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
Grace as a Preparation for more of his Glory 2 Cor. 4.8 to the end Upon this Providence of God our Psalmist had a special eye throughout the Psalm Whatever he desires and prays for whatever he believes and hopes for whatever he acknowledges and praises God for whatever he bemoans and afflicts his Soul for whatever he experiences and feels was some Act Effect or Permission of Providence That God in the course of his Providence would annimadvert upon the insolent Barbarities of his and the Churches Enemies is the Expostulatory Petition of Vers 1 2 3 4. What was the Permission of Providence Is the condolement and moan of Vers 5.6 The singular concern of Providence is the Doctrine of Vers 8 9 10. as the happy Fruits of the very Severities thereof the Triumph of Vers 12 13 and the returns of its favourable Aspect the belief of Vers 14 15 the notable needful suitable and feasonable Interposals thereof the experience of Vers 17 18 22 and the turning of this great Wheel upon the Adversaries to their confusion the Prophetick hope of Vers 23. All jointly together the comfort of the Text which in the Multitude of his perplexed Thoughts did look with such an amiable regard upon his Soul So that although the Fundamental Ground and Matter of his Satisfaction was the Nature of God in all its plenitude of Perfection yet the more immediate Spring thereof was the Egress or Issuings out of those Attributes in all these Varieties of Providence And the truth is although what God is in himself be eminently and vertually all Comfort in the utmost degree of Excellency yet should he confine his infinitely delectable Glories to himself only and never ray out and communicate of his Beauty Grace and Life to his Creatures they would be utterly at a loss for Happiness 'T is therefore not only the Nature of this Supreme Goodness as it transcends all in Perfection But also 't is its practice and delight and highest end the very thing that is called God's Glory which he has a prime respect to in all his Actings For then have his Creatures the highest Motives to Honour him when they taste most liberally of his bounty in the noblest Instances and he glorifies himself in the Estimate of the World when he is most beneficial as the Sun is most glorious when diffusing without any Interception his benign rayes and influences All which Glories vanish as to us in a total Eclipse or his descent under the Horizon Hence then does our Joy and Peace and Solace actually germinate and grow even from the glory of Divine Perfection branching out it self in infinite methods of Providence wherein he dispenses to us of his own fulness according to our various Exigences and Appetites The out goings of his Wisdom Goodness Justice Fidelity and Power in sweet and suitable Blessings and Supports that in every Condition we can behold something of God of greater value and consideration than either our Mercies or Crosses This is a potent Cordial to our Disconsolate Hearts and replenishes them with wonderful Contentation If these Divine Glories compass us about care for us keep us we are comforted on every side Psal 71.21 Yea though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death if God be thus with us in his providential Efficiency for our good his Rod and Staff will comfort us Psal 23.4 Rod and Staff Pastoral not Judicial or Corrective as some understand it But Providence being vertually included in those Attributes whereof it is an effect and issue in discoursing of them I was unavoidably led into some consideration of it also 2. The Privileges which administer Consolation in the greatest hurry and perturbation of Thoughts are many Two whereof only are insinuated in this Psalm yet such as suppose more They are 1. Sanctification 2. Propriety in God and assurance of it 1. Sanctification by the Word and Spirit of God is an excellent ground of Consolation 'T is indeed the first Foundation Stone laid in the Fabrick In vertue of this we receive Comfort from other things Tell any disquieted Heart of the inexhaustible Treasures of everlasting Joys and Refreshments in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost That Multitudes have enjoyed on Earth and in the Eternal Fruition whereof the Blessed Saints and Angels ever triumph in Heaven which the bounty and goodness of God exhibits and offers to all Tell it of the free and gracious Promises and Covenant of God that tenders the sweetest and strongest Consolation Exhort with the most charming Rhetorick and ravishing Suada to embrace these so rich so profitable so necessary Provisions of abounding Love Alas it cannot it dare not Why Because 't is Presumption 't is Stealth Robbery Sacrilege to snatch away any thing to arrest these Divine and Holy things without Right But have you not Right No How do you prove that 'T is plain All Right is founded in Sanctification I am not Sanctified I lie in my Sins dead and buried in Guilt and Wrath unregenerate out of Covenant as not having submitted to its Conditions in Repentance Faith and New Obedience Therefore the Comforts of the Covenant and of the Promises its Branches do not at all appertain to me This Argument cannot be gain-said if it assume right 'T is undoubtedly true That none have Right to the Mercies of the Covenant who do not submit to its terms and that very yielding unfeignedly to the terms is an act of Sanctification which necessarily supposes the Communication of a Principle because none can act grace sincerely except from an inward Life of Grace it being essential to the sincerity of an Act that it proceed from a gracious Disposition from a renewed sanctified Heart Ezek. 36.26 27 31 32. and Ch. 20.43 44. and Ch. 11.19 Jer. 32.38 39 40. and 31.31 32 33 34. and 24.7 Deut. 30.6 Acts 5.31 and 3 26. Phil. 1.29 Eph. 2.8 9 10. For none but acts of Life as contradistinct to Dead Works entitle to the Promises God gives a Heart of Flesh a new Heart and Writes his Law therein infuses his Fear and Love thereinto gives Repentance through the Exaltation of Jesus Christ to whose benignity we owe the Donation of Faith also and are altogether his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good Works that we may walk therein evermore Admit that these Promises and Asseverations were designed primarily for Israel according to the Flesh Yet can it not be denied that they delineate and describe the manner and method of God's Proceedings with his Israel according to the Spirit For he no where declares his intent to alter that oeconomy of Grace in the substance thereof which was established by the Covenant of Grace to reduce lost Man to the obedience of the Just though the Circumstances and Ceremonials vary Now if acceptable that is sincere Acts may issue from any Man without or antecedently to all holy Qualifications or Habits as they are usually called ' t were a supervacaneous
engage my self to the use of all possible means of thy appointment to suppress all Motions to Sin to strengthen and renew my Resolutions dayly to establish me against Temptations and carry me on in an assiduous Exercise of Repentance till I have no more Sin to repent of and yet will not account this any Amends for the Wrong I have done thee but in an absolute Renunciation of all that I am can be or do my repenting it self my holy Duties my striving against Sin the World the Devil and my Religious Performances as altogether insufficient and unavailable to give Compensation or secure me from Justice I come despairing of my self and all the stock I can be furnish'd with at home hopeless and helpless by the whole world and in an humble and hearty Prostration of Soul throw down my self at thy feet seeking Relief where alone it is to be found and that is in thy self Oh Lord thy Son and Spirit and therefore with my whole mind will desire delight and strength I freely heartily fully give up my self all my Powers and Possibilities unto thee alone avouching Thee only to be my God and All-sufficient Goodness and Happiness and therefore with a lowly Reverence and Submission I cast my self as thy sworn Vassal at thy gracious Foot-stool in a sincere and absolute Choice and Acceptance of Thee O blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost for my sole Portion and Rest dedicating my self from my very inmost Soul to Thee O Heavenly Father as my Soveraign Creator Owner and Governour to be wholly and unreservedly Thine entirely at thy Disposal from the very bottom of my Heart devoting the Remainder of my Spirits Strength and Life universally to thy Fear Love Honour Worship and Service in the Works of Repentance and Mortification of my Sin watchfulness against and resistance of Temptation and over my Heart and Way and diligence in exercising my self unto Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety And to this purpose as one utterly lost and undone in my self with a renewed humble Veneration I offer up my self wholly to thee O blessed Redeemer of the World the only begotten Son of the Eternal Father and with a bleeding broken Heart that hath no other relief but only in and through thee being in my self a very Hell of Wickedness and Woe condemned by thy Law condemned by mine