and the flesh leadeth no man to his Salvation Gods motions are all for our Eternal good though they seem to be for our temporal hurt The motions of the flesh are for our Eternal hurt though at present they seem to be for our Corporal benefit If at any time you be at a loss and your carnal friends or your commodity or pleasure adviseth you one way and the Word of God and his faithful Ministers advise you another way use but your Reason well and consider whether God or those that contradict him be the wiser and accordingly suit your practice Alas man thy friend is ignorant and knows not what is good for himself Thy flesh is ignorant and knows not what is good for thy soul But God knoweth all things Your flesh and friends do feel what pleaseth them at present and judge accordingly but what will be hereafter they understand not or consider not But God knoweth as well what will be as what is He counselleth you as one that knoweth how your actions will appear at last and what it is that will save you or undo you to all eternity If you be but sick it s too to one but the Counsel of your Physition and of your Appetite will differ And if you will obey your Physition before your Appetite for your health or life should you not obey God before it for your Salvation Do you think in your Consciences that any that perswade you to a careless worldly fleshly life are as Wise as God that perswadeth you to the contrary you dare not say so with your tongues and yet the most dare say so with their lives O how justly do the ungodly perish that deliberately choose a brutish appetite a malignant world and a malicious Devil as a wiser or fitter conducter then the Lord But blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly but his delight is in the Law of the Lord Psal. 1. 1 2. And wo to the ungodly that reject and set at nought the counsel of the Lord Prov. 1. 25 30. Luke 7. 30. and will have none of it that wait not for his counsel Psal. 106. 13. that rehell against the words of God and contemn the counsel of the most High Psal. 107. 11. And wo to them that take counsel against the Lord and his Christ that they may break asunder his bondt and cast away his obligations Psal. 2. 1 2 3. And wo to them that are given up to the lusts of their own hearts and to walk in their own counsels Psal. 81. 12. For by their own counsels shall they fall Psal. 5. 10. But had they harkened to the Lord and walked in his way with the fulness of his blessings would he have satisfied them Psal. 81. 13 16. Resolve therefore what ever the flesh or the world say that the Testimonies of God shall be your Counsellors Psal. 119. â—4 and bless the Lord that giveth thee counsel Psal. 16. 7. For his counsel is infallible having guided thee by his counsel be will bring thee to his glory Psal 73. 24. 3. The Infinite Wisdome of God must resolve the soul to Rest in his determinations We are most certain that God is not deceived Though all men seem Lyers to you let God be true for it is impossible for him to lye Heb. 6. 18. If our Reason be to seek so is not God When we are saying with Nicodemus How can these things be God knoweth how and it is enough for us to know that they are so If Infinite wisdome say the word Believe it though all the world contradict it Though proud unbelievers say that the words of God are improbable let them know that God is not at a loss when ever mens dark understandings are at a loss The Sun is not taken out of the firmament when ever a man closeth or loseth his eyes What will those cavillers puzzle the Almighty will they pose Omniscience Doth it follow that the course of the Planets and the Heavens and all the Creatures are out of order if these silly Moles understand not the order of them No more will it follow that any word of God is false or any Rule of God is crooked because they see not its truth and rectitude Shall dust and ashes judge the Lord who hath been his Counseller and with whom hath he advised for the making redeeming or governing of the world There is no Rest to an inquisitive soul but in the Infinite wisdome of the Lord. Find once that it is his word and enquire no further It s madness to demand a further proof As all Goodness is comprized in his Will and Love so all Truth is comprized in his Wisdom and Revelations There are no Arguments but what are lower and subordinate to this And therefore if thy Reason be at a loss as to the cause or manner yet hast thou the greatest Reason to believe that all is just and true that proceedeth from the Wisdom of the Lord. Iâ— flesh and blood and all the world gain say it yet Rest in the Word of God 4. And that 's the next effect that Gods Omniscience should have upon our minds Take all the sayings of men as folly that are against the Lord. Let them be high or low learned or unlearned if they contradict the God of Infinite wisdome take it but as the words of a distracted man Did you ever meet with any man of them that durst say he was wiser than God himself Herod that was eaten to death with vermine was applauded by the flattering crowd but with this acclamation It is the voice of a God and not of a man Act. 12. 22. And will you say of any man that he is wiser than God If you dare not say so how dare you hear them and believe them against the Word of God How dare you be drawn from a holy life or from a selfdenying duty or from the truth of God by the words of a man yea perhaps of a very sot that speaks against the Word of God! To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to these it is because there is no Light in them Isa. 8. 20. 5. The Infinite wisdom of God should establish our confidence concerning the fulfilling of all his Word He will not fail for want of Knowledge when he spoke that Prophesie that Promise or that Threatning he perfectly knew all things that would come to pass to all eternity He knew therefore what he said when he gave out his Word and therefore will fulfill it Heaven and earth may pass away but one Iota or tittle of his word shall not pass away till all be accomplished Mat. 5. 18 6. And from the Infinite wisdom of God the Church must be encouraged in its greatest straits and against all the cunning subtilty of their enemies Are we ever in such straits that God knows not how to bring us out when we see no way for our deliverance doth
