retain them long with him I dare not question the truth of that mans grace that can't remember every truth he reads or hears delivered Nor may we say that the work of Gods grace is not wrought in every one that cannot at all times call to mind The great things that God hath done for him the Apostle Paul writing to the Hebrews tells them That they had forgotten the exhortation Heb. 12.5 Or you have forgotten the consolation as some render it For the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both because consolation oft-times flows in by a word of exhortation and it intimates that they had forgotten both the word of comfort and the work of comfort And thus it is with many a good Christian he comes to Church with great desire to learn that which tends to the good of his soul and he is resolved to treasure it up in his memory I but that is not faithful to him but presently looseth that which he hath committed to its trust And it may be God hath done great things for him and given him great experience of his fatherly care over him and tender love to him I but he hath lost much of his experience that it is to him as if it had not been Oftentimes when Christians are under a cloud they forget that the Sun of Gods favour ever shined upon them And when they are in streights forget the great Salvation that God hath wrought for them when he called them out of a state of sin and misery into a state of grace and happiness And this is a great affliction to him that he can't remember the works of the right hand of the Lord nor the gracious and soul ravishing words of his mouth Now is there no relief to be had from God in this case Yes and that I shall shew you in three particulars 1. Sometimes God brings truths and experiences to our minds and remembrance when we stand in the greatest need of them God deals with us as natural parents do with a dear child whom they love exceedingly it may be they bestow a thing upon it which is very useful for it but for want of care it looseth it the parents finding it lay it up for the child against a time of need and then bring it forth Even thus doth God sometimes that truth and experience which we have lost he treasures up against a time of need then brings it forth when he knows it will do us the most good Comfort shall be given in when the soul hath quite forgotten that she ever had comfort And as 't is the office of the Holy Ghost to comfort mourners so in order hereunto he must teach the soul and bring things to our remembrance So it is promised John 14.26 But the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance First He must teach the soul those things that belong to comfort I but the soul is very apt to forget what she hath learned Why if it doth so then he is a remembrancer to bring things forgotten to our remembrance As 't is a notable comfort to a Christian in the time of trouble and sorrow to call the promises and providences of God to mind so it is part of the Office of the Holy Ghost to bring things to our remembrance for our comfort And sometimes when things are quite out of our remembrance and even buried in the grave of forgetfulness the Holy Ghost brings them all to our minds as fresh as if we had but newly received them Saint Paul wrote the same things to the Phillippians which he had either preach'd to them or wrote to them before that he might imprint them the better upon their minds and some gather out of Matth. 5. compared with Luke 6.20 that our Saviour preached the same Sermon twice over because many hearers are dull to conceive hard to believe and apt to forget And the Holy Ghost sometimes comes and Preaches that again to the soul which it may be she heard ten or twenty years before but had forgotten it Perhaps thou art at a great loss for a promise and for former experiences and wouldst give any thing in the world for the comfort that once thou hadst thereby and then the Holy Ghost gives them in to thee Dying Christians sometimes have had experience hereof when all their comfort hath fled from them as the brooks passed away from the troops of Tema 2. Sometimes when a Christian hath forgotten old experiences God creates new for his joy and comfort When old mercies are worn out of our remembrance he engraves new mercies upon our minds and when some promises of grace and comfort are slipt out of our memory he points us to others that are as suitable to our present state It may be thou hast forgot the promises of this life and God fastens the promises of eternal life upon thy spirit thou hast forgot something of that which thou hast learnt heretofore And to supply the want thereof he teacheth thee something which thou didst never learn and sometimes a word of precept is more needful to be taught then the word of promise and a Christian finds it so When the heart begins to grow wanton and loose under gratious promises and experiences it is just with God to take them away and to feed her with harder Diet yet so that she shall have cause to bless God at last for it for else she might have died of a surfeit God doth not always administer that to us which is most toothsome but that which is most wholsome not always that which is most delightful but that which is most needful as is hinted by our Saviour Matt. 6.8 Your father knoweth what you have need of i. e. You may be sure of that which God knows necessary and suitable to your present state and condition although