his Goodness Since then he is at our right hand naturally and necessarily we must voluntarily by Consideration and Faith set him before us have an Eye upon his presence fix it in our Minds and Meditations alway And it will replenish us with Spiritual refreshment and solace unspeakable For if God he with us and for us who or what can be against us What can trouble or terrifie us How can that Soul be left in a Hell of disquiet that lives in the presence of God i. e. in Heaven For where God is there 's Heaven he is the all of it 't is nothing without him and his presence is enough to convert any thing into Heaven There cannot possibly be so much Evil in those Infernal Regions of Wickedness and Woe as there is good in the presence of God 'T is an infinite good There is not so much Power in Hell it self to impress the sense of its Evil upon a tormented Soul as there is in God to impress the Comforts of his presence upon a gracious Heart Neither doth the Justice of God more enlarge the Capacity of a Man to sense and anguishfully apprehend and feel the Misery of his absence in Hell than his goodness doth widen the Soul's Capacity to comprehend the felicity of his presence in Heaven that I Judge the Saints to be more happy above through their Inheritance in Light than the Damned are miserable in outer Darkness In the Omnipresence of God we have with us all Things all Perfections all Satisfactions all that ever God can be or do or give and in his gracious Presence we have an Ingagement upon him to be do and give all that he can to us And what can we wish what can we imagine more God is All-present by condition of Nature but graciously present only by Compact and Covenant whereby he obliges himself to be our God that is every thing which he is in himself that we shall enjoy the benefit and comfort of all and every of his Unimitable Soul-satisfying and saving Perfections Now the gracious Presence of God is nothing else but his manifesting himself to be with us by his Communicating all Covenant Mercies to us Making us Partakers of a Divine Nature granting us Pardon Peace and Comfort giving us the full use and advantage of all his Attributes of his Son of his Spirit every thing that he is and hath which will do us any good for this and another World satisfying us with his likeness and filling us with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory When Esau therefore came off only with his Lean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 33.9 I have much well might Jacob roundly and triumphantly declare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have all vers 11. He can want nothing Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia who possesseth him that hath all things He is never Poor or Naked or Blind or Wretched or Miserable who enjoys the presence of God He can never be distrest for want of Grace and Holiness or Pardon and Peace and Pleasure and Joy and Comfort who is not without God For Isa 57.15 c. Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the Heart of the contrite ones I will restore Comforts c. I create the fruit of the Lips Peace Peace c. A Blessed Denizen indeed But as he dwells and resides in us so also do we in him Psal 90.1 Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all Generations Psal 91.1 He that dwelleth in the secret of the Highest shall abide in the shadow of the All-sufficient Vers 9 10. Because thou hast made the Lord my hope even the highest thy Habitation Evil shall not befall thee by chance Plague shall not approach thy dwelling Make God thy home and no harm can reach thee Thy Spiritual home will secure thy Civil That Eternal thy Temporal That was thy first and must be thy last toward which 't is strange that thy Appetite works with no greater Violence In every Creature there is a natural instinct and pressing desire inclining to return to the place of its Birth to that Country to those Persons which had its Maiden Affections Notwithstanding the Dominion of reason in our selves 't is no little Gratification to our Fancies to enjoy a retiring place and home where we may refresh our selves after all our wearisome Labours and Travails Where-ever we are beside we are not well here are our Hearts our Delights our Joys whence we say Proverbially Home is Home though never so homely And the Spaniards My House my House though thou be small Thou art to me th' Escurial Our Spirit is from God in his bosom was it born there is our House not made with Hands 2 Cor. 5.1 our Eternal Mansion and is there not infinitely more agreeableness and pleasingness in him to our Souls than there can be sweetness and suitableness in any material Home to our Imaginations We do not inure our selves by Love to dwell in God 1 Joh. 4.16 therefore are so well content to be absent from him to ramble like Vagabonds chusing the Life of Cain or Coryat rather than that of Christians and Saints whose being and bideing should be solely and