from them as grief Isa 53. 3. fear Heb. 5 7. who yet was free from all sin 1 Pet. 2. 22. Nay it seems necessary as I said before considering the nature of this animal life that the soul should have the corporeal passions and impressions feelingly and powerfully conveyed to it without which it could not express a due benevolence to the body that belongs to it and indeed were it not so we could not properly be said in the Apostles phrase here to be at home in the body the soul would rather dwell in domo alienâ quà m suâ But the soul being called out to attend upon these passions is easily ensnared by them for it can hardly exercise it self about them but it stâ—ps insensibly into a sinful inordinacy As for example The animal spirits nimbly playing in the brain and swiftly flying from thence thorow the nerves up and down the whole body do raise the fancy with mirth and chearfulness which we must not presently mistake for the power of grace nor condemn for the working of corruption So also when the Gall empties its bitter juice into the liver and that mingles it self with the blood there it begets fiery spirits which presently fly up into the brain and cause impressions of anger Now though I dare not say that the souls first sensating and entertaining of these passions is sinful yet it is sadly evident that our souls being once moved by these undisciplin'd animal spirits are very apt to fit upon and cherish those passions of grief fear mirth anger and as it were to work them into it self in an inordinate manner and contrary to the dictates of reason and so the will presently makes those sinful which before were but meerly humane or as one calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the more blossomings or shooâ—ings forth of animal life within us We see then in these particulars that not only the depraved dispositions of the soul do keep us at a distance from God but even this body also is a great hinderance to that knowledge of God which we shall attain to that service of God which we might perform and that sweet communion with him which we shall enjoy It is a clog to the soul that would run a mist to the soul that would see clearly a manacle to the soul that would work a snare to the soul that would be free a fetter to chain it to earthly and material things and as it were a pinion to the wings of contemplation More particularly it is a hinderance to it as to those three things which I have â—â—amed As to the souls knowledge of God the body is an occasion of ignorance and errour As to its serving of God an occasion of distract on and weariness lightness and triflingness and as to its communion with God an occasion of earthliness and sensuality Now this distance which this body keeps the soul at from God might more particularly appear in another way of explication by observing the especial grievances that do arise to the soul from those three great animal faculties if I may so speak The Senses the Appetite the Fancy 1. The Senses I mean the external senses of the body seeing hearing c. These convey passions to the soul upon which it insists and feeds with a sinful fondness and eagerness Set open the eye and it will set hard to convey some species to the soul of earthly objects that shall justle the Ideas of God out of it Set open the ear and it will fill the soul with such a noise and earthly tumult that the secret whispers of the divine spirit cannot be heard The like I may say of the rest Oh how easily do these discompose the fixed soul distract the devout soul cast a mist before the contemplative soul and hale down the raised soul from communion with Heaven to converse with earthly objects Vt vidi ut perii is the complaint of many a Christian as well as it was of the Heathen The souls of most men are quite sunk into their senses and do nothing but as it were lacky to them all their lives and so the servants are on horseback and Princes go on foot Though the eye will never be satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing yet forsooth these importunate suiters must be gratified the eye must see what it will see and the ear must hear what it will hear nothing must be with held from them that these childish senses do whine after These mens souls are indeed incarnate swallowed up in their eyes ears and mouths But not only these but even godly souls are often charmed and ensnared by their senses even they converse not only in the body but too much with it also and it becomes as a Dalilah to lull them asleep and bind them too Good Job found his senses so treacherous that he was fain to make a covenant with them Job 31. 1. And well if he could scape so too The words are a Metaphor for indeed the worst of it is that these senses are not capable of any discipline one cannot bring them into any covenant-terms so that whilst we have senses they will be treacherous whilst our eyes are in our heads they will be wandring after forbidden objects 2. The Appetite the sensitive appetite which is a faculty of the sensitive soul whereby this animal man is stirred up to desire and lust after the things which his senses have dictated to him This bodily lust following upon the neck of the former becomes a greater snare to the soul This restless suitor comes whining ever and anon to the soul for every trâ—fle that the eye hath seen or the ear heard or the mouth hath tasted and by it continual coming and importunate crying wearies her into an observance of it As the fond child comes crying to the Mother for every knack and gaw that it hath seen upon the stalls and she though she cannot in judgment approve of the request yet either in fond indulgence or for peace sake will condescend to purchase it This is the Daughter of the Horsleech that cryes continually Give Give Why what would it have even any thing that it hath seen or heard or touched or tasted any thing that it sees a fellow-creature to be possest of And so indeed the Appetite doth not only ensnare the soul unto drunkenness and glutâ—ony but voluptuousness lascivousness and all manner of sensuality The evil of the sensual appetite appears in wantonness and lasciviousness whether real verbal or mental in immoderate and inordinate trading ingrossing sporting building attiring sleeping visiting as well as in eating and drinking I will determine nothing concerning the first motions of the appetite whereby it sollicits the will to fulfil it only this that if it sollicite to any thing simply and morally evil it is sinful in that first act and that at all times it ought carefully to be watcht lest it seduce to intemperance in things lawful
