of God that it is capable of As the soul is in likeness unto God so it enjoys him Perfection of holiness gives the soul a perfect fruition of God Saints in glory are perfectly holy and therefore do enjoy God perfectly Secondly God dwells in the heart by gratious influx he is continually giving forth Divine virtue to a Saint as he is a fountain of grace and goodness so he diffuseth streams thereof into the hearts of his people he is ever doing them good and according to their needs so doth he supply them mercy flows in according to the state and condition of the soul sometimes healing sometimes quickning strengthning comforting directing and teaching Hence is that of the Prophet Psal 36.8 9. 4. It appears that God is a Saints portion by his improvement of his interest in God men usually do improve and make the best of their estates they can that they may live the most comfortably upon it that may be Saints are good husbands and they do not let their portion lie dead by them but do make the best of it they can 1. By Contemplation 2. By Supplication 3. By Application First By Contemplation a Saint takes great delight to behold God not essentially as he is in his own beauty and purity for so none can see God and live but manifestatively as he is pleased to reveal himself in his Son Jesus so John 1.18 When the Lord Jesus doth declare his Father to the soul it is a ravishing sight Even as a worldly man takes great delight to look upon his estate to see his bags of money his Barns of Grain his cattle in his pasture he feeds his mind upon them so doth the soul of a gratious man feed it self upon God by contemplation Psal 104.34 my meditation of him shall be sweet It was like sweet meats to the Prophets tast So Psal 139.17 18 how precious are thy thoughts unto me O God c. I am still with thee i. e. I think on thee in the night and wake with thee in the morning and wherever I go and wherever I am still my mind is on thee and every thought is admirable and exceeding precious to me a true Christian had rather spend an hour with God in Contemplation and Divine Meditation then Eternity with the world this feeds his soul and delights his heart and takes up his spirit Well might the Apostle say to be spiritually minded is life and peace No such life no such peace as flows in this way Secondly By Supplication the more he enjoys of God the larger are his desires after God He must be ever sucking and drawing at Divine breasts he goeth to God for all he wants and the more he receives the more he craves grace widens the heart and draws out the spirit so that a Christian never thinks he hath enough He drinks and drinks and yet he is the more thirsty he prays continually and without ceasing for one prayer begets another As a man that hath an estate first calls for one thing and then for another and the use of one makes him desire another and more of all So he that hath an interest in God first seeks one grace and then another and the use of one grace puts him upon the begging of another He wants knowledge and he begs that but knowledge without humility puffs up and this makes him beg the grace of humility he begs strength I but without faithfulness and skill to lay it forth it profits not and therefore he must have that he prays for wisdom and fidelity to use his strength As graces are linked and combined together for use and helpfulness each to other so are the souls desires like to hasty messengers ready to tread upon one anothers heels A Christian somtimes is big with twins of holy desires and one comes first to the birth and yet another like to Pharez steps forth and makes a breach upon it It is excellent to see how the soul gets ground still and goeth on still further and further by ' its desires As thriving men first buy one piece of land and then another until they have inlarged their territories to a mighty compass so do Christians inlarge their graces and comforts It is with a Christian as it is recorded of the rain that fell in Ahabs time at the prayer of Elijah 1 King 18.44 so a Christians desires and returns are little at the first but they greaten and greaten until they overspread the whole heavens of the soul Matth. 7.7 ask and ye shall receive seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Here is a gradation the soul proceeds by steps and accordingly receives and as the soul arises higher and higher in its desires and affections so grace ariseth higher and higher in its answers A prayerful soul comes at last to be a graceful soul Thou that art much with God in prayer shalt have much of God in thine heart As the Sun draws forth vapours from the earth not for it self but to fatten the earth so God draws forth the desires of the soul not to better or to add any thing to his own being or happiness but to better the soul and to add to its happiness and to make it compleat Thirdly By Application the soul emproves God A true Christian makes an advantage of all Divine incomes and enjoyments so that he encreases dayly with the increase of God As a worldly man turns the peny and makes it double and at last an hundred-fold so doth a Christian he hath an heavenly art whereby he trades with and grows rich in all goodness His four talents brings him eight his five gains him ten A Christians grace lies not dead by him and of no use but is dayly put forth into act and increaseth The more he enjoys of God the more he acteth for God and the better he thrives Prayer fetcheth in and love lays out until the man grows wonderfully rich and gains a wonderful stock within himself Use 1. By way of inference and hence we may infer First That the people of God are the richest people they have the best portion the best inheritance So the Prophet accounts it Psal 16.5 6. The Lord is my portion the lines are fallen unto me in a pleasant place Yea I have a goodly heritage A goodly heritage the best that can be had the fullest the richest and the most delightful Saints have Benjamins portion a mess five times so much as the worldling's is All is a Saints for they have God who is all What though they are sometimes very poor in a worldly respect yet they are wonderfully rich in an heavenly respect 2 Cor. 6.18 Jam 2.5 A Christian is a meer paradox and heavenly riddle he hath nothing and he hath All he is poor and rich Levi had no portion an ongst the tribes and yet had the best estate for God was his portion Alass a worldlings portion is but a dark
God-praising heart are a greater blessing then fulness with an unthankful spirit and it is a greater mercy for God to give a thankful spirit in a low condition then to advance a man to the highest pinnacle of outward prosperity in the world This I say is a blessed relief that causeth the soul to bless God in the want of all outward comforts 3. When God is pleased to strip a Christian of all his outward comforts he gives in a greater measure of faith that he may depend upon God for a supply So that though he hath nothing to live upon yet he is sure he shall not want for true faith looks not at secondary causes so much as at the word of promise and therefore if all means fail yet as long as the promise fails not a believing soul knows that it shall have a supply although it cannot imagine how or which way she shall have it Now inward supports in time of want and secret intimations of a supply from God in his own way and time are a sweet relief to the soul in that condition So saith David I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living Psal 27.13 True faith in God will keep the heart alive when a man hath nothing to live upon and 't is Gods way to fix a Christian most upon the objects of faith when the objects of sense are removed from him when a Christian lives least by fight then he lives most by faith Now as a Christian believes so comfort flows in to him Faith is to a Christian in stead of all things for it is the substance of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 What ever a man wants yet if he believes truly he hath the substance of that which he hopes for A Christian hopes for great things greater comforts more enlargments and heaven at last Why faith is the substance of all He that lives by faith hath the substance of heaven to live upon and that must needs be a sweet relief to the soul in a time of need It is the Christians comfort that he hath a durable and a lasting state that will never fail him and that he hath a God to go to that will not fail him but will give him such an allowance as shall maintain him till he comes to his journeys end where he shall be put into a full possession and fruition of it 4. Those small repasts which come from the hand of Divine Providence to uphold a Christian under his wants are filled so full of Divine Blessing and strength that he can truly say I have enough A man would think that pulse and water would afford but little nourishment I but Divine Blessing filled it full of strength that Daniel felt no want of better chear Let a Raven be the Prophets Caterer and if Divine Blessing attends the provision as it did he shall walk in the strength thereof forty days and not faint Though poor Christians in these days do not live upon Divine miracles yet they live upon Divine wonders that makes them sometime wonder how they live they cannot but see a Divine hand in giving what they have and then in blessing it beyond expectation for though they want much of that which others do enjoy yet they enjoy that which others want and this makes them healthful and chearful in their wants There is many a poor Christian that hath more joy in one day then thousands that enjoy the treasure of the earth and why It proceeds from this very ground the good mans little is given in love with a heart-chearing blessing while the wicked mans plentiful estate is given in wrath and with a curse upon it hence is that of Solomon Prov. 15.16 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord then great treasure and trouble therewith i. e. they that fear the Lord have not that trouble with their little which they that do not fear the Lord have with their great treasure and therefore the good mans little is better then the wicked mans great treasure The good mans little comes with a blessing for a blessing rests upon a good man and all that he hath be it little or much Now a Divine blessing ever gives strength and vertue to any means Let it be never so poor and weak of it self yet Divine Blessing makes it mighty and efficacious so that it is no matter what a Christian hath to live upon if the blessing of God goeth along with it 5. When God strips a good man of all he hath he then pours forth a mighty spirit of prayer for a fulness of grace to maintain the life of holiness in this estate He that hath nothing without to live upon and but a small stock of grace within will have much ado to rub through and a gratious soul is sensible hereof and therefore God is pleased to draw out the desires of his soul after a greater measure then yet he hath attained and indeed when outward wants meet with a soul that is full of grace they do not make such an impression upon it as when they meet with one that hath but little the empty vessel makes the greatest noise and empty Christians are fullest of complaints until a spirit of prayer is poured forth upon them whereby they attain an inward fulness and this keeps and maintains a spirit of holiness in them I confess he that prospers and thrives in the world stands in need of a large measure of grace to keep his heart holy in that estate and so he that is low in the world stands in need of a great measure of grace also or else he may miscarry There is one eminent rock upon which poor people are very apt to split and hazzard their immortal souls and that is the use of indirect and unlawful means for their relief and subsistence in the world Hence is that prayer of Agur Prov. 30.6 7 give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me least I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord Or least I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain Mark this least I be poor and steal Noting out that poverty hath this temptation attending it if grace prevents not poor men will be prompted to use some indirect course for their subsistence they 'l steal rather then want what they desire I but a good man dare not do thus This in him would be not only a breach of the eighth command but also of the third It is a taking the name of God in vain for this is a certain truth that whosoever takes upon him the profession of Christian Religion and yet departs not from iniquity he takes the name of God in vain now a true Christian in whom the fear of the Lord is planted dreads this and therefore crys mightily unto God to keep and preserve him that he may not do so unworthy an
him but he was at the very point of death then God revived him Even so it is in this case when the darkness of the soul is at the heighth and the soul is at the greatest loss and plunge no way open for its comfort and relief then God gives in some beam of Divine light to guide and direct it unto peace and comfort for though it be the portion of good men and of children of light sometimes to walk in darkness yet they are never cast into utter darkness eternal darkness is not their portion they shall not lie down in darkness light is sown for the righteous and as God hath his seeds time so they shall have their harvest let the soul be never so full of fears and perplexity of spirit yet this cloud shall vanish these fears shall be scattered and the soul shall see and know that it is under the gratious dispensation of a most gratious God who hath ordered all things for her peace here and eternal well-fare hereafter This is clear in our Text the Prophet had been in darkness I but God had brought him forth into the light and now he is able to correct his mistakes 5. That experimental light and knowledge which a sanctified soul gains in the time of its darkness and from the flowing in of Divine Light to scatter that darkness affords the soul unspeakable joy and satisfaction that she accounts it a sufficient recompence for all her trouble and sorrow in the want thereof As there is knowledge of things by principles so there is a knowledge that ariseth from experience and it would be very strange if the soul should gain no experimental knowledge by the incomes of Divine Relief in the time darkness S. Paul saith Tribulation worketh patience and patience experience Hereby the soul knoweth more of God and attains clearer apprehensions of him then it had before when she is able to say 'T is true I was in darkness but then God carried on a glorious design of doing me good all though I could not see it I was blind and not able to guide my feet into the way of peace but I had the conduct of Gods Holy Spirit I was very much perplexed in my Spirit but Divine strength kept me up in a waiting frame Yea I found at last light breaking in upon me in the darkest night my dark night was turned into a bright shining day Now this experience must needs fill the soul full of ravishing joy and satisfaction that she may say as David Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee and this is one mair end of Gods drawing a cloud over the eye of a Christian that he may have some experience of Gods gratious dealing with him in this condition and thereby attain a fuller knowledge of the ways of God then he did before I confess it may seem strange but 't is true that a Christian gains light by the darkness of his spirit Did not the light of a Christian fail him he would never have such experience of Divine Relief as now he hath This makes his light double to what he had before he had the light of instruction before but now he hath the light of experience and hence it is that those Christians who have had the greatest clouds upon their spirits prove the most knowing Christians for experience is the mistress of truth and when the soul is taught by experience it knows the truth indeed Now the soul is put out of all doubt there is no room for queries about it she is fully satisfied in it Many times when God goeth about to teach a man by his word and reads him a Lecture of Divine Promises made to the Soul in such and such a condition he little minds it but when God teaches him by his works in fulfilling those promises then he cannot but sit down and admire at the riches of Gods grace that God should deal thus with so vile and wretched a creature as he is Thus you have seen how Divine Relief flows in to the Soul of a good man when his understanding fails him 2. A second particular case is in point of Election It cannot be denied that as the appetite of all men is carried out to that which is good so the appetite of a good man is fixed upon the highest good and the ultimate end But then it must be granted that there is sometimes a failing of the Will both in point of Liberty and also in point of Domination 1. In point of Liberty which consists chiefly in making choice of such means as are most proper for attaining that end 2. In point of Dominion which lies in imploying all inferiour faculties for execution of those means Now the failing of the Will in both these respects is when the Will falls into a kind of hesitancy or indifferency and begins to halt God hath appointed proper means for the attaining this end but the Soul may be at a stand at some time and not determined Every good man can't say at all times with the Prophet My Heart is fixed It may be fixed as to the end but not as to the means There may be at some time a wavering in the Will about it Christians find it so by experience 2. When the strength of Resolution is not so powerful as to stand out against all assaults and to bear down all opposition The Will may be fixt but not so firmly as it ought to be there may be a giving ground for a time to our spiritual adversary a small retreat in time of temptation A Christian never yields to a temptation of Satan but there is at least a weakness in his Resolution and some presumption in his Will against which David prayed Ps 19. 3. When the Will grows cold and dead there is not that vigour or activity as ought to be put forth in the use of means his heart fails him when as he grows like a silly Dove without heart he prayes and hears and confers but in all with a dead and lazy Spirit 4. When the Will is fickle and inconstant 't is in and out and keeps not in one tenor and frame but like a broken Bow that soon starts aside This this is the spiritual plague and distemper of a good heart Now let us see the remedy and relief that flows from God for the cure hereof First God is pleased to cure this sad distemper by discovering the evil that is in it The failing of the Will is a greater evil and is far worse than the failing of the Understanding The more there is of Will in the commission of Sin and the less there is of Will in the performance of Duty the greater is the Sin Other wants of the Soul will sooner be passed by in a duty then the want of Will and therefore when God sets upon the cure of this distemper he first opens the wound and shews the filth that is in