electively in God as it is essentially and naturally On for such a Disposition of Soul as would never permit us to be at ease but in serious Reflections upon the presence of God with which we are ever surrounded whether we will or no And if we consider this how can we be any other than Engarrison'd in Peace and Joy and Consolation Well might the Psalmist say Thou comfortest me on every side Psal 71.21 for round about him and within him also dwelt a Comfort no less than infinite the Supreme Majesty able and of Authority to command the presence of all Good and countermand the presence of all Evil and the Sovereign Mercy of Heaven willing and of sufficient Love and Fidelity to make every thing a means of Grace and Peace and all things according to his Promise Work together for good to the true Lovers of him and the called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 § 7. Lastly The Eternity of God is a ground of Comfort as fingular as it self is incomprehensible Everlasting Consolation is built upon no other bottom A perishing Content is in effect none because it issues in nothing but the greater dissatisfaction The durableness of our Joy is its Crown and since 't is in the Eternal God it can be no other in Duration than what he is Therefore as there is in God's presence a saturity or fullness of Joy in respect of Magnitude and Intensiveness So at God's Right Hand pleasures for evermore in respect of extent and continuance And 't is probable our Psalmist might derive some of those Comforts which
Pet 2.4 To love thy self into Sobriety or Prudent self Government to cloath thy self with a Robe of Righteousness and Mercy in thy dealings with Men is not enough is not the full and adequate Doctrine and Duty taught by the Grace of God which brings Salvation Titus 2.11 There must be superadded not only a denying Vngodliness so as to crucifie it but a living Godly leading a Religious Life towards God in Love Faith Fear Honour Universal Acknowledgment out of Conscience For what Conscience in dealing well with Men and ill with God that is with the Subjects fairly and not with the Soveraign What Conscience in breaking the first Article betwixt God and Man which is to give him the sole command in his House thy Heart that living Temple which is the sum of the First Commandment What Conscience to dwell in his House and pay him no Rent No external Acknowledgment and Worship in Publick in thy Family in thy Closet the sum of the Second Command What Conscience whilst tender of thy own Name to be regardless of Gods forbid in the Third Command What Conscience in stealing time from God's reserved part when he allows thee so much beside the Fourth Command violated Be never so sober just free kind to Man-ward if thou respect not God O my Soul thou hast no Conscience For where there 's no Godliness there can be no Conscience Oh make it thy first and main business to approve thy self to God Thou canst never be true to thy self or Man if thou be a Traytor to God Thou hast no greater assistance in thy dutifulness to Men than a due regardfulness of God Thou canst have no better evidence of a due regardfulness of God than thy conscientious dutifulness to Men. Thou forfeit'st the reputation of thy Religiousness towards God if thou be not Righteous towards Man and of thy Righteousness if not Religious Like Hippocrates's Twins these are born and act and sicken and die together That 's the 4th ingredient of the Psalmist's Character he upheld universal Innocency and Integrity of Conscience CHAP. VII The Subject of Comfort Publickly Spirited c. True Christianity c. 5. THis Holy Man was of a Publick Spirit living under a Catholick sence of and care for the common concerns of the Church of God Lamenting its Miseries ver 5 6. longing and praying for its redemption from them by the Power and Justice of God ver 1 2 3 4 20. and encouraging his own and its hopes thereof by a serious reflection upon the Divine Attributes ver 1 2 8 9 10 11. Providences ver 12 13. and his own particular experience ver 17 18 19 21. withal by a Prophetick Spirit foretelling it ver 14 15 23. all which are plain in the Psalm and plain demonstrations of a Heart enlarged in its desires and endeavours for Publick Good A good Soul is not well at ease when the Servants of God are ill at ease The Sufferings of the Church are made its own by a sympathizing Spirit which is afflicted in all its Afflictions and cannot enjoy Prosperity or it self in Contentation when God's Children are groaning under the Cross Mourns with Mourning Rejoyces with rejoycing Sion and uses its interest in Heaven to work upon the Bowels of the ever-blessed Son of God that he may demonstrate his tender Commiserations toward his own Members in Misery by turning the course of his Providence And that this is a proper method to Comfort we see Isai 66.10 11. Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her rejoyee for joy with her all ye that mourn for her that ye may suck and be satisfied with the Breasts of her Consolations that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her Glory God had a People a Heritage which though Afflicted and broken in pieces here ver 5. yet he would not cast off nor forsake either in respect of Affection or Communion ver 14. So neither must we For 't is by Vertue of our Union and Communion with that Body and its Head that all those comfortable Spirits and Influences are derived to us which refresh and revive us I confess 't is through our internal and spiritual Confederation and Fellowship but he that values and receives benefit by this cannot despise and vilifie the External Hence our Psalmist here as a Member vitally joined to the Body and partaking of a common Sense does not only comfort himself and it with the consideration of the inviolableness of that Union and Communion which was of a spiritual Nature ver 14. nor only reflects upon those external Ligaments and Bonds which ty'd together so numerous a People into one single Heritage or Church but also was grievously afflicted for those external breakings in pieces rents and disunion of parts though involuntary which were the fruit of the outward Violence and Rage of Persecutors So should we But then Oh what Affliction would have rent his tender Heart in the view of those voluntary tearing in pieces the Seamless Coat of Christ the Divisions and Breaches we make amongst our selves Those Fractions were only some kind of dissolution of their Civil Political Union ours of the Ecclesiastical and Wounds are most dangerous in the most noble Parts State Factions are not more to be dreaded than those of the Church because these have more immediate respect to the Soul and God Lamentable are the Miseries of a Civil War where Thousands Born Bred up Nourished by one common Mother Brethren by Stock Blood Condition Cohabitation Membership of the same Body Politick perhaps of one Name and Kindred and Family of the same Body Mystical the Church Blind and Dumb and Deaf to the Cries and Shreeks and Wounds and Groans and Deaths of their own proper Limbs in a barbarous drunken rage tear off their own Skin Flesh and Bones rive open their very Hearts to let out Spirit Life Strength Soul hurl one another down to Hell under their Sin in a deluge of Blood and worry themselves by piece-meal into eternal Damnation And are the Church Digladiations in the Christian World less deplorable when those whose respite from everlasting Burnings cost no less than the Blood of God who are denominated from that most venerable Name wash'd in the same Laver of Regeneration Members of the same Spiritual Body privileged with the same most excellent Gospel and Covenants of Promise and would every one be ready to tear out his Heart that should dare to tell them that they shall not each possess the blessedness of an unspeakably glorious Heaven where therefore as in a Center they must meet if their hopes fail not When these I say who thus concenter and agree in their Titles Royalties and Expectations are so far from combining in the common profession and practice of Unity Love Peace Goodness Vertue Godliness Brotherly kindness Charity as to grind one another into Atoms bite and devour one anothers Hearts by bloody Animosities Reproaches
a serious upright undissembled Resolution to stand to it and abide by it in despight of all Temptations and Opposition thro the aid and assistance of the Spirit of Grace praying waiting in Faith and Hope to enjoy his Gracious Influences leading into all Truth that by it he may be made free formed after the image of God by his Grace strengthened with all might inwardly and revived by his Consolations A Man that in order to all these good Ends diligently examines his Conscience searches out his particular sins is afflicted burthened at his very Soul for them as an Offence to God rather than his own Damage uses all possible means to prevail with his Heart to relinquish them in its affections forbearing actually to commit them lamenting over and reforming sinful Omissions groans under and is daily pained with the woful depravedness of his Nature his very inward Bent and Inclination to Evil the Vanity as well as Vileness of his thoughts words and deeds accounting himself the Chief of Sinners and therefore maintaining an humble self-debasing Sense of his own Unworthiness and labours not only to desist from the Acts but subdue the very Lusts kill the root by mortification A Man who lives by Faith upon the Promises for the Communication of a Divine Nature the Law in the Heart that he may not only do the External Work of Duty but have a Dutiful Heart from and through which Principle he meditates hears reads praises confers about the best things as inwardly loathing the froath and vanity and venome of his former Communication and endeavours that it may be alway savoury season'd with salt that it may administer to the use of edifying minister Grace to