THE Voice of one Crying IN A WILDERNESS OR The business of a Christian both Antecedaneous to Concomitant of and Consequent upon a sore and heavy Visitation Represented in several Sermons First Preacht to his own Family lying under such Visitation And now made Publike as a Thank-offering to the Lord his healer By S. S. A Servant of God in the Gospel of his Son All the Paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies Psal 25. 10. Mala poenalia non sunt veré mala quia fluunt à summo Bono nimirum Deo ducunt ad summum Bonum nimirum fruitionem Dei erant in summo bono nimirum Christo Biel. The evils of Punishment are not truly evils for they flow from the chiefest good even God they lead to the chiefest good the enjoyment of God and are found in the chiefest good even Christ Jesus LONDON Printed Anno Dom. 1666. TO THE READER Christian Readers IT is now more than seaven months since it pleased the holy and wise God together with some dear and Christian friends from London to visit my house with the Plague whereby he gently toucht and gave warning to my self and whole family consisting then of eight souls but called away bâ—nce only three members of it viz. two tâ—nder babes and one servant besides my beloved sister and a child of my precious friend that man of God Mr. G. C. since also translated who were of those Citizens that visited me You will easily believe that I can have no pleasure to rake into the ashes of the dead nor to revive the tast of that wormwood and gall which was then given me to drink and yet I see no reason but that I ought to take pleasure in the pure and holy will of God which alwayes proceeds by the eternal rules of Almighty love and goodness though the same be executed upon my dearest creature-comforts and grate never so much upon my sweetest earthly-interest yea and I see all reason in the world Why I should give God the glory of his Attributes and works before all the world and endeavour that some instruction may accompany that astonishment which from me and my house hath gone out and spread it self far and near I will not undertake to make any Physical observations upon this unaccountable disease nor to vindicate my self either from that great guilt that is charged upon me as if I were a sinner above all that dwell in this countrey or from those many false and senseless aspersions that have been cast upon my behaviour during this visitation much like that we read of Mat. 28. 13. but do freely commit my self to him that judgeth righteously and pray with the Psalmist Psal 69. â— Let not them that wait on thee O Lord God of Hosts be ashamed for my sake let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake O God of Israel Neither do I purposely undertake in this Preface to reconcile the providences of the most wise God to his promises or to salve that seeming difference between the words of his mouth and the language of his hands between which I have only suspected some kind of jarr but have experienc't an excellent harmony In very faithfulness hast thou afflicted me Whence arise all those uncharitable censures with which the afflicted soul is apt to charge both himself and his God too Spring they not certainly from these two grand causes viz. A misapprehension of the nature of God and of the nature of Good and Evil let the studious and pious Reader search and judge If ever therefore you would be establisht in your minds in a day of affliction 1. Labour to be rightly informed concerning the nature of God Away with those low and gross apprehensions of God whereby your carnal fancies do ascribe unto God such a kind of indulgence towards his children as you bear towards yours which indeed no way agrees to his nature His good will towards his children is a solia wise and holy disposition infinitely unlike to our humane affections Soli Deo competit Amare Sapere â— Labour to be rightly informed concerning the nature of good and evil Judge not the goodness or evilness of things by their agreeableness or disagretableness to your flesh palate or carnal interest but by the relation that they have to the supream good The greatest prosperity in the world is no further good than as it tends to make us partakers of God and the greatest affliction may thus be really good also But that by the By. My design is to justifie and glorifie Infinite Wisdom Righteousness Goodness and Holiness before all men Oh blessed God! who maketh a seeming Dungeon to be indeed a Wine-celler who bringeth his poor people into a Wilderness on set purpose there to speak comfortably to them â—s 2. 14. Be of good cheer O my soul He hath taken away nothing but what he gave and in â—b 1 21. lieu of it hath given thee that which shall never be taken away the first fruits of liâ—e â—k 10. â—2 instead of those whom the first born of death hath devoured But why do I say devoured Doth not that truly live at this day which was truly lovely in those darlings Didst thou O my fond heart love Beauty Sweetness Ingenuity incarnate And canst thou not love it still in the fountain and enjoy it in a more immediate and compendious way Thy body indeed cannot taste sweetness in the abstract nor see beauty except it be subjected in matter but canst not thou O my soul taste the Vncreated goodness and sweetness except it be embodyed and have some material thing to commend it to thy palat Be shâ—med that thou being a spirit as to thy constitution art no more spiritual in thy affections and operations Dost thou with sadness reflect upon those sweet Smiles and that broken Rhetorick with which those Babes were went to entertain thee 1 Consider duly what of real contentment thou hast lost in losing those For what were those things to thy real happiness Thou hast lost nothing but what it was no solid pleasure nor true felicity to enjoy nothing but what the most sensual and brutish souls do enjoy as much as thou 2. Be ashamed rather that thou didst enjoy them in such a gross and unspiritual manner Art thou troubled because any earthly interest is violated Rather be ashamed that thou hadst and cherishedst any such interest But pardon me Courteous Readers this digressive Soliloquy and now suffer me patiently whilest I speak something by way of Admiration something by way of Observation and something by way of Exhortation 1. Let me call upon Men and Angels to help me in celebrating the Infinite and almighty grace and goodness of the Eternal and blessed God Who enabled me to abide the day of â—l 3. 2. his coming to stand when he appeared and made me willing to suffer him to sit as a
And this sense doth well agree with what went before and with what follows The Apostle hath a great mind to depart for whilst he is in the body he is absent from his perfect happiness For this is the consummation of a Christians happiness to be with the Lord to be admitted to a beholding of his infinite glory as appears by our Saviours earnest prayer for this Joh. 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory Besides if we shall see him as he is we must also needs be made lâ—ke unto him 1 Joh. 3. 2. else how can we be fit to live for ever in his presence Now we are kept from this seeing and beholding of the Lord in glory by this animal life It stands between us and the Crown between us and our Masters Joy between us and the perfect enjoyment of God To be with the Lord is a state of perfect freedom from sin No unclean thing shall or can enter into Heaven Rev. 21. 27. A perfect freedom from all manner of afflâ—ctions Rev. 21. 4. There shall be no more sorrow nor crying nor pain and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all tears shall be wiped away from their eyes A state of freedom from all temptations to sin For a tempting Devil and all tempting lusts shall be cast out for ever A state of perfect peace without the least disturbance from within or from without of perfect joy that shall neither have end nor abatement and of perfect holiness when the whole soul shall be enlarged and raised to know and love and enjoy the blessed God as much as created nature is capable This is the happy state of seeing God of being with the Loâ—d And it is thy corruptible body this animal life that interposes between us and it so that the Apostle is confident and rather willing to depart and be with the Lord than stay here and be without him 2. Whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord without any reference to the world to come and so it may be fitly translated distant from the Lord estranged from God This agrees well with the context and scope of the Apostle also And thus the words are also a good ground of the Apostles resolution and willingness to dye q. d. I am willing to be absent from this body for whilst I am in it I find my self to be at a great distance from God And indeed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly to be at a distance or to be estranged So I find it interpreted by a learned Critick without any mystery as he speaks of the distance that even Believers themselves stand at from God in this life And in thâ—s sense I shall chuse to prosecute the words In which sense the Apostle blames this body and animal life because it keeps us at a distance from God is a clog a snare a fetter a pinion to the soul And so the words do agree in sense with those of our Saviour Mat. 26. 41. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak where by the flesh must needs be understood the body if we consider the contexâ— viz. the occasion upon which the words were spoken the sleepiness of the Apostles or if we consider the propriety of speech according to the style of the New Testament True indeed the corruption of nature is sometimes called Flesh but according to that way of speaking our Saviour would rather have said That the spirit was willing but the flesh was strong as he saith elsewhere That the strong man armed kept the house Now to explain this Doctrine a little That even the godly themselves whilst they are in this body are at a distance from the Lord It must be granted that the godly soul is nigh unto God even whilst it so journs in this mortal body and tottering flesh All souls are involved in the Apostasie of Adam and are fallen down from God have alike stâ—agled from their God and are sunk into self and the creature God opened a way for their return by the blood of Jesus for we owe it unto Christs death not only that God is reconciled to us pardoning our sins but that any of our natures become reconciled to God by accepting of him as our God and loving him as the chiefest good Now there is a double being brought nigh to God by Christ The first is more general external and as I may say relational Thus the partition-wall being broken down the Gentiles that were converted from their Idolatry to a profession of God and Christ and admâ—tted to a communion with the Visible Church are upon that account said to be Brethren to the rest of Gods Children 1 Cor. 5. 11. and as to the Church they are said to be within it vers 12. though at the same timâ— they were Fornicators Covetous Drunkards And as to God they are said to be made nigh Ephes 2. 13. A prosessing of God is said to be a being nigh to him and even an external performance is said to be a drawing nigh to him and so Nadab and Abihu even in the offering of strange fire are said to have drawn nigh to God Levit. 10. 3. And this though it be a priviledge yet it is not that honourable priviledge of the truly godly souls who are by Christ Jesus raised up to God in their hearts and reconciled to him in their natures and united to him in their affections and so are made nigh unto him in a more especial and spiritual manner Thus all sinful and wicked souls notwithstanding all their profession and performances are far from God estranged from the life of God Enmity and dissimilitude are the most real distance from God And truly God-like souls only are nigh unto him they dwell in him and he dwelleth in them as in his most proper Temple As to any kind of Apposition no man can draw nigh to God nor by any local accession for so all men are alike nigh to him who is everywhere and the worst as well as the best of men do live and move in him But they are really nigh unto God who do enjoy him and they only enjoy him whose natures are conformable to him in a way of love goodness and God-like perfections We do not enjoy God by any gross and external conjunction with him but we enjoy him and are nigh unto him by an internal union when a Dâ—vine Spirit informeth and acteth our souls and derives a Divine Life into them and thorow them And so a godly soul only is really and happily nigh unto God Thus the Apostle Paul I believe was as nigh unto God as any man in the world who did not only live and move in God as all men do though few understand it but God did even live and as it were breathe in him the very life that he 〈◊〉 was by faith in the Son of
a dead Lion Eccles 9. 4. But I may say to these even as our Saviour said to that woman in Joh. 4. 18. concerning her Husband The life that we live here is not our life The union of the sensitive soul with the body is indeed truly and properly the life of a beast and its greatest happiness for it is capable of no higher perfection But the union of the rational soul with God is the noblest perfection of man and his highest life so that the life of a believing soul is not destroyed at death but perfected Neither was the Apostle weary of his life because of the adversities of it The Apostle was of a braver spirit sure than any Stoick he durst live though he rather desired to dye All the conflicts he endured with the world never wrung such a sigh from him as the conflict that he had with his own corruptions did Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man c. All the perfecutions in the world never made him groan so much as the burden of his flesh doth here and his great distance from the Lord. A godly soul can converse with persecuting men and a tempting Devil can handle briars and thorns can grapple with any kind of oppressions and adversities in the flesh without despondency so long as it finds it self in the bosome of God and in the arms of Omnipotence But when it begins to consider where it is how far it is from its God its life and the happy state that God hath prepared it for then it cannot but groan within it self and be ready with Peter to cast it self out of the ship to get to its God to land it self in eternity Neither indeed to speak truly is it only the sense of sin against God which seâ—s the godly soul a going For though it must be confest that this is a heavy burden upon the soul yet the Apostle makes no complaint of this here but only of his distance from God that necessary distance from God that the body kept him it at 2. See here the excellent spirit of true Religion Godly souls do groan after an unbodyed estate not only because of their sins in the body but even because of the necessary distance at which the body keeps them from God We may suppose a godly soul at some time to have no manner of affliction in the world to grieve him no sin unpardoned unrepented of to trouble him yet for all this he is not at perfect rest he is burdened and groans within himself because he is at such a distance from that absolute good whom he longs to know more familiarly and enjoy more â—ully than he doth yet or than is allowed to mortal men And though nothing else ayl him yet the consideration of this distance makes him cry out Oh when shall I come and appear before God! be wholly swallowed up in him see him as he is and converse with him face to face Bare innocency or freedom from sin cannot satisfie that noble and large spirit that is in a truly and God-like soul but that spirit of true goodness being nothing else but an efflux from God himself carryes the soul out after a more intimate union with that Being from whence it came God dwelling in the soul doth by a secret mighty power draw the soul more and more to himself In a word a godly soul that is really toucht with the sense of divine sweetness and â—ulness and