he denies you that which you most desire A father doth not always provide the same diet for his children but gives them sometimes one thing and sometimes another but however they shall have that which is most needful for them and when he denies them that which their appetite longs for and it can't be had he gives them that which may be more for their health Even thus God doth with his children spiritual food they shall have and although they must not always feed upon the same dish yet they shall have that which is best for them New mercies are oftentimes given in to them who have forgotten old So that a Christian hath a new song put into his mouth to sing before the Lord as the Prophet saith Psal 40.3 He hath put a new song into my mouth even praise unto our God I confess it is the sin and weakness of Christians to forget old experiences of Gods goodness to them yet such is the indulgence of our heavenly Father as to supply our defects herein
that believe are justified Now if God justifies who can condemn Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of the father who also maketh intercession for us Now if thy sin be pardoned then there is nothing which thou canst possibly fear will prevent thy relief and therefore be perswaded to set faith on work in Jesus Christ Go out of thy self to him for righteousness that thou mayest be found in him and believe that with God there is still mercy for thee and plenteous redemption Thus did David fetch in comfort against a time of need Psal 130.3 4. If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope i. e. If Gods eye should be wholly fixt upon our sins and not upon Christs righteousness we could not be justified we should never be able to stand in his sight And if our eye be only fixt upon our sins and not upon Gods mercy in Christ we should never attain to any confidence in God for relief in time of need I but now saith David upon this ground I can wait for the Lord and hope in his word Yea upon this very ground he exhorts others to hope v. 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy Still there is mercy though we have lived upon this stock of mercy all our daies yet there is enough still nay there is nothing spent of it And therefore take home the comfort hereof with you that divine relief shall be administred unto you in the time of your greatest need When your flesh fails and your heart fails God will be the strength of your heart and portion for ever FINIS THE PROPHET'S Amazing Vision Of a Wheel in the middle of a Wheel OR The admirableness of DIVINE PROVIDENCE Opened proved and improved In a Sermon preached at the Cathedral in Norwich July 30. 1673. With some additional Application By Samuel Blackerby Minister of the Gospel at Stow Market LONDON Printed for Nevil Simons at the Princes Arms in S. Paul's Church Yard 1674. SERMON III. Ezek. 1.16 And their work and their appearance was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel THese words have both their height of glory and also their depth of difficulty much excellency wrapt up in them but hard to be understood As the richest Pearls and purest Mines lie lowest in the earth and the sweetest Kernel hath the hardest shell so the richest and most precious Truths are wrapt up in a mystery not obvious to every mans understanding but must be sought as Silver and searched for as for hid Treasure As you have it Prov. 2.4 Much pains must be taken proper and suitable means used and yet when all is done we must pray with David Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wonderous things out of thy law And is not here a wonder for here is an invisible glory represented to us by a visible thing divine counsel set forth in an Hieroglyphick For in the foregoing verse we have a wheel upon the earth by the living creatures with his four faces and here we have a wheel in the middle of a wheel This this is the amazing glory By the one wheel upon the earth with its four faces some do understand the Universe or visible World which is as a wheel round and subject to wheelings and turnings mutations and changes and that in all the four quarters thereof and much may be said for this interpretation I shall only take leave to add this that this visible World is to be considered as consisting of and conteining in it those second causes instruments and means whereby God wheels about his own designs and plots together with their several appearances and faces and yet with one likeness in conspectu Dei This is one part of the Vision the wheel with its four faces The other is the wheel in the middle of a wheel This may be taken two waies 1. Transversly 2. Comprehensively First transversly and so two things are observable in it 1. That the wheels seemed cross to one another and entangled one in another as the lines and circles in a Globe cut and cross one another so say some And if so they do most lively represent the crossness intricacy and entangledness that is in all second causes each to other both in their natures and their motions The whole world is but entangled and cross wheels but I shall not detain you herein And therefore 2. There are others that say that all the wheels made up one spherical figure touching themselves at right angles that without turning or delay they might run and roul any way on any side And if so then they are a most lively emblem of that harmony that is in all things for though cross in