â—alâ—t Luther A Christian without affliction is worth nothing We would fain take up with an easie Christianity we would fain carry on a smooth easie profession without rubs or difficulties or any considerable exercises and trials We would have no temptations we would meet with no troubles or afflictions in our way but alas it will not be Therefore let us remember this Text My strength is made perfect in weakness God will find out something or other to exercise us with all our days and if we should be without exercises God would lose his glory and we should lose the grace and experience that is gotten by these trials Let us pray much that sin may be kept out of our afflictions if sin be kept out of our trials and afflictions none of our afflictions will do us hurt The end of the Thirteenth Sermon SERMON XIV 2 Cor. 12.9 And he said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness THE Doctrine propounded from these words was Doct. Christs strength is perfected in our infirmity I come now to the grounds and reasons of the Doctrine which I shall briefly speak to and then come to the Application First For the grounds of the point Why is it that God takes this course 1. To let us see our infirmity And then 2. To perfect his strength or power in our infirmity There are two grounds of this 1. Because Gods design is to humble us Reason 1. Now the sense of our infirmity is the proper means to humble us It is a true saying and a saying we can never think of too often The foundation of humility is the knowledge of some defect or imperfection in our selves Whilst we have a self-fulness a self-sufficiency whilst we apprehend nothing but wisdom strength ability and excellency in our selves this lifts us up For Pride what is it but a vehement or strong opinion of a mans own proper excellency Now whilst we apprehend nothing but excellency in our selves this lifts us up therefore God in his infinite wisdom discovers to us our weakness impotency infirmity and imperfection and the sight of our own infirmity and imperfection is a means to take down our plumes and to depress and humble us Now our humiliation makes way for Gods exaltation The more the creature is humbled and debased the more is God exalted This is certain when any excellency of the creature is seen and admired too much the excellency of God is so much the more unseen the admiration of the creatures excellency is a means to darken the glory of God and therefore God draws a Vail upon our glory that so God may be the more seen Isa 2.17 The loftiness of man shall be bowed down and the haughtiness of man shall be made low and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day When all created excellency is laid low then is Gods excellency the more advanced The 2. Reason 2. Reason is this Gods strength is perfected in our infirmity because the sense of our infirmity makes us to see that all is of grace When God hath reduced us to nothingness in our selves when God hath made us to see that we are nothing that we can do nothing then we clearly see that all that we are and all that we have is of grace It is natural to us to arrogate too much to our selves to ascribe things to our own
up above them all For his strength is made perfect in our infirmitie The End of the Fourteenth Sermon SERMON XV. Solomon's Song 1.4 Draw me we will run after thee HAving shewed the excellency of divine Grace I shall now take occasion from this Scripture to speak something concerning the necessity of Divine Grace and the sense which the Saints have of the need they have of the help of Divine Grace I take it for a certain Truth that the elder we grow in Christianity the more sensible shall we be of the need we have of Grace Younger Christians may be carryed out much in the heat and strength of their affections but elder Christians do easily perceive the need they have of Divine Grace We have here the profession of the whole Church she professeth the need that she hath of Grace and therefore prays for it Draw me we will run after thee Her petition supposeth her want she prays to be drawn wherefore she needs to be drawn Draw me we will run after thee she plainly intimates that unless she were drawn she could not run So that in these words here is a plain declaration of the sense that the Church had of the need of Divine Grace Her praying that she might be drawn by Divine Grace supposeth that she needed Divine Grace to draw her and her saying Draw me and we will run after thee plainly shews that unless she had Divine Grace to draw her she could not run In the words of the Text there are these three things to be considered one whereof is supposed and the other two are implyed That which is supposed is the need which the Church had of the drawings of Divine Grace and the sense that she had of the need of these drawings Draw me we will run after thee Her praying to be drawn supposeth her need to be drawn for we are not wont to pray for that which we do not want Therefore if the Church pray to be drawn she needs to be drawn This is therefore implyed the Churches want of Divine Grace and the sense that she had of the want of this Grace There are two things exprest in the Text 1. The Churches petition Draw me The 2. Is the consequent of granting this her petition Draw me and we will run after thee There are three Observations or Doctrines that do arise out of the words The Doct. 1. Is this That holy Souls are most sensible of the need which they have of the help of Divine Grace This is clearly implyed here when the Church prays Draw me she was deeply sensible of the need she had to be drawn how drawn drawn by Divine Grace The Doct. 2. Second Observation is That the sense which we have of the need of Divine Grace should make us pray so much the more for the drawings of Divine Grace The Doct. 3. Third and last Observation is this The end why we should desire the drawings of Divine Grace it is that our hearts may be more carryed out after God Draw me and we will run after thee The end why she desired to be drawn was that her heart might be the more carryed out after Christ These are the Observations that lie plainly in the Text. I shall begin to speak a little of the 1. Of these holy souls are most sensible of the need which they have of the help of Divine Grace In speaking to this point there are two or three