the living And so it containeth all the former in their highest perfection that is both Natural Life and Moral-Spiritual Life and the holy exercise thereof together with the full attainment and fruition of God in Glory the End of all ETERNAL That is simply eternal objectively as to God the principal object and Eternal ex parte post subjectively that is Everlasting THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL Not Natural life in it self considered as the Devils and wicked men shall have it But 1. It is the same Moral-Spiritual Life which shall have no End but endure to Eternity It is a Living to God in Love But only initial and very imperfect here in comparison of what it will be in Heaven 2. It is the Eternal felicity 1. Seminally for Grace is as it were a seed of Glory 2. As it is the Necessary way or means of attaining it and that preparation which infallibly procureth it The Perfect Holiness of the Saints in Heaven will be one part of their perfect happiness And this Holiness imperfect they have here in this life It is the same God that we know and love here and there and with a Knowledge and Love that is of the same nature seminally As the egg is of the nature of the Bird Whether it may be properly said to be formally and specifically the same quoad actum as well as quoad objectum yea whether the Objectum clare visum and the objectum in speculo vel aenigmate visum make not the act specifically differ I shall not trouble you to dispute And this imperfect Holiness hath the promise of Perfect Holiness and Happiness in the full fruition of God hereafter So it is the Seed and Prognostick of Life Eternal TO KNOW Non semper ubique eodem modo vel gradu Not to know God here and hereafter in the same manner or degree But to know him here as in a glass and hereafter in his Glory as face to face To know him by an Affective Practical knowledge There is no Text of Scripture of which the rule is more clearly true and necessary than of this that Words of Knowledge do imply affection It is the closure of the whole soul with God which is here called the knowing of God And because it is not meet to name every particular act of the soul when ever this duty is mentioned it is all denominated from Knowledge as the first Act which inferreth all the rest 1. Knowledge of God in the Habit is Spiritual Life as a Principle 2. Knowledge of God in the exercise is Spiritaal Life as an employment 3. The Knowledge of God in perfection with its effects is Life Eternal as it signifieth full felicity What it containeth I shall further shew anon THEE That is The Father called by some Divines Fons vel fundamentum Trinitatis the fountain or foundation of the Trinity and oft used in the same sense as the word GOD to signifie the pure Deity THE ONLY He that believeth that there is more Gods than One believeth not in any For though he may give many the Name yet the description of the true God can agree to none of them He is not God indeed if he be not One only This doth not at all exclude Jesus Christ as the second person in Trinity but only distinguisheth the pure Deity or the Only true God as such from Jesus Christ as Mediator between God and man TRUE There are many that falsly and Metaphorically are called Gods If we think of God but as one of these it is not to know him but deny him GOD The word GOD doth not only signifie the Divine perfections in himself but also his Relation to the Creatures To be a God to us is to be one to whom we must ascribe all that we are or have and one whom we must Love and obey and honour with all the powers of soul and body and one on whom we totally depend and from whom we expect our judgement and reward in whom alone we can be perfectly blessed AND JESUS CHRIST That is As Mediator in his Natures God and man and in his Office and Grace WHOM THOU HAST SENT That is whom thy Love and Wisdom designed and commissioned to this undertaking and performance The Knowledge of the Holy Ghost seemeth here left out as if it were no part of life Eternal But 1. At that time the Holy Ghost in that Eminent sort as sent by the Father and Son on the Apostles after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ was not yet so manifested as afterwards and therefore not so necessarily to be distinctly known and believed in as after The having of the Spirit being of more necessity than the distinct knowledge of him Certain it is that the Disciples were at first very dark in this article of faith And Scripture more fully revealeth the necessity to salvation of believing in the Father and Son than in the Holy Ghost distinctly yet telling us that if any man have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8. 9. 2. But presently after when the Spirit was to be sent the necessity of believing in him is expressed especially in the Apostles Commission to Baptize all Nations that were made Disciples in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Doct. THe Knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ the Mediator is the Life of Grace and the necessary way to the life of Glory As James distinguisheth between such a dead faith as Devils and wicked men had and such a living and working faith as was proper to the justified so must we here of the Knowledge of God Many profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1. 16. There is a form of knowledge which the unbelievers had Rom. 2. 22. and a knowledge which puffeth up and is void of Love which hypocrites have 1 Cor. 8. 1. 13. But no man spiritually knoweth the things of God but by the spirit And they that rightly know his name will put their trust in him Psal. 9 10. Thus he giveth the regenerate a heart to know him Jer. 24. 7. and the new creature is renewed in knowledge Col. 3. 10. And vengeance shall be poured out on them that know not God 2 Thes. 1. 8. This saving Knowledge of God which is Eternal Life containeth and implyeth in it all these acts 1. The understandings apprehesion of God according to the necessary articles of faith 2. A Belief of the truth of these articles that God is and is such as he is therein described 3. An high estimation of God accordingly 4. A Volition complacency or Love to him as God the chiefest Good 5. A Desiring after him 6. A Choosing him with the rejection of all competitors 7. A Consent that he be our God and a giving up our selves to him as his people 8. An intending him as our Ultimate End in
Related to us as our Lord By a Lord we mean strictly a Proprietary or Owner as you are the Owner of your goods or any thing that is your Own Secondly He is Related to us as our Ruler our Governour or King This riseth from our nature made to be Ruled in order to our End being Rational Voluntary Agents and also from the Dominion and blessed nature of God who only hath Right to the Government of the world and only is fit and capable of Ruling it Thirdly He is Related also to us as our Benefactor or Father freely and of his bounty giving us all the good that we do receive His first Relation in this Trinity answereth his first Property in the Trinity He is our Almighty Creator and therefore is our Owner or our Lord. The second of these Relations answereth the second Property of God He is most Wise and made an Impress of his Wisdom on the Rational Creature and therefore is our Governour The third Relation answereth the third property of God As he is most Good so he is our Benefactor Psal. 119. 68. Thou art Good and dost Good Mans nature and disposition is known by his Works though he be a free agent For the Tree is known by its fruit Mat. 7. 17. And so Gods nature is known by his works as far as is fit for us here to know though he be a free agent In each of these Relations God hath other special Attributes which are denominated from his Relations or his following works As he is our Lord or Owner his proper Attribute is to be Absolute having so full a title to us that he may do with us what he list Mat. 20. 15. Rom. 9. 