themselves yet they serve to make one globe and do carry on one ultimate design According to that of the Apostle Rom. 8.28 All things work together for good This is the import of the wheels if taken transversly But Secondly They may be considered comprehensively one wheel within another As in some Watches there are wheels one in another and one that moves the rest And if so then here we have a Divine Mystery that outshines the former viz. That amazing glory of Divine Providence which works in all created beings moves them and sets them to work as the great and sprincipal wheel moves the lesser and inferiour And this this is the true form and work of the wheels The wheel of divine providence is set up in all wheels as the prime and principal wheel Obser From hence we shall observe That divine providence is admirable and Soul-amazing And this will appear if we take into consideration these three particulars 1. The esse The being and constitution of this divine wheel 2. The motus The motion thereof 3. The mysterium The mystery thereof And Oh that my discourse upon these might be verbum in Rota First The being of this divine wheel is very admirable for it is made up of infinite and transcendent glory 1. Of the light and counsel of Divine Wisdom 2. Of the soveraignty of Divine will Both these beams of glory are infinite and transcendent and do make up one most glorious and incomprehensible wheel in the divine being 'T is true they are distinguished as to us yet they are but one in God And so saith the School-man Cum esse intelligere in Deo indistincta sunt ipsum per suam scientiam causare res oportet adjuncta tamen voluntate Or rather take it in the words of the holy Apostle Eph. 1.11 He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will For as the
from his sense as well as from faith This you have in the Text My flesh and my heart faileth me but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever q. d. I now find it to be true by mine own experience I can give a particular demonstration thereof God was good to me I was in a languishing sinking condition my strength gone and my life almost gone the pains of death and the sorrows of hell took hold on me that I was giving up all my hopes for lost And then God appeared to me and revived and strengthened my heart My case was very sad and now 't is as comfortable My hell is turned into an heaven of joy and comfort So that in the words you have a two fold experiment brought in to demonstrate one precious truth That God is good to Israel that is the truth 1. The first experiment is the Prophets malady 2. The latter is the Prophets relief The first is brought in to grandize and heighten the other Had not the Prophets malady been so desperate his relief had not appeared so glorious The worse the Prophets state was the more was Gods goodness seen in his relief and help Let us therefore take a further Surveigh of both First of the malady and therein consider 1. The nature or kind of it failing 2. The Subject wherein it was seated both in the flesh and in the heart Failing of the flesh notes out a consumption of the outward man or a loss of external supports So we find flesh taken in Scripture both properly for the outward man or the body of man when the strength thereof abates and departs the bulk or quantity thereof lessens or the beauty and glory thereof fades and also Metaphorically for the loss of external priviledges So Phil. 3 4 Flesh is taken for all external advantages These may fail Failing of the Heart notes out a sinking or dying When 1. The faculties of the soul sink and cannot perform their due offices either by way of apprehension election or retention 2. When the infused or acquired habits of the heart are indisposed to act or are weakened not only our moral but our Spiritual habits much abate 3. When the Animal spirits are expiring and even breathing forth This seems to be the Prophets disease and malady he was brought very low even to the very pit ready to die soul and body failed all his powers weakened When the body is smitten it flies for succour to the heart the spirit of a man will sustein his infirmities but when the heart is smitten also and that fails him too the man is done then he can afford himself no relief Die he must and will if God comes not in When communicated strength fails 't is time for the man to look abroad and seek for strength in God or else he sinks and never riseth more Secondly This is the Prophets relief God comes in and fetcheth life again reinsouls him communicates a new supply of strength to him sets him upon his feet again this makes him to say as you have it in the Text But is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rock of my heart In which words we may take notice of five things 1. The order inverted When he mentions his malady he begins with the failing of the flesh and then of the heart but when he reports the relief he begins with that of the heart From hence Observe That when God works a cure in man out of love he begins with the heart he cures that first And there may be these reasons for it 1. Because the sin of the heart is often the procuring cause of the malady of body and soul 2. The body ever fares the better for the soul but not the soul for the body 3. The cure of the soul is the principal cure 2. The suitableness of the remedy to the malady Strength of heart for failing of heart and a blessed portion