things to be spoken unto 1. To shew you what that grace is that holy souls are sensible of a want and constant need of in themselves And 2. What that sense is that holy souls have of the need and want of Divine Grace And then 3. The reasons of it 1. What that grace is which holy souls are sensible of the need of I shall open this in several particulars and the more experience we have attained unto the more shall we understand the things that are set before us 1. The Saints are sensible of the want of quickening or exciting grace this is primarily intended in the Text Draw me we will run after thee why doth the Church pray to be drawn this is implyed that she found her self very dead heavy and lumpish in the waies of God she found her heart very unapt to move towards Christ therefore it is that she prays to be drawn draw me that is quicken me by exciting grace I find my heart very dead I find my Spirit lumpish heavy unapt to move towards thee therefore quicken me by exciting grace She was sensible she could not move towards Christ till exciting grace did quicken her Holy souls are sensible of many damps and deadnesses and indispositions that come upon them they have not that quickness liveliness and fervour in the waies of God that sometime they have felt The more experience we have of our own hearts the more we shall be sensible of these damps and deadnesses and indispositions that art apt to come upon us and if we are not sensible of these things it is a sign we are not acquainted with our own hearts David prays often in the 119. Psalm for quickening Quicken me quicken me in several places of that Psalm hence may we gather that he found a great deal of spiritual deadness that was come upon him Do not we often find an indisposition to prayer to meditation to holy conference oh then do we need quickening grace then do we need to pray as the Church doth here draw us when we find our hearts dead and lumpish in the waies of God then do we need quickening or exciting Grace 2. Holy Souls are oftentimes sensible of the want of elevating grace to raise and elevate their hearts to God This also is in the Text Draw me we will run after thee The Church was sensible that she could not get up her heart to God as she would have it carried up to him Draw me she would fain get an advance towards God but she could not get up her Spirit to him as she would She had not those inlarged affections towards God as sometimes she had and therefore she prays to be drawn Consider it well do you not sometimes find your affections very flat and low to what they are at other times either your affections stick in some lower inferiour things or else there is such a clog a weight that lies upon them that you cannot get them to ascend to God O how seldom is it that we can get our affections upon the wing to mount up and soar aloft towards God! our affections flag and sink and it is well sometimes if we can tell whether we have any affections for God yea or no. Sometimes it may be we shall find our hearts carryed up aloft above the Sphear of all created things we shall find we love God incomparably above all things here below at other times we find our hearts lumpish and heavy like a piece of lead and cannot get them to ascend
is the highest instance that can be given had a veil drawn over all his comforts he had been inured to the sight of God all his life he had walkt in the light of his Fathers countenance all his daies yet all of a sudden he cries out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me It is true he was never deserted in point of grace he had the presence of the Spirit to act him alwaies in a way of obedience yet there was a veil drawn over all his comforts there was a suspension of comfort and manifestation Therefore since it is possible that there may be a veil drawn over all our comforts it is good for us to pray for a constant supply of divine influences to support and comfort us I remember a passage of an holy man and one of great experience in the waies of God I find it best faith he when I come to greatest heights of peace and assurance to mind what is my present duty otherwise I meet with a cloud Truely if we trust in our own attainments in grace and upon the comfort and experience we have had already of Gods love and do not maintain constant dependance upon him for new supplies of grace we may soon meet with a cloud for God loves to keep us in dependance 6. To shew us the constant need that we have of divine grace let us take in this great Consideration Nothing but present actual grace can carry us through our greatest extremities When it comes to a time of great affliction when we are cast into great streights and difficulties when we are brought to a dying hour nothing but present actual grace can carry us through these things although former experiences although grace received may be of some use to us yet over and above all these things we must have present actual grace to carry us through a time of great extremity I do many times think with my self what may be of greatest use to a man to carry him through a dying hour how a man may be best prepared for a dying hour and truly there may be several things that may be of use to a Christian this way I shall hint at a few briefly 1. One thing may be The renewing of a mans former evidences the consideration of the more eminent actings of grace that have been in his soul There is no Christian that hath walkt with God for any considerable time but upon reflection he may remember some more eminent and remarkable actings of Gods grace in him concerning which he may say This if any thing was the grace of God in me this may be of some use to him 2. Another thing may be the remembrance of what hath passed between God and a man in his whole life Many of the Saints can say at such and such times there were such passages between God and their souls which they have reason never to forget when they tasted and felt such things they thought those were evidences of the love of God to them 3. A third thing which I look upon to be of great moment is this The setting of some special promises before the eye of a mans soul upon which he may be able to venture his soul God hath said He that believes on his Son shall not be condemned Joh. 3.18 Joh. 6.40 again He that believes on his Son shall have