own Conscience I lift up mine Eyes look unto and long for thee O dear Lord Jesus as my only Saviour Joy and Crown thee I earnestly press after I value above my Life my Hopes my Soul heartily approving of pleasing my self in and closing with that Method of Salvation ordained through thee as the only Mean and Help into the Favour and Love of God Therefore with the All of my Understanding and Will and Might I chuse and embrace and honour and love and delight and rejoyce in and venture my self my hopes my happiness my All upon thee for ever and ever trusting solely to thy Merit and Mediation accepting Thee in all thy Offices and Relations as Prophet Priest King Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification Redemption as my Soveraign Lord and Master the only Espoused Bridegroom of my Soul resolving through thy Grace to betake my self only to Thee to be Thine alone abrenunciating and disclaiming all that stands in competition with Thee and receiving cordially all thy Holy Counsels and Laws as the only Guide and Rule of my Thoughts Affections Words and Actions with a thorow purpose and endeavour to take the highest Care under the Aids of thy Grace both to conform in every thing thereto and boggle at no difficulties dangers or sufferings which I may expect or meet with in these thy ways but persevere therein to the end neither shall any Corruption within or Temptation from without have my heart or liking or allowance so as to withdraw my Soul from these Holy Resolves For which end I cast my self whole and entire upon thy Free Grace and Almighty Power and Holy Spirit to work in me both to will and to do all according to thy good pleasure being firmly engaged to be Thine and to take Thee to be Mine without a Moments farther Procrastination Come Holy Ghost Eternal God and breathe into my Soul infuse thy Gifts and Graces communicating thy Power to a poor impotent succourless Sinner that here lo consecrates himself to Thee and with a self-resigning Spirit resolves to venture all upon thy Conduct and Influence to be at thy Beck and Command in all things not knowing nor being able nor therefore willing to do any thing without thee Inspire my Mind direct my Heart awe my Conscience regulate my Life strengthen and uphold my goings that notwithstanding mine own insufficiency I may by Thee be enlarged in heart to run in the ways of thy Commandments And now Merciful God Father Son and Holy Ghost through that All-sufficient Merit that has procured all Blessings accept of me and own me as none of mine own but thy Portion and Inheritance who have taken Thee to be mine This this O my Soul is the One thing needful to be done in good earnest speedily with an uncontroulable Bent and Steadiness of Will and never to be repented of I am pained in my very Soul for and heartily bewail my Neglects Deferrings and Aversations And here I am blessed Lord setting to my Seal and firmly binding my self in this my Baptismal Covenant with an irreversible purpose to act all the remainder of my Life thro' thy Mercy and Assistance only according to the Tenour of it Be serious then here O my Soul or thou abjurest all solid Consolation Thou canst never enjoy good Hopes without a good Conscience If thou desirest to build high in thy Comforts be sure thou lay a good Foundation If thou never enterest into such Meditations and Resolutions as these bid everlastingly adieu to all true Contentation If thou do not really turn to God thou turnest away thy Peace The Holy Ghost will never be a Comforter where He is not a Converter Except thou be born again of Water and the Spirit thou canst not enter into the Kingdom of God the Kingdom of Peace See to it therefore that thou be raised from thy Death in Trespasses and Sins as ever thou desirest a Resurrection of thy Joys No Purity no Peace 5. Having thus begun go on Make Repentance Mortification Watchfulness Faith Love Resignation to the Will of God thy daily uninterrupted Exercise and endeavour to grow in all and be upright in all else all 's nothing Make Sincerity thy great Aim and Endeavour Hypocrisie is Heritor no where but in the Land of Darkness and dismal Woe Thy Joys will resemble their Parents If they be a Cheat so will they also Be really good and eminently so too Aut Caesar aut nullus Lean Graces do but devour fat Comforts never enjoy them The sweetest promises yield no lasting Refreshment to fickle hearts unestablished with Grace If thy Spiritual Strength be small when thy standing in
North Country Poet. An imperfect Copy of his Verses for and against Sleep made in his younger Years when at the University were Printed under the Name of the Famous Cleveland several other of his Poems deservedly valuable remain in the Custody of some Friends He had a copious Library and abundance of the chociest Books of which he made good use having a notable facility in turning over Authors and picking the Quintessence out of them He would never be perswaded to put any thing to the Press though often solicited to Print something but reply'd there were Books enough Printed But a Gentlewoman in the Neighbourhood being in great trouble of Conscience often came to visit him whilst he discours'd with her she seem'd to be much satisfied and her Spirit appeased but when she was gone from him she was as much cast down and disconsolate as ever whereupon she earnestly desired him to write down some Pertinent Meditations that she might have recourse to when she was absent from him which he did and gives some account of in his Epistle to the Reader perfixed before this ensuing Treatise yet could not be perswaded to let it see the Light while he lived yet shewed some willingness it should be Printed after his decease having before writ it out by his own Hand in readiness for the Press and design'd for Publick Good which upon the Importunity and Encouragement of several Friends is now accomplish'd by his surviving Widow that all the Voluminous Labours of such a wise Master-builder might not be lost since most of his Writings for his own use were in Short-hand and not fully Legible or Intelligible by any there being many unknown Characters of his own inventing interspersed But to come to the last Scene of this worthy Man's Life He had endured the acute pains of the Pleurisie four several times yet through the Blessing of God as often recovered out of it though upon frequent occasions complaining of a pain in his side yet by Temperance and the use of Means he was wonderfully shored up in the midst of his Travels Studies and Preachings August the 4th 1693. he rid from his own House at Horton to Leeds being as well as ordinarily in competent Health Preached that day being Friday the Preparation Sermon for the Lord's Supper Lord's-day August the 6th he Preached twice Administred the Lord's Supper was wonderfully enlarged both in Expressions and warm Affections so that some were ready to think he was in Heaven already and admired the Grace of God in him Wednesday August 9th was the Monthly Publick Fast he was long at Work spent himself exceedingly On Thursday Night he begun of his old Distemper the Pleurisie which now made the fifth vigorous Assault he was by the Physicians advice Blooded twice but his Distemper prevailed and turned rather to a Fever yet still the violent Pain in his side continued but he was very sensible and patient under it August 24th he desired the assistance of a Friend in drawing his Will which he Subscribed the 26th after that he made a most Pathetical affecting Exhortation to several Christian Friends then present who observed that the Graces of Faith and Humility which had been eminent throughout the whole course of his Life did grow and encrease to the very last he was nothing in his own Eyes had the most self-debasing Expressions imaginable Poor Creature sinful Worm vile Wretch that had intruded into the high calling of the Ministry and had no Gifts no Graces no Abilities to discharge such a Trust He even loathed himself for it and if the Great God should spurn him out of his Presence he could not but justifie him Oh! wo is me that I have sinned I even tremble to appear before the dreadful Tribunal of God who will come with flaming Fire to take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Remember what I preach'd to you from that Text I have endeavour'd to discharge a good Conscience though with a multitude of Imperfections and have not shunned to declare unto you the whole Counsel of God and I bless God for the sweet Communion I have had with you in his Ordinances and humbly beseech him to supply the breach that is shortly to be made and to send you a Man of Judgment fitted with his Spirit that may better discharge his Duty than I have done who deserve to be made a Spectacle of Misery to Angels and Men But blessed be God for hopes of Salvation through the Blessed Mediator Jesus Christ Oh the infinite Riches of free Grace And here he fell into an holy extasie of Joy but the Expressions cannot be retriev'd those who were present being too deeply Affected to take the Particulars in Writing or Memory Several Instructions likewise he gave to his Relations The Night after he grew very weak and his Vital Spirits decay'd more and more