for the failing of the flesh Obs That there is a proportionate remedy and relief in God for all maladies and afflictions whatsoever both within and without If your hearts fail you God is strength if your flesh fails you or comforts fail you God is a portion 3. The Prophets interest he calls God his strength and his portion Obs That true Israelites have an undoubted interest in God He is theirs 4. The Prophet's experience in the worst time He finds this to be true that when communicated strength fails there is a never failing strength in God Obs That Christians experiences of Gods all-sufficiency are then fullest and highest when created comforts fail them 5. Here is the Prophet's emprovement of his experience for support and comfort against future trials and temptations Obs That a Saints consideration of his experience of Gods all sufficiency in times of Exigency is enough to bear up and to fortifie his spirit against all trials and temptations for the time to come Thus you may emprove the Text by way of Observation But there are two principal Doctrines to be insisted on First That God is the Rock of a Saints heart his strength and his portion for ever Secondly That Divine influence and relief passeth from God to his people when they stand in most need thereof First God is the rock of a Saints heart strength and portion for ever Here are two members or branches in this Doctrine 1. That God is the rock of a Saints heart strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. That God is the portion of a Saint Branch 1. God is the rock of a Saints heart strength He is not only strength and the strength of their hearts but the rock of their strength so Esay 17.10 Psal 62.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word that is used in the Text from hence comes our English word sure Explic. God is the rock of our strength both in respect of our naturals and also of spirituals he is the strength of nature and of grace Psal 27.1 the strength of my life natural and spiritual God is the strength of thy natural faculties of reason and understanding of wisdom and prudence of will and affections He is the strength of all thy graces faith patience meekness temperance hope and charity both as to their being and exercise He is the strength of all thy comfort and courage peace and happiness salvation and glory Psal 140.7 O God the rock of my Salvation In three respects First he is the Author and giver of all strength Psal 18.2 It is God that girdeth me with strength Psal 29.11 he will give strength to his people Psal 138.3 Psal 68.35 Secondly He is the increaser and perfecter of a Saints strength it is God that makes a Saint strong and mighty both to do and suffer to bear and forbear to believe and to hope to the end so Heb. 11.34 Out of weakness they were made strong so 1 Joh. 2.14 And
draw never so much yet the well is deep and there is as much as ever was O the bottomless goodness of God! O the inexhaustible fountain of Divine perfection No heart is able to fathom or contain it Demonstration Q But how comes God to be the Saints portion First it flows from Gods free donation God hath given himself to his Saints That is properly a mans portion that his father gives him Now because God can give no greater good then himself therefore he gives himself to his Saints God is their Father and they must have a portion from him and God cannot think any thing below himself a portion for them He can give the world to his enemies I but he gives himself to his children Hence it is said that God hath set apart him that is godly for himself Psal 4.3 and the Lord hath chosen Jacob for himself Psal 135.4 even as a man takes a child and adopts him makes him his own and then gives him a portion so doth God 1 John 3.1 and Rom. 8.17 Now what is the inheritance but God himself Nothing below God is the inheritance of Christ who is the Son and nothing less then God is the inheritance of Saints who are Gods younger children but this is not by humane purchase but by Divine gift For alass all the gold silver in the world is not to be weighed against God as a sufficient price All the nations of the earth are but as a drop in the bucket and as the dust in the ballance Nay as nothing and counted to him less then nothing No this is an inheritance not to be bought by any finite price Nay whatever thou valuest the most yet comes infinitely short of a sufficient price Wert thou more righteous then the Angels or Adam in innocency yet all thy good works would not bring thee in a ray of Divine glory by way of merit Why else had not the Apostate Angels and Adam in innocency the presence of God for their sustentation to keep them from falling but to evidence this truth that mans righteousness cannot purchase the enjoyment of God 2. This flows from a Saints self-denying resignation A true Saint denyes himself in all but God and to him he resigns up himself Self-denial outs a man of all earthly goods in point of affection and affiance and carries him to God alone for sustenance content and comfort So Psal 73.25 A true Christian dare not own any thing as his All but God He hath a true right to all that he enjoys as to use but he doth not account it as his portion No he resigns himself to God as his life and All So David Psal 27.1 God is my life i. e. I live upon God and have all in him I betake my self wholly to him and to him only So Psal 62.1 the word rendred