eternal life Now to lay some clear certain great and fundamental promises before the eye of a mans soul and to venture his Soul upon the bottom of these promises is one main way to help a man in a dying hour It is said of the ancient Saints They all dyed in Faith not having received the Promise Heb. 11.13 They all dyed in Faith that is they took Gods Word for their Salvation we must all venture our Salvation upon the bottom of Gods Word we must be able to single out some Word of God and say Upon the bottom of this Word I can venture my soul venture my eternal estate These are of good use to us in a dying hour 4. But that which I take to be the principal means above all other is this To pray for present actual grace to carry us through a dying hour Though the remembrance of former experiences the remembring what God hath bestowed upon us the setting the Promises before the eye of our souls may be of great use to us yet that which is necessary over and above all this is actual grace in a dying hour For neither the grace we have received nor former experiences nor the promises will be of use to us unless we have actual grace to help us to make use of them Therefore I conceive that here doth the main skill of a Christian lie if we would be carryed through a dying hour we should pray much that God would not desert us in point of grace that he would not desert us in that hour but own us stand by us and assist us in that hour Though I walk saith David through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me Psal 23.4 Therefore our great prayer should be that we may have actual grace to uphold us in the difficulties of life and to carry us through the agonies of death The Promise is I will never leave thee Heb. 13.5 nor for sake thee Now we ought to put this and such like promises in suit that so we may never be deserted in point of grace and if we have the constant presence of divine grace with us that will carry us through death it self And thus I have dispatched that first Doctrine viz. Holy souls are sensible of the need which they have of divine grace The Doct. 2. Second Doctrine is this The sense of the need which we have of divine grace should make us pray much for the drawings of divine grace Draw me and we will run after thee Her praying for drawing supposeth her want and need of drawing and her praying for these drawings of divine grace speaks the greatness and earnestness of her desires after them Here we have two things to speak to 1. To shew what these drawings of divine grace are And 2. How and by what means it is that God is wont to draw the souls of his people to himself 1. What these drawings of divine grace are I shall speak to this 1. In General and then shew you how it is that God draws the souls of his people to himself or by what means it is he doth this 1. What these drawings of divine grace are These drawings of divine grace I take to be the quickenings or excitations of the Spirit of God whereby the soul is elevated and raised above its natural pitch and carryed forth with life and vigour in the waies of God God is said to draw those Quot efficaciter movet impellit ad aliquid agendu whom he doth efficaciously move or stir up to
God draws the hearts of his people by the visits of his Spirit and by the fresh gales of divine grace Look as a Ship that is under a fresh gale can speed her course amain so when the Saints are under new and fresh gales of the Spirit then they find their hearts drawn out towards God and carryed forth in the waies of God Psa 119.132 I will run the way of thy Commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart God must first inlarge our hearts before we can run the way of his Commandments When the Spirit of God inlarges the heart and fills the sails then the soul can run and move swiftly towards God Thus have I shewn the several waies by which God is wont to draw the hearts of his people to himself I come now to the Application of the Doctrine And 1. Use 1. The first use shall be by way of information Let us learn that it is possible for the Saints themselves to fall under spiritual dullness and deadness The Church we see here in the Text finds her self in such a frame as that she needs divine grace to draw and quicken her Now unless she had some sense of spiritual dullness and deadness that was come upon her there had been no such necessity for her to pray for these drawings But this is an Argument that the Church found her heart more indisposed to the waies of God than heretofore and that is the reason she prays that she might be drawn Sad experience shews it to be true that after we have felt the most lively and effectual workings of the Spirit of God in our hearts after we have had the greatest tastes of spiritual joys and comforts after our hearts have been most inlarged in holy affections towards God yet oftentimes we fall into spiritual deadness and dullness we do not feel that life and power in our souls as heretofore there is a greater indisposedness and listlesness in us to holy duties we are not so lively in holy duties our affections are not so stirring and working towards God we have not that relish in the promises we do not so rejoyce in them we are not so active for God we are not so fruitful in our places we have not that hatred of sin neither do we make that resistance against it as sometimes we have done All these things and more that might be instanced in do shew that oftentimes the best of Gods Children do fall under deadness of heart and spiritual dullness Now the Causes of this spiritual dullness and deadness are commonly such as these 1. Unthankfulness for grace received Unthankfulness is a greater sin and costs us dearer than we are aware of God takes nothing more unkindly at the hands of his people than their unthankfulness for his own grace bestowed upon them When we are not sensible how much God hathdone for us in giving us his grace this doth many times provoke God to take away his grace from us and then we soon fall under this spiritual deadness and dullness 2. A second Cause of dullness and deadness in the Saints is this Neglect of some of the means of grace either in publick or private If we neglect any one of the means of grace we shall soon find dullness and deadness come upon us for this is certain the infinite wise God hath appointed