till the next Morning about Seven of the Clock having taken a solemn leave of his dear Wife and Children and with great Faith and Chearfulness recommended his Soul into the Hands of his dear Redeemer he encountred the Pangs of Death August the 27th 1693. being Lord's-day and entred upon his Everlasting Rest being aged Sixty Years On Tuesday August the 29th he was Buried many sad and sorrowful Hearts both of Ministers and Christian Friends attending the Funeral His Corpse was solemnly Interred in the Chancel of the New Church in Leeds nigh the Remains of good Mr. Wales as himself had desired September the 6th 1693. upon the Peoples request two of his Brethren Preached Funeral Sermons at his Meeting-place on Mill-Hill to a mighty concourse of People the one treating upon Acts 20.38 Sorrowing most of all for the Words which he spake that they should see his Face no more The other treated upon that Text 1 Kings 13.30 And he laid his Carkase in his own Grave and they mourned over him saying alas my Brother Thus dyed this holy Man of God that hath left few behind him of the same Spirit a Dutiful Child to his godly Parents a Loving Husband to his lovely Wife an Indulgent Father to his hopeful Children a Faithful Friend to all that feared God a Consciencious Laborious Minister and Tender-hearted Watchman over the Souls of his Flock A Person of great worth in all Men's account but his own indeed it was strange to see a Man of such eminent Parts and rare and raised Accomplishments to have so mean an esteem of himself he thought himself below others though he was higher by Head and Shoulders than most of his Brethren He was cloathed with Humility this was the upper Garment put upon all his other Graces and was his bravest Ornament which rendred him Conspicuous in the Eyes of all that knew him Though much more might be said of him yet let his own Works Praise him in the Gates and let us all make sure of our State and make hast after him to that
Perfection and plenitude of Essence Existence Substance Glory that more of God is every where than of any thing that there is not so much Soul in a body Light in the Sun Matter in the Universe as there is of God in each that they are not as he is They are but derivative Beings of a thin lank Constitution in comparison of that amplitude and fullness of Being in God who is every thing in the utmost Perfection that he can possible be from Eternity to Eternity unalterable and every where the same boundless Perfection that he is any where And wilt thou dare to be or speak or do any thing unbecoming so august so awful so glorious a Presence Shall the eye of a Worm Job 25.6 give Law to thy Tongue and Hands and shall not the Sovereign Majesty of Heaven and Earth have an Empire in thy Conscience Oh do not dare to be other now than at Judgment thou wilt wish thou hadst been For thy Judge is no less present although thou be less sensible Enforce upon thy self nay rather with a spontaneous and generous Freedom of Spirit out of choice entertain and take complacency in such Considerations alway as may better thee because not to be better for them is to be worse ineffectual Thoughts of God being like to be effectual for thy confusion If the Rays of Divine Glory that shine into thy reasoning Powers have no influence upon thy Appetite and Actions if notwithstanding them thou can'st be as vain frothy carnal secure rocky unsavoury unbelieving formal hypocritical worldly lustful lazy disobedient as if thou didst still sit in darkness and the shadow of Death if thy apprehensions of the super-intendency of Heaven do not over-awe thy unruly untoward Will into compliance with that Will which is supreme and universal Goodness do not quicken thee to Penitence and Holiness to an intire and upright observance of the whole Condition of the Covenant of Grace with a persevering resolution and endeavour thou wilt certainly find Oh my Soul that this Light will be mighty to aggravate thy Sin and Punishment everlastingly Oh for a heart so to work toward God under its Sensations of the Unfathomableness of his Understanding Universalness of his Presence Particularity of his Observance Amplitude of his Goodness Beauty of his Holiness Severity and Impartiality of his Justice Extensiveness of his Power in fine Greatness and Incomprehensibleness of his Majesty and Glory as to be altogether unsatisfiable till it can centre it self upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as its only Happiness in an absolute Renunciation of every thing that stands in competition with him and be willing out of love to him readily to embrace his Laws submit to the Government of his Son Jesus Christ and the Conduct of his Spirit of Truth and Grace which if these Thoughts of God will not prevail upon thee to do nothing can since there is infinitely less of Argument in every finite thing nay in all together than there is in the Infiniteness of God Wilt thou hence then be perswaded Oh my Soul to acknowledge that God in all thy ways whom thus thou knowst in some degree though but very imperfect Wilt thou fear and reverence his Greatness love and delight in his Goodness conform to his Holiness stand in awe of his Justice in all things subjugate and submit thy self to his Soveraign Authority and Will as the best and wisest Thine own interest as well as the reason of the thing and the command of thy Maker requires thy speedy and thorow resolution If thou wilt not bid an everlasting adieu to all the Comforts of Heaven thou must thus humbly seek after them which if thou do really 't is no presumption to claim them as thine Eternal Inheritance and Portion This appertains to the First Commandment we shall derive another part of the Psalmist's Character from the Second CHAP. III. A Second Character of the Subject of Comfort Prayer 2. THe Sacred Penman here was a Man of Prayer the whole Psalm is a solemn Address to God and 't is not like the fumbling of one unaccustomed thus to converse with the Divine Majesty the Genius of it gives abundant evidence that it hath been a familiar and frequent practice with such gravity of Expression with such liberty of Spirit with such a holy Parrhesy and Confidence with such variety of Arguments with such endearments of affection does he plead with God as one that long had liv'd upon the trade and was a good Proficient in this heavenly art of Wrestling with God And indeed 't is generally under this Duty that the Lord administers the solace and satisfaction of his Love to revive a drooping Heart Whoever is unacquainted with Prayer is utterly an alien from Divine Peace Those that live most with God in this exercise receive most from God enjoy most in him to sweeten their Spirits under all their Sorrows his Promise engaging him to be found in a way of Peace and Contentation of all those that diligently seek him Beside that his own Glory engages him to answer the Petitions of Peace which are put up in the Name and put into the Hands of his only Begotten to be presented to his Majesty perfumed with the Incense of his Mediation Joh. 14.13 Whatever ye shall ask in my Name that will I do Wherefore is it because you ask or for the merit of your Devotions or the strength of your Faith or the fervency of of your Spirits or the forcibleness of your Arguments or the urgency of your Importunities c. No but I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son Oh gracious Redeemer Oh precious Promise Oh blessed Hope How strong and rich are thy Consolations especially considering the relation which this Promise stands in to another immediately succeeding it viz. that of a Comforter the Holy Spirit which our blessed Mediator prevail'd with his Father to bestow that he might give us an Experiment of the prevatence of Prayer ver 16. I will 〈◊〉 the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever As if he had said my personal Prayer you shall to your satisfaction find effectual but this further assurance will I give you that the Prayers you put up in my Name shall be no less efficacious than those I my self present in mine own Person for upon my request you shall be endow'd with the same Spirit that breaths out mine and my Merit is not confin'd to my Person the vertue thereof will be extended to your pleadings in my Name through the co-operation of that Holy One who shall be your aid and with unutterable groans cointercede for you Indeed this Heavenly Dove comes only in at the Window of Prayer but we must put forth our hand to take it and heartily humbly believingly to beg it is as little as we can do if we sluggishly put our hand into our Bosom and refuse this labour