is like a strong Fort or Garrison to a Christians Grace that keeps it safe It may be assaulted and beleaguered but shall never receive a mortal wound It is the great security of a Christian that God will not trust him with the root and principle of grace That shall never be in thine own keeping he trusts thee with the exercise of grace but not with the principle and root No he keeps that himself he is both the Garrison and the Commander in it and you may be sure that that is impregnable 2. God is the strength of a Christians heart when the infused habits of grace fail and sin grows strong and vigorous by healing and restoring him A Christian never fails in the exercise of grace but sin gives him a wound And therefore David prayed Lord heal my Soul for I have sinned Psal 41.4 And what David prayed for God promiseth to his people Hos 14.4 I will heal their back-slidings The weakness and decay of grace brings a Christian presently to the falling sickness and so it did David and Ephraim I but God will be a Physitian to the Soul in this case and will heal their diseases and so he did Davids falling-sickness for which he return'd the tribute of Praise Psal 103.3 My soul praise thou the Lord and all that is within me praise his holy name who healeth all thy diseases David had many diseases upon him once for one disease is the cause of another I but God healed all and raised him up again And herein the grace of God did shine forth with great lustre and glory that even ravished his soul in the sense thereof As it appears wonderful in preserving spiritual life and the root of grace so it is no less to be admired for its healing and restoring virtue that it puts forth upon the Soul when spiritual diseases have ceised upon it You have a notable place for this Cant. 8.5 I raised thee up under the apple-tree They are the words of Christ to his Spouse She had been feeding her self upon the forbidden fruit of earthly delights and sensual pleasures until she could stand upon her feet no longer and there she falls and lies I but then Christ comes to her seasonably takes her by the hand and raises her up Green fruit will cause distempers in the body natural and sensual delights and pleasures will cause diseases in the body spiritual none can cure them but Christ When thou art fallen under the Apple-tree he must raise thee up nay Christ will do it though he may suffer the poor Soul to fall yet he will not suffer it to lie and perish This is one main difference between the falls of a gracious man into sin and the fall of a wicked man God lets a wicked man fall and lie in his sin As he falls willingly and resolvedly so he lies wretchedly and desperately in his sin But as a godly man falls through a weakness of grace so God pities him and raises him up again Peter fell fouly when he denied his Master but he did not fall finally Christ raised him up and restored him to his former health and soundness So you may see Matth. 26.75 And Peter remembred the words of Jesus and he went out and wept bitterly The way that Christ takes to heal the backslidings of his people is to break their hearts and melt them into godly sorrow When poor Souls have been almost drown'd in the waies of sin he drowns their sin in the red sea of godly sorrow the Soul swims aloft but his sin sinks to the bottom that it may rise no more 3. God is the strength of a Christians heart when grace fails by working a new creation upon the heart The giving of grace at first is a creation and hence new Converts are called new creatures So the strengthening weak grace and reviving and renewing of grace is no less a creation it is the work of an Almighty power upon the Soul And therefore David prayed for it under this notion Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Psal 50.10 God puts forth the same power in strengthening the weakness of grace as he doth in giving the first act of grace as grace is not mans creature but Gods We are saith the Apostle Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 So the renewing and reviving grace is not mans work but Gods When he seeth a poor Christian lie languishing that he is scarce able to put forth one act of grace he can neither believe nor love nor obey that Satan makes a prey of him and is ready to carry him away captive as his prisoner God creates new strength and a new life and a new glory upon the Soul If a Christian hath his winter he shall have his spring also he shall not be alwaies without fruit Most full is that promise Hos 14.5 6. I will be as the dew unto Israel he shall grow as the lilly and cast forth his roots as Lebanon His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon Observe Gods method in working upon decaying Christians First he heals their backslidings so ver 4. I will heal their backslidings I but that is not all For without divine influence the Soul will be as apt to relapse as ever and therefore God promiseth as a further act of grace that he will be as the dew unto Israel Dew is of a fructifying and refreshing nature it calls forth the fruits of the earth when they lie hid in the roots of trees and herbs Even so is Divine Influence it is of a fructifying nature and calls forth the fruits of grace when they lie hid in the root thereof Let but God send forth his power and Grace will send forth new buds and blossoms of holiness that there shall be a new face upon a Christian He shall grow as the Lilliy cast forth his roots as Lebanon his branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the Olive and his smell as Lebanon 4. God is the strength of a Christians heart by drawing forth much good out of this great evil It is a sore evil for a Christian to decay in grace and to fall into sin I but God works good out of this evil Four things God works by this and they are all good for him 1. Hereby God discovers that corruption that is in the heart As when the water ebbs and grows low then the earth appears then you may see what is at the bottom So when grace ebbs and grows low then the corruption of the heart appears then it is quickly known what foul dregs are at the bottom There is many a Christian that little thinks how full of sin his heart is until his grace grows languid and weak and then he comes to have a sad experience thereof Thus it was with David When grace became so weak in him as not to
And so in respect of suffering let the providence of God support and comfort you I have read this of Chrysostom that when Eudoxia procured his banishment He said thus None of these things trouble me but I said within my self if the Queen will let her banish me the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof if she will let her saw me asunder Isaiah suffered the same if she will let her cast me into the Sea I will remember Jonah if she will let her cast me into a fiery furnace or amongst wilde beasts the three children and Daniel were so dealt with if she will let her stone me I have Stephen and the Baptist for my blessed companions go tell her nil nisi peccatum timeo Thus should we support and comfort our hearts by the providences of God exercised towards others and especially by the comforts that others have received from God in the same sufferings and torments that we at any time do or may endure Bishop Ridley writing to Latimer in Prison saith ever since I heard of our dear Brother Rogers his stout confession and departing I never felt any lumpish heaviness in my heart as sometimes I did before And further when you hear or read of the providence of God in preventing evil determined by evil instruments against his Church and people this should raise your spirits to a greater pitch of consolation and holy courage And indeed how many wonders hath God at all times wrought in preserving and hiding his Saints and people from intended and designed plots of mischief and ruine is almost incredible I remember what is recorded in the life of Dionysius Areopagita that when he was caused by Sifinius the Prefect to be thrown to hungry wilde beasts they would not tear him and into an hot Oven it would not burn him The like is reported of S. Ambrose for a certain wizard sent his spirits to kill him but they returned answer that God had hedg'd him in as he did Job another came with a sword to his bed side to have killed him but he could not stir his hand until repenting he was restored by the prayer of S. Ambrose to the use of his hands again So the Circumcellians being not able to withstand S. Austins preaching and writing sought his destruction having beset the way wherein he was to go his visitation but by Gods Providence he missing his way escaped the danger And one saith of Luther That Luther a poor Frier should be able to stand against the Pope was a miracle that he should prevail against the Pope was a greater and after all to die in peace having so many enemies was the greatest of all When this was represented unto Moses in a type it did much affect his heart Oh saith he I will turn aside and see this great sight Exod. â— 2 3 4. It was a great and glorious sight to see the bush in the fire not consumed but more to see the Church under great persecution and yet not destroyed the people of God maligned and opposed and yet to live this is a miracle a soul comforting providence But oh then what a surpassing comfort doth the consideration of Gods improving providences afford to the Saints those providences I mean whereby he doth extract the best good out of the worst evil So that the soul may say as S. Paul of a great evil I know that this shall turn to my salvation Phil. 1.19 And therefore I rejoyce So 2 Cor. 12.9 10. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in mine infirmities And again Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake for when I am weak then am I strong S. Pauls weakness was converted into strength he never was so strong in the inward man as when he was weakest in the outward and herein he rejoyced God doth ever bring about some glorious design as it were at a back door and a contrary way that the wrath of man shall praise God And doth not this speak comfort and courage to the people of God in all their dark and cloudy fits surely it doth and that which kills the hearts of others may be the greatest reviver of their hearts For their greatest sorrows shall turn to their greatest joy and their extremity of miseries shall prove their highest glories their Winter shall bring forth a flourishing Spring and their mournful Seed-time a most plentiful Harvest And therefore let me exhort you in the words of the holy Apostle Heb. 12.12 Lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees Be not dismayed or discouraged at any thing that falleth out For know that there is a wheel within a wheel that worketh and moveth in all things yea that ordereth and disposeth them so that not one iota or tittle of Gods counsel shall fail of accomplishment Melancthon knowing the rage of the Papists and Cesar's threats was much troubled and gave himself wholly up to grief sighs and tears Whereupon Luther writes to him thus I extreamly dislike your excessive cares with which you say you are almost consumed If the cause be bad let us revoke it and fly back If it be good why do we not trust God in his promises If Christ be the Conquerour of the World why should we fear it as if it would overcome us As for Luther himself he had an undaunted Spirit For when our King Henry the eighth had written bitterly against him He makes this Answer Let the Henries the Bishops the Turk and the Devil himself do what they can we are the Children of the Kingdom worshipping and waiting for that Saviour whom they and such as they spit upon and crucifie The truth is there is no condition whereunto the Church of God in general or any Christian in particular can fall but they may hold up their heads and lift up their hearts to an high pitch of consolation therein if they do but lay the providence of God to heart and consider how that works in all to bring about the will of God They may say as Shecaniah said to Ezra There is yet hope in Israel concerning this thing And as Mordecai to Hester Comfort and deliverance shall come And as Saint Paul to the Corinthians in the temptation God will make a way for an escape He hath delivered he doth deliver and in him we trust that he will deliver What though Satan and all the confederates of darkness were now at work to destroy one Soul and to pluck it out of the hand of Christ yet providence will preserve it What though Antichrist and his adherents are combining and plotting against Christ and his members his truths and ordinances yet providence will over-shadow them And Beloved if every Errour in the Nation were an hundred and every Heretick a thousand yet truth and the professors thereof shall prevail Acts 5.38 Providence hath her secret waies of working that cannot be found out and though
from his sense as well as from faith This you have in the Text My flesh and my heart faileth me but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever q. d. I now find it to be true by mine own experience I can give a particular demonstration thereof God was good to me I was in a languishing sinking condition my strength gone and my life almost gone the pains of death and the sorrows of hell took hold on me that I was giving up all my hopes for lost And then God appeared to me and revived and strengthened my heart My case was very sad and now 't is as comfortable My hell is turned into an heaven of joy and comfort So that in the words you have a two fold experiment brought in to demonstrate one precious truth That God is good to Israel that is the truth 1. The first experiment is the Prophets malady 2. The latter is the Prophets relief The first is brought in to grandize and heighten the other Had not the Prophets malady been so desperate his relief had not appeared so glorious The worse the Prophets state was the more was Gods goodness seen in his relief and help Let us therefore take a further Surveigh of both First of the malady and therein consider 1. The nature or kind of it failing 2. The Subject wherein it was seated both in the flesh and in the heart Failing of the flesh notes out a consumption of the outward man or a loss of external supports So we find flesh taken in Scripture both properly for the outward man or the body of man when the strength thereof abates and departs the bulk or quantity thereof lessens or the beauty and glory thereof fades and also Metaphorically for the loss of external priviledges So Phil. 3 4 Flesh is taken for all external advantages These may fail Failing of the Heart notes out a sinking or dying When 1. The faculties of the soul sink and cannot perform their due offices either by way of apprehension election or retention 2. When the infused or acquired habits of the heart are indisposed to act or are weakened not only our moral but our Spiritual habits much abate 3. When the Animal spirits are expiring and even breathing forth This seems to be the Prophets disease and malady he was brought very low even to the very pit ready to die soul and body failed all his powers weakened When the body is smitten it flies for succour to the heart the spirit of a man will sustein his infirmities but when the heart is smitten also and that fails him too the man is done then he can afford himself no relief Die he must and will if God comes not in When communicated strength fails 't is time for the man to look abroad and seek for strength in God or else he sinks and never riseth more Secondly This is the Prophets relief God comes in and fetcheth life again reinsouls him communicates a new supply of strength to him sets him upon his feet again this makes him to say as you have it in the Text But is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rock of my heart In which words we may take notice of five things 1. The order inverted When he mentions his malady he begins with the failing of the flesh and then of the heart but when he reports the relief he begins with that of the heart From hence Observe That when God works a cure in man out of love he begins with the heart he cures that first And there may be these reasons for it 1. Because the sin of the heart is often the procuring cause of the malady of body and soul 2. The body ever fares the better for the soul but not the soul for the body 3. The cure of the soul is the principal cure 2. The suitableness of the remedy to the malady Strength of heart for failing of heart and a blessed portion for the failing of the flesh Obs That there is a proportionate remedy and relief in God for all maladies and afflictions whatsoever both within and without If your hearts fail you God is strength if your flesh fails you or comforts fail you God is a portion 3. The Prophets interest he calls God his strength and his portion Obs That true Israelites have an undoubted interest in God He is theirs 4. The Prophet's experience in the worst time He finds this to be true that when communicated strength fails there is a never failing strength in God Obs That Christians experiences of Gods all-sufficiency are then fullest and highest when created comforts fail them 5. Here is the Prophet's emprovement of his experience for support and comfort against future trials and temptations Obs That a Saints consideration of his experience of Gods all sufficiency in times of Exigency is enough to bear up and to fortifie his spirit against all trials and temptations for the time to come Thus you may emprove the Text by way of Observation But there are two principal Doctrines to be insisted on First That God is the Rock of a Saints heart his strength and his portion for ever Secondly That Divine influence and relief passeth from God to his people when they stand in most need thereof First God is the rock of a Saints heart strength and portion for ever Here are two members or branches in this Doctrine 1. That God is the rock of a Saints heart strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. That God is the portion of a Saint Branch 1. God is the rock of a Saints heart strength He is not only strength and the strength of their hearts but the rock of their strength so Esay 17.10 Psal 62.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word that is used in the Text from hence comes our English word sure Explic. God is the rock of our strength both in respect of our naturals and also of spirituals he is the strength of nature and of grace Psal 27.1 the strength of my life natural and spiritual God is the strength of thy natural faculties of reason and understanding of wisdom and prudence of will and affections He is the strength of all thy graces faith patience meekness temperance hope and charity both as to their being and exercise He is the strength of all thy comfort and courage peace and happiness salvation and glory Psal 140.7 O God the rock of my Salvation In three respects First he is the Author and giver of all strength Psal 18.2 It is God that girdeth me with strength Psal 29.11 he will give strength to his people Psal 138.3 Psal 68.35 Secondly He is the increaser and perfecter of a Saints strength it is God that makes a Saint strong and mighty both to do and suffer to bear and forbear to believe and to hope to the end so Heb. 11.34 Out of weakness they were made strong so 1 Joh. 2.14 And
can't and one can suffer that which another can't one goeth heavily and drooping under his burden when another sings and is merry with a burden that is far heavier One can slight a temptation and resist it allthough it be very great and another is overcome when it is small I 'le give you some Examples hereof First Compare the first Adam with the second the first was suddenly overcome with a temptation and fell from a state of happiness into a state of misery because he had not Divine influence to support him and keep him from falling his strength was placed in himself and not in God But the second Adam stands his ground and keeps the field against Satans strongest attempts and batteries yea beats him with his own weapon and forces him to retreat because the God-head dwelt bodily in him and in him dwelt all fulness Again Compare Lot and his wife with Abraham in point of trial when God would have Lot and his wife deny themselves and leave their pleasant habitation of which it is said that it was even as the garden of the Lord you shall find Gen. 19.16 that Lot and his wife were loth to obey God herein 't is said he lingred c. But now when God tried Abraham in a far greater matter see how willingly he obeyed God therein so you may see Gen. 22. Rom. 4.20 The strength of a Christian lies not so much in his inherent Principles as in his assisting influences a Christian is strong as they flow in As a child in his fathers hand may do that which one of larger growth cannot do of himself so a young Christian in the hand of Christ can do that which old Adam could not do in innocency when left to himself A weak bearer with strong supporters may hold a greater weight than a stronger bearer without supporters A weak Christian underpropt and upheld by Divine strength may undergo and bear more then one that hath a larger measure of inherent grace This is that which makes a Christian differ from himself at one time very weak and at another time very strong as buds open in the day and shut at night as a man fasting and full differs in strength We see David at one time is afraid of a little 1 Sam. 27.1 1 Sam. 30.6 and at another time fears nothing At one time he concludes that one day he shall perish by the hand of Saul and yet not near him at another time when his own people spake of stoning him he takes courage in the Lord his God An army of flies will terrifie a Christian at one time when as an army of Giants can't daunt him at another Sometimes he can do nothing at other times he can do all things Sometimes he doth but creep at another he runs towards heaven Full is that Ephes 1.19 we believe according to the working of his mighty power much or little a little power put forth will produce but a little faith a great power will produce a great faith So that this is clear that according to a Saints Communion with God and Gods influence into him such is his strength as a man receives from God such is his power and ability the whole strength of a Christians heart depends upon the enjoyment of God 4. According to the fulness and extent of grace promised in the Covenant of grace such is Gods influence into the hearts of his people for their strength The Covenant of grace is full and large proportioned to the eternal love of God and the weak state of fallen man So that there is no condition into which a Saint can fall but there is a proportionate and suitable good promised and Covenanted to it The Covenant is Gods dispensative wherein all receits for all Spiritual weaknesses is held forth there is not a heart failing but there is a receit for it some promise that is suitable thereunto Now Gods strength passeth from God through the word of promise As God speaks the word so Divine influence flows into the soul The words that I speak saith Christ are spirit and life Joh. 6.63 The Lord is therefore pleased to set forth the power and life of his promise by a lively similitude Esay 55.10 11 12 13. Even as the rain and snow gives strength to the earth to bring forth and to bud and makes it fruitful so doth the word of grace give strength to a weak heart to bring forth grace and comfort and makes it full of goodness David had experience of this and therefore saith In God I will praise his word Psal 56.4 10 i. e. This is my strength God speaks the word and it is done comfort and courage help and salvation flows in through the word of promise Alass I were not able to stand if I had not this supporter to bear me up So you may see Psal 21.13 I had fainted unless I had believed God doth not only strengthen his Saints according to his word but he strengthens them by his word This is the medium through which all Divine strength passeth into the hearts of Saints for the strength of God is in his word of promise as its proper life and virtue this makes it enlightening enlivening strengthening encouraging comforting and sanctifying Hence is that of the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 1.3 4. He that takes hold on the Covenant and on the promises of grace therein takes hold of Divine strength and as it is said of Sarah shall receive strength to conceive and to bring forth the image and life of God in his soul and conversation When God seemeth to stand at a distance from the soul that she can't see him nor find him out yet if the word of promise be nigh her and in her she can't want strength for the strength of God is in it and have you not found it thus sometimes that upon the reading or hearing of a gratious promise of God held forth in the Scripture such a clear light hath shined into your souls and such a strength hath flowed in therewith as to raise you up and to work a mighty change in you 5. According to that mutual transact that is between God the Father and his Son Christ Jesus both on Gods part and on the believers part so doth the Covenant give forth its virtue and grace to the believer You heard before that the Covenant of grace is Gods means whereby he strengthens his people there is the strength of God laid out now this means works not but as it is moved it gives forth nothing but as it is set on work Though there were healing and strengthening virtues in the pool of Bethesda yet they could not put forth themselves until the Angel moved the waters so it is here the Covenant of grace is Gods strengthening pool I but the virtue thereof is not put forth without a motion these waters are set on work by a mutual transact between the Father and the Son First Therefore God