no one means of grace in vain And so naturally dull and dead are our hearts that there is not one of the means of grace but we need it Therefore if we neglect any of the means if we attend publick ordinances and in the mean time are negligent in private Prayer reading the Word meditating of it and self-examination this may be one cause of deadness On the other hand if we use private means as Prayer Meditation and the like if we neglect publick means or any of the Ordinances which God hath appointed if we come to hear the Word but neglect the Sacrament or any one instituted means which God hath appointed for our help that may bring this deadness on us For it is certain we need all the means of grace and the more we come to understand our own hearts the more we are concerned about our spiritual state the more we shall see our need of all the means which God hath appointed for our help and quickening And if we consult our own experience we shall find that when we are most remiss in the use of the means then doth spiritual deadness and dullness come upon us 4. Another Cause of this spiritual dullness and deadness is some secret corruptions that we indulge in our selves Exhort one another Heb. 3.13 saith the Apostle lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Sin is a deceitful thing and will harden the heart any sin connived at beloved and entertained will harden the heart When that Love that should be let out to God and the waies of God is turned aside to a lust that must needs harden the heart Besides any sin indulged grieves the Spirit of God the Spirit of God is not wont to take occasion to withdraw because of sins of infirmity but if any sin be indulged and allowed and get some liking and consent in the will and be harboured by us this grieves the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God being grieved soon retires and when the Spirit withdraws and retires spiritual dullness and deadness must needs follow 5. Another great Cause of this spiritural dullness and deadness that comes upon the hearts of the Saints is Inordinate affections to earthly things The strength of the affections cannot go forth two waies at once therefore if the affections be carried out violently impetuously and beyond their due bounds towards earthly things they cannot be carryed out with that vigour towards God and the waies of God as they ought to be It is the violence and impetuousness of our affections unto other things that puts such a damp upon them in reference to God and the things of God let us look unto our own experience and we shall find it to be true 5. And lastly Another Cause of this dullness and deadness is resting in the grace that we have received and presuming on it because we have had such quickenings such inlargements in duty because we have found some affections towards God we think we can command the same quickenings the same inlargements the same affections at our pleasure Now when we rest in what we have already received and think we have quickening and inlargement at command this causeth the Spirit to withdraw from us and then we soon fall into spiritual deadness and dullness These are usually the causes of the spiritual deadness and dullness that comes upon the Saints Now we ought not to give way to this spiritual deadness and dullness but to pray and strive much against it Holy souls the more grace they have the more sensible they are of this spiritual deadness
and dulness when it comes upon them And the more grace a man hath he will complain more of these inward decaies of his soul and the spiritual deadness that comes upon him than he doth of outward afflictions This was the Churches complaint Isa 63.17 Why hast thou made us to erre from thy waies and hardened our hearts from thy fear She complains of the withdrawings of divine grace and that spiritual deadness and hardness that was come upon her It were happy for us if we could be more sensible of the dullness and deadness that comes upon our affectons than we are of our outward afflictions But alas a little outward affliction touches us to the quick and makes us to complain very bitterly but how little sensible are we of our deadness and dullness in the waies of God and of the loss of that spiritual vigour and liveliness that formerly we have had Certainly this deadness and dullness of spirit is a great evil a sore evil 1. This deadness of spirit renders the graces which are in us for the present in a great measure useless It was the saying of Mr. Greenham Deadness of spirit is the Grave of many heavenly graces The graces of the Spirit of God are buried as it were by this dullness and deadness of heart When we are under the power of this dullness the grace that we have received can neither be beneficial unto others nor comfortable to our selves The more grace is visible in us the more benefit do others receive by it and the more comfort do we our selves reap from it If grace be not visible as others receive little benefit by us so we our selves cannot reap the comfort of grace in our selves Now whilest our hearts are dead and dull there is little visibility of grace in us so that whether we respect others benefit or our own comfort it concerns us to strive against this dullness and deadness of heart 2. As we deprive our selves of the comfort of grace and others of the benefit of it by this deadness and dullness so we rob God of his glory For hereby saies our Saviour is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruit The more active and lively grace is in us the more glory hath God from us and therefore by consequence when we are dead and dull and our graces unactive in us God hath little honour from us 3. Spiritual dullness and deadness in our selves neglected makes way for security and security is the high-way to some worse evil Therefore it concerns us to strive against spiritual deadness and dullness in the beginning for if we neglect it we shall by degrees fall into security and when we are secure we may soon be surprized by some gross and scandalous sin before we are aware Awake O Christian rouze up thy self strongly when ever thou findest thy self dull in the waies of God awake out of thy security for security prepares the way for some fall for some foul fall if thou do not strive to prevent it deadness brings on security and