imprest with divine goodness and holiness as the wax is with the stamp of the seal could not be content to dwell for ever in this kind of animal body nor take up an eternal rest in this imperfect mixed state though it could converse with the world without a sinful sullying of it self but must needs endeavour still a closer conjunction with God and leaving the chase of all other objects pant and breath not only after God alone but after more and more of him and not only when it is under the sense of sin but most of all when it is under the most powerful influences of divine grace and love cry out with Paul Oh who will deliver me out of this body 3. Suffer me from hence to expostulate a little to expostulate with Christian souls about their unseemly temper Doth this animal life and mortal body keep us at such a distance from our God our happiness Why are we then so fond of this life and mixed state Why do we so pamper this body Why so anxiously studious to keep it up so dreadfully afraid of the ruines of it If we take the Apostles words in the first sense that I named then I may ask with him in the first verse Know we not that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we had a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens or vers 8. Why are we not willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord If we take them in the latter sense as this animal body is an hinderance to the souls knowledge of and communion with God then I ask concerning this as the Apostle doth concerning rich men James 2. 6. Why do ye pamper prize honour dote upon this body Doth not this body oppress you distract you burden you clog you hinder you Doth not this body interpose between the Sun of Righteousness between the Father of Lights and your souls that should shine with a light and glory borrowed from him even as the dark body of the earth interposes between the Sun and Moon to ecclipse its light Why are we not rather weary that we are in the body Surely there are some objections some impediments to the souls longing after its happy state which I shall come to anon But I doubt also that there is something that chains the soul to this animal life some cords in this earthly tabernacle that tye up the soul in it but I cannot well imagine what they should be Say not There is something of God to be enjoyed in this life which makes it pleasant For although this be true yet I am sure God gives nothing of himself to a soul thereby to clog it or cloy it Did Moses send for some Clusters of the Land of Canaan into the wilderness think ye that the people might see and taste the fruits and sit still and be satisfied and say Oh it is enough we see that there are pleasant things in that Land we will never come at it or did he not do it rather that they might make the more haste to possess themselves of it Will any man say Away I will have no more land no more mony I have some already Can a godly soul say God hath given me an earnest I desire no more No no but the report that a Christian hears of a rest remaining a happy life remaining for it and the chariots of divine graces that he sees God hath sent out into his soul to
endeavour the nearest union that may be with God and so by consequence methinks they must needs in some sense desire the removal of that animal life and dark body that stands in their way for they know that that which now letteth will let such is the unchangeable nature of it till it be layd in the dust till it be taken out of the way The thirsty King did but cry for water of the Well of Bethlehem and his Champions broke thorow the Host of the Philistines and fetcht it 2 Sam. 23. 15. And will ye not allow the thirsty soul if not to break thorow to fetch it yet at least to break out into an Oh that one would give me to drink of the living water of the fountain of grace and peace and love Will ye allow hunger to break down stone-walls and will ye neither allow the hungry soul to break down these mud-walls nor to wish within it self that they were broken down In a word then give me leave earnestly to press you to an earnest pressing after perfect fruition of and eternal converse with God and to change the Apostles words Heb. 12. 1. Seeing we are compassed about with so great a divine light and glory and brightness let us be willing and desirous to lay aside this weight of flesh and this body that so easily resists us with sins and snares and run with eagerness to the object that is set before us Amen Amen Draw me we will run after thee THE Angelical Life MAT. 22. 30. Are as the Angels of God in Heaven THE Doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ and the great things of Christian Religion as they were accounted a strange thing by all the world when they were first publisht and preacht so indeed by none less entertained or rather more opposed than by the wisest of men living in that age viz. Scribes Pharisees Sadduces who were the disputers of this world as the Apostles phrase is 1 Cor. 1. 20. A thing of wonderful observation not only to us in our day but even to our blessed Lord himself in the dayes of his flesh who fetches the cause of it from Heaven and adores the infinite Wisdom of God in it Mat. 11. 25. Amongst other set Disputations that the Saddâ—ces held with our Saviour this in this chapter is very famous where they dispute against the Resurrection of the dead by an argument fetcht ab absurdo vers 25. grounded upon an instance of a woman that had been married to seven Husbands successively Now say they if there be a Resurrection whose Wise shall she be then our Saviour answers by destroying the ground of their argument and shewing that they disputed upon a false supposition for saith he In the Resurrection there shall be no marrying but men shall be as the Angels of God In which words this Doctrine is plainly layd down for I shall not meddle with the Controversie Doct. That the glorified Saints shall be as the Angels of God in Heaven The other Evangelists do lay down the same truth as you may find Mark 12. 25. Luk. 20. 36. In the explication of which point I will shew 1. Negatively wherein the Saints shall not be like the Angels 2. Affirmatively wherein they shall be like unto them or as St. Luke hath it equal to them 1. Negatively The glorified Saints shall not be like the Angels in essence The Angelical essence and the rational soul are and shall be different Souls shall remain souls still keep their own essence The essence shall not be changed souls shall not be changed into Angelical essences 2. They shall not be wholly spirits without bodyes as the Angels The spirit of just men now made perfect are more line to the Angels in this sense than they shall be after the Resurrection For now they are spirits without bodyes but the Saints shall have bodyes not such as now so corruptible so crazy not in any thing defective not needing creature supplyes But incorruptible glorious bodyes in some sense spiritual bodyes which are described by three characters 1 Cor. 15. 