the Hearers A Man that endeavours a right Understanding of himself is Cloath'd with Humility in lowliness of mind dehasing himself before God preferring others before himself and condescending to men of low degree and esteeming his own Graces less his Sins greater than any mans admiring that either God or man should favour him and therefore with a calm dispassionate Spirit bears Injuries Affronts Reproaches any Evils that extend to himself but can bear nothing with Unconcernedness that affronts the Divine Majesty hath a Bridle for his Tongue for his Heart and with a composed Evenness of Temper renders his Converses amiable profitable desireable to all grievous hurtful to none In all Conditions Companies or Occurrences prosperous or adverse being the same An ill turn will make him a Friend as Cranmer and the worse the Circumstances the better the Man living under the power of the Spirit of Sanctification in Obedience Meekness Patience Gentleness Simplicity godly Sincerity A Man that can bear Indignities from all forbear offering them to any keeping under his Passions even almost to an Apathy keeping down his carnal Appetite in a sober temperate use of the Pleasures of Sense and an Indifferency to this present World A Man that sets his Mind and Heart savourily upon Invisibles which he evidences by a Conversation in Heaven and values the Wealth and Glory of the Earth only as they deserve and as far as useful for God's Honour in Acts of Piety the Relief of the Indigent in liberality and the maintenance of the Reputation of his Profession with Contentment embracing the least share of the World but unsatisfiable without a large Portion of God and Heaven A Man that walks in his house with a perfect heart putting away Evil from his Tabernacle and advancing Holiness in his own Relations especially to whom he is useful both by Counsel and Example A Man that dares not do or design or imagine any thing unjust dishonest unbecoming Christianity tho' it might gain Indemnity for his Life Uprightness Loyalty Honesty Fidelity in all Promises Dealings Carriage are his Life therefore will he not forfeit and destroy it by contrary Practices A man that has the fairest Notices of Divine particular Love to himself yet will not abuse them to Presumption or Arrogance and Contempt of others that values the favour of Heaven infinitely above the Glory Esteem Riches Pleasures of the World but despises not these as the Gifts of God Yet does not behave himself unseemly when in the higest Repute with Man Alway his Thoughts beget his Words and his Word is his Deed and a good Conscience the Guide of all A man truly faithful to God and his Sovereign the King Modesty Gravity Seriousness Industry Clemency Sedateness of Spirit Peace of Mind being his Individual Companions and Ornaments Yet knows he nothing of those natural or acquired moral or spiritual Endowments that may recommend him to God and Man so as to swell and huff up his Heart he has them as if he had them not A Man that lives in the view of Death and therefore dreads it not whence 't is that whatever he hath or doth or feels or fears or suffers 't is as a dying Man and he therein possesses himself and God in Tranquility of Mind and a quiet Rest and Contentation He would be to others what he expects they and God will be to him Chiefly minds the weightiest Points of Religion in Faith Love Mercy Righteousness Yet having done all esteems himself an unuseful Vessel unworthy regard as having only done Duty and but a small degree of that neither therefore finally flies for Refuge to the love of God and deservings of Christ as the sole bottom of his hopes to be saved This is a Christian of whatever particular Denomination Prelatical Presbyterian Congregational c. All Persons all Societies of Persons thus qualified thou art obliged O my Soul to respect honour embrace do good unto or thou renouncest thy Membership and Fellowship with Christ and his Body Where-ever all the Essentials of this Christianity are received without such intermingled Corruptions as undermine or destroy them so insisted upon that without violation of Conscience and so Christianity thou canst not own them there impart thy best Affections thither direct thy serious and religious Cares and to all how bad soever how hostile soever thy Commiserations I cannot Communicate with an Idolater c. yet I can pity him and every poor deluded Soul that either presumptuously or in simplicity is carryed away from God For I my self am a Sinner and stand in infinite need of the Compassions both of GOD and Man Love Vnity Peace are Matters of so excellent a Nature Uncharitableness Schism Dissention contain so much of Hell that these are to be relinquish'd those pursu'd all possible ways consistent with integrity of Conscience that is consistent with Allegiance to God For Conscience is nothing except in Subordination and Allegiance to God CHAP. VIII The Subject of Comfort Honours God 's Discipline 6. THE Author of his Psalm was a Man that embrac'd a just and equitable Sense and made a benign and fair Representation of both the Instructive Discipline and also the Dispensations of God his special Teachings his severe Providences Ver. 12. Oh the Blessednesses Vocatively
