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(
■fe rv V ^ c
-^.-
THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
OP
THE REV. RICHARD BAXTER:
WITH
A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,
AND
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF HIS WRITINGS,
Br THE
REV. WILLIAM ORME,
AVTUOn OP "the LIfE OP JOHN OWEN, D.D. ; " *' BIBLIOTUECA BIBLICA," ETC
IN TWENTY-THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. XIII.
LONDON:
JAMES DUNCAN, 37, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCXXX.
LONDON :
PRINTED BY MILLS, JOWBTT, AND MILLS,
BOLT-COURT, FLEET-STREET.
THE
PRACTICAL WORKS
OF THE
REV. RICHARD BAXTER.
VOLUME XIII.
CONTAI1CINO
THE DIVINE LIFE ; THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT OF THE LORD'S-
DAY, PROVED; REDEMPTION OF TIME; PREFACE TO
MR. ALLEINE'S ALARM TO THE UNCONVERTED.
VOL. Xlil.
mCtlARD EDWARDS, CRANE COURT, FLEET 9TREKT, lONDON.
CONTENTS
OP
THE THIRTEENTH VOLUME.
THE DIVINE LIFE.
PART I.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
PAGE
Epistlb Dedicatory «...•• ill
To the Reader • vii
CHAPTER I.
The text explained : The doctrine. The knowledge of the
only true God and of Jesus Christ the Mediator, is the
life of grace, and the necessary way to the life of glory.
What is contained in the knowledge of Grod, as to the
act : what as to the object. A short scheme of the
Divine properties and attributes to be known 10
CHAPTER II.
Of the knowledge of God's being, and the necessary effects
of it on the heart* •• ......••••• •• 22
CHAPTER III.
Of the knowledge of Grod's unity and indivisibility, and its
necessary effects 24
CHAPTER IV.
Of the knowledge of God's immensity, and so of his in-
comprehensibleness, omnipresence, and tlie eSeels. . • . %^
▼OL. XIIJ, b
iv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V. PAGE
Of the knowledge of God's eternity, and its due eflFects. A
believer referring all things to eternity, honoureth his
very horse, or dog, or smallest mercy, more than unbe-
lievers honour their king, their lives, their souls, regard-
ing them but for transitory ends. Unbelievers denying
the end, destroy morally all souls, all mercies, all Divine
revelations, all God*s ordinances, all graces^ and duties,
and the whole creation 35
CHAPTER VI.
The knowledge of God as he is a spirit and incorporeal 3 and
consequently, 1. As he is simple or uncompounded. ^.
Invisible, &c. 3. Immortal, incorruptible, immutable :
The uses of God's simplicity : The uses of his invisibility :
The uses of his immortality and immutability 50
CHAPTER VII.
Of the knowledge of God*s almightiness, and of its due
effects 56
CHAPTER VIII.
Of the knowledge of God's omniscience or infinite wisdom ^
with the due effects • . 63
CHAPTER IX.
Of the knowledge of God's infinite goodness, and love 3 and
of the due impre^^n of it on the sottl • 71
^CHAPTER X.
Of the knowledge of God as the first cause, creator and pre-
server of all things. All things are for God, as the ulti- ■
mate end j manifested. How his will is still fulfilled.
Whether he will de eventu that all obey him ? God wjT-
leth not sin. Differences ended about. Whether he
decree not or will not ut evenit peccatum 9 Whether he
will de eventu that sin shall not come to pass, when it
doth ? All Gx)d's works good : none to he dishonoured :
no not ourselves, our reason and freewill, as natural and
of God J though as vitiated by us and ill-disposed, we
must accuse it 81
CONTENTS. V
CHAPTER XI. PAGE
Of the knowledge of God as our redeemer. Infants not in a
state of innocency^ but of original sin : fully proved :
the great ends of redemption enumerated : the efifects it
must have upon the soul ' 19
CHAPTER XII.
The knowledge of God the Holy Ghost as our sanctifier and
comforter : a further proof of original sin. Twenty
considerations by way of queries, to convince them that
deny or extenuate the sanctifying works of the Holy
Ghost, ascribing them to nature and themselves 105
CHAPTER XIII.
Of the knowledge of God as the absolute owner, proprietary
or Lord of all : of his Jus Dominii grounded on his crear
tion and redemption -, and the uses 114
CHAPTER XIV,
Of the knowledge of God as our sovereign governor or king :
his Jus Imperii : the grounds : the exercise : the uses
and effects 120
CHAPTER XV.
Of the knowledge of God as our most bountiful benefactor,
or most loving father. The benefits founding this rela-
tion: 1. Common: 2. Special to his chosen ones. The
necessary effects 129
CHAPTER XVI.
Of the freedom of God .'. 135
CHAPTER XVII.
Of the justice of God : what it is : the effects 136
CHAPTER XVIII.
Of the knowledge of God's holiness . wh^it it is : the neces-
sary effects , * . . 187
J
CHAPTER XIX.
Of God's veracity, or truth and faithfulness. The uses. The
Dominicans' doctrine of physical, efficient, immediate
predetermination, at once obliterateth all Divine faith,
by denying the veracity of God, which is its formal ob-
ject. Lying and peijury abominable 142
yi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XX. PAGE
Of the knowledge of God's mercifulness (including his pa-
tience and long-suffering)^ and the necessary uses and
effects 148
CHAPTER XXI.
Of the knowledge of God*s dreadfulness or terribleness : and
the necessary uses and effects 151
PART II.
WALKING WITH GOD.
CHAPTER I.
The text explained : what it is to walk with God : what it
containeth both for matter and manner 1 55
CHAPTER 11.
The first use : a lamentation of the practical atheism of the
world. Motives to change your inordinate creature-
converse into converse with God. How much sinners
have to do with Grod, more than with all the world be-
sides^ shewed in fourteen instanced 180
CHAPTER III.
An answer to them that think Grod doth us good by necessity
of nature^ as the sun doth illuminate and warm us 5 and
therefore though he have much to do for us^ yet much
is not required from us towards him. And to them that
think he is above our converse^ and unsuitable to us.
Ten queries to evince the necessity of our own holy dili-
gence in godliness : especially of exercising our thoughts
upon God. Ten mischiefs that befal them who have not
God in all their thoughts • 199
CHAPTER IV.
Practical atheism further detected. An answer to them that
think it unfit for ig£brsuitmen^ or poor men to think so
much of Grod^ and that it will make men melancholy and
mad. Ten propositions shewing how far it is our duty
to think of God -, by way of explication • 214
CONTENTS. vii
CHAPTER V; paok
An answer to them that say^ Grod regardeth not thoughts but
deeds. Twelve evidences of the r^ardableness of our
thoughts 2^
CHAPTER VI.
The application to the Grodly. The benefits of walking with
God. I. It is suitable to human nature. How it is
natural. No middle life between the sensual and the
holy. Of them that delight in knowledge and moral
virtue. Nature in its first constitution was not only in-
nocent but holy : proved. II. To walk with God is the
highest and noblest life. III. It is the only course to
prove and make men truly wise. Proved by ten eviden-
ces. IV. It maketh men good as well as wise> and ad*
vanceth to the greatest holiness and rectitude. Proved
by five evidences. V. It is the best preparation for suf-
ferings and deaths shewed by seven advantages^ to that
end 229
CHAPTER VII,
Five special obligations on true believers to walk with God^
and to avoid inordinate creature-converse • • • • 260
PART III.
THE CHRISTIANS CONVERSE WITH GOD.
The context opened 284
Why Christ \vas forsaken by his disciples • 285
Use 1 . Expect by the forsaking of your fpends to be con-
formed unto Christ. Reasons for your expectation • • • • 288
The aggravations of their forsaking you 299
Some quieting considerations 3()0
The order of forms in the school of Christ 307
The disciples scattered every man to his own 309
Selfishness contrary to friendly fidelity 310
Considerations to quiet us in the death of futhful friends • • 311 .
Whether we shall know them in heaven 316
Whether creatures be any matter of our comfort in heaven. . 317
Quest. Shall I have any more comfort in present friends than
in others > ^\^
viii CONTENTS.
PAGE
Doct, S. When all forsake us, and leave us (as to them)
alone, we are far from being simply alone, because Crod
is with us 320
The advantages of having Grod with us ibid.
Quest. How he is with us 351
Use 1. Imitate Christ: live upon God alone 3 though men
forsake you, yet thrust not yourselves into solitude un-
called 326
In what cases solitude is lawful and good 327
Reasons against unnecessary solitude ••••«••••••••••••• ibid.
The comfort of converse with God in necessary solitude.
The benefits of solitude. The reasons from God, im-
proved largely in some meditations • • • • 335
Directions for conversing with God in solitude 353
Concluded in further meditation # 358
A caution «•••••.•..... 361
THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT OF THE
LORD'S- DAY PROVED.
Phbfacb ^ ccclxiii
CHAPTER I.
The question stated 369
CHAPTER II.
Proposition 1. That Christ commissioned his aposties, or his
principal church-ministers, to teach the churches all his
doctrine, and deliver them all his commands and orders,
and so to settle and guide the first churches 37 1
CHAPTER IIL
Proposition 2. Christ proBoised his Spirit to his apostles, to
enable them to do, what he had commissioned them to
do, by leading them into all truth, and bringing his words
and deeds to their remembrance^ .and by guiding them as
his churches* guides 374
CONTENTS. ix
CHAPTER IV. PAGE
Proposition 3. Christ performed all these promises to his
apostles^ and gave them his Spirit to enable them for all
their commissioned work 375
CHAPTER V.
Proposition 4. The apostles did actually separate and appoint
the first day of (he week for holy worship, especially in
church-assemblies 376
CHAPTER VI.
Proposition 5. This act of the apostles' appointing the
liord's-day for Christian worship, was done by the special
inspiration or guidance of the Holy Ghost 414
CHAPTER VII.
Quest. 2. Whether J;he Seventh -day-sabbath should be still
kept by Christians, as of Divine obligation ? Ne^. • • • • 415
CHAPTER VIII.
Of the beginning of the day • • • • • 428
Quest. 1. When doth the Lord's-day begin? • ibid.
CHAPTER IX.
Quest. 2. How should the Lord*s-day be kept or. used > • • • • 429
CHAPTER X.
How the Lord's-day should not be spent : or what is unlaw-
ful on it • 438
CHAPTER XL
Wliat things should not be scrupled as unlawful on the
Lord's-day 452
CHAPTER XIL
Of what inportanoe the due observatioB of the Lord's-day is 458
CHAPTER XIII.
What other church^festivals or separated days are lawful ? . . 463
X CONTENTS.
APPENDIX
FOR FURTHER CONFIRMATION OF THE LORDS-DAY.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
An answer to certain objections against the Lord's-day • • • • 46T
CHAPTER II.
An answer to more arguments for the Seventh-day-sabbath 482
CHAPTER III.
Whether the Seventh-day-sabbath be part of the law of
nature, or only a positive law ? • 496
CHAPTER IV.
Whether every word in the decalogue be of the law of
nature, and of perpetual obligation } And whether all
that was of the law of nature, was in the decalogue ? . . 504
CHAPTER V.
Whether the truest antiquity be for the S6venth-day-6abbath,
as kept by thie chiurches of Christ } ^ . • . 508
Postscript 512
REDEMPTION OF TIME.
Address to the sensual gentry 517
PREFACE TO MR. ALLEINE'S ALARM.
To all the ignorant, carnal, and ungodly, who are lovers of
pleasure more than God, and seek this world more than
the life everlasting, and live after the flesh, and not after
the Spirit 535
THE
DIVINE LIFE
IN
THREE TREATISES.
THE FIRST. OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
THE SECOND, OF WALKING WITH GOD.
THE THIRD, OF CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE.
VOL« Xlll
TO THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE AND EXEMPLARY
LADY ANNE,
COUNTESS OF BALCARRES.
Madam^
In hope of tke fuller pardon of my delay« I now present you
with two otherTreatises besides the Sermon (enlarged), which
at your desire I preached at your departure hence. I knew of
many and great afflictions, which you had undergone in the
removal of your dearest friends, which made this subject
seem so suitable and seasonable to you at that time : but I
knew not that God was about to moke so great an addition
to your trials in the same kind, by taking to himself the
principal branch of your noble family (by a rare disease,
the emblem of the mortal malady now reigning)."*^ I hope
this loss also shall promote your gain, by keeping you
nearer to your heavenly Lord, who is so jealous of your af-
fections, and resolved to have them entirely to himself: and
then you will still find, that you are not alone, nor deprived
of your dearest or most necessary friend, while the Father,
the Son, the sanctifying and comforting Spirit is with you.
And it should not be hard to reconcile us to the disposals
of so sure aFriend. Nothing but good can come from God ;
however the blind may miscal it, who know no good or
e?il, but what is measured by the private standard of their
selfish interest, and that as judged of by sense. Eternal
Love engaged by covenant to make us happy, will do no-
dung but what we shall find at last, will terminate in that
blessed end. He envied you not your son, as too good for
jou, or too great a mercy, who hath given you his own Son,
a&d with him the mercy of eternal life. Corporal sufferings
with spiritual blessings are the ordinary lot of believers
liere on earth : as corporal prosperity with spiritual calapiit^
is the lot of the ungodly. And I beseech you consider,
that God knoweth better than you or I, what an ocean your
* Charles, Earl of Balcarrei, who died of a stone in bit heart, of a very grM|t
■ifBitiide*
IV EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
son was ready to launch out into, and how tempestuous and
terrible it might have proved, and whether the world that
he is saved from, would have afforded him more of safety
or seduction, of comfort or calamity? Whether the pro-
traction of the life of your noble husband, to ha vie seen our
sins and their effects and consequents, would have afforded
him greater joy or sorrow? Undoubtedly as God had a
better title to yout husband and children, and friends than
you had, so it is much better to be with him, than to be
with you, or with the best or greatest upon earth* The
heavenly inhabitants fear not out feats, and feel not our af-
flictions. They are past our dangers, and out of the reach
of all our enemies, and delivered from our pains and cares,
and have the full possession of all those mercies which we
pray and labour for. Can you think your children and
friends that are with Christ, are not safer and better than
those that yet remain with you ? Do you think that earth
is better than heaven for yourself? I take it for granted
you cannot think so, and will not say so : and if it be worse
for you, it is worse for them. The Providence, which by
hastening their glorification, doth promote your sanctifica-
tion ; which helpeth them to the end, and helpeth you in
the way, must needs be good to them and you, however it
appear to flesh and unbelief. O madam« when our Lord
hath shewed us (as he will shortly do) what a state it is to
which he bringeth the spirits of the just, and how he doth
there entertain and use them, we shall then be more com-
petent judges of all those acts of Providence, to which we
are now so hardly reconciled ! Then we shall censure our
censurings of these works of God, and be offended with
our offences at them, and call ourselves blind, unthankful
sinners, for calling them so bad as we did in our misjudging
unbelief and passion. We shall not wish ourselves or friends
again on earth, among temptations and pains, and among
uncharitable men, malicious enemies, deceitful flatterers,
and untrusty friends ! ' When we see that face which we
long to see, and know the things which we long to feel, and
are full of the joys which now we can scarce attain a taste
of, and have reached the end which now we seek, and for
which we suffer, we shall no more take it for a judgment to
be taken from ungodly men, and from a world of sin, and
fear, and sorrow ; nor shall we envy the wicked, nor ever
EPISTLE DEDICATORY. V
desire to be partakers of their pleasures. Till then» let us
congratulate our departed friends the felicity which they
have attained* and which we desire ; and let us rejoice wilJ^
them that rejoice with Christ* and let us prefer the least
believing thought of the everlasting joys* before all the de-
filed transitory pleasures of the deluded* dreaming* miser-
able world. And let us prefer such converse as we can
here attain* with Ood in Christ* and with the heavenly so-
ciety* before all the pomp and friendship of the world. We
have no friend that is so able to supply all our wants* so
sufficient to content us* so ready to relieve us* so willing to
entertain us* so unwearied in hearing us* and conversing
with us* as our blessed Lord. This is a Friend that will
never prove untrusty ; nor be changed by any change of in-
terest* opinion* or fortune ; nor give us cause to suspect his
love : a Friend that we are sure will not forsake us* nor turn
our enemy* nor abuse us for his own advantage* nor will
ever die or be separated from us* but we shall be always
with him* and see his glory* and be filled and transported
with his love* and sing his praise to all eternity. With
whom then should we so delightfully converse on earth ?
