these frail noisom diseased Lumps of flesh or dirt that now we carry about us so far shall our sense of Seeing and Hearing exceed these we now possess For the change of the senses must be conceived proportionable to the change of the body And doubtless as God advanceth our sense and enlargeth our capacity so will he advance the happiness of those senses and fill up with himself all that capacity And certainly the body should not be raised up and continued if it should not share of the Glory For as it hath shared in the obedience and sufferings so shall it also do in the blessedness And as Christ bought the whole man so shall the whole partake of the everlasting benefits of the purchase The same difference is to be allowed for the Tongue For though perhaps that which we now call the tongue the voyce or language shal not then be Yet with the forementioned unconceiveable change it may continue Certain it is it shall be the everlasting work of those Blessed Saints to stand before the Throne of God and the Lamb and to praise him for ever and ever As their Eyes and Hearts shall be filled with his Knowledg with his Glory and with his Love so shall their mouthes be filled with his praises Go on therefore Oh ye Saints while you are on Earth in that Divine Duty Learn Oh learn that Saint-beseeming work for in the mouthes of his Saints his praise is comely Pray but still praise Hear and Read but still praise Praise him in the presence of his people for it shall be your Eternal work Praise him while his Enemies deride and abuse you You shall praise him while they shall bewail it and admire you Oh Blessed Employment to sound forth for ever Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Honor Glory and Power Revel 4.11 And worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honor and Glory and Blessing for he hath Redeemed us to God by his blood out of every kinred and tongue and people and Nation and hath made us unto our God Kings and Priests Revel 5.12 9 10. Alleluja Salvation and Honor and Glory and Power unto the Lord our God Praise our God all ye his servants and ye that fear him small and great Alleluja for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Revel 19.1 5 6. Oh Christians this is the Blessed Rest A Rest without Rest For they Rest not day and night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Revel 4.8 Sing forth his praises now ye Saints It is a work our Master Christ hath taught us And you shall for ever sing before him the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty Just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints Revel 15.3 SECT VI. ANd if the Body shall be thus employed Oh how shall the Soul be taken up As its powers and capacities are greatest so its action strongest and its enjoyment sweetest As the bodily senses have their proper aptitude and action whereby they receive and enjoy their objects so doth the Soul in its own action enjoy its own object By knowing by thinking and Remembering by Loving and by delightful joying this is the Souls enjoying By these Eyes it sees and by these Arms it embraceth If it might be said of the Disciples with Christ on Earth much more that behold him in his Glory Blessed are the Eyes that see the things that you see and the Ears that hear the things that you hear for many Princes and great ones have desired and hoped to see the things that you see and have not seen them c. Mat. 13.16 17. Knowledg of it self is very desireable even the knowledg of some evil though not the Evil it self As far as the Rational Soul exceeds the Sensitive so far the Delights of a Philosopher in discovering the secrets of Nature and knowing the mystery of Sciences exceeds the Delights of the Glutton the Drunkard the unclean and of all voluptuous sensualists whatsoever so excellent is all Truth What then is their Delight who know the God of Truth What would I not give so that all the uncertain questionable Principles in Logick Natural Philosophy Metaphysicks and Medicine were but certain in themselves and to me And that my dull obscure notions of them were but quick and clear Oh what then should I not either perform or part with to enjoy a clear and true Apprehension of the most True God How noble a faculty of the Soul is this Understanding It can compass the Earth It can measure the Sun Moon Stars and Heaven It can fore-know each Eclipse to a minute many years before Yea but this is the top of all its excellency It can know God who is infinite who made all these a little here and more much more hereafter Oh the wisdom and goodness of our Blessed Lord He hath created the Understanding with a Natural Byas and inclination to Truth as its object and to the Prime Truth as its Prime Object and lest we should turn aside to any Creature he hath kept this as his own Divine Prerogative not communicable to any Creature viz. to be the Prime Truth And though I think not as some do that there is so neer a close between the Understanding and Truth as may produce a proper Union or Identity Yet doubtless it 's no such cold touch or disdainful embrace as is between these gross earthly Heterogeneals The true studious contemplative man knows this to be true who feels as sweet embraces between his Intellect and Truth and far more then ever the quickest sense did in possessing its desired object But the true studious contemplative Christian knows it much more who sometime hath felt more sweet embraces between his Soul and Jesus Christ then all inferior Truth can afford I know some Christians are kept short this way especially the careless in their watch and walking and those that are ignorant or negligent in the dayly actings of Faith who look when God casts in Joys while they lie idle and labor not to fetch them in by beleeving But for others I appeal to the most of them Christian dost thou not sometime when after long gazing heaven-ward thou hast got a glimpse of Christ dost thou not seem to have been with Paul in the third Heaven whether in the body or out and to have seen what is unutterable Art thou not with Peter almost beyond thy self ready to say Master it 's good to be here Oh that I might dwell in this Mount Oh that I might ever see what I now see Didst thou never look so long upon the Sun of God till thine Eyes were dazled with his astonishing glory and did not the splendor of it make all things below seem black and dark to thee when thou lookest down again Especially in thy day
this in Heaven Our eyes shall then be filled no more nor our hearts pierced with such lights as at Worcester Edg-hil Newbury Nantwich Montgomery Horn Castle York Naseby Langport c. We shall then have the conquest without the calamity Mine eyes shall never more behold the Earth covered with the carkasses of the slain Our black Ribbands and mourning Attire will then be turned into the white Robes and Garments of gladness O how hardly can my heart now hold when I think of such and such and such a dear Christian Friend slain or departed O how glad must the same heart needs be when I see them all alive and glorified But a far greater grief it is to our Spirits to see the spiritual miseries of our Brethren To see such a one with whom we took sweet councel and who zealously joyned with us in Gods worship to be now fallen off to sensuality turned drunkard worldling or a persecutor of the Saints And these trying times have given us too large occasion for such sorrows To see our dearest and most intimate friends to be turned aside from the Truth of Christ and that either in or neer the Foundation and to be raging confident in the grossest Errors To see many neer us in the flesh continue their neglect of Christ and their souls and nothing will waken them out of their security To look an ungodly Father or Mother Brother or Sister in the face To look on a carnal Wife or Husband or Childe or Friend And to think how certainly they shall be in Hell for ever if they die in their present unregenerate estate O what continual dolors do all these sad sights and thoughts fill our hearts with from day to day And will it not be a blessed day when we shall rest from all these what Christian now is not in Pauls case and cannot speak in his Language 2 Cor. 11.28 29. Besides those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily the care of all the Churches Who is weak and I am not weak who is offended and I burn not What heart is not wounded to think on Germanies long desolations O the learned Universities The flourishing Churches there that now are left desolate Look on Englands four yeers blood a flourishing Land almost made ruined hear but the common voyce in most Cities Towns and Countreys through the Land and judg whether here be no cause of sorrow Especially look but to the sad effects and mens spirits grown more out of order when a most wonderful Reformation by such wonderful means might have been well expected And is not this cause of astonishing sorrows Look to Scotland look to Ireland look almost every where and tell me what you see Blessed that approaching day when our eyes shall behold no more such sights nor our ears hear any more such tidings How many hundred Pamphlets are Printed full of almost nothing but the common calamities So that its become a gainful trade to divulge the news of our Brethrens sufferings And the fears for the future that possessed our hearts were worse then all that we saw or suffered O the tidings that run from Edghil fight of York fight c. How many a face did they make pale and how many a heart did they astonish nay have not many died with the fears of that which if they had lived they had neither suffered nor seen It s said of Melancthon That the miseries of the Church made him almost neglect the death of his most beloved Children to think of the Gospel departing the Glory taken from Israel our Sun setting at Noon day poor souls left willingly dark and destitute and with great pains and hazard blowing out the Light that should guide them to salvation What sad thoughts must these be To think of Christ removing his Family taking away both worship and worshippers and to leave the Land to the rage of the merciless These were sad thoughts Who could then have taken the Harp in hand or sung the pleasant Songs of Zion But blessed be the Lord who hath frustrated our fears and who will hasten that rejoycing day when Sion shall be exalted above the Mountains and her Gates shall be open day and night and the glory of the Gentiles be brought into it and the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve her shall perish When the sons of them that afflicted her shall come bending unto her and all they that despised her shall bow themselves down at the soles of her feet and they shall call her The City of the Lord the Sion of the holy One of Israel When her people also shall be all Righteous even the Work of Gods hands the Branch of his planting who shall inherit the Land for ever that he may be glorified When that voice shall sound forth Rejoyce with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her Rejoyce for joy with her all ye that mourn for her That ye may suck and be satisfied with the brests of her consolation that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory Thus shall we Rest from our participation of our Brethrens sufferings SECT XVI 8. WE shall Rest also from all our own personal sufferings whether natural and ordinary or extraordinary from the afflicting hand of God And though this may seem a small thing to those that live in continual ease and abound in all kinde of prosperity yet me thinks to the daily afflicted soul it should make the fore-thoughts of Heaven delightful And I think we shall meet with few of the Saints but will say That this is their own case O the dying life that we now live As full of sufferings as of days and hours We are the Carkasses that all Calamities prey upon As various as they are each one will have a snatch at us and be sure to devour a morsel of our comforts When we bait our Bulls and Bears we do but represent our own condition whose lives are consumed under such assaults and spent in succession of fresh encounters All Creatures have an enmity against us ever since we made the Lord of all our enemy And though we are reconciled by the blood of the Covenant and the price is paid for our full deliverance yet our Redeemer sees it fit to leave this measure of misery upon us to make us know for what we are beholden and to minde us of what we would else forget to be serviceable to his wise and gracious designes and advantagious to our full and final Recovery He hath sent us as Lambs among Wolves and sure there is little Rest to be expected As all our Senses are the inlets of sin so are they become the inlets of our sorrow Grief creeps in at our eyes at our ears and almost every where It seiseth upon our head our hearts our flesh our Spirits and what part doth escape it Fears do devour us and