21. As he is our Ruler his proper Attribute is to be our Soveraign or Supream there being none above him nor co-ordinate with him nor any Power of Government but what is derived from him As he is our Benefactor it is his prerogative to be our Chief or All the Alpha and Omega the Fountain or first Efficient cause of all that we receive or hope for and the End or ultimate final cause that can make us Happy by fruition and that we must still intend As these are the Attributes of God in these his great Relations so in Respect to the Works of these Relations he hath other subordinate Attributes As he is our Owner it is his Work to Dispose of us and his proper Attribute to be most Free. As he is our Ruler it is his work to Govern us which is first by making Laws for us and then by teaching and perswading us to keep them and lastly by executing them which is by Judging Rewarding and Punishing In respect to all these his principal Attribute is to be Just or Righteous In which is comprehended his Truth or Faithfulness his Holiness his Mercy and his terrible dreadfulness As his Attributes appear in the Assertions of his word he is True his Veracity being nothing but his Power Wisdom and Goodness expressing themselves in his Word or Revelations For he that is Able to do what he will and so wise as to Know all things and so Good as to Will nothing but what is Good cannot possibly lye For every lie is either for want of Power or Knowledge or Goodness He that is most Able and Knowing need not deceive by Lying And he that is most Good will not do it without need As his first properties appear in the word of Promise he is called Faithful which is his Truth in making good a word of grace As he Commandeth Holy duties and condemneth sin as the most detestable thing by a pure righteous Law so he is called Holy and also as the fountain of this Law and the Grace that sanctifieth his people As he fulfilleth his promises and rewardeth and defendeth men according to his word so he is called Merciful and Gracious as a Governour where his Mercy is considered as limited or ordinate by his laws As he fulfilleth his Threatnings he is called Angry wrathful terrible dreadful holy jealous c. But he is Just in all And as these are his Attributes as our Soveraign Ruler so as our Benefactor his special Attribute is to be Gracious or Bountiful or Benign or to be Loving and inclined to do good These are the Attributes of God resulting from his Nature as appearing in his Image in the Creation Laws and the person of his Son and resulting from his Relations and the works of those Relations even as he is our Creator in Unity and our Lord or Owner our Ruler and Benefactor in Trinity Were it not my purpose to consine my self to this short discovery of the nature attributes and works of God but to run deeper into the rest of the body of Divinity I should come down to the fall and work of Redemption and shew you in the Gospel and all the ordinances c. the footsteps of this Method of Trinity in Unity which I have here begun but that were to digress Besides what is said we might name you many Attributes of God that are commonly called Negative and do but distinguish him from the Imperfect Creature by setting him above us Infinitely in his perfections Man hath a Body but God is not a Body but a spirit Man is mutable but God Immutable Man is Mortal but God Immortal c. And now as I have shewed you these Properties Relations and Attributes of God so I must next tell you that we also stand in answerable counter-relations unto him and must have the qualities and do the works that answer those Relations 1. As God is our Almighty Creator so we are his Creatures impotent and insufficient for our selves We owe him therefore all that a Creature can owe his Maker that hath but our receivings 2. In this Relation is contained a Trinity of Relations 1. We are his Own as he is our Lord. 2. We are his subjects as he is our Ruler 3. We are his Children as he is our Father or his obliged Beneficiaries as he is our Benefactor And now having opened to your observation the Image of God and the extrinsick seals I have ripened the discourse so far that I may fitlyer shew you How the Impression of this Image of God is to be made upon the soul of the Believer CHAP. II. Of the Knowledge of Gods Being 1. HE that cometh to God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. The first thing to be imprinted on the soul is that there is a God that he is a real most Trascendent Being As sure as the Sun that shineth hath a Being and the Earth that beareth us hath a being so sure hath God that made them a Being infinitely more excellent then theirs As sure as the streams come from the fountain and as sure as Earth and Stones and Beasts and Men did never make themselves nor do uphold themselves or continue the
doth sweetly relish and take pleasure in as we would do to hear an Angel speak of the Holy things of the invisible Glory 3 And Relative Holiness it self though the lowest must be H 〈…〉 ured by us Holy offices and persons in them must be Re 〈…〉 d for their Relative Holiness Holy dayes must be holily 〈…〉 rved Holy Ordinances which also participate of the 〈…〉 of the Law as significative must be reverently used Due reverence must be given even to that which is lawfully by men â—â—voted to a Holy use as are Temples and Utensils of worship and the maintenance dedicated to the service of God That which is Holy must not be devoured Prov. 20. 25. nor used as we do things common and unclean â— Gods Holiness must make us Holy we must fall in Love with it and wholly conform our selves unto it Every part of Sanctifying grace must be entertained and cherished and excited and used by us Sin must be loathsome to us because it is contrary to the Holiness of God No Toad or Snake should seem to us so ugly A dead carkass is an unpleasant sight because it sheweth us a privation of natural life But an unholy soul is incomparably a more loathsome ghastly sight because it sheweth us the privation of the life of Holiness No man can well know the odiousness of sin and the misery and loathsomeness of the unholy soul that knoweth not the Holiness of God Speak unto all the Congregation of Israel and say unto them Ye shall be Holy for I the Lord your God am Holy Lev. 19. 2. Sanctifie your selves therefore and be ye Holy for I am the Lord your God Lev. 20. 7 8. As be that hath called us is Holy so must we be holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1. 25. It is an holy calling wherewith we are called 2 Tâ—â— 1. 9. We are sanctified to be a peculiar people to Christ Tit. 2. 14. That denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world ver 12. We are made an Holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2. 5. Rom. 12. 1 2. We must therefore present our bodies a living sacrifice Holy acceptable to God our reasonable service For we are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be Holy and without blame Ephes. 1. 4. and are Redeemed and Sanctified by Christ that we may be presented Glorious Holy and without blemish Ephes. 5. 26 27. See therefore that you follow Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Heb. 12. 