And till we can reach that sweet* delightful converse*
whom should we seek with more ambition* or observe with
greater devotedness and respect ? O that we were less car-
nal and more spiritual* and lived less by sense* and more by
faith ; that we knew better the difference between Ood and
man* between visible temporals* and invisible eternals ! We
should then have other thoughts and desires* and resolu-
tions* and converse^ and employments* and pleasures* than
too many have!
Madam» itdispleaseth me that it is no more elaborate a
Treatise* to which the present opportunity inviteth me to
prefix your name ; but your own desire of the third* must
be my excuse for all : But pardon the manner* and I dare
eommehdthe matter to you* as more worthy your serious
contemplation* and your daily most delightfnl practice*
dian any other that was ever proposed unto mortal man*
This is the manlike noble life : the life which the rational
loul was made for : to which* if our faculties be not by
ttnctifying grace restored* they fall below their proper
fignity and use* and are worse than lost* like a prince ox
leimed man that is employed only in sweeping dog-Ve\iTve\%»
VI CPISTLE DBDICATORY.
or tending swine. To walk in holiness with the Most Holy
God, is the improvement and advancement of the nature of
man, towards its designed equality with angels. When
earthlinesd and sensuality degrade humanity into (a volun-
tary, and therefore sinful) brutishness: this is the life
which afFordeth the soul a solid and durable pleasure and
content : when carnal minds evaporate into air, and bubble
into froth and vanity, wasted in a dream, and the violent,
blisy pursuit of a shadow; deceiving themselves with a
mixture of some counterfeit religion ; playing with God, and
working for the world ; living in jest, and dyings and des-
pairing, and suffering in earnest; with unwearied labour
building on the sand, and sinking at death for want of a
foundation ; hating the serious practice of their own pro-
fessed religion, because it is not the profession, but the
serious practice which hath the greatest enmity to their
Sensual delights ; yet wishing to be numbered with those
hereafter, whom they hated here. This holy Walking with
the Most Holy God, is the only life which is best at last,
and sweet in the review ; which the godly live in, and most
of the ungodly could wish to die in ; like him that wished
to be Ceesar in life, and Socrated at death : Yea, this is the
life which hath no end ; which we are hefe but learning,
and beginning to practise, and which we must hereafter live
(in another manner and degree) with God for ever. O won-
drous mercy ! which thus i^junobleth even the state of mor-
tality ! and honoureth earth with so much participation of,
and communion with Heav6ii ! That by God> and with God,
we may walk in holy peace and safety unto God, imd there
be blessed in his perfect sight and love for ever ! Madam,
the greatest service I can do you for all your favours, is to
pray that God will more acquaint you with himself, and
lead you by this blessed way to that more blessed end ; that
when you see all worldly glory in the dust, you may bless
him for ever, who tau^t you to make a wiser dioice:
Which are the prayers of
Madam,
< Your very much obliged Servant,
RICHARD BAXTER.
Dec. 24, I66f.
TO THE READER.
Reader,
TfiB embryo of this book was but one Sermon^ preached a
Utile before the ending of my public ministiy, upon the
(bext of the third Treatise, (upon the occasioa intimated ifi
the Epistle to that truly Honoiuable Lady). Beijag obliged
to commnnioate the Notes, and unavoidably guilty of aoflne
deii^s, I made a compensation by enlargement ; and (hav-
ing reasons for the publication of them, with which I shaH
not .tcouble you,) to make them more suitable to the de-
signed end, I prefixed the two former Treatises : The first
I had preached to my ancient flock : of the second I had
preached but one sermon. If many of the materials in the
second be the same as in the first, you must understand that
my design required that it should be so : they being the
same attributes of God, which the first part endeavoureth
to imprint upon the mind ; and which the second and third
endeavour to improve into a constant course of holy affec-
tion and conversation. As it is the same food which the
first concoction chylifieth, which the perfecting concoctions
do veork over again, and turn into blood, and spirits, and
flesh : so far am I in such points from gratifying thy sickly
desire of variety, and avoiding the displeasing of thee by
the rehearsals of the same, that it is my very business with
thee to persuade thee, to live continually upon these same I /
attributes and relations of God, as upon thy daily air and | f
bread ; and to forsake that lean, T^nSiuming company, l^b
feed"oii the shells of hard and barren controversies, or on the
froth of compliments and affected shows, and run after
novelty instead of substantial solid nutriment : And to tell
thee, that the primitive, pure, simple Christianity^ consisted
in the daily serious use of the great materials of the Creeds
Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments, con\xwsAfli^im ^^^
VIU TO THE. READER.
words of our baptismal covenant. Do thus, and thou wilt
be like those examples of the succeeding church, in up-
rightness, purity, simplicity, charity, peaceableness, and
holy communion with God, when the pretended subtleties
and sublimities of wanton, uncharitable, contentious wits,
will serve but to strangle or delude their souls. I have
purposely been very brief on the several attributes and rela-
tions of Ood, in the first Treatise, because the copious
handling of them would have made a very great volume pf
itself, and because it is my great design in that first part, to
give you a sight of all God's attributes and relations con-
junct, shA in their order; that looking on them, not one by
one, but all together in their proper places, the whole
image of God, may by them, b& rightly imprinted on your
minds ; the method being the first thing, and the necessary
impressions on the soul the second, which I there desire
you to observe and employ your minds about, if you desire
to profit, and receive what I intend you.
R. B.
Dec. 94, 1663.
il\ ^
THE DIVINE LIFE
PART I.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
AMD
THE IMPRESSION WHICH IT MUSTf MAKE UPON THE HEART ; AND
rrs NECESSARY EFFECTS UPON OUR LIVES.
JOHN xvH. 3.
And this is life eternal, that they miglU know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,
CHAPTER I.
God is the Principal Efficient^theSupreme Directive^and the
Ultimate Final Cause of Man: '' For of him»and throuoh
him, and to him, are all things, and to him shall he the
glory for ever." (Rom. xi. 36.) The new life, or nature in the
saints is his image. (CoL iii. 10.) The principle of it is called
the Divine Nature. (2 Pet. 1. 4.) The exercise of that prin-
ciple (including the principle itself) is called the Life of
God, (Ephes. iv. 18,) from which the Gentiles are said to be
alienated by their ignorance. Therefore it is called Holiness,
which is a separation to God from common use; and
" 6od*s dwelling in us," and " ours in him ;" (1 John iv.
12, 13 ;) of whom we are said to be born and regenerate.
(1 John iv. 7 ; John iii. 5.) And our perfection in glory, is
our living with God, and enjoying him for ever. GODLI-
NESS then is the comprehensive name of all true religion.
Jesus Christ himself came but to restore corrupted man to
the love, and obedience, and fruition of his Creator, and at
10 THE DIVINE LIFE.
last will '* give up the kingdom to the Father, that God may
be all, and in all ; and the Son himself shall be subject to
this end/* (1 Cor. xv. 24. 28.) The end of Christ's sacrifice
. and intercession is to reconcile God and man. The end of
I his doctrine is to teach us to know God* The end of his
I I government is to reduce us to the perfect obedience of our
Maker. It is therefore the greatest duty of a Christian to
know God as revealed by his Son ; and it is such a duty
about our ultimate end as i^ also our greatest mercy and fe-
licity. Therefore doth the Lord Jesus here in the text des-
cribe that life eternal which he was to give to those whom
the Father had given him, to consist in *' knowing the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom he had sent.'' My pur-
pose is in this treatise to speak only of the first part of the
teirt, ' The knowledge of God/ And first I sltaU rtxj jbriefly
explain the text.
THIS — That is. This which I am describing.
LIFE — Life is taken sometimes for the soul's abode in
the body, which is the natural life of man : or the soul's con-
tinuation in its separated state, which is the natural life of
the soul : and sometimes for the perfections of natural life.
And that either its natural perfecdon^ that is, its health and
vivacity ; or its moral perfection or rectitude ; and that is
either in the cause, and so God is our life, Christ is our life,
the Holy Spirit is our life ; or in itself; and so holiness is
our life in the principle, seed or habit. Sometimes life is
teJ^en >f or the work, employment and exercise of life ; and so
a holy oonvecsaition, is our moral, spiritual or holy life. .And
Bometimes it is tdcen for the felioity^ of the living : and 6o
it containeth all the former in their highest perfection, that
is, both natural life, and moral spiritual life, andihe holy
exercise thereof, together with the full attainment and £mi-
tion of God in glory, the End of all.
ETERNAL — That is, simply eternal, objectively^ as to
God the principal object : and Eternal ^ ex parte post,' eub- ^
jectively ; that is. Everlasting. ^^
THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL--Not natural life in itself H
considered, as the devils and wicked men ehall have<it. But \
1. It is the same moral spiritual life which shall have no end, \^
but endure to eternity* It is a living to God in love ; hut ^
only initial, and very imperfect here, in comparison of what %
it mli be in heaven. 2. It is the eternal felicity, (1.) Se- '^i
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 11
minally ; for grace is as it were the seed of glory* (3*) As
it is the necessary way or means of attaining it ; and that
preparation which infallibly procureth it. The perfect ho-
liness of the saints in heaven, will be one part of their per-
fect happiness : and this holiness imperfect they have here
in Uiis life. It is the samfe God that we know and love, here
and there ; and with a knowledge and love that is of the
same nature seminally : as the 6gg is of the nature of the
bird. (Whether it may be properly said to be formally and
specifically the same ' quoad actum/ as well as ' quoad ob-
jectum ;' yea, whether the ' objectom clare visum/ and the
' objectum in speculo rel eenigmate visum/ make not the act
specifically differ, I shall not trouble you to dispute.) And
this imperfect holiness hath the promise of perfect holiness
and happiness in the full fruition of God hereafter. So it
is the seed, and prognostic of life eternal.
TO KNOW-^ Non semper et ubique eodem modo vel
gradu / Not to know God bete and hereafter in the same .
manner or degree. But ix> know him here as in a glass, and |/|
hereafter in his glory, as face to face. To know him by an
affi^tive, practical knowledge : there is no text of Scripture
of which t&e rlile is more clearly true and necessary than of
this, that words of knowledge do imply affection. It is the \
elosute of the whole soul with God, whic^ is here called the \
knowing of God. And beca'use it is not meet to name ev'ery
partidulitr act of the s6uU whenever this duty is mentioned,
it is all denominated fioin knowledge, as die first act, which
infenreth all the rest* 1. Ka€)wledge of Qod inthejbabit, is M
spiritual life, a» a priaoiple. 2. Knowledge of God in the
exercise, is spiritual iifeJIlS "an employmfjBnt. 3. Theknow-
leclge^ God ih p€irfection,'with m eSec^", is life eternal, as
it signifieth fall felicity. What it containeth, I shall further
sbdw anon.
THBE^Tbat is, the Falher, called by some divines,
* Fobs vel fandaittentum Trinitatis :' The fountain, or foun-
dation of the Trinity : and oft used in the same sense as the
word God, to signify the pure Deity.
THE ONLY— He that believeth that there is more gods
than oncj bdieveth not m any. For though he may give
maxq^ ibe name, yet ib^ desmption of the true God can
agree to none of them. He is not God indeed, if he be iicA
one only.
12 THE DIVINE LIFE.
This doth not at all exclude Jesus Christ, as the second
person in Trinity ; but only distinguisheth the pure Deity,
or the only true God^ as such, from Jesus Christ, as Media-
tor between God and man*
TRUE — ^There are many that falsely and metaphorically
are called gods. If we think of God but as one of these, it
is not to know him, but deny him.
GOD — The word God doth not only signify the Divine
perfections in himself but also his relation to the creatures.
To be a God to us, is to be one to whom we must ascribe all
that we are or have ; and one whom we must love, and obey,
and honour, with all the powers of soul and body : and one
on whom we totally depend, and from whom we expect our
judgment and reward, in whom alone we can be perfectly
blessed.
AND JESUS CHRIST— That is, as Mediator, in his na-
tures (God and man), and in his office and grace.
WHOM THOU HAST SENT— That is, whom thy love
and wisdom designed and commissioned to this undertaking
and performance.
The knowledge of the Holy Ghost seemeth here left out,
as if it were no part of life eternal. But I. At that time the
Holy Ghost in that eminent sort, as sent by the Father and
Son on the apostles, after the resurrection and ascension of
Christ, was not yet so manifested as afterwards, 'and4kere-
fore not so necessarily to be distinctly known and believed
in as after. The having of the Spirit being of more necessity
than the distinct knowledge of him. Certain it is that the
disciples were at first very dark in this article of faith: and
Scripture more fully revealeth the necessity to salvation of
believing in the Father and Son; than in the Holy Ghost dis-
tinctly ; yet telling us, that "if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, the same is none qf his.'' (Rom. viii. 9.) 2. But
presently after, when the Spirit was to be sent, the necessity
of believing in him is expressed ; especially in the apostle's
commission to baptize all nations (that were made disciples)
in " the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.*'
Doct. 'The knowledge .of the only true God, and of ]
Jesus Christ the Mediator, is the life of grace, and the ne-
cessary way to the life of glory.*
TH£ KN0WLE1>0E OF GOD. 13
As James distinguisheth between such a dead faith as
devils and wicked men had, and such a living and working
faith as was proper to the justified ; so must we here of the
knowledge of God. "Many profess that they know God^
but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobe-
dient, and to every good work reprobate." (^^^^^^ ^' ^^•) There
is a form of knowledge which the unbelievers had, (Rom. ii.
22,) and a knowledge which puffeth up, and is void of love,
which hypocrites have. (1 Cor. viii. 1. 13.) But no man
(spiritually) knoweth the things of God, but by the Spirit*
And they that rightly " know his name will put their trust in
him." (Psal. ix. 10.) Thus he giveth the regenerate '' a heart to
know him ;" (Jer. xxiv. 7 ;) and the new creature " is renewed
in knowledge." (Col. iii. 10.) And '* vengeance shall be poured
oat on them that know not God." (2 Thess. i. 8.)
This saving knowledge of God which is eternal life,
containeth and implieth in it all these acts : 1. The under- r
standing's apprehension of God according to the necessary
articles of Failh. i. A belief of the truth of these articles : /
that God is, and is such as Se is therein described. 3. An
high estimation of God accordingly. 4. A volition, com- /
placency, or love to him as God, the chiefest good. 6. A
desiring after him* 6. A choosing him, with the rejection /^
of all competitors. 7. A consent that he be our God, and y
a giving up ourselves to him as his people. 8. An intend-
mgnim as our ultimate end in the use of means, in the ^
course of our conversations. 9. A seeking him in the choice /
and use of means. 10. An obeying nim as our Soyjieign •
Governor. 11. An honouring^ And praisinjg him as God. ^
12. And an enjoyin^^jiim and delighting in him (in some ^
small foretaste here, as he is seen by faith ; but perfectly
hereafter, as beheld in glory). The effective practical know-
ing of God, which is life eternal, containeth or implieth all
these parts.