I fear he will not know my soul But especially when we come to die and must immediately appear before this God and expect to enter into this Eternal Rest then the difference will plainly appear Then what a joy will it be to think I am going to the place that I daily conversed in to the place from whence I tasted so frequent delights to that God whom I have met in my Meditations so oft My heart hath been at Heaven before now and tasted the sweetness that hath oft revived it and as Jonathan by his honey if mine eyes were so illightened and my minde refreshed when I tasted but a little of that sweetness what will it be when I shall feed on it freely On the other side what a terror must it be to think I must die and go I know not whither from a place where I am acquainted to a place where I have no familiarity or knowledg O Sirs it is an unexpressible horror to a dying man to have strange thoughts of God and Heaven I am perswaded there is no cause so common that makes death even to godly men unwelcome and uncomfortable Therefore I perswade thee to frequency in this duty That seldomness breed not estrangedness from God 2. And besides that seldomness will make thee unskilful in the work and strange to the duty as well as to God How unhandsomly and clumsily do men set their hands to a work that they are seldom imployed in Whereas frequency will habituate thy heart to the work and thou wilt better know the way which thou daily walkest yea and it will be more easie and delightful also The Hill which made thee pant and blow at the first going up thou maist run up easily when thou art once accustomed to it The heart which of it self is naturally backward will contract a greater unwillingness through disuse And as an untamed Colt not used to the hand it will hardly come to hand when thou shouldst use it 3. And lastly Thou wilt lose that heat and life by long intermissions which with much ado thou didst obtain in duty If thou eat but a meal in two or three days thou wilt lose thy strength as fast as thou gettest it if in holy Meditation thou get neer to Christ and warm thy heart with the fire of Love if thou then turn away and come but seldom thou wilt soon return to thy former coldness If thou walk or labor till thou hast got thee heat and then sit idle all day after wilt thou not surely lose thy heat again especially it being so spiritual a work and so against the bent of nature we shall be still inclining to our natural temper If water that is heated be long from the fire it will return to its coldness because that is its natural temper I advise thee therefore that thou be as oft as may be in this soul-raising duty least when thou hast long rowed hard against the stream or tide and winde the boat should go further down by thy intermission then it was got up by all thy labor And least when thou hast been long rolling thy stony heart towards the top of the hill it should go faster down when thou dost slack thy diligence It s true the intermixed use of other duties may do much to the keeping thy heart above especially secret prayer but Meditation is the life of most other duties and the veiws of heaven is the Life of Meditation SECT III. 3. COncerning the Time of this duty I advise thee that thou chuse the most seasonable Time All things are beautiful and excellent in their season Unseasonableness may lose thee the fruit of thy labor It may rise up disturbances and difficulties in the work Yea it may turn a duty to a sin when the seasonableness of a duty doth make it easie doth remove impediments doth embolden us to the undertaking and doth ripen its fruit The seasons of this duty are either first extraordinary or secondly ordinary 1. The ordinary season for your daily performance cannot be particularly determined by man Otherwise God would have determined it in his word But mens conditions of imployment and freedom and bodily temper are so various that the same may be a seasonable hour to one which may be unseasonable to another If thou be a servant or a hard laborer that thou hast not thy self nor thy time at command thou must take that season which thy business will best afford thee Either as thou sittest in the shop at thy work or as thou travellest on the way or as thou lyest waking in the night Every man best knows his own time even when he hath least to hinder him of his business in the world But for those whose necessities tye them not so close but that they may well lay aside their earthly affaires and chuse what time of the day they will My advice to such is that they carefully observe the temper of their body and minde and mark when they finde their spirits most active and fit for contemplation and pitch upon that as the stated time Some men are freest for all duties when they are fasting and some are then unfittest of all Some are fit for duties of humiliation at one season and for duties of exaltation at another Every man is the meetest judg for himself Only give me leave to tender you my observation which time I have alway found fittest for my self and that is The evening from Sun setting to the twilight and sometime in the night when it is warm and clear Whether it be any thing from the temperature of my body I know not But I conjecture that the same time would be seasonable to most tempers for several natural reasons which I will not now stand to mention Neither would I have mentioned my own experience in this but that I was encouraged hereunto by finding it suit with the experience of a better and wiser man then my self and that is Isaac for it is said in Gen. 24.63 That he went to Meditate in the field at the eventide and his experience I dare more boldly recommend unto you then my own And as I remember Doctor Hall in his excellent Treatise of Meditation gives you the like account of his own experience SECT IIII. 2. THe Lords day is a time exceeding seasonable for this exercise When should we more seasonably contemplate on Rest then on that day of Rest which doth typâ—fie it to us Neither do I think that typifying use is ceased because the Antitype is not fully yet come However it being a day appropriated to Worship and spiritual duties me thinks we should never exclude this duty which is so eminently spiritual I think verily this is the chiefest work of a Christian Sabbath and most agreeable to the intent of its positive institution What fitter time to converse with our Lord then on that day which he hath appropriated to such imployment and therefore called
or the frequency of the understandings apprehensions this Truth doth make a deeper impression so is longer retained which impâ—â—ssion and retention we call memory And as truth is thus variously presented to the understanding and received by it so also is the goodness of the object variously represented to the will which doth accordingly put forth its various acts When it appeareth only as good in it self and not good for us or suitable it is not the object of the will at all but only this Enuntiation It is good is passed upon it by the Judgment and withal it raiseth an admiration at its excellency If it appeare evil to us then we Nill it But if it appear both good in it self and to us or suitable then it provoketh the affection of Love If the good thus loved do appear as absent from us then it exciteth the passion of Desire If the good so Loved and Desired do appear possible and feasible in the attaining then it exciteth the passion of Hope which is a compound of Desire and Expectation when we look upon it as requiring our endeavor to attain it and as it is to be had in a prescribed way then it provokes the passion of courage or boldness and concludes in resolution Lastly if this good be apprehended as present then it provoketh to delight or Joy If the thing it self be present the Joy is greatest If but the Idea of it either through the remainder or memory of the good that is past or through the fore-apprehension of that which we expect yet even this also exciteth our Joy And this Joy is the perfection of all the rest SECT II. SO that by this time I suppose you see both what are the objects that must move our affections and what powers of the soul apprehend these objects you see also I doubt not what affections you must excite and in what order it is to be done Yet for your better assistance I will more fully direct you in the several particulars 1. Then you must by cogitation go to the memory which is the Magazine or Treasury of the understanding thence you must take forth those heavenly doctrines which you intend to make the subject of your Meditation for the present purpose you may look over any promise of eternal life in the Gospel any description of the glory of the Saints or the very Articles of the Resurrection of the body and the Life everlasting some one sentence concerning those Eternal Joyes may afford you matter for many yeers Meditation yet it will be a point of our wisdom here to have always a stock of matter in our memory that so when we should use it we may bring forth out of our treasury things new and old For a good man hath a good Treasury in his heart from whence he bringeth forth good things Luke 6.45 and out of this abundance of his heart he should speak to himself as well as to others Yea if we took things in order and observed some Method in respect of the matter and did Meditate first on one Truth concerning Eternity and then another it would not be amiss And if any should be barren of Matter through weakness of memory they may have notes or books of this subject for their furtherance SECT III. 2. WHen you have fetcht from your memory the matter of your Meditation your next work is to present it to your Judgment open there the case as fully as thou canst set forth the several ornaments of the Crown the several dignities belonging to the Kingdom as they are partly laid open in the beginning of this Book Let judgment deliberately view them