14. For Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see him Mat. 5. 8. 3. The Holiness of God must be to us a standing unanswerable Argument to shun all temptations that would draw us to be unholy and to confound all the words of wicded men that are spoken against Holiness Remember but that God is Holy and if thou like that which is spoken against God thou art his Enemy Think on the Prophesie of Henoch Jude 14. 15. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his holy Name in vain much less that blasphemeth Holiness which is the perfection of his blessed nature 4. The Holiness of God must possess us with a sense of our Uncleanness and further our Humiliation When Isaiah heard the Seraphims cry Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory Isa. 6. 3 He said Woe is mee for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts v. 5. 5. The Holiness of God must cause us to walk continually in his Fear and to take heed to all the affections of our souls and even to the manner of our behaviour when we come near to him in his Holy Worship What suffered the Beâ—shemiâ—es for unreverent looking into the Holy Ark 1 Sam 6. 19. and Uzzah but for touching it And what a dreadful example is that of the two Sons of Aaron that were slain by a devouâ—ing fire from the Lord for offering strange fire which he commanded not Lev. 10. 1 2. And Aaron was awed into silence by this account from God I will be sanctified in them that come nigh mee and before all the people I will be glorified v. 3. Take heed lest unreverence or deadness or customary heartless wordy services should be brought before a Holy God Take heed of hypocritical carnal worship The Holy God will not be mocked with complements and shews CHAP. XIX 18. THe next Attribute of God to be spoken of is His Veracity Truth and Faithfulness This is the result of his perfect Wisdome Goodness and Omnipotency For because he is most Wise and Powerful he cannot be Necessitated to Lye And because he is most Good he will not Lye Though God speaketh by none but a Created Voice and signifie his Will to us by men that in themselves considered are defectible yet what he maketh his Voice shall speak Truth and what he chooseth to signifie his Will shall truly signifie it He therefore condemneth Lying in man because it is contrary to his own Veracity For if any should say that God is under no Law and therefore is not bound to speak Ttuth or not deceive a Prophet or Apostle by his Inspirations I answer that he hateth Lying as contrary to his Perfect Nature and is himself against it and cannot possibly be guilty of it because of his own Perfection and not because he is under a Law Lying comes from some Imperfection either of Knowledge Power or Goodness which can none of them befall the Lord. The Goodness of the Creature is a Goodness of Conformity to an Obliging Law and the Goodness of the Law is a Goodness of Conformity to and expression of the Good Will of God But the Goodness of God is a Perfection of Essence the Primitive Goodness which is the Fountain and Standard and End of all other Good and not a Goodness of Conformity to another And this Attribute of God is of very great use to his servants 1. From hence we must be Resolved for Duty and for a holy heavenly life because the Commands of God are serious and his Promises and Threatnings True If God were not True that tells us of these great Eternal things then might we excuse our selves from Godliness and justifie the worldling in his sensual way There is nothing of common sense and reason that can be said against a Holy life by a man that denieth not the Truth of God or of his Word And to deny Gods Truth
say this much here 5. The Truth of God must teach us to hate every Motion to Unbelief in our selves and others It is a hainons sin to give God the Lye though he speak to us but by his messengers Every honest man so far as he is honest is to be believed and is God less true A graceless Gallant will challenge you the field for the dishonour if you give him the Lye If you deny Gods Veracity you do not only equal him with the worst of men but with the Devil who was a Lyer from the beginning Yea you make him uncapable of being the Governour of the world or suppose him to Govern it by Deceits and Lyes Abhor therefore the first motions of Unbelief It makes men somewhat worse than Devils for the Devils know that God cannot lye and therefore they believe and tremble Unbelief of the Truth of the Word of God is the curse of the soul the enemy and bane of all Grace and Religion so far as it prevaileth Let it be the principal care and labour of your souls to settle the foundation of your Faith aright and to discern the Evidence of Divine Authority in the holy Scriptures and to extirpate the remnants of Infidelity in your hearts 6. Let the Truth and Faithfulness of God engage you to be True and Faithful to him and to each other You have promised him to be his servants be faithful in your promises You are in Covenant with him break not your Covenant Many a particular promise of Reformation you have made to God Prove not false to him that is True to you Be as good as your word to all men that you have to do with Abhor a Lye as the off-spring of the Devil who is the father of it Remember you serve a God of Truth and that it is the Rectitude and Glory of his servants to be conformable to him They say the Turks are offended at Christianity because of the lyes and falshood of Christians But sure they were but nominal Christians and no true Christians that ever they found such And its pitty that Christianity should be judged of through the world by the lives of them that never were Christians but from the teeth outward and the skin that was washt in Baptism They that will lye to God and covenant to be his holy Servants when they hate his holy service will lye to man when their commodity requireth it When they seem to Repent and honour him with their tongues They flatter him with their mouth and lye to him with their tongues for their heart is not right with him neither are they stedfast in his Covenant Psal. 78. 34 35 36 37. God saith Levit. 19. 11. Ye shall not steal nor deal fasly nor lye one to another A Righteous man hateth lying Prov. 13. 5. The lying tongue is but for a moment Prov. 12. 19. For God hateth it and it is an abomination to him Prov. 16. 16 17. The lovers and makers of lyes are shut out of the Kingdom of Christ Rev. 22. 15. But above all false Teachers that preach and prophesie lyes and deceive the Rulers and people of the Earth are abominable to God See Jer. 27. 10 14 15 16. 14. 14. 23. 25 26 32. Ezek. 13. 9 12. Isa. 54. 13. When Ahab was to be destroyed a lying spirit in the mouth of his Prophets deceived him And if a Ruler hearken to lyes all his servants are wicked Prov. 29. 2. 7. Above all false witness and perjury should be most odious to the servants of the God of Truth Prov. 19. 9. A false witness shall not be unpunished and he that speaketh lyes shall perish Eccles. 5. 4 5. When thou vowest a vow to God defer not to pay it Saith David Thy Vows are upon mee O God Psal. 56. 