every though never so fortuitous an effect of a spontaneous Agent to look at God I 'll not instance in other than David And 1. for evil Events As he intimates a possibility of Saul's being excited against him by God 1 Sam. 26.19 and was foretold that the Lord would raise up evil against him out of his own House and take his Wives and give them to Absalom under the notion of his Neighbour 2 Sam. 12.11 So even when he was cursed by Shimei he owns it as from God 2 Sam. 16.10 Not that he supposed God had a hand in the sin of the Act but order'd it as a part of the punishment threatned for his own Sin 2. Good Events of all kinds he more frequently ascribes to God Does he conquer his Enemies 'T is the Lord that lets him see his desire upon them Psal 59.10 and subdueth the People under him Psal 18.47 48. See the whole Psalm and smites his Enemies in their hinder parts Psal 78.66 Do his Friends own and anoint and crown him King He entitles God to it Psal 21.3 When his Father and Mother forsake him the Lord takes him up Psal 27.10 Is he secur'd in a strong City 'T is the Lord's marvellous kindness Psal 31.21 What do I enumerating Particulars every Psalm is an Instance And indeed were it not so Prayer would be mere Mockery and Praise Hypocrisie Epist 31. and that of Seneca would be better Divinity than we are taught by the Scriptures which yet to suppose is most horridly Blasphemous Per maxima acto viro turpe est etiamnum Deos fagitare Quid votis opus est Facte ipse foelicem Let those English it that allow it Now when a Man does thus in all Events take notice of the Finger of God and thereby give him the glory of his Efficiency he is in a disposition for renewed Experiments of the Divine Power and Goodness in Peace and Joy Where the Glory will be given to God he will grant the fullest and sweetest tasts of his Graciousness But who will lose a Benefit 'T is lost where no likelyhood of any grateful Acknowledgement Unthankfulness is the most hateful of Sins Ingratum si dixeris omnia dixeris If God must not reap Praises he will not sow Mercies Not that he needs our Gratitude but that we must own our Benefactor and testifie our advances in Love when by new Instances he testifies his Love to us Nevertheless this Love of ours is not profitable to God but highly as all other Graces to our selves Our own Advantage and Interest is alway at the bottom of our Duty which indeed can add nothing to God Job 34. is nothing to him as neither can our Iniquity detract from him or hurt him His good will towards us moves him to take care that it may be well with us therefore doth he follow us with his tender Mercies and richest Blessings that we may proceed upon ingenuous Motives in our observance of him and obedience to him and may not be obnoxious to the check of Satan or our own Consciences for servility of Spirit in that work wherein consists our Liberty Honour and Happiness Indeed we are not really good if we be not ingenuously good nor act at all for God if we act not from a filial disposition Love is every Grace and Virtue that Spirit of Life which as an universal Cause diffuses its benign animating Influences through all the Regions of true Goodness and Honesty All in us that lives to God every holy Disposition every gracious Habit is only a distinct particular modification of Love Even as the varieties of Nature in those innumerable differences of Plants sensitive Creatures and Men in their Bodies are but Earthly Particles diversly modified formed fashioned and qualified Hence Love is said to be the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 But without Love to be Good is impossible 1 Cor. 13. Where this Grace dwells God dwells also and the Soul inspirited by it dwells in God 1 Joh. 4.8 16. The more of Love therefore the more of God He will never be out of our Eye if he be thus in our Hearts Love there will command our Looks 'T was the dominion of this Grace in his Soul that mov'd the Psalmist to make such honourable mention here of the Love and Graciousness of God in his aid and sustentation 't was this that in his distress inclin'd him to take Sanctuary in God and own all the Spiritual Refreshments that solaced his Heart as derivations from God and engaged him to devolve all the Glory thereof upon God And how should that Soul do other that has all in God Hast thou then Oh my Soul evermore and in every occurrent an Eye toward Heaven and by thy acknowledgement of the Finger of God in every thing that befalls thee Dost thou honour his Providence indeavour to relish his Goodness and make some progress in thine affectionate pantings after him complacency in him resolution for him and dutifulness to him O let every thing remind thee of his everlasting Commiseration that in thy lost Estate remembred thee gave Blood for thy Ransom the Blood of God Acts 20.28 The time of thy lothing was the time of his Love Eze. 16.5 8. He loved thee out of the Pit of Corruption Isa 38.17 He hath prevented thee with the Blessings of Goodness Psal 21.3 He redeemeth thy Life from Destruction and crowneth thee with loving Kindness and tender Mercies Psal 103.4 He hath not dealt with thee after thy Sins nor rewarded thee according to thy Iniquities ver 10. Therefore ver 1 2. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me Bless his Holy Name Bless the Lord Oh my Soul and forget not all his Benefits Hallelujah CHAP. X. The Subject of Comfort Seeks it solely in God THus much of the Character deduced from the Context there only remains one thing out of the Text it self Viz. The Psalmist was a Man who discern'd such an emptiness and insufficiency in all inferiour Contentments as to seek no relief from them nor take up with any in them as his rest in Trouble but in deepest anxiety and distress did look for and find all his comfort solely in and from God This is the very substance and marrow of the Verse Indeed the whole Psalm is a Testimony of his ceasing from the Creature from Man in a believing and affectionate recourse to God Where-ever he cast his Eye upon Earth the Inscription was Vanity and Vexation A deluge of Sin and Misery covered the World that like Noah's Dove he could find no rest for the sole of his Foot below therefore does he direct his course toward Heaven Thus Psal 55.6 Oh that I had wings like a Dove for then I would flee away and be at rest But Rest is not a Denizen of this World Nothing but the Heaven of Heavens is at rest and here does he fix only There was a Windy Storm and Tempest without as Psal 55.8
Spiritual we should in like manner be dog'd and pursu'd with their implacable Malice in our separate and immortal State and be desperate of succour and deliverance from that Eternal Erynnis those innumerable Legions of ever torturing Furies that would be let loose upon us to lash and sting us with the utmost of their virulent Indignation For how should the Deity relieve us if he know nothing of us 'T is therefore the highest Interest of real goodness that there is a God of Vnlimitable Intelligence and Love to supervise and care for us that no Evils can be imagin'd against us in the most dark and secret recesses of Hell much less on Earth but are to him as visible as though Writ or Graven in the Roof of Heaven by the Finger of God in Letters formed all of Suns or Stars and he is replenish'd with that Wisdom and Graciousness which both knows how is perfectly willing and effectually engag'd to counteract them But as this and the other Three so all the Sins of the Wicked are a bitter Grief to a good Soul Whence David Psal 119.136 Rivers of Tears run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law Be their Sins only Omissions which in the Estimate of the World are of a lighter Nature though not in the account of God and an Illuminated Conscience yet will they be grievous to those that love the Lord and his Laws And 't is a good token of Integrity when the Sins of others are a burden Self may engage a Man against his own Sins but if the wickedness of those we have no concern with deeply affect our Hearts 't is an Evidence we are acted by the Interest of God Let this then Oh my Soul over-rule all thy Passions Live under some sense with God What dishonors him let it humble thee Be not so much troubled at the Mischiefs wherewith Men in the Triumphant Madness of their Prosperity indeavour to plague thee as at the Sin whereby they duel Heaven Where thy Father suffers most in his Glory do thou suffer with him Thy Irascibles never act more commendably than when they run upon the Errand of thy Maker Thou art angry and sinnest not when angry at Sin 'T is hard not to Sin in Sorrow if it be not Sorrow for Sin And if thou groan under the Wickedness of others sure thou wiltst not canst not darst not be so much a Hypocrite as to go light under the greater Load of thine own Thou art conscious to thy self of many Circumstances aggravating thine own which thou hast no reason to apply to the Crimes of any beside Where thou knowest of most Evil and that is in thy self there must thou spend Oceans since the little in comparison which thou knowest of other Mens faults requires thy Rivers Let thy Sorrows bear Proportion to thy Condition and Conscience Weep or at least mourn for and bemoan others but most thy self There must thou pay thy Drops here a Deluge To this place therefore appertains all Spiritual Trouble for Sin and the want and weakness and defectiveness of Grace with the effects thereof That Anguish of Mind which springs from the sense of Sin 's odiousness of God The Agonies and Anxieties of the New Birth and under Relapses whatever goes under the name of a Wounded Spirit or Troubled Conscience But 2. Not only the evil of Sin but other Evils in themselves or to him in effect did sadden the Holy Psalmist's Soul Two especially 1. The Prosperity of the Wicked