truly signifies only i. e. I betake my self to God alone I go no whither else and the truth is none but a true Christian knows the emptiness of the creature and the fulness of God and therefore he alone lets all go for God Those things which are the wordlings gain a Saint accounts loss for God now when a man hath thus outed himself of All for God he would have nothing at all to live upon if he did not fix on God as S. Paul said 1 Cor. 15.19 If our hopes were in this life we were of all men the most miserable What to loose earth and heaven together To deny a mans self in all worldly advantages and not to have a God to lay hold on This is most sad No therefore the Christian is so wise as to make an happy exchange to forsake all for God and having forsaken all for God God takes him to himself Hence is that gratious promise Hos 14.3 The fatherless shall find mercy God is the portion of none but spiritual Orphans he becomes guardian to none other Mercy in God supposes misery in the creature Now when the soul becomes the most wretched and miserable in its own sense then it is an object of mercy Matth. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for their is the kingdom of God 3. God is a Saints portion by way of fruition he enjoys God truly here and fully hereafter God is not only round about his people as their wall of protection but he is in their hearts as their life and well-head of eternal comfort and satisfaction 1 John 3.24 He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him There is a mutual inhabitation they dwell each in other and so enjoy one another So vast is the soul of man that nothing but God can fill it and therefore God dwells in a Saint so immense and incomprehensible are the dimensions of God that nothing is able to hold them and therefore a Saint must enter into and dwell in God Hence is that prayer of the Apostle for the Ephesians Chap. 3.19 that they might be filled with all the fulness of Christ So that of our Saviour Matt. 25.21 The more an earthly portion dwells and lodgeth in the heart the more it sinks and destroyes the man but this is our life and salvation our glory and our heaven to be full of God Gods indwelling in the soul is its resurrection and exaltation Esay 57.15 16. Now for the right understanding hereof you must know that this indwelling of God in the soul is not essentially as the God-head dwelt in the humane nature of Christ and made up one person but mystical and spiritual 1. By lively impression 2. By gratious influx First God dwells in the heart by lively impression God stamps his own image upon the heart and so lives in it as the father lives in his child a soul conform'd to God is a soul full of God Then is the soul taken up into the life and light of God when it is made like to God holy as he is holy Then God lives in the heart when a spirit of holiness is planted in the heart and when the lines of his glory are drawn upon it so saith the Apostle 1 John 4.12 16. God is love The love of God is his image he that loveth truly and sincerely he dwelleth in God and God in him There are some that dream of an immediate vision of God they see him in his Essence but saith John No man hath seen God at any time if we love one another God dwelleth in us and we in him i. e. If the image of Divine glory be enstampt uppon our hearts and appears in its lively acts of grace and goodness love and sweetness then have we true and close communion and fellowship with the Father So 1 John 1.7 If we walk in the light as he is in the light then have we fellowship one with another This is to see God know him and enjoy him for the soul to be made like to him transformation of the soul into Divine similitude gives it the fullest enjoyment
thy God until thou canst say thou art the inheritance of the Lord Thou art never sure of God as thy portion until God hath made sure of thee for his inheritance He must have some interest in thy heart or thou hast no fruition of him First Therefore Set thy heart upon God alone do not suffer it to be divided between many portions let not the earthly portion share one part and sin another and the Devil another and then what is left thou wilt be content that God should have it But know that God will be all or none the love of the world and the love of God is inconsistent 1 John 2.15 You know when the Merchant had found the pearl he sells all for it and so must thou thy heart must be taken off all for God and given up to him only God never matches with an adulteress with one that doth not love him intirely For then he would be but as a cloak for wickedness to hide it self under that it may be acted with greater security As men that marry whores they are but their wife's cloaks they commit whoredom with the greater boldness so would the heart of man if it could enjoy God with the love of the world it would sin the more securely and freely God should be but a cloak to its wickedness No thou must not think that God will be thy portion that thou mayst play the harlot the more securely Oh therefore set thine heart upon God alone let him have the whole of thine heart set thy heart wide open for God to come in and take possession of thy heart Psal 24.7 This is the voice of Christ open to me my sister my spouse Cant. 5.2 and Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man open I will come in Now love to God is the opening of the heart to God and lets him in entertains