12. And unto thee shall the Vow be performed Psal. 65. 1. Perjury is a sin that seldome scapeth vengeance even in this life The instances of Saul the first and Zedekiah the last of the Kings of Judah before their desolation are both very terrible Sauls posterity must be hanged to stay the Famine that came upon the people for his breaking a Vow that was made by Joshua and not by him though he did it in zeal for Israel 2 Sam. 21. Zedekiah's case you may see 2 Chron. 26. Ezek. 17. He that sweareth appealeth to God as the searcher of hearts and avenger of perjury The perjured person chooseth the vengeance of God He is unfit till he repent to be a member of any civil society For he dissolveth the bond of all societies He cannot well be supposed to make conscience of any sin or villany in the world against God his Country his King his Friend or Neighbour that makes no conscience of an oath It is not easie to name a greater wickedness out of Hell than to approve of perjury by Laws or Doctrine And whether the Church of Rome do so or not I only desire them to consider that have read the third Canon of the Council at Lateran under P. Innocent the third where an Approved General Council decreeth that the Pope discharge vassals from their allegiance or fidelity to those Temporal Lords that exterminate not Hereticks as they call them out of their dominions What shall restrain men from killing Kings or any villany if once the bond of oatht be nullified But Scripture saith Keep the Kings Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God Eccles. 8 2. No man defendeth Perjury by name But to say that men that swear to do that which God commandeth or forbids not are not bound to keep that oath or that the Pope may absolve men or disoblige them that swore fidelity to Temporal Lords when once the Pope hath excommunicated them doth seem to mee of the same importance CHAP. XX. 19. THE next Attribute to be spoke of is his Mercifulness and his Long-suffering Patience which we may set together This is implied in his Goodness and the Relation of a Father before expressed Mercy is Gods Goodness inclining him to prevent or remove his creatures Misery It is not only the Miserable that are the object of it but also those that may be miserable it being as truly Mercy to keep us out of it foreseen as to deliver us out of it when we are in it Hence it is that he taketh not Pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that he turn and Live And hence it is that he Afflicts not willingly nor grieves the children of men Lam. 3. 33. Not that his Mercy engageth him to do all that he can do for the salvation of every sinner or absolutely to prevent or heal his misery But it is his Attribute chiefly considered as Governour of the Rational Creature and so his Mercy is so great to all that he will destroy none but for their wilful sin and shut none among us out of Heaven but those that were guilty of contemning it God doth not
be alwaies actually upon God but he that doth manage his calling in Holiness doth all in obedience to Gods commands and sees that his work be the work of God and he intendeth all to the glory of God or the pleasing of his blessed will and he oft reneweth these actual intentions and oft interposeth thoughts of the presence or power or love or interest of him whom he is serving He often lifteth up his soul in some holy desire or ejaculatory request to God He oft taketh occasion from what he seeth or heareth or is doing for some more spiritual meditation or discourse so that still it is God that his mind is principally employed on or for even in his ordinary work while he liveth as a Christian And it is not enough to think of God but we must think of him as God with such respect and reverence and love and trust and submission in our measure as is due from the Creature to his Creator For as some kind of speaking of him is but a taking his Name in vain so some kind of thinking of him is but a dishonouring of him by contemptuous or false unworthy thoughts Most of our walking with God consisteth in such affectionate apprehensions of him as are suitable to his blessed Attributes and Relations All the day long our thoughts should be working either on God or for God either upon some work of obedience which he hath imposed on us and in which we desire to please and honour him or else directly upon himself Our hearts must be taken up in contemplating and admiring him in magnifying his Name his Word and Works and in pleasant contentful thoughts of his benignity and of his Glory and the Glory which he conferreth on his Saints He that is unskilful or unable to manage his own thoughts with some activity seriousness and order will be a stranger to much of the holy converse which believers have with God They that have given up the Government of their thoughts and turned them loose to go which way phantasie pleaseth and present sensitive objects do invite them and to run up and down the world as masterless unruly vagrants can hardly expect to keep them in any constant attendance upon God or readiness for any sacred work And the sudden thoughts which they have of God will be rude and stupid savouring more of prophane contempt than of holiness when they should be reverent serious affectionate and practical and such as conduce to a holy composure of their hearts and lives And as we must walk with God 1. In our communion with his servants 2. And in our affectionate Meditations so also 3 In all the ordinances which he hath appointed for our Edification and his Worship 1. The Reading of the Word of God and the explication and application of it in good Books is a means to possess the mind with sound and orderly and working apprehensions of God and of his holy Truths So that in such Reading our understandings are oft illustrated with a heavenly Light and our hearts are touched with a special delightful rellish of that truth and they are secretly attracted and engaged unto God and all the powers of our souls are excited and animated to a holy obedient life 2. The same Word preached with a lively voice with clearness and affection hath a greater advantage for the same illumination and excitation of the soul. When a Minister of Christ that is truly a Divine being filled with the Knowledge and Love of God shall copiously and affectionately open to his hearers the excellencies which he hath seen and the happiness which he hath foreseen and tasted of himself it frequently through the co-operation of the Spirit of Christ doth wrap up the hearers hearts to God and bring them into a more lively knowledge of him actuating their graces and enflaming their hearts with a heavenly Love and such desires as God hath promised to satisfie Christ doth not only send his Ministers furnished with Authority from him but also furnished with his Spirit to speak of spiritual things in a spiritual manner so that in both respects he might say He that heareth you heareth mee and also by the same Spirit doth open and excite the hearts of the hearers so that it is God himself that a serious Christian is principally employed with in the hearing of his heavenly transforming Word And