their Joy but his smart Vers 3. How long shall the Wicked Oh LORD how long shall the wicked triumph A common Offence and Trouble to both the Religious and Rational World The Gracious Servants of God often bemoan it What a Multitude of Precepts and Comforts doth the 37. Psal present as an Antidote against fretting about it Habakkuk bewails it Hab. 1.2 3 4. Jer. Ch. 12.1 2 reasons and pleads with God concerning it In Job How many Discourses are there to this purpose And every where in the Psalms to instance in one more only Psal 73. Vers 3. I was envious at the foolish when I saw the Prosperity of the Wicked After a Description whereof he adds Vers 21. Thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my Reins This also was a stumbling Block to the Philosophical World whereof the more Considerate and Vertuous made a good use others a bad reasoning from the unequal Distribution of Temporal Things against the Being of God and Providence into such Absurdities may those run who having but dark Apprehensions of Immortality and the Eternal Recompences of a Future State take their measures from sense and consider not the Unproportionableness of this present moment of Temporal Life to a vast Immense Eternity 2. The Unprosperous Afflicted Persecuted State of the People of God did excite in him sorrowful Reflections I doubt not but that with a broken Heart he Writ down that Complaint Vers 5. They break in pieces thy People O LORD and afflict thine Heritage They slay the Widow and the Stranger and murder the Fatherless Sure with a Soul melted into Sympathizing Commiserations doth he remember this So Asaph Psal 73.10 Therefore his People return hither and Waters of a full Cup are wrung out to them 21. Thus my Heart was grieved c. which refers to all before Discours'd concerning prosperous Wickedness and suffering Godliness And How can the Body in many parts of it suffer and the rest have no Fellow-feeling Thou art not vitally united as a Member to the Body of Christ Oh my Soul but may'st justly dread that he will cut thee off as a dead Libm and bury thee in Hell if thou be insensible of its Pains and Agonies Shew that the common Soul and Spirit Animates thee by a common sense with the rest of the Members that Communicate in it with thee If thou be not with them in Passion yet be in Compassion Why Persecutest thou me Says Christ to Saul Acts 9.4 The pain is in the Members the sense in the Head Christ disclaims thee thou art none of that me whereof he is so tender if thou suffer'st not by Commiseration when his Servants suffer Affliction Put on thy Bowels if thou desirest the Yernings of his when thy Condition shall be like theirs With the Prophet Jerem. 9.1 Say Oh that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears that I might weep Day and Night for the slain of the Daughter of my People My Bowels my Bowels I am pained at my very Heart the Walls of my Heart make a noise in me I cannot hold my Peace because thou hast heard Oh my Soul the sound of the Trumpet the alarm of War To this Head may be reduced all those Troubles which are Fruits of Publick Calamities to Church or State Persecutions Martyrdoms Massacres c. Wars and Violence Oppressions Injuries c. whatever may be the Effects of the Rage and Fury of Men and Malice of impure
did bear so favourable an Aspect upon his troubled Soul as vers 14. does not obscurely intimate For the Lord will not cast off his People neither will he forsake his inheritance The Negative excludes universally perpetually He will never cast off nor forsake it also infers the Affirmative He will own and accompany his People and Inheritance for ever and ever Which he is enabled to do only by vertue of his Eternity Possibly that Expression vers 22. may also import something of like nature My God is the Rock of my Refuge He could not be unacquainted with the Song of Moses and the Blessing he pronounc'd upon the Twelve Tribes Deut. 32. and 33. There are these Titles first of all given to God Rock in the Song is five times apply'd to the Lord vers 4 15 18 30 31 twice to Idols vers 31 37. But that which I have chiefly in my eye is Chap. 33.27 The Eternal God is thy refuge very proper and Emphatical For 't is the Eternity of God that renders him a sufficient and compleat Refuge Notwithstanding all other Perfections if he were not the Everlasting God our Refuge would finally fail and be none at all He is called The Rock of Ages which our Translation renders Everlasting Strength Isa 26.4 And indeed a Rock the most indissoluble and durable part of the Earth is an Emblem of perpetuity A Rock of Refuge is therefore an everlasting security and comfort Nor is it a mean Satisfaction to remember that as there is a sufficiency of Ability and good Will in our God who by Covenant is engaged to put an end to our troubles and replenish us us with the Joys of his Salvation So he lives for ever to continue them that they shall have no period short of Eternity He is an ever-over-flowing fountain of Everlasting Consolations as they are called 2 Thes 2.16 17. Now our Lord Jesus Christ and God even our Father who hath loved us and given us everlasting Consolation through Grace Comfort your Hearts c. Our Consolations are Eternal because God is for in him they are as in the Well-spring therefore cannot be as Waters that fail as Jerem. Expostulates Chap. 15.18 If they could our Wound might be incurable indeed refusing to be healed and our pain perpetual But all this shall certainly have an end because God cannot This cannot be Eternal because God is Whatever is wanting in the durableness and sweetness of these fluxible perishable Enjoyments which we possess on Earth whatever we suffer through the continuance and bitterness of our Calamities is made up and amends made us abundantly in the Perennity of all Excellencies in God There is in this Attribute a suitable relief in all kinds of Distresses outward and inward All the short liv'd Comforts of this World have a better Being and Life in the Eternity of God Thou losest thy Friends and Relations the sweetest the best perhaps by the immediate hand of God as the Psalmist here by the violent hands of wicked Men vers 5 6. The Church of God in some places is laid waste and the stormy Cloud hangs over more and its implacable restless Adverries threaten all The Innocency of Christ's Lambs is no Protection against the Thrones of Iniquity in Babylon and Hell vers 20 21. No that 's the very ground of the Quarrel and Enmity Conformity to them Innocency and Iniquity would reconcile them Do'st thou tremble for the Ark of God And is thine own Personal Jeopardy or Suffering in Body Mind or Estate in any extremity Be not disinay'd Nubecula est cito transitura The greater the Tempest the sooner over Storms may huff against the Heavens yet cannot hurt them but only spend themselves And the Church is oft call'd Heaven in the Apocalypse and its Officers Stars from betwixt our Eyes and which the most raging furious blasts may dispel and drive away the Clouds that Eclipse and darken them but still leave those Coelestial Lamps more clear and inextinguishable whilst themselves are extinct in a moment The Dragons Flood will be soon swallowed up and the fury of Men and Devils shall quickly faint and melt away but the Love of God to his chosen never never Isa 40.27 28. Why sayest thou Oh Jacob and speakest Oh Israel My way is hid from the Lord and my Judgment is passed over from my God Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the Everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding Therefore possesses he an unfathomable Skill and Ability to refresh and revive thee but this is laid as the Foundation Stone upon which thou may'st rebuild thy decaying hopes viz. that he is the Everlasting God I therefore return again to that Deut. 33.26 27 28. There is none like the God of Jeshurun who rideth upon the Heavens in thy help and in his Excellency on the Skie The Eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are everlasting Arms and he shall thrust out the Enemy from before thee and shall say Destroy them Israel shall then dwell in safety alone c. Happy art thou Oh Israel who is like unto thee Oh People saved by the Lord the shield of thy help who is the Sword of thy excellency c. Hence in the Title given to Christ Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace have an immediate Connexion and Dependence Isa 9.6 If trouble be long 't is light but brief if grievous Si longa levis si gravis brevis Goodness cannot groan for ever because it leads to God and the more 't is oppressed the more it grows upward Heaven-ward where it shall only enjoy its everlasting Crown The Fire upon the Altar of God will be inextinguishable if from Heaven and those Coelestial Sparks of Divinity or Grace which the Holy Spirit kindles will by the bluster and storms of Affliction conceive a more vehement Flame perish and die they cannot as long as God lives from whom they derive their Being and Eternity But suppose all other sweet Satisfactions whether Spiritual Joys and Refreshments or Temporal Contentments be totally extinct as to present sense yet finally they shall not because they possess a perennity of Life in God And when Goodness and He meet in the Superiour World these will revive and Misery die I grant the most flourishing Gourds of Earthly Pomp and Glory may wither in a Night as being a vain Pageant and mere Phantastry Acts 25.23 The fairest freshest sweetest Flowers of the Youthful Spring of Humane Life may be blasted in a moment and converted into dust and rottenness The most pleasing Sun-shine of the smiling Morn of a fortunate Prosperity may suffer an Eclipse and issue in a dismal Hurricane of insupportable Calamities Nay Heaven it self may seem to frown and a dark Cloud to cover the Light of God's Countenance Lam. 3.44 But none of these Evils can extend beyond the Grave there are they buried
