Name of Sparing-Mercy or deals moderately with us in Gentleness and Tenderness We want many good things especially Himself Benevolence will our Good Bounty and Kindness impart All to Us Graciousness does All freely Oh Astonishingly Rich and Glorious Well-spring of Everlasting Consolation There 's no Exigence befals Man either thro' emptiness or misery that is destitute of a Perfection in Infinite Love to make a peculiar and accommodate Relief and Supply Divine Goodness bears such a singular respect to our indigent Nature that notwithstanding its individual Singleness and Oneness it does as it were parcel out it self into a multiplicity of sweet refreshing Cordials in Condescension to our Infirmity that in it we may have a particular Satisfaction for every distinct Appetite a proper Remedy for every single Malady There 's no Case in which we can need or desire Comfort but there is a Revelation of some comfortable Perfection in God which speaks directly to it and administers a succour and support to us no less than Infinite that is incomprehensibly more extensive and Intensive than our Circumstances can be necessitous or dolorous Indeed nothing comforts but Love nothing more disquiets than sense of Enmity Hatred Anger Displeasure The more we are concern'd in any the more pleasing is Respect from them and an unloving Deportment more grievous We are not much affected with the love of Strangers but rejoyce in the Good-will of our Neighbours our Friends our Relations expecting it should bear proportion to our Interest in them and theirs in us else it pleases not We must have more Love from those in our Vicinity than from Aliens from intimate Acquaintance than either from our Flesh and Blood than all or it troubles us But the due measure nay if it be an excess of affection is most taking we are most at ease under it Again as the Relation so the Quality of Persons must vary the degree of Love or we are not at rest The regard of a mean Man does not so much delight us as of the Great that of Bad Men is not so sweet as that of the Good Further those we expect most good from most refresh us with their Love where we lay out no hopes from those such is the Selfishness of our Nature we are not solicitous to gain any Love So we are most earnestly desirous of the Affections of those whose Anger can and is likely and engaged to do us the greatest Hurt whom we therefore have reason most to fear if we can win their hearts 't is a wonderful Contentation Now God the nearest greatest most potent Neighbour Friend or Enemy is not only Loving but Love its self in the abstract not limited in kind or degree but unmeasurable infinite Love such on the contrary is his Wrath also Of all other his Love is most capable and engaged too to do us the greatest Good if we be capable of it His Hatred and Anger like to do us the greatest harm if we do not betake our selves to the refuge and security of his Love But he who is essential unconfincable Graciousness does with a natural Affection regard us as the Work of his hands in Creation with a Paternal Conjugal Respect embrace us as his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good Works if forsaking all other we cleave unto him with full purpose of heart in a sincere Child-like Spouse-like Affection being again begotten by his Word and Spirit to a lively Hope and so in Marriage-Covenant with him This then is a Comfort as large as its Subject Divine Love a satisfaction as boundless as the Deity for it infinitely pleases even God himself Infinite though he be therefore is sufficient sure to administer a Content to us sweet and great beyond all Expression all Cogitation The Holy Men of God which the Scripture propounds for our Examples alway took Sanctuary here in the assaults of their most grievous Troubles and Temptations Jer. 31.12 They shall slow together to the goodness of the Lord c. And their Soul shall be as a watered Garden and they shall not sorrow any more at all 13. I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoyce from their sorrow 14. And I will satiate the soul of the Priests with fatness and my People shall be satisfied with my Goodness saith the Lord. Psal 119.76 Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness be for my Comfort c. And indeed let the storms rage and the sea roar and beat as high as it can there will for ever be sure Anchor-hold for a good Soul upon the Rock of Ages Fix there and thou canst never shipwrack nay if thou canst but weakly and waveringly with a trembling heart and hand hold this Love be not discouraged for with a strong unconquerable hand it holds thee Joh. 10.28 29. All other Divine Perfections minister to his Love which has already bestowed the greatest Gifts Himself as an overflowing Jordan of enriching Goodness His Only-begotten Son Joh. 3.16 The choicest Blessing and the surest Pledge of all other Rom. 8.32 Nay thy self to thy self freed from the bondage of Sin and Satan Though I be in no desireable Circumstances as to other things yet if I be mine own Man and enjoy a just Liberty of Body and Mind in no slavery of Spirit and Condition I can sing over my other Misfortunes especially when I can read my own Felicity in the Misery of others through a Thraldom which I escape Indeed my Commiserations impress some part of their Calamity upon my Soul but 't is countervail'd and over-top'd by the Comfort of mine own Indemnity But there can be no liberty under the Dominion of Sin nor any true Self-enjoyment till I enjoy God and my self in him in whom I have my best and sweetest Being Motion and Life And though I enjoy my Civil and Moral Freedom which is no little Comfort yet Vassalage to the Prince of Darkness is an Affliction more grievous than the other can be solacing When a Good Man is satisfied from of with himself Prov. 14.14 't is only as far as the Goodness of God dwells in him and he in it For if I possess not God I have nothing with a Blessing therefore not with Comfort I have no Right to comfortable Thoughts contenting Enjoyments no not to my self and in my self For what am I that is good what am I not that is evil without God and what satisfaction can I receive in that which is evil as I my self and every thing in me will unavoidably be if not antidoted and animated by the Goodness of God Men are not more miserable in a Deprival of all the Content of their Lives than in the Dereliction of God God gave me my self as a Loan of Love what I am I owe to Him but by my sin I have lost both my self and Him If now by a new Charter He restore to me a better Right to Himself and to my self in His Son Jesus
Memory which are but dead things mere Carcasses of Devotion not to be insisted on in Competiton with an enlarged Heart Take with thee Words and turn unto the Lord. Lord at thy bidding I will take thy Words which thy self here prescribes Hosea 14.2 3. They shall be my stinted Liturgy none can tell which will be acceptable to thee better than thy self What are they Take away Iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the Calves of our Lips What 's that The substance is Praise But some Antients thus descant upon it Calves not of our Stall Mal. 4.2 but Lips When a Calf or other Beast was to be Sacrificed to which this is an allusion God required the Blood the Fat and sometimes the Flesh but never the Skin and Hair these were to be carried away and burnt in another place The Blood of these Calves of the Lips is Faith in the Blood of Christ which is the Life of Prayer and Praise The Fat pure and holy Affection and Grace Sorrow Desire Love Delight Hope c. The Flesh is the matter or thing pray'd for Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification Redemption c. The Skin and Hairs the Words and Expressions with the Method Mode Order which if alone and not spirited with the former are of no value with God who looks at Things not Words and Phrases They must indeed be brought to God in vocal Prayer which is never a Duty except when we joyn with others and they with us and we must see that all accord with or do not disagree from the general Rules of the Scripture But 't is a folly to think that we for these are more acceptable in Person or that our Prayers the Flesh the Fat the Blood are more well-pleasing to God We must not lay any stress upon put any confidence in that which God will not vouchsafe his Altar to Sanctifie Offer then even this vocal Prayer God expects in some cases this in Conjunction but take heed O my Soul of relying upon it as such viz. the Skin without the other in Separation Whether form or no form what matters it 't is but Skin and Hair Why so much adoe about it Give the main to God or thou givest nothing God will take off the Skin and burn it burn not thy Fingers about it 't is not for the Altar Oh bring that chiefly which must be presented there God is a Spirit what are Words to him Oh let thy Prayers be all Spirit Words are but the vehicle sometimes only Aereal mere Wind seldom Aethereal defecate and pure Quintescence without Froth and Vanity c. However O see thou that there be an Angel within if there be not an Intelligence to turn about this Orb of Devotion if a Soul do not animate this Body of Duty away with it to the dunghil with it 't is but mere Carrion Bring the Male in thy Flock not this corrupt thing Thou canst never derive Comfort from Heaven if thou lay nothing upon God's Altar but Froth and Wind. Substantial Prayers and all substance is an invisible inward thing and these alone introduce solid and substantial Consolations 2 Thes 2.16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and given us everlasting Consolation through Grace 17. Comfort your Hearts and stablish you in every good Word and Work 1 Thes 5.23 And the very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 19.20 Now the God of Peace who hath raised from the Dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant 21. Make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS THE CONTENTS Chap. I. THE Introduction with the Explication of the Terms and their Sense Critical and Moral and Doctrine page 1. Chap. II. The Doctrine explained in a Resolution of three Queries a three-fold Essay p. 9. 1. The Character of the Psalmist not so much Personal as Moral which determines the Subject universally p. 10. 1. He was a Man that lived under a due and deep sense of God ibid. Chap. III. 2. He was a Man of Prayer p. 18. Chap. IV. 3. That lived by Faith not by Sight p. 25. Chap. V. 4. That did not live under the reproach of his own conscience p. 31. 1. He was very sensible of the odiousness of Sin to God ibid. Chap. VI. 2. Consciencious in the observance of his Duty to Man p. 45. Chap. VII 5. Of a Publick Spirit p. 73. Chap. VIII 6. Honours God 's Discipline Instructive Corrective p. 121. Chap. IX 7. A Man of Experience Eyes God in all things p. 133. Chap. X. 8. Seeks Comfort solely in and from God p. 140. Chap. XI 2. The Nature and Quality of the Psalmists Thoughts p. 151. 1. Fearing Thoughts p. 156. 2. Grieving Thoughts p. 164. 3. Despairing Thoughts page 174. Chap. XII 3. What Comforts these are in general p. 175. Chap. XIII 1. Comforts in God which God is derived from p. 182. 