42 43. Incorruptible somewhat more than immortal glorious powerful Neither doth their having bodyes any whit abate of their perfection or glory nor render them inferior to the Angels for even the glorious Redeemer of the world hath a body who is yet superior to the Angels and he shall change the vile bodyes of the Saints and make them like unto his glorious body Phil. 3. ult 3. Neither have we any ground to believe that the Saints shall be altogether equal to the Angels in dignity and glory But rather that as man was at first made a little lower than the Angels so that he shall never come to be exalted altogether so high as they for it seemeth that the natural capacity of an Angel is greater than of a 〈◊〉 and so shall continue for they are distinct kinds of creatures As a beast cannot become so wise and intelligent as a man for then he would cease to be a beast so neither can a man become so large and capable as an Angel for then he would cease to be a man 2. Affirmatively The glorified Saints shall be like the Angels of God in Heaven first In their qualities that is 1. In being pure and holy whether they shall be equal to them in positive holiness or no I know not whether they shall understand and know and love God in all degrees as much as the Angels It seems rather that they shall not because as I said before their capacity shall not be so large But if in this they be not altogether equal to the Angels yet it implyes no imperfection for they shall be positively holy as far as their nature is capable and so shall be perfect in their kind Heb. 12. 23. The spirits of Just men made perfect They shall in this be like unto the Angels if not equal to them yea like unto God himself in it Be ye holy as I am holy 1 Pet. 1. 15. Mat. 5. ult But as to negative holiness the Saints shall be even equal to the Angels of God in Heaven i. e. they shall have no more sin no more corruption than they have They shall be as perfectly freed from all iniquities imperfections and infirmities as the Angels What can be cleaner than that which hath no uncleanness at all in it Why so clean shall all the Saints be Rev. 21. 27. No unclean thing shall enter into Heaven They shall be without all kind of spot or blemish Ephes 5. 27. which is a perfect negative holiness more cannot be said of the Angels in this respect As branches of this 2. As the holy Angles do reverence the Divine Majesty Isa 6. 2 3. they cover their faces with their wings crying Holy Holy Holy Lord of Hosts so shall the glorified Saints You may see what sweet harmony they make consenting together to give all the glory of all to God Rev. 7. 9 11 12. The Saints
self-judging renewing of repentance c. 2. Towards men meekness compassion instructing warning comforting c. 3. Towards God as we shall see anon An afflicted condition doth call for some more especial tempers and behaviours towards our selves and others But these I am not to speak unto from this Text. It is the souls meeting God behaviour towards him conversing with him that my Text leads me to treat of and I shall not vary from it In handling of which Position I shall take this Method 1. Premise some things needful to be known concerning the souls conversing with God For I shall retain the word conversing throughout my discourse as being a single yet a large and significant word 2. Shew what it is for a soul to converse with God and how it comes to converse with him 3. Prove the doctrine That it is our duty to converse with God in the way of his judgments 4. Shew particularly how we are to converse with God in the time of afflictions 5. Apply it 1. I shall premise some things needful to be known that tend to clear up my way to the following discourse 1. I premise That it is the great duty of man to converse with God I have read that it was a common precept that the Jewish Doctors were wont to give to the people that they should single out some one Commandment and exercise themselves very diligently in the observation of it that therein they might make God their friend and make him a kind of amends for the breach of many others I doubt it is a Rule that too many Professors live by who not having the genuine and generous spirit of true Religion do parcel out their obedience into some little shreds of homage and devotion and instead of consecrating their whole lives to God do content themselves with some circumstantial and light obedience and think themselves people of great attainments if they do but severely tye up themselves to hearing twice a week and prayer twice a day and a few other acts of more solemn Worship Certainly this is a penurious and needy spirit much unlike the generous ample and free-born spirit of true Religion The duty the whole duty the constant duty of man is to converse with God commended in Enoch by the name of walking with God Gen. 5. 22. Where you may observe of him that he did not only set out fairly with God or take a turn or two with him but he walked with him three hundred years together The same God calls for from Abraham under the same name Gen. 17. 1. Walk before me and be perfect But it is not only the command of God that makes this a duty If there had been no express commandment concerning it yet were it the duty of every man necessarily flowing from his relation of a reasonable creature As man is a creature so he must needs live upon God and as a reasonable creature so he ought to live with him and unto him Therefore hath God given unto man a noble rational soul not only that he might talk and work manage the creatures and converse with the world but that he might converse with the God of the world that Infinite blessed and glorious Being This is the very end of mans Creation as man as a reasonable creature This was the end of his being created in the Image of God and when he was fallen from this Image this was the end of his Redemption by Christ Jesus that Heaven and Earth might be reconciled and those that were far off might be brought â—igh sin is a sinking of the soul down to self and the creature And redemption from sin is nothing else but a recovery of the soul into a state of favour and fellowship with God So that whatever is expressed by Faith and Repentance is contained in this one word Converse with God It is the great the necessary and as I may say the natural duty of the Reasonable Soul 2. It is the highest priviledge of man The Prerogative of man above the beasts is his Reason and the Glory of reason is that it is capable of knowing loving enjoying and conversing with the Supreme and Infinite Good The priviledge of Reason is not as too many think that it is capable of understanding Arts and Sciences that it is capable of climbing up into the nature and course of the Heavens and diving into the secret depths of the Earth and Sea and the creatures therein contained but in conversing with the Infinite and Glorious God How miserably do vulgar souls abuse this noble faculty who exercise it only in discoursing numbring and ordering the poor conâ—â—â—â— cernments of the world and the body Yea certainly those wise men those Scribes those Disputers of this world as the Apostle calls them who cry up this faculty and glory so much in it and yet do not exercise it about that high and eternal Being do not converse with God in pure affections and God like dispositions and conversations but expend those vast treasures of reason upon secrets in Nature secrets in Art secrets in State or any other created Being do enthrall their own souls which they say are so free-born and captivate and confine that noble principle which they themselves do so much magnifie For sin is certainly the great and only shame and reproach of an immortal soul And indeed these men though they put their souls to somewhat a more noble drudgery yet are really no more happy than the vulgar sort who spend the strength of their souls about eating and drinking plowing or sowing or keeping of Cattel What difference I pray you in point of true happiness is there between Boys playing with Pins and Points and old mens hugging of Baggs and Lands The noblest Sciences the greatest