him and bids him welcome Thus God dwells in the heart and receives content and satisfaction from it Secondly If thou wouldst be Gods portion and Gods inheritance thou must receive Gods mark upon thee that thou mayst be distinguished from all others even as they that become the portion of Antichrist must receive his mark in their foreheads and in their hands Revel 13.16 So all they that do become Gods portion must receive Gods mark upon them they must be sealed with Gods own seal Ephes 1.13 and Revel 14.1 Even as Merchants set their mark or seal upon their goods so doth God set his seal and mark upon all his goods that they may be clearly known to him by their mark as well as in his own decree Now the distinguishing Character of a true Israelite from all others is Gospel sincerity truth in the inward parts Joh. 1.47 a true Israelite in whom is no guile Revel 14.15 in their mouth was found no guile Psal 32.2 Others may have gifts and grace in shew but Gods portion must have grace in truth Others may have a form but these have the power of godliness Others may have lamps but these have oyl in their lamps Others may have a name but these have the name of God written in their foreheads Alass God cares not for these hang-bies who call themselves by Gods name and cry up themselves as the only people of God and yet never received the name of God upon their foreheads but through a carnal liberty which they assume to themselves are on and off in and out when they please Sometimes they are for God and sometimes for the Devil No Beloved if you will be the Lords you must be in good earnest fully engaged mark'd out with this mark of holy sincerity so that God may have something in you whereby to own you When God shall look abroad and seek for his own and find them scattered up and down and mixed with the world God will take notice of none but such as have his mark upon them none but such as are sincere and upright 't is not a form of Anabaptism or Quaking or Seeking but sincerity that God will own Matth. 7.21 22 23. Use 3. For Direction and Counsel to all the Israel of God who have God for their portion I have four words of advice for you 1. Learn the distinction to the height God in himself or God in the creature and the creature without God There is a vast difference between the enjoyment of God in himself or in the creature and the enjoyment of the creature without the enjoyment of God Some enjoy God and not the creature Some enjoy the creature and not God Some enjoy both This is talked of amongst us and oftentimes little understood by us but the right and clear understanding hereof is of great concernment unto Christians 1. Some enjoy God and not the creature these are as I hinted before poor and rich 2. Some enjoy the creature and not God these are rich and yet poor as having all and yet having nothing 3. Some enjoy God and the creature or God in the creature These are rich in all respects they are worldly rich and heavenly rich they have a double portion But now here lieth a great task and difficulty it is hard for such a Christian so to distinguish between these two estates and portions as not to confound them As a man that drives two trades 't is very difficult for him to keep them distinct So 't is here when men have much of the world they drive a great trade therein 't is very difficult for them to distinguish between God and that i. e. so to use the world as not to make it his All hence is that counsel of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31 and so 1 Tim. 6.17 18. Oh Beloved for a Christian to be still in the enjoyment of all as if he had nothing this is right to live in a constant dependance upon God as his All and to make the creature but as the vessel or cistern through which God communicates himself this is a true life Such an one may say as Paul I am dead nevertheless I live I am dead to the world and the world is dead to me such an one lives upon God a true life of happiness and content But I say this is hard and difficult and our experience is a full demonstration thereof for according to creature enjoyments so we live for when the creature is full and all things flow in according to our desire then we are quiet merry and glad but when that is low and dry then we fail and flag Few Christians have and keep an even temper of spirit in fluctuating various conditions for few live so upon God as to make him their All and therefore when the creature ebbs and flows it carries them along in the stream either high or low but this is to make God our portion for Christians to make a real distinction between the enjoyment of God and the enjoyment of the creature so that when