1. His Existence ibid. 2. His Names and Titles p. 183. 3. His Attributes p. 184. § 1. His Wisdom and Omniscience p. 185. 2. His Goodness p. 189. 3. His Justice p. 207. 4. His Omnipotence p. 224. 5. His Fidelity and Vnchangableness p. 234. 6. His Presence p. 241. 7. His Eternity p. 258. Chap. XIV 2. Comforts from God which God gives in p. 265. 1. Providence p. 266. 2. Privileges p. 269. 1. Sanctification ibid. 2. Propriety in God and assurance of it p. 276. 3. Experiences p. 286. Chap. XV. Inferences 1. Doctrinal 1. 't is lamentable to be left to our own Thoughts p. 296. 2. The best may be in perplexities inextricable by Nature p. 298. 3. The infinite Condescention of God in the Provision he hath made for us p. 302. Chap. XVI 2. Elenctical 1. Convictive 1. Theoretical confutes the Doctrine of Incertitude p. 305. 2. Practical establishing the conscience in the right method of discriminating true and false Comforts which differ p. 309. 1. In their Origin p. 310. 2. Their Attendants p. 317. 3. Their tendency and effects p. 330. 2. Reprehensive for neglect of preparing for and possessing our selves of Divine Comforts p. 337. Chap. XVII 3. Paideutical or Instructive how to attain solid Comforts p. 352. 1. Be Men of Thoughts p. 353. 2. Indeavour to attain Ability to give Law to Thoughts p. 361. 3. Get a clear notion of God and Goodness p. 366. 4. Lay the Foundation of Peace in Repentance and Holiness p. 375 376. 5. Be fervent and constant in Prayer p. 401. ADVERTISEMENT These BOOKS are Published by the Reverend Mr. Oliver Heywood M. A. Minister of the Gospel and Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside viz. 1. BAptismal Bonds Renewed being some Meditations on Psal 50.5 2. Closet Prayer a Christians Duty 3. Sure Mercies of David 4. Israels Lamentation after the Lord. 5. The Holy Life and Happy Death of Mr. John Angier Minister formerly at Denton near Manchester 6. Advice to an only Child or excellent Counsel to all young Persons 7. Best Intail a Discourse on 2 Sam. 23.5 8. Family Altar a Discourse on Gen. 35.2 3. for to promote the Worship of God in private Families 9. Meetness for Heaven on Colos 1.12 designed for a Funeral Legacy 10. The New Creature on Gal. 6.15 lately Published 11. The General Assembly or a Discourse of the gathering of all Saints to Christ BOOKS Written by the Reverend Mr. J. How OF Thoughtfulness for the Morrow With an Appendix concerning the immoderate Desire of Foreknowing Things to come Of Charity in reference to other Mens Sins A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Richard Adams M. A. sometime Fellow of Brazen-Nose College in Oxford The Redeemer's Tears wept over lost Souls In a Treatise on Luke 19.41 42. With an Appendix wherein somewhat is occasionally discoursed concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost and how God is said to will the Salvation of them that perish A Sermon directing what we are to do after a strict enquiry Whether or no we truly love God A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Esther Sampson the late Wife of Henry Sampson Doctor of Physick The Carnality of Religious Contention In Two Sermons preach'd at the Merchants Lecture in Broad-street A Sermon for Reformation of Manners A Sermon preach'd on the Day of Thanksgiving December 2. 1697. to which is prefix'd Dr. Bates's Congratulatory Speech to the King A Calm and Sober Enquiry concerning the Possibility of a Trinity in the God-head A Letter to a Friend concerning a Postscript to the Defence of Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Trinity in Unity relating to the Calm and Sober Enquiry upon the same Subject A View of that part of the late Considerations to H. H. about the Trinity Which concerns the Sober Enquiry on that Subject The Redeemer's Dominion over the Invisible World A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Hammond A Funeral Sermon for Dr. Will. Bates A Funeral Sermon for Mr. Mat. Mead. This Written by Mr. Flavel THE Fountain of Life open'd or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory containing Forty two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction Mysterious Incarnation solemn Call and Dedication blessed Offices deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement
Land of Light that New Jerusalem It cannot be expected that a Compleat Draught of this worthy Man's Life should be drawn by any Pencil but his own May these hints of so rare a Patern of Piety have influence upon his surviving Relations and Hearers to transform them into the same Image that this Legacy of so Rational a Discourse may have a perswasive Power to attract Souls to a Capacity for Divine Consolations and such a real Example have a compulsive Power to draw many to follow this Heroe and others into Eternal Mansions if both do not effect these Ends the Spectator and Reader have more to Answer for ERRATA PAge 2. line 24. read near Series l. 32. r a Prolepsis p. 3. l. 1. r. our collapsed p. 4. l. 14. blot out in p. 5. l. 28. r. interline p. 6. l. 24. r. my Troublers p. 8. l. 33. r. Trmenters p. 21. l. 11. r. the Pharisees p. 38. l. 17. r. this Notion p. 40. l. 15. r. together with it p. 63. l. 10. r. anothers l. 32. r. mediately p. 73. l. 21. r. born and live and act p. 8â— l. 10. f. â—ar r. care p. 83. l. 29. r. the Minisery p. 87. l. 26. r. intension p. 1â—â— l. 34. r. good life p. 123. l. 3. r. undâ—vercibly p. 124. l. 6. the Parenthesis ends with â—eâ— p. 125. l. 30. r. Image p. 136. l. 30. r. a more ready p. 142. l. 16. r of God p. 143. l. 13. blot out the second and. l. 21. f. the r. this p. 144. l. 13. r. express p. 158. l. 25. r. his p. 160 l. 1. r. own p. 162. l. 26. r. unsuppâ—rtable p. 165. l. 2. r. and Pâ—tency l. 33. r. own p. 186. l. 3. r. whatever p. 198. l. 21. r. enjoy'd p. 205. l. 21. blot out uâ— p. 208. l 33. r. mere p. 214 l. 33. r. le p 215. l. 24. r. Though l. 32. r. summ p. 2â—7 l. 16. r. heâ—ghtned or transferr'd p. 237. l. 9. r. these p. 240. l. 5. r. combines p. 242. l. 22. r. in Wisdom p. 245. l. 2. r. and in all l. 25. blot out in p. 248. l. 7. r. true Comforts p. 250. l. 14. r. 9. p. 258. l. 28 r. might hence derive p. 260. l. 26. r. in nocency l. 35â—36 â— make a comma before from and after which p 280 l. 36. insert an Interpreter and r. shew me p. 285. l. 13. blot out 30. p. 303â— l. 20. blot out 4. p. 307. l 17. r. store l. 31. r. â—hat Persâ—â— p. 31â— l. 23. r. 〈◊〉 l. 36. blot out that p. 361. l. 4. r. they THE Nature Origin Subject-Matter Character Method and Means of COMFORT CHAP. I. The Introduction with the Explication of the Words and their Sense Critical and Moral PSAL. XCIV 19. In the Multitude of my Thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul LORD I am Hell but thou art Heaven Bp Hooper was the pathetick Exclamation of the Spirit of Martyrdom in a devout Soul Here you have a prospect of both Tormenting Thoughts are the veriest Fiends nothing can make us miserable without them nor in the enjoyment of the sweet Delectation of those divine desirable Joys which are most suitable and proper to rational Nature and the appetite of an immortal Spirit The former are our natural Inheritance these the free Donations of infinite Goodness or the unmerited communications of Fidelity and Righteousness 1 Job 1.9 By our Apostacy from God we rendered our selves insufficient to attain that Felicity which our innocent Estate did entitle us unto and possess no sufficiency to any thing but the making our selves the most wretched of the whole Creation and are relievable by nothing but the All-sufficiency of Heaven The inanimate Creatures may indeed be dispossest of their Heaven viz. their Centre and Rest but the Evil thereof they can neither fear nor feel Vegetables may live in a Hell through the burning Fever of a Summer's drought but cannot smart and be in pain Sensitive Natures may be farther divested of their Happiness be driven out of their Paradise in Gilead and Bashan and be yet more miserable under the Servitude of that torturing Devil the Lust of degenerate man but a final period is put to all their Infelicities by that which if infinite Grace prevent not will be only the beginning of our remediless Woe at the worst they can but die and 't is without the sting of a cruciating Fear that a Life without end after Death will introduce a Series of never-ending Plagues But Immortality the highest Prerogative of humane Nature is through Sin become its most dismal cause of horrour and in being better than the rest of the inferiour Creation we through our own default are only render'd capable of being worse both in another and even in this present life as far as our dreadful Expectations become prolepsis or pre-occupation of those Sufferings which are no less durable than intolerable Neither can we be eas'd by the hopes that the least part or degree hereof is avoidable through the efficacy of our home-bred endowments or any thing we can scrape out of the rubbish of collapsed Natures since by experience we find that our greatest preventive care is not able totally to exclude and keep down those prepossessing horrible anticipations nor the Furniture we are enrich'd with of power to support and ease our minds under much less to antidote those real Plagues which actually infest and sink us towards a State much more insupportable our hope and help must needs therefore perish from within our relief is wholly from without yet not from Earth but Heaven There 's no Malady so perplexing so dangerous but there 's a sufficient and suitable Remedy in God In Bedlam I have seen a Man under the Severity of that most rigid and most uncomfortable Confinement so not only unconcern'd but triumphant as to bear up himself in the Port and Majesty of a King and in his imaginary height and glory with a disdainful stateliness converse with those little shreds of Mortality who were blest as he thought in the Honour of his Empire and Government and sometimes with a stately humbleness invite them to glory in his Condescensions with such a creative power is Fancy endow'd that it can produce almost any thing out of nothing dwindle substantial Woes into Shadows convert a Hell into an Elysium Of such Madmen the World is full We as the Prisoners of Justice carry our Chains about with us and they sit and sink into our Flesh yea our very bones yet as if we possest an unconfinable liberty we jovially dance about and solace our selves with this lamentable dream till our real Miseries confute our false Imaginations For a Man's state may be miserable yet the Man so rationally stoically or brutishly mad as not to be miserable That is since nothing can make a Man unhappy but by the mediation of something within him his Fancy his Folly his Fears his Feeling his Reasonable