security makes way for thy fall some great fall unless grace prevent 4. Lastly To ingage us to strive against this deadness Consider a constant deadness and flatness of spirit renders a mans state very doubtful and suspicious It renders a mans state very doubtful whether he be in the state of grace yea or no. It was Christs charge against one of the Churches Revel 3.2 Thou hast a name to live but art dead When there is an habitual deadness upon the heart when there is no life no vigorous affections towards God and this continues and there is no groaning under it no striving against it a man may well suspect whether his state be right yea or no. Upon all these grounds it concerns us much to strive against this spiritual deadness The Church was under deadness here in the Text but she did not lie down under her deadness but the sense she had of her deadness and dullness makes her pray Draw me So the sense that we have of that deadness and dullness that too often comes upon us should make us pray much for quickening and exciting grac The next Use is of Exhortation This should exhort us to pray much for the Drawings of divine grace Let us take the same course that the Church here doth in the Text. Let us pray much as she did Draw me we will run after thee Truly the more acquaintance we have with our own hearts the greater insight we have into our spiritual estate the more need shall we see of the constant quickenings and excitations of divine grace How low and dead and unactive shall we find our hearts to be in the waies of God any further than we are under fresh and constant gales of the Spirit of God Although we have found great quickening heretofore and have had our hearts very much inlarged and drawn out towards God unless we have a continuation of divine grace we shall soon find that our hearts will flagg Holy souls are most sensible not only of the need of grace but also of the continuation of that grace which at present acts them without which they perceive their hearts would soon flagg and fail The Lord promiseth his Church that he will water her every moment Isa 27.3 and truly we shall find that we need to be watered every moment The least suspension of divine grace will soon make a decay in us But here it may be said What course ought we to take and what Directions may there be given in order to the obtaining of fresh gales of the Spirit and continued supplies of divine grace I take this to be a material Point a little to insist upon For what so desirable to holy souls as this to feel frequent visits from God in their souls to be under fresh gales of the Spirit and to have constant supplies of grace Therefore I shall speak something by way of Direction how we may attain these continued supplies of divine grace 1. We must be very thankful for grace received To him that hath Matth. 25.29 saith our Saviour shall be given and he shall have abundance the way to receive more grace is to be exceeding thankful for grace received Nothing provokes God to with-hold grace from us more than unthankfulness But Hezekiah rendered not according to the benefit done unto him therefore wrath was upon him 2 Chron. 32.25 It is true it was a temporal deliverance that Hezekiah was unthankful for But if unthankfulness for a temporal mercy for a temporal deliverance provoke God so much what will unthankfulness for the receipt of spiritual and divine grace do The gifts of divine grace are the choicest of the gifts of God Eonum unius Gratiae est majus Bonum Bono naturae etiam totius universi Aquinas The good of one grace is a greater good than the good of Nature even of the whole Universe So then when we are unthankful
going backward he is declining Now a Christian ought to run that is he ought to make a farther progress Add to your Faith vertue and to your vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance Pet. 2.15 and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity So likewise Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before Phil. 3.13 Nothing hinders our spiritual growth more than a vain conceit in us that we know as much already as need to be known and that we have attained already as much as we need to attain unto Paul was of another temper when he saies Not as if I had already attained either were already perfect but I press towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.12 14. To run therefore is to make a progress not to take up with any measures of grace already received but to press forwards to that which we have not attained unto 3. Running notes diligence and activity in the waies of God 1 Cor. 9.24 So run that ye may obtain that is run with care and diligence put forth your utmost vigour and activity in the waies of God Psal 119.32 I will run the waies of thy Commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart that is I shall be diligent and active in thy waies when I have derived grace from thee 4. Running notes strength and courage in him that runs Dan. 8.6 The He-goat is said to run to the Ram in the fury of his power Running therefore notes strength and courage so the Saints running in the waies of God notes their strength and courage in the waies of God Isa 40.31 They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint 5. And lastly Running notes perseverance in our Christian course to the end Heb. 12.1 Let us run with patience the race that is set before us The second thing to be spoken to is this How it is that the Saints have their hearts carryed out after God The end why they desire divine grace is That they may run in a spiritual manner and that their hearts may be carryed after God Now how is it that the Saints have their hearts carryed out after God 1. The Saints have their hearts carryed out after God by desires and longings after him Psal 63.1 My soul thirsteth after thee my flesh longeth for thee Isa 26.8 9. The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee and in the next Verse With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Whilest other men do mainly and principally thirst and cover after the creature holy souls do mainly and principally thirst after God himself Psal 42.1 As the Hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God The Hart is a thirsty creature by nature and when it is hunted its thirst is greater such is the thirst of holy souls