And every Christian that hath any of this knowledge,
desireth more : it is his great desire to know more of God, ^ I
and to know him with a more affecting powerful knowledge. ; ^
He that grrpweth in grace, doth accordingl^gro w^in Jhjs
knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Tne vigour and
alacrity of our souls liveth in it : the rectitude of our ac-
tions, aad the holiness of them, iloweth from it : God is the
xcellency of our hearts and lives : our advau c^mewl ^tidi
14 THE DIVINE LIFE.
out joy i% here only to be found. All other knowledge is so
far desirable, as it conduceth to the knowledge of God, or
to the several duties which that knowledge doth require.
All knowledge of words or things, of causes and effects, of
^ any creatures, actions, customs, laws, or whatsoever may be
known, is so far valuable as it is useful 4 and so for useful
as it is holy, subserving the knowledge of God in Christ.
What the sun is to all men's eyes, that God is to their souls,
and more. It is to know him that we have understandings
given us ; aiid our understandings enjoy him but so far as
they know him; as the eye enjoy eth the light of the sun,
by seeing it. The ignorance of God, is the blindness and
part of the atheism of the soul, and inferreth the rest. They
that know him not, desire not heartily to know him ; nor
can they love him, trust him, fear him, serve him, or call
upon him, whom they do not know. " How shall they call
upon him in whom they have not believed?'' Rom. x. 14. The
1 heart of the ungodly saith to God, " Depart from us ; for
I we desire not the knowledge of thy ways : What is the Al-
I mighty, that we should serve him ; and what profit shall we
I have if we pray unto him?" (Job xxi. 14, 15r xxii* 17.) AH
wickedness hath admission into that heart or land where the
knowledge of God is not the watch to keep it out. Abraham
inferred that the men of Gerar would kill him for his wife,
when he saw that '^ the fear of God was not in that place."
^ <Gen. XX. 1 1.) It was ** God's c(nitroversy with Israel, becaase
^there waa no truth, nor mercy, norjknowledge of Go^iotiib^
-jandj but by swearing, a^ lyingTaJ^iS'^iUing* cmid stealing,
they brake out, and blood touched blood." (Hosea iv^ 1, 2.)
They are called by God, " a foolish people, sottish children,
<^ of no undeiBtexiding, that knew not jGro4 ; though ithey were
wise to do -evil." (Jer. iv. 22.) He will " pour put his fury
upon the heathen tJbiat know him not, and the families thi^t
call not on his name." (Jer. x. 25.) As the day differeth from
the niglU, by the light of the sun, so the church diJSereth
from the world, by the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ ;
\,'' In Judah is God known; his name is great in Israel: in
Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Sion."
(Psal. Ixxvi. 1, 2.) The love, and unity, and peace, which
shall succeed persecution and malice in the blessed time^,
' shall be '' because the earth shell be fuU of the knowledge of
the Lord^ as the wat^s cover the sea." (Isa. xi. 6^9.) Hypo-
1
THE KNOWI^EDGB OF GOD. 15
crites shall know him superficially and unefiectually : and
his holy ones shall know him so as to love him» fear him,
trost him and obey him ; with a knowledge effectual upon
heart and life : and he will " continue his loving kindness to
diem that know him.'' (Psah xxxvi. 10.)
H« is the best Christian that hath the fullest impression
made upon his soul by the knowledge of God in all his attri*
bates. Thus it is our life eternal to know God in Christ. «
It is to reveal the Father that the Son was sent ; and it is \
to reveal the Father and the Son, that the Holy Spirit i« ''
sent; God is the light, and the life, and the felicity of the
sod. The work of its salvation is but the restoring it to
him, and putting it in possession of him* The beginning
of this is regeneration and reconciliation ; the perfection
of it is glorification, beatifical vision and fruition. The
mind that hath least of God is the darkest and most deluded
mind i and the mind that hath most of him is the most lucid,
pure and serene. And how is God in the mind, but as the i
Ug^t iud other ttsible objects are in the eye ; and as plea*
sunt melody is in the ear; and as delightful meats and drinks
are in th^ taMe ? but that God maketh a more deep and durar
Ue impress on the soul, and such as is suitable-to its spin* \
tnal^ immaterial nature.
As your seal is to make a full impression on the wax, of
the whole figure that is upon itself, so hath God been
pleased in divsrs seals to engrave his image, and these must
wake their impress upon us. '1. There is the seal of the
Creation ; for tbe world hath much of the image of God :
It is engraven also on the seal of Providential Disposials
(thoagh there we are incapable of reading it yet, so fuUy as
in &e rest). 2. It is engraven on the seal of the Holy Scrip-
tares. 3* And on the Person of Jesus Christ, who is the
purest^ deaiest image of tiie Father, as also on die holy ex«-
mple of his life. 4. And by the means of all these applied
to the soult in our sober Consideration, by the woridng of
the Holy Ghost, the image of God is made upon us.
Hers note, 1. That ail the revealed image of God must
be made on the soul, and not a part only : and all is wrought
where any is truly wrought. 2. That to the completeness
of his image on us, it is necessary that each part of God's
iescriptioB be Ofderiy made, and orderiy make the impress
OS us, and Ibat each part keep its proper place; Coy vt W^
rr
\
16 THE DIVINE LIFE.
monster that- hath feet where the head should be, or the
backpart forward, or where there is any gross misplacing
of the parts. 3. Note also, that all the three forementioned
seals contain all God's image on them; but yet not all alike;
but the first part is more clearly engraven upon the first of
them, and the second part upon the second of them, and the
third part most clearly on the third and last.
To open this more plainly to you ; unity in trinity, and
trinity in unity, is the sum of our holy faith. In the Deity
there is revealed to us, one God in three persons, the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost; the essence is but one; the subsis-
tences are three. And as we must conceive and speak of
the Divine Nature according to its image, while we see it
but in-a glass ; so we must say, that in this blessed Deity in
the unity of essence, there is a trinity of essential properties
and attributes ; that is, power, wisdom and goodness, life,
light and love : the measure of which is to have no measure,
but to be infinite. And therefore this Being is eternal, and
not measured by time, being without beginning or end : He
is immense, as being not measured by place, but containeth
all places, and is contained in none : he is perfect, as not
measured by parts or by degrees, but quite above degrees
and parts. This infiniteness of his being doth communicate
itself, or also consist in the infiniteness of his essential pro-
perties. His power is omnipotency, that is, infinite power ;
his knowledge or wisdom is omniscience, that is, infinite
wisdom : his goodness is felicity itself, Of infinite goodness*
' The first seal (to our cognizance) on which he engraved
this his image, was the Creation, that is, 1. The whole world
in general; 2. The Intellectual Nature or Man in special.
In the Being of the Creation and every particular crea-
ture, his Infinite Being is revealed ; so wretched a fool is
the atheist, that by denying God, he denieth all things!
Could he prove that there is no God, I would quickly prove
that there is no world, no man, no creature. If he know
that he is himself or that the world or any creature is, he
may know that God is : for God is the Original Being ; and
all being that is not eternal, must have some original : and
that which hath no original is God, being eternal, infinite
and without cause.
The Power of God is revealed in the being and powers
of the creation. His wisdom is revealed in their nature.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 17
order^ offices, effects, Sie. His goodness is revealed in the '
creature's goodness, its beauty, usefulness, accomplish*
ments. But though all his image thus appear upon the
creation, yet is it his omnipotency that principally there ap-
pears, llie beholding and consideration of the wonderftil
greatness, activity and excellency of the sun, the moon, the
stars, the fire, and other creatures, doth first and chiefly pos- '\
sess us with apprehensions of the infinite greatness or power <
of the Creator.
In the Holy Word or Laws of God, which is the second ^ |
glass or seal (more clear and legible to us than the former),
there appeareth also all his image ; his power in the narra-
tives, predictions, 8cc« ; his wisdom in the prophecies, pre-
cepts, and in all : his goocTness in the promises and institu-
tions, in a special manner. But yet it is his second pro-
perty, his wisdom, that most eminently appeareth on this
second seal, and is seen in the glass of the holy law. The
discovery of such mysteries ; the revelation of so many
truUis : the suitableness of all the instituted means ; and
the admirably fitness of all the holy contrivances of God,
and all his precepts, promises and threatenings, for the go-
vernment of mankind, and carrying him on for the attain-
ment of his end, in a way agreeable to his nature ; these
shew that wisdom that is most eminently here revealed,
though power and goodness be revealed with it; so in the [ /
bee of Jesus Christ, who is the third and most perfect seal
md glass ; there is the image of the power, and wisdom,
wA goodness of the Godhead : but yet it is the love or
goodness of the Father that is most eminently revealed in
die Son : his power appeared in the incarnation, the con-
faests oyer Satan and the world, the miracles, the resurrec-
tion and the ascension of Christ. His wisdom appeareth
a the admirable mystery of redemption, and in all the
|iits of the office, works and laws of Christ, and in the
9mm appointed in subordination to him; but love and
fMdnieas shineth most clearly and amiably through the
^ I^Ue; it being the very end of Christ in this blessed work,
iA Vf '^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ riches of his love, as giving us
^ flk greatest mercies, by the most precious means, in the
t season and manner for our good ; reconciling us to
^Haielf, and treating us as children, with fatherly compas-
^^ ■ VOL. XIII. c
r
e
r
18 THE DIVINE LIFE.
sions, and bringing us nearer to him^ and opening to us the
everlasting treasure, having brought life and immortality to
light in the Gospel.
God being thus revealed to man from without, in the
three glasses or seals of the Creation, Law, and Son liimself,
he is also revealed to us in ourselves, man being, as it were,
a little world.
In the nature of man is revealed, as in a seal or glass,'
the nature of the blessed God, in some measure. In unity
of essence, we have a trinity of faculties of soul, even the
vegetative, sensitive and rational, as our bodies have both
parts and spirits, natural, vital and animal ; the rational
power in unity, hath also its trinity of faculties, even power
for execution, understanding for direction, and will for com-
mand : the measure of power is naturally sufficient to its
use and end ; the understanding is a faculty to reason, dis-
cern, and discourse ; the will hath that freedom which be-
seemeth an undetermined, self-determining creature here in
the way«
Besides this physical image of God, that is inseparable
from our nature, we have also his law written in our hearts,
and are ourselves objectively part of the law of nature ; that
is, the signifiers of the will of God. Had we not by sin
obliterated somewhat of this image, it would have shewed
itself more clearly, and we should have been more capable
of understanding it.
And then when we are regenerate and renewed by the
grace and Spirit of Christ, and planted into him, as living
members of his body, we have then the third impression
upon our souls, and are made like our Head in wisdom, holi-
ness, and in effectual strength.
Considered as creatures endued with power, imderstand^
ing and will, we have the impress of all the aforesaid attri-
butes of God ; but eminently of his power.
Considered as we were at first possessed with the light
and law of works or nature, (of which we yet retain some
part,) so we have the impress of all these attributes of God ;
but most eminently of his wisdom.
Considered as regenerate by the Spirit, and planted into
Christ, so we have the impress of all his said attributes; but
most eminently of his love and goodness, shining in the
moral accomplishments or graces of the soul.
THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. 19
Man being thus made at first the natural and sapiential
image Of God, (with much of the image of his love,) the
Lord did presently, by necessary resultancy and voluntary
consent, stand related to us in such variety of relations as
answer the aforesaid properties and attributes. And these
relatioiMi of Ood fo us, are next to be known, as flowing
from his attributes and works.
1. As we have our derived being-from God^ who is the
primitive Eternal Being ; so from our being given by crea-
tion, God is related to us as our Maker ; from this nJation
of a Creator in unity, there ariseth a trinity of relations:
this trinity is in that unity, and that unity in this trinity^
First, God having made us of nothing, necessarily related to
us as oar Lord ; by a Lord we mean strictly a proprietary or
owner, as you are the owner of your goods, or any thing that
is your own.
Secondly, He is related to us as our Ruler, our Governor
or Sling* This riseth from our nature, made to be ruled in
order to our end ; being rational, voluntary agents ; and also
{rem the dominion and blessed nature of God, who only
hath right to the government of the world, and only is fit
and capable of ruling it.
Thirdly, He is related also to us ^s our Benefactor or
Father; freely and of his bounty giving us all the good that
we do receive.
His first relation in this trinity, answereth his first pro-
perty in the trinity : he is our Almighty Creator, and there*
fore is our Owner or our Lord.
The second of these relations answereth the second pro-
perty of God. He is most wise, and made an impress of his
wisdom on the rational creature, and therefore is our Go-
vernor.
The third relation answereth the third property of God.
As he is most good, so is he our Benefactor; ^' Thou art
good, and dost good." (Psal. cxix. 68.) Man's nature and
disposition is known by his works, though he be a free
i^ent ; for " the tree is known by its fruit." (Matt. vii. 17.)
And so God's nature is known by his works (as far as is fit
for us here to know), though he be a free agent.
Iii each of these relations, God hath other special attri-
hates, which are denominated from his relations, or his fol-
lowing works:
aO THE DIVINE LIFE. .
As he is our Lord or Owner, his proper attribute is to be
Absolute, having so full a title to us that he may do with us
what he list. (Matt.xx. 16; Rom. ix. 21.)
As he is our Ruler, his proper attribute is to be our Sove*
reign or Supreme ; there being none above him, nor co-ordi*
nate with him, nor any power of government but what is de-
rived from him.
As he is our Benefactor^ it is his prerogative to be our
Chief, or All ; the Alpha and Omega; the Fountain, or first
efficient cause of all that we receive or hope for ; and the
End, or ultimate final cause that can make us happy by
fruition, and that we must still intend.
As these are the attributes of God in these his great re«
lations, so in respect to the lyorks of these relations, he hath
other subordinate attributes. As he is our Owner, it is his
work to dispose of us ; and his proper attribute to be most
Free. As he is out Ruler, it is his work to govern us ; which
is, first, by making laws for us, and then by teaching and
persuading us to keep them, and lastly by executing them ;
which is by judging, rewarding, and punishing. In respect
to all these,his principal attribute is to be Just or Righteous;
in which is comprehended his Truth or Faithfulness, hia
Holiness, his Mercy, and his terrible Dreadfulness. As his
attributes appear in the assertions of his word, he is True
(his veracity being nothing but his power, wisdom and good-
ness, expressing themselves in his Word or Revelations).
For he that is able to do what he will, and so wise as to
know all things, and so good as to will nothing but what is
good, cannot possibly lie; for every lie is either for want of
power, or knowledge, or goodness ; he that is most able and
knowing, need not deceive by lying ; and he that is most
good, will not do it without need. As his first properties
appear in the word of promise, he is called Faithful, which
is his truth in making good a word of grace. As he coinh-
mandeth holy duties, and condemneth sin as the most de-
testable thing, by a pure, righteous law, so he is called
Holy ; and also as the fountain of this law, and the grace
which sanctifieth his people. As he fulfiUeth his promises,
and rewardetb, and defendeth men according to his word, bo
he is called Merciful and Gracious, as a governor (where
his mercy is considered as limited or ordained by his laws.)