Powers hence that which a Man either is above the sence of or hath no sense of is to him as if it were not though never so real in it self Therefore the Venom and Sting of Infelicity is our Sense and the Gall and Bitterness of our Sense lies in our Thoughts the workings of our Minds A Man that lies asleep bound hand and foot upon the top of a Precipice with his Head and a great part of his Body hanging over a bottomless Gulf is in a case most wretched in it self the least hitch tumbles him down into remediless Ruine yet in the condition he is in viz. Sleeping he is aware of no danger to him all 's well and secure he has no apprehensions except of Ease Safety and Rest But awake him that he look about see feel and think of his Peril and Helplessness then will he be all Agony and Horror ready to swoon and die through the direful Apprehensions of his as to himself irremediable Death This is our Case we are naturally asleep in Security and Iniquity upon the brinks of Hell bound hand and foot in the Chains of our Sins and an Adversary Satan at hand to push us headlong into the Abyss of Misery Beside the Omnipotent Vengeance of Heaven awaits us ready to arraign condemn and execute us to which we even dare it every moment But being asleep nay dead Eph. 2.1 we feel nothing reckless and careless in a Bedlam Dream we conceit that we swim upon a smooth and Halcyon Sea of sensual Joys as if 't were a Voyage to Paradise 'till God awake us by the Calls and Convictions of his Word and Spirit but then Oh the inexpressible Troubles Terrors and Astonishment that arrest us because our amazing Jeopardy whereof we had no apprehensions before is now entertain'd into our Thoughts and works so much the more violently there by how much we find our selves the more helpless and therefore hopeless Thus whatever perplexes us does it by way of Thoughts as it invests our Mind and Consideration it tortures us 'Till it thus get within us and engage our considering Faculties it does not ordinarily commit a Rape upon our Irascible or Interrupt the Sweet and Peace of a secure and quiet Composure and Rest But when this Tempest this Hurricane of Thoughts beats upon us we cannot tell which way to turn how to bear up against it It confounds our Reason discomposes our Affections terrifies our Consciences tears down all our Confidences reduces us to an absolute Nonplus Our Thoughts trouble us as Dan. 4.19 even to astonishment and so much the more by how many the more they are Multitudes of Thoughts beget multitudes of Cares and Fears and Griefs and Cumbers and Disquiets and Despondencies and of these so many the more by how much the more intimate and deep within and by how much the more they are our own not of a divine Injection but a corrupt Mind's Fabrication In the multitude of my thoughts within in me in intimo meo intestin in my Heart Septuagint Vulgar Lat. expressing the general sense of the Original Word by the noblest part within to which the Scripture sometimes attributes Thoughts as Gen 6.5 c. Both in conjunction amount to my inmost Heart or Soul If they be Thoughts not meerly the workings of my sensitive Powers inward or outward my Follies or Fancies but the mature and genuine off-spring of my Mind If they be not a few stragglers whereof I can say apparent rarae nantes in gurgite vaslo that they swim only here and there thinly in the vast Ocean of my Understanding but cover the face of my Soul in Multitudes If they be only my Thoughts such as spring in my own Garden having no Author but my self no Original but in and from my self whatever their object be whether that which I feel in my own Brest or that which is an effect of the same cause in others which has such a dismal aspect upon me even Sin And if they be penetrating Thoughts that sink and soak into the bottom and become most intimate within me not lying shallow upon the furface of my Soul In such multitudes of my thoughts within me I cannot find the least glimmering of Comfort at home nothing but Terror and Despair constrain'd am I therefore to look abroad and no where can I enjoy any thing reviving Refer to the 1. Direction but in thee O Lord the Comforts which refresh me must be thine or none And since nothing can pass into my Soul but at the door of Thoughts even these thy Comforts cannot affect me but as Troubles do they must enter into my Thoughts too be apprehended by my Mind ere they can relieve my Heart The same Engine that introduced my Misery must usher in my Mercy I must be cured through the same Weapon that wounded me Thoughts the first born of my Soul must bear my Comforts that heal me the healing is not from any vertue in the Weapon but thy Comforts the Salve upon it My Soul by its Thoughts viewing thy Comforts and transmitting them to my Affections is in a transport of delight and joy The Word rendered Thoughts is but twice found in Scripture Interpreters judge from the affinity of it with other Words of the same sound and almost the same Letters that it carries an allusion to the Boughs of a Tree Such Thoughts then are here to be understood which in like manner proceeding from the Mind of Man spread every way and divide into smaller Branches and the smallest Twigs so entangling themselves together as upon every motion to wound each other and the Tree they spring from Therefore the Seventy render the Word by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the Pangs of of a Woman in Travail In the fulness of the pangs of my Heart c. Others render it Perplexities entangled Thoughts c. Neither does the English fully express the sence of the other Word translated Delight which primarily signifies to look upon The Mood 't is here used in imports a looking upon with Pleasure Content Love Complacency even as Lovers look upon one another 't is Dr. Hammonds's Paraphrase with a sweet and amiable Regard with loving and lovely glances of Favour and good will The Original does not intimate so much the Act as the Power and Possibility of delighting not that the Psalmist did actually lay hold upon embrace and apply to himself but only that those Comforts of God did rather manifest a forwardness and favorable readiness to lay hold upon him they were not already apprehended by him but offered themselves to him lay plain and fair before him inviting him by their benign and amiable looks by their goodness and sweetness and suitableness to close with and espouse them Even then when we are so overwhelmed with Perplexities and Troubles that we do not or will not or cannot or dare not appropriate divine Comforts to our selves they notwithstanding are prepared for
Pet 2.4 To love thy self into Sobriety or Prudent self Government to cloath thy self with a Robe of Righteousness and Mercy in thy dealings with Men is not enough is not the full and adequate Doctrine and Duty taught by the Grace of God which brings Salvation Titus 2.11 There must be superadded not only a denying Vngodliness so as to crucifie it but a living Godly leading a Religious Life towards God in Love Faith Fear Honour Universal Acknowledgment out of Conscience For what Conscience in dealing well with Men and ill with God that is with the Subjects fairly and not with the Soveraign What Conscience in breaking the first Article betwixt God and Man which is to give him the sole command in his House thy Heart that living Temple which is the sum of the First Commandment What Conscience to dwell in his House and pay him no Rent No external Acknowledgment and Worship in Publick in thy Family in thy Closet the sum of the Second Command What Conscience whilst tender of thy own Name to be regardless of Gods forbid in the Third Command What Conscience in stealing time from God's reserved part when he allows thee so much beside the Fourth Command violated Be never so sober just free kind to Man-ward if thou respect not God O my Soul thou hast no Conscience For where there 's no Godliness there can be no Conscience Oh make it thy first and main business to approve thy self to God Thou canst never be true to thy self or Man if thou be a Traytor to God Thou hast no greater assistance in thy dutifulness to Men than a due regardfulness of God Thou canst have no better evidence of a due regardfulness of God than thy conscientious dutifulness to Men. Thou forfeit'st the reputation of thy Religiousness towards God if thou be not Righteous towards Man and of thy Righteousness if not Religious Like Hippocrates's Twins these are born and act and sicken and die together That 's the 4th ingredient of the Psalmist's Character he upheld universal Innocency and Integrity of Conscience CHAP. VII The Subject of Comfort Publickly Spirited c. True Christianity c. 5. THis Holy Man was of a Publick Spirit living under a Catholick sence of and care for the common concerns of the Church of God Lamenting its Miseries ver 5 6. longing and praying for its redemption from them by the Power and Justice of God ver 1 2 3 4 20. and encouraging his own and its hopes thereof by a serious reflection upon the Divine Attributes ver 1 2 8 9 10 11. Providences ver 12 13. and his own particular experience ver 17 18 19 21. withal by a Prophetick Spirit foretelling it ver 14 15 23. all which are plain in the Psalm and plain demonstrations of a Heart enlarged in its desires and endeavours for Publick Good A good Soul is not well at ease when the Servants of God are ill at ease The Sufferings of the Church are made its own by a sympathizing Spirit which is afflicted in all its Afflictions and cannot enjoy Prosperity or it self in Contentation when God's Children are groaning under the Cross Mourns with Mourning Rejoyces with rejoycing Sion and uses its interest in Heaven to work upon the Bowels of the ever-blessed Son of God that he may demonstrate his tender Commiserations toward his own Members in Misery by turning the course of his Providence And that this is a proper method to Comfort we see Isai 66.10 11. Rejoyce ye with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her rejoyee for joy with her all ye that mourn for her that ye may suck and be satisfied with the Breasts of her Consolations that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her Glory God had a People a Heritage which though Afflicted and broken in pieces here ver 5. yet he would not cast off nor forsake either in respect of Affection or Communion ver 14. So neither must we For 't is by Vertue of our Union and Communion with that Body and its Head that all those comfortable Spirits and Influences are derived to us which refresh and revive us I confess 't is through our internal and spiritual Confederation and Fellowship but he that values and receives benefit by this cannot despise and vilifie the External Hence our Psalmist here as a Member vitally joined to the Body and partaking of a common Sense does not only comfort himself and it with the consideration of the inviolableness of that Union and Communion which was of a spiritual Nature ver 14. nor only reflects upon those external Ligaments and Bonds which ty'd together so numerous a People into one single Heritage or Church but also was grievously afflicted for those external breakings in pieces rents and disunion of parts though involuntary which were the fruit of the outward Violence and Rage of Persecutors So should we But then Oh what Affliction would have rent his tender Heart in the view of those voluntary tearing in pieces the Seamless Coat of Christ the Divisions and Breaches we make amongst our selves Those Fractions were only some kind of dissolution of their