after God But it may be said What is that thirst that holy souls have after God It lies eminently in two things and it will be good for us to observe them because we may know much what the measure of our grace is by these two things Holy souls thirst after Gods gracious presence here on earth and they thirst after Gods glorious presence in Heaven 1. Holy souls thirst after Gods gracious presence here on earth Psal 42.2 My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God When shall I come and appear before God that is when shall I see the face of God in his Ordinances Psal 101.2 When wilt thou come unto me Nothing more proper to grace than this to carry out the soul in longings after communion with God If you feel nothing of this in your selves if you do not find ardent strong breathings and longings in your souls after God you have reason to suspect your selves that all is not well with you Unless the soul be under Temptation or under the prevalency of some corruption at the present or under the withdrawings of the influences of the Spirit of God in some time of Desertion I say unless it be in such cases as these the pulse of the soul will beat this way viz. in ardent breathings after God and communion with him and if we do not find it to be thus with us we have reason to fear the state of our own souls for thus it will be if grace act like it self in our hearts 2. The Saints have great longings after the sight of God and the glorious presence of God in Heaven Come come is the language of the Church in general The Spirit and the Bride say come Revel 22.17 Being confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Come Lord Jesus come quickly is the language of particular Saints Certainly the pulse of grace if I may so express it beats mainly these two waies In longing after a sense of Gods presence in our souls here on earth and in longing after the perfect injoyment of God in Heaven 2. The Saints have their hearts carryed out to God by Love Love is the motion of the soul to the thing beloved The soul naturally moves towards that it loves Love is the weight or ballance of the soul Amor meus est pondus meum eò feror quò amo the soul is carryed where it loves Now the souls of the Saints are carryed towards God by Love Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee And I will love thee O Lord my strength Psal 18.1 God himself is the great thing in the eye of holy souls though friends be dear relations dear yet God himself is most dear O Lord saith Austin thou art not only dearer to me than this earth and all things that are in it but thou art more acceptable to me than Heaven it self and all the things that are in it Hence is that of David in Psal 43.4 I will go to God my exceeding joy The joy of my joy Laetitia â—etitiarum that is the top of my joy Though other things may be amiable to a godly man in their place yet God himself is most amiable to an holy soul 3. The Saints have their hearts carryed out to God by Admiration that which we call admiration is the fixing or staying of the mind upon some excellent object the minds fixing or staying it self with delight upon some object which it is pleased with Admiration takes in a double act of the soul 1. It takes in an act of the mind or understanding what we admire the mind fixeth and dwells upon admiration detains and holds the mind fixt in the contemplation of a thing what we
admire the mind doth not presently go off from but it staies and dwells upon it 2. Admiration takes in the act of the will the will likes and is well pleased with the goodness of an object and that makes the mind fix and stay upon it Thus the souls of the Saints are carryed out to God by admiration Holy souls love the divine excellency and they are pleased in it therefore the will causeth the mind or understanding to fix it self in the contemplation of it My meditation of him shall be sweet saith David Psal 104.34 The Saints cannot alwaies get up their hearts to this frame of admiration and it is matter of bitter complaint to holy souls that they cannot find their hearts so taken with the divine perfections as sometimes they have been but this is certain this is most pleasing to a holy soul when he finds his heart most taken and ravished with the excellencies of God and when he can admire him more than all created things 4. The Saints have their hearts carryed out to God by delight Delight carries the heart powerfully to the object we delight in what we delight in we cannot but think of Psal 119.47 I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved As much as if he should have said the love and affection which I have to thy Commandments carries out my heart to them Thus the Saints do sometimes find their hearts carryed out to delight in God Isa 58.14 Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord. It is true it is too seldom too rare that we can thus delight our selves in God there is one thing or other that interposeth to hinder us from delighting in God sometimes guilt interposeth that clogs our consciences and that hinders us from delighting in God Sometimes inordinate affection to the creature steps in and when our affections are diverted and turned into another channel we cannot so delight in God as we ought to do Sometimes spiritual darkness and deadness hinders our delighting in God 1. Spiritual darkness hinders us from delighting in God we have lost that sight of God we have lost those apprehensions of God which sometimes we have had and if we have lost that sight of God and those apprehensions of God that once we had no wonder we cannot delight in him for our affections follow our apprehensions as we have heard 2. Spiritual deadness hinders us Our affections are flat and low and we cannot get them up to God so that as was said it is too seldom that we get our hearts into this frame to delight in God but it is happy with the Saints when they can find it thus with them it is never so well with them as when they can have their hearts carryed out with delight to God 5. The Saints have their hearts carryed out to God by adherence When we can find our hearts intimately and firmly adhering to God then are our hearts carryed out to him It is good for me to draw near to God Psal 73.28 It is good for me to adhere to God Bonum est mihi adhaere Deo so the words are