over and take as exact a survey as it can Then put the question and require a determination Is there happiness in all this or not Is not here enough to make me blessed Can he want any thing who fully possesseth God Is there any thing higher for a creature to attain Thus urge thy judgment to pass an upright sentence and compel it to subscribe to the perfection of thy Celestial happiness and to leave this sentence as under its hand upon Record If thy senses should here begin to mutter and to put in a word for fleshly pleasure or profits let judgment hear what each can say weigh the Arguments of the world and flesh in one end and the Arguments for the preheminence of Glory in the other end and judg impartially which should be preferred Try whether there be any comparison to be made which is more excellent which more manly which is more satisfactory and which more pure which freeth most from misery and advanceth us highest and which dost thou think is of longer continuance Thus let deliberate judgment decide it and let not Flesh carry it by noise and by violence And when the sentence is passed and recorded in thy heart it will be ready at hand to be produced upon any occasion and to silence the flesh in its next attempt and to disgrace the world in its next competition Thus exercise thy Judgment in the contemplation of thy Rest thus Magnifie and Advance the Lord in thy heart till a holy admiration hath possessed thy Soul SECT IV. 3. BUt the great work which you may either promise or subjoyn to this as you please is To exercise thy belief of the truth of thy Rest And that both in respect of the truth of the Promise and also the truth of thy own Interest and Title As unbelief doth cause the languishing of all our Graces so Faith would do much to revive and actuate them if it were but revived and actuated it self Especially our belief of the verity of the Scripture I conceive as needful to be exercised and confirmed as almost any point of Faith But of this I have spoken in the Second Part of this Book whither I refer thee for some confirming Arguments Though few complain of their not believing Scripture yet I conceive it to be the commonest part of unbelief and the very root of bitterness which spoileth our Graces Perhaps thou hast not a positive belief of the contrary nor dost not flatly think that Scripture is not the Word of God that were to be a down-right Infidel indeed And yet thou maist have but little belief that Scripture is Gods Word and that both in regard of the habit and the act It s one thing not to beleeve Scripture to be true and another thing positively to beleeve it to be false Faith may be idle and suspend its exercise toward the Truth though it do not yet act against the Truth It may stand still when it goes not out of the way it may be asleep and do you little service though it do not directly fight against you Besides a great deal of unbelief may consist with a small degree of Faith If we did soundly beleeve That there is such a Glory that within a few days our eyes shall behold it O what passions would it
and men of Command p. 504 5. To Ministers Five means which they must use p. 506 6. To Parents and masters of Families Severall Considerations to urge them to the performance p. 527 Some of their objections answered p. 537 Directions to Parents for teaching their Children p. 546 The summe or Fundamentals of Divinity which Children and others must first be taught p. 548 Some further Directions only named p. 550 The Contents of the Fourth Part. CHAP. I. REproving our expectation of Rest on earth with divers Reasons against it p. 559 â—hap 2. Reproving our lothness to die and go to our Rest. p. 574 The hainous aggravations of this sin p. 575 Considerations against it and to make us willing and objections answered p. 583 â—hap 3. A Directory for a heavenly life 1. Reproof of our unheavenliness and Exhortation to set our hearts above p. 598 Twelve moving considerations to heavenly-mindedness p. 604 â—hap 4. Seven great Hindrances of heavenliness to be avoided p 645 â—hap 5. Ten general Helps to a heavenly life p. 668 â—hap 6. The great duty of heavenly meditation described and the Description explained p. 686 â—hap 7. Directions 1. Concerning the fittest Time for this Meditation p. 696 2. Concerning the fittest Place p. 712 3. Concerning the preparation of the heart to it p. 714 Chap. 8. Of Consideration and what power it hath to move the soul. p. 718 Chap. 9. What faculties and affections must be acted in this Contemplation p. 724 By what objects and considerations and in what order ibid. More particularly 1. The exercise of Judgment p. 725 2. The acting of Faith p. 728 3. The acting of Love p. 731 4. The acting of Desire p 736 5. The acting of Hope p. 739 6. The acting of Courage or holy Boldness and Resolution p. 742 7. The acting of Joy p. 744 Chap. 10. By what Actings of the soul to proceed to this work of heavenly Contemplation beside Cogitation p. 749 As 1. Soliloquy Its parts and method p 750 2. Speaking to God p. 754 Chap. 11. Some advantages for raising and affecting the soul in its Meditations of Heaven In generall by making use of sense or sensitive things p 756 Particularly 1. By raising strong suppositions from sense p. 759 2. By comparing the objects of Sense with the objects of Faith p. 761 Twelve helps by comparison to be affected with the Joys of Heaven p. 76â— Chap. 12. Direction how to manage and watch over the heart whiâ—â— we are in this work of Contemplation p. 781 Chap. 13. An abstract or brief summe of all for the help of the weak p. 787 Chap. 14. An example of the acting of Judgment Faith Love Joy and Desire by this duty of Heavenly Meditation p. 790 The Conclusion commending this duty from its necessity and excellency p. 83â— THE SAINTS Everlasting REST. CHAP. I. HEBR. 4.9 There remaineth therefore a Rest to the people of God SECT I. IT was not only our interest in God and actual fruition of him which was lost in Adams Covenant-breaking fall but all spiritual knowledg of him and true disposition towards such a felicity Man hath now a heart too suitable to his estate A low state and a low spirit And as some expound that of Luk. 18.8 when the Son of God comes with Recovering Grace and discoveries and tenders of a spiritual and eternal Happiness and Glory he findes not faith in man to beleeve it But as the poor man that would not beleeve that any one man had such a sum as an hundred pound it was so far above what he possessed So man will hardly now beleeve that there is such a Happiness as once he had much less as Christ hath now procured When God would give the Israelites his Sabbaths of Rest in a Land of Rest he had more ado to make them beleeve it then to overcome their enemies and procure it for them And when they had it only as a small intimation earnest of a more incomparably glorious Rest through Christ they stick there and will yet beleeve no more then they do possess but sit down and say as the Glutton at the feast Sure there 's no other Heaven but this Or if they do expect more by the Messiah it is only the increase of their earthly felicity The Apostle bestows most of this Epistle against this distemper and clearly and largely proves unto them That it 's the end of all Ceremonies and Shadows to direct them to Jesus Christ the Substance and that the Rest of Sabbaths and Canaan should teach them to look for a further Rest which indeed is their Happiness My Text is his Conclusion after divers Arguments to that end a Conclusion so useful to a Beleever as containing the ground of all his comforts the end of all his duty and sufferings the life and sum of all Gospel-promises and Christian-priviledges that you may easily be satisfied why I have made it the subject of my present Discourse What more welcome to men under personal afflictions tiring duty successions of sufferings then Rest What more welcom news to men under publick calamities unpleasing employments plunderings losses sad tydings c. which is the common case then this of Rest Hearers I pray God your attentions intention of spirit entertainment and improvement of it be but half answerable to the verity necessity and excellency of this Subject and then you will have cause to bless God while you live that ever you heard it as I have that ever I studied it SECT II. THe Text is as you may see the Apostles Assertion in an entire proposition with the concluding illative The Subject is Rest The Predicate It yet Remains to the people of God It s requisite we say somewhat briefly 1. For Explication of the terms 2. Of the Subject of them Therefore i. e. It clearly follows from the former Argument There Remains 1. In order of speaking As the Consequence follows the Antecedent or the Conclusion the Premises So there Remains a Rest or it remains that there is another Rest. 2. But rather in order of being As the bargain remains after the earnest the performance after the promise the Anti-type after the Type and the ultimate end after all the means so there remains a Rest To the People of God God hath a two-fold people within the Church One his only by a common vocation by an external acceptation of Christ and covenanting sanctified by the blood of the Covenant so far as to be separated from the open enemies of Christ and all without the Church therefore not to be accounted common and unclean in the sence as Jews and Pagans are but holy and Saints in a larger sence as the Nation of the Jews and all Proselited Gentiles were holy before Christs coming These are called Branches in Christ not bearing fruit and shall be cut off c. for they are in the Church and in him by the foresaid profession and external Covenant but
rising of the Sun excludes the darkness yet is not the negative part to be slighted even our freedom from so many and great Calamities Let us therefore look over these more punctually and see what it is that we shall there Rest from In general It is from all evil Particularly First from the evil of Sin secondly and of suffering First It excludeth nothing more directly then sin whether original and of Nature or actual and of Conversation For there entereth nothing that defileth nor that worketh abomination nor that maketh a lie when they are there the Saints are Saints indeed He that will wash them with his heart blood rather then suffer them to enter unclean will now perfectly see to that he who hath undertaken to present them to his Father not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but perfectly holy and without blemish will now most certainly perform his undertaking What need Christ at all to have died if Heaven could have contained imperfect souls For to this end came he into the world that he might put away the works of the divel His Blood and Spirit have not done all this to leave us after all defiled For what communion hath light with darkness and what fellowship hath Christ with Belial He that hath prepared for sin the torments of Hell will never admit it into the Blessedness of Heaven Therefore Christian never fear this if thou be once in Heaven thou shalt sin no more Is not this glad news to thee who hast prayed and watched and labored against it so long I know if it were offered to thy choice thou wouldst rather chuse to be freed from sin then to be made heir of all the world VVhy wait till then and thou shalt have thy desire That hard heart those vile thoughts which did lie down and