strength It was a saying of Luther He that most strongly trusts to Gods assistance he most surely defends himself And I find it written of S. Augustin that after his first conversion to the faith he was grievously vexed with inward conflicts against his corrupt affections and after long strugling with them by a self-strength which he found too weak to overcome and musing what to do more he heard a voice saying in te stas non stas thou standest in thy self and therefore dost not stand Whereupon apprehending that a self-strength could not mortifie and conquer his corruptions he betook himself to the rock of his strength and at last found such inward assistance thereby as made him stand his ground and overcome his enemies And this is according to Holy Writ as you may see Ephes 6.10 12. Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities c. i.e. If you would be able to encounter with your spiritual adversaries and to stand your ground you must rest upon the rock of your strength you must be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Fides sit tecum tecum est Deus in tribulatione Aug. in Psal 90 Have faith with thee and God is with thee And know this that the strength of sin and Satan could never match the strength of God and hence it is that the people of God have ever conquered both sin and Satan at the last and are able to say as Paul thanks be to God that giveth us the victory 1 Cor. 15. 2 Cor. 2. and causeth us to triumph And what though a Christian is beset with corporal enemies yet if he do but set faith on work he shall find strength coming from the rock of his strength to bear him up against them And hence is that of David Psal 56.3 at what time I am afraid I will trust in thee The flesh will have its work in a good man and stir up passions of fear and grief when danger is near I but these shall not get the upper hand if faith be set on work and therefore saith David at what time I am afraid I will trust in thee And as it overcomes our fears so it overcomes our dangers too for it carries the soul to the rock of strength to help us against them Most full is that of Asa 2 Chron. 14.8 9 10 usque fin The like you have 2 Chron. 20.12 13 15 Judges 7.14 Psal 118.6 7 to the 14 David to Goliah 1 Sam. 17.45 This is the first branch of the use Secondly Is God the rock of your strength then give God the glory of your strength Take heed of robbing God that you may sacrifice to your selves but as you have the comfort so let him have the glory 1. By due acknowledgements say in your hearts and with your tongues all my strength is from God and all my strength is in God and God is the rock of my strength Thus doth David Psal 18.32 It is God that girdeth me with strength Psal 27.1 Psal 28 7 8. and he exhorts others thereunto Psal 68.34 2. By a frequent reviewing and recording your experience of heart-strengthening influences call to mind and take special notice of the incomes of strength from God A Christian should be Gods Notary and his heart a book of Records wherein all the memorable incomes of God are written down He that seeth not what God hath done for him will never give God the praise of his doings and he that buries Gods works in forgetfulness makes God a looser by his gains Hence it is that David rouses up his soul and all within him and lays that charge upon himself Psal 103.2 Forget not all his benefits He that will give God the glory of a mercy must shew it written first upon his heart the heart is the first mover in a man all a mans members are but the Organs of the soul that sets them all on work the tongue will sing and praise God when the heart dictates to it and stirs it up now unless a mans memory be active and his understanding quick in reviewing and calling to mind the incomes of God the heart will lie dead and never stir 3. By imploying your strength for God that God may have his own returned with advantage This is Gods end in giving you strength that you may work for him Oh take heed of a sloathful idle spirit for this is to bury your talent in the earth of sensuality and vanity and hence it is that Paul admonishes Timothy to stir up the gift that was in him and not to neglect it 1 Tim. 4.14 2 Tim. 1.6 This is also his charge upon the Romans Rom. 12.12 an unactive strong Christian is as unprofitable as he that hath no strength and an unprofitable servant is in great danger of five evils 1. Of the loss of Gods comforting presence 2. Of the loss of Gods assisting presence for a time 3. Of falling into some powerful temptation So David fell 4. Of corrupting thy heart 5. Of an abatement of thy strength First Of the loss of Gods comforting presence He that doth not draw nigh to God in duty shall not find God nigh to him in comfort Can any idle servant expect the favour of his Master and a reward at night when as he hath loytred all the day No more may idle unactive Christians How canst thou expect a smile from God or any manifestation of love that spendest thy most precious time and strength in the service of another Master as the withdrawing of Gods quickening presence lays the soul up that it grows dull and heavy so a dull and dead Spirit unto Holy Service oftentimes causeth God to withdraw his comforting presence You have both in one verse Esay 64.7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee for thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities The reason why they were so dead and unactive that they stirred not up themselves to take hold on God was because God had hid his face from them and the reason of Gods hiding his face from them was for their iniquities sins of omission as well as of commission Little do Christians think what they loose when they neglect an opportunity of calling upon Gods name seeking Gods face hearing of his word and putting their graces upon exercises Why they loose the comforts of God that are to be enjoyed in those exercises the least ray and drop of which are more to be prized then the whole world God never hides his face so soon and so long from a Christian as when he withdraws his hand from Holy work As Apostasie from God and his ways causeth a total rejection God turns his back upon that man that withdraws from him so a deadness and dulness in the
work of God will most certainly cause a frown from God He hides his face from such as being ashamed to own them And indeed it is a shame that Satans servants should be more active and laborious in his vasallage and drudgery then the servants of God oftentimes are in their high and heavenly calling and employment I say God is even ashamed of them and therefore hides his face from them O it is very good for Christians to examine themselves when they find an ebb in their comforts whether there is not an ebb in their spirits that they are not so lively and active for God as they have been Secondly idle unactive Christians that do not lay out their strength for God are in danger of the loss of Gods assisting presence for a time To what purpose should God give in new influences when as the soul neglects to lay out his former incomes What reason hath the soul to expect that God should stand by him and give in a new supply of grace to sit still and do nothing God is not so prodigal of his grace and 't is but folly in the soul to expect it The promise runs thus the Lord is with you while you are with him i. e. when the soul waits upon God in the way of obedience and is faithful to lay out communicated strength therein to the utmost then God attends all his motions and communicates new supplies to help him forward therein but now when the heart grows dead and the spirit dull to Holy employment God withdraws himself and leaves the soul for a time Some say they must not enter upon a duty until the spirit of God moves them Why truly such men oftentimes sit still a long time without a motion from the spirit No we must attempt our duty and then we may hope for the motions of the spirit but otherwise we cannot The Holy Spirit is an active Spirit and he cannot endure to lodge in an idle unactive soul also when the soul once takes off his hand from Holy employment the Holy Spirit departs The Church never found such a sensible withdrawing of her beloved from her as when she was laid down to rest her self upon her pillow of ease and self enjoyment As you may see Cant. 5.2 6. She found it very hard to recal him and recover her enjoyment of him And so it will be with all those that are in that posture Mark her expression I opened to my beloved but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone my soul failed when he spake I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he gave me no answer See here how God repays the soul in its own Coyn. She will do nothing for God and now God will do nothing for her She would not answer God when he called but was dumb and silent and now God will not answer her when she calls She would not seek him when he offered to be found of her and now he will not be found though she seek him She would not lay out that strength for God which she had and now he denies her that strength which she wants Thirdly An idle unactive Christian is in danger of falling into some powerful temptation When a man once leaves off working for God Satan will presently set him to work If thou canst not find in thine heart to pray meditate believe repent and walk close with God the Devil will find thee work to thy cost The truth is the soul of man can't lie still it must move and act Now if it be taken off from that which is good it will fall to that which is naught Little did David think what a bait Satan had laid for him when he went up to the roof of his house and there walked from thence did those two horrible sins of uncleanness and murther take their rise When a man goeth forth out of his Chamber in a morning with a purpose to spend a day idly and vainly he little thinks what the issue thereof may be before night An idle unactive Christian tempts Satan to tempt him and Satan never goeth up and down unprovided but according to the temper of the person or the season of the year or the place of a mans converse or the age of his life fits and prepares such a snare for him as may most undoubtedly catch him to the breaking of his peace and the wounding of his conscience And indeed the less any Christian works for God the greater advantage Satan hath to work upon him When thou intermittest thy seasons of praying and conversing with God in his Holy Ordinances then the roaring Lion comes and makes a prey of thee Thou art then meat for his tooth And know this that sins of Commission do for the most part if not always take their rise at sins of Omission Thou dost not perform that which God commands and Satan provokes thee to that which God hath forbidden Thou straglest and wanderest out of Gods way and 't is no wonder if this high way adversary take thee up Fourthly Thou art in danger of having thy heart more corrupted hereby The heart of the best is bad enough but by idleness it will be worse Standing water will soon corrupt and so will an idle unactive spirit The less a Christian is imployed in Holy Duties the worse will his heart grow more prone to evil and less disposed to good When a Clock stands still long the wheels will contract rust and put it out of Order Even thus it will be with the heart of man when it is not in continual motion towards God and often wound up into an heavenly frame it contracts abundance of filth that puts it out of order and renders it unfit for holy action it his hard to get the heart into a good frame for communion with God if a Christian take never so much pains with it but if it be in never so good a temper it will soon be out again if a man take not as much pains to keep it so as to get it into it The corruption that is in mans heart will quickly overtop his grace if he stirs not up himself to oppose it An idle Christian cannot continue a good Christian long Fifthly If thou beest idle and unactive thy Spiritual strength will much abate So much as thou abatest of this Christian work so much will thy spiritual strength abate He that will not work when he can will not be able to work when he would For as grace is strengthened by exercise so it decays by idleness And it is a just judgement of God to take away our Talents from us when we do not improve them for his advantage Matt. 25. Branch 2. God is Israels portion for ever Now in the handling this truth I shall do three things 1. Prove it by Scripture 2. Explain it 3. Give you the grounds and reasons and so apply it First For proof turn to that of David
Psal 119.57 142.5 Jer. 10.16 the same with Jer. 51.19 word for word and Lam. 3.24 Secondly For explanation I shall both give you the sense of the word and also shew you in what respect God is a portion In the Hebrew word there is a Metaphor taken from the old custom of dividing inheritances in which every heir had his part given him by lot and that was called his portion so Josh 18.5.6 In like manner God is Israels portion A division is made of heaven and earth of God and the creature the men of the world have their portion in the world Psal 17.14 and the Israel of God have God for their portion Now a portion notes out a mans All All he hath to live upon for sustenance content and satisfaction But God is the godly man's All. Deus est unde vivant Aug in Psa 119.57 He lives upon God God is his sustentation content and satisfaction Though God sometimes is pleased to give much of the earth to a godly man as he did to Abraham Lot c. yet that is not their portion not their All. And therefore saith the Psalmist Whom have I in heaven but thee Psal 73.25 viz. as my portion And so when God takes away all a Christians earthly substance he takes not away his portion Job lost all his earthly goods and yet Job lost not his portion God was his All still When God gives riches in abundance to a godly man 't is but God in those riches God in lands Dat deus portionem in terra viventium sed non aliquid a se extra se Aug. in Psal 14.2.5 God in money God in All and therefore these may be all taken from him and yet he keep his portion still In like manner if a godly man have never so much of the world he is not satisfied therewith unless God be his too When Luther had many gifts sent him by good friends he turn'd himself to God and said That God should not put him off with these things As an heir though he have money cloathes and victuals yet still looks after the inheritance 't is so with a good man Secondly In what respect may God be said to be a portion Ans A portion hath three properties in it and all attributable unto God First a portion is a good Matt. 7.11 and hence a mans estate is called bona because it consists of several good things Thus God is a portion for he is good Psal 100.5 Psal 34.8 O taste and see that the Lord is good Nay God is the chief and highest good not only good but goodness it self All good in created beings is a participation of Divine Goodness For there is but one efficient exemplary and final goodness that from whence good comes according to which all good things are made and to which all things tend The goodness of God is not only the Original copy and first Idea according to which God drew all things but the highest good whereunto all things do tend as their ultimate end So Rom. 11 ult For of him and through him and for him are all things Secondly A portion is a suitable good Men do not give Stones and Scorpions Poison or Prisons to their Children as a portion Matt. 7.11 Thus God is a portion For he is a sutable good Nothing so sutable to the state of man and the nature of the soul as God is Name what you will riches honours pleasures in the world are not these are heterogeneal things The soul of man is spiritual and subline Such a good is God and whatever the soul pants after it is enjoyable in him Hence God is resembled and set out by such things as man stands most in need of and are the most delightful to the heart of man 1. God sets forth himself by the element of water so Esay 33.21 Now water is a refreshing creature to the spirit of a thirsty man Esay 32.2 2. God is also life Psal 36.9 now what is more suitable or convenient unto a dead man then life a dead man can't have true content and satisfaction nothing can sustein and keep a dead corpse from putrifaction and corruption but life All beings sink and perish without life They are comfortless and miserable without life I but that soul that enjoys God hath life his presence quickens a dead soul to the life of God the life of holiness and the life of happiness So that he that enjoys God is eternally sustein'd and can never die So John 6.50 to 57.3 God is also set forth under the notion of light Psal 27.1 a thing most comfortable and pleasant and exceeding suitable to the state of man Darkness shuts up a man in misery but light brings him forth Man is brought into the world in a state of darkness and never seeth the light of life until he comes to God Psal 36.9 In thy light shall we see light In a word God is that which the soul stands in need of to render it happy and glorious Whatever the soul wants it must have from God It is he alone that gives grace and glory and when he hath given both himself must be all in all or else the soul can't have content given what you will to a thirsty heart and yet it is not content unless you give him that which is convenient for thirst 'T is not gold nor silver that will satisfie him No he must have drink 't is so in all other cases In like manner a soul that hungers and thirsts after God cannot be satisfied without the enjoyment of him Thirdly A portion is an adaequate and proportionable good Every legacy is not a portion A portion as was hinted before is a mans livelyhood his All. Now a mans All must be proportioned to a mans necessity it must be enough to live upon Thus God is the Saints portion he is enough the soul needs no more then God to live upon God may well be the Saints All for he is All-sufficient Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God or God All-sufficient God is pars abundantissima sufficientissima The soul that enjoys God may truly say as Esau to his brother Jacob when he offered him a large present Gen. 33.9 I have enough Brother or as the prodigal said of his Father there is bread enough and to spare Luk. 15.17 there is not only enough but much to spare in God The soul is of a vast capacity all the world can't give it enough I but God can and yet when it is satisfied he hath never the less still The heart of man is ever craving and begging until it be filled with all the fulnes of God and then it is quiet That man that takes up his rest and saith within himself I have enough I need not ask any more I may leave off praying and seeking is either very ignorant of the dimensions and fulness of God or else is very proud and self-conceited For let a man