Psal 45. 〈◊〉 Such Thoughts may possibly lick and sleek over the Affections and give them a Face but cannot give them Life and where our Sorrows are not a living Spring they will never issue in other than dead Contents and Joys Those Thoughts that never warm and melt the Heart do but terminate in cold Comfort If they do not mould and fashion and frame our Souls aright as the Potter does his Clay we shall never be Vessels of Honour to be replenished with divine Consolations Oh then my Soul where are thy piercing heart-wounding Reflections Will the All-wise God be so profuse of his medicinal healing Balms as to apply them wast where there are no Sores Can the all-knowing Physician of Souls be so indiscreet as prodigally to consume and spend his reviving Cordials where neither the Head is sick nor the Heart faint Do no mollifying Considerations distil down as the dew upon the Reck beneath to supple it into a repenting tenderness Dost thou never ascend in thy Meditations to the third Heaven and take a deliberate view of those yerning Bowels of Commiseration which did compass thee about when in thy Blood with the rest of Mankind devoted to everlasting Destruction upon account of thy violation in Adam of the Covenant of Nature Does not God's Eternal Love which was its own motive to establish that Heaven and Earth-astonishing Occonomy of Grace for thy restitution to a condition of Hope and Happiness sometimes solicit and invite thy serious Cogitations to dwell upon it till it thorowly insinuate it self into thy inmost Recesses and with a gentle fervour thaw thy frozen Affections and soften thee into godly Sorrow Art thou hardened against the powerful impressions of that admirable Grace Behold then further in Golgotha a spectacle that would regele and dissolve even Eyes of Flint and intenerate a Heart all Rock of Adamant Oh behold thy panting groaning bleeding dying Redeemer the ever-blessed Son of God breathing out his oppressed Soul under the burthen of thy Curse to procure for thee an Inheritance of everlasting Blessedness This O this is a melting sight indeed Did the very Rocks relent and rent asunder the palsied Earth devest its obstinate natural stableness and as if there had been a luxation of all its Ligaments compose it self into a tremulous Palpitation and the very face of Nature it self put on Sack-cloath gather Blackness enwrap it self in a Mourning dress and envelop all its Glories in a noonday night upon that fatal Eclipse of the Glory of both the visible and invisible World the Sun of Righteousness that the Philosopher did not without good reason infer upon the Contemplation thereof that it imported either the God of Natures Passion or its verging towards a Dissolution And shall that which overcomes all the repugnances of Nature find and leave thee a piece of the nether Milstone with a pervicacious stubbornness hardening thy self against Sorrow In a compassionate regard of thy wretchedness he did then by strength of Love how the Heavens Psal 144.5 Isa 64.1 that he might come down humbling his Deity to embrace thy beggarly Humanity but Oh! Whither wilt thou fly for Sanctuary when he shall break and burn down all at his return in the flaming Severity and Vengeance of an impartial Judge to render Recompences even to thee amongst the rest of impenitent Rebels If he find thee such what Rock more impenetrable than thy self wilt thou search out to cover thee 2 Pet. 3. When the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat What shelter canst thou meet with as indissoluble as thy brawny Heart that in a contumacious pertinacy has so long stood out against all the choicest methods of Divine Goodness to dissolve thee to reclaim thee Wilt thou consider or wilt thou not Shall thy thoughts draw out those penitential Waters that will return in a tyde of Joys Hast thou ever been opprest with the thoughts of thy Sins thy Ungodliness thy Worldly Lusts thy Pride Passion Selfishness Earthliness Unbelief Lukewarmness Hypocrisie Customariness of Spirit in holy Performances or omission of them c. and perseverance in these Evils and the like against the Dictates of Conscience Convictions of the Spirit Warnings of Providence by a hard and impenitent Heart treasuring up Wrath against the day of Wrath Rom. 2.5 and Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God Will neither the thoughts of Love and Heaven engage thee nor of Wrath and Hell affright thee into Seriousness Oh the damnable obduracy and unconcernedness of an unrenewed Heart that neither Life nor Death though Eternal neither Felicity nor Misery though Unfathomable can prevail upon not to be willing and take the ready method to be unutterably miserable till the lamentable experience and feeling of the one eternally do utterly extinguish all hopes of the other except Almighty Power to introduce Repentance create such bitter and sensible foretasts that with Heman Psal 88.15 't is ready to groan out suffering thy Terrors I am distracted thy fierce wrath goeth over me thy terrors have cut me off For 't will be a wonder if any thing less prevail with it to fly from the Wrath to come Matth. 3.7 Did thy thoughts Oh my Soul never affect thee with these and the like things as the greatest Realities matters of Sense not of mere Speculation Hast thou never been sick and sore through the plague of thine Heart Art thou whole without a Physician Hast thou never a Spiritual Wound or want to force and drive thee out of thy self Seest thou never a divine lovely Perfection a suitable attractive Excellency in Christ to draw thee In short hast thou never entertain'd any feeling Considerations of the true way to Comfort Never studied that course and procedure of Divine Goodness whereby he leads to it Never entred in at the strait Gate of Repentance which alone admits into the Mansion of those unfading Joys Hast thou never got thy native Blindness of Mind in some good degree heal'd by the Spiritual Eye-salve of Heaven The digusts of thy Spiritual Palate remedied by a savoury relishing taste of the sweetness of the Truth as it is in Jesus Thy connatural rockiness dissolved by the softening influences of the Spirit of Conviction and Contrition If not thus I like it not thy Peace I fear is naught away with it 't will end in Confusion But if thy thoughts be deep and powerful and have thy Heart at command If thou weigh and consider with all seriousness and deliberation the necessity of being qualified aright for Peace and the danger of presuming thy Conscience into a calm cessation under a state of Enmity to God that for thy life thou darest not entertain a jot of Comfort further than thy Light Spirit and Condition can be fully reconciled to it and freely admit it upon a full and thorow pondering all Circumstances and examining thy Heart searching thy Conscience to the bottom because as much
Conversion There cannot then be any Divine Comfort if there be not a sweet Composure and Harmony betwixt Earth and Heaven and this can never be where a Man is at peace with his Sins Therefore whatever quiet may seem to be in such a Soul 't is only personated and illusive it reaches not to the real bottom of the trouble takes not out the Core But on the other hand when a Man makes Repentance and Mortification Faith and a good Life the main employ which drinks up his Spirits and Strength and Time industriously contending in all things to approve the sincerity and heartiness of his Affections Designs and Aims and whole Deportment in the sight of God and whilst he is thus doing finds any quietude Rest and Satisfaction of Mind to sweeten his Work and settle his Conscience he may be confident that this is the true Comfort of the Holy Ghost For as 't is impossible to enjoy true Peace under reigning Sin so t is inconsistent with Divine Goodness and Federal Love to permit a true Heart intirely devoted to him to delude it self into true Miseries under the vizor of false Joys I confess if a Man be too greedy of Comfort and too hasty in his Applications without due consideration and indeavour and care to derive his Satisfactions from solid Grounds laying the stress upon things which will not bear it in such indeliberate precipitation of Judgment concerning a Mans state and the true root of Comfort when he founds it upon any thing less than substantial Piety Righteousness and Sobriety as the evidence of his Right he may abuse himself with an unsound unsolid Peace Therefore I always suppose that the procedure in order to Comfort be justifiable and the Grounds upon