rise with thee which did accompany thee to every duty which thou couldst no more leave behinde thee then leave thy self behinde thee shall now be left behinde for ever They might accompany thee to death but they cannot proceed a step further Thy understanding shall never more be troubled with darkness Ignorance and Error are inconsistent with this Light Now thou walkest like a man in the twilight ever afraid of being out of the way Thou seest so many Religions in the VVorld that thou fearest thy one cannot be onely the right among all these Thou seest the Scripture so exceeding difficult and every one pleading it for his own cause and bringing such specious Arguments for so contrary Opinions that it intangleth thee in a Labarinth of perplexities Thou seest so many godly men on this side and so many on that and each zealous for his own way that thou art amazed not knowing which way to take And thus do doubtings and fears accompany darkness and we are ready to stumble at every thing in our way But then will all this darkness be dispelled and our blinde understandings fully opened and we shall have no more doubts of our way VVe shall know which was the right side and which the wrong which was the Truth and which the Error O what would we give to know cleerly all the profound Mysteries in the Doctrine of Decree of Redemption of Justification of the nature of Grace of the Covenants of the Divine Attributes c. VVhat would we not give to see all dark Scriptures made plain to see all seeming contradictions reconciled Why when Glory hath taken the vail from our eyes all this will be known in a moment we shall then see clearly into all the controversies about Doctrine or Discipline that now perplex us The poorest Christian is presently there a more perfect Divine then any is here We are now through our Ignorance subject to such mutability that in points not fundamental we change as the Moon that it is cast as a just reproach upon us that we profess our Religion with Reserves and resolvedly settle upon almost nothing that we are to day of one opinion and within this week or moneth or yeer of another and yet alas we cannot help it The reproach may fall upon all mankinde as long as we have need of daily growth Would they have us beleeve before we understand or say we beleeve when indeed we do not shall we profess our selves resolved before we ever throughly studied or say we are certain when we are conscious that we are not But when once our Ignorance is perfectly healed then shall we be setled resolved men then shall our reproach be taken from us and we shall never change our judgment more then shall we be clear and certain in all and cease to be Scepticks any more Our Ignorance now doth lead us into Error to the grief of our more knowing Brethren to the disturbing of the Churches quiet and interrupting her desireable harmonious consent to the scandalizing of others and weakning of our selves How many an humble faithful Soul is seduced into Error and little knows it Loath they are to erre God knows and therefore read and pray and confer and yet erre still and confirmed in it more and more And in lesser and more difficult points how should it be otherwise He that is acquainted amongst men and knows the quality of Professors in England must needs know the generality of them are no great Scholars nor have much read or studied Controversies nor are men of profoundest natural parts nor have the Ministers of England much preached Controversies to them but were glad if their hearers were brought to Christ and got so much knowledg as might help to Salvation as knowing that to be their great work And can it be expected That men voyd of Learning and strength of parts unstudied and untaught should at the first on set know those Truths which they are almost uncapable of knowing at all when the greatest Divines of clearest Judgment acknowledg so much difficulty That they could almost finde in their hearts sometimes to profess them quite beyond their reach Except we will allow them to lay aside their divine Faith and take up an humane and see with other mens eyes the weight and weakness of Arguments and not with their own It cannot be thought That the most of Christians no nor the most Divines should be free from erring in those difficult points where we know they have not Head-peeces able to reach Indeed if it were the way of the Spirit to teach us miraculously as the Apostles were taught the knowledg of Tongues without the intervening use of Reason or if the Spirit infused the acts of Knowledg as he doth the immediate knowing Power then he that had most of the Spirit would not onely know best but also know most but we have enough to convince us of the contrary to this But O that happy approaching day when Error shall vanish away for ever VVhen our understandings shall be filled with God himself whose light will leave no darkness in
rule No Government but that of Christ All things are established Jure Divino No bitter Invectives nor voluminous reproaches The Language of Martin is there a stranger and the sound of his eccho is not heard No Recording our Brethrens infirmities nor raking into the sores which Christ died to heal How many Sermons zealously Preached how many Books studiously compiled will then by the Authors be all disclaimed How many back-biting slanderous speeches How many secret dividing contrivances must then be laid on the score of Christ against whom and his Saints they were committed The zealous Authors dare not own them They would then with the Athenians burn their books Acts 19.19 and rather lose their labor then stand to it There 's no ploting to strengthen our party nor deep designing against our Brethren And is it not shame and pity that our course is now so contrary Surely if there be sorrow or shame in Heaven we shall then be both sorry and ashamed to look one another there in the face and to remember all this carriage on earth Even as the Brethren of Joseph were to behold him when they remembred their former unkinde usage Is it not enough that all the world is against us but we must also be against one another Did I ever think to have heard Christians so to reproach and scorn Christians and men professing the fear of God to make so little conscience of censuring vilifying slandering and disgracing one another Could I have believed him that would have told me five years ago that when the scorners of Godliness were subdued and the bitter prosecutors of the Church overthrown that such should succeed them who suffered with us who were our intimate friends with whom we took sweet counsel and went up together to the house of God Did I think it had been in the hearts of men professing such zeal to Religion and the ways of Christ to draw their swords against each other and to seek each others blood so fiercely Alas if the Judgment be once perverted and error have possessed the supream faculty whither will men go and what they will do Nay what will they not do O what a potent instrument for Satan is a misguided Conscience It will make a man kill his dearest friend yea father or mother yea the holiest Saint and think he doth God service by it And to facilitate the work it will first blot out the reputation of their holiness and make them take a Saint for a Devil that so they may vilifie or destroy him without remorse O what hellish things are Ignorance and Pride that can bring mens souls to such a case as this Paul knew what he said when he commanded that a Novice should not be a Teacher lest being lifted up with Pride he fall into the Condemnation of the Devil 1 Tim 3.6 He discerned that such young Christians that have got but a little smattering knowledg in Religion do lie in greatest danger of this Pride and Condemnation Who but a Paul could have foreseen that among the very Teachers and Governors of so choice a Church as Ephesus that came to see and hear him that pray and weep with him there were some that afterwards should be notorious Sect-masters That of their own selves men should arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Acts 20.30 VVho then can expect better from any Society now how knowing and holy soever To day they may be Orthodox unanimous and joyned in Love and perhaps within a few weeks be divided and at bitter enmity through their doting about Questions that tend not to edifie VVho that had seen how loving the godly in England did live together when they were hated and scorned of all would have believed that ever they would have been so bitter against one another That when those who derided us for Preaching for Hearing for constant Praying in our Families for singing Psalms for sanctifying the Lords day for repeating Sermons for taking Notes for desiring Discipline c. had their mouthes stopped we should fall upon one another for the very same duties and that Professors of Religion should oppose and deride almost all that worship of God out of Conscience which others did before them through prophaneness Did I not think that of all other the scorning at the worshippers of Christ had been a sure sign of a wicked wretch But I see now we must distinguish between scorners and scorners or else I fear we shall exclude almost all I read indeed in Pagan VVriters That these Christians were as cruel as Bears and Tygers against one another Ammianus Marcellinus gives it as the Reason of Julians policy in proclaiming Liberty for every party to Profess and Preach their own Opinions because he knew the cruel Christians would then most fiercely fall upon one another and so by Liberty of Conscience and by keeping their Children from the Schools of Learning he thought to have rooted out Christianity from the Earth But I had hoped this accusation had come from the malice of the Pagan VVriter Little did I think to have seen it so far verified Lord what Divels are we unsanctified when there is yet such a Nature remaining in the sanctified Such a Nature hath God in these days suffered to discover it self in the very Godly that if he did not graciously and powerfully restrain they would shed the blood of one another and no thanks to us if it be not done But I hope his design is but to humble and shame us by the discovery and then to prevent the breaking forth Object But is it possible such should be truly Godly Then what sin will denominate a man ungodly Answ. Or else I must believe the doctrine of the Saints Apostasie or believe there are scarce any godly in the world O what a wound of dishonor hath this given not onely to the stricter profession of holines but even to the very Christian name Were there a possibility of hiding it I durst not thus mention it O Christian If thou who readest this be guilty I charge thee before the living God That thou sadly consider how far is this unlike thy Copy Suppose thou hadst seen the Lord Jesus girded to the service stooping to the Earth washing his Disciples dirty feet and wiping them and saying to them This I have done to give you an example That if I your Lord and Master have washed your feet you also ought to wash one anothers Would not this make thee ashamed and tremble Shall the Lord wipe the feet and the fellow-servant be ready to cut the throat would not thy proud heart scorn to stoop to thy Masters work Look to thy self it is not the name of a professor nor the zeal for thy opinions that will prove thee a Christian or secure thee from the heat of the consuming fire If thou love not thine enemy much more thy Christian friend thou canst