Commands the most enriching Traffiques are as very toys in comparison of true happiness as the poor dunghil-possessions of vulgar men And the wise the rich the learned the honourable of the world that take up with an employment in this world and with a happiness in themselves or in any creature do as much disgrace their own souls and as truly live below their own faculties as he doth that knows no higher good than food and rayment no higher employment than to toil all his dayes in a ditch For indeed as to all things but conversing with God man seems to be but equal perhaps inferiour to the beasts that perish Doth man eat drink sleep work so do they Doth man find any sensual pleasure which the beasts do not sensate as well as he Nay the Gormandâ—zâ—ng Emperour envyed the Cranes long neck and others have envyed the more able and permanent lusts of the brute beasts because themselves have been inferiour to them therein and have enjoyed less sensual pleasure than they If any glory in their knowledge of natural and political things I could instance in the strong memory great sagâ—city quick fancy wonderful perceptions of many beasts and their
The Well is deep and they have nothing to draw with as the Woman said concerning another Well Joh. 4. Therefore be sure you get an interest in the Fulness and Sufficiency of God or as Solomon speaks in another case Prov. 5. 15. Drink waters out of thine own Well 3. Converse with the Self-sufficient Fulness of God by delighting your selves in it Drink of this Fountain yea drink abundantly ye beloved of God Cant. 5. 1. yea lie down by it Psal 23. 2. yea bathe you selves wholly in it Enter into the Joy of your Lord lie down in his bosome spread your selves in his Love and Fulness The Beloved Disciple leaning upon the breast of his Lord at Supper was but a dark shadow a poor scant resemblance of a beloved soul which by the lovely acts of Joy and Confidence and Delight layes it self down in the bosome of Jesus and doth not feed with him but feed upon him and his Alsufficiency Then do we converse indeed feelingly and comfortably with the Infinite Fulness when the soul is swallowed up in it doth rest in it is filled with it and centred upon it Oh the noble and free-born spirit of true Religion that disdaining the pursuit of low and created things is carryed out with delight to feed and dwell and live upon uncreated Fulness Then is a soul raised to its just altitude to the very height of its Being when it can spend all its powers upon the supreme and self-sufficient good spreading and stretching it self upon God with full contentment and wrapping up it self entirely in him This is the souls way of living above losses and he that so lives though he may often be a loser yet shall never be at a loss He who feeds upon created Goodness or Sweetness may soon eat himself out of all the stock will be spent and which is worse the soul will be dryed up that hath nothing else to nourish it But he that lives upon uncreated Fulness is never at a loss though he lose never so much of the creature For who will value the spilling of a dish of water that hath a well of living water at his door from whence he had that and can have more as good though not the same Nay to speak properly this is the only way to lose nothing For how can he be properly said to lose any thing who possesses all things And so doth he I am sure who is filled with the Fulness of God Be sure therefore that in the want in the loss of all things you live upon the Fountain-fulness delight your self in the Lord after the example of the Prophet Habakkuk cap. 3. 17 18. A Farewel to Life 2 COR. 5. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. THE holy Apostle having in the first verse of this Chapter layd down the Doctrine of Eternal Glory which shall follow upon this transitory life of Believers shews in the following verses how he himself longed within himself and groaned after that happy state And then Proceeds to give a double ground of this his confident expectation one in vers 5. therefore is the Apostle confident concerning the putting off of this mortal body because God had wrought and formed him for this state of glory and already given him an earnest of it even his holy Spirit The other ground of the confidence and settledness of his mind as to his desires of a change is taken from his present state in the body which was but poor and uncomfortable in comparison of that glorious state This in the words of the Text Therefore we are alwayes confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For I do not take the words we are confident concerning the Apostles resolvedness with a quiet and sober mind to suffer any kind of persecution or affliction whatever but we are alwayes confident i. e. we do with confidence expect or at least we are alwayes well satisfied contented well resolved in our minds concerning our departure out of this life For the Apostle was speaking not of afflictions or persecutions in the former verses but indeed of death which he calls a dissolving of the earthly house of this tabernacle vers 1. and a being cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven vers 2. 4. Yea and thus the Apostle explains himself vers 8. where he tells you what he means by this his confidence we are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body where the latter words are exegetical to the former q. d. It is better to be with the Lord than in this mortal body but we cannot be with the Lord whilst we are in this body it keeps us from him therefore we have the confidence to part with it It is the reason of the Apostles confidence and willingness to part with the body that I am to speak of and the reason is because this body keeps him from his Lord whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. The words are a Metaphor and are to be translated thus we indwelling in the body do dwell out from the Lord which our Translation renders well taking little notice of the Metaphor whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. Though indeed if they had left out that word at home it would have been as well and so have neglected the Metaphor altogether as we may haply hint hereafter The words are a reason of the Apostles willingness to be dissolved and do contain a kind of an accusat on of the body and so seem to lay a blame upon it and upon this animal life which must be remembred Now for the former phrase of being at home in the body it is easily understood and generally I think agreed upon to be no more than whilst we carry about with us this corruptible flesh whilst we live this naâ—ural animal life It only signifies man in his compounded animal state 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and doth not at all allude to his sinful unregenerate or carnal state But the latter phrase Absent from the Lord is capable of a double sense both good and true and I think both fit enough to the context and drift of the Apostle I shall speak to both but insist most upon the latter 1. Whilst we are in the body we are absent from the Lord i. e. from the bodily presence of the Lord in Heaven absent from Christ Jesus and his glory And so the words are the same in sense with 1 Cor. 15. 50. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God for by flesh and blood there must needs be meant man in this animal corruptible state And so the Apostle accuses this kind of life in the body and as it were blames it for standing between him and his glorified Lord and so consequently between him and the glory of his Lord.