As he fulfilleth his threatenings, he is called, angry, wrath-
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 21
ful, terrible, dreadful, holy, jealous, &c. But he is Just in
aU.
And as these are his attributes as our Sovereign Ruler ;'
so as our Benefactor, his special attribute is to be Gracious,
or Bountiful, or Benign ; or to be loving and inclined to do
good. These are the attributes of God resulting from his
nature as appearing in his image in the creation, laws, and
the person of his Son ; and resulting from his relations and
the works of those relations ; even as he is our Creator, in
nnit^ ; and our Lord or Owner, our Ruler and Benefactor,
in trinity.
Were it not my purpose to confine myself to this short
discovery of the nature, attributes, and works of God, but
to ran deeper into the rest of the body of divinity, I should
come down to the fall, and work of redemption, and shew
you in the Gospel and all the ordinances, &c. the footsteps
of this method of trinity in unity, which I have here begun ;
but that were to digress.
Besides what is said, we might name you many attributes
of God, that are commonly called negative, and do but dis-
tingaish him from the imperfect creature, by setting him
ibove us infimtely in his perfections. Man hath a body ;
but God is not a body, but a spirit : man is mutable, but
God is immutable : man is mortal, but God immortal, &c.
And now as I have shewed you these properties, relations,
iiid attributes of God, so I must next tell you that we also
itand in answerable counter-relations to him; and must
kve the qualities, and do the works that answer those
idations.
1. As God is our Almighty Creator, so we are his crea-
toes, impotent and insufficient for ourselves. We owe him
ftttefore aU that a creature that hath but our receivings,
oon owe his Maker. 2. In diis relation is contained a
iBnity of relations. 1. We are his own, as he is our Lord.
1 We are his subjects, as he is our Ruler. 3. We are his
dUldren^ as he is our Father ; or his obliged beneficiaries, as
k is our Benefactor. And now having opened to your ob-
iKvation the image of God, and the extrinsic seals, I have
lebed the discourse so far, that I may more fitly shew you
[llsir the impression of this image of God is to be made upon
its sonl of the believer.
22 TH£ DIVINE LIFE.
CHAR 11.
Of the K^nowleidge of GodCs Being*
1. "He that cometh to God, must believe that God is^ and
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek, him."
(Heb. jcL 60 The first thing to be imprinted on the sonl is, that
there is a God ; that he is a real most transcendent Being.
As sure as the sun that shineth hath a; being, and the earth
that beareth us hath a being, so sure hath God that made
them a being infinitely more excellent than theirs. As sure
as the streams come from the fountain, and as sure as earth,
and stones, and beasts, and men did never make themsdves,
nor do uphold themselves, or continue the course of nature
in themselves and others, nor govern the world, soiBure is
there an Infinijbe Eternal Being that doth this. Every
atheist that is not mad, must confess that there is an.Etemal
Being, that had no beginning or cause ; the question is only.
Which this is ? Which ever it is, it is this that is the true
God. What now would the atheist have it to be ? Ger^uly
it is that Being that hath being itself from none, that ia the
first cause of all other beings : and if it causeth tihem^ it
must necessarily be every way more excellent than they^ and
4$ontain all the good that it hath caused ; for none' ctfn give
that which he hath not to give; nor make that which is
better than itself; that Being that hath made so glorious a
creature as the sun, must needs itself be much more gloribus*
It could not have put strength and power into the creatures,
if it had not itself more strength and power* It could not
have put wisdom and goodness into the creature, if it bad
not more wisdom and goodness than all they. Whatever it
is therefore that hath more power, wisdom and goodness
than all the world besides, tJiat is it which we call Ood.
That cause that hath communicated to all things else, the
being, power, and all perfections which they have, is the
God whom we acknowledge and adore ; if Democritiats
will ascribe tdl this to atoms, and think that the mote& idid
make the sun ; or if others will think that the sun is God^
because it participateth of so much of his excellency, . let
them be mad awhile, till judgment shall convince them. So
clear beyond all question to my soul, is the Being of the
Godhead, that the devil hath much lost the rest of his mose
subtle temptations, \vhen he hath foolishly and maliciously
\
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 23
adjoined this^ to draw me to questioa the Being of my God ;
which is more than to question, whether there be a sun in
the firmament.
But what is the impress that the Being of God must ^
make upon the soul? (j
I answer. From hence the holy soul discemeth that the
beginning ^d the end of his religion, the substance of his
hope, is the Being of IBeings, and not a shadow ; and that
his faith is not a fancy. The object is as it were the matter
of the act. If our faith, and hope, and lore, and fear, be
exercised in a delusory work ; God is to the atheist but an
empty name ; he feels no life or being in him ; and accord-
ingly he offereth him a shadow of devotion, and a nominal
service. But to the holy soul there is nothing that hath life
and being but God, and that which doth receive a being
from him, and leadeth to him. This real object putteth a
reality into all the devotions of a holy soul. They look
npon the vanities of the world as nothing ; and therefore
they look on worldly men as on idle dreamers that are doing
nothing. This puts a seriousness and life into the faith and .
holy affections of the believer* . He knows whom he trust- \ \
eth. (2 Tim. i. 12.) He knows whom he loveth, and in whom (
he hopeth. Atheists, and all ungodly men, do practically
jlidge of God^ as the true believer judgeth of the world.
The atheist takes the pleasures of the world to be the only
sabstance ; and God to be but as a shadow, a notion^ or a
dream. The godly take the world to be as nothing, and
know it is but a fancy and dream, and shadow of pleasures,
and honour, and profit, and felicity, that men talk of and
seek so eagerly below | but that God is the substantial ob-
ject and portion of the soul. If you put into the mouth of
& hungry man, a little froth, or breath, or air, and bid him
eat it, and feed upon it, he will tell you, he finds no sub-
stance in it ; so judgeth the graceless soul of God, and so
jadgeth the gracious soul of the creature, as separate from
God.
Let this be the impression on thy soul, from the conside-
lation of God's transcendent being ! O look upon thyself
aad all things as nothing without him ! and as nothing in
comparison of him ! and therefore let thy love to them be
as nothing, and thy desires after them, and care for them,
IS nothing! But let the being of thy love, desire, and en-
%lt THE DIVINE tIfE.
deavours, be let out upon the transcendent Beings Hie
creature bath its kind of being ; but if it would be to ub
instead of God, it will be as nothing. The air hath it9
being, but we cannot dwell in it, nor rest upon it to
support us as the earth doth. The water hath its being,
but it will not bear us if we would walk upon it. The
name of the great Jehovah is '^ I am.'' (Ezod. iii. 14.) Try
any creature in thy need, and it will say, as Jacob to Rachel,
'' Am I in God^s stead, that hath withheld thy desire from
thee V (Gen. xxx\ 2.) Send to it and it will say as John
Baptist, that confessed, " I am not the Christ." (John i. 20.)
Let none of all the affections of thy soul, have so much life
and being in them, as those that are exercised upon God.
Worms and motes are not regarded in comparison wiUi
mountains ; a drop is not regarded in comparison of the
ocean. Let the Being of God take up thy soul, and draw
off thy observation from deluding vanities, as if there were
no such things before thee. When thou rememberest that
there is a God, kings and nobles, riches and honours, and
all the world, should be forgotten in comparison of him ;
and thou shouldst live as if there were no such things, if
God appear not to thee in them. See them as if thou didst
not see them, as thou seest a candle before the sun ^ or a
pile of grass, or single dust, in comparison with the earth.
Hear them as if thou didst not hear them ; as thou hearest
the leaves of the shaken tree, at the same time with a clap
of thunder. As greatest things obscure the least, so let the
Being of the Infinite God so take up all the powers of thy
soul, as if there were nothing else but he, when any thing
would draw thee from him. O ! if the Being of this God
were seen by thee, thy seducing friend would scarce be seen,
thy tempting baits would scarce be seen, thy riches and
honours would be forgotten ; all things would be as nothing
to thee in comparison of him.
CHAP. in.
2. As the Being of God should make this impression on
thee, so the attributes that speak the perfection of that>
Being, must each one have their work ; as his Unity or Indi-
visibility, his Immensity, and Eternity.
And first, the thought of God's unity should contract '
sad unite thy straggling affections, and call them home from ^
n
TUB KNOWLEDGE OF OOD. 25*
moltiiarioiis vanity. It should possess thy mind with deep
apprehensions of the excellency of holy unity in the soul,
and in the church ; and of the evil of division^ and misery
of distracting multiplicity. '' The Lord our God is one
God/' (1 Cor. viii. 6.) Perfection hath unity and simplicity.
We fell into divisions and miserable distraction when we
departed from God unto the creatures, for the creatures are
many, and of contrary qualities, dispositions and affections ;
and the heart that is set on such an object, must needs be a
divided heart ; and the heart that is divided among so many
and contrary or discordant objects, must needs be a dis-
tracted heart. The confusions of the world confound the
heart that is set upon the world. He that maketh the world
his God, hath so many Gods ; and so discordant, that he will
never please them all ; and all of them together will never
folly content and please him. And who would have a God
that can neither please us, nor be pleased ? He that maketh
hunself his God, hath a compounded God (and now cor-
ropted) of multifarious, and now of contrary desires, as
hard to please as any without us. There is no rest or hap-
piness but in unity. And therefore none in ourselves or
any other creature ; but in God the only centre of the souL
The further from the centre, the further from unity. It is
only in God that differing minds can well be united. There^
fore is the world so divided, because it is departed so far
fiom God. Therefore have we so many minds and ways,
and such diversity of opinions, and contrariety of affections,
because men forsake the centre of unity. There is no uniting
in any worldly, carnal, self-devised principles or practices.
When holiness brings these distracted, scattered souls to
God, in him they will be one. While they bark at holiness,
and cry up unity, they shew themselves distracted men. For
holiness is the only way to unity, because it is the closure
of the soul with God. All countries, and persons, cannot
neet in any one interest or creature, but each hath a several
interest of his own ; but they might all meet in God. If the
pope were God, and had his perfections, he would be fit for
dl the church to centre in; but being man, and yet pretend-
ing to this prerogative of God, he is the grand divider and
&tracter of the church. The proverb is too true, ' So
■any men, so many minds ;* because that every man will
W a god to himself, having a self-mind, and sa\(-vi'\\\» ^\idL
26 THE DIVIN]^ UFB.
all men will not yield to be one in Ood. Oodis the cpmmQii
interest of ,the saints ; and thereof all that are truly saintSj
are truly united in him. And if all the visible church, and.all
the worlds would heartily make him their common ii^terjest^
we should quickly have a cpmmon unity and pjeace, ap^ .the
temple of double-faced Janus would be shut up* They that
sincerely have one God, have also one Lord (and Saviour), pne
faith, one spirit, one baptism (or holy covenant with Gpd),
even because they have ** one God and Father of all, who
is above all, and through all, and in them all/' And therefore
they must/' keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace/'
(Eph. iv. 3 — 6.) Though yet they have diflPerent degrees
of gifts, (ver. 7.) and therefore diflferences of opinion about
abundance of inferior things. Th^ further we go from the
trunk or stock, the more numerous and small we shall find
the branches. They are one in God, that are divided ia.
many doubtful controversies. The weakest therefore in the
faith must be received into this union and communion pf the
church ; but not to doubtful disputations. (Rom. xiv. L) As
the ancient baptism, contained no more but our engagement
to God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, so .the,wcient
profession of saving faith, was of the same extent. . Gpd is
sufficient for the church to unite in. An union in other
articles of faith is so far necessary to the unity of the charch,
as it is necessary to prove our faith and unity in God, and
the sincerity of this ancient, simple faielief in God the Father,
Son and Spirit,
. The, Unity of God is the attribute to be first handled, and
ipiprinted on the mind, evei^next pntp his essence.; '' The
Lprd our God i^ one Lord ;" (Deut. vi. 4 ;) and the unity of
the church is its excellency and attribute, that is .first ,l^^d
mpst to be esteemed i^id preserved next unto its essence. If
it be not a church, it cannot be one church: and if we be
npt saints, we cannot be united sfuints. If we be not mem-
bers, we cannot make one body. But when once wie have
the essence of saints and of a church, we must nes^t be soli-
citous for its unity ; nothing below an essential point of
faith will allow us to depart from the catholic unity, love^^
s^d peace that is due to saints ; and because such essentials
are^ never wanting in the catholic church, or any true mem-
ber of it, therefore we are never allowed to divide frpni the
catholic chmrch, or any true and visible menpiben It is fijrst
\
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 27
neceasary that the church be a churchy that is^ a people se-
parated from the Ivorld to Christ; and that the Christian b^
a Christiair in covenant with the Lord. But the next point
of necessity is tiiat the church be one, and Christians be
one. And be that for the sake of lower points^ how true
soever^ will break this holy bond of unity « shall find atlast,
to his shuim^ and sorrow, that he understood not the excel-
leticy or necessity of unity. The prayer of Christ for the
perfection of his saints is, ^* That tjiey all may be one, as
thou Father art in me, and I in thee, ihat they al^o may be
one in U9 ;■ that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me : and the glory which thou gavest vfxe I have given them,
that the j^ may be one, even as we are one : I in them, and
thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the
world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them
as thou hast loved me." Here it appeareth that the unity
ef the church or saints is necessary, to convince the world
of the truth of Christianity, and of the love of God to his
people^ and necessary to the glory and perfection of the
saints.- The nearer any churches, or members, are to the
divine perfections, and the more strictly conformable to the
mind of God, the more they are one, and replenished with
eatbolic love to all saints, and desirous of unity and com-
monioji with them. It is a most lamentable delusion of
•ome Christians that think their ascending to higher degrees
of holiness doth partly consist in their withdrawing from
tbe catholic church, or from the communioni of most of the
taints on earth, upon the account of some smaller differing
opinions; and they think that they should become more
loose and leave their strictness, if they should hold a catho-
lic communion, and leave their state of separation and divi-
sion ! Is there any strictness amiable or desirable, except
a strict conformity to Godf Surely a strict way of sin and
widLedness is not desirable to a saint. And is not God one,
md his church one, and hath he not commanded all his per-
mits to. be one, and is not love the new and great com-
mandment, by which they must be known to all men to ]be
Us disciples. Which then is the stricter servant of the.
I4>rd; he that loveth much> or he that loveth little; he that
k?eth all Christians, or he that loveth but a few, with the
ipecial loVe ; he that loveth a Christian as a Christian, or
Ve that lovjeth him but as one of his party or opinion ; he
28 THE DIVINE LIFE.
that is one in the catholic body^ or he that disowneth cdm-
munion with the far greatest part of the body? Will you
say that Christ was^ loose, and Pharisees strict, because
Christ eat and drank with publicans and sinners, and the
Pharisees condemned him for it ? It was Christ that was
more strict in holiness than they ; for he abounded more in
love and good works : but they were stricter than he in a
proud, self-conceited morosity and separation. Certainly
he that is highest in love, is highest in grace, and not he
that confineth his love to few. Was it not in the weak
Christian that was most strict in point of meats, and drinks,
and days? (Rom. xiv. xv.) But the stronger that were cen-
sured by them, did more strictly keep tlie commandment of
God.