draw never so much yet the well is deep and there is as much as ever was O the bottomless goodness of God! O the inexhaustible fountain of Divine perfection No heart is able to fathom or contain it Demonstration Q But how comes God to be the Saints portion First it flows from Gods free donation God hath given himself to his Saints That is properly a mans portion that his father gives him Now because God can give no greater good then himself therefore he gives himself to his Saints God is their Father and they must have a portion from him and God cannot think any thing below himself a portion for them He can give the world to his enemies I but he gives himself to his children Hence it is said that God hath set apart him that is godly for himself Psal 4.3 and the Lord hath chosen Jacob for himself Psal 135.4 even as a man takes a child and adopts him makes him his own and then gives him a portion so doth God 1 John 3.1 and Rom. 8.17 Now what is the inheritance but God himself Nothing below God is the inheritance of Christ who is the Son and nothing less then God is the inheritance of Saints who are Gods younger children but this is not by humane purchase but by Divine gift For alass all the gold silver in the world is not to be weighed against God as a sufficient price All the nations of the earth are but as a drop in the bucket and as the dust in the ballance Nay as nothing and counted to him less then nothing No this is an inheritance not to be bought by any finite price Nay whatever thou valuest the most yet comes infinitely short of a sufficient price Wert thou more righteous then the Angels or Adam in innocency yet all thy good works would not bring thee in a ray of Divine glory by way of merit Why else had not the Apostate Angels and Adam in innocency the presence of God for their sustentation to keep them from falling but to evidence this truth that mans righteousness cannot purchase the enjoyment of God 2. This flows from a Saints self-denying resignation A true Saint denyes himself in all but God and to him he resigns up himself Self-denial outs a man of all earthly goods in point of affection and affiance and carries him to God alone for sustenance content and comfort So Psal 73.25 A true Christian dare not own any thing as his All but God He hath a true right to all that he enjoys as to use but he doth not account it as his portion No he resigns himself to God as his life and All So David Psal 27.1 God is my life i. e. I live upon God and have all in him I betake my self wholly to him and to him only So Psal 62.1 the word rendred truly signifies only i. e. I betake my self to God alone I go no whither else and the truth is none but a true Christian knows the emptiness of the creature and the fulness of God and therefore he alone lets all go for God Those things which are the wordlings gain a Saint accounts loss for God now when a man hath thus outed himself of All for God he would have nothing at all to live upon if he did not fix on God as S. Paul said 1 Cor. 15.19 If our hopes were in this life we were of all men the most miserable What to loose earth and heaven together To deny a mans self in all worldly advantages and not to have a God to lay hold on This is most sad No therefore the Christian is so wise as to make an happy exchange to forsake all for God and having forsaken all for God God takes him to himself Hence is that gratious promise Hos 14.3 The fatherless shall find mercy God is the portion of none but spiritual Orphans he becomes guardian to none other Mercy in God supposes misery in the creature Now when the soul becomes the most wretched and miserable in its own sense then it is an object of mercy Matth. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for their is the kingdom of God 3. God is a Saints portion by way of fruition he enjoys God truly here and fully hereafter God is not only round about his people as their wall of protection but he is in their hearts as their life and well-head of eternal comfort and satisfaction 1 John 3.24 He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him There is a mutual inhabitation they dwell each in other and so enjoy one another So vast is the soul of man that nothing but God can fill it and therefore God dwells in a Saint so immense and incomprehensible are the dimensions of God that nothing is able to hold them and therefore a Saint must enter into and dwell in God Hence is that prayer of the Apostle for the Ephesians Chap. 3.19 that they might be filled with all the fulness of Christ So that of our Saviour Matt. 25.21 The more an earthly portion dwells and lodgeth in the heart the more it sinks and destroyes the man but this is our life and salvation our glory and our heaven to be full of God Gods indwelling in the soul is its resurrection and exaltation Esay 57.15 16. Now for the right understanding hereof you must know that this indwelling of God in the soul is not essentially as the God-head dwelt in the humane nature of Christ and made up one person but mystical and spiritual 1. By lively impression 2. By gratious influx First God dwells in the heart by lively impression God stamps his own image upon the heart and so lives in it as the father lives in his child a soul conform'd to God is a soul full of God Then is the soul taken up into the life and light of God when it is made like to God holy as he is holy Then God lives in the heart when a spirit of holiness is planted in the heart and when the lines of his glory are drawn upon it so saith the Apostle 1 John 4.12 16. God is love The love of God is his image he that loveth truly and sincerely he dwelleth in God and God in him There are some that dream of an immediate vision of God they see him in his Essence but saith John No man hath seen God at any time if we love one another God dwelleth in us and we in him i. e. If the image of Divine glory be enstampt uppon our hearts and appears in its lively acts of grace and goodness love and sweetness then have we true and close communion and fellowship with the Father So 1 John 1.7 If we walk in the light as he is in the light then have we fellowship one with another This is to see God know him and enjoy him for the soul to be made like to him transformation of the soul into Divine similitude gives it the fullest enjoyment
all goes yet the heart is born up in the enjoyment of God as Habakkuk was Hab. 3.17 And also when all is enjoyed Deut. 3.8 10 11. God may have the glory and praise of all Deut. 6.9 10 11. O Beloved maintain a constant sense of Divine fulness upon your spirits 't is not enough for a Christian to make God his All and to know him to be so but to present God thus always to his mind and spirit What is it for a man to be worth a vast estate if he be unmindful of it though he be never so rich yet he looks upon himself as poor and so lives a dejected and a disconsolate life Thus it is with a Christian though he makes God his portion yet if he be unmindful of God his comfort will fade and fall And so on the other side when he is full of the creature his heart will be too much elevated and puffed up if he forgetteth him who filleth all in all forgetfulness of God either raiseth a man too high or else casts him down too low he that forgets God will either be proud or else despondent 2. Is God your portion then be content with such things as you have Heb. 13.5 What though thou hast not enough in the world yet thou hast enough in God and though thou hast not a self-sufficiency yet thou hast an All-sufficiency God is thine All. Let not this trouble thee that the world can't be a God unto thee or that thou hast not all that the world can afford thee in kind for thou hast more in God Remember this that the life of man consists not in the abundance of riches Luk. 12.15 Thou canst neither live upon them nor prolong thy life by them thou canst neither comfort thy self with them if God withdraws nor increase them without his word of blessing but contentation with a little is great riches if God presents himself to thee in it as thine All. O therefore murmure not repine not fret not thy self because the stream is low when as thou hast the fountain that can never be drawn dry 3. Be not solicitously or distrustfully careful for what you want the presence of God will fully supply the absence of any creature thou hast enough to live upon when all created comforts fail thee Hence is that of the Apostle Phil. 4.6 God will not suffer thee to want any good that is needful for thee Psa 34.9 10. What thou canst not enjoy in the creature thou shalt enjoy in God himself A Christians motto may be this Nil habeo nil careo nil curo I have nothing self-denyal hath outed me of all all is to him as nothing I want nothing for he hath all in God I take care for nothing for he looks upon God for his provision A carking solicitous man takes Gods office out of his hand for God hath made it his work to take the care of his people and hath made it their duty to be careful for nothing 1 Pet. 5.7 There is a double care 1. Cura officii 2. Cura eventus First There is a care of duty and so every man is bound to labour in that calling wherein God hath set him carefully and industriously 'T is not only lawful but our duty to make provisions for back and belly for our selves and others So Rom. 12.17 1 Tim. 5.8 Secondly There is a care of event and so we ought to be without care we are to look at God for the event and issue of all and for a blessing upon all conscience of duty and faith in God are to be inseperably conjoyned we must use the means and yet look beyond it Neglect of means is disobedience and distracting care about the issue is infidelity two rocks on which the soul is apt to split if not rightly steered by a Divine hand 4. Is God your portion then above all be thankful for the enjoyment of God every gift that cometh down from God requires thanks but much more when God gives thee himself in every thing give thanks saith the Apostle 1 Thess 5.18 For this is the will of God but how much should our hearts be enlarged with thanks and praise for the incomes of God himself as the enjoyment of good is the object of thanks so our thanks should be proportioned to the good enjoyed the highest good should have the highest praise So David Psal 118.28 Thou art my God I will praise thee thou art my God I will exalt thee SERMON II. PSAL. LXXIII XXVI My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever WE have raised two Doctrines out of these words 1. That God is the Rock or Strength of an Israelites heart and his portion for ever 2. That Divine relief flows from God to his people according to their necessity We have dispatcht the first of these and shall now proceed to the Second That Divine relief flows from God to his people according to their necessity When flesh and heart faileth then God is the strength of their heart and portion When the old stock is almost spent God renews it again When the fire is almost out he throws on new fewel When the old house is falling upon our heads he underprops it When the Cistern fails the Conduit shall run In plain English when a Christian stands in greatest need of relief and help God will communicate the most of himself to him God oftentimes leads his people as he did Abraham to the top of the mount of trials temptations and afflictions and then appears to them in grace and goodness that they may set up their stone and write Jehova Iireh upon it the Lord will be seen Now for the more methodical handling this Doctrine I shall do these three things 1. Consider the particular cases wherein a Christian stands in need of relief 2. Shew you how relief flows from God to Christians in those cases 3. Give you the grounds and reasons thereof First For the cases wherein a Christian stands in need of relief and these are reducible to two heads according to the Prophet here in our Text. 1. Failing of the flesh 2. Failing of the heart First Failing of the flesh and this is twofold 1. When the comforts of a mans life fail him 2. When the strength of the outward man fails Secondly There is a failing of the heart and that is threefold 1. When the faculties of the soul fail and cannot perform their due offices either by way of apprehension election or retention 2. When the acquired or infused habits of the heart are weakned or indisposed to act 3. When the animal spirits are expiring and even breathing forth This as I hinted at the first in opening the Text was the Prophets case who pen'd this Psalm He was brought very love even to the very pit ready to die soul and body failed all without and all within failed and then God was the strength of
act as to relieve himself by an indirect course for he would not take the name of God upon him in vain he had rather die then do it Now when God hath thus drawn out the desires of the soul after grace then he gives in such a measure as shall preserve it and keep it from yielding to the temptation and Beloved it is a gratious relief to be kept in an holy and gratious frame of heart under a strong and powerful temptation 't is worthy of a Christians taking notice thereof So doth the Prophet this poor man cried and the Lord heard him Psal 34.6 Beloved if you be never so poor yet if God draws out your hearts after him in prayer you shall be kept that you shall not take any indirect course to help your selves but be able to say as David of himself this poor man cried and the Lord heard him As prayer is the desire of the soul formed into requests and petitions so crying is the importunity of the soul in prayer Petitions and requests presented to God with an humble and reverential boldness it is a wrestling with God for a blessing a perseverance in prayer with an holy resolution not to be put off Now 't is the poor that thus crys sense of want that pinches the soul joyned with some hopes of obtaining makes the soul to cry and he that crys shall be heard Divine relief shall come in to help it in this time of need Thus you see how relief comes in to a good man in the want of all outward comforts Secondly When the strength of the outward man fails And this is properly the failing of the flesh when a man is in a consumptive condition God smites the body and then the flesh wasts the beauty thereof fades and the senses grow dull and heavy The Prophet David had great experience hereof and therefore often mentions it in his Psalms Psal 38.10 my strength faileth and Psal 109.24 my flesh faileth of fatness and Psal 69.3 mine eyes fail He was brought low even to the mouth of the grave but Divine relief came in As you may see Psal 116.6 I was brought low and he helped me God sometimes raises a man from the very gates of death and gives him a new life restores him to his former health and strength But if God doth not thus by a gratious man yet he shall have cause to say the Lord is the strength of my heart in this weak and low estate and condition Divine relief shall be given to him 1. To support and strengthen him to bear his affliction with patience the power and grace of God is wonderfully seen in bearing up the spirits when the body sinks and in giving grace to exercise patience under the pains and sorrows of death you have heard saith Saint James of the patience of Job Jam. 5.11 As you heard of his corporal affliction how soarly he was handled so you have heard of his patience how gratiously he was he was supported that he could bear his affliction without murmuring or repining 't is true it made him groan I but the stroke was heavier then his groaning As he saith Job 23.2 Even to day is my complaint bitter my stroke is heavier then my groaning The spirit of a man will sustain corporal infirmities when God sustains the spirit Now patience under afflictions is equivalent to a deliverance from them to be able to bear an affliction is as great a mercy as to be freed from it if God rebukes the feavour of impatiency and thereby cures that it is as much as to rebuke a bodily distemper and thereby to cure it So you may see 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but that which is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to â—scape that ye may be able to bear it i. e. I can assure you that thus far you shall be set free from your temptations afflictions that you shal be able to bear them This is a gratious relief for there is no affliction but impatiency makes a greater affliction many afflict themselves when God doth not and many afflict themselves more then God doth their impatiency first makes their groaning heavier then their stroke and then their stroke heavier then it is in it self 2. Divine relief and strength comes into the heart of a good man in this consumptive condition to renew the inward man as the outward man decays So saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.16 Though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day As God pulls down the old house the house of clay he frames and erects a new building that shall abide for ever So that a Christian may say as Peter Martyr said when he was dying My body is weak my mind is well well for the present and it will be better for the future The flesh and spirit of a good man are like two buckets when the flesh goeth down the spirit gets up he is ever best within when he is worst without when the body is going down to the earth from whence it came the soul is ascending to heaven from whence it came And you have a gratious promise for it Psal 92.13 14. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God They shall still bring forth fruit in their old age they shall be fat and flourishing Old age shall have green fruit upon it When â—he flesh proves the most barren the spirit is most fruitful a true Christian never flourisheth so much as when old age hath nipt the flesh and it is a lovely sight to see gray hairs a consumptive body and a withered face fat and flourishing in Holiness and Righteousness to see Summer-fruit upon an old tree in Winter-time and yet thus it is with good Christians their Winter of old age is their most flourishing time When nature is most spent grace comes to its greatest strength and perfection Faith strongest love to God and Christ most enflamed hope most lively and holiness most beautiful and sparkling the greatest beauty in the soul when the body is turning to rottenness and putrifaction When the natural breath smells of the earth the spiritual breath savours most of heaven the eye of the soul most clear in discerning spiritual and heavenly things when the eye of the body grows dim and dark the hand of faith most steady to take hold on Divine promises when the corporal hand shakes with the palsie and the feet of the soul run fastest towards the mark for the price of the high calling in Christ when the bodily feet cannot move So true it is that a Christian may say as S. Paul said When I am weak then am I strong weak in my outward man but strong in the inward 3. Divine relief comes in to the heart of a