which a Man bottoms his Evidence be genuine and that his reason and judgment lead him leisurely in the Scripture way to Heart-ease and Rest else all may issue in greater inquietude and trouble whatever fair Weather may at present flatter his conscience But if Spiritual sense light and a serious Preponderation of all circumstances according to the preceeding particular direct our motions hither and true Religiousness confirm them we may be secure that mere Shows and Pageantry do not now delude us into a Fairy Paradise A weak Head 't is true may lead an honest Heart into a deceitful Peace And 't is not the design of Grace to abolish or reform the natural Depravations and Deformities of our Faculties so much as the Moral But that which is defective must not be made a Standard A good Soul that understands it self and observes solid Rules in comforting it self cannot be deceiv'd in that Peace which it possesses whilst it loves God and keeps his way Such as a Mans goodness is will his Consolation be If that be but External and Hypocritical this will be insincere and delusory but a true intelligent honest Heart proceeding with a just caution shall never be gull'd with a Mock-Peace For Psal 97.11 12. Light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Rejoyce in the Lord ye Righteous What God sows they shall reap Psal 85.8 10. I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints c. Mercy and Truth have met together Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other Their embrace is strict and indissoluble God hath espoused them they cannot be divorced What he hath joyned together none shall finally separate and part asunder They give mutual testimony each to others integrity and soundness In Life they are lovely in Death they cannot be divided but will cohabit eternally Where then Oh my Soul is thy Righteousness not particular meerly but universal Shew me thy comfort by thy Works for 't is dead being alone As the Body without the Spirit is dead so is Peace without Holiness which is its very Life and Soul If thou be not God-like thy Joys are not Heaven-like All true pleasures are drops of those Rivers at God's Right Hand Psal 36.8 and 46.4 and 16. ult If the Waters of Life have never quickned and cleansed thee those Streams of Divine Comfort never yet did refresh thee thou hast only drunk of the Abana and Pharphar of muddy carnal Contentments not of the pure Fountain of Celestial Consolations Wherein then can thy uprightness and real honesty of heart approve it self to God Is this thy rejoycing 2 Cor. 1.12 viz. the Testimony of thy conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the grace of God thou hast had thy Conversation in the World What hast thou to shew more than an Hypocrite Wherein does thy Righteousness excel that of Scribes and Pharisees What are thy Principles Motives manner of acting Aims and Ends in thy whole course of Life Do'st thou really act 1. From God a Spirit of new Life breathed into thee by God 2. Through Christ as the Foundation of thy hopes of acceptance 3. By the Spirit as thy immediate aid in every Holy performance 4. Unto God as thy ultimate end Hast thou no secret reserved Dalilahs No one thing in which thou would'st have liberty and presume upon Pardon Do'st thou not run upon a biass in Religion and twine aside in some sinister respect to self or the popular Vogue in which thou would'st be somebody Is it thy great and uppermost care and study to be true to him that sees in secret rather than applauded by those who only see the Outside that thy inward gracious Dispositions may go no less than thy outward Semblances Art thou above all things jealous of thy deceitful Heart afraid of Hypocrisie willing to do any thing that may tend to a full discovery of thy self to thy self And if all be not right within or suspected not to be Art thou unspeakably troubled till it be righted Thou art full of thoughts but have thy Meditations been effectual through Christ to break thy heart from as well as for sin and bow thy Will to a Conformity and subjection to God's Will of Precept and Providence and bring thee to an intelligent self-denying humble penitent believing affectionate owning thy Baptismal Covenant in its whole latitude with sincere and indeflexible Resolutions to stand by it for ever And do'st thou expect thy peace in no other way Hast thou been industriously and labouriously diligent to gain a true and thorow understanding of thy State and Frame Godward searching all to the bottom very solicitous to see in a clear light What Conditions and Qualifications are prerequisite to dispose thee for Comfort and to be clear that in reality they are in thee and that thou do'st not build thy Evidence hereof upon self-flattering deceitful Grounds but do'st in truth find that the interest of God is Soveraign and Supreme in and nearest thy Heart hath the universal Regiment and command over all being thy singular delight and whatever thou feel'st to oppose becomes on that account an
safety then suddain Destruction cometh upon them as Travail upon a Woman With-child and they shall not escape Be ready to speak a word in due season to the weary but be cautious in solacing such as the Apostle describes and reproves Rom. 3.17 18. Who have not known the way of Peace Why There is no fear of God before their eyes least the terror of that threatning arrest thee Ezek. 33. For by publishing Peace to those against whom thou should'st proclaim War from Heaven thou wilt delude them into everlasting Death in their Sins under the mask of Life and Comfort but their Blood shall be required at thy hands God's Tenders of Peace are only conditional and so must thine Look to it then O my Soul as the one thing needful in the first place that the Grace of God bringing Salvation and therefore everlasting Consolation to thee do efficaciously teach thee this Righteousness to be very industrious to lead others whose Concern God sometimes seems to prefer before his own Matth. 5.23 24. and Chap. 12.1 4 5 6 7 8. especially thy Relations in the right way to Peace informing their Judgments rousing their Consciences reproving their Sins directing their Practice counselling commanding restraining and constraining them as far as possible to be good and do good freely with an ingenuous spontaneity and readiness of mind But as thou must learn others so under the influence of that beneficial Grace thou thy self must be learnt to deny so as to crucifie all Vngodliness spiritual Evil and worldly Lusts carnal Wickedness and live soberly in a just temper and moderation of thine own Spirit Affections Passions Appetite and godlily in a religious assiduity of Endeavour to please the Lord and approve thy self to him through Christ in all things This is both the true undeceiving Mean to attain Comfort and also the certain and inseparable Fruit of it The more thou growest herein the more redundant will be thy satisfaction and if on the other hand thy Peace be as a River thy Righteousness will be as the waves of the Sea Isai 48.18 Try then thy Comfort by its Productions If it will permit thee to dishonour God and defile thy Conscience to be vain in thy Spirit and vile in thy Communication and Conversation to debauch others and damn thy self neither fearing God nor regarding Man nor valuing and taking care for thine own self 't is no better than its Progeny and will but only lead thee hood-wink'd in a pleasing dream of Paradise into the depth of Hell But contrarily if thy Peace be procreative and bring forth Twins a heavenly Spirit and a holy Life If it be as the Dew to thy Graces and cause them to flourish and yield their Fruit in due season If it enlarge thy heart God-ward and carry thee as upon Eagles Wings to thy Redeemer in a more intire affectionate cordial subjection to his Authority and Government its Origin is Heaven and in those everlasting Pleasures and Joys will it finally terminate Leading thee to sound and real Goodness it will undoubtedly issue in that far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory The Reprehensive part of this kind of Inferences cannot be omitted happy we if there were no reason for it I only will prosecute it in one Instance Therefore just Matter of Challenge and Rebuke will arise upon this Doctrine for sitting down under the Perplexities of our own mad Thoughts without a due care to prepare for and possess our selves of the Comforts of God I confess the generality of Men are presumptuously bold in dividing these and with a daring Impudence will rashly arrest the Promises with a heady Violence rack and torture them or cut and mangle them as Sciron and Procrustes did all Passengers till they seem to be made fit for their own Beds and become unwillingly willing to lie down with them Comfort must conform to them they will not to it But these will certainly inherit Confusion when those ravish'd Comforts relinquish their too sate awakened Souls at Death or lie down in the most grievous Horrors if before that dismal hour they be ever roused into Repentance And oft it falls out that those who most audaciously usurp'd Divine Consolations in their impenitent Estate become most shy of them after their real awakenings they dare not