convey it thither make him cry out not with Jacob Gen. 45. 28. It is enough Joseph my Son is yet alive I will go and see him before I dye But oh this is not enough this report is not enough it is not enough that I taste some of the good things of the Land it is not enough that I see these carriages sent out for me it is not enough that my soul hath an happy and honourable life prepared for it I see it indeed before I dye but I will also dye that I may see it better and enjoy it more But I doubt there is some earthly tye even upon the heavenly soul that chains it to this present animal body But sure I am that whatsoever it is it is but a weak one Is there any worldly accommodation any creature-toy that should in reason step between a soul and its God Is this life sweet because there are creature comforts to be enjoyed And will it not be a better life when creature comforts shall not be needed And are the pleasures of this body the comforts of this life the flattering smiles or fawning embraces of the creature such a mighty contentment to a soul to a soul acquainted with the highest good Hast thou O my soul any such full and satisfying entertainment in thy Pilgrimage as to make thee loath to go home Wilt thou hide thy self with Saul among the stuff among the lumber of the world when thou art sought for to be crowned Are the empty sounds of popular applause the breaking bubbles of secular greatness the shallow streams of sensual pleasures the smiling dalliance and lisping eloquence of wives and children the flying shadows of creature-refreshments the momentany flourishes of worldly beauty and bravery Are these meat for a soul Are these the proper object or the main happiness of such a divine thing as an immortal soul Why are we not rather weary of this body that makes us so weary of heavenly employment Why do we not rather long to part with that life that parts us from our life And instead of the young Apostles It is good to be here cry out with the sweet singer Oh that one would give me the wings of a Dove that I might fly away and be at rest And now methinks by this time I might be somewhat bold and form my remaining discourse into an Exhortation But it may be you will not bear it all at once therefore I will first begin with a Dehortation to disswade from two evils concerning your body viz. Fear and Fondness 1. Take heed of Fear for the body I speak not so much of those first impressions which our fancyes and animal spirits do make upon our minds though it were to be wished that the mind not so much as once sensate or entertain these but oâ— those acts of the will whereby it doth receive allow cherish these impressions until the Cockatrice egge be hatcht into a Viper I speak not against care and circumspection no nor against that kind of suspicion whereby wise and prudent persons are jealous of circumstances and events and so do watch to prevent remove or manage bodily evils which is called Fear though even in these there may be an extreme a fear where no fear is Psal 53. 5 which is there ascribed to the wicked anâ— elsewhere threatned as a judgement Levit. 26 36. The sound of a shaken leaâ— shall chase them Deut. 28. 65. The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart There is a prudent man who foreseeth the evil and hideth himself Prov. 22. 3. But there are also many fools that hide themselves though they see no evil But I am not speaking of these There is a vast diffeâ—â—â—ce between Care and Fear By Fear I mean that trembling fluctuating tormenting passion that doth not suffer the heart to be at rest but doth as it were unhinge it and loosen the joynts of the soul whether it break out into â—xpressions or no It clouds the understanding unsettles the will disordereth the affections confounds the memory and is like an Earthquake in the soul taking it off from iâ—s own basis destroying the consistency of it and hurling all the faculties into confusion This whether it break out into any unseemly acts or â—o which commonly it doth is it self an unseemly temper for a wise man much more for a godly I might speak as a Philosopher and shew how unbecoming a man and how destructive to him this passion is so much that whilst it doth predominate it almost robs him of that which is his greatest glory even reason it self But to say no worse of it is very opposite if not contrary to that noble grace of Faith whereby the steady soul resteth and lodgeth in the arms of God as in its center But to speak to the thing in hand what an unseemly passion is this we would have the world to believe that we have layd up our happiness in God and that we are troubled that we are so far from him and yet we are afraid lest that should be taken out of the way that keeps us at a distance from him We flatter our selves that we are in haste for Heaven and yet we are dreadfully afraid lest our rubs should be taken out of the way How do these things hang together Are we perswaded that if this earthly house of our tabernacle were taken down we have a building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens If not Why do we yet call our selves Christians But I think I may take it for granted we are all so perswaded And if so Why are we so afraid it should be taken down I am loath to speak what I think yet methinks the entire and ardent love which we either do bear or ought to bear to the Blessed God and union and communion with him should cast out this fear This is suitable to Scripture 1 Joh. 4. 18. I will not dispute how far sinful fear for the body may carry a godly soul the further the worse I am sure But if any will needs be so indulgent to his own passions and so much an enemy to his own peace as to encourage himself to fear which is a strange thing from the example of Abraham denying his wife or Peter denying his Lord let him compare the issue and then let me see whether he dare go and do likewise But if that will not fright you from fear chew upon these two Considerations 1. I pray you seriously dispute the matter with your selves how far fear of sickness and death may consist with that ardent thirst after union and perfect communion with the Blessed God with which we ought to be possest 2. Dispute seriously how far it can stand with the sincerity of a Christian God hath not left us in the dark as to this matter I will turn you to a Text or two which methinks should strike cold to all slavish trembling Professors Prov. 28. 1. Job 15. 20 21. The