therefore he is affected with reverence and holy fear with some taste of heavenly delight with obediential subjection and resignation of himself to God The Word of God is powerful not only in pulling down all high exalting thoughts that rise up against God but also in lifting up depressed souls that are unable to rise unto heavenly knowledge or communion with God If some Christians could but alwaies finde as much of God upon their hearts at other times as they finde sometimes under a spiritual powerful Ministry they would not so complain that they seem forsaken and strangers to all communion with God as many of them do While God by his Messengers and Spirit is speaking and man is hearing him while God is treating with man about his reconciliation and everlasting happiness and man is seriously attending to the treaty and motions of his Lord surely this is a very considerable part of our walking and converse with God 3. Also in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ we are called to a familiar converse with God He there appeareth to us by a wonderful condescension in the representing communicating signs of the flesh and blood of his Son in which he hath most conspicuously revealed his Love and Goodness to Believers There Christ himself with his Covenant-gifts are all delivered to us by these Investing signs of his own institution even as Knighthood is given by a sword and as a House is delivered by a Key or Land by a Twig and Turf Nowhere is God so near to man as in Jesus Christ and nowhere is Christ so familiarly represented to us as in this holy Sacrament Here we are called to sit with him at his Table as his invited welcome guests to commemorate his sacrifice to feed upon his very flesh and blood that is with our mouths upon his Representative flesh and blood and with our applying Faith upon his real flesh and blood by such a feeding as belongs to Faith The Marriage-Covenant betwixt God â—ncarnate and his espoused ones is there publickly sealed celebrated and solemnized There we are entertained by God as friends and not as servants only and that at the most precious costly feast If ever a believer may on earth expect his kindest entertainment and near access and a humble intimacy with his Lord it is in the participation of this sacrifice-feast which is called The Communion because it is appointed as well for our special Communion with Christ as with one another It is here that we have the fullest intimation expression and communication of the wondrous Love of God
Will and not as the motion of the brutish appetite And that God is their felicity and the only help and comfort of their souls and so the principal Good to be desired by them is become to them a truth so certain and beyond all doubt that their understandings are convinced that Velle Bonum Velle Deum to Love Good and to Love God are words that have almost the same signification and therefore here is no room for deliberation and choice where there is omnimoda ratio boni nothing but unquestionable good A Christian so far as he is such cannot chuse but desire the favour and fruition of God in immortality even as he cannot chuse because he is a man but desire his own felicity in general And as he cannot as a man but be unwilling of destruction and cannot but fear apparent misery and that which bringeth it so as a Christian he cannot chuse but be unwilling of damnation and of the wrath of God and of sin as sin and fear the apparent dangers of his soul so that his New Nature will presently cast his Fear and Repentance and Desires into their proper course and order and set them on work on their several objects about the main unquestionable things however they may erre or need more deliberation about things doubtful The New Creature is not as a lifeless Engine as a Clock or Watch or Ship where every part must be set in order by the art and hand of man and so kept and used But it is liker to the frame of our own nature even like man who is a living Engine when every part is set in its place and order by the Creatour and hath in it self a living and harmonical principle which disposeth it to action and to regular action and is so to be kept in order and daily exercise by our selves as yet to be principally ordered and actuated by the Spirit which is the principal cause By all which you may understand how the Holy Ghost is in us a spirit of Supplication and helpeth of our infirmities and teacheth us to pray and intercedeth in us and also that Prayer is to the New Man so natural a motion of the soul towards God that much of our walking with God is exercised in this holy duty And that it is to the New Life as breathing to our Natural Life and therefore no wonder that we are commanded to pray continually 1 These 5. 17. as we must breath continually or as nature which needeth a daily supply of food for nourishment hath a daily appetite to the food which it needeth so hath the Spiritual Nature to its necessary food and nothing but sickness doth take it off And thus I have shewed you how our walking with God containeth a holy use of his appointed means II. To walk with God includeth our Dependence on him for our Receivings and taking our Mercies as from his hand To live as upon his Love and Bounty as Children with their Father that can look for nothing but from him As the eye of a Servant yea of a craving Dog is upon his Masters face and hand so must our eye be on the Lord for the gracious supply of all our wants If men give us any thing we take them but as the Messengers of God by whom he sendeth it us We will not be unthankful unto men but we thank them but for bringing us our Fathers gifts Indeed man is so much more than a meer Messenger as that his own Charity also is exercised in the gift A meer Messenger is to do no more but obedientlly to deliver what is sent us and he need not exercise any Charity of his own and we owe him thanks only for his fidelity and labour but only to his Master for the gift But God will so far honour man as that he shall be called also to use his Charity and distribute his Masters gifts with some self-denial and we owe him thanks as under God he partaketh in the Charity of the Gift and as one childe oweth thanks to another who both in obedience to the Father and Love to his Brother doth give some part of that which his Father had given him before But still it is from our Fathers Bounty as the principal cause that all proceeds Thus Jacob speaketh of God Gen. 48. 