a third Man A Bird in the hand is best Faith and Hope are beggarly things in the estimate of most Men. A competency of Necessaries in Possession more contents us than a World in Reversion In that modicum we can rejoyce though we do not wallow in those affluent Delights which the sensual Beasts of the Earth batten and rot in A sufficiency of suitable Comforts fills our Appetite Convenience being the essential Property if not Essence of Goodness When every thing hits us lies pat and even and easie upon our Hearts in a pleasing agreeableness we do not envy Crowns and Scepters But if we have all and enough to spare can never see through our Enjoyments be full and abound not only in opinion and with respect to the content of our Minds but in the reality of the thing we then begin to sing a requiem to our Souls and sit down under the shadow of these Gourds with delight And have we not a sufficiency nay a redundancy an infiniteness of all Necessaries and Agreeables in God's Love and Goodness of which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man to conceive the fulness the glory the sweetness the amiableness the suitableness the comfortableness Thy Mansion House here is the Bosom of Love replenished with a confluence of all desirable Satisfactions thy Garden the Paradise of God thy Demesne the Celestial Canaan thy Revenues and Incomes the unperishing Treasures of Divine Goodness and Grace and Glory the unsearchable Riches of Christ But be a Man's-Comforts never so sweet if there be an equal mixture of sowre he writes Cabul upon the front of all his Enjoyments And ordinarily a drachm of Gall will spoil an ounce of Honey one Cross embitter a thousand Comforts If now I be secure either that the Evils will be as the morning Cloud and early Dew or that I shall be no loser not be rob'd of the least real satisfaction but gain equivalent if I have a reserve of other better sweeter Joys and Blessings which will countervail my Sufferings or if when the Tempest lies hard upon me I be certain of a safe retiring Place and Refuge where I am out of danger or if I have weathered out the Storm that the worst is past and a prospect is given me of so great an advantage so happy an issue as will compensate the trouble if all along I find by experience that 't is for the best and if I had been to carve for my self and spin the thread of my own Fortune I could not have pitch'd upon any thing so eligible as what is dispens'd to me without my choice by the Wisdom and provident Goodness of Heaven every of these things singly yields me a plentiful harvest of quiet in my Mind and contentedness with my Condition much more joyntly altogether And has not every good Soul the amplest security that it shall be blest with all this and much more in and through the benignity and Love of God Have we not ground to believe that Love will not permit any evil to interrupt our Joys except there be need That Love will cut it short in Righteousness it shall be but for a moment a little moment Love being afflicted in all our Afflictions will not long torment it self What Love promises Power can command In that very small moment of continuance I am secure that Love will not suffer my Miseries and Disquiets to commit a rape upon my best satisfactions in it self and that I shall lose no Metal but only Dross which 't is my happiness to do and even that loss if my gain of Refinement and Purity deserve that Name will be recompenced to the full in those infinitely better things laid up in store for me in the plenitude and all-sufficiency of unboundable Goodness in the Divine Nature and Persons But be the Calamity as great and malignant as is imaginable I have a Rock higher than I where I may be safe above the reach of ruin For having past the pangs of the New Birth the worst is past both in respect of Pain and Danger Sorrow and Fear Though my Vessel the Body may be broken yet shall I certainly land in safety upon the blessed shore of Eternity with all my real Riches and Comforts environing me I am I hope in a sound bottom indeed Christ carries me in his Body his Bowels that 's the Ship wherein I am wafted over the Tempestuous Ocean of Miseries in this World to the fair Havens of everlasting Loves Joys and Rest The foreknowledge whereof together with my present sense of profit in my Soul strength against Sin resolution for God evidence and experience of his Presence Support Influence Grace the affectionate workings of his Heart in Love Care Kindness flowing over all the banks in multitudes of unmerited Blessings in Temporals but especially in Celestials These sweeten all my Sorrows and ease my burthened Spirit that I cannot but acknowledge the