Christian reader, let the unity of God have this effect
upon thy soul: 1. To draw thee from the distracting multi-
tude of creatures, and make thee long to be all in God ;
that thy soul may be still working toward him, till thou find
nothing but God alone within thee. In the multitude of
thy thoughts within thee, let his comforts delight thy
soul. (Psal. xciv. 19.) The multitude distracteth thee ; re-
tire into unity, that thy soul may be composed, quieted
and delighted*
2. And let it make thee long for the unity of saints, and
endeavour it to the utmost of thy power, that the church in
unity may be more like the Head.
3. And let it cause thee to admire the happiness of the
saints, that are fteed from the bondage of the distracting
creature, and have but one to love, and fear, and trust, and
serve, and seek, and know ; one thing is needful, which
should be chosen, but it is many that we are troubled about.
(Luke xi. 42.)
CHAP. IV.
3* The Immensity of God (which is the next attribute to be
considered) must have this effect upon thy soul: 1. The
infinite God that is every where, comprehending all places
and things, and comprehended by none, must raise admiring,
reverent thoughts in the soul of the believer. We wonder at
the magnitude of the sun, and the heavens, and the whole
creation ; but when we begin to think what is beyond the
heavens, and all created beings we are at a kind of loss. Why
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 29
it 18 God that is in all, and above all, and beyond all, and
beneath all ; and where there is no place, because no crea-
ture, there is Ood : and if thy thoughts should imagine
millions of millions of miles beyond all place and measure,
all is but God ; and go as far as thou canst in thy thoughts
and thou canst not go beyond him. Reverently admire the
immensity of God. The world and all the creatures in it, ^
are not to God so much as a sand or atom is to all the world.
The point of a needle is more to all the world, than the world '
to God. For between that which is finite, and that which
ia infinite, there is no comparison. " Who hath measured
the waters in the hollow of his hand ; and meted out heaven
with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in
a measure ; and weighed the mountains in scales, and the
hills in a balance? Behold the nations are as a drop of
a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance :
behold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing,— ^-AU
nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to
Um less than nothing, and vanity.'' (Isa. xL 12« 16. 17.)
2. From this greatness and immensity of God also thy
Boul must reverently stay all its busy, bold inquiries, and
know that God is to us, and to every creature, incomprehen-
lible. If thou couldst fathom or measure him, and know !
his greatness by a comprehensive knowledge, he were not
God. A creature can comprehend nothing but a creature. [
Yoa may know God, but not comprehend him ; as your
foot ireadeth on the earth, but doth not cover all the earth.
The lea is not the sea, if you can hold it in a spoon. Thou
cinat not comprehend tJie sun which thou seest, and by
which thou seest all things else, nor the sea, or earth, no nor
a wonn^ or pile of grass : thy understanding knoweth not
all that God hath put into any the least of these ; thou art
a stranger to thyself, and to somewhat in every part of thy-
lelf, both body and soul. And thinkest thou to comprehend
God, that perfectly comprehendest nothing ! Stop then thy
over bold inquiries, and remember that thou art a shallow,
fnite worm, and God is infinite. First reach to comprehend
ike heaven and earth and whole creation, before thou think
of comprehending Him, to whom the world is nothing, or
vanity ; or so small a dust, or drop, or point. Saith Elihu,
" At this my heart trembleth, and is moved out of its place :
kear attentively the noise of his voice, God thundereth
ittf eUoosly with hb voice ; great things doth he which we
4
30 THB DIVINE LIF£.
cannot comprehend." (Job xxxvii. !• Si) Hdw theft sh^nild we
comprehend himself! When Go<l pleadetfa his eause with Job
himself, what doth he but convince him of his infiiiiteness
and absoluteness, even from the greatness of his works
which are beyond our reach and yet are as nothing to loim-
self! Should he take the busy inquirer in hand^ but as he
did begin with Job, (xxxviii. 1, 2, &c«,) " Who is this that
darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up
thy loins like a man, for t will demand of thee, and answer
thou me,''&c: alas, how soon would he nonplus and con*
found us, and make us say with Job, (id. 4,) ■* Behold I am
vile ; what shall I answer thee ? I will lay my hand upon
my mouth : once have I spoken, but I will not answer ; yeiEt
twice, but I will proceed no further." Indeed there is men-
tioned Ephes. iii. 11, the saints comprehending the dimen-
sions of the love of Christ ; but as the next verse saith, it
passeth knowledge; so comprehending iiiere, signifietk no
more, but a knowing according to our measure ; an attaiil-
ment of what we are capable to attain ; nay, nor all that
neither, but such a prevalent knowledge of the love of
Christ as is common to all the saints ; as there is nothing
more visible than the sun, and yet no visible being less com-
prehended by the sight ; so is there-nothing more intelligi-
ble than God (for he is all in all things), and yet nothing
80 incomprehensible to the mind that knoweth him. It ss^
tisfieth me not to be ignorant of God^ iior to know so little
as I know, nor to be short of the measure that I am (^pable
of; but it s^tisfieth me to J>e incapable of comprehending
him: or else I niust be unsatisfied because I am not God*
O the presumptuous arrogancy of those men, if I may call
them men, that dare prate about the infinite God such things
as never were revealed to them in his works or word ! and
dare pretend to meaisure him by their shallow understand-
ings, and question, if not deny and censure, that of God
which th^y cannot reach ! and sooner suspect the word that
doth reveal him than their own muddy brains, that shovrld
better .conceive of him! Sieiith Elihu, '' Behold' God ih
great, and we know him not ; neither can the number of his
years be searched out.'* (Job xxxvi. 26.) Though the know-
ledge of him be ouir life eternal, yet we know him not by
any full and adequate conception.^ We know an infinite
God, and therefore with anexcellent knowledge objectively
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 31
considered ; but with a poor degree and kind of knowled^^e
next to none» as to the act ; and it is a thoasand thousandfold
that we know not of him, than that We know : for indeed
there is no comparison to be here made.
3. The immensity of God, as it proveth him incompre-
hensible, so it containeth his omnipresence, and therefore
should continually affect us, as men that believe that God
stands by them. As we would compose our thoughts, and
mindSy and passions, if we saw (were it possible) the Lord
stand over us, so should we now labour to compose them
As we would restrain and use our tongues, and order our
behaviour, if we saw his Majesty, so should we do now,
when we know that he is with us. An eye-servant will
work hard in his master's presence, whatever he doth behind
his back. Bestir thee then. Christian, for God stands by ;
''In him we live and move and have our being." (Acts xvii.
28.) Loiter not till thou canst truly say that God is gone,
or absent from thee ^ sin not by wilfulness or negligence,
till thou canst say, thou art behind his back. Alas, that we
should have no more awakened, serious souls, and no more
fervent, lively prayers, and no more serious, holy speech, and
DO more careful, heavenly lives, when we stand before th^
living God, and do all in his sight, and speak all in his hear-
ing ! O why should sense so much affect us, and faith, and
knowledge work no more ? We can be awed with the pre-
sence ^f a man, and would not do before a prince, what
most men do before the Lord. Yea other things affect us
when we see them not ; and shall not God ? But of this
more anon.
4. The immensity of God assureth us much of his all-
Bufficiency.. He that is every where, is easily able to hear
all prayers, to help us in all straits, to supply all wants, to
puniah all sins. A blasphemous conceit of God as finite,
and as absent firom us,, is one of the causes of our distrust
He that doth distrust an absent friend, as thinking he may
forget him/ or neglect him, will trust him when he is with
him ; cannot he hear thee, and pity thee, and help thee, that
is still with thee ? O what an awe is this to the careless !
what a support to faith ! what a quickener to duty ! what a
comfort to the afflicted, troubled soul ! God is in thy poor
eottage. Christian, and well acquainted with thy wants:
God is at thy bedside when thou art sick, and nearer th^^
(
\
t
i
i
I
32 THE DIVINE LIFE.
than the nearest of thy friends. What wouldst thou do in
want or pain if God stood by ! Wouldst thou not pray and
trust him if thou sawest him! So do though thoii see him
not^ for he is surely there.
& The immensity and infinite greatness of God assureth
us of this particular providence. Some blasphemous infi«
dels imagine that he hath only a general providence, and
hath left all to some inferior powers, and meddleth not with
particular things himself. They think that as he hath left
it to the sun to illuminate the world, so hath he left all
other inferior things and events to nature or inferior causes ;
and that he doth not himself regard, observe, reward, or
punish the thoughts, and words, and ways of men. And all
this is, because they consider not the immensity or infinite
greatness of the Lord. It is true, that God hath framed the
nature of all things, and delighteth to maintain and use the
frame of second causes which he hath made ; and will not
easily and ordinarily work against or without this order of
causes : but it is as true and certain, both that sometimes
he maketh use of miracles, and that in the very course of
natural causes he is able to exercise a particular provi-
dence, as well as without them, by himself alone. The
creature doth nothing but by him. All things move as he
first moveth them, in their natural agency. His wisdom
guideth, his will intendeth, and commandeth ; his power
moveth and disposeth all. The sun would not shine, if he
were not the light of it; and he is no less himself the light
of the world, than if he did illuminate it without a sun.
God is never the further off, because the creatures are neiur
us; nor ever the less in the effect, because he useth a
second cause, than if there were no second cause at all.
What influence second causes have upon the souls of men,
he hath for the most part kept unknown to us ; but that
himself disposeth of us and all things after the counsel of
his own will, is beyond all question. Can he that is most
nearly present witli thy thoughts, be regardless of them ?
Can he be regardless of thy words and ways that is with
thee, and seeth and heareth all? If thou believe not
that he is verily with thee as thou art there thyself,
thou art then an atheist. If thou believe him not to
be infinite, thou believest him not to be God. It is not
God that can be absent, limited, or finite. And if thou
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 33
be not such a senseless atheist, but knowest that God is
every where, how is it possible thou shouldst doubt of his
care or observance, or particular providence about every
thing ? No child is scarce so foolish that will think his
&ther cares not what he saith or doth, when he stands be-
fore him. Wouldst thou doubt of God's particular provi-
dence, wheUier he regard thy heart, and talk, and practice^
if thou didst see him with thee? Sure it is scarce pottsible*
Why then dost thou question it when thou knowest that he
is with thee ? If thou be an atheist and knowest not, look
about thee on the world, and bethink thee whether stones,
and trees, and earth ; whether beasts, or birds, or men do
make themselves ; if they do, thou wert best uphold thy-
self, and be not sick, and do not die. If thou madest thy-
self, thou canst sure preserve thyself; but if any thing else
made thee and all these lower things, either it was some-
what greater or less than they ; either something better or
worse than they. If less, or worse, how could it make
them greater or better than itself? Can any thing give that
which it hath not ? If it must needs be greater and better
tban the creatures, then as it must be wiser than they, and
more holy, gracious, and just than they, so must it be more
eomprehensive than all they. Whoever made this earth, is
certainly greater than the earth, or else he should give it
mote that he had to give. And if he be greater, he must
be present. If thou shouldst be so vain as to account any
other higher thing the maker of this world, that is not God,
thou must ascribe also a sufficiency to that maker, to exer-
cise a particular providence, and moreover be put to con-
vder who did make that maker. Nothing therefore is more
certain even to reason itself, than that the Maker of the
world must be greater than the world, and therefore present
mikall the worid; and therefore must observe and regard
iD the world. When thou canst find out a thought, or
word, or deed that was not done in the presence of God, or
Sly creatare that is not in his presence, then believe and
f/m not that he seeth it not, or regardeth it not ; yea, and
Ait it hath no being. O blind atheists ! you see the sun
kfore your eyes, which enlighteneth all the upper part of the
I Wh at once ; even millions of millions see all by his light;
»d yet do you doubt whether God beholds and regards
TOL.. xiir. n
34 THE DIYINfi IIFE.
and provides for all at onct ! Tell me, if God had n^ver a
ereatare to look to in all the world but tliee, wooldat tdou
believe that he would regard thy heart, and worda, and
waya, or not? If he Would, why not now as well as 4beii!
Is he not as sufficient for thee, and as really present
with thee, as if he had no other creature else? If all tten in
the world were dead save one, would the sun any more illu-
minate that one than now it doth 7 Mayst thou not 9ee as
well by the light of it now, as if it had never another to ^-
lighten ? And dost thou see a creature do so laucb^ and
wilt thou not believe as much of the Creator ? If thou thiak
us worms too low for Qod so exactly to observe, tbou
mayst as well think that we are too low for him to oreatt»
or preserve; and then who made us and preserveih |is<?
Doth not the sun enlighten the smallest bird, and Grawling
vermin, as well as the greatest prince on earth ? Doth ^
withhold its light from any creature that can see, and say,
I will not shine on things so base? And wilt thou ipore ra-
Bfjrain the infinite Ood that is the Maker, Light, f^nd Life of
all i It is he that '' filleth aU in aU/' (Eph. i. 23.) '' The
heaven of heavens cannot contain him ;" (I Kings viii. 27 1)
and is he absent from thee ? " He doth beset thee befoie
and behind, and layetli his hand upon thee ) whither wiH
thou go from his Spirit, or whither wilt thou fty ftom hit
presence ? If thou ascend up into heaven, he is ttiere ; if
thou make thy bed in hell, thou wilt feel him the? e $ if $hp|i
take the wings of the morning, and dwell it^ the utjtefmoft
paurts of the sea, even thi^e shalt thou find him to b? |x> thee
9^ thou art/' (Ps^* cxicxix. 6. 7rrr-10.) Thoi) mayst tliink
with sinful Adam and Eve, (G^. iii. 8,) to l^d^ thyself
fron^ the presence of the Lord i bu( thpn wiU <mipk}y fy^
that he observf^th thee ; i^nd '* be sure thy sin wiU ^d tll^
out." (Numb, s^x^ii. 23.) Thou mayst with Caif^ be ^u^fffji
put of the '' gracious presence of God,'' (Gen. ivvl6«} ^
cast out of hi9 church and mercy ; and with th^ d^nM^
thou mayst be turned out of the presence n( his blea^edijciii
and glory : hut thpu shalt n^ver be out of his essential -fsmr
sence, nor so escape the presence of his justice. (JoI| i«4$i
ii. 7.) It is the pre&fonce of hU grace where the apnght.iHP
promised here to dwell, (Psal* cxL }3,) a^d out of w)¥i^
they fear lest they be cast. " Cast me not aw^y from tlv jj^
presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me." (Psfd. li. jg
TH£ KI«OWi,£DQli OF GOD. 36
1 h) I Aod it id thfl " presence wher« i» fullness of joy/^
wbicb they aspiite after* (Psal, «?i. II.) But there is also a
pvosenee that the *' earth shall tremble at/' (Peal, cxiy.7,)
aii4 thai the '' wioh^ed shall perish at;" (Psal. Uviii. 2 ;) so
thai a partieiilajr providenqe must be remembered by them
thai helieveaadi^meaiber the immensity of God.
CJIAP. V.
4 Hie^Gtomity of God is the next attribute to be known,
which ako must have its work upon the soul. And» 1.
Vm also sheweth us that God is incomprehensible ; for man
esoiaot. comprehend eternity. When we go about to think
ef that Mrhiob hath no beginning nor end^ it is to our mind^
as^i^ l^la^se. a tliQiisand miles off is to o«r eye ; eren beyond
oor«ea«h; we cannot say there is no such plaoe, yea, we
hnoMT there is ; b^t we cannot see it : so we know there is
m Eteenal Being $ but our knowledge of his eternity is not
iatuitive, or comprehensive. Eternity therefore is the ob-
)fcl'#f ^our-fidthy and reverence, and admiration, but forbids
tar busy^ bold* inquiries. O the arroganoy of those ig^no*
milyhliaavned^ and foolishlynwise disputing men, that have
as'long ^perplexed, if not torn in pieces the church, about
tibe priority and posteriority of the knowledge and decrees
of iBcid^' when they confess them all vto be eternal 1 Aa if
they knew noiilMtt terms of priority and pcesentialiity, and
poiteriority, have not that signiiioaAcy in or about eternity,
ta they ,hav»e with ua !