rendred by learned men so Psal 63.8 My soul followeth hard after thee This following hard after God implies two things 1. Strong desires after God And 2. Intimate adhering or cleaving of the soul to God Adhaeret anima mea post te hoc est vitae securus acquiesco My soul cleaves after thee that is my soul rests securely in thee saith a learned man My soul cleaves after thee it is as much as if it had been said Whilest I think of thee and of thy mercy towards me although thou seemest sometimes as if so be thou wouldest withdraw thy self from me yet I go after thee I follow after thee in thy very foot-steps I follow thee so close that I may never let thee go out of my sight Adhaerere post aliquem nihil aliud esse videtur quam vestigiis fugientis inhaerere To cleave after another saith a learned man it is to follow another in his foot-steps Ainsworth observes that this phrase notes Love constancy and union in the Spirit he that cleaves to the Lord is of one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 My soul cleaves that is it cleaves intimately and inseparably to thee 6. And lastly The Saints have their hearts carryed forth towards God in a way of satisfaction Psal 63.5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness He is speaking of communion with God If he can have but communion with God oh then his soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness Nothing can terminate the desires of the soul but an infinite good When the soul hath taken in this and that particular good from among the Creatures it finds it is still capable of more and therefore is still desiring more but when the soul hath met with such a good as that it can never come to the end and bottom of it then it is satisfied and filled Now there is good enough in God to fill the soul and there is something still redundant and therefore it is in God alone that the Saints find satisfaction and to him it is they are carryed out so as to seek satisfaction in him The first Use is for Application Vse 1. Let us be exhorted to labour and pray that we may experimentally find our hearts thus carryed out after God by Desire Love Admiration Delight Adherence satisfaction O let us put it to the Trial and we shall find it true in experience the more we can find our hearts thus carryed out after God the more sweetness shall we find in this life It is good for me to draw near to God We shall find it the wisest course to have our hearts fixt and centred in God It is natural to us all to seek for rest Men are seeking far and near to find rest but we may wander up and down all our daies and never find what we seek and pursue after unless the pursuit of our souls be after God God alone is the true rest of souls the quiet and center of souls the more our hearts are carryed out after God the more rest shall we find The end of motion is rest the end why we move towards the Creatures in desire and love is because we think to find some rest and contentment in them Now if our souls be carryed out after God in holy affections there and there only shall we find that rest that our souls are longing after Take this for a certain truth It will never be well with us we shall never find rest to our souls till we have learned this skill to keep our hearts reserved for God and to expect happiness from nothing but him Though we may and ought to use the Creatures in their place yet we must still expect all our happiness from God Take the best comfort the best condition in this world yet there is not all the good in it we desire There is something that is wanting still something that we cannot find in any creature and in any condition Examine your selves and you will find it so Therefore it is not good that we expect to find happiness in any thing under the Sun for if we do we shall certainly deceive our selves But if we place our happiness in God he will not deceive us Psal 62.6 7. My soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him he only is my rock and my Salvation he is my defence I shall not be moved The more our souls are carryed out after God the more rest we shall find Not but that we may desire and love the Creatures in their places but take heed of expecting to find rest in them and of expecting happiness in any thing but God O let us labour to learn this skill and happy are they that can learn it to keep our hearts reserved for God as our only happiness and to learn to expect happiness from nothing but him Let us be exhorted to pray for Divine Grace Use 2. as the means whereby our hearts may be thus drawn out to God Draw me we will run after thee the Church prays to be drawn that she may run after Christ Before we are drawn our affections cannot run out after Christ When we find our hearts dead unapt to move towards God then should we pray for the drawings of divine grace Age Domine fac excita revocanos accende rape flagra Dulcescas jam amemus â—urâ—amus Aug. It is the saying of Austin Lord do thou quicken and stir up our hearts do thou call hack our hearts to thy self do thou inflame them do thou ravish them and allure them do thou set them on fire do thou sweeten and indear thy self to us Now now let us run and love Truly till divine grace doth excite inflame allure and set our hearts on fire we shall find we cannot run after Christ How often do we find a great weight and mighty clog lying on our souls that we cannot ascend to God as we would We should pray therefore that God would remove this weight that he would quicken our hearts by the drawing of his Spirit O when our souls are carryed forth with life and vigour towards God then shall we find rest and sweetness and peace to our souls On the contrary when our hearts are estranged from God when our affections are flat and dead towards him we shall find nothing but trouble and disquietment restlesness and dissatisfaction in our souls Return to thy rest Psal 116.7 O my soul saith that holy man God alone is the rest of souls so far as our hearts are carryed out with life and vigour towards God we shall find rest peace and quiet to our soul so far as we depart from him we shall find nothing but trouble and disquietment Therefore let us pray with the Chruch here Draw me we will run after thee FINIS