Provisions of Infinite Wisdom incomprehensibly more eligible and beneficial than the utmost that could ever enter into my utmost raised Imaginations But if the pinch come yet a little nearer that though accommodated with an affluence of all terrestrial Contentments without yet a dangerous Disease preys upon my Vitals or the Arrows of the Almighty gall wound and smart in my Conscience that I am destitute of the Blessings of a sound Mind in a sound Body the enjoyment whereof would add an Emphasis to all external Comforts a living Lam 3.39 Neh. 2.2 a healthful Man and Mind having no reason to complain and be sad But now Love is Life and Health and all things The breath of thy Nostrils the length of thy Days and Delights but the shortner of thy Pains and Sorrows Dost thou keep thy Tongue from evil Psal 34.12 13 14 15. and thy Lips from speaking guile depart from evil and do good seek Peace and pursue it Then are the Eyes of the Lord upon thee and his Ears open to thy cry thou shalt enjoy desired Life and beloved Days that thou mayst see Good yea the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living Psal 118.17 thou shalt not die but live and declare the Works of the Lord. How can that Body or Soul be sick that 's embrac'd in the healing Bosom of the great Physician Forgiveness of Sin is a Medicine for every Malady Isa 32.24 If he whom Christ loves be sick 't is not unto Death but for the Glory of God Joh. 11.3 4. Love will loose the Pains of Death Thou hast loved me from the Pit of Corruption for thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back Isa 38.17 God bears not a grudge against those he loves 'T is Loves property to chastize none of its Office to impute guilt and punish but to cover a multitude of Sins 1 Pet. 4.8 An infallible Cure or Remedy for Distempers of Body and Soul supports a sinking Spirit revives a disconsolate Heart
love the Lord then Oh my Soul with all thy mind with all thy Heart with all thy strength and thy Neighbour as thy self for his sake let him have thy whole desire thy whole delight at all times Minus te amat qui aliquid tecum amat quod non propter te amat Idiotae contempl de amore Dei c. 12. He loves thee but little Oh Lord who loves any thing with thee which he loves not for thee says a devout Man 'T is but meet that the highest God should have the Supremacy in my heart If in the greater World he be King must he be a Subject in the less I am worse than Hell if God must not be acknowledged Soveraign in my Soul The Spirits there dare not cannot but own him as their Lord this is the duty they pay extorted indeed by their sense and fear which that it may not be thy dismal lot and fate Oh my Soul advance thou him freely to the Crown within thy self in a spontaneous generous Ardour of pure Incorrupt Incorruptible Love Which if thou dost not thou art accursed if thou dost thou art blessed for 't is a Prayer upon record in God's Word 1 Cor. 16.22 and therefore part of the matter of Christ's Intercession Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Incorruption or Immortality i. e. with a never-fading Love Eph. 2.24 and that only is a sincere Love Oh Love the Lord on Earth as thou wilt love him in Heaven with the same kind and press toward the same degree of Love and be happy Thus live in God above the tumult and hurry of external things and be at rest Marc. Antonin l. 2. p. 5 c. Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse Supremum Live every day as if it were thy last and in every imployment so act Arrian l. 4. c. 10. as one that can be free to be found therein by Death p. 416. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It. l. 3. c. 5 p. 273. Antonin l. 6. §. 3◠What would'st thou be found doing by Death says Arrianus I for my part doing some masculine beneficial publick useful generous Work But if I cannot be found in these yet this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unhinderable this is given to me to amend my self to elaborate that faculty which makes use of Phantasies to endeavour apathy or freeness from Passion to give my Affections their due and if I can be so happy to gain soundness certainty of Judgment If Death find me thus employ'd 't will be sufficient to engage me with hands stretched out to God to say I have not neglected those Powers thou gavest me to observe thy Government and follow it I have done my endeavour not to disgrace thee Behold how I have used my Senses my Prenotions Have I ever blamed thee Have I been displeased with any thing befalling or wish'd it otherwise Have I misguided my Affections because thou begattest me I render thee the praise of thy Gifts in as much as I have well used thine it sufficeth me Resume them now again and where thou pleasest dispose of me For all were thine and thou gavest them me I the rather produce these Testimonies out of Heathen Authors to let Christians see how inexcusable it will be in them who have infinitely better Light Means