- 2. The eternity of God mufit drawr the soul from trsasi- \ .
toqp^ -to eternal things. It is an everlasting bleasedneas, \ |
ffsen .the eternal God, that our souls are made for ; the i {
fariitea are made for a mortal happiness ; the imnnojrtal soul
flMttOi be ftdly content with anything that wiU have an
«mL As a capacity of this endless blessedniesa doth dif-
finDsaee man froiii the beasts that periidti ; so ^ disposition
Ittit -doth idiffecenpe saints fcom the ungodly ; and the frui-
jitm lOf it .doth difierence the glorified from the damned,
ihiuyhttt a silfything weve man, if he were capaWe^ of co-
dling <bdt these transitory things! What were ofir lives
wirtii»jand.what were ovir time wprth, and what were all our
MMWueawQith,. or what were all the world worth to us« or
■hat were we worth rouraelves 1 I would not undervalue
Jw'WiNrlia of God ; but truly if man had no other life to live
36 THE DIVINE LIF£.
but this, I should esteem him a very contemptible oreatare.
If you say there is some excellency in the brutes* I answer,
true ; but their usefulness is their chiefest excellency ; and
what is their use but to be a glass in which we may see the
Lord, and to be serviceable to man in his passage to eter*
nity ? They arc not capable of knowing, or loving, or enjoy-
ing God themselves : but they are useful to man that is
capable of this ; and so they have an everlasting end, and
this is their excellency. And therefore the atheist that de-
nteth an everlasting life to man, doth brihgliimself into a
far baser state than the brutes are in ; for the brutes have
an everlasting end, in promoting the happiness of man :
but if man have no everlasting end himself, there is no other
whose everlasting happiness he can promote. The anbe-
liever therefore doth debase his own soul, and the whole
creation : and faith and holiness advance the soul and all
thingis wiUi it, that are useful to our advancement. Hie
true believer honoureth his horse, his dog, his food and
raiment, and the earth he treadeth on, and every creature,
incomparably^ more than the infidel doth honour his own: or
any other's soul, or than he honoureth the greatest prinise
on earth. For the believer useth all things, even the vilest^
in reference to eternity ;- but the infidel useth his life and
soul but to a transitory end ; and takes the greatest prince
on earth to be but for a transitory use. And as eternity is
invaluable in comparison of time, so the use and excellency
that a believer doth ascribe to a bit of bread, or the basest
creature, in the sanctified improvement of it, is ten thou-
sand times, even unspeakably above the use and excellency
that an unbeliever ascribeth to his soul or his prim^e. He
that stampeth the image of a dog or a toad upon gold,- in-
stead of the image of the prince, and would have ten thousand
pounds worth go but for a farthing, doth not by a thousand
degrees so much debase the gold, as the infidel doth debase
his soul and all things. Infidelity is guilty of the de-
struction of all souls, and the destruction of all mercies,
and the destruction of all divine revelations, of all graces,
i>f all ordinances, and means, and of the destruction of tlie
whole creation that was made for man: for he that de-
stroyeth the end, destroyeth all the means : but the infidel
destroyeth and denieth the end of every one of these,' and
holiness only doth give them up, and use them to their ends*
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 37
. 1.' He is guilty of the destruction of all souls : For as
much as in him lies they are destroyed, while they are all
made useless to the end for which they were created. If
there be no other life and happiness everlasting, what are
souls good for? What is the reasonable creature good for?
Is it to be happy here? In what? IJere is no happiness.
Is it iiv eating, and drinking, and sleeping? Why these are
to strengthen us for our service which tendeth to our end,
and therefore cannot be themselves our end. Is it not bet-
ter be without either meat, or drink, or sleep, in point of
happiness, so be it we also were without the need of them,
than to need them and have them for our need, especially
with the care and trouble which they cost us ? I had an
hundred times rather for my part, if it were lawful to desire
it, never have meat, or drink, or sleep, and be without the
need of them, as I had rather be without a sore, than to
have a plaister that will ease it, and be every day at the
pains to dress it. Brutes have some advantage in these
above men, in that they have not the care, and fear, and
sorrow of mind as we have, in the getting or keeping what
they have or need. If you go downward, and say that men
are made to govern brutes^ then what are brutes made for,
unless to dung the earth? And so the basest shall be the
end of the noblest, and Ood ipay be as wisely said to be for
man, because he is to govern him. Truly if there were no
everlasting life, but man were a mere terrestrial animal, I
.had rather never have been born, or should wish I had
^«en a man : I knew not what to do with myself, nor
fmploy the faculties of my soul or body, but they
'.seem to me as useless things. What should I do
r^ason^ if I had no higher an end than beasts?
i mind that knoweth that there is a
*^d, and that is capable of desiring
rang him, if it must be frustrated of
^ with a heart that is capable of the
jlting in his love, if I have no God to
a this life is ended ? Why have I a
ji, in fuller vision and fruition, if I
thing ? What then should I do with
ily I know not, if I were fully of this
I should turn bjrute in my life agree-
or whether I should make an end of
Sd TAK Dt>fiK£ LIFE.
ttiy life to b« eas^d of a useless but4en ^ l^iit confident I am
I should not know what to do with myself : I should bt
like a cashiered Holdier, or like one turned Out of his Mr-
tice, that knew not where to have work and wajgts : and if
you found me standing '• all day idle/' I must gir^ you the
reason, '' because no man hadi hired me/* Wha* do those
wretches Ao with their lives, that think they have no G9A
to serve and seek, or future happiness to attain? Ae mea
. use to say of naughty ministers, so- -tnay I say of all tnan<^
kind according to the doctrine of the infidels: A^aorry
Cailor may make a botcher, or a bad shoemaker may make
a coWer, and a broken mercer may be a pedler ; but a
naughty priest is good for nothing (and it is tvue of him as
such). And as Christ himself s^th, (Mattw v. 13, 14,) ''Ye
are the salt of the earth : but if the salt have lost its sa^
vour, wherewith shall it be salted ? it is thenceforth good
for nothing, but to be <^ast out, and to be trodden under
foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. Men do. not
light a candle to put it under a bushel.'* So I say of the
reasonable creature* Tlie grass is useful for the beasts : the
beasts are serviceable unto man : a swine diat cannot serve
you living, is useful being dead. But if there were no 43od
to seek and serve, and no life but this for as to hope tof,
for aught I know man were good for nothing. What were
light good for, if there were no eyes ? or eyes, if there were
no li^t to see by? What is a watch good for, bat tatell
the hour of the day ? All the curious parts and workman^
ship of it, is worth no more than the metal is worth, if il be
not useful to its proper. end* And what reason, and will
and affections in man are good for I know not, if not to
seek, to please and to enjoy the Lord ! Take ofi* this poise,
and all the wheels of my soul must stand still, or else do
worse.
2. The infidel and ungodly man that looks not aft^an
eternal end, deiii;royeth cdl the mercies of God, and makes
them as no mercies at all. Creation and our being is'a
mercy ; but it is in order to our eternal end. Redemption
by Christ is an unspeakable mercy ; but it is denied by the
infidel, and rejected by the ungodly. What is Christ worth,
and all his mediation, if there be no life for man but this?
Peace and liberty, health and life, friends and neighbours,
food and raiment, are all mercies to us, as a ship and sails
THB KNOWLEDGE OF ODD. ;)9
are to the mariner, or a fair way, or horse, or ion to a tra-
veller: but if by denying our eternal end, you make our
voyage or our journey vain, these mercies then are little
worth : no more than a ship on the land, or a plough in the
sea, or a horse to him that hath no use for him^ And O !
what an ungrateful wretch is that, who will deny all the
mercies of God to himself, and to all others! For^ once
deny the use and the eternal end, and you deny the mercy
3. He that believeth not^ or seeks not after an eternal
and, deetroyeth all the doctrine, law and goveminent of
God : for all is but to lead us to diis end. All the holy
Seriptures, the precepts of Christ, and his holy example,
tiie covenant of grace, the gifts and miracles of the Holy
Ghost, the light and law of nature itself, are all to bring us
to our eternal end : and therefore he that denieth that end,
lolh cancel them all, and cast them by as useless things.
4. And he denieth all the graces of the Spirit: For
wkat use is there for faith, if the object of it be a falsehood ?
What use for hope, if there be no life to be hoped for ?
What use for holy desires and love, if God be not to be
•joyed? Grace is but the delusion and deformity of the
ml, if the infidel and ungodly be in the right.
I 6r They destroy also all the means of our salvation, if
[Im deny salvation, which is the end. To what purpose
I Asuld men study, or read, or hear, or pray, or use either
^JMBtments or any other means, for an end that is not to be
Indt To what end should men obey or suffer, for any such
^Twifliat is not attainable ?
^^K^ OL Tea, they do let loose the soul to sin, and take off
^^■Rrfhetoal restraint. If there be no eternal end, and no
^^vftttd or puniabment but here, what can effectually hinder
^^Blnea of this opinion from stealing, whoredom, or any
Thtty^ when it may be done with secrecy ? What should
jflwr the revengeful man from poisoning or secretly murder-
StUs enemy« or setting his house on fire in the night? If
^■Mw a man or woman that believes no life to come, I
^^^Biitfior granted they are revengeful, thieves, deceivers,
^^^pieatora, or any thing that is bad, if they have but temp-
"^Bb, and secret opportunity. For what hath he to seek
!9ttte pleasing^ of his flesh, that thinks he hath no God to
hhJm^ or please-, or no future reward or punishment to ex-
j^pft? He that confesseth himself an infidel, to me. do^
i
It
r10
40 THE 0lViBi£ LIFE.
confess himself to be in all things else as bad as ever he^
eati or dare< Honesty is renounced by that man or woman
that profef^s themselves to be atheists or infidels : methink»
in congruency with their profession they should take it for
a wrong to be called or reputed honest ! If you tell me that
heathens had a kind of honesty ; I must tell yon again, that
most heathens believed the immortality of the soul, and
that kind of seeming honesty which they had was only in
those of them that thus expected a life to come. But those
that believe not another life where man is to have hi»
punishment and reward, have nothing like to honesty in^
them, bat live like greedy, ravenous beasts, where they are
from under the laws and government of them that look for
another life. The cannibals that eat men's flesh, and some
such savages as they, are the nations that expect no lifier
but this. It is believed so commonly by all the civil infi-
dels and Turks, as shews it to be a principle that nature
doth reveal.
7. Yea, the whole creation that is within the sight of
man, is destroyed opinionatively by the infidels that look
for no immortal life : for all things were made to further
our salvation : the ^'heavens to declare the glory of Qod, and
the firmament to shew his handy work,'' and all creatures to
be our glass in which we must behold the Lord, and our
book in which we must read and learn his nature and his
will. The sun is to light us, and maintain our life, and the
life of other lower' creatures, while we prepare for immor-
tality : the earth is to bear us, and to bear fruit for us ; and
the trees and plants, and every creature, to accommodate
and serve us, while we serve the Lord and pass on to eter-
nity. And therefore the atheist that denieth us our eter-
nity, denieth the usefulness of all the world. What were all
the creatures here good for, if there were no men ? The
earth would be a wilderness, and the beasts would for the
most part perish for want of sustenance, and all would be
like a forsaken cottage that no man dwelleth in, and doth
iio good ; and if man be not the heir of immortality, they
can do him no good. All creatures are but our provision
in the way to this eternity : and therefore if there were no
eternity, what should we do with them? What should we
do with ways, and pavements, or with inns for travellers, or
with horses or other provision for our journey, if there were
THE I^MOWLKDOB OF GOD. 4f
no travelling that way ? And who will travel to a place that
is not, or a city that is no where but in his brains, besides
a madman ? It is evident therefore that as all the tools in
a workman's shop, are made useless to him if he be forbid-
den to use his trade, and all the books in my library are
useless, if I may not read them to get knowledge ; so all
creatures under heaven are made useless and destroyed
doctrinally by the atheist, that thinks there is no eternal
life for which they should be used. I must seriously pro-
fess, if I believed this (being in other things of the mind I
am), I knew not what to do with any thing. What should
I do with my books, but to learn the way to this .eternity ?
What should I do with my money, if there be no treasure
to be laid up in heaven, nor friends to be made with the
mammon abused commonly to unrighteousness? What
should I do with my tongue, my hands, my time, my life,
myself, or any thing, if diere were no eternity ? I think I
should dig my grave, and lay me down in it and die, and
perish, to escape the sorrows of a longer life that must be
my companions.
Remember then. Christians, and still remember it, that
Eternity is the matter of your faith and hope ! Eternity is
your portion and felicity ! Eternity is the end of all your
desires, and labours, and distresses I Eternity is your reli-
gion, and the life of all your holy motions ; and as without
the capacity of it, you would be but beasts, so without the
love and desire of it, and title to it, you would be but
wicked and miserable men. Set not your hearts on transi-
tory things, while you stand near unto eternity. How can
you have room for so many thoughts on fading things,
when you have an eternity to think on? What light can
you see in the candles or glow-worms of this world, in the
sunshine of eternity ? Oh, remember when you are tempted
to please your eyes, your taste, and sensual desires, that
these are not eternal pleasures ! Remember when you are
tempted for wealth or honour to wrong your souls, that
these are not the eternal riches ! Houses and lands are not
eternal ! Mieats and drinks are not eternal ! Sports and pas-
times, and jocund sinful company are not eternal! Alas,
-^!jp short I how soon do they vanish into nothing ! But it
w^Cfodj rand our dear Redeemer that are eternal! The
flower of beauty withereth with age, oi by the mpp\ti:gVA%»\;
42 THE OIVlNfi LIFK.
of a short dittaM i the honours pf tho world lure boi m
dream; your grares will bury all iU glory» Down comes
the prince^ the lord, the gallant, and suddenly taket his
lodgings in the dust. The corpse that wss pampered and
adorned yesterday, is a clod lo*day. The body that was
bowed to, atteaded and applauded but the other day,, is
now interred in the vault of darkness, with worms and
moles. To-day it is corruption and a most loathsome
thing, that lately was dreaming of an earthly happiness.
One day he is striTing for riches and pre*eminences» or glo-
r3ring and rejoicing in tbem,, Uiat the next day may be
snatched away to helU O fix not yoi^ minds on fading
things, that perish in the using, and by their yani^hing
mock you that set. your hearts upon them. You wiU not fix
your eye and mind upon every, bird that flyeth by you, as
you will on the houses that you must dwell in : nor will you
mind every passenger, as you will do your friends that still
live with you. And shall transitory vanity be minded by
you above eternity 1 .
d. It is Eternity that must direct you in your estimate of
all things. It is Uiis that sheweth you the excellency of
man above the beasts : it is this that tells you the worth of
grace, and the weight of fiin« the preciousness of holy ordi-
nances and helps, and the evil of hindrances and tempta-
tions ; the wisdom of the choice $md diligence of the saints,
and the folly of the choice, and negligent, sinful lives of the
ungodly; the worth of God's favour, and the vanity of
man's; and the differesice between the gpdly and the un-
sanctified world, in point of happiness.