Oh how sweet is the God that made it so Is there any thing lovely it is a picture of him whose name is Love Is any thing firm stable lasting it is a shadow of that glorious essence with whom there is no shadow of change Have you any thing strong it arises out of that God with whom is everlasting strength Doth any creature give rest ease refreshment it springs out of the All satisfying fulness of God In a word labour to climb up by every created excellency as by so many beams to the Father of lights let all the world be to you as Gods Temple and be ready to say of every place as Jacob How dreadful is this place surely this is no other than the house of God! that God who runs thorow all created Beings and from himselves derives several prints of beauty and excellency all the world over But especially take heed of your own created-comforts that they do not insensibly lead a way your hearts and ensnare you into a sinful particular distinct love of them which is a sin soon committed hardly discerned and most hardly reformed If any be freed from these inordinate affections sure they are but few and those few have come dearly by it as he said in another case with a great summ they have obtained this freedom they have payed for it not with the foreskins of the Philistines but with the lives of what they so loved there being no way to cure this evil distemper but cutting off the member infected with it the part that it fed upon As a branch of this head let me add labour to live upon God in the excellencies of other men value them and all their accomplishments only in God as he that did diligere Deum habitantem in Augustino Admire God and enjoy God in them Where ever you see wisdom goodness ingenuity holiness justice or any other accomplishment say Here and there is God And this is the honest way of making our selves Masters of whatever is another mans and enjoying it as truly as he himself doth yea as truly as if it were our own when we behold all these beams as coming from the same fountain of lights and do love them all in him with an universal love This is the rare Art of having nothing yet possessing all things of being rich though one have nothing and of being wise though one know nothing 3. The last way of living upon God in the creature is To taste and feed upon the love of God in them not only his common bounty but his special love in Christ The good will of God gives a sweet relish to every morsel as I hinted before Even in the midst of all your delightful pleasant sweet enjoyments let your souls be more affected with this than with them let this be as the Manna lying upon the top of all your outward comforts which your spirits may gather up and feed upon But this I toucht upon before therefore I shall add no more concerning it Thus I have shewed you how you may imitate the life of Angels in living upon God even whilst you live in the body To this I may add another particular or two 3. Converse with God and live upon him in all his Ordinances Let communion with God be your drift in every duty and the very life and soul and sweetness of every ordinance You never read of a soul more thirsty after ordinances than David as might appear abundantly yet if you look well into the expressions you will find that it was not so much after them as after God in them not after the dead letter but after the living God Psa 4. 2. 2. My soul thirsteth for God for the living God and Psal 84. 2. My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God Let the Word preacht or read be as a voyce from Heaven talking you let your conserence be a comment upon that Word let meditation be as a kind of bringing down God into your souls and prayer as a raising up of your souls into God nothing but faith and love put into phrases And so of all the rest 4. Converse with God in all his Providences prosperity adversity plenty penury health sickness peace and perplexity This is a large Theme But as to prosperity I have speken something a ready under that head of conversing with God in creature enjoyments As for adversity I have said much more in a large discourse to describe and commend the Art of conversing with God in affictions Briefly at this time converse not with losses wants afflictions but with God in them and that not only with the justice righteousness severity and soveraignty of God in them but with the goodness and mercy of God in them They are dark Providences we had not need to dwell all together on the dark side of them If all the wayes of the Lord towards his people be mercy and truth Psa 25. 10 then his roughest and most uncouth wayes are so 100 If God be wholly love 1 Joh. 4. 8. then his very corrections proceed not from hatred If it be his name to be good and to do good Psal 119. 68. where have we learnt then to call his afflicting Providences Evils and to divide evil which is but one even as God is one into culpae and paenae sin and affliction surely we speak as men And if God call them so he speaks after the manner of men as he often doth If the governing will of God be pure persect and infinitely good and righteous ought we not to converse with it in a free and chearful manner yea and to love it too In a word pore not upon creature-changes nor the uncertain wheels of motion that are turning up and down we know not how nor how oft but fix your souls upon that All-seeing eye that unbounded understanding that unsearchable and infinite goodness that derives it self thorow the whole universe and sits in all the wheels of motion governing all the strange motions of the creatures in a wonderful and powerful manner and carrying them all in their several Orbs to one last and blessed end Thus imitate the Angelical life even whilst you are in the body converse with God in self-excellencies in creature-excellences Ordinances Providences And yet labour to be more like them still to abstract your mind from all these and all material and sensible things and to converse with God without the help of any creature I mean in the spirit and by a secret feeling of his Almighty Goodness and the energy of grace and the communications of a divine life in your souls In a word if you would taste of Heaven whilst you are upon Earth labour above all things for a true conjunction of your hearts with God in a secret feeling of his goodness and a reciprocation of love to him and to find the holy and blessed God exercising his grace and power upon all the faculties of your souls and