it i. e. he convinceth a Christian of the greatness and heinousness of the sin It is possible for a Christian that is sound and upright in the main to have so great a failing in his Will that for a time he may but jog on in the way of God that other Christians outstrip him far that set out long after him and yet he may be very insensible thereof until God is pleased to strike a dart of spiritual conviction through his very heart and this wakens and rouzes him up and makes him bestir himself and consider where he is and what he hath been doing all this while A clear place for this you have Cant. 5.2 I sleep but my heart waketh it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying open to me my sister This is the ingenuous confession of the Church wherein she acknowledgeth that carnal deadness and security that had overtaken her I sleep or I have been asleep Now a Christian never sleeps spiritually or in a spiritual sense but when his Will flags and fails when that falls to a kind of indifferency or is not strongly bent and inclined but grows cold and dead which is the symptome of a sleepy man I but did Christ suffer his Spouse to lie in this sleepy state No! See how he awakens and rouzes her up he calls to her and bids her open to him whereby he let in a beam of divine light and convinc'd her of her sin and this was the first step to her cure this made her open her eyes as when a man awakes out of sleep he first opens his eyes and then he rises So 't is with a sleepy and dull Christian God's first work upon him is to open his eyes that he may see his sin and be affected with it and this will make him stir O beloved it may be you do not know the evil that is in a sleepy estate the sin that is inindifferency and halting in the waies of God and in the weakness of your Resolution to walk therein you take little notice it may be of the coldness and deadness of your hearts unto holy duties or of the fickleness and inconstancy of your Spirits in them but at one time or other you must expect a Soul-awakening voice that will make you open your eyes and then you will see how great a sin it is What though thou dost not cast off the waies of God yet this heartlessness in them is sin enough if God should charge thee with it to sink thy Soul as low as Hell Secondly God cures this sleeping evil by reviving and renewing the inscription and impression of Divine Law upon the heart A good man never grows dull and dead but when Divine Law is not in its full strength and power upon the heart As this is a means of divine life so it is a restorer and renewer of life When the heart is exceeding dead and indisposed to any thing that is good this can quicken it and hence is that of David Psal 119.93 It is a blessed thing for a dead and dull heart to be quickned unto and in the way of God But this will not be unless the word of God come with life and power upon the heart And this effect is worth remembring and a good man will say with David I will never forget thy Precepts for with them thou hast quickned me It may be thou goest to read or hear the word with a dead and dull Spirit and by that God quickens thee Oh remember it and never forget it It was a great and wonderful mercy to thee that God did write his Law upon thy heart when he first brought thee under the bond of his everlasting Covenant and then bowed and inclined thy heart to a ready and free obedience thereunto It was a day of power when he made thee willing to take his yoak upon thee And it is a great mercy that he is pleased to revive and renew the characters of this divine and heavenly Law upon thy Spirit when they seemed to be obliterated and blotted out when thou hadst almost lost the power and life thereof upon thy Spirit that there was little stirring or moving in thy Will towards Heaven God deals with a Christian as a man deals with his Watch when it goeth dull and begins to beat slowly he gets the Spring which is the principle of its motion mended and renewed So when the heart of man grows dull and heavie his motions very cold and dead unto any good God mends and renews the Will which is the spring and principle of motion in the heart and for that end he sets Divine Law and will to work upon it When God's Will moves upon our Will then 't is quick and liuely in its motions towards God not else if that be dead towards him the man is dead to any thing that is good I know the Law as it is a Covenant of Works is a killing Instrument it slew Saint Paul and laid him a bleeding before God but as it is a Covenant of Grace so it is a quickning Instrument and sets the Soul a going after God in the use of those means which he hath appointed 3. Sometimes God cures this sad distemper by shedding his love abroad upon the heart Divine Love is both a heart-quickner and a heart-in-flamer We saith the Apostle love him because he loved us first 1 Jo. 4.19 Our love is but the reflex of his Gods love to us is founded in it self He loves because he will love but our love to God is founded on his love Nothing in us moved him to love us but God's love to us moves us to love him and therefore it is that as God manifests his love to us so we are able to love him The love of Christ constraineth us 1 Cor. 5.17 As when the Sun shineth then Flowers open so when the love of God shines upon the Soul it opens to God then the Heart is enlarged for God the Will is carried out with high resolutions to follow him fully in all the waies of his commands As the hiding of Gods face is a great damp upon the Spirit that makes it drive on very heavily in the way of God so the shining of his face is a notable quickner of the Spirit it is like oil to the wheel that helps on the motion with greater ease When once a Soul hath tasted the love of God and got some sense thereof the pulse of holy desires will begin to beat strong after the enjoyment of him it is impossible for a Christian to remain dead under the warm beams of this most glorious Sun It is very observable that no sooner did God call to Israel to return with a gracious promise of healing their backslidings and of pardoning their iniquities But they answer Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Though their Hearts were turned even quite away from God and their Wills exceeding averse from
returning yet that expression of Love and Grace to them presently turned the bent and frame of their Spirits and quickned them to a speedy return Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God as you may see Jer. 3.22 And therefore it is that a gracious Soul longs for the sense and manifestations of Gods love not only for the peace and comfort that it brings along with it but because he knows that it a is quickner of his Heart and Will to a cheerful performance of obedience unto God 'T is that which begets a free Spirit in the Soul renders it ready and prompt unto all holy service And now set God call him to what he pleaseth and he stands ready prest to do it God hath now as it were a string upon his heart he may lead him about whither he will 4. Sometimes God cures the failing of the Will by removing those impediments that stopt its motion You know if a wheel be scotcht there is no stirring of it until that be removed even thus 't is here Sometimes the Will of man which is the wheel of Motion is scotcht so that it cannot move forward until that be removed Hence that of the Psalmist I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Psal 119.32 The word enlarge doth not only signifie to widen and extend a thing but also to set at liberty and to free it from impediments and incumbrances and so it is used Psal 4.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress or Thou hast set me at liberty And as it is applicable to the outward state and condition of a man so the Prophet makes use of the same word in reference to tie the inward state I will run the wayes of thy commands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when thou shalt set my heart at liberty i. e. There is that in my heart that cloggs me and hinders me that I cannot run the way of thy commands until thou dost remove it Sometime the mind is clogg'd with strong temptations Sometimes with sore pressures of grief and horror Sometimes with impetuous lusts and passions And untill the Soul be set free she cannot move in the waies of God And therefore divine relief comes into the Soul in this case to remove those obstructions and to take away those clogs And many a gracious Soul hath cause to say Lord thou hast enlarged my Heart My Heart was scotcht but thou hast set me at liberty I was pesterd with such a temptation and with such a pressure of grief and horrour or with such a passion and lust but thou hast removed it and set me at liberty I know the perfect and full enlargement of the soul is not wrought until she comes in heaven but God begins the work here and oftentimes when she is in the greatest streight and so stopt in her motion that she is like an instrument quite out of tune and ready to be hung up or laid by then God steps in and affords this gratious relief to it 5. Sometimes when God finds the soul in this dead and drowzie case that it hath little mind or spirit unto duty he makes use of the rod of correction and then when the soul feels it smart she rouseth up her self and sets to work Even as when Absalon sent for Joab to come to him once and again and saw he would not stir he commanded his servants to set Joabs field on fire and then Joab makes all the hast he could to Absalon 2 Sam. 14.29 30.31 even thus it is here God sends for us first one messenger comes and then another to tell us that God would have us come to him As you have it Cant. 2.14 Let me hear thy voice let me see thy face I but we stir not come not at God either to pray to him or praise him that at last God is forced to fire us out and then we come You have a notable place for this Hos 5.15 I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early They that lay snorting in their bed of security in the time of prosperity will be better husbands in time of adversity they 'l get up early the word signifies they shall morning me i.e. they shall come in the morning of their time and seek me And so Esay 26.16 They poured out a prayer unto thee when thy chastning was upon them and in their affliction they visited thee Mark it when the rod was upon their back then they cry and then they beg I they poured out a prayer It was not as one observes upon the place a dropping now and then but it was violent and continual the spirit was stirred and now it cannot lie still Afflictions commonly move and stir the heart one way or other sometimes they stir the evil and cross humours that are in the heart of man and then he rages and fumes against God and his ways but where grace is there they stir up a lazy and a dull spirit to meet God in his way with mournings and supplications The finger may be in the eye because grief is in the heart but this sorrow will have a vent else the heart will not be at rest God and the soul must be friends or she can have no satisfaction When God corrects the soul in good earnest then she seeks him in good earnest and will not be quiet until she finds him So Esay 26.8 9. In the way of thy judgments O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee With my soul have I desired thee in the night with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Here is seeking indeed the whole soul and spirit put forth and that diligently and constantly and then with waiting until she find We have waited for thee 'T is true affections do not always work thus in the heart of a good man at first God whips and whips again before the soul stirs I but God will not give over whipping until she stirs Dull and heavy spirited Christians seldom go long without a rod at their backs and 't is a great mercy when the rod of correction is any ways efficacious to rouse them up out of their drouzie and sleepy state 3. A third particular case of the failing of the natural faculties of the soul is in point of retention the memory may fail As a man may have a good head and a naughty heart so a man may have a good heart and a naughty head a head that will hold little or nothing that tends to the support and comfort of his soul when his flesh fails him A good Christian may be like a leaking vessel that retains no liquor long he may let slip the word of Gods grace and the external works of Gods grace and not
be able to withstand a temptation then he saw the uncleanness of his heart and therefore cried to God to wash him and cleanse him and it is as if he had said Lord I see now what a filthy and unclean Spirit dwelleth in me Lord do thou purge it out and cleanse me from it If any one had gone to David and told him that at such a time he should be overcome by such a temptation and commit two great sins he would hardly have believed that his heart had been so bad But after wards his expeperience taught him 2. Hereby God teacheth the Soul where its strength lieth and on whom its grace depends The decay of grace shews that the strength thereof is not in man nor in grace it self but like the Vine it must have a supporter Grace can't live nor thrive without constant influences I but good men are too apt to depend upon their grace and not to go to him for strength in whom it lies Now when a Christian feels the decay of his grace and his own insufficiency to relieve and strengthen it this drives him out of himself to Christ This is one main difference between the total want of grace and a sense of decay in grace The total want of grace drives men from Christ but a sense of the decay of grace drives men to Christ So it did David his weakness brought him upon his knees 3. The falls of Christians through the weakness of grace and the power of sin are made notable antidotes and preservatives against final Apostasie For as there is nothing that estrangeth the heart from God as spiritual pride and self-confidence so nothing keeps the heart so close to God as a filial fear of offending God So you may see Jer. 32.40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me This is that which hemms in the Soul that it cannot go astray Now the falls of Christians provoke and draw forth this filial fear into act The burnt child dreads the fire and he that hath been stung with a Serpent will shun his hole so it is here None so fearful of falling into sin as they that have fallen None so wary and watchful none so resolute and stout against temptations and occasions of sin as those who have been at a time overcome 4. These falls and decayes are like mighty winds to the Oak that settles him faster and make him root deeper in Christ As the more the Oak is shaken if it falls not the faster and deeper it is rooted in the earth So when a Christian hath been shaken with the winds of temptations and corruptions the faster hold he layeth upon Christ and the deeper he is rooted in him For 1. His experience of Christ's faithfulness in keeping him from falling finally and totally strengthens his faith in Christ 2. His experience of Christ's pardoning love knits and unites his heart close to Christ First His experience of Christ's faithfulness in keeping him from falling totally and finally strengthens his faith in Christ As 't is a notable trial of Christ's faithfulness to keep Saints from falling away finally when they fall souly so experience of Christ's faithfulness is a notable strengthener of a Christians faith in Christ They that know thy name will put their trust in thee saith David Psal 9.10 A friend that keeps close to a man in time of need may well be trusted Even so 't is here Christ keeps close to a Christian even at that time when he deserves to be cast off and is both a shame and a grief to Christ Surely the experience hereof must needs be a great incouragement to a Christian to trust him for ever He seeth that Christs strength never fails although his own strength fail He seeth that there is grace enough in Christ to support him in the weakest condition and to raise him up when he is at the lowest Nay further he finds this strength put forth upon him according to the word of promise and though he is unbelieving yet Christ abides faithful to him And therefore he cannot but conclude from hence that Christ will be his strength for ever and will never fail him Secondly A Christians experience of the fulness and continuance of Christs pardoning love knits and unites his soul faster to Christ then ever this doth endear Christ to the soul exceedingly tryed love is an endearing love and if any thing will draw out the souls affections unto Christ and confirm them against all future assaults it is the renewing of pardons upon the renewal of offences When the soul shall hear Christ say as he doth Esay 43.24 25. Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities I am he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own sake and will remember thy sins no more I say when the soul shall hear this it must needs be deeply affected herewith What! Will the Lord be gratious to such a vile wretch as I am Will he pardon a backslider Will he forgive the sin of one that hath made him to serve with his sin and wearied him with iniquities O here is wonderful love this is transcendent love and shall not I love him that hath loved me thus Yet Lord thou knowest that I love thee 't is true I have backslidden and grievously offended but I will do so no more Thus God sometimes doth the soul much good by that which in it self doth him the greatest hurt as pain easeth a Christian death revives him dissolution unites him so corruption clarifies him and this is a most gratious relief But before I leave this particular I must enter four cautions 1. That no man take up the better opinion of sin hereby for as darkness is nevertheless an evil though God bring light out of darkness so sin is nevertheless an evil though God is pleased to bring good out of it Poison is destructive although a Physician can so correct it as to make it medicinal and so is sin and the better opinion thou hast of sin the more evil and mortal it will be to thee 2. Take heed of lying in sin with hopes of a relief from God watch against it pray against it that thou mayest not be overcome of it but however if thou art overcome by a temptation if Satan hath tript up thy heels get upon thy feet again assoon as possibly thou canst if thou fallest with Peter weep with Peter and labour to find as much bitterness in sin as thou hast found of a seeming pleasure in it Remember this that more have fallen into sin with hopes of rising again then have risen after they have fallen Many sin with Peter but few repent with him
3. Labour to prevent decays in grace It is easier to keep health then to recover it And it is easier to maintain grace in strength and vigour then to recover any degree of grace when 't is lost Though it be Gods goodness to restore grace yet it is your duty to prevent the loss thereof 4. Watch the first decay of grace least it grow to a total consumption of all observe the least flagging of faith and love when it comes to a trial a little grace may serve to repair a little decay but thou wilt stand in need of much to repair a great decay and therefore as soon as grace begins to fail do thou begin to repair O ply the throne of grace for strengthening influences least thy weakness prove dangerous and desperate however do not abuse relieving grace by a present security 3. The third particular failing of the heart is the failing of Animal spirits that the man is ready to fall into a swoon or the soul just taking its flight from the body and leaving its old habitation So the Church complains Cant. 5.6 My soul failed Arias Montanus renders it My soul went forth And this made David cry out Hear me speedily O Lord my spirit faileth I am like them that go down into the pit David was a man ful of spirit and yet he was at this time as if he had had no spirit As 't is said of Nabal his heart died within him and became as a stone 1 Sam. 25.87 And thus it may be with a good man at some time and that in these cases 1. When hope is deserr'd and expectation disappointed Hope deferr'd saith Solomon makes the bea rt sick Prov. 13.12 i. e. When the thing hoped for is deferr'd a mans heart is set upon a thing and he hopes for the obtaining it and he waits and waits and yet it comes not this makes the heart sick but if his expectation be disappointed then his spirit dies It often falls out that mans time and Gods time are not the same Man sets a time to himself and thinks thus at such a time such a mercy and such a good will come in I but Gods time may be long after Now when he seeth that still he must wait and yet the mercy comes not his heart fails his spirit sinks 2. When God hides his face from the soul and she can't see it This was Davids case Psal 143.7 My spirit faileth hide not thy face from me least I be like unto them that go down into the pit i. e. The hiding of thy face will quite kill my spirits As the light of Gods countenance is the life of the soul so the hiding of Gods countenance is its death No sooner doth God depart from a good man but his soul is ready to depart So it was with the Church Cant. 5.6 I opened to my beloved but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone my soul failed when he spake I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he gave me no answer 3. When the soul is wounded with the sense of sin and of Gods displeasure for sin the burden and pain is intolerable and then the spirit sinks As nothing sinks the spirit so much as sorrow and grief So no grief is so heavy upon the soul as grief for sin and the sense of Gods wrath You have a notable passage for this Job 6.4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drink up my spirits An arrow is a deadly Engine so called in Hebrew from its effect cutting or wounding and God sometimes shoots an arrow which pierceth into the soul cuts and wounds it yea sometimes he shoots a poisoned dart and that drinks up the spirit i. e. it kills the spirit Even as a great fire drinks up a little water that is thrown upon it So Gods wrath drinks up the spirit it leaves no spirit in the heart of a man 4. A sudden passion of fear makes the heart to fail So Luke 21.26 Mens hearts failing them for fear Fear when it is excessive dispirits a man When Josephs brethren found their money in their sacks it is said their hearts failed them and why for they were afraid Gen. 42.28 5. Some strong temptation of Satan may make the heart to fail especially if grace be weak Satans assaults sometimes are very violent they come upon the heart with great power like a mighty torrent that overwhelms and sinks the spirit Thus Luther was assaulted by him His temptation was so strong that it seemed to him as if the swelling surges of the Sea did sound aloud at his left ear and that so violently that die he must except they presently grew calm afterwards when the noise came within his head he fell down as one dead and was so cold in each part that he had remaining neither heat nor blood nor sense nor voice and thus it hath been with others The temptations of Satan are sometimes so strong and violent upon the soul as to cause the Animal Spirits to fail These are the particular cases wherein God reveals and makes known the greatness of his strength for the relief of his people 1. When a mans heart fails him through a disappointment then there is a relief for him 1. By exchanging a mercy the soul hopes for one and God gives in a better and more desireable God deals not with his people as Laban dealt with Jacob instead of a fair and beautiful Rachel he put him off with a blear eyed Leah No! God doth the contrary it may be thou art set upon a blear-eyed Leah and God gives thee a fair Rachel My meaning is when the heart of a Christian is set upon and strongly carried out after a low and inferiour mercy and the soul is sick for want of it even ready to die God gives him an higher and more glorious mercy As God is often better to us then our desires so he is better to us then our hopes and when he disappoints our hopes he gives us a mercy that is beyond our hopes For God is no way tyed to the hopes of his people but onely to his word of promise and that he will perform in his own way and time Now sometimes the hope of a Christian may be falsely bottom'd and not rightly fixt on Gods word and then it is no wonder if we meet with a disappointment I but though God doth frustrate our expectation he will not break his word The promise of God doth not fail although we are apt to think it doth when our hope and expectation is disappointed The word of the Lord standeth sure even then when we are not sure that the thing we desire and hope for shall be granted to us and hence it comes that instead of the mercy we desire God gives us in that which he hath promised although not desired nor hoped for 2. God relieves the hearts of his people by giving in the