Were not grace the egg, the seed,, the earnest of an
eternal ^lory, it were not so glorious a thing. But O how
precious are all those thoughts, desiresy. delights and breath-
ings of the soul, that bring us on to a sweet eternity ! Even
those sorrows, and groans, and tears are. precious that lead
tQ an eternal joy ! Who would n^t willingly obey the holy
sMioos of the Holy Spirit, that is but hatching and prepar-
ing us for eternity ! This is it that makes a Bible, a ser*
mon, a holy book, to be of greats value than lands and
lordships. It is eternity that makes the Uluminated soul
so fearful of sinning, so diligent in holy duties, so cheerful
and resolved in suffering, because be believelh it is all for
an eternity. A Christian in the holy ats^nblies, and in his
THE KNOWLSDOB OF GOD. 43
reading, folirtdng, pny^r, conference, is laying op for eTer*
lafttittgt when the worldUng in the market, in the field or
shop, » making provision for a few days or hours. Thou
glortest in thy riches and pre-eminence now, but how long
wilt thou do so ? To-day that bouse, that land is thine ;
but canst thou aay, it shall be thine to-morrow? Thou
canst not: but the believer can truly say, My Ood, my
Christ, is mine to-day, and will be mine to wll eternity ! O
death ! thou canst take my friendB ftom me, and my worldly
riches from me» and my time» and strength, and life from
me! but take my God, my Christ, my heaven, my portion
from me, if thou canst ! My ain is all thy sting and strength !
But where is thy sting when sin is gone ? and where is thy
strength when Christ hath conquered thee ? Is it a great
matter that thou depriv&it me of my sinfol, weak, and trou-
blesome friends, when against thy will thou bringest me to
my perfect blessed friends with whom I must abide for ever !
Thou dost indeed bereave me of these riches ; but it is that
I may possess the invaluable eternal riches ! Thou eodest
my time, thsU; I may have eternity ! Thou castest me down,
that I may be exalted ! Thou takest away my strength of
life, that 1 may enter inix) life eternal! And is this the
worst that death cain do 1 And shall I be afraid of this ? I
willingly lay by my clothes at night, that I may take my
rest, and I am hot loath to pnfc off the old when I must put
on new. The bird that is hatched is not grieved becausie he
must leave the broken sbelL Nor is it the grief of man of
beast that he hath left the womb ! DeaUi doth but open the
womb of time and let us into eternity^ and is the second
birth-day of the soul. Regeneratioin brings <us intO' the \
kingdom of gmee i and death into the kingdom of gkNtyi^
Blessed are they that have their part in the i new birth ,of
graoe and the first resurrection firom the death of 6ia;for
to vuch the natural deadi will be gain ; and they riiall have
their part in tbe second rssunrection, and on them the ever-
lasting death shall have no power. O sirs, it is Eternity
that telleth you^hat you should mind, and be, and* do!
and that tumeth the scales in a}l things where it is con-
cerned. Can you sleep in sin «o near eternity! Csn you
play and laugh before you are prepared for eternity! Can
you think him wise that selleth his eternal joy, for the ease,
the mirth, the pleasure of a moment ! and trifleth away the
44 TUK DIVINE LIFE.
time in which he must win or lose eternity ! If these mea
be wise, there are no fools ! nor any but wise men in bed-
lam ! Dare thy tongue report, or thy heart imagine, that
any holy work is needless, or a heavenly life too much ado^
or any suffering too dear, that is for an eternity ! O happy
souls that win eternity with the loss of all the world ! O
bless that Christ, that Spirit, that Light, that Word, that
Messenger of God, that drew thy heart to choose eternity
before all transitory things ! That was the day when thou
began to be wise, and indeed to shew thyself a man ! Thy
wealth, thy honour, thy pleasure will be thine when the
sensual world hath nothing to shew, but sin and hell, of all
they laboured for. Their pleasures, honours, and all die,
when they die ; but thine will then begin their perfection !
The hopes of the ungodly are like an addle egg that when it
is broken sends forth nothing but an odious stink, when
another sends forth the living bird. O all you worldlings,
rich and poor, you dream, you play, you trifle, because you
labour not for eternity ! Even worldly princes, and nobles
of the earth, your glory is but a squib, a flash, a nothing, in
comparison of the eternal glory which you lose ; you are
doing nothing when you are striving for the world ; you are
trifling and befooling your immortal souls while you are
grasping a shadow, the uncertain riches. It is the believer
whom you despise, that seeks for something, that loseth
not his labour, that shews himself a mail of reason, who is
caring, and studying, and labouring, and praying, and
wiitching, and suffering for eternity. Why is a day in the
courts of God/ so much better than a thousand in the tents
or palaces of wickedness, but because it is the exchange
where we have news of heaven, and trade for an eternity ?
And why is it better to be a door-keeper in the house of
God, than to flourish in the prosperity of sinners, but be-
cause God's house is the porch or entrance of an eternity of
delights, and the lowest room among the saints affords us
a better prospect into heaven, than the highest state of
worldly dignity! The ungodly are near to cutting down
when they flourish in their greatest glory. (Psal.xxxvii.2.20.)
Stay but a little, and he that flourisheth will be withered
and cast into the fire, and the righteous shall see it when he
is cut off, and shall seek him, but he is not to be found.
(▼er«e 34 — 36. 38.) For the enemies of God, and all
THE KNOWLEDGE OE GOD. 48
that are tar from him »hall perish ; <PsaU xcii. 9 ) xiii. 27 ;)
their desire shall perish ; (Psal» cxii. 10;) their hope shall
perish; (Prov. xi. 7; Job viii. 13;) their way shall perish;
<PsaL i, 6 ;) and themselves a^d all that they sought, and
loved, and delighted ia, shall perish. (Job xx* 7 ; 2 Pet. ii.
12; Rom. ii. 12; Heb. i. 11.) Even the visible heavens
and earth,, which they abused, shall be consumed with fire.
'' Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what
manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversaUon
and godliness, looking towards and waiting for the coming
and appearance of our Lord !" (2 Pet. iii. 11.) Shall any man
be accounted wise, that is not wise for eternal happiness ?
Shall any man be counted happy, that must be most miser-
able to eternity? In the name of God, Christian, I charge
thee to hold on, and look to thy soul, thy words, thy ways,
for it is for eternity ! O play not, loiter not/ do nothing by
the halves in the way to eternity ! Let the careless world do
what they will ; they despise, and know not what they do
despise ; they neglect, and know not what they do neglect |
but thou that seekest, and labourest, ^d waitest, know^t
what thou seekest, and labourest, and waitest for. They
sin and know not what they do. They know not what they
are treasuring up for an eternity. But thou knowest why
thou hatest and avoidest sin.
Sinners, be awakened by the ^1 of God ; do you know
where you are, and what you do? You are every man of
you stepping into eternity! Will you sin away, will you
loiter away, will you sell for nothing, an «temal glory ? Is
thy sinful liist, and gain, and mirth, and gluttony, and ex-
cess of drink, a price to set upon eternity ? If heaven be
no more worth to thee, art thou not as bad as Judas, that
for thirty pieces of silver would sell his Lord ? O eternity,
eternity ! what hearts have they that can so forget thee, neglect
thee, und disesteem thee, when they stand so near thee ! ■ O
sleepy souls ! do you never use to rub your eyes, and look
before you towards eternity ? and doth it not amaze you to
see whither it is that you are going? Merrily you run
down the hill ; but where is the bottom ! If you look butr
down from the top of a steeple, it may occasion an amaaiif
fear ; what then should it cause in you to look down ii/
hell, 'which is your eternity? No good can possibly"
small that is eternal ; ai^d no hurt or pain can be call?
/'
40 TUfi DIYkNA UH£, 1
tle» tfaat ia eleroal : an eternal : tAOtb*ach«w or uk sd&aaA
goul^or atone^ov fener^^wecem viUscy uo»peaikabio* Sul O!
whiit are tliose to an fttemiU. Idna of heaven^ and to ^n eter<»
nali aeate ^f the burning ivraik of God Almig^tf ! To- kt
outiof heaven a, day, and ifli hell thati day, ia a misecy now
ttnlutown to>ainnai8 ; bmt if it were aa many thouaand'^yetoi
aa the eanthhath aaBda^ik were a greater mtaery ;, bat to be
tfbere forever,. (kkth:miJce the miatery paat all hope^u and all
«ODoai«iDgk Q methiska the very ateaie of Eternity, ahould
firight^i the dnrnkardout of. the alehcMuae, a&d the elee|iy
aiaAer.QUtef hia aeeurity, and the luaiful, 8t>ortf«l, vohip^
t«04ifa:ainnef out of hia aenauBl deli^ta ! Methinka the very
name: of Eteraity afaoold caU off- the worldling to aeek be^
tiflOfi a a[iGffe enduring treasiure, and ahould take down the
gaUant'fl pride^ and bring men to look after other mattera
than the «ioat do look after ! Methinka to hear the name
^ Eternity ahoald with me« of any faith and reason^ even
UaataJl the beauty* and blur the glory, and aadden the de-
4iglil9,..and weaken the< temptationa of die worid, vid make
aU tta pileaaarei poiQ^>» and 8|>lendour, to be to our appre-
feenaiona as a aaaoke,. a ah»dow^ aa. the dirt that we tread
i^[)ani!. Methanfca to hear the name of Eternity ahoald lay ao
eidioea a neproach on sin^ and eo nakedly c^n the folly,
and ahame, and misery of the ungodly; and ao lively abew
iim^umd, and worth ^fi&ith and hoUneaa, that men ahould
1^ ac^on leaolved ija their tcfcoioe, aAdaMSt be; at the end of
an ungodly coiUisae, and need n<» mare tvorda to jaaake them
the reaolved aasvajiyts ^otf iho: l4ndt before tCHPftorrow ! Q
^aethnaka*, dhata thoughioCjetemity ahpuld, with atbeliever,
a«awer aJI temptatioM^ .adadputjUfe intjo^all hia f^rayeva and
endeaveiwra! If; we.we«a maver ao? cM,^ or d«dl, or sleepy,
one would think a cserious thought oC eternity ahoqid waim
na> quicken ua, and awaker ua 1 O Ghriatiana, ahall we kear
cnrelesaly^ or apeak careleaal^ of dbtmi^'i Shali w;epray
i^ldly>: or.labouii negligendy 4brt eternity ! 0> what im ocean
^ J^ wiUietesnity hoiuntoithe aanettfiediSi bkath neither
J^ka nor boibtom* . Ck what a; gulf of : miiiery and woe, will
eternity be to the ungodly ! W^nderfiri I; that on theii* d3fring
)H9da>ti)eyiqnak8a;ne(t withJibdihoroQr, and that they ciy^ not
mA. with gteateat lamentation^ to) thmk ) what a JiotitoinlesB
gulf of miaery their .dqpaalingaoula:aMiat<be cast into! To
lie: ih^.avei^emr^ enrer, under the mo»t heaviy wrath of God !
THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. 47
!• Ui« appoittled wages of ungodltaeis ; thisis the end
of wicked, ways*; tliiii is it that Binners chose* because
they would not live to God ! this they preferred, or ventared
9n, before a holy» heavenly life! aad this is it that believers
are labouring to escape in all their holy eare and diligence !
It is an infinite value that is put upon the blood of Christ*
the promises of God» the ordinances and means of graee*
and grace itsetf, and the poorest duties, of the poorest
saints* because they are for an infinite* eternal glory. No
mercy is small that tastes of heaven .(as all doth or should
do to the believer). No action is low thai aims at heaven. | }
And O how livdy should the reaoluticoiB and courage of
those men be* that are travelling* fighting* and watching
for eternity! How full should be their comforts* that are
fetched from tbe foresight of infinite eternal comfodrts ! As
all thijigs will presently be swallowed up in eternity* so me-
Uiinks the present apprehension of eternity should ^ow
swallow up all things else in the souL
Oigettm * But (saitfa the unbeliever) if God have made
man for eternity* it is a wonder that there are no more
lively impressions of so infinite a thing upon the souls of
all! Our sense of it is so small* that it makes me doubt
whetb«r we are made far-it/
Amwi^ Consider* l.Thatbenambe^ess* and sleep* mad
dea&* iA the very slate of an unholy soul! Hast thou oast
thyaetf into a sleepy* senseless disease* and wilt thou argue
thence against eternity ? This ia as af the blind diould con-
clude that there is no sun* or ihat tilie eye of man was not
made te( see it* hecause he hatb aa sight himself i or as>if
yon skouldthHik thai nmn hath aotany life or feelings be**
ea«se y«ur pakied limbs do not &el ! or that the stomach
was not m«4e for aseat, because the s t<raiadi8 of the aiek
abhoritl
. 2. And foit believetSi::!. You may see by their livns that
they kitVO; eome appreb^njuons ojf eternity: why else do
iil<^ differ from you* and deujr themselves* and displease
4ie W9vld and i)m ft^h itself ') ^hy do they set their hearts
above* i% they have not XwAy> thoughts of an eternity ?
%, Butiif you ask me^ Why their apprehensions are not
a th^Hisand tiuosea more Uv^ly abomt «o infinite a thii^ ; I
answer* 1. Their apprehenstons mast he suitable te their
state. Our slate have is a siate af imperfection; aad so
4& THE DIVINK LIFE.
will our apprefaeoftions be; but a perfect, state Mrill baVe
perfect apprehensions. It is no proof that the infant in the
womb is not made to come into iJiis world, and see the sun,
and converse with men, because he hath no apprehen-
sions of it. Our state here is a conjunction of the soul to a
frail distempered body ; and so near a conjunction that the
actions of the soul must have great dependance on the
body; and therefore our apprehensions are limited by its
frailty ; and the soul can go no higher than the capacity of
the body will allow : 2. And our apprehensions now are
fitted to our use and benefit: we are now believers, and
must live by faith; and therefore must be beholders, and
live by sense. If eternity were open to men's natural sight,
or we had here as clear and lively apprehensions of it, as
those have that are there, then it were no thanks, no praise
to us to be believers, or to obey, and live as saints! And
th^ Ood should not govern man, as man, here in the way,
by a law, but as a beast by sense, or as the glorified that
have possession. Where there are perfect apprehensions of
God and glory, there will be also perfect love, and joy, and
praise, and consequently perfect happiness ; and this were
to make earth and heaven, the way and the end, to be all
one. Perfect apprehensions are kept for a perfect state of
happiness. But here it is well if we have such apprehen-
sions as are fitted to the use of travellers and soldiers, as
will carry lis on, and prevail against the difficulties of
our course. If you had never been in London, you could
not have any such clear apprehensions of the place, as
those thai see it have ; and yet your imperfect apprehen-
sions might be sufficient to make you take a journey thither,
and you may come as safely and certainly to it, as if you
had seen it. Moreover, the body, the brain, which the soul
in apprehending now makes use of, cannot bear such appre-
hensions as are suitable to the thousandth part of the great-
ness of the object, without distraction. The smallest eye
may see the sun ; but the greatest ci^nnot endure to gaze
apon its glory ; much less if it were at the nearest approach.
It is a mercy of mercies to give us such apprehensions of
eternity, as are meet for passengers to bring us thither ;
and it is part of our mercy that those apprehensions are not
so great as to distract and overwhelm tis.