Civil Political Union ours of the Ecclesiastical and Wounds are most dangerous in the most noble Parts State Factions are not more to be dreaded than those of the Church because these have more immediate respect to the Soul and God Lamentable are the Miseries of a Civil War where Thousands Born Bred up Nourished by one common Mother Brethren by Stock Blood Condition Cohabitation Membership of the same Body Politick perhaps of one Name and Kindred and Family of the same Body Mystical the Church Blind and Dumb and Deaf to the Cries and Shreeks and Wounds and Groans and Deaths of their own proper Limbs in a barbarous drunken rage tear off their own Skin Flesh and Bones rive open their very Hearts to let out Spirit Life Strength Soul hurl one another down to Hell under their Sin in a deluge of Blood and worry themselves by piece-meal into eternal Damnation And are the Church Digladiations in the Christian World less deplorable when those whose respite from everlasting Burnings cost no less than the Blood of God who are denominated from that most venerable Name wash'd in the same Laver of Regeneration Members of the same Spiritual Body privileged with the same most excellent Gospel and Covenants of Promise and would every one be ready to tear out his Heart that should dare to tell them that they shall not each possess the blessedness of an unspeakably glorious Heaven where therefore as in a Center they must meet if their hopes fail not When these I say who thus concenter and agree in their Titles Royalties and Expectations are so far from combining in the common profession and practice of Unity Love Peace Goodness Vertue Godliness Brotherly kindness Charity as to grind one another into Atoms bite and devour one anothers Hearts by bloody Animosities Reproaches
a serious upright undissembled Resolution to stand to it and abide by it in despight of all Temptations and Opposition thro the aid and assistance of the Spirit of Grace praying waiting in Faith and Hope to enjoy his Gracious Influences leading into all Truth that by it he may be made free formed after the image of God by his Grace strengthened with all might inwardly and revived by his Consolations A Man that in order to all these good Ends diligently examines his Conscience searches out his particular sins is afflicted burthened at his very Soul for them as an Offence to God rather than his own Damage uses all possible means to prevail with his Heart to relinquish them in its affections forbearing actually to commit them lamenting over and reforming sinful Omissions groans under and is daily pained with the woful depravedness of his Nature his very inward Bent and Inclination to Evil the Vanity as well as Vileness of his thoughts words and deeds accounting himself the Chief of Sinners and therefore maintaining an humble self-debasing Sense of his own Unworthiness and labours not only to desist from the Acts but subdue the very Lusts kill the root by mortification A Man who lives by Faith upon the Promises for the Communication of a Divine Nature the Law in the Heart that he may not only do the External Work of Duty but have a Dutiful Heart from and through which Principle he meditates hears reads praises confers about the best things as inwardly loathing the froath and vanity and venome of his former Communication and endeavours that it may be alway savoury season'd with salt that it may administer to the use of edifying minister Grace to the Hearers A Man that endeavours a right Understanding of himself is Cloath'd with Humility in lowliness of mind dehasing himself before God preferring others before himself and condescending to men of low degree and esteeming his own Graces less his Sins greater than any mans admiring that either God or man should favour him and therefore with a calm dispassionate Spirit bears Injuries Affronts Reproaches any Evils that extend to himself but can bear nothing with Unconcernedness that affronts the Divine Majesty hath a Bridle for his Tongue for his Heart and with a composed Evenness of Temper renders his Converses amiable profitable desireable to all grievous hurtful to none In all Conditions Companies or Occurrences prosperous or adverse being the same An ill turn will make him a Friend as Cranmer and the worse the Circumstances the better the Man living under the power of the Spirit of Sanctification in Obedience Meekness Patience Gentleness Simplicity godly Sincerity A Man that can bear Indignities from all forbear offering them to any keeping under his Passions even almost to an Apathy keeping down his carnal Appetite in a sober temperate use of the Pleasures of Sense and an Indifferency to this present World A Man that sets his Mind and Heart savourily upon Invisibles which he evidences by a Conversation in Heaven and values the Wealth and Glory of the Earth only as they deserve and as far as useful for God's Honour in Acts of Piety the Relief of the Indigent in liberality and the maintenance of the Reputation of his Profession with Contentment embracing the least share of the World but unsatisfiable without a large Portion of God and Heaven A Man that walks in his house with a perfect heart putting away Evil from his Tabernacle and advancing Holiness in his own Relations especially to whom he is useful both by Counsel and Example A Man that dares not do or design or imagine any thing unjust dishonest unbecoming Christianity tho' it might gain Indemnity for his Life Uprightness Loyalty Honesty Fidelity in all Promises Dealings Carriage are his Life therefore will he not forfeit and destroy it by contrary Practices A man that has the fairest Notices of Divine particular Love to himself yet will not abuse them to Presumption or Arrogance and Contempt of others that values the favour of Heaven infinitely above the Glory Esteem Riches Pleasures of the World but despises not these as the Gifts of God Yet does not behave himself unseemly when in the higest Repute with Man Alway his Thoughts beget his Words and his Word is his Deed and a good Conscience the Guide of all A man truly faithful to God and his Sovereign the King Modesty Gravity Seriousness Industry Clemency Sedateness of Spirit Peace of Mind being his Individual Companions and Ornaments Yet knows he nothing of those natural or acquired moral or spiritual Endowments that may recommend him to God and Man so as to swell and huff up his Heart he has them as if he had them not A Man that lives in the view of Death and therefore dreads it not whence 't is that whatever he hath or doth or feels or fears or suffers 't is as a dying Man and he therein possesses himself and God in Tranquility of Mind and a quiet Rest and Contentation He would be to others what he expects they and God will be to him Chiefly minds the weightiest Points of Religion in Faith Love Mercy Righteousness Yet having done all esteems himself an unuseful Vessel unworthy regard as having only done Duty and but a small degree of that neither therefore finally flies for Refuge to the love of God and deservings of Christ as the sole bottom of his hopes to be saved This is a Christian of whatever particular Denomination Prelatical Presbyterian Congregational c. All Persons all Societies of Persons thus qualified thou art obliged O my Soul to respect honour embrace do good unto or thou renouncest thy Membership and Fellowship with Christ and his Body Where-ever all the Essentials of this Christianity are received without such intermingled Corruptions as undermine or destroy them so insisted upon that without violation of Conscience and so Christianity thou canst not own them there impart thy best Affections thither direct thy serious and religious Cares and to all how bad soever how hostile soever thy Commiserations I cannot Communicate with an Idolater c. yet I can pity him and every poor deluded Soul that either presumptuously or in simplicity is carryed away from God For I my self am a Sinner and stand in infinite need of the Compassions both of GOD and Man Love Vnity Peace are Matters of so excellent a Nature Uncharitableness Schism Dissention contain so much of Hell that these are to be relinquish'd those pursu'd all possible ways consistent with integrity of Conscience that is consistent with Allegiance to God For Conscience is nothing except in Subordination and Allegiance to God CHAP. VIII The Subject of Comfort Honours God 's Discipline 6. THE Author of his Psalm was a Man that embrac'd a just and equitable Sense and made a benign and fair Representation of both the Instructive Discipline and also the Dispensations of God his special Teachings his severe Providences Ver. 12. Oh the Blessednesses Vocatively
nothing is good in Religion which does not catch and overmaster rational Affections reduce the will of Man into an Harmony with the Will of God and better the Life Oh be not in love with a notional Religion Let the Holy Spirit that illustrious Ray of Divine Love reflected upon and from the Son of Righteousness descend into thy bowels dwell and act in thy very inmost heart by his Light to create Life Be in love with no knowledge but that which is of a transforming power and tendency that by its vertue thou may'st be intirely renewed after the Imagine of God That Knowledge which will introduce Faith that Faith which will work by Love that Love which to the rest will add as 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. Vertue Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly-kindness and in summ all the Elements of a holy conversation that and that only will be introductive of solid Peace and Consolation But this hath all been spoke only upon supposition of a dfferent yet very proper Translation of the Words in V. 10. and. 12. Which are rendred chastize Now must we Procecd upon this authorized Version and 't is certain the Words will allow it as among other Places is demonstrable from 1 Kin. 12.11 14. My Father chastised you with whips c. Psal 118.18 Chastening the Lord hath chastened me but hath not given me over to death Here the word cannot signify to teach or instruct in a proper Sence Yet in the place I discourse upon there 's nothing to enforce this Sence but rather the other as the English Annotator observes Only the Syriack Version the Chaldee Paraphrast Piscator Vatablus Ainsworth c. render it here as we do chasten And if it receive the former Sence may it not seem restrain'd to such Instructions as in a peculiar manner qualifie Men patiently to bear and improve Afflictions This Sence will be favoured by that clause in the following Verse which is declarative of the end and use of these Teachings finding rest in the day of adversity Paraphrase the whole thus Oh the blessednesses of the mighty man Psal 33.16 whom thou so instructest inwardly by thy Spirit and teachest Outwardly by thy Law in the Ministry of the Word and other Ordinances * So Calvin as to engage and enable him with an even composed Spirit resting in the good pleasure of thy Goodness and with patience to indure Adversity Thus I make account 't is a parallel to Jam. 1.