be deluded again by an over-forwardness their assuming to themselves Peace without Right before cost them so dear that it makes them more jealous suspicious and cantious in bottoming it ere they can adventure again to apply the Promises But as Presumption leads some blindfold into a false Peace so Despair causes many to reject a true Some receive this at the hands of Justice as a merited Punishment for aggravated Sins and procrastination of Repentance to be judicially given up by the Lord to Horrors of Conscience so deep so durable as not to be able to see any thing but Terror in the whole Book of God till he remit this Punishment and lighten his hand Others are knock'd off from the Promises by the Spirit of Bondage in a smart and home-conviction of Sin and divine indignation because of it God hereby designing to make them more meet for it And indeed none are more afraid of receiving Comfort than those that being throughly startled with the discoveries of their Corruptions and God's just Anger do really stand in most need of it and are under the divine Methods of Preparation for it Such stand off and dispute their own Title either 1. through Ignorance or Inadvertency not understanding or considering themselves and the Work of God within them Or 2. through Humility and Tenderness as afraid of presuming Or 3. through a Spice of Pride and Haughtiness as resolv'd to bring their Peny to the Promise 't is Mr. Hooker's Phrase not content with such Qualifications as God limits in the Word in order to Peace they must super-errogate in their Preparations and be better than they can be still complaining of Unworthiness Unworthiness which in one sence is true as if they would not receive Comfort gratis nor accept of the Gift upon God's Terms making them need it and meet for it except they be which none possibly can be worthy of it merit and deserve it Or lastly through a kind of obstinacy and stubbornness of Spirit and the predominancy of Melancholy to which every thing that is saddening and dejecting hath too much of agreeableness and sweetness as if they were in love with their Griefs and Woes will not attend to any rational or religious Arguments that might relieve them Rachel-like refusing to be comforted although they can give no just and satisfying reason for that Recusancy It may be they are pleased with the Sensuality of Sorrow because it hits their Humour harmonizes with their Dumpishness and gives them a little ease by cherishing their Disease as Water in a Dropsie Neither can I render any other reason why others who pretend higher should imagine they can never be
the Victory over Original Corruption and evil Habits they apply themselves to God in the Name of Christ not only owning all Christian Doctrine and obeying all Christian Precepts which are remote conditions and helps of Mortification but in special considering that Christ by his merit procured power against Sin as well as Pardon which both are given upon no other account but only for the sake of Christ therefore they beg of God that according to his promise he would subdue Iniquities Mic. 7.19 He would graciously please to bestow upon them for Christ's sake that strength by his Spirit in their inner Man which may enable them to conquer and keep under their Concupiscence the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof and upon the help of his Spirit so beg'd they rely and depend and trust to it in every assault and motion of Sin lifting up their Hearts to God in Christ for renewed Power to resist and suppress it and keep themselves pure distrusting themselves that they may put their whole trust in the living God upon whom thus fixing their affiance they wait in patience and watchfulness and the use of his Ordinances for Christ to be made their Sanctification and Redemption from the Dominion and Tyranny or Rebellion of Sin which by degrees is granted them and this Exercise of Faith in Prayer and Prayer means is the immediate and next condition of the grant of power against Sin which is followed with the use both of Rational and Scriptural Considerations care to prevent all occasions or irritations of Concupiscence and other evil Dispositions an early endeavour to suppress the first Motions and Lustings c. but the power of these is not trusted to as sufficient but Gods alone in the use of these helps to overcome and crucifie the evil of their Natures and all that are rooted in it and flow from it Act then solely under God look after such an effectual Faith that carrying thee above all Visibles to the invisible God will under his Influence purifie thy Heart work by Love and reduce thy Will into Subjection to God and grow herein daily 'T was much that Philosophers should make it one of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Governing Prenotions Will nothing but what God Wills and that decantate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Follow God Arrian l. 3. c. 26. p. 362. and l. 2. c. 16. p. 217. Marc. Anton. l. 10. §. 11. Seneca de vita beat c. 15. Arrian l. 4. c. 12. p. 426. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Seneca subjoyns In regno nati sumus Deo parere libertas est In a Kingdom are we born to obey God is liberty Yea 't is Royal Liberty Arrianus I have one to be subject to to obey even God c. Oh! let not Infidels rise up in Judgment to condemn thee for a Rebel against the Will of God in his Precepts or Providences 'T is an ugly thing for a Christian to have a Will a Separate Will The Will of Man is a Bedlam except in Conjunction with and Subordination to God The liberty of the Will of Man consists in Servitude to God Excellently Arrianus I am Gods freeman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arr. l. 4. c 3. p. 380. and friend that I may voluntarily obey him I must set nothing in competition not my Body not my Possessions not Principality not Fame no nothing at all c. In Summ labour to form all thy Faculties after the best Paterns and imitate such in thine Actions Christianity is an Imitation of the Nature Life and Actions of Christ * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nys M. Antonin l. 10. 8. Cl Alex. Strom. l. 5. Marc. Anton. could say God wills that all Rational Beings should be like him not flatter him Clemens of Alexandria makes account that Plato thought similitude to God the end of Philosophy This the Philosopher may propose but the true Christian only attains The Exhortations to it in the Scriptures are many Eph. 5.1 2. 1 Cor. 11 1. consequentially 2 Cor. 3.18 Rom. 8.29 Luk. 6.36 1 Joh. 3.3 17. 1 Pet. 1.16 Matth. 5.48 A Christian unlike Christ is a contradiction as a godly Man not God-like When Christ dwells in the Heart by Faith he will transform it and the Life into the likeness of his own Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ says Paul nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the Flesh is by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me This is that living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit he after mentions Chap. 5.25 Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 2 Cor. 3.18 Wilt thou not then Oh my Soul aspire after this 'T is high above thee a strange Mystery to thy carnal part and so at first is every thing of God yet nothing is to be despaired of that is enjoyn'd by God whose Precepts are his Power whose Word his Work And if God who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness and it obeyed do also command the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ to shine into thine Heart 2 Cor. 4.6 That will much more obey the voice of his Almighty Grace and this Light is Life this Life Love this Love universal Conformity to God For God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 and Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.8.10 Gal. 5.14 Oh thou Blessed Spirit God of Love descend into and shed abroad thy Nature in my Heart kindle Oh thou ever adorable Breath of God and blow up this Holy Ardour and Flame that as a Seraphim I may ascend in a transport of Delight and Joy to thy Throne and perpetually burn upon thine Altar and being like thee in Love I shall through Love be like thee in all things Am I a Professor am I a Believer am I a knowing a weeping a discoursing a practising a just a dispassionate a temperate a bountiful and liberal a condescending a friendly Person Yet if I have not if I am not Love I have I am nothing The reason of 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3. will carry this and more Neither extraordinary gifts of Tongues prophesie abstruse Speculation Miracles nor extraordinary Practices as beggering my self to give to the Poor receiving the Crown of Martyrdom under the most cruel Tortures voluntarily submitted to are at all available without Love therefore much less things of a common and ordinary Nature Love is all in all Thy Repentance thy Faith thy Hope thy Prayers thy Vows thy Obedience are good and acceptable if Spirited with Love without it they and all beside that thou canst possibly be and do are but all as a Sacrifice of Swines Blood and blessing an Idol there 's nothing of Life in them nothing of Soul because nothing of God because nothing of Love Oh