high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I will 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 For I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth for the spirit should fail before me and the souls that I have made For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his ways and will heal him I will lead him and restore comfort unto him I create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him that is far off and to him that is near saith the Lord and I will heal him Now as these promises are the matter of comfort so they are the means of comfort For when God applies them to a wounded soul there passeth a vertue and power through them to heal and cure it 3. To this he adds the oyl of his Holy Spirit and that he drops into the wound and this doth not only heal but takes away the very scar of the wound and renders the skin as fresh and beautiful as before Oyl in Scripture sets out joy and chearfulness and therefore it is called the oyl of joy And Esay 61.3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Sion to give unto them beauty for ashes and the oyl of joy for mourning This cures the mournful sad and perplexed spirit and makes the face to shine again with brightness and glory according to that Psal 104.15 And oyl to make the face to shine I do not say that God always raiseth the comfort of the soul thus high but sometimes he doth not only heal but anoint and make the soul fair and lovely in his eye For there is no such sight in Gods eye as a sanctified heart that is chearful and joyful before him such a soul is the joy and delight of his heart and especially where he hath made the deepest wound and filled the soul with the greatest horrour in the sense of his wrath and displeasure there when he comes to give peace and comfort he anoints the most the greater wound the greater measure of comfort and hence it is that many a soul blesseth God for its wounds because else it would never have attained to such joys and comforts as God gives in Thus I have shewn you what relief flows into the soul in this case 4. In case that the Animal Spirits fail through a sudden passion of fear There is relief for it And that four ways 1. Sometimes God preventeth the thing feared and never suffers it to come to pass 2. Sometimes God delivers the soul from its fears 3. Sometimes the thing feared is so ordered and disposed by the Lord that it is less then our fear not worth our fear 4. Sometimes God turns the fears of his servants into the right channel that instead of fearing evil they fear him more then ever they did First Sometime God prevents the thing feared and never suffers it to come to pass or at least not at that time we are afraid it will 't is true Job could say the thing which I feared is come upon me Job 3.25 I was not in safety neither had I rest nor was I quiet yet trouble came I but many a good man hath cause to say the thing which I greatly feared is not come upon me Though God did not deliver me from my distrustful fear yet he delivered me from that which I did fear As sometimes we groundlesly expect and hope for a thing that never comes so sometimes we groundlesly fear an evil that never comes As God denyes the desires of a groundless confidence in great mercy so he prevents our groundless fears in mercy For as wicked men are apt to fear evil less then they should so the godly are apt to fear evil more then they should But as that which wicked men fear not comes suddenly upon them so sometimes that which a godly man fears comes not at all This made David say Psa 34.4 I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears i. e. He delivered me from the evils which I feared The effect is here put for the cause Secondly Sometimes the Lord delivers a good man from the fear of evil I mean from a distrustful distracting and tormenting fear which dispirits him and sinks his spirits As some fear where no fear is so sometimes God animates and lifts up the soul above fear where fear is True faith will strive with tormenting fears and when 't is made strong will cast them out There is an excellent promise for this Job 11.14.15 If iniquity be in thine hand put it far away and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacle For then thou shalt lift up thy face without spot yea thou shalt be stedfast and shalt not fear Noting out that when faith is so strong as to purifie the heart and life from sin then it sets the Soul free from the fear of those evils that come by sin Now this is a great relief to the Soul For to be freed from the fear of evil is better then to be freed from the evil The promise runs not thus Thou shalt be freed from evil but thou shalt be freed from the fear of evil Happiness consists more in removing inward then outward trouble He that is afraid of evil before it comes may be happy though it comes Thirdly The thing feared is so ordered and disposed by the Lord that it is a lesser evil then we feared and is not worth our fear Many are far more afraid then hurt or more hurt by their fears then by the evils they feared We are indeed very apt to greater evils and lesser mercies and that is the reason that we meet with evils with so much fear and mercies with so little faith The thoughts of one evil torments our Spirits more then the thoughts of many mercies cheers and comforts our Spirits I but Gods thoughts are above our thoughts and when we are afraid that the evil impending will be very great it proves very little 'T is with many Christians as with some inexperienced Patients they dread the taking of any Physick lest it should overpower nature but when they come to take it they find it works not half so much as they feared it would A wise Physitian tempers the potion according to the constitution of the body and the nature of the distemper and not according to the fears of the Patient Even thus doth God oftentimes deal with us he orders and corrects all our evils so that they prove less hurtful and more beneficial to us then we could think not one dram too much or too little He proportions not our purging Physick according to our fancies but to our necessity when a little will serve the turn he will
not exceed Fourthly Sometimes God turns the fears of his servants into the right channel that in stead of fearing evil they fear him more then before they did and the fear of God is a notable means to cure the fear of evils As one saith well He fears nothing else who fears that one thing to sin and he fears none else who fears that one who is more then all God The fear of God is an excellent antidote against the power and poyson of all other fears You have a full place for this Es 8.13 14. Fear not their fear nor be afraid sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread He that would not fear that which the wicked sometimes do and ought to fear must fear him only whom they do not fear And this is Gods great work to put his fear into the hearts of his people and that will cast out all distrustful and distracting fears Thus I have dispatcht the fourth case Fifthly and lastly In case that the Animal Spirits fail through some strong temptation of Satan there is relief for it As Satan sets all his power and policy on work against the Soul So God sets all his power and wisdom on work to relieve and help it And when Satan doth his worst to destroy it God doth his best to save it Relieving power comes in according to invading power when All might is against him then all might is for him Three things God doth for an assaulted Christian 1. He calls Satan off 2. He calls the tempted Soul in and administers heart-cheering Cordials 3. He crowns the victory First he calls Satan off When God seeth this roaring Lyon preying upon the Vitals of a Christian and ready to destroy him God calls him off For God hath Satan upon a string and he can go no further then he permits him When Satan would have touch'd the life of Job as he had a great mind to it then God bade him hold that was precious and not a fit morsel for the tooth of such a beast Satan never engageth nor encounters with a Christian but with Gods leave He can't shoot a fiery dart at the Soul until God is pleas'd to loosen his Chain whereby he hath him at command And no sooner is he in any hopes of a victory over him but God sounds a retreat He must and shall fall off for God will not suffer him to kill though he wounds The Spirits may fail and the Heart may ake when Satan thrusts sore at him I but Satan shall not give him a deadly wound If God doth but appear on the behalf of a poor assaulted Christian as he doth in the very nick of time when there is but an hairs breadth between him and death Satan cannot stand his ground but gives back and the Soul enjoyes a sweet release It is in this case as it was with those that were possessed with the Devil Christ did but give the word of command and Satan presently obeyed it As you may see Mark 1.23 24 25 26 27. And there was in their Synagoue a man that had an unclean spirit and be cryed out saying Let us alone what have we to do with thee thou Jesus of Nazareth art thou come to destroy us I know thee who thou art the holy one of God And Jesus rebuked him saying Hold thy peace and come out of him And when the unclean spirit bad torn him and cryed with a loud voice he came cut of him And they were all amazed insomuch that they questioned within themselves saying what thing is this what new doctrine is this for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits and they obey him The words hold out the authority of Christ put forth upon Satan in a time when there was the greatest need thereof When the poor creature was ready to be devoured by him Christ gave but the word bade him come out and he was not able to keep possession any longer Even so when the Soul is assaulted by him if God steps but in and layes his commands upon him if God doth but say it is enough let him alone he is presently bound hand and foot he cannot stir any further Satan never had nor ever shall have his will upon one true Believer Secondly God calls the poor tempted Soul in and administers heart-cheering cordials to it A poor Soul never stands in more need of a Cordial then when it hath been worried by this arch enemy of its comfort and God stands as ready to administer it No sooner had Christ got rid of him when he had worsted him in open field but God dispatcht away some of his glorious attendants with the best Cordials that Heaven could afford So you may see Mat. 4.11 Then the Devil leaveth him and Angels came and ministred unto him Surely it must needs be some rare dainty that is sent by the hand of an Angel what it was is not expressed a Christans experience doth best discover it for as Christ was in all things tempted as believers are so one main end of his temptations was that he might be able to succour those that are tempted Heb. 1. ult For in that he himself suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted He is sensible of that relief that he had from his Father both in the temptations and after And as he will have Christians conformable to him in temptations so they shall be in relief and comforts He knows what it was to be tempted and what it was to be administred unto after the temptation was over when he came sweating out of the field faint and weary and he hath learnt to succour and relieve his people in the like condition and therefore he sends to them and sends for them to come to him that he may administer to them He first sends down the holy Spirit into their hearts to give them notice that this is a fit season for them to come to Court and apply themselves to him at the throne of Grace that they may have grace and mercy in this time of need when they come and make their addresses to him he then applies himself to them administers to them according to their need No sooner was Luther released from a grand assault of Satan and come to himself but presently he betook himself to Christ in prayer and prayed most earnestly and received great comfort thereupon and made confession of his Faith This made him say that Meditation Prayer and Temptation makes a Divine I am sure it makes an experimental Christian Thirdly God crowns the victory Though a Christian may be tempted yet he shall overcome In all these saith the Apostle we are more then conquerours Ro. 8.37 What is that Triumphers 2 Cor. 2.14 Now thanks be to God which alwayes causeth us to triumph in Christ As sure as Satan leads a poor Christian into the field and there encounters him with
his hellish temptations God will bring him out with an holy triumph Hence is that of Psal 5.11 12. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield The Hebrew word signifies thou wilt crown him with a shield Some think that the Prophet alludes to a custome of the Athenians who were wont if a Soldier brought his Shield with him out of the battel safe and whole although he lost his Sword to lay his Shield upon his head and with that as with a Diadem to crown him He that holds fast the shield of Faith in an hour of temptation shall wear it on his head as his crown The trial of a Christians faith which is much more precious then of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire shall be found unto praise honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.7 And hence is that of the Apostle I have fought the good fight I have kept the faith and from henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Thus I have opened the Doctrine and shewed you what relief flows from God to his people both when their flesh fails and when their heart fails 1. When the natural faculties of the Soul fail 2. When the infused habits of the Soul fail and 3. When the animal Spirits fail Now I will give you the grounds and Reasons thereof Reas 1. Taken from that near relation that is between God and good men He is their Father and they his Children he is their Husband and they his Wife Now this double relation speaks forth that infinite love that God bears to them and special care that God hath of them God bears a love to his people not only like to the love of a Father but infinitely beyond the love of a Father the love of a Father to his Child is but a dark resemblance of the love of God to his Children and therefore as God out-loves all Parents so he out-does all Parents His love is the love of an infinite Father and therefore knows no bounds either of time or measure and his relief is proportionable to his love Relief wrought by an Almighty arm See this clearly held forth Jer. 31.9 I will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in straaight way wherein they shall not stumble And why for I am a father unto Israel and Ephraim is my first-born Divine Paternity is one main ground of a Saints relief This is the reason why he will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble because he is their Father You know what dear and tender affection a good Father beareth to his Children especially to his first-born All the Childs wants weakness and grief are a trouble and grief to the Father Much more is God affected with the faintings and failings of his Children So Es 63.8 9. He said surely they are my people so he was their Saviour In all their afflictions he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the dayes of old The Prophet alludes to the Song of Moses Deut. 32.11 As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them beareth them on her wings so the Lord alone did lead him How doth this silly creature bestir her self when her young ones are in danger She stirs up her nest she fluttereth over her young and spreadeth abroad her wings And if all this will not secure them she takes them up and bears them upon her wings But how much more will God who is the fountain of such a disposition in his creature bestir himself and put forth his Almighty arm for the relief of his dear ones He will bear them upon the wing of his providence and carry them out of all danger Satan shall not make a prey of them If any thing will draw forth the bowels of a creature the same will draw forth the bowels of God yea much more Luke 11.13 If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the Spirit Alas the love of the Creature is but a drop in comparison of the love of God and therefore there must needs be more life and vigour in the love of God then in the love of all creatures As there is more heat in the body of the Sun then in all its raies were they all contracted into one ray so it is here And therefore if an earthly creature be so apt to tender the good and welfare of those that belong to it what propensity is there in the heart of God to relieve his people when they are in any straights Many an Orphan sits down and weeps over himself in his calamity and thus bemoans his condition If my Father were alive he would not see me want he would pity and relieve me in my sad condition Why Beloved there is never a child of God that needs put finger in the eye in this respect for your Father is alive he lives for ever he is an everlasting Father and as our Text saith A portion for ever And as he is a tender Father so he is a kind Husband So Es 54.5 For thy maker is thine Husband Though he will not relieve and help men because he is their maker yet he will relieve and help all those to whom he is an Husband As long as marriage Covenant holds God will take the care of his Spouse in sickness as well as in health in poverty as in riches in weakness as in strength Nay as a good Husband is most tender over his Wife in the time of her weakness and sickness even so is God to his Spouse she shall want nothing that an Almighty hand can provide for her Reas 2. Taken from Gods design in all his peoples straights and necessities God lets them fall into straights that he may have the glory of their relief Whatever hand brings them in it is a divine hand that must bring them out We may say of all a Christians troubles and failings both of Flesh and Spirit as our Saviour said of Lazarus his death John 11.4 This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Lazarus must die yea and be buried also that Christ might have the glory of his resurrection and that after he had been dead four daies His sickness was unto death but not to death eternal for he had a speedy resurrection that made his death but a trance or a long sleep Happy Lazarus as one saith though sick and