Aids to neglect what even Nature and Reason taught Philosophers to practise And withall to awaken others with my self to a more assiduous care in these Exercises least it be found more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon for Sodom and Gomorrah than for us at the great day Observe all the inward Workings of the Divine Spirit both in calling out the actings of Grace and reviving thee with Peace and keep them upon record for after advantage Time may come when all thy present Sensations may be so cloudy that thou canst not see a peep of day canst not from any thing that thou feelest conclude that thy state is right before God But if at such a season and hour of temptation thou be'st able to call to mind that upon due trial when in a sober and composed calm of Thoughts the Lord satisfied thee upon sure and indefeisible Evidence that thy Heart was truly changed and that thou wast as a New Creature in Christ Jesus and that thy Objections and misdoubtings and temptations to the contrary were thorowly answered This will be such an ease to thy mind and a revival of thy hopes that ere long the mists and darkness will be driven away and thou wilt again reascend into a clear and serene Heaven of Light and Peace and Joy Make sure in this manner to lay up and reserve a good stock and treasure of Experiences if thou desirest Riches of Comfort yet content not thy self with the old but make new To remember what thou did'st enjoy and feel in the days of the right Hand of the Most High may revive thee but to sense and feel it at present much more Renew then those gracious Exercises over and over that did once produce Halcyon days in thy Soul and they will recall them the same effects will issue from the same Causes Amend what was amiss in former actings which gave Satan advantage to redintegrate thy Troubles and this will establish thy Peace upon a securer and more unexceptionable basis 'T is not possible to refute the Devils Objections against thy sincerity by a method more effectual than a more serious care to act all over again sincerely which he tempts thee to suppose was done unsoundly Renovated Acts of a sound Repentance and unfeigned Faith as sure Testimonies of thy Renovation after the Image of God will dash thine Accuser out of countenance If thou canst make any fresh Experiments of the Power of Divine Grace effecting this If God take thee anew into his bosom of Love to melt thee If a view of him whom thy Sins have pierced cause thy ebbing godly Sorrow again to flow over all the Banks Lastly if with a perfect Heart thou returnest from all thy by-past follies unto him from whom thou hast deeply revolted this will again retrieve thy sinking Heart and hopes as a new taste of the Lord's graciousness and evidence that he hath not forsaken thee but that his Mercy and Godness follows thee and shall all the days of thy life even to Eternity Set about this O my Soul with a resolved obstinacy of endeavour that will not be conquerable by any assaults of Corruption or Temptation For thou canst never take a Heaven of Joy and Rest except by violence and force Weak resolves do but only encrease the Devils Triumphs Strong cares are requisite to possess thee of strong Consolations Observe where when and how the Spirit moves and spread thy Sails before his sweet Spirations He is the Comforter because the Conducter into the way of Peace Thou canst enjoy no more of his Testimony to solace thee than
Minds and sue for that Mercy for our selves which once we would not receive or so much as desire as an answer to the Petitions of our Mediator Be not a Stranger to thine own Heart yet do not think to dig thy Peace out of thine own Bowels If it be a comforting reviving thing to find in thy self the truth of Grace yet that refreshing vertue of Grace it self is from God Whence we find some that although they be tolerably satisfied of their soundness yet through Ignorance or Inadvertency or Melancholy or Temptation c. cannot settle in a calm and quiet composure of Mind For as I said the Assurance of the truth of a Man's Grace is only comforting as it is the ground of his Assurance of the Love of God of which if a Man be not satisfied i. e. that true Grace is an infallible evidence that God does embrace him with his special Love and is at peace with him through Christ his Conscience will not be at rest for it cannot rest in discord with God whose Deputy 't is in Man Now some are so weak as not to understand this others so opprest with dumpishness of Spirit as not to heed it others so deluded by Satan as not to believe it which mists if not dispell'd damp the comfort of Grace Look therefore to the Sun of Righteousness to clear up thy Comforts by expeling this Darkness Seek abroad for Peace The Bee finds not her Honey at home without the labour of her Wings Let thy Supplications then O my Soul be continually winging thy Affections towards Heaven that they may there suck and be satisfied