returning yet that expression of Love and Grace to them presently turned the bent and frame of their Spirits and quickned them to a speedy return Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God as you may see Jer. 3.22 And therefore it is that a gracious Soul longs for the sense and manifestations of Gods love not only for the peace and comfort that it brings along with it but because he knows that it a is quickner of his Heart and Will to a cheerful performance of obedience unto God 'T is that which begets a free Spirit in the Soul renders it ready and prompt unto all holy service And now set God call him to what he pleaseth and he stands ready prest to do it God hath now as it were a string upon his heart he may lead him about whither he will 4. Sometimes God cures the failing of the Will by removing those impediments that stopt its motion You know if a wheel be scotcht there is no stirring of it until that be removed even thus 't is here Sometimes the Will of man which is the wheel of Motion is scotcht so that it cannot move forward until that be removed Hence that of the Psalmist I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Psal 119.32 The word enlarge doth not only signifie to widen and extend a thing but also to set at liberty and to free it from impediments and incumbrances and so it is used Psal 4.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress or Thou hast set me at liberty And as it is applicable to the outward state and condition of a man so the Prophet makes use of the same word in reference to tie the inward state I will run the wayes of thy commands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when thou shalt set my heart at liberty i. e. There is that in my heart that cloggs me and hinders me that I cannot run the way of thy commands until thou dost remove it Sometime the mind is clogg'd with strong temptations Sometimes with sore pressures of grief and horror Sometimes with impetuous lusts and passions And untill the Soul be set free she cannot move in the waies of God And therefore divine relief comes into the Soul in this case to remove those obstructions and to take away those clogs And many a gracious Soul hath cause to say Lord thou hast enlarged my Heart My Heart was scotcht but thou hast set me at liberty I was pesterd with such a temptation and with such a pressure of grief and horrour or with such a passion and lust but thou hast removed it and set me at liberty I know the perfect and full enlargement of the soul is not wrought until she comes in heaven but God begins the work here and oftentimes when she is in the greatest streight and so stopt in her motion that she is like an instrument quite out of tune and ready to be hung up or laid by then God steps in and affords this gratious relief to it 5. Sometimes when God finds the soul in this dead and drowzie case that it hath little mind or spirit unto duty he makes use of the rod of correction and then when the soul feels it smart she rouseth up her self and sets to work Even as when Absalon sent for Joab to come to him once and again and saw he would not stir he commanded his servants to set Joabs field on fire and then Joab makes all the hast he could to Absalon 2 Sam. 14.29 30.31 even thus it is here God sends for us first one messenger comes and then another to tell us that God would have us come to him As you have it Cant. 2.14 Let me hear thy voice let me see thy face I but we stir not come not at God either to pray to him or praise him that at last God is forced to fire us out and then we come You have a notable place for this Hos 5.15 I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early They that lay snorting in their bed of security in the time of prosperity will be better husbands in time of adversity they 'l get up early the word signifies they shall morning me i.e. they shall come in the morning of their time and seek me And so Esay 26.16 They poured out a prayer unto thee when thy chastning was upon them and in their affliction they visited thee Mark it when the rod was upon their back then they cry and then they beg I they poured out a prayer It was not as one observes upon the place a dropping now and then but it was violent and continual the spirit was stirred and now it cannot lie still Afflictions commonly move and stir the heart one way or other sometimes they stir the evil and cross humours that are in the heart of man and then he rages and fumes against God and his ways but where grace is there they stir up a lazy and a dull spirit to meet God in his way with mournings and supplications The finger may be in the eye because grief is in the heart but this sorrow will have a vent else the heart will not be at rest God and the soul must be friends or she can have no satisfaction When God corrects the soul in good earnest then she seeks him in good earnest and will not be quiet until she finds him So Esay 26.8 9. In the way of thy judgments O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee With my soul have I desired thee in the night with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Here is seeking indeed the whole soul and spirit put forth and that diligently and constantly and then with waiting until she find We have waited for thee 'T is true affections do not always work thus in the heart of a good man at first God whips and whips again before the soul stirs I but God will not give over whipping until she stirs Dull and heavy spirited Christians seldom go long without a rod at their backs and 't is a great mercy when the rod of correction is any ways efficacious to rouse them up out of their drouzie and sleepy state 3. A third particular case of the failing of the natural faculties of the soul is in point of retention the memory may fail As a man may have a good head and a naughty heart so a man may have a good heart and a naughty head a head that will hold little or nothing that tends to the support and comfort of his soul when his flesh fails him A good Christian may be like a leaking vessel that retains no liquor long he may let slip the word of Gods grace and the external works of Gods grace and not