4. Lastly, The eternity of Qodmust teach the soul eon-
THK KNOWL£]>GB OF GOD. 48
tentediiess and patience under all labours, changes, suffer- |
ings and dangers that are here below. Believing soul, draw
near ; look seriously on eternity, and try whether it will not
make such impressions as these upon thee. Art thou weary
of labours, either of the mind or body ? Is not eternity long
enough for thy rest 7 Canst thou not afford to work out the
daylight of this life^ when thou must rest with Christ to
all eternity? Canst tUou not run with patience so short a
race, when thou lookest to so long a rest ? Canst thou not
watch one hour with Christ, that must reign with him to
all eternity ? Dost thou begin to shrink at sufferings for
Christ, when thou must be in glory with him for ever? How
short is the suffering ? how long is the reward ? Dost thou
begin to think hardly of the dealing of the Lord, because
his people are here afflicted, and made the scorn and by-
word of the world ? Why, is not eternity long enough for
God to shew his love and bounty to his people in ? Is not
the day at hand, when Lazarus and the rich worldling both
must hear, ''But now he is comforted, and thou art tor^
mented V* (Luke xvi. 25.) Did not that now come time
ienough which was the entrance of eternity? " Even Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith, for the joy that was
set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is set down at the right hand of the throne of Ood ! Con-
sider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds/'
(Heb. xii. 2, 3.) Dost thou grudge at the prosperity of the
wicked, and prevalency of the church's enemies? Look
then unto eternity, and bethink thee whether that be not
long enough, for the saints to reign, and the wicked to be
tormented. Wouldst thou have them in hell before their
time ? Dost thou begin to doubt of the coming of Christ,
or the truth of his promises, because he doth so long de-
lay ? O what is a thousand years to eternity! Is there not
yet time enougli before thee, for Christ to make good all ,
his promises in? Were not those disciples sharply but
justly rebuked as '* fools and slow of heart to believe," that
when their Lord had been but two days dead, were unbe-
lievingly saying, " We hoped this had been he that should
have redeemed Israel ?" O remember. Christian, in. all thy
darkness and ignorance of the difficult passages of Scrip-
VOL. XIII. E
50 THE D1VIN£ LIF£.
ture, or of Providence, that the things that are chained
to eternity, cannot be perfectly understood by him that
standeth in an inch of time : but when eternity comes,
thou shalt understand them. Remember when things seem
crooked in this world, and the best are lowest, and the
worst are highest, that eternity is long enough to set all
straight. . Remember when sinners crow and triumph, that
eternity is long enough for their complaints. In thy po-
verty, and pain, and longest afflictions, remember that eter-
nity is long enough for thy relief. If thy sorrow be long,
and thy comforts short, remember that eternity is long
enough for thy joys. Cannot we be content to take up
short in this life, when we believe eternity? Dost thou
stagger at the length or strength of thy temptations ? and
art thou ready to draw back and venture upon sin ? Why,
what temptation can there be, that should not be lighter
than a feather, if eternity be put against it in the scsdes?
In a word, if there be any man that escapeth the foolish
seductions of this world, and useth it as not abusing it,
and hath all his worldly accommodations as if he had
none, it is he that fixeth his eye upon eternity, and seeth
that the fashion of these lower things doth pass away.
(1 Cor. vii. 29 — 31.) No man can be ignorant of the neces-
sity and worth of a holy life, that discerneth that the eter-
nal God is the end of it. The right apprehensions of God's
eternity (supposing him our end, which is further to be
manifested in its place), is a most powerful antidote
against all sin, and a most powerful cojpposer of a distem-
pered mind, and a most powerful means to keep up all the
powers of the soul in a resolute, vigorous, cheerful motion
to the eternal God, for whom and by whom it was created.
CHAP. VI.
5. The next attribute of God, that is to make its impress on
us, is, that he is a Spirit. In this one are these three espe-
cially comprehended : 1. That he is simple, and not mate-
rial or compounded as bodies are : 2. That he is invisible,
and not to be seen as bodies are : 3. That he is immortal
and incorruptible, and not subject to death or change, as
bodies are*
1. As Simplicity signifieth unity, in opposition to multi-
plicity, we have spoken of it before. As it is opposite to
THE KNOWLEDGE OP OOD. frl
all materiality, mixture or composition, we are now to speak
of it : And the believing thoughts of God's immateriality
and simplicity, should have these three effects upon the
soul. 1. It should Mo much to win the heart to God, and
cause it to close with him as its felicity ; because as he
hath no matter or mixture, so he hath nothing but pure and
perfect goodness, and therefore there is nothing in him to
discourage the soul. The creatures have evil in them with
their good, and by contrary qualities do hurt us when they
help us, and displease us when they please us; but in God
there is nothing but infinite goodness. And should not the
soul adhere to him, where it is sure to find nothing but
simple, pure, and unmixed good? The creatures are all
liable to some exceptions : in one thing they help us, but
in another they hinder us ; in one thing they are suitable to
us, and in another thing unsuitable ! But God is liable to
no exceptions. This will for ever confound the ungodly
that give not up themselves unto him : they did even for a
thing of naught forsake that God that was purely and
simply good, and against whom they had no exceptions*
Had' there been any thing in God to discourage the soul, or
which his most malicious enemy could blame, the ungodly
soul had some excuse. But this will stop all the mouths of
the condemned, that they had nothing to say against the
Lord ; and yet they had no mind to him, no Hearts for him^
in comparison of the vain, vexatious creatures.
2. The Simplicity of God should make us know the im* i
perfection and vanity of all the creatures that are com- |
pounded things; and so should help to alienate us from
them. Our friends have in them perhaps much holiness,
but mixed with much sin. They may have much know-
ledge; but mixed with much ignorance. Their humility is
mixed with pride ; their meekness with some passions, their
love with selfishness, and a small matter will cause them to
distaste us: they may be much for God; but withal they
may do much against him. They help the church ; but
through their weakness they may lamentably detract or
wrong it : they are able to help us but in part ; and willing
but in part ; and they have usually interests of their own,
that are inconsistent with ours. We have no commodity,
but hath its discommodity : our houses, our families, our i
neighbours, our callings, our cattle, our land, our countries^
52 THIC DIVINE LIFE.
churches, miniBters, magistrates, laws and judgments, yea,
even health, and plenty, and peace itself, all hare Uieir
mixture of bitterness or danger, and those the most danger-
ous commonly that have least bitterness. But in God there
is. none of all this mixture, but pure uncompounded good.
** He is light, and with him is no darkness." (1 John i. 5.)
Indeed there is somewhat in God that an ungodly man dis-
tasteth, and that seemeth in the state that he is in to. be
against him, and hurtful to him: as is his justice, holiness,
truth, 8cc. But justice is not evil, because it doth condemn
a thief or murderer : meat is not bad, because the sick dis-
taste it. It is the cross position of the sinful soul, or his
enmity to the Lord that makes the Lord to use him as an
enemy.. Let him but become a subject fit for sweeter deal-
ing from God, and he is sure to find it. Leave then the
compounded, self-contradicting creature, and adhere to the
pure, simple Deity.
3. God's Simplicity must draw the soul to a holy sim-
plicity, that it may be like to God. We that serve a pure,
simple God, must do it with simple, pure affections, and not
with hypocrisy, or a double heart. His interest in us should
be maintained with a holy jealousy, that no other interest
mix itself therewith. The soul should attain to a holy sim-
plicity by closing with the simple, infinite God, and suffer-
ing, nothing to be a sharer with him in our superlative
affections. All creatures must keep their places in our
hearts, and that is only in a due subordination and sub-
serviency to the Lord : but nothing should take up the least
of that estimation, those affections, or endeavours that are
his own peculiar. God will not accept of half a heart : A
double-minded, double-hearted, double-faced, or double-
tongued person, is contrary to the holy simplicity of
a saint. As we would not bow the knee to any gods
but one, so neither should we bow the heart or life to
them. We should know what is God's prerogative, and
that we should keep entirely for him. A subordinate es-
teem, and love, and desire the creature may have, as it
revealeth God to us, or leadeth to him, or helpeth us in his
work : but it should not have the- least of his part in our
esteem, or love, or desire. This is the chastity, the purity,
the integrity of the soul. It is the mixture, impurity, cor-
ruption and confusion of our souls, when any thing is taken
THE KNOWLEDGE OP OOD. 53
in with God. See therefore. Christian, that in thy heart
thou have no God but one, and that he have all thy heart,
and soul, and strength, as far as thou canst attain it. And
because there will be . still in imperfect souls, some sinful
mixture of the creature's interest with God's, let it be the
work of thy life to be watching against it, and casting it
out, and cleansing thy heart of it, as thou wouldst do thy
food if it fall into the dirt. For whatever is added to God
in thy affections, doth make no better an increase there,
than the adding of earth unto thy gold, or of dung unto thy
meat, or of corrupted humours and sickness to thy body.
Mixture will make no better work.
It may be thy rejoicing, if thou have " the testimony of
a good conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity,
and not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, thou
hast had thy conversation in the world/' (2 Cor. i. 12.) It
is the state of hypocrisy, when one God is openly professed
and worshipped, and yet the creature lieth deepest and
nearest to the heart.
2. The Invisibility of God also must have its due effects*
upon us. And, 1. It must warn us, that we picture not
God to our eyesight, or in our fancies in any bodily shape.
Saith the prophet, " To whom will you liken God ? or what
likeness will ye compare unto him ?" (Isa. xl. 18. 25.) ** No
man hath seen God at any tim6 ; the only begotten Son
which is in the bosom of his Father, he hath declared him,"
(John i. 18,) and therefore we must conceive of him but as
he is declared, " Not that any man hath seen the Father,
save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father." (John
vi. 46.)
If you ask me. How then you should conceive of God,
if not in any bodily shape ? I answer. Get all these attri-
butes, and relations of God to make their proper impress
upon thy soul, as now I am teaching you, and then you will
have the true conceiving of God. This question therefore is
to be answered at the end of this discourse, when you have
seen all the attributes of God together^ and heard what im-
pression they must make upon you.
2. This must teach us, to think most, highly of the
things that are invisible, and more meanly of these visible
things. Let it be the property of a beast, and not of a man,
to know nothing but what he seeth or hath seen : Let it be
64 TUU I>lVINli; LIF£.
the mark of the brutish infidels, aod not of Christians, iq
doubt of the invisible things, because they are invisible ; or
to think that things visible are more excellent or sure. Au
the senses are more ignoble than the intellect, (a beast hav-
ing as perfect senses as a man, and yet no reasonable un-
derstanding) so the objects of sense must proportionably
be below the objects of the understanding, as such. The
grossest and most palpable objects are the basest. It is
the subtile part that is called the spirits ; which being drawn
out of plants or either vegetables, is most powerful and ex-
cellent, and valued, when the earthly dregs are cast away as
little worth. It is that subtile part in our blood that is
called the spirits, that hath 'more of the virtue of life, and
doth more of the works than the feculent, gross and earthly
part. The air and wind have as true a being as the earth,
and a more excellent nature, tiiough it be more gros9 and
they invisible. The body is not so ex<^eUent as the invisi-
ble souL Invisible things are as real as visible, and as
suitable to our more noble, invisible part, as visible things
to our fleshly, baser part.
.3. The Invisibility of God must teach us to live a life of
faith, and to get above a sensual life : and it must teach us
to value the faith of the saints, as knowing its excellency
and necessity. Invisible objects have the most perfect
excellent reality ; and therefore faith hath the pre-eminence
above sense. Natural reason can live upon things not seen,
if they have been seen, or can be known by natural evi-
dence (subjects obey a prince that they see not: and fear a
punishment which they see not : and the nature of man is
afraid of the devils, though we see them not). But faith
liveth upon such invisible things, as mortal eye did never
see, nor natural ordinary evidence demonstrate, but are re-
vealed only by the word of God : though about many of its
invisible objects, faith hath the consent of reason for its
encouragement. Value not sight and sense too much,
think not all to be mere uncertainties and notions that are
not the objects of sense. We should not have heard that
God is a spirit, if corporal substances had not a baser kind
of being than spirits : Intellection is a more noble opera-
tion than sense. If there be any thing properly called sense
in heaven, it will be as far below the pure intellective intui-
tion of the Lord, as the glorified body will be below the
THK KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 55
glorified soui. But what that difference will be^ we cannot
now understand. Fix not your minds on sensible things.
Remember that your God, your home, your portion, are un<^
seen : and therefore live in hearty affections to them, and
serious prosecution of them, as if you saw them. Pray, as
if you saw God, and heaven, and hell. Hear, as if you saw
him that sends his messenger to speak to you. Resist all
the temptations to lust, and sensuality, and every sin, as
you would do if you saw God stand by. Love him, and
fear him, and trust him, and serve him, as you would do if
you beheld him. ** Faith is the evidence of things not
seen/' (Heb. xi» 1.) Believing must be to you instead of
seeing ; and make you as serious about things unseen, as
sensual men are about things sensible. In every thing that
you see, remember it is he that is unseen that appeareth in
them. He lighteth you by the sun; he warmeth you by
Uie fire ; he beareth you by the earth. See him in all these
by the eye of faith.
3. The Immortality, Incorruptibility and Immutability of
God, must, 1. Teach the soul to rise up from these mortal,
corruptible, mutable things, and to fix upon that God who
is the immortal, incorruptible portion of his saints.
2. It must comfort and encourage all believers in the
consideration of their felicity ; and support them under the
failings of all mortal, corruptible things. Our parents, and
children, and friends, are mortal : they are ours to-day, and
dead to-morrow : they are our delight to-day, and our sor-
row and horror to-morrow : but our God is immortal. Our
houses may be burned; our goods may be consumed or
stolen ; our clothes will be worn out ;. our treasure here
may be corrupted* But our God is unchangeable, the same "^
for ever. Our laws and customs may be changed ; our -
governors and privileges changed ; our company, and em- -
ploymentlS, and habitation changed ; but our God is never
cbsAged. Our estates may change from riches to poverty ;
and our names that were honoured, may incur disgrace.
Our health may quickly turn to sickness, and oiir ease to
pain: but still our God is unchangeable for eveh Our
friends are inconstant and may turn our enemies : our
peace may be changed into war ; and our liberty into /
slavery : but our God doth never change. Time will change
customs, ftimiiies, and all things here ; but it changeth Hot
\
li
56 THE DIVINE LIFE.
our Ood. The creatures are all but earthen metal, and
quickly dashed in pieces: Our comforts are changeable;
ourselves are changeable and mortal : but so is not our God«
3. And it should teach us to draw as neai^ to God as we
are capable, by unchangeable, fixed resolutions, and con*
stancy of endeavours ; and to be still the same as we are at
the best.
4. It should move us also to be more desirous of pass-*
ing into the state of immortality, and to long for our un-*
changeable habitation, and our immortal, incorruptible
bodies, and to possess the '' kingdom that cannot be moved."
(Heb. xii. 28.) And let not the mutability of things below
much trouble us, while our Rock, our Portion, is unmove-
able. God waxeth not old: heaven doth not decay by
duration : the glory of the blessed shall not wither, nor
their sun set upon them, nor their day have any night;
nor any mutations or cotamotions disturb their quiet pos-
sessions. O love and long for immortality and incorrup-
tion!
CHAP. VII.
6* Having spoken of the effects of the attributes of God's
essence as siich, we must next speak of the effects of his
three great attributes which some call subsktential, that is>
his omnipotency, understanding, and will; or his infinite
power, wisdom, and goodness : by which it hath been the
way of the schoolmen and other divines to denominate the
three persons, not without some countenance from Scrip-
ture phrase. The Father they call the infinite power of the
Godhead ; and the Son, the wisdom and word of God, and
of the Father; and the Holy Ghost, the love and goodness