perfect cure Bless God for a little and that will be the way to obtain more Thou mayst get that with a thankful spirit which thou shalt never get with a froward 2. God works variously he relieves all his people but not all alike he cures all but not alwaies with one and the same receipt nor after one and the same manner and method He varies his dispensations much and therefore here may be a mistake that because God doth not make the very same applications to thee which he doth to another therefore thou concludest that God hath done nothing for thy cure and relief 'T is here as in the case of conversion Some Christians are apt to think they are not savingly converted because God did not work upon their hearts in the same way and manner that others are wrought upon They were not brought under those legal terrours nor held under a spirit of bondage in that measure and degree that others have been But this is to tie up God to one way of working grace when as he varies in his working Even such a mistake may be in this case Perhaps thou thinkest that God hath afforded thee no relief because it came not in the same way to thee as it hath done to others 'T is good to eye and observe the experiences of other Christians but not to limit God by them As the thoughts of God will be ever above our thoughts so the waies of his providence will be ever past finding out No man can trace God in some of his wayes they are so mysterious God doth not alwaies leave the print of his foot-steps where he goeth The way of an Eagle in the Air the way of a Ship in the midst of the Sea the way of a Serpent upon a Rock are not so untraceable as many of the waies of God It is mercy that God knows our Souls in the time of our failing though we cannot know every way and method of his relieving us 3. Sometimes distempers work cross that what is appointed for the cure of one is the occasion of another 'T is sometimes so in the body natural and it may prove so in the body spiritual When God is curing the weakness and failing of grace and that begins to recover its wonted strength then spiritual pride breaks forth some self-admiration begins to bud out and that puts God upon a new work It is very rare for a Christian to be strong in some of his graces and not to be too much exalted in his Spirit or for God to lift the heart up in the sense of his love and not grow wanton and secure 'T is pitty that fair weather should do any hurt But 't is thus with some souls that the Sun-shine of Divine Favour and the light of Gods countenance is so ill emproved that the heart grows worse with it and like bodies that have long fasted or are newly brought out of a languishing fit of sickness take a surfeit of their diet and fall again it may be into some worse disease Now here may be a great mistake in this if thou thinkest that because new failings and new distempers break forth God hath done nothing towards thy cure Had not thy distempers wrought so cross thou mightest have been upon thy feet again long before This is the first particular by way of answer to this case Thou mayest have received great relief from God and not know of it And I have shewen you wherein the mistake may lie in the gradation or variety of Gods working or in the cross working of soul distempers 2. Thou sayest that thou canst not set thy seal to the truth of the Doctrine because thou hast had no experience hereof Consider therefore in the next place that it may be Gods time of relieving thee is not yet come God will come in a time that is most seasonable though not always when we expect it Thy time may be come but Gods time is not yet come Gods hand is not shortened nor his arm weakened nor his heart shut up I but his time is lengthened out beyond thy expectation Some are fain to wait a long time for relief before it comes their eyes fail while they wait for God So did David Psal 69.3 Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God It may be thou hast thought the time very long I but if God seeth it good thou must wait still We read in the Gospel of a man that had an infirmity thirty eight years a long time Job 5.5 And what if God will try thee with thine infirmity as long yet when his time is come relief shall be given in thou shalt be made whole It may be thy case is not bad enough yet God will take thee a pin lower yet hee 'l draw a little more blood from thee and when there is scarce an hairs breadth between thee and death or ruine then relief shall come And therefore do not conclude that because thou hast no experience yet of the truth of the Doctrine that either it is not true or thou hast no saving interest in God for though thou hast no experience hereof yet thou mayest have great and wonderful experience hereafter 3. Consider that a Saints interest in God depends not upon his sense of Divine Relief but upon the All-sufficiency of Free-grace Thy interest will hold when thy sense thereof is lost Though thou mayst think that thou hast lost thy hold on God and canst not act faith on him yet if once thou hast had an interest in God God will not loose his hold on thee What though thou failest thy flesh and heart fails thee yet Divine Strength cannot fail In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Esay 26.4 And as long as God hath an arm to hold thee thou shalt not be lost Remember I pray thee saith Eliphaz to Job Who ever perished being innocent or where were the righteous out off Job 4.7 The ruine and perishing of souls is when they are totally and finally forsaken of God that God will not own them nor be a God unto them when they are utterly and eternally driven from the gratious presence of God never to see the well-pleased face of God I but who ever see the innocent thus to perish or the righteous thus cut off Joh. 10.28 I do give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish What though thou canst not see that hand that holds thy soul in life yet it will so hold thee that thy spiritual life shall not be taken from thee If those afflictions and distempers which make thy heart to fail could cause the strength of Gods free grace to fail then thou wouldst be in danger of an eternal ruine they might prejudice thy interest in God but though these have some influence upon thee they have no such influence upon God Now as long as they can have no influence upon the grace of God to weaken that they can have no influence upon thy
interest in God And therefore do not conclude against thy self for though thy hand of faith be grown so weak that it can't take fast hold on God yet Gods hand is strong and that will hold thee fast So saith the Prophet nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand vers 23. God held him fast when he was ready to drop from God He had lost the sense of his interest in God I but his interest in God was not lost God was his God though he did not know it And so God may be thine thou mayst have a sure interest in him although thou canst not find the prints of Gods feet in thy soul nor trace him in his ways of goodness towards thee And know this that it is better for thee to have an interest in God although thou knowest it not then to have strong presumptions and be deceived The want of sense and feeling of our interest in God is no sin though it be a great affliction Christ himself was without sense I he was so deep in it that when he was upon the cross he cried out Why hast thou forsaken me I but a groundless presumption is a sin and leads to eternal ruine None ever perished for want of faith of evidence but hundreds perish for want of faith of adherence Oh blessed is the man who believes and sees not that can say with Job Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Though my flesh fails and my heart fails yet I will believe that he is my strength and portion for ever Thus I have answered this case and so made way to application Vse 1. Hence we may infer the sad and woful condition of those who have no interest in God for they that have no interest in God can expect no relief from God in a time of necessity Wicked men have their failings their flesh fails them sometimes and their hearts fail them but no relief comes from God at those times Of all men they are most to be pityed for there is no help no relief for them If I be wicked saith Job woe unto me Job 10.15 i. e. If I be wicked I can expect no mercy no comfort from God Nay hear what God saith himself to such Esay 65.13 Therefore thus saith the Lord behold my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry behold my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty behold my servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall bowl for vexation of spirit The meaning is God will not afford them any comfort or relief in times of distress When God invites his own servants to feast with him they must be shut out And if God helps not who can No without me ye shall bow down saith God Esay 10.3 The wounds of the wicked are desperate wounds there is no cure for them Mark that of Job for what portion is there from above and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity The latter verse is an answer to the former and the sense is this all the portion and inheritance that the wicked can have from God above is destruction and a strange punishment Job 20.2 3. God is the strength and portion of a godly man when his flesh and heart fails him but the wicked have no other portion from God then utter destruction a strange punishment So Job 20.27 28 29. The heavens shall reveal his iniquity and the earth shall rise up against him the increase of his house shall depart and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath This is the portion of a wicked man from God and the heritage appointed to him by God Here is heaven and earth set against him the heavens shall reveal his sin and the earth shall punish him for his sin But is there no relief for him in God No This is the portion of a wicked man from God The case of such a man must needs be very black and dismal when heaven and earth and all the creatures therein are armed against him and mustred up by a Divine Hand Where can he have any relief then If God were for thee 't is no matter what sets it self against thee But if God be against thee 't is no matter what is for thee it will not help thee If misery and destruction be all the portion that God will allow thee there is nothing then can save thee If this be all thou hast to live upon to eternity thou wilt have a miserable living of it Vse 2. Hence all those that have interest in God may fetch comfort here is a well out of which all good men may draw the water of consolation with joy And what can afford greater comfort to you then this Doctrine doth that divine relief shall be administred unto you in time of your necessity when your flesh fails and your heart fails God will be the strength of your heart It is a great comfort to a Merchant-adventurer to have an assurance from the Ensuring Office that his Adventure at Sea shall be made good to him in case the Ship miscarries Even so it may be to a childe of God to have an assurance given him that if all fails him without and within he shall have relief from God Why this Text and Doctrine gives thee an assurance hereof and therefore as Job said hear it diligently and let it be your consolation You may take comfort in your greatest discomforts that you shall have comfort If there be enough in God to relieve and help you you shall not want relief Obj. But the doubting Christian may say I could take comfort in this truth had I not walked so unworthy of that former relief I have received from God I can truly say the Lord hath magnified the riches of his grace upon me but I have abused it and it may be just with him to cast me off for ever He hath helped me when I was in a low condition he hath strengthened me when I was in a weak state but I have not made suitable returns thereunto and therefore how can I expect relief Ans Now to such I have five things to say 1. The unsuitableness of a believer to and his unworthiness of relief cannot stop the current thereof As divine relief is not administred to us upon the account of our worthiness as if we did merit it so our unworthiness of it nor unsuitableness to it shall not prevent it Thy miscarriages may cause God to correct thee with failing of thy flesh and of thy heart but cannot cause God to cast thee off if thou hast an interest in him No that love that moves him to correct thee for thy good will also move him to relieve thee when thou art under the rod of correction
we are not able to trace her way yet we may assure our selves of her issue What was it but providence that hath maintained the Gospel this 1600. years What but providence that hath kept up a preaching Ministry and Sacraments hitherto maugre the malice of all their opposers 'T is true God may suffer truth to be eclips'd and the glory of the Church to be much darkned and the number of Christs followers to be abated and yet turn the wheel of second causes so as that there â—â—â—ll be such a remnant kept as shall multiply and increase more then ever Nay if all means should fail and all instruments perish yet Gods work and his design shall go on without the least prejudice or hurt Es 63.5 We may take up the words of the Prophet Habakkuk Chap. 3.17 Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cup off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation 'T is all one with God to work without means as by means and 't is not out of any necessity but to magnifie the riches of his wisdom power and bounty that he doth make use of any and therefore when God comes down from the hills into the valley we should not fear nor be despondent Yea whatever the subject be whereon he works though never so dead and dry he can form it according to his own mind and will dead and drie bones he can cause to live As you may see Ezek. 37. begin Rocks shall flow with water the Sea shall give way for Israels passage the Ravens shall turn Caterers and Cooks Abraham and Sarah shall grow young again and be fertile nay the very heath and barren wilderness shall become fruitful and pleasant places to dwell in In a word God doth whatever he pleaseth his hand is no way shortened or weakened by working And therefore he is pleased to make daily repetitions of his old wonders that the people of God may have full and strong consolation 3. Infer Is it so then this serves as a spur to quicken Saints to the performance of holy duty and to teach them to be admirable therein Sirs God is admirable in his working for you and therefore this should draw out your hearts to admirable workings for God your affections and your actings should be as so many wonders True Christians should be the worlds wonders and should set men a wondering at the beholding of the admirableness of their conversations Sirs you have admirable Spirits admirable Principles an admirable Life admirable Rules to walk by and an admirable reward promised at the last and surely all these are strong engagements unto an admirableness of living And yet besides all these let me tell you that you live upon the wonders of divine providence 't is a wonder that sinners live on this side Hell and enjoy so many forfeited mercies and comforts as you do enjoy And therefore you may well take up the the words of the holy Apostle seeing all these things are thus What manner of persons ought we to be For I tell you that a common life is no way suitable to Gods admirable dispensations No God saith to all such as our Saviour did once to his Disciples Matth. 5.47 What do you more then others For 't is not enough for you that live by and under the turnings of this divine wheel to be good in the general but you must labour to be excellent Every motion of this wheel is a new engagement upon your Spirits take a few directions herein For an admirable life lies chiefly in a conformity to the life of God no life is admirable but the life of God and our conformity thereunto And hence it is that the life of God is set up as our pattern of imitation Matth. 5.44 45 48. But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Be ye therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect The Child is but the Father multiplied 't is Man in a new edition And so he that lives the life of God is nothig else then a new edition and a new copy of the image of God Holiness in life and power is the image of God drawn upon the heart and life of man Saints are living pictures of their heavenly father they are Gods looking-glasses wherein he loves to view his own excellency and glory Hence it is that they are said to be near to him and that he taketh pleasure in them Psal 148. ult 149.4 As women will have their glasses before their eye and take pleasure in a true glass that gives a true reflex of their beauty So Saints are a people near to God and God delights in them as they are in Christ so he loved them but as he lives in them so he delights in them Now that which is Gods delight is the most admirable and may well be our wonder Nothing should take up our hearts thoughts time and strength so much as the life of God All other things should be of little force to take up our hearts But take heed lest a form of godliness keep you from the life of God Religion is now in fashion and every one almost makes some outward shew I but few do live the life of God 2. In high and most eminent designs for God He that knows God to be all in all must be all for God Most sull is that of Paul Phil. 1.21 To me to live is Christ i.e. All my designs are for Christ for the advancing his designs in the world that he may be all and have all subjected unto him A Christian should do nothing but plot and design for Christ he should be of a publick active Spirit and lay out himself and his abilities to the utmost for God 'T is recorded of Levi that he knew neither Father nor Mother And Paul saith That henceforth we know no man after the flesh We should be wholly for God A Christian should not know such a thing as Self in his designs and aims self-interests self-glory self-comfort and all should be thrown down at the foot of God All external wheels are but instruments acted by this internal wheel and ordered and disposed of so as that this may have the glory of all Shall the Ax boast it self against him that heweth therewith or the Saw magnifie it self against him that shaketh it Es 10.15 Nothing more improper and absurd Oh Beloved take heed of carrying on self-designs
under a pretence of acting for God Wicked men will do so but you must go beyond them You must do more then they can do 3. In living by faith upon God 2 Cor. 5.7 We live by faith and not by sight A Christian ought not to hang by the eye-lids eying and looking at external wheels and second causes only but to exercise faith upon the wheel within the wheel This is that which must actuate and inliven all second causes or else they cannot work What is it that thou dost desire this must bring it to pass Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit Zech. 4.6 Would'st thou have thy corruption mortified thy temptation conquered thy graces strengthened thy comforts enlarged thy fears prevented thy prayers heard rest not upon the external wheels but upon the wheel within the wheel Means must be used but not trusted in God alone is the object of a Christians faith Say therefore In vain is salvation hoped for from the multitude of hills and mountains but in the Lord our God is salvation Jer. 3.23 And let it be said of you as it is of Abraham Ro. 4.18 19. Who against hope believed in hope When all instruments are dead Ordinances dead Comforts dead Graces dead heart even dead yet give glory to God by believing in him who never dies And for this end follow the example of the Prophet Psal 77.10 11 12. I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate also of all thy work and talk of thy doings Yea wouldst thou set this internal wheel on work wouldst thou move that Why then set faith on work this is that whereby divine providence suffers it self to be moved How came Abraham to be the Father of many Nations but by the movings of this internal wheel and what set that a going but the faith of Abraham And therefore it is said that he believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations Beloved if ever you would set any instrument or inferiour wheel on work you must move the greater wheel So it is here 't is God that must move and you must set God on work by faith An active faith will not let God alone it gives him no rest untill he hath set all second causes on work and accomplished the desired mercy Now in this you go beyond all moral men they may make use of means I but they can't believe they can't set the great wheel on work 4. In fixing your hearts upon things that are above Let the constant openings of your Souls be for the entertainment of Heavenly enjoyments And this is a wonder Rev. 12.1 A Christians heart should be in Heaven and the world under his feet The Earth is Gods and a good mans foot-stool thou mayest walk upon it but not be buried in it Most excellent is the Apostles Rule 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. But this I say Brethren the time is short It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away And this was the Apostles glory that the world was crucified unto him and he unto the world Gal. 6.14 He looks upon all as so many dead corps and carkases Fourth and last Inference If this divine wheel be so admirable and glorious then this teacheth you to maintain a constant communion with it For you are little wheels I but what will you do if this divine wheel be not as a wheel in the middle of a wheel what shall act and move you in order to your comfortable winding up Sure I am you will be like Sampson when his Lock was cut off Your strength is departed from you and you like Instruments laid aside and of no use I but if God be in you and with you then you shall go forth in the strength of an omnipotent power and be admirable in working yea you shall have cause to admire the wheel within the wheel and sing with Moses Who is a God like our God glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Yea with the heavenly Quire saying Amen blessing and glory wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever Amen FINIS A Divine Paradox OR A PRISONER at LIBERTY AND HIS JUDGE IN BONDS Being a Subject Treated of before the Right Honourable the Lord Chief Justice Hales at an Assize holden at Saint Edmunds Bury In the County of Suffolk March 27. 1669. By Samuel Blackerby Minister of the Gospel at Stow Market LONDON Printed for Nevil Simons at the Princes Arms in S. Paul's Church Yard 1674. Acts 24.25 And as he reasoned of righteousness temperance and judgement to come Felix trembled THat I may observe the watch-word given and confine my discourse to the time alotted for it I shall at present wave my usual course and lay aside the threds by which I was resolved to have steer'd my passage to the Text And yet before I can attempt to anatomize and breath any vein of truth therein I must crave leave to strip it of a double paradox which at first view it secmeth to be drest up in For 1. Here is a Prisoner in liberty 2. A Judge in bonds Saint Paul the Prisoner and Felix the Judge the one we meet with in the entrance into the Text the other in the close and both afford us matter of admiration First The liberty of St. Paul the Prisoner for here we find him at liberty to preach and preaching with liberty 1. At liberty to preach That an Apostle should be a Prisoner is much but that he who was imprisoned upon the account of preaching should have liberty whilst a Prisoner to preach and that before his Judge this is more Not many daies before he was accused by a famous Oratour and libell'd against with a deep charge of high misdemeanours and capital crimes and that with so much artifice and subtilty that it is a wonder that a sentence of death had not passed upon him according to the malevolent expectation of his malicious enemies and he for ever deprived of his liberty to preach any more and yet to speak in the Ciceronian Dialect Vivit imo vivit in Senatum venit He lives yea he lives to preach And that 2. With liberty I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with much liberty and boldness For neither the grandeur of the Auditor nor the experience that he had of a former durance no nor his fear of future had any such influence upon him as to seal up his lips or tempt him to play the Sycophant or flattering Courtier that thereby he might have gained an enlargement