of poor Fishermen Tentmakers and such like must write the Laws of the Kingdom of Christ must dive into the Spiritual Mysteries of the Kingdom must silence the Wise and Disputers of the world and must be the men that must bring in the world to believe Doubless as Gods sending David an unarmed Boy with a Sling and a Stone against an armed Gyant was to make it appear that the victory was from himself So his sending these unlearned men to Preach the Gospel and subdue the world was to convince both the present and future generations that it was God and not man that did the work 4. Also the course they took in silencing the learned adversaries doth shew us how little use they made of these Humane helps They disputed not with them by the precepts of Logick Their Arguments were to the Jews the Writings of Moses and the Prophets and both to Jews and Gentiles the miracles that were wrought They argued more with deeds then with words The blinde the lame the sick that were recovered were their visible Arguments The Languages which they spake the Prophesies which they uttered and other such supernatural gifts of the holy Ghost upon them these were the things that did convince the world Yet this is no president to us to make as little use of Learning as they because we are not upon the same work nor yet supplied with their supernatural furniture 5. The reproaches of their enemies do fully testifie this who cast it still in their teeth that they were ignorant and unlearned men And indeed this was the great rub that their Doctrine found in the world it was to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness and therefore it appeared to be the power of God and not of man This was it that they discouraged the people with Do any of the Rulers or Pharisees believe on him but this people that know not the Law are accursed 6. To conclude The very frame and stile of these sacred Writings doth fully tell us that they were none of the Logicians nor eloquent Orators of the world that did compose them This is yet to this day one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the world to hinder men from the reverencing and believing the Scriptures They are still thinking sure if they were the very words of God they would excell all other Writings in every kinde of excellency when indeed it discovereth them the more certainly to be of God because there is in them so little of man They may as well say If David had been sent against Goliah from God he would sure have been the most compleat souldier and most compleatly armed The words are but the dish to serve up the sense in God is content that the words should not onely have in them a savor of Humanity but of much infirmity so that the work of convincing the world may be furthered thereby And I verily think that this is Gods great design in permitting these pretious spirits of divine Truths to run in the veines of infirm Language that so men may be convinced in all succeeding ages that Scripture is no device of Humane Policy If the Apostles had been learned and subtil men we should sooner have suspected their finger in the contrivance Yea It is observable that in such as Paul that had some Humane Learning yet God would not have them make much use of it least the excellency of the Cross of Christ should seem to lye in the inticing words of mans wisdom and least the success of the Gospel should seem to be more from the ability of the Preacher then from the Arm of God Besides all this It may much perswade us that the Apostles never contrived the Doctrine which they Preached by their sudden and not premeditated setting upon the work They knew not whether they should go nor what they should do when he calls one from his Fishing and another from his Custome They knew not what course Christ would take with himself or them no not a little before he leaves them Nay they must not know their imployment till he is taken from them And even then is it revealed to them by parcels and degrees and that without any study or invention of their own even after the coming down of the Holy Ghost Peter did not well under stand that the Gentiles must be called All which ignorance of his Apostles and suddenness of Revelation I think was purposely contrived by Christ to convince the world that they were not the contrivers of the Doctrine which they Preached SECT IV. 2. LEt us next then consider how far short the learned Philosophers have come of this They that have spent all their days in most painful studies having the strongest natural endowments for to enable them and the learned Teachers the excellent Libraries the bountiful incouragement and countenance of Princes to further them and yet after all this are very Novices in all spiritual things They cannot tell what the happiness of the Soul is nor where that happiness shall be enjoyed nor when nor how long nor what are the certain means to attain it nor who they be that shall possess it They know nothing how the world was made nor how it shall end nor know they the God who did create and doth sustain it but for the most of them they multiply feighned Deities But I shall have occasion to open this more fully anon under the last Argument CHAP. VI. The third Argument SECT I. MY third Argument whereby I prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures is this Those Writings which have been owned and fulfilled in several Ages by apparent extraordinary Providences of God must needs be of God But God hath so owned and fulfilled the Scriptures Ergo They are of God The Major Proposition will not sure be denied The direct consequence is That such Writings are approved by God and if approved of him then must they needs be his own because they affirm themselves to be his own It is beyond all doubt that God will not interpose his Power and work a succession of Wonders in the world for the maintaining or countenancing of any forgery especially such as should be a slander against himself All the work therefore will lye in confirming the Minor Where I shall shew you first By what wonders of Providence God hath owned and fulfilled the Scriptures And secondly How it may appear that this was the end of such Providences 1. The first sort of Providences here to be considered are those that have been exercised for the Church universal Where these three things present themselves especially to be observed first The Propagating of the Gospel and raising of the Church secondly The Defence and continuance of that Church thirdly The improbable ways of accomplishing these And first Consider what an unlikely design in the judgment of man did Christ send his Apostles upon To bid a few ignorant Mechanicks Go
who are bound to obey And dare these men think that they are wiser then God Do they know better then he what men must do to be saved These are the men that ask us Whether we be wiser then all the world besides and yet they will pretend to be wiser then God What do they less when God bids us take the most diligent course and they tell us It is more ado then needs Mark well the language of the Laws of God and see how you can reconcile it with the language of the world Mat. 11.12 The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence and the Violent take it by force Or as it is in Luke 16.16 Every one presseth into it Luke 13.24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many shall seek to enter in and not be able So Mat. 7.13.14 Eccles. 9.10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy Might for there is no Work nor device nor knowledg nor Wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest 1 Cor. 9.24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize so run that ye may obtain 2 Tim. 2.5 If a man strive for masteries yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully that is powerfully and prevailingly Phil. 2.12 Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling 2. Pet. 1.10 Give Diligence to make your Calling and Election Sure 1 Pet. 4.18 If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear So Phil. 1.27 3.14 1 Tim. 6.12 18 19. Deut. 6.5 c. This is the constant language of Christ And which shall I follow God or men yea and that the worst and most wicked men Shall I think that every ignorant worldly sot that can only call a man Puritan knows more then Christ and can teach him to make Laws for his Church or can tell God how to mend the Scriptures Let them bring all the seeming Reasons that they can against the holy violent strivings of the Saints and this sufficeth me to confute them all That God is of another mind and he hath commanded me to do much more then I do And though I could see no Reason for it yet his Will is Reason enough to me I am sure God is worthy to govern us if we were better then we are Who should make Laws for us but he that made us and who should line out the way to Heaven but he that must bring us thither and who should determine on what Conditions we shall be saved but he that bestows the gift of Salvation So that let World or Flesh or Devil speak against a holy laborious course this is my Answer God hath commanded it SECT XVIII 17. MOreover It is a course that all men in the world either do or will approve of There 's not a man that ever was or is or shall be but shall one day justifie the Diligence of the Saints and give his verdict in the approbation of their wisdom And who would not go that way which every man shall applaud It is true it 's now a way every where spoken against and hated but let me tell you 1. Most that speak against it do in their judgments approve of it onely because the practice of godliness is against the pleasures of the flesh therefore do they against their own judgments resist it They have not one word of Reason against it but reproaches and Railing are their best Arguments 2. Those that now are against it whether in Judgment or Passion will shortly be every man of another mind If they come to Heaven their minde must be changed before they come there If they go to Hell their Judgment will then be altered whether they will or no. If you could speak with every Soul that suffereth those Torments and ask their Judgments Whether it be possible to be too Diligent and Serious in seeking Salvation you may easily conjecture what answer they would return Take the most bitter derider or persecuter of godliness even those that will venture their lives for to overthrow it If those men do not shortly eat their own words and wish a thousand times that they had been the most holy diligent Christians on Earth then let me bear the shame of a false Prophet for ever SECT XIX 18. COnsider They that have been the most Serious Painful Christians when they come to dye do exceedingly lament their negligence Those that have wholy addicted themselves to the work of God and have made it the main business of their lives and have sleighted the world and mortified the flesh and have been the wonders of the world for their Heavenly Conversations yet when Conscience is let loose upon them and God withdraws the sense of his Love how do their failings wound them and disquiet them What terrors do the Souls of many undergo who are generally admired for their godliness and innocency Even those that are hated and derided by the world for being so strict and are thought to be almost besides themselves for their