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 happy Blessed is the Man that not suffereth meerly but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 patiently endureth Temptation For the Substantive derived from it viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rend red Patience V 34. and ch 5.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we count happy or bless the patiently indureing or biding under ye have heard of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Patience of Job or Trial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 approved he shall receive the Crown of Life c. It seems to be an allusion to the Isthmick or Olympick Games in Greece where if any doubt did arise about the Victory the Agonists or Contenders did appeal to the Judges and he who by their Suffrage or Judgment was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 approv'd did receive the Garland or Crown Thus here Blessed is the man whom thou so disciplinest and learnest as to give rest or quiet sedateness or settlement of mind or appeasement Prov. 15.18 the same word of all turbulent motions in the working raging sea of his Passions and Affections which otherwise cannot be quiet composed and rest Isai 57.20 the same word again till or while the Pit be digged for the wicked For as Dr. Hammond well observes if it be understood of external rest or freedom from the days of Evil the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not properly translated until For that supposes the rest in being before the removal and in the very time of disrest or oppression or adversity by the wicked and the rest to terminate or end when the Wicked are destroyed But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated While Job 1.16 17 18. While he was yet speaking c. and yet more accommodately to this place When Jonah 4.2 Was not this my saying when I was yet in my own Country c. Thus here when the pit of corruption as the word signifies shall be digged for the Wicked the Lord 's blessed ones shall rest from the days of Adversity Then is the season for it This literal proper Sence seems more suitable than Calvin's figurative For Moral Rest answers not the Letter of the Text as well as civil 'T is rest from not in the days of evil as it should if the moral sence for quiet of mind obtain yet I think there may be a commodious Sence given of the Words retaining the until which is the only Basis of the moral sence and still interpret the words concerning Political Rest For until does not alway signifie the cessation of the preceding State upon the introduction of that which it relates to Hereof there are multitudes of Instances Rom. 5.13 Vntil the Law Sin was in the World but it did not cease to be when the Law came Rev. 2.25 Hold fast till I come Must they let go their hold then But to confine my self to the Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isai 22.14 This Iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die If not 'till then 't will never Not to wander out of this Book of Psalms Psal 112.8 He shall not be affraid until he see his desire upon his enemies and sure his fearlesness will not determin then Psal 110.1 Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool Must Christ forsake God's right hand when that is accomplished I 'll add no more It cannot then by necessary consequence be concluded from the until here that the Rest or Quiet of the Blessed shall expire when the Wicked perish it rather infers a more eminent degree of it So also it does in the cited places denote and import an answerable amplification in the succeeding state of what was in the foregoing if it be capable of gradation as sure David's fearlesness would be greater after his desire was accomplished upon his Enemies than before Let that interpret this He shall be fearless before even when his enemies hope to have their desire of him much more when he has his of them Thus God will give those whom he graciously instructs and teaches real quiet and rest both when the wicked Reigns and when he is Ruin'd So that I make it a privilege and part of Blessedness granted by special indulgence to these to be secured from trouble in troublous Times to have a good day when others not so taught of God meet with an evil day to be hid in the day of God's Anger to be preserved from the Malice and persecution of the Wicked This sometimes the Lord vouchsafes to
a world of crafty Politicks and inventive cunning to devise whatever that unfathomable depth of Malice and Emity can direct against us to ruin us everlastingly together with an unknown and unimaginably great sufficiency of Power and Activity to execute what they contrive and they have no limits of their duration on this side Eternity Oh dreadful Host indeed what may they despair to effect upon impotent and degenerate sinful Man But the dependance of things one upon another I see has made me forget my Scope which was to remember the Fears of Sin and Temptation to it rather than the Tempter I proceed to the 2. Danger wherein the Psalmist did apprehend himself viz. of Death not so much Natural as Violent His Enemies design'd to Murther him by a pretended Law notwithstanding his Righteousness and Innocency and for that end had sentenced and condemned him ver 21.22 Whence he declares ver 17. Vnless the Lord had been my help my Soul had almost or quickly dwelt in silence My Soul that is I my self the better part by a Figure being put for the Person or rather for the worse part the Body dwelt in silence i. e. the Grave as is unanimously agreed by Interpreters according to Psal 115.17 The Dead praise not the Lord nor any that go down into silence Which is not to be understood of the Soul but Body only Psal 49.12 20. Nevertheless or And Man being in Honour abideth not a Night he is like the Beasts that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are silent i. e. Dead Psal 31.17 fully Death indeed is the King of Terrors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Job 18.14 Of all Terribles the most terrible to Nature because it dissolves its most amicable Bands and utterly extinguishes all those hopes which it has for many years been kindling and were it not for the reliefs of Grace it would certainly fill Men with unspeakable Agonies could they view it in all its antecedent and consequent Pomp and Circumstances For 't is only ignorance of this very solemn change that causes the most so fool-hardily and without concern to entertain the thoughts and approaches of it But a violent Death God's Effections are always better milder than his Permissions when a Man lies at the mercy of those whose tender Mercies are Cruelty must needs cause more bitter Reflections than where Nature gently expires under the compassionate tender Hands of the God of Nature who always contends in measure that the Spirit may not fail and the Soul which he hath made To this Head then appertains the trouble arising from Fears of Suffering and Affliction of what kind soever In particular those that accompany and follow Death especially the Terrors of Judgment and Hell which is Eternal Death This the Psalmist sometimes felt the sting and torture of as a preventive Medicine that he might not feel it everlastingly Psal 116.3 The pains of Hell gat hold upon me call'd the Cords of Hell Psal 18.5 marg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence perhaps our English Word Cable it sometimes signifies Corruption Destruction Mic. 2.10 Troops Bands Companies Psal 119.61 either of these may suit well enough But above all Fear of God's Anger and just Displeasure most heavily sits upon the Spirit of a Gracious Man All the Troops of Hell and Triumphs of Cruelty are but Mormo's in comparison Finite Fury cannot plague infinitely therefore our Saviour advises Luke 12.4 5. Be not affraid of them that kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forwarn you whom you shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him Filial Fear of God indeed brings no trouble but joy 'T is only a Fear working to Bondage oppressive to Nature a Rebel against Reason stupifying the Spirits enervating the Will damping the Affections over-throwing our Resolution defeating our Counsels confounding our Consciences betraying us into a base and unworthy servitude to our own corrupt Imaginations Errors and Ignorance and every exteriour Agent that has the power or will to abuse them and our Credulity to our Prejudice and Perdition 2. Grieving Thoughts and Impressions The Evils did not lie perdue at a distance but in a close encounter charg'd home and wounded his Heart that it bleeds here in godly Sorrow Indeed whatever causes Fear and Despair does also introduce Grief when it becomes present but his Mind was overwhelmed with such Reflections as had a peculiar influence upon his Sorrow beside those that did produce Fear and Despair As 1. The Sins of others The foul Enormities of Wicked Men whereof several are named 1. Pride Ver. 2. Render a Reward to the Proud a Reward in Vengeance In this Sin the Devil began the Dance and all his Servants wear his Livery and tread in his Steps For this their Loftiness and triumphing Arrogance his Heart groan'd out the double How long ver 3. Words of Lamentation Indeed when men are despis'd they are either anger'd or griev'd anger'd if Proud griev'd if Lowly incens'd if Passionate if Meek troubled 'T is the property of Pride to despise and slight all but bear slighting from none 2. Boasting The inward filth of Pride and Arrogance foaming out at the Mouth ver 4. All the workers of Iniquity speak boast themselves the coherence seems to intimate that the things they boasted of were their own height and power to oppress the Innocent Being got to the top of the Mount of Honour and Worldly Prosperity which puft them up they imagin'd it for their Security and Glory to fall down upon and crush and break in pieces God's Heritage and this they gloried in as becoming their Grandeur Potency Now to be not only trod and trampled upon with the foot of Pride and spurn'd kick'd away like a Dog but also hear the Proud-doers brag of it as a brave and worthy Fact as it heightens the Sin of the Actors so the Sorrow of the Sufferers both as an addition to their own Affliction and also a further aggravation of the Sin 'T is easier to bear a scorn in deeds when a Man has the liberty to suppose that possibly it may not be the issue of design and a malicious Mind or that the Agent may after grieve for and repent of it than to bear their blessing themselves in it praismg themselves for it which is a testimony of their love to it delight in it But if the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be taken in a softer sence shall will or do speak of or speak themselves praedicabunt se The future for the present tense a common Enallage except the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be repeated here again out of the foregoing Verse as our Translaters think it must But then why not also in the Fifth and Sixth Verses where the Verbs are all future yet rendred in the present Interlin i. e. will vaunt praise or extol themselves in Words magnifie