15. God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which fed mee all my life long unto this day the Angel which redeemed mee from all evil bless the Lads c. When he had mentioned his Father Abraham and Isaac's walking with God he describeth his own by his dependence upon God and receiving from him acknowledging him the God that had fed him and delivered him all his life Carnal men that live by sense do depend upon inferiour sensible causes and though they are taught to pray to God and thank him with their tongues it is indeed their own contrivances and industry or their visible benefactors which their hearts depend upon and thank It were a shame to them to be so plain as Pharaoh and to say Who is the Lord or to speak as openly as Nebuchadnezzar and say Is not this great Babylon that I have built by the might of my power c. Dâ—n 4 30. Yet the same Atheism and Self-idolizing is in their hearts though it be more modestly and cunningly exprest Hence it is that they that walk with God have all their Receivings sanctified to them and have in all a Divine and spiritual sweetness which those that take them but as from Creatures do never feel or understand 12. Lastly it is contained in our Walking with God that the greatest business of our lives be with Him and for him It is not a walk for complement or recreation only that is here meant but it is a life of nearness converse and employment as a servant or child that dwelleth with his Master or Father in the house God should be alwayes so regarded that Man should stand by as Nothing and be scarce observed in comparison of Him We should begin the day with God and entertain Him in the first and sweetest of our thoughts we should walk abroad and do our work as in his sight we must resolve to do no work but His no not in our trades and ordinary callings we must be able to say It is the work which my Master set me to do and I do it to obey and please his Will At night we must take an account of our selves and spread open that account before him desiring his acceptance of what was well and his pardon for what we did amiss that we may thus be ready for our last account In a word though Men be our fellow-labourers and companions yet the principal business of our Care and Diligence must be our Masters service in the world And therefore we must look about us and discern the opportunities of serving him and of the best improvement of his
with that pardon particularized and applied to themselves But where the heart is not truly penitent and converted that person is not pardoned by the Gospel as being not in the Covenant or a child of promise and therefore the pardon of a Minister being upon mistake or tâ— an unqualified person can reach no further than to admit him into the esteem of men and to the Communion and outward priviledges of the Church which is a poor comfort to a soul that must lye in Hell But it can never admit him into the Kingdom of Heaven God indeed may approve the act of his Ministers if they go according to his rule and deal in Church administrations with those that make A CREDIBLE PROFESSION of FAITH and HOLINESSE as if they had true faith and holiness but yet he will not therefore make such Ministerial acts effectual to the saving of unbelieving or unholy souls Nay because I have found many sensual ungodly people inclining to turn Papists because with them they can have a quick and easie pardon of their sins by the Pope or by the Absolution of the Priest let me tell such that if they understand what they do even this cheat is too thin to quiet their defiled consciences For even the Papists School-doctors do conclude that when the Priest absolveth an impenitent sinner or one that is not qualified for pardon such a one is not loosed or pardoned in Heaven Leg. Martin de Ripalda exposit Liber Magist. li. 4. dist 18. p. 654 655. p. 663 664. dist 20. Aquin. Dist. 20. q 1. a. 5. Suar. Tom. 4. in 3. p. disp 52. Greg. Valent. Tom. 4. disp 7. q. 20. p. 5. Tolet. lib. 6. cap. 27 Navar. Notab 17. 18. Cordub de indulg li. 5. q. 23. they deny not the truth of those words of Origen Hom. 14. ad cap. 24. Levit. Exit quis à fide perexit de castris Ecclesiae etiamsi Episcopi Voce non abjiciatur sicut contru interdum fit ut aliquis non recto judicio eorum qui praesunt Ecclesiae for as mittatur sed si non egit ut mereretur exire nihil laeditur interdum enim quod for as mittitur intus est qui foris est intus videtur retineri And what he saith of Excommunication is true of Absolution An erring Key doth neither lock out of Heaven nor let into Heaven A Godly Believer shall be saved though the Priest condemn him and an unbeliever or ungodly person shall be condemned by God though he be absolved by the Priest Nay if you have not walked with God in the spirit but walked after the flesh though your repentance should be sound and true at the last it will yet very hardly serve to comfort you though it may serve to your salvation because you will very hardly get any assurance that it is sincere It is dangerous lest it should prove but the effect of fear which will not save when it cometh not till death do fright you to it As Augustine saith Nullus expectet quando peccare non potest arbitrii enim libertatem quaerit Deus ut deleri possint commissa non necessitatem sed charitatem non tantum timorem quia non in solo timore vivit homo Therefore the same Augustine saith Siquis positus in ultima necessitate voluerit accipere poenitentiam accipit fateor vobis non illi negamus quod petit sed non praesumimus quod bene hinc exit si securus hinc exierit ego nescio Poenitentiam dare possumus securitatem non possumus You see then how much it is needful to the peace of conscience at the hour of death that you walk with God in the time of life 6. Moreover to walk with God is an excellent preparation for sufferings and death because it tendeth to acquaint the soul with God and to embolden it both to go to him in Prayer and to Trust on him and expect salvation from him He that walketh with God is so much used to holy Prayer that he is a man of Prayer and is skilled in it and hath tryed what prayer can do with God so that in the hour of his extremity he is not to seek either for a God to pray to or a Mediator to intercede for him or a Spirit of Adoption to enable him as a child to fly for help to his reconciled Father And having not only been frequently with God but frequently entertained and accepted by him and had his prayers heard and granted it is a great encouragement to an afflicted soul in the hour of distresse to go to such a God for help And it is a dreadful thing when a soul is ready to go out of the world to have â—â— comfortable knowledge of God or skill to pray to him or encouragement to expect acceptance with him To think that he must presently appear before a God whom he never knew nor heartily loved being never acquainted with that communion with him in the way of Grace which is the way to communion in Glory O what a terrible thought is this But how comfortable is it when the soul can say I know whom I have believed The God that afflicteth me is he that loveth me and hath manifested his love to me by his daily attractive assisting and accepting Grace I am going by death to see him intuitively whom I have often seen by the eye of Faith and to live with him in Heaven with whom I lived here on earth From whom and Through whom and To whom was my life I go not to any enemy nor an utter stranger but to that God who was the Spring the Ruler the Guide the Strength and the Comfort of my life He hath heard me so oft that I cannot think he will now reject me He hath so often comforted my soul that I will not believe he will now thrust me into Hell He hath mercifully received me so oft that I cannot believe he will now refuse me Those that come to him in the way of Grace I have found he will in no wise cast out As strangeness to God doth fill the soul with distrustful fears so walking with him doth breed that humble confidence which is a wonderful comfort in the hour of distress and a happy preparations to sufferings and death 7. Lastly to walk with God doth encrease that Love of God in the soul which is the heavenly tincture and inclineth it to loâ—k upward and being weary of a sinful flesh and world to desire to be perfected with God How happy a preparation for death is this when it is but the passage to that God with whom we desire to be and to that place where we fain would dwell for ever To love the state and place that we are going to being made connatural and suitable thereto will much overcome the fears of death But for a soul that is acquainted with nothing but this life and favoureth nothing but Earth and Flesh and hath