2. The second particular to discover the excellency of Divine grace is this It is Divine grace that elevates the soul to God Naturally we stick in these lower and inserior things Now this is the nature of grace Tiah't crcaturam rationalem supra conditionem naturae ad participationem Boni Divini that it doth advance the reasonable creature above the condition and sphere of nature unto the participation of the Divine good Nature sticks in natural good nature rests in natural things but grace carries up the soul to a supernatural good grace carries up the soul above all created things unto God himself This is a great thing that doth commend Divine grace to us that it is grace only that elevates the soul above the creature unto God Were it not for Divine grace we should always stick in the creature It is grace that elevates and raiseth the soul above the creature unto God Without Divine grace we can rise no higher than the creature Every natural man seeks his happiness in the creatrue sticks there and riseth no higher But this is the excellency of grace that it elevates and advanceth the soul to God himself To thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Psal 25.1 Grace raiseth up the soul above created things unto God By the power of Divine grace we are elevated to that life which is above nature Grace carries us above the sphere of nature By the power of Divine grace it is that we come to know God to love him to converse with him John 17.3 and this is life eternal to know the only true God We may eat and drink and walk up and down in the world but this is not eternal life these are the actions of a natural life which must have an end Also we may buy and sell and commerce in the world but these are the actions of a civil life and these things must have an end they must end with this world But to know God to love him to seek his glory these are the actions of a spiritual life and these are the beginnings of eternal life So that grace it carries a man above the whole sphere of nature Without grace you can only do as other men do you may perform the actions of a natural life those things that concern this world but you cannot do those things that concern the spiritual life It is grace only that elevates and raiseth up the soul to God 3. To shew the excellency of Divine grace consider There is infinite sweetness in Divine grace O the suavity the unutterable sweetness that is in Divine grace I dare appeal to the experience of holy souls whether ever they found any thing so sweet to them in this world as Divine grace and the actings of it in their souls Nothing so sweet as Divine grace And here I shall set before you in some particulars the sweetness of Divine grace 1. Consider That Divine grace carrying up the soul to God as it doth it carries it up to the highest object Grace causeth the soul to transcend and go beyond the sphere of all created things and to fix in God alone Now when the soul is brought to God there is not a higher or more superior object for the soul to ascend unto Now when the soul by the power of Divine grace is brought to him who is the highest perfection beyond whom there is not a higher perfection this must needs cause infinite sweetness for the soul is still climbing up from one thing to another it is ascending higher and higher it would fain be at the top of all good I say it is in the nature of our souls to aim at this But now when the soul hath found out the highest perfection him that is perfection it self this must needs be matter of infinite sweetness to it when the soul hath found out that good than whom there is no higher greater or better but is absolutely perfect and compleat certainly that must needs afford the greatest sweetness and contentment to it Amongst the several ends men aim at and the several goods that they pursue there is always one last end one chief good and when they acquire the last end and obtain the chief good that is their greatest delight Now God is the last end the chief good nothing is beyond him nothing may be compared with him Now Divine grace elevating the soul to God must needs fill it with infinite sweetness 2. The sweetness of Divine grace appears in this grace in carrying forth the soul to God carries it forth to the most sutable and convenient object Delight ariseth from suitableness and conveniency Now grace elevating the soul to God elevates it to the most suitable object The soul being of a spiritual nature a spiritual good is most suitable to it the soul being immortal an eternal good is most suitable to it the soul being so a vast capacity as that it can take in more than all created things come to an infinite and an uncreated good is most suitable to it Now Divine grace is that which elevates the soul to God who is a spiritual eternal infinite good and this is the most suitable and convenient object for the soul and therefore when the soul by Divine grace is carried up to God it must needs fill it with the greatest sweetness because no object so suitable and convenient to the soul as God 3. Another thing to shew the sweetness of Divine grace is this That Divine grace raiseth the soul to an holy kind of amplitude and greatness I remember Gibeuf observes that the true liberty of the will it dost consist in divina quadam amplitudine in a divine kind of amplitude or greatness of soul that is to say when the soul is carried up above the sphere of created things to love God and to adhere to him as the chief good this is the true liberty of the will as he states it Now it is Divine grace that raiseth the soul to this amplitude and holy greatness Grace is that which raiseth the soul up to God and when the soul by the power of Divine grace is raised up unto God then it hath a large field to expatiate it self and walk in The more the soul is acted by Divine grace the more liberty and inlargement doth it find in it self Psal 111.45 I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts As much as if he should say I find nothing that gives that liberty and inlargement to my soul like to the exercise of grace like to holy walking When Divine grace raiseth the soul to walk with God in a way of obedience this is that gives the greatest liberty and inlargement to the soul If we observe it we shall find it true Earthly things when the soul is let out to them in an inordinate way do but confine and narrow the soul the soul is as it were pent up in a narrow place when it is