Malignant Spirits These being the Permissions of Providence to punish Sin which as Executions of Justice God attributes to his own Efficiency Amos 3.6 Though mediately may we not also refer hither the immediate Effects of his Power and Justice in Plagues Sicknesses Famines c. Since they agree though not in the Instruments and Means yet in the Original and Author and Meritorious Cause and Principal End 3. Despairing Thoughts and Reflections are beyond all Imagination Afflictive and of this Nature we find some oppressing the Psalmist's Spirit although they were not of the worst kind For despair he did not of Mercy and Relief from Heaven a Misery of all other most intolerable He only despaired as being destitute of all Hope of Help and Succour from Man Vers 16. Who will rise up for me Who will stand up for me The redoubled Interrogation implies a more vehement Negation None none at all For unless the Lord had been my help I had gone without Redemption Vers 17. All the hopes I had upon Earth did utterly fail there was none shut up or left I was reduc'd to the utmost extremity and that was Gods opportunity He was seen in the Mount when the Knife was at the Throat and defunct was all considence in Man Now although the failure of all Earthly Supports be grievous yet when a Man has encouragment to devolve himself on the never-failing Goodness of God he is never destitute of a Satisfaction which will abundantly Counterveil those troublesome Disappointments and therefore his Condition is not really miserable But if this fail also if his strength and hope Perish from the Lord Lam. 3.18 that he be in Saul's sore Distress 1 Sam. 28.6 15. and can have a Prospect of nothing but Eternal Death and Damnation Tongue cannot tell nor Heart imagine the Anxieties and Agonies which as a Prolepsis and Anticipation of Hell sting and excruciate his miserable Soul There 's nothing on this side that Dungeon of everlasting Darkness and Woe can equal this which made Spira sometimes wish himself in Hell that he might feel the worst Oh doleful Perplexity indeed when a Man out of a distracting fear of Hell desires to feel it Oh Horror when anguish of Mind under dreadful Expectations enforces his will to chuse what is infinitely more anguishful and the Drops of Brimstone and Fire that scald his Conscience urge him to a strange unaccountable freeness to be ever consuming in that Bottomless Ocean where Mitigation of Torment end of Misery abatement of Sense will be not only desperate but impossible Oh Despair thou art the sum and strength of Wretchedness the Bitterness and Poison of a never ending Death the Fuel and Flame of an unutterable Torturous Hell Blessed is the Soul that never shall never must feel thy racking Horrors in this or another World CHAP. XII Comforts in general MY last Explicatory Undertaking was to consider and describe the Comforts which now cast so benign an Aspect and Influence upon this Holy Mans afflicted disconsolate Soul They may be considered either Formally or Materially Formally in their proper Nature and true Constitution as an inward refreshment and ease to the Heart Comfort is a Map of Paradise the lovely Meet-Help and Succour of desolate distressed Man the Blessed Repast and Banquet of Holy Angels and Saints The Uncreated Eternal Heaven and Jubilee of God himself the Light wherein he ever dwells that spreads abroad its sweet reviving Rays as largely and liberally as its Fountain the super-intending Care and Goodness of Heaven and especially unto the humble and contrite Heart setling it in a firm and durable Repose and Peace And when the Sin of degenerate Man had banish'd it from the Earth and his own Soul the infinitely Wise and All-knowing God the Father the dearly beloved Word and Wisdom of God his only Begotten Son and the Eternal Spirit of Truth and Grace did by an ever adoreable astonishing Method of Goodness and Love contrive a Retrieval thereof that under its loss Man might not continue the most miserable of the whole Creation 'T is the sweet reviving Breath of boundless Grace and compassion in the Eternal Father infusing new Life and Vigour into Fainting Groaning Bleeding Dying Hearts and Enspiriting them for God A refreshing Beam from the Son of Righteousness which infuses Warmth Strength and Soul into the disconsolate Heart of dejected Man that lies benighted in a Hell of Misery and Darkness The Oyl of Life poured out by the Holy Ghost upon a Benumbed Frozen Restive Soul which gently turns the Wheels of Action in a smooth free ready easie speedy Course and continues them in an unwearied motion toward Heaven A sweet and lovely Paraphrase upon the Promises Ingraven in a Wounded Heart by the Finger of God A powerful Antidote to the Poison of Tormenting Grief and Despair sweeter than Sorrow can be sowre An all-satisfying Foretast and Anticipation of the never Intermitting never Terminating Joys of Eternity When the Sovereign Majesty of Heaven would Ingratiate himself and though in a humble Demission and Debasement of his Glory yet appear in his highest Loveliness to Man 't is in a Robe of Light Joy Comfort and Peace and when a Wounded Spirit that 's discouraged in its Work by the pressure of its own self-created Woes desires to be entertained into and impowred for and chearfully to engage in his Service it implores and sues for the Joy of the Lord to be its Strength When God's Heralds have been denouncing War to Rebels Vengeance against Enemies thereby terrifying them into a War and Enmity against their Sins He next Commissions them as his Embassadors to revive those troubled Souls with a message of glad Tidings of Joy and Peace and Consolation 'T is the refreshing Dew of Heaven upon a barren heart that has been scorched and parched with the fiery Indignation of the Almighty which causes it to bring forth Fruit with rejoycing The gracious Smile of the ever Blessed Jesus upon a weeping wounded Spirit that 's sick of its sins and sores sick for the sense of his Love A hand let down from above to lay hold upon and bring up from the deep an oppressed Spirit sunk with the weight of its own woeful thoughts into an unfathomable Abyss of Miseries A returning Pillar of Cloud and Fire to an Israelite indeed that was bewildred and lost in a vast howling Wilderness of Danger and Horror to direct and lead it with Joy to its Coelestial Rest A secure and welcome Port of safety and repose for a weather-beaten Soul that by the storms and surges of Almighty Vengeance hath been Shipwrack'd and split all to pieces in a Contrition and Humiliation for Sin A Bed of ease and quiet for a weak and sickly weary heart which hath been wrestling and labouring under the weighty Load of Divine Wrath set on and made more grievous by the Lashes of a Scourging Conscience A Heaven of unspeakable Delight and Satisfaction descending into and raising
of Friends and Relations mightily revive a dejected Heart not only by diverting and putting by sad disconsolate thoughts but in respect of their matter as Hezekiah's before mentioned to the People of Jerusalem A kind Friend is a Dove with a Olive-branch in his Mouth in and after a deluge of Calamities Good Words are as Oyl to the Joynts Marrow to the Bones a refreshing reviving Medicine to a sick oppressed Heart As a soft Answer turneth away Wrath Prov. 15.1 So a sweet one turns away Sorrow Good Words make the Heart glad even when heaviness in it causeth it to stoop Prov. 12.25 Pleasant Words are as a Honey-comb sweet to the Soul and health Medicine to the Bones Prov. 16.24 God is with us to speak to our Hearts even in a Wilderness State Hos 2.14 How oft are his Words compared to and preferred before Honey and Honey-combs What a revival was it it to Zechariah and the Jews when the Lord answered the Angel-Intercessor for Judah and Jerusalem with good Words and comfortable Words Zech. 1.13 And with no less exultation did the Psalmist say Psal 85.8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak Peace to his People and to his Saints Christ himself when present on Earth came preaching Peace Eph. 2.17 His Embassadors by and through him preach Peace Act. 10.36 He is a good Man says David of Ahimaaz and brings good tidings 2 Sam. 18.27 Good Words with a good God are gladsome indeed O take pleasure in the Message more in the Messengers in the Sender most of all The inward secret whisperings of the Spirit of Grace and Peace in thy Conscience the outward publication of Peace by God's Ministers and People are only in the matter and method of the Scriptures in which alone God realy speaks Peace Nothing can comfort but Truth nothing savingly Comfort but Scripture Truth All truth is originally from God Essential Truth is God the Son of God Mat. 28. ult who is where-ever he speaks and maks that comforting Truth which is his Image efficacious by his Presence and Power so that the very Instrument of Comfort does but only delight us relatively to him of whom it is a lively Representation Thou mayst be mock'd with a Lye and bewitch'd into a false deceitful Joy with a Falshood but when the Mask is taken off thy bare Countenance will appear more sad than at first and thy Comforts more unretrievable No real Peace but in the God of Peace through the Prince of Peace Friends and Relations cannot alway be present personally with their Company and Counsel to minister to our Peace A Vertual and Vicarious Presence and Conference does not a little contribute to our Consolation when distance of place renders the other impossible and with what a transport of Joy do we receive their Tokens their Letters their Writings with what a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do we peruse and in a manner greedily devour them How are our Hearts ravished with the kind and affectionate Expressions Professions of Remembrance Respect Love every Word is a Cordial we are in an extasie of Contentation here as in a Glass we behold them their lively Portraicture is afresh painted hereby in our Imagination we hear them we talk with them solace our selves in this Phantastical Enjoyment as if it were Real And why should not our Delights be more transcendent in God who can never be absent whose Presence is Substance and not Phantastry and whose Tokens of Love and Letters of Comfort are not the Curates of a Non-Resident Being nor the Missives of a distant Superintendency but the immediate Visitations of an Overseeing Care and Love that naturally minds and regards our highest Concerns and cannot will not desert us if we first do not desert him How comfortable is good News of any kind what a reviving to our drooping Hearts With what passion do we long for it With what gladness receive it believe it bless God for it The Gospel of Christ is better News than the best on Earth Glad Tidings of the greatest Joy Peace Love and Life Here mayst thou see the omniform motions of Christ's richest Grace perceive the compassionate workings of his Bowels feel the solicitous beatings of his affectionate Heart in a tender regard of thee read of the astonishing effects of his wonder-working Power and Goodness all the Miracles of his Love and Kindness for thy Good in Illumination Sanctification Justification Salvation what he hath done what he still is doing what he further will do to raise thee up out of the bottomless Pit of unspeakable Misery to the top and crown of Heavenly Felicity and Glory Well might the Apostle tell of the Comfort of the Scripture Rom. 15.4 And David long for it as a means to his solace Psal 119.82 This and this alone is the richest Promptuary fullest Treasury of all real Soul-satisfactions hence have we them or they are but mere Legerdemain and Illusions And if the very News of Christ be so sweet what is he in himself What is he in Person None have reason to say of him as the Corinthians of Paul 2 Cor. 10.10 His Letters are weighty and powerful but his bodily Presence is weak His is not the presence of a weak contemptible Body but of an all-powerful Spirit he that can be Omnipresent cannot but be Omnipotent Christ as God is in all is all and even as Man full of Vertue a touch of his very Garments wrought a Miracle of Healing Matth. 