extraordinary diligence Yet commonly when they lie a dying do wish Oh that they had been a thousand times more holy more heavenly more laborious for their Souls What a case then will the negligent World be in when their Consciences are awaked When they lie dying and look behinde them upon a lazy negligent life and look before them upon a severe and terrible Judgment What an esteem will they have of a holy life For my own part I may say as Erasmus Accusant quod nimium fecerim verùm Conscientia mea me accusat quod minus fecerim quodque lentior fuerim They accuse me for doing too much but my own Conscience accuseth me for doing too little and being too slow And it is far easier bearing the scorns of the World then the scourges of Conscience The World speaks at a distance without me so that though I hear their words I can chuse whether I will feel them but my Conscience speaks within me at the very heart so that every check doth pierce me to the quick Conscience when it is reprehended justly is the Messenger of God but ungodly Revilers are but the voyce of the Devil I had rather be reproached by the Devil for seeking Salvation then be reproved of God for neglecting it I had rather the World should call me Puritan in the Devils name then Conscience should call me Loyterer in Gods name As God and Conscience are more useful friends then Satan and the World so are they more dreadful irresistible Enemies SECT XX. 19. COnsider how far many a man goes and what a deal of pains he takes for Heaven and yet misseth it for want of more When every man that striveth is not crowned 2 Tim. 2.5 and many shall seek to enter in and not be able Luk. 13.24 and the very Children of the Kingdom shall be shut out Matth. 13.41 and they that have heard the Word and
tells us plainly who shall be saved and who shall not So that if men would but first search the Word to find out who be these men that shall have Rest and what be their properties by which they may be known and then next search carefully their own hearts till they find whether they are those men or not how could they chuse but come to some Certainty But alas either men understand not the nature and use of this duty or else they will not be at the pains to try Go through a Congregation of a thousand men and how few of them shall you meet with that ever bestowed one hour in all their lives in a close Examination of their title to Heaven Ask thy own Conscience Reader When was the time and where was the place that ever thou solemnly tookest thy heart to task as in the sight of God and examined it by Scripture Interrogatories Whether it be Born again and Renewed or not Whether it be Holy or not Whether it be set most on God or on creatures on Heaven or on Earth and didst follow on this Examination till thou hast discovered thy Condition and so past sentence on thy self accordingly But because this is a Work of so high Concernment and so commonly neglected and mens Souls do so much languish every where under this neglect I will therefore though it be Digressive 1. Shew you That it is possible by trying to come to a Certainty 2. Shew you the hinderances that keep men from trying and from Assurance 3. I will lay down some Motives to perswade you to it 4. I will give you some Directions how you should perform it 5. And lastly I will lay you down some Marks out of Scripture by which you may try and so come to an infallible Certainty Whether you are the People of God for whom this Rest Remaineth or no. And to prepare the way to these I will a little first open to you what Examination is and what that Certainty is which we may expect to attain to SECT III. THis Self-Examination is An enquiry into the course of our lives but more especially into the inward Acts of our Souls and trying of their Sincerity by the Word of God and accordingly Judging of our Real and Relative Estate So that Examination containeth severall Acts 1. There must be the Tryal of the Physical Truth or Sincerity of our Acts That is An enquiry after the very Being of them As whether there be such an Act as Belief or Desire or Love to God within us or not This must be discovered by Conscience and the internal sense of the Soul whereby it is able to feel and perceive its own Acts and to know whether they be Real or Counterfeit 2. The next is The Tryal of the Moral Truth or Sincerity of our Acts Whether they are such as agree with the Rule and the Nature of their Objects This is the discursive work of Reason comparing our Acts with the Rule It implyeth the former knowledg of the Being of our Acts and it implyeth the knowledg of Scripture in the point in question and also the Belief of the Truth of Scripture This Moral Spiritual Truth of our Acts is another thing far different from the Natural or Physical Truth as far as a Mans Being differeth from his Honesty One man loveth his wife under the notion of an harlot or only to satisfie his lust Another loveth his wife with a true Conjugal Affection The former is True Physical Love or true in point of Being but the latter only is True Moral Love The like may be said in regard of all the Acts of the Soul There is a Believing Loving Trusting Fearing Rejoycing all True in point of Being and not counterfeit which yet are all false in point of Morality and right-being and so no gracious Acts at all 3. The third thing contained in the Work of Self-Examination is The Judging or Concluding of our Real Estate that is of the habitual temper or disposition of our Hearts by the quality of their Acts Whether they are such Acts as prove a Habit of Holiness or only some slight Disposition or whether they are only by some Accident enticed and enforced and prove neither Habit nor Disposition The like also of our Evil Acts. Now the Acts which prove a Habit must be 1. Free and chearful not constrained or such as we had rather not do if we could help it 2. Frequent if there be opportunity 3. Through and Serious Where Note also That the Tryal of the Souls Disposition by those Acts which make after the End as Desire Love c. to God Christ Heaven is always more Necessary and more Certain then the tryal of its Disposition to the Means only 4. The last Act in this Examination is To Conclude or Judg of our Relative Estate from the former Judgment of our Acts and Habits As if we find sincere Acts we may Conclude that we have the Habits so from both we may Conclude of our Relation So that our Relations or Habits are neither of them felt or known immediately but must be gathered from the knowledg of our Acts which may be felt As for Example 1. I enquire whether I Believe in Christ or Love God 2. If I find that I do then I enquire next whether I do it sincerely according to the Rule and the Nature of the Object 3. If I find that I do so then I conclude that I am Regenerate or Sanctified 4. And from both these I conclude that I am Pardoned Reconciled Justified and Adopted into sonship and title to the Inheritance All this is done in a way of Reasoning thus 1. He that Believes in Spiritual Sincerity or He that Loves God in Spiritual Sincerity is a Regenerate Man But I do so Believe and Love Therefore I am Regenerate 2. He that Believes in Sincerity or He that is Regenerate for the Conclusion will follow upon either is also Pardoned Justified and Adopted But I do so Believe or I am Regenerate Therefore I am Justified c. SECT IV. THus you see what Examination is Now let us see what this Certainty or Assurance is And indeed It is nothing else but the Knowledg of the forementioned Conclusions that we are Sanctified Justified shall be Glorified as they arise from the premises in the work of Examination So that here you may observe how immediately this Assurance followeth the Conclusion in Examination and so how necessary Examination is to the obtaining of Assurance and how conducible thereunto Also that we are not speaking of the Certainty of the Object or of the thing in it self considered but of the Certainty of the Subject or of the thing to our Knowledg Also you may observe that before we can come to this Certainty of the Conclusion That we are Justified and shall be Glorified there must be a Certainty of the Premises And in respect of the Major Proposition He that Believeth
it had been too late to complain Quia me vestigia terrent Omnia in adversum spectantia nulla retrorsum And some tast of the fruit of their projects we have lately had in England by which paw we may sufficiently conjecture of the Lyon So that as bad as we are our adversaries have little cause to reproach us But yet brethren let us impartially judg our selves for God will shortly Judg us impartially VVhat is it that hath occasioned so many Novices to invade the Ministery who being puffed up with pride are fallen into the snare of the devil 1 Tim. 3.6 and bring the work of God into contempt by their ignorance Hath not the ungodliness ambition of those that are more learned by bringing learning it self into contempt been the cause of all this Alas who can be so blinded by his charity as not to see the truth of this among us How many of the greatest wits have the most graceless hearts And relish Cicero Demosthenes or Aristotle better then David or Paul or Christ And even lothe those holy wayes which customarily they preach for That have no higher ends in entering upon the Ministery then gain and preferment And when the hopes of preferment are taken away they think it but folly to chuse such a toilsome and ungrateful work And thus the ball of reproach is tossed between the well meaning ignorants and the ungodly learned and between these two how miserable is the Church The one cryes out of unlearned Schismaticks The other cryes out of proud ungodly persecutors and say These are your learned men that study for nothing but a benefice or a Bishoprick that are as strange to the Mysteries of Regeneration and a holy life as any others And O that these reproaches were not too true of many God hath lessoned Ministers of late one would think sufficiently to beware of ambition and secular avocations But it is hard to hear God speak by the tongue of an enemy or to see and acknowledg his hand where the Instrument doth miscarry If English Examples have lost their force as being so neer your eyes that you cannot see them remember the end of Funcius that learned Chronologer who might have lived longer as a Divine but died as a Princes Counsellor and his Distich pronounced at his death Disce meo exemplo mandato munere fungi Et fuge ceu pestem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like fate of Justus Jonas I.C. Son of that great Divine of the same name the next year whose last Verses were like the former Quid juvat innumeros scire at que evolvere casus si facienda fugis fi fugienda facis Study not therefore the way of rising but the way of righteousness Honesty will hold out when Honors will deceive you If your hearts be once infected with the fermentation of this swelling humour it will quickly rise up to your brain and corrupt your intellectuals and then you will be of that opinion which your Flesh thinks to be good and not that which your judgment thought to be true and you will fetch your Religion from the Statute Book and not from the Bible as the jest went of Agricola who turned from a Protestant to an Antinomian and being convinced of that error turned Papist into the other extream and Pebugius and Sidonius Authors of the Interim Chrysma ab