Isa 66. with the full Brests of Divine Consolation milk out and be delighted with the abundance of its Glory The Celestial Canaan is the Land that flows with the Milk and Honey of Divine and Spiritual Joy into which as at first thou passest over the Jordan of Repentance not upon dry ground but wafted by the breath of Prayer So must thou take possession of it in Armour fighting the good Fight of Faith with Heart and Hands like Moses lift up in earnest Supplications Exod. 17.11 Isa 61.1 3. The Spirit of God is upon Christ because the Lord hath anointed him To appoint to them that mourn in Sion to give them Beauty for Ashes the Oyl of Joy for Mourning c. If it be his Gift to him must we address for it The Tree from whence this Oyl of Gladness flows is planted in the Paradise of God descend to thee it shall not unless thou ascend to it and be ingrafted in the same Stock Oh transplant thy self from Earth to Heaven and take root at the Throne of Grace fix thy self and grow at the Footstool of Mercy by Frayer if as a Tree of Righteousness thou wouldst draw in be nourish'd and refresh'd by those consolatory dews of Divine Love which are the spring of that River of the Waters of Life which makes glad the City of God Be more above with the Father of Meries and God of all Comfort in these Devout and Ardent Suspirations than below glued to the Earth by Carnal Affections if thou desirest to be a Barnabas may I thus transfer it from its active to a passive Sense a Son an Heir an Inheritor of Celestial Consolations If thou canst but pray indeed thou art secure the furious Waves of these two meeting Seas Sin and Suffering may wrack thee but cannot swallow thee up Sink perhaps thou maist but Drown thou canst not the gentle Gales of the Spirit in this duty will most safely transport thee to the Haven of Everlasting Joy and Peace even in the ruin of all thy Fortunes Thy Miseries thy Corruptions shall perish thou thy self shalt not so true is that Saying of a Reverend Bishop Fashionable Suppliants may talk to God Bp. Hall but be confident he that can truly pray can never be miserable Of our selves we lie open to all Evils our rescue is from above and what intercourse have we with Heaven but by our Prayers This is his Catholicon Seneca advises his Lucilius to superadd new to his old Prayers to ask a good Soul good Health of Mind Epist 10 Quidni t◠ista vota saepe facias audacter Deum roga then of Body Why dost not oft renew these Requests Beg of God boldly So live with Men as if God saw so speak to God as if Men heard A good Precept to which adjoyn the like from the wisest of Men Eccles 5.1 2. Keep thy Foot when thou goest into the House of God c. Be not rash with thy Mouth and let not thine Heart be hasty to utter any thing before God For God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy Words be few 'T is not much speaking but hearty that God regards not the Tongue of Men and Angels but Truth in the inward Parts Broken Expressions from a broken Heart are as sweet Eloquence in the esteem of God as the best in Tully or Demosthenes Oh then pour out thy Prayers as a Flood Isa 26.16 If thou desirest they should return in a Tyde of Peace They can never reach Heaven if they have not a spring of Grace within they will never be received there if not the warm Exhalations Transpirations of a melting contrite Heart drawn out and drawn up by the dissolving attractive Rayes of the Son of Righteousness If the Divine Spirit infuse this Breath into thee it will follow him to Heaven and through his Influence who is the Comforter possess thee of the fulness of the Comforts of Elshaddai God all-sufficient If as a cloven Tongue of Fire the Holy Ghost descend and sit upon thee and give thee utterance Acts 2.3 4. not merely in conference with Men but secret speech Isa 26.16 with God If he envigorate and heat thy Graces and Affections that the Fire burn within Psal 39.3 and give speech to thy Tongue If he cast the pure Incense of Spiritual Devotion upon that flaming Altar thy fervent zealous Heart that may ascend in a sweet smelling Cloud to the Throne of God If Lastly this Fire from Heaven fall upon thy Sacrifice as a testimony or the audience of thy Prayers then wilt thou shout for Joy Levit 9. ult and triumph in his Salvation If thou would'st entertain any grounded hopes that the Lord will speak comfortably to thy Heart oh do thy utmost by Premeditation by Reading by Ejaculation c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to blow up into a living Fire those Divine Sparks of the Grace of Prayer which the Spirit doth cast within thee as a preparation for thy solemn Exercise in the duty of Prayer it self and let thy Supplications be rather the inward workings of thy Heart in aversation from Sin and panting after God by godly Sorrow Repentance Desire Faith Love Resignation c. than the labour of thy Lips and a bodily Exercise or the Work of an enlarged invention and fancy or strong Head and