9.20 21 22. And if in his Mortal Body there was such Power what is in his Immortal and Glorified The Principle I know was Heavenly though the Vessel Earthly yet this has lost nothing by its Exaltation to the Throne of God no nor we neither for in lieu of that Corporal Presence we enjoy a no less Comfortable Companion the Paraclete the Holy Comforting Spirit of God to abide with us not for a few days and years but for ever Joh. 14.16 So that although our sweetest Relation be gone to Heaven yet are we not Orphans ver 18. The Angel of God's Presence Isa 63.19 that saves us comforts us now by Proxy yet is not absent from us but essentially with us though Corporeally at a distance from us Gods Natural Presence is an immensity of Being Unconfinable to any Place Incomprehensible by all Places Exterminable out of none and with its fullness filling all in all So that there is no need of the supplement of any thing to avoid a vacuity nor is any thing by this Being excluded that needs a Place He is in all Space and beyond all Space not commensurate with it but infinite The Dimetient of all yet without Measure and all Corporeal Dimensions boundlessly greater than all things comprehending all within the Circle of his Essence whose Center is every where Circumference no where in all Varieties of Co-present Beings the same invariable Perfection no other on Earth than in Heaven that he can without any
Grace as a Preparation for more of his Glory 2 Cor. 4.8 to the end Upon this Providence of God our Psalmist had a special eye throughout the Psalm Whatever he desires and prays for whatever he believes and hopes for whatever he acknowledges and praises God for whatever he bemoans and afflicts his Soul for whatever he experiences and feels was some Act Effect or Permission of Providence That God in the course of his Providence would annimadvert upon the insolent Barbarities of his and the Churches Enemies is the Expostulatory Petition of Vers 1 2 3 4. What was the Permission of Providence Is the condolement and moan of Vers 5.6 The singular concern of Providence is the Doctrine of Vers 8 9 10. as the happy Fruits of the very Severities thereof the Triumph of Vers 12 13 and the returns of its favourable Aspect the belief of Vers 14 15 the notable needful suitable and feasonable Interposals thereof the experience of Vers 17 18 22 and the turning of this great Wheel upon the Adversaries to their confusion the Prophetick hope of Vers 23. All jointly together the comfort of the Text which in the Multitude of his perplexed Thoughts did look with such an amiable regard upon his Soul So that although the Fundamental Ground and Matter of his Satisfaction was the Nature of God in all its plenitude of Perfection yet the more immediate Spring thereof was the Egress or Issuings out of those Attributes in all these Varieties of Providence And the truth is although what God is in himself be eminently and vertually all Comfort in the utmost degree of Excellency yet should he confine his infinitely delectable Glories to himself only and never ray out and communicate of his Beauty Grace and Life to his Creatures they would be utterly at a loss for Happiness 'T is therefore not only the Nature of this Supreme Goodness as it transcends all in Perfection But also 't is its practice and delight and highest end the very thing that is called God's Glory which he has a prime respect to in all his Actings For then have his Creatures the highest Motives to Honour him when they taste most liberally of his bounty in the noblest Instances and he glorifies himself in the Estimate of the World when he is most beneficial as the Sun is most glorious when diffusing without any Interception his benign rayes and influences All which Glories vanish as to us in a total Eclipse or his descent under the Horizon Hence then does our Joy and Peace and Solace actually germinate and grow even from the glory of Divine Perfection branching out it self in infinite methods of Providence wherein he dispenses to us of his own fulness according to our various Exigences and Appetites The out goings of his Wisdom Goodness Justice Fidelity and Power in sweet and suitable Blessings and Supports that in every Condition we can behold something of God of greater value and consideration than either our Mercies or Crosses This is a potent Cordial to our Disconsolate Hearts and replenishes them with wonderful Contentation If these Divine Glories compass us about care for us keep us we are comforted on every side Psal 71.21 Yea though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death if God be thus with us in his providential Efficiency for our good his Rod and Staff will comfort us Psal 23.4 Rod and Staff Pastoral not Judicial or Corrective as some understand it But Providence being vertually included in those Attributes whereof it is an effect and issue in discoursing of them I was unavoidably led into some consideration of it also 2. The Privileges which administer Consolation in the greatest hurry and perturbation of Thoughts are many Two whereof only are insinuated in this Psalm yet such as suppose more They are 1. Sanctification 2. Propriety in God and assurance of it 1. Sanctification by the Word and Spirit of God is an excellent ground of Consolation 'T is indeed the first Foundation Stone laid in the Fabrick In vertue of this we receive Comfort from other things Tell any disquieted Heart of the inexhaustible Treasures of everlasting Joys and Refreshments in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost That Multitudes have enjoyed on Earth and in the Eternal Fruition whereof the Blessed Saints and Angels ever triumph in Heaven which the bounty and goodness of God exhibits and offers to all Tell it of the free and gracious Promises and Covenant of God that tenders the sweetest and strongest Consolation Exhort with the most charming Rhetorick and ravishing Suada to embrace these so rich so profitable so necessary Provisions of abounding Love Alas it cannot it dare not Why Because 't is Presumption 't is Stealth Robbery Sacrilege to snatch away any thing to arrest these Divine and Holy things without Right But have you not Right No How do you prove that 'T is plain All Right is founded in Sanctification I am not Sanctified I lie in my Sins dead and buried in Guilt and Wrath unregenerate out of Covenant as not having submitted to its Conditions in Repentance Faith and New Obedience Therefore the Comforts of the Covenant and of the Promises its Branches do not at all appertain to me This Argument cannot be gain-said if it assume right 'T is undoubtedly true That none have Right to the Mercies of the Covenant who do not submit to its terms and that very yielding unfeignedly to the terms is an act of Sanctification which necessarily supposes the Communication of a Principle because none can act grace sincerely except from an inward Life of Grace it being essential to the sincerity of an Act that it proceed from a gracious Disposition from a renewed sanctified Heart Ezek. 36.26 27 31 32. and Ch. 20.43 44. and Ch. 11.19 Jer. 32.38 39 40. and 31.31 32 33 34. and 24.7 Deut. 30.6 Acts 5.31 and 3 26. Phil. 1.29 Eph. 2.8 9 10. For none but acts of Life as contradistinct to Dead Works entitle to the Promises God gives a Heart of Flesh a new Heart and Writes his Law therein infuses his Fear and Love thereinto gives Repentance through the Exaltation of Jesus Christ to whose benignity we owe the Donation of Faith also and are altogether his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good Works that we may walk therein evermore Admit that these Promises and Asseverations were designed primarily for Israel according to the Flesh Yet can it not be denied that they delineate and describe the manner and method of God's Proceedings with his Israel according to the Spirit For he no where declares his intent to alter that oeconomy of Grace in the substance thereof which was established by the Covenant of Grace to reduce lost Man to the obedience of the Just though the Circumstances and Ceremonials vary Now if acceptable that is sincere Acts may issue from any Man without or antecedently to all holy Qualifications or Habits as they are usually called ' t were a supervacaneous
the Psalmists process here For before the Text though he have frequent occasion to make mention of God almost in every one of the foregoing Verses viz. ten or eleven times yet 't is with that seeming distance and strangeness that we meet not with a word of appropriation to himself in special But upon the benigne Aspect of the Consolations of God his Love will no longer stand off but makes its nearest approaches and runs into his embraces in a double affectionate claim of Propriety in the compass of four Verses following as oft as he mentions the Lord he follows it with a Relative not permitting it to pass by as before like an Alien Vers 22. The Lord is my defence My God is the Rock of my Refuge I have now abundant reason to follow him with relation Love as mine own since he love my Soul into Rest and Peace becoming my Comforter Oh sweet reviving token of the singular Love of my God! How dearly do I love him for it Yet this is not all Is this Honey-comb for my self alone Do I arrogate sole Propriety in these Riches No my Charity obliges me to Judge that my Brethren in Affliction are not destitute of the same Consolation through interest in God I so love my Neighbour as to make account he is as good as my self and has an equal share with me in this infinite Treasure therefore for my Brethren and Companions sake I say OUR GOD without restriction to my self Vers 23. Yea our God shall out them off He is a common good yours as well as mine and brings a common benefit to us all in saving us from our Adversaries And herein he shews not only his love to Man and thereby consequentially that it did respect a higher object 1 Joh. 4.20 21. but directly and immediately demonstrates that he grew in love to God himself in that he glorifies the Communicativeness of Divine Goodness by an acknowledgment of its extensiveness in a peculiar manner to Multitudes besides himself even all included in the relative OUR as if it had been said I love him because he loves me so as to be mine I love him yet more because he together with me loves mine condescending to be theirs also I love that goodness that flows to me I further love that goodness that overflows to all with me my Friends my People For my own sake for their sake for its own sake I love it above all Thus as the Work of Righteousness is Peace and the effect of Righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Isa 32.17 So on the other hand the Work of Peace is Righteousness Psal 85.8 I will hear what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong God Jehovah will speak because he will speak peace to his people and to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his merciful ones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indicatively not Imperatively and they shall not return to folly This Peace will be a preservative against Sin whence 't is said to Engarrison our Minds and Hearts in that so often mentioned Phil. 4.7 so promotes it that Holiness which some call Negative but it is no less productive of Positive Holiness Isa 61.2 3. Christ is anointed and endowed with the Holy Spirit to Preach good tidings c. To comfort all that mourn To appoint unto them that mourn in Sion to give unto them beauty for Ashes the Oyl of joy for mourning the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of heaviness But wherefore all this It follows That they might be called i. e. might be as before Isa 4.3 and 35.8 and 56.7 compared with Luk. 19.46 Matth. 