eis oleum pontificium inter alia defenduntur ut ipsi discederent unctiores because they obtained Bishopricks by it O what a doleful case is it to see so many brave wits and men of profound Learning to be made as useless and hurtful to the Church of God by their pride and ungodliness as others are by their pride and Ignorance were a clear understanding conjoyned with an holy heart and heavenly life and were they as skilful in Spiritual as Humane Learning what a glory and blessing would they be to the Churches SECT X. 5. LAstly Be sure that you study and strive after Unity and Peace if ever you would promote the Kingdom of Christ and your peoples Salvation do it in a way of Peace and Love Publike wars and private quarrels do usually pretend to the Reformation of the Church to the vindicating of the Truth and the welfare of souls but they as usually prove in the issue the greatest means to the overthrow of all It is as natural for both wars and private contentions to produce Errors Schisms contempt of Magistraâ—y Ministry and Ordinances as it is for a dead carrion to breed Worms and Vermine Believe it from one that hath too many years experience of it both in Armies and Garrisons It is as hard a thing to maintain even in your godly people a sound understanding a tender consciences a lively gracious heavenly frame of spirit and an upright life in a way of war and contention as to keep your candle lighted in the greatest Storms or under the waters The like I may say of perverse and fierce Disputings about Baptism and the Circumstantials of Discipline or other Questions that are far from the foundation they oftener lose the Truth then finde it A Synod is as likely and lawful a means as any for such decisions and yet Nazianzen saith Se hactenus non vidisse ullius Synodi utilem 〈…〉 aut in quâ res male se habentes non magis exacerbaâ—â— quam 〈◊〉 fuerint With the vulgar he seems to be the Conqueror that hath the last word or at lest he that hath the most plausible deportment the most affecting tone the most earnest and confident expressions the most probable arguments rather then he that hath the most naked demonstrations He takes with them most that speaks for the Opinion which they like and are inclined to though he speak Non-sense and he that is most familiar with them and hath the best opportunities and advantages to prevail especially he that hath the greatest interest in their affections so that a disputation before the vulgar even of the godly is as likely a means to corrupt them as to cure them usually the most erroneous seducers will carry out their Cause with as good a face as fluent a tongue as great contempt and reproach of their opposers and as much confidence that the truth is on their side as if it were so indeed Paraeus his Master taught him that Certo certius in qualibet minutissima panis portione vere substantialiter integrum corpus Christi esset item in apud cum sub minutissima vini guttula adesset integer sanguis dominicus what confidence was here in a bad cause And if you depend on the most reverend and best esteemed Teachers and suffer the weight of their reputation to turn the Scales you may in many things be never the neerer to the Truth How many learned able men hath the name and authority of Luther mislead in the point of consubstantiation Vrsine was caried away with it a while till he was turned
fruit perhaps we should be sooner drawn unto them and we should itch as the Bethshemites to be looking into this Ark. Sure I am where God hath forbidden us to place our thoughts and our delights thither it is easâ—y enough to draw them If he say Love not the World nor the things of the World we dote upon it never the less We have love enough if the world require it and thoughts enough to pursue our profits How delightfully and unweariedly can we think of vanity and day after day imploy our mindes about the Creature And have we no thoughts of this our Rest How freely and how frequently can we think of our pleasures our friends our labors our flesh our lusts our common studies or news yea our very miseries our wrongs our sufferings and our seats But vvhere is the Christian vvhose heart is on his Rest Why Sirs vvhat is the matter vvhy are vve not taken up vvith the vievvs of Glory and our souls more accustomed to these delightful Meditations Are vve so full of joy that vve need no more or is there no matter in Heaven for our joyous thoughts or rather are not our hearts carnal and blockish Earth vvill to Earth Had vve more Spirit it vvould be othervvise with us As the Jews use to cast to the ground the Book of Esther before they read it because the Name of God is not in it And as Austin cast by Ciceroes writings because they contained not the Name of Jesus So let us humble and cast dovvn these sensual hearts that have in them no more of Christ and Glory As we should not own our duties any further then somewhat of Christ is in them so should we no further own our hearts And as we should delight in the creatures no further then they have reference to Christ and Eternity so should we no further approve of our own hearts If there were little of Christ and Heaven in our mouths but the world were the onely subject of our speeches then all would account us to be ungodly why then may we not call our hearts ungodly that have so little delight in Christ and Heaven A holy tongue will not excuse or secure a profane heart Why did Christ pronounce his Disciples eyes and eares so blessed but as they were the doors to let in Christ by his Works and Words into their hearts O blessed are the eyes that so see and the ears that so hear that the heart is thereby raised to this blessed heavenly frame Sirs so much of your hearts as is empty of Christ and heaven let it befilled with shame and sorrow and not with ease SECT II. BUt let me turn my Reprehension to Exhortation That you would turn this Conviction into Reformation And I have the more hope because I here address my self to men of Conscience that dare not wilfully disobey God and to men whose Relations to God are many and neer and therefore methinks there should need the fewer words to perswade their hearts to him Yea because I speak to no other men but onely them whose portion is there whose hopes are there and who have forsaken all that they may enjoy this glory and shall I be discouraged from perswading such to be heavenly-minded why fellow Christians if you will not hear and obey who will well may we be discouraged to exhort the poor blinde ungodly world and may say as Moses Exod. 6.12 Behold the Children of Israel have not hearkned unto me how then shall Pharoah hear me Who ever thou art therefore that readest these lines I require thee as thou tendrest thine Allegiance to the God of Heaven as ever thou hopest for a part in this glory that thou presently take thy heart to task chide it for its wilful strangeness to God turn thy thoughts from the pursuit of Vanity bend thy soul to study Eternity busie it about the life to come habituate thy self to such contemplations and let not those thoughts be seldom and cursory but settle upon them dwell here bathe thy soul in heavens Delights drench thine affections in these rivers of pleasure or rather in this sea of Consolation and if thy backward soul begin to flag and thy loose thoughts to fly abroad call them back hold them to their work put them on bear not with their lasiness do not connive at one neglect and when thou hast once in obedience to God tried this work and followed on till thou hast got acquainted with it and kept a close guard upon thy thoughts till they are accustomed to obey and till thou hast got some mastery over them thou wilt then finde thy self in the suburbs of Heaven and as it were in a new world thou wilt then finde indeed that there is sweetness in the work and way of God and that the life of Christianity is a life of Joy Thou wilt meet with those abundant consolations which thou hast prayed and panted and groaned after and which so few Christians do ever here obtain because they know not this way to them or else make not conscience of walking in it You see the work now before you This this is it that I would fain perswade your souls to practise Beloved friends and Christian neighbors who hear me this day let me bespeak your consciences in the name of Christ and command you by the Authority I have received from Christ that you faithfully set upon this weighty duty and fix your eye more stedfastly on your Rest and daily delight in the fore-thoughts thereof I have perswaded you to many other duties and I bless God many of you have obeyed and I hope never to finde you at that pass as to say when you perceive the command of the Lord that you will not be perswaded nor obey if I should it were high time to bewail your misery Why you may almost as well say we will not obey as sit still and not obey Christians I beseech you as you take me for your Teacher and have called me thereto so hearken to this Doctrine if ever I shall prevail with you in any thing let me prevail with you in this to set your heart where you expect a Rest and Treasure Do you not remember that when you called me to be your Teacher you promised me under your hands that you would faithfully and conscionably endeavor the receiving every truth and obeying every command which I should from the Word of God manifest to you I now charge your promise upon you I never delivered to you a more apparent Truth nor prest upon you a more apparent duty then this If I knew you would not obey what should I do here preaching Not that I desire you to receive it chiefly as from me but as from Christ on whose Message I come Me thinks if a childe should shew you Scripture and speak to you the Word of God you should not dare to disobey it Do not wonder that I perswade you so earnestly though