my Wife neither am I her Husband Nay more than this if you are Christians you are members of the body of Christ And therefore how can you withdraw your selves from him and not feel the pain and torment of so sore a wound or dislocation you cannot live without a constant dependence on him and communication from him Joh 15. 1 4 5. I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husbandman Abide in me and I in you I am the Vine ye are the Branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you So near are you to Christ that he delighteth to acquaint you with his secrets O how many mysteries doth he reveal to those that walk with him which carnal strangers never know Mysteries of Wisdome Mysteries of Love and saving Grace Mysteries of Scripture and Mysteries of Providence Mysteries felt by inward experience and Mysteries revealed foreseen by Faith Not only the strangers that pass by the doors but eveâ—â— the common servants of the family are unacquainted with the secret operations of the Spirit and entertainments of Grace and Joy in believing which those that walk with God either do or may possess Therefore Christ calleth you friends as being more than servants Joh. 15. 14 15. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what the Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you It is true for all this that every true Christian hath reason and is apt to complain of his darkness and distance from God Alas they know so little of him and of the Mysteries of his Love and Kingdom that sometimes they are apt to think that they are indeed but utter strangers to him But this is because there is infinitely more still unknown to them than they know what can the silly shallow creature comprehend his infinite Creatour Or shall we know all that is to be known in Heaven before we enjoy all that is to be enjoyed in Heaven It is no more wonder to hear a believer pant and mourn after a fuller knowledge of God and neâ—râ—r access to him than to seek after Heaven where this will be his happiness But yet though his Knowledge of God be small compared with his Ignorance that little Knowledge of God which he hath attained i 〈…〉 ore mysterious sublime and excellent than all the learning of the greatest unsanctified Scholars in the world Walk with him according to the neatness of your Relations to him and you shall have this excellent knowledge of his Mysteries which no Books or Teachers alone can give You shall be effectually touched at the heart with the truths which others do uneffectually hear You shall be powerfully moved when they are but uneffectually exhorted When they only hear the voice without them you shall hear the voice within you and as it were behind you saying This is the way walk in it O that you could duly value such a friend to watch over you and for you and dwell in you and tell you faithfully of every danger and of every duty and teach you to know good and evil and what to choose and what to refuse How closely and delightfully would you converse with such a blessed friend if you rightly valued him 2. MOreover you that are the servants of God have by your Covenant and Profession renounced and forsaken all things else as they stand in any opposition to him or competition with him and have resigned your selves wholly unto him alone And therefore with him must you converse and be employed unless you will forsake your Covenant You knew first that it was your interest to forsake the world and turn to God You knew the world would not serve your turn nor be instead of God to you either in life or at death And upon this Knowledge it was that you changed your Master and changed your minds and changed your way your work your hopes And do you dream now that you were mistaken Do you begin to think that the world is fitter to be your God or Happiness if not you must still confess that both your Interest and your Covenant do oblige you to turn your hearts and minds from the things which you have renounced and to walk with him that you have taken for your God and to obey him whom you have taken for your King and Judge and to keep close to him with purest Love whom you have taken for your everlasting portion Mark what you are minding all the day while you are neglecting God Is it not something that you have renounced And did you not renounce it upon sufficient cause Was it not a work of your most serious deliberation and of as great wisdome as any that ever you performed if it were turn not back in your hearts again from God unto the renounced Creature You have had many a lightning from Heaven into your understandings to bring you to see the difference between them You have had many a teaching and many a warning and many a striving of the spirit before you were prevailed with to renounce the world the flesh and the devil and to give up your self intirely and absolutely to God Nay did it not cost you the smart of some afflictions before you would be made so wise And did it not cost you many a gripe of conscience and many a terrible thought of Hell and of the wrath of God before you would be heartily engaged to him in his Covenant And will you now live as strangely and neglectfully towards him as if those daies were quite forgotten and as if you had never felt such things and as if you had never been so convinced or resolved O Christians take heed of forgetting your former case your former thoughts your former convictions and complaints and covenants God did not work all that upon your hearts to be forgotten He intended not only your present change but your after remembrance of it for your close adhering to him while you live and for your quickning and constant preservance to the end The forgetting of their former miseries and the workings of God upon their hearts in their conversion is a great cause of mutability and revolting and of unspeakable hurt to many a soul. Nay may you not remember also what sorrow you had in the day of your Repentance for your forsaking and neglecting God so long And will you grow again neglective of him Was it then so hainous a sin in your eyes and is it not now grown less Could you then aggravate it so many waies and justly and now do you justifie or extenuate it Were you then ready to sink under the burden of it and were