5.9 19. Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified To this purpose also is that Prayer of the Apostle 2 Thes 2.16 17. God who loves and gives everlasting Consolation through Grace comfort your Hearts and stablish you in every good Word and Work Grace begets Consolation and this begets good Conversation He that through Grace comforts does also through Comfort establish in every good Word and Work Shew then Oh my Soul the soundness of thy Comforts by their Fruits That Peace which is imprignant is impostorous In what further degree do thy inward Joys impower thee to Love the Lord the giver or thy Neighbour thy Partaker Canst thou pretend Peace in thy Conscience and live in contention or uncharitableness with thy Brother Does not thy inward Comfort calm thy passions meeken thy converses render thee profitable useful to Men in the best endeavours to induce them to love God and Vertue and abhor Immorality Viciousness and Hypocrisie that by thy means they may be also led in this method into the way of Peace and through it again into the way of Purity If thy Comforts be solid and sincere thou wilt by them be enabled to use the utmost diligence in propagating them since that is one of Gods great Designs in communicating them 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Blessed be God even the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort who comforteth us in all our Tribulation for what end That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the Comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God And if God make thee able thou ought'st to be willing They are only fallacious Joys that are envious A corrupt Heart so that it self do but enjoy rest matters not though all the World be in trouble nay grudges others the quiet it enjoys and triumphs or secretly rejoyces at or at least is not afflicted in their Afflictions Haman will drink and be jolly when the whole City is in perplexity A wicked Soul is not concern'd for the content of any beside it self will rather add Affliction to the afflicted than indeavour or rejoyce in their Consolation Thy Comfort is not good if not conformable to the Fountain of Goodness in Communicativeness As far as confin'd 't is corrupt In the Harvest of true Joys thy Jordan will overflow the Banks Uncharritable illiberal unbountiful Consolations are Illusions If thy light and gladness diffuse not its beneficial rayes abroad to revive and refresh the Disconsolate Heart 't is but a glimmering Meteor not a Beam from the Sun of Righteousness and thus does it not extend it self if a Vital Heat and Influence do not accompany it as 't is but a flashy wild deceitful Spark Isa 50.11 which will vanish into Smoak and darkness if it be not kindled by a flame of true Love to God and Universal Righteousness Wherefore thou canst never bless thy self in reflection upon thine own Peace if it engage thee not in serious cares to propagate Holiness first and thereby Peace For an unholy Soul is absolutely inconsolable for want of Right therefore should be so for want of Will since a Will to apply Comforts without Right will certainly reduce to that woful plight which the Apostle with so much concern reports 1 Thes 5.3 When they shall say peace and
Minds and sue for that Mercy for our selves which once we would not receive or so much as desire as an answer to the Petitions of our Mediator Be not a Stranger to thine own Heart yet do not think to dig thy Peace out of thine own Bowels If it be a comforting reviving thing to find in thy self the truth of Grace yet that refreshing vertue of Grace it self is from God Whence we find some that although they be tolerably satisfied of their soundness yet through Ignorance or Inadvertency or Melancholy or Temptation c. cannot settle in a calm and quiet composure of Mind For as I said the Assurance of the truth of a Man's Grace is only comforting as it is the ground of his Assurance of the Love of God of which if a Man be not satisfied i. e. that true Grace is an infallible evidence that God does embrace him with his special Love and is at peace with him through Christ his Conscience will not be at rest for it cannot rest in discord with God whose Deputy 't is in Man Now some are so weak as not to understand this others so opprest with dumpishness of Spirit as not to heed it others so deluded by Satan as not to believe it which mists if not dispell'd damp the comfort of Grace Look therefore to the Sun of Righteousness to clear up thy Comforts by expeling this Darkness Seek abroad for Peace The Bee finds not her Honey at home without the labour of her Wings Let thy Supplications then O my Soul be continually winging thy Affections towards Heaven that they may there suck and be satisfied Isa 66. with the full Brests of Divine Consolation milk out and be delighted with the abundance of its Glory The Celestial Canaan is the Land that flows with the Milk and Honey of Divine and Spiritual Joy into which as at first thou passest over the Jordan of Repentance not upon dry ground but wafted by the breath of Prayer So must thou take possession of it in Armour fighting the good Fight of Faith with Heart and Hands like Moses lift up in earnest Supplications Exod. 17.11 Isa 61.1 3. The Spirit of God is upon Christ because the Lord hath anointed him To appoint to them that mourn in Sion to give them Beauty for Ashes the Oyl of Joy for Mourning c. If it be his Gift to him must we address for it The Tree from whence this Oyl of Gladness flows is planted in the Paradise of God descend to thee it shall not unless thou ascend to it and be ingrafted in the same Stock Oh transplant thy self from Earth to Heaven and take root at the Throne of Grace fix thy self and grow at the Footstool of Mercy by Frayer if as a Tree of Righteousness thou wouldst draw in be nourish'd and refresh'd by those consolatory dews of Divine Love which are the spring of that River of the Waters of Life which makes glad the City of God Be more above with the Father of Meries and God of all Comfort in these Devout and Ardent Suspirations than below glued to the Earth by Carnal Affections if thou desirest to be a Barnabas may I thus transfer it from its active to a passive Sense a Son an Heir an Inheritor of Celestial Consolations If thou canst but pray indeed thou art secure the furious Waves of these two meeting Seas Sin and Suffering may wrack thee but cannot swallow thee up Sink perhaps thou maist but Drown thou canst not the gentle Gales of the Spirit in this duty will most safely transport thee to the Haven of Everlasting Joy and Peace even in the ruin of all thy Fortunes Thy Miseries thy Corruptions shall perish thou thy self shalt not so true is that Saying of a Reverend Bishop Fashionable Suppliants may talk to God Bp. Hall but be confident he that can truly pray can never be miserable Of our selves we lie open to all Evils our rescue is from above and what intercourse have we with Heaven but by our Prayers This is his Catholicon Seneca advises his Lucilius to superadd new to his old Prayers to ask a good Soul good Health of Mind Epist 10 Quidni t◠ista vota saepe facias audacter Deum roga then of Body Why dost not oft renew these Requests Beg of God boldly So live with Men as if God saw so speak to God as if Men heard A good Precept to which adjoyn the like from the wisest of Men Eccles 5.1 2. Keep thy Foot when thou goest into the House of God c. Be not rash with thy Mouth and let not thine Heart be hasty to utter any thing before God For God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy Words be few 'T is not much speaking but hearty that God regards not the Tongue of Men and Angels but Truth in the inward Parts Broken Expressions from a broken Heart are as sweet Eloquence in the esteem of God as the best in Tully or Demosthenes Oh then pour out thy Prayers as a Flood Isa 26.16 If thou desirest they should return in a Tyde of Peace They can never reach Heaven if they have not a spring of Grace within they will never be received there if not the warm Exhalations Transpirations of a melting contrite Heart drawn out and drawn up by the dissolving attractive Rayes of the Son of Righteousness If the Divine Spirit infuse this Breath into thee it will follow him to Heaven and through his Influence who is the Comforter possess thee of the fulness of the Comforts of Elshaddai God all-sufficient If as a cloven Tongue of Fire the Holy Ghost descend and sit upon thee and give thee utterance Acts 2.3 4. not merely in conference with Men but secret speech Isa 26.16 with God If he envigorate and heat thy Graces and Affections that the Fire burn within Psal 39.3 and give speech to thy Tongue If he cast the pure Incense of Spiritual Devotion upon that flaming Altar thy fervent zealous Heart that may ascend in a sweet smelling Cloud to the Throne of God If Lastly this Fire from Heaven fall upon thy Sacrifice as a testimony or the audience of thy Prayers then wilt thou shout for Joy Levit 9. ult and triumph in his Salvation If thou would'st entertain any grounded hopes that the Lord will speak comfortably to thy Heart oh do thy utmost by Premeditation by Reading by Ejaculation c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to blow up into a living Fire those Divine Sparks of the Grace of Prayer which the Spirit doth cast within thee as a preparation for thy solemn Exercise in the duty of Prayer it self and let thy Supplications be rather the inward workings of thy Heart in aversation from Sin and panting after God by godly Sorrow Repentance Desire Faith Love Resignation c. than the labour of thy Lips and a bodily Exercise or the Work of an enlarged invention and fancy or strong Head and