we find in the second Considerable in the Text. And that is 2. The Subject matter of the Apostles reasoning for whosoever consults it will not find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fruitless flourish of words in stead of a rich Mine of desirable treasure No! but matter of an universal concern for it concerns all both superiours and inferiours innocent and guilty to be instructed in these topicks righteousness temperance and judgement to come The two first relate to man and the third to God 'T is mans duty to be righteous and temperate and Gods Prerogative to judge The two first are two Cardinal vertues and the third imports a judiciary trial of men thereby at a time fixt in Divine minds men must be vertuous for they shall be judged There is a time given to men to exercise vertue and that is the time present and there is a time for men to be judged by the rule of vertue but that is to come S. Paul reasons of both and so shall I. First Of the Cardinal vertues instanc'd in and herein I cannot but observe the Apostles imitation of a Master Builder that having laid a good foundation ad solidum in solido leaves it not naked but erects the superstructure proportionate thereunto For having presented his auditour with the summe of the Gospel in preaching faith in Christ to him that he might not appear a Solifidean or Antinomian he reasoneth of righteousness and temperance which are the proper and genuine superstructure upon that most choice and excellent foundation For though faith in Christ alone justifies in a figurative sense yet that faith that justifies is not alone For as faith in Christ justifies the person so vertue justifies faith and renders it to be of a Divine Stamp even the faith of Gods elect Faith without works is dead and works without faith do not please him whom above all we ought to study to please Well therefore did the Apostle as it became an Apostle to build the silver gold and pretious stones of righteousness and temperance upon the glorious and precious foundation of faith in Christ for righteousness imparted is a most suitable structure to righteousness imputed and renders the whole fabrique uniform and beautiful the cost indeed is Gods but the beauty is mans And therefore the moralist in dressing up his moral Lady saith that her head is wisdom her eyes prudence her heart love her spirits charity her thighs justice her health temperance and fortitude her strength For that person that is endowed with these vertues is a lovely and beautiful person although he hath no other ornament upon him Nay I hope without offence to Ladies I may call him a beauty Others may be as beautiful as Absalon as fair as Aleibiades in their bodies without and yet have corpora turpissima interne as was said of the last foul and deformed souls Yea may justly be accounted Reipublicae morbi the botches of the Commonwealth Alass with many to be religious just and temperate is too mean too base in their esteem in their eye vertue is the vice and vice the vertue pudebat me non fuisse impudentem as S. Augustine hath it in his confessions may be written upon the foreheads of some persons and none of the inferiour sort For they do not only resist the impressions of grace but trace the stamp of nature and hope with Herostratus to be memorable for villany But I must not be excursive being confined to an Apostolical method and to an inch of time in my reasoning hereof And therefore once more I crave your leave that I may reason of righteousness and temperance apart as the Apostle did And 1. Of righteousness and herein not to trouble you with the various definitions and descriptions thereof laid down in sundry Authors I shall take the liberty to give you this description of it that it is an exact conformity unto law in our dealings with others according to the sphear wherein God hath set us First I say it is an exact conformity unto law in our actings towards and dealings with others And therefore some will have the Latine word to derive its pedigree from a word in that language that signifies Law and say justitia habet nomen a jure for this is an undoubted rule id tantum possumus quod jure possumus that and that onely is just which is justifiable by Law either Humane or Divine either Literal or Aequipollent 'T is very true a discourse of Law becomes Westminster Hall or an Inn of Court better then Gods Sanctuary and yet I hope a Gospel Minister may take liberty to press all men to make Law their Rule I and the Law of man as far as it is conform to the Law of God For I may say of that as Tertullus of Felix By that we enjoy great quietness in our rights and possessions But Secondly This is not all for righteousness is an exact conformity to Law in the sphear and place wherein God hath set us for that is a righteous act when performed by one which is unrighteous when done by another And therefore if St. Peter draws his sword though in defence of his Master and cuts of Malcus his ear he receives no better reward then a sharp rebuke from his Master the King of righteousness and Prince of peace And if David cuts off the lap of Sauls Garment his heart smites him for it 'T is true a national reformation may be very necessary at some times and in some cases but not to be undertaken by private persons Renuente Magistratus against the express and declared will of the supream Magistrate And hence ariseth that common distribution of Justice into distributative commutative The first whereof refers to the Magistrate and the other to the Privateer 1. I say Distributative Justice belongs to the Magistrate qua Magistrate for he properly and principally is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The keeper of Justice and Equity and if I may not stile him Gods Ark because that was in an especial manner sanctified to keep the Law in Yet I may be bold to call him Gods Cabinet to whose trust this precious Jewel is committed He is custos utriusque tabulae jus dicens But when I speak of Magistrates in general you must know that under that notion all their Assistants and Officers are comprehended in reference to the execution of Justice not only the Judges and Justices that sit upon the Bench but also many of those that sit below not only a Supervisor but every Civil Officer and Juror is concern'd herein For in some respects the Sword of Justice is put into the hand of all these especially at such a time as this is And that 1. At the Bar of Nisi prius in determining and silenceing controversies about right between party and party 2. At the Crown Bar. And that 1. In protecting the Innocent and therefore Magistrates are called the shields of the earth because the
mark the perfect man 2. As we should mark him so we must behold him Mark and Behold The latter word imports more then the former For in the Hebrew Language it signifies sometimes to behold an object with pleasure delight and admiration as persons exceedingly taken and taken up with the object and so here for there are many that will very accutely and exactly Mark and observe the perfect and upright man I and watch him too in all his motions and actings as far as they can I but they watch and observe him with an evil eye Not with any pleasure or delight in him Not with an eye of approbation but with an eye of reprobation Not with an eye of admiration but with an eye of detestation not with an eye of imitation but with an eye of malediction unless he chance to trip and stumble in his way and then they make no better use of it then this they that were careless and remiss before in observing and beholding themselves in reference to their own sinful ways grow more careless and remiss after until they become past recovery and eternally wrapt up in misery unless grace prevents Such watchmen there are in the world but they do not observe the watchword in the Text for that is of another import and certainly it must needs be great injustice to fix an evil eye upon one whom the holy Ghost is pleased to set forth under two glorious and admirable titles as are expressed in the Text. The object is no contemptible object but a rare and soul taking object The Holy Ghost doth not set thee to feed thy eye and thy soul with a meer shadow a low and empty thing but with that which may afford thee a due and fit object of soul-contemplation 1. The perfect man 2. The upright man Two inseperable companions in one Subject for no man is perfect but he that is upright and no man upright but he that is perfect in a Gospel sense And therefore I find the same word that is rendered here perfect in other texts is translated upright And so Gen. 17.1 Walk before me and be thou perfect or as in the Margin be thou upright for as uprightness and sincerity is Gospel perfection so they always go together And yet when we have both the expressions in one text as here we must distinguish the sense for it is not a tautologie And therefore saith a Divine of ours the former may be taken for inward soundness the latter for outward justice and equity respecting a mans dealings in the world or in two words a perfect man is a plain hearted man and an upright man is a plain dealing man in the one you may mark and behold the holiness and grace of his heart in the other the holiness of his life and both are to be marked and beheld with much accuteness of observation joyned with admiration and delight Object But some will say is this a truth that any man is perfect in this life doth not S. Paul an eminent Saint and servant of God deny perfection Phil. 3. Not as though I were already perfect Answ By a distnction There is a twofold perfection 1. A Perfection of Justification 2. A Perfection of Sanctification 1. A Perfection of Justification and in this respect all true believers are compleatly perfect i. e. They are perfectly justified So Heb. 10.14 By one offering he i.e. Christ hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified And Col. 2.10 And ye are compleat in him 'T is true in themselves they are incompleat and imperfect but in Christ they are compleat and perfect in themselves sinners but in Christ righteous For as a man looking upon an object with a pair of coloured Spectacles takes the object to be of the same colour So God looking upon persons through Christ who is righteous looks upon them as righteous their sin is charg'd upon him and his righteousness is imputed unto them So saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him So that God looks not upon a true believer as a sinner but as righteous for he looks upon him in him that for his sake was made a sinner not by inhaesion or transgression but by imputation 2. There is a perfection of Sanctification and this is twofold 1. A Perfection in respect of Parts 2. A Perfection in respect of Degrees As a child that hath all the parts of a man may be said to be a perfect child although it be not grown up to the age and stature of a man So a Child of God that hath all the saving and sanctifying graces of Gods Spirit and the lines of his image drawn upon him may be said to be perfect although he is not yet come to his full age and growth in grace such a one is fundamentally perfect although he is not complementally perfect grace is glory inchoate and glory is grace consummate As soon as ever a man becomes a new man he is a young glory although he be not complementally glorious yea he is such a glory and so perfect in glory at the first that he is worthy of our due observation and a fit object of contemplation with great delight and admiration Mark the perfect man and behold the upright observe him accurately and throughly yea fix the eye of your souls upon him intensly and with the greatest delight pleasure and admiration that you can Thus I have opened the first part of my text and shall resolve it into this proposition That a perfect and upright man is a remarkable man worthy of a delightful contemplation or thus a godly man is a taking object there is much in him to take the heart and feed the eyes of men with delight and pleasure And indeed next to God Christ and the Holy Spirit he is the most taking the most delightful object the whole world affords not the like in that respect he is a none such I what though he be never so poor in the world that he hath scarce a rag to cover his nakedness or a piece of bread to put into his mouth or an house to put his head in yet for all this he is a taking object for I may say of him as our Saviour of the Lillies that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these So the greatest person upon the earth in all his outward glory and splendour if he be destitute of true grace is not cloathed as one of these all his beauty is but deformity his greatness but meanness his riches but poverty the righteous saith Solomon is more excellent then his neighbor I though the neighbor be never so great in the world 't is grace that renders a man truly excellent and truly honourable For 1. Look upon him as to his pedigree and birth and see from whence he came and you must needs take him for a great and noble personage So
John 1.13 born not of blood or as in the Original not of bloods nor of the will of man but of God Many men boast and brag much of their parentage and the family or house they came out of Such a Duke such a Lord such a great person was their Father or Grandfather and such a great person is their brother or their uncle or near allies But alas what is this to a mans being born from above to come out of the family of heaven to have God for thy Father and Christ for thy Brother and near ally the other is not to be named with this No were thy earthly parents beggars from door to door and thou born naturally upon a dunghil yet if thou hast God for thy Spiritual Father thou art more nobly descended then all the great ones in the world if they are not born from above as well as from beneath I tell thee thy relation speaks thee noble and honorable 2. Look upon him as to his education and breeding and see how he is disciplined and trained up and you must needs be taken therewith He is remarkable for that there are many that will boast of their breeding if not of their birth And indeed there is as much to be considered in that if not more then in the other And therefore Alexander the Great thought himself as much bound to his Tutor as to his Father because the one gave him his being but the other his well-being the one was the instrument of life and the other fitted him to live in the world Why Beloved a godly man hath not only the best birth but the best breeding for as he is born of God so he is taught of God Whoever is the usher or sub-tutor God is the Master-teacher So John 6.45 It is written in the Prophets And they shall be all taught of God And 1 Thes 4.9 Ye are taught of God to love one another Now if God undertakes the work it must needs be admirably well done those must needs be well taught that have God for their teacher for as he teacheth men the best things that can be taught and learnt so he teacheth them in the best way that can be used not only in the best method but also with the greatest efficacy and power he makes them such as he teacheth them to be and causeth them to do that which he teacheth them to do And in all enricheth and ennobleth the minds and spirits of his Disciples with such kind of learning and knowledge as is not to be found in the whole world he makes them all experimental Scholars in the great and profound mysteries of Heaven So that there is not one in all the world that can be a match for the meanest Scholar in his School No take a man that with Bereugarius is able almost to dispute de omni scibili or with Solomon to unravel Nature from the Cedar to the Hyssop yet a poor Soul in the lowest form in Gods School that is taught of him is able to baffle and to confound such an one if once they come to engage in the matters of Heaven 'T is very true Beloved Humane Learning ought not to be despised Humane Arts and Sciences are brave ornaments to the mind and are very useful in many respects I but not to be compared with divine and heavenly light and knowledge If Humane Learning be as the Ring Divine Learning is as the Pearl or Diamond in the Ring and far exceeds it in worth and excellency 3. Look upon him as to the complexion of his Soul and the air of his Countenance And indeed as a man may read much of the complexion of another mans Soul in the air of his Countenance so did Jacob in Laban's which put him to the flight So there is much glory and beauty in the Soul and Countenance of a godly man Solomon saith Wisdom makes the face to shine how much more doth it make the Soul to shine for that is the seat thereof Mark that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image Now if there be beauty and glory in the Original there must needs be beauty and glory in the Copy else the Copy will not be any wayes answerable to the Original And therefore saith Christ to his Church Cant. 2.14 Let me hear thy voice and see thy countenance for pleasant is thy voice and thy countenance is comely Yea he is so taken therewith that it puts him as it were into a rapture it ravisheth his Soul or takes away his Heart as the Hebrew signifies Cant. 4.9 And indeed a gracious Soul is a lovely and amiable Soul the greatest beauty in the world She stands not in need of a black patch to set her off or to commend her to others 4. Look upon a godly man as to his life and conversation and you must needs say that he is very remarkable for he is one that walks with God in the way of God even in that way that leads to the fullest fruition and enjoyment of God Nay he is one that lives the life that God lives in some measure for he lives a life of holiness and that is the life that God lives 'T is true he lives on the Earth but his conversation is in Heaven where his God and his Treasure is Yea 't is true he lives in Flesh but not after the Flesh for whilst he lives in Flesh he lives in the Spirit and walks in the Spirit and so turns the life of Nature into a life of Grace Now the more excellent the life of any being is the more remarkable and admirable is that being What is it that renders an Angel so admirable but because he lives an Angelical life And what is it that advanceth a man above a beast but because he lives a better life then a beast doth I speak now of men that live like men and not like bruits and so that advanceth a godly man above all other men because he lives a better life then others do The life of Reason is better then the life of Sense but the life of Grace and Religion is far better then the life of Reason Had I but time to set it forth in some particular instances this demonstration would carry a strong conviction with it into the hearts of any unbyassed hearers and cause them to confess that none upon the face of the earth live such honourable and noble lives as Saints do Holiness of life is a conformity to the most noble and honourable Rule even the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus Holiness of life is a conformity to the most noble and honourable pattern Holiness of life is the power and virtue of Christ expressed to the life 't is the Divine nature manifested in Humane flesh 't is the Spirit of God breathing through corporal acts Holiness of life is the