of knowing right evidences to try by so much as for want of skil and diligence in using them so have I seldom known a Christian that wants the joyes of this heavenly Life for want of being told the means to get it but for want of a heart to set upon the work and painfully to use the means they are directed to It is the field of the slothful that is overgrown with weeds Pro. 24.30 31 32 33 34. And the desires of the slothful killeth his Joyes because his hands refuse to labor Prov. 21.25 whiles he lyes wishing his soul lyes starving He saith There is a Lyon there 's difficulty in the way and turneth himself on the bed of his ease as a nor turneth on the hinges he bideth his hand in his bosome and it grâ—â—veth him to bring it to his 〈◊〉 though it be â—o feed himself with the food of life Prov. 26â— 13 14 15 16. what 's this bâ—â— espising the feast prepared and setting light by the dearâ—bough pleasures and consequently by the pretious blood that bough them and throwing away our own consolations For the Sâ—rit hath told us That he also that is slothful in his work is broâ—â—â—r to him that is a great waster Prov. 18.9 Apply this to thâ— spiritual Work and study well the meaning of it SECT VII 7. IT s alo a dangerous and secret hinderance to content our selâ—es with the meer preparatives to this heavenly Life while we are â—tter strangers to the life it self when we take up with the meer studies of heavenly things and the notions and thoughts of theâ— in our brain or the talking of them with one another as if this were all that makes us heavenly people Ther 's none in more danger of this snare then those that are much in publike duty especially Preachers of the Gospel O how easily may they be deceived here while they do nothing more then read of heaven and study of heaven and preach of heaven and pray and talk of heaven what is not this the heavenly Life O that God would reveal to our hearts the danger of this snare Alas all this is but meer preparation This is not the life we speak of but it s indeed a necessary help thereto I intreat every one of my Brethren in the Ministry that they search and watch against this Temptation Alas this is but gathering the materials and not the erecting of the building it self this is but gathering our Manna for others and not eating and digesting our selves as he that sits at home may study Geography and draw most exact descriptions of Countreys and yet never see them nor travel toward them so may you describe to others the joyes of heaven and yet never come neer it in your own hearts as a man may tell others of the sweetness of meat which he never tasted or as a blinde man by learning may dispute of light and of colours so may you study and preach most heavenly matter which yâ—â— never sweetned your own spirits and set forth to others that heavenly Light wherewith your own souls were never illightened and bring that fire for the hearts of your people that never once warmed your own hearts If you should study of nothing but heaven while you lived and preach of nothing but heaven to your people yet might your own hearts be strangers to it What heavenly passages had Balaam in his Prophesies yet little of it its like in his spirit Nay we are under a more subtil temptation then any other men to draw us from this heavenly life If our imployments did lye at a greater distant from heaven and did take up our thoughts upon worldly things we should not be so apt to be so contented and deluded but when we finde our selves imployed upon nothing else we are easier drawn to take up here Studying and preaching of heaven is likes to an heavenly Life then thinking and talking of the world is and the likeness is it that is like to deceive us This is to dye the most miserable death even to famish our selves because we have bread on our tables which is worse then to famish when we cannot get it and to die for thirst while we draw water for others thinking it enough that we have daily to do with it though we never drink it to our souls refreshing All that I will say to you more of this shall be in the words of my godly and â—udicious friend Mr. George Aâ—â—ot which I will transcribe lest you have not the Book at hand in his Vindiciae Sabathi pag. 147 148 149. And here let me in a holy Jealousâ—e annex an Exhortation to some of the Ministers of this Land for blessed be God it needs not to all that they would carefully provide and look that they do not build the Tabernacle on the Lords Day I mean that they rest not in the Opus operatum of their holy imployments and busying themselves about the carnall part of holy things in putting off the studying of their Sermons or getting them by heart except it be to work them upon the heart and not barely commit them to memory till that day and so though they take care to build the Tabernacle of Gods Church yet they in the mean time neglect the Temple of their own hearts in serving God in the Spirit and not in the Letter or outward performance onely But it were well if they would gather and prepare their Manna seeth it and bake it the day before that when the Sabbath came they might have nothing to do but to chew and concoct it into their own spirits and so spiritually in the experience of their own hearts not heads dish it out to their hearers which would be a happy means to make them see better fruit of their labors for commonly that which is not â—oâ—ally delivered is notionally received and that which is spiritually and powerfully delivered in the evidence of the Spirit is spiritually and savingly received for spirit begets spirit as fire begets fire c. It is an easie thing to take great pains in the outward part or performance of holy things which oft proves a snare causing the neglect of the spirit of the inner man for many are great laborers in the Work of the Lord that are starvelings in the Spirit of the Lord satisfying themselves in a Popish peace of conscience in the deed doing in stead of Joy in the Holy Ghost bringing indeed meat to their Guests but through haste or laziness eating none themselves or like Taylors make cloathes for other men to weare so they never assaying their own points how they 〈…〉 may suit with their own spirits but think it is their duty to â—each and other mens duty to do So far the Author CHAP. V. Some general helps to a Heavenly Life SECT I. HAving thus shewed thee the blocks in thy way and told thee what hinderances will resist thee in the Work I
abuse their bodies and neglect their health did wrong the flesh onely the matter were small but they wrong the soul also As he that spoils the house doth wrong the inhabitant When the body is sick and the spirits do languish how heavily move we in these Meditations and Joyes Yet where God denieth this mercy we may the better bear it because he oft occasioneth our benefit by the denial CHAP. VI. Containing the Description of the great Duty of Heavenly Contemplation SECT I. THough I hope what is already spoken be not unuseful and that it will not by the Reader be cast aside yet I must tell you that the main thing intended is yet behinde and that which I aimed at when I set upon this Work I have observed the Maxime that my principal end be last in execution though it was first in my intention All that I have said is but for the preparation to this The Doctrinal part is but to instruct you for this the rest of the Uses are but introductions to this The Motives I have laid down are but to make you willing for this The Hinderances I mentioned were but so many blocks in the way to this The general Helps which I last delivered are but the necessary Attendants of this So that Reader If thou neglect this that follows thou dost frustrate the main end of my design and makest me lose as to thee the chief of my labor I once more intreat thee therefore as thou art a man that makest conscience of a revealed duty and that darest not wilfully resist the Spirit as thou valuest the high delights of a Saint and the soul ravishing exercise of heavenly Contemplation as all my former moving Considerations seem reasonable to thee and as thou art faithful to the peace and prosperity of thine own soul that thou diligently study these Directions following and that thou speedily and faithfully put them into practice Practice is the end of all sound Doctrine and all right Faith doth end in duty I pray thee therefore rosolve before thou readest any further and 〈…〉 here as before the Lord that if the following Advice be wholsome to thy soul thou wilt conscionably follow it and seriously set thy self to the Work and that no laziness of spirit shall take thee off nor lesser business interrupt thy course but that thou wilt approve thy self a Doer of this Word and not an idle hearer onely Is this thy promise and wilt thou stand to it Resolve man and then I shall be encouraged to give thee my Advice if I spread not before thee a delicious feast if I set thee not upon as gainful a trade and put not into thy hand as delightful an imployment as ever thou dealt'st with in all thy life then cast it away and tell me I have deceived thee onely try it throughly and then judg I say again if in the faithful following of this prescribed course thou dost not finde an increase of all thy graces and dost not grow beyond the stature of common Christians and art not made more serviceable in thy place and more pretious in the eyes of all that are discerning if thy soul enjoy not more fellowship with God and thy life be not fuller of pleasure and solace and thou have not comfort readier by thee at a dying hour when thou hast greatest need then throw these Directions back in my face and exclaim against me as a deceiver for ever Except God should leave thee uncomfortable for a little season for the more glorious manifestation of his Attributes and thy integrity and single thee out as he did Job for an example and mirror of constancy and patience which would be but a preparative for thy fuller comfort Certainly God will not forsake this his own Ordinance thus conscionably performed but will be found of those that thus diligently seek him God hath as it were appointed to meet thee in this way Do not thou fail to give him the meeting and thou shalt finde by experience that he will not fail SECT II. THe duty which I press upon thee so earnestly I shall now deâ—scribe and open to thee for I suppose by this time thou art ready to enquire What is this so highly extolled work Why it is The set and solemn acting of all the powers of thy soul upon this most perfect object Rest by Meditation I will a little more fully explain the meaning of this description that so the duty may lye plaine before thee 1. The general title that I give to this duty is Meditation Not as it is precisely distinguished from Cogitation Consideration and Contemplation but as it is taken in the larger and usual sense for Cogitation on things spiritual and so comprehending consideration and contemplation That Meditation is a duty of Gods ordaining not only in his written Law but also in nature it self I never met with the man that would deny But that it is a duty constantly and conscionably practised even by the godly so far as my acquaintance extends I must with sorrow deny it It is in word confessed to be a Duty by all but by the constant neglect denyed by most And I know not by what fatal customary security it comes to passe that men that are very tender conscienc't towards most other duties yet do as easily overslip this as if they knew it not to be a duty at all They that are presently troubled in minde if they omit but a Sermon a Fast a Prayer in publique or private yet were never troubled that they have omitted Meditation perhaps all their life time to this very day Though it be that duty by which all other duties are improved and by which the soul digesteth Truths and draweth forth their strength for its nourishment and refreshing Certainly I think that as a man is but half an hour in chewing and taking into his stomack that meat which he must have seven or eight hours at least to digest so a man may take into his understanding and memory more Truth in one hour then he is able well to digest in many A man may eat too much but he cannot digest too well Therefore God commandeth Joshua That the book of the Law depart not out of his mouth but that he Meditate therein day and night that he may observe to do according to that which is written therein Josh. 1.8 As Digestion is the turning of the raw food into chyle and blood and spirits and flesh So Meditation rightly mannaged turneth the Truths received and remembred into warm affection raised resolution and holy and upright conversation Therefore what good those men are like to get by Sermons or providences who are unacquainted with and unaccustomed to this work of Meditation you may easily judge And why so much preaching is lost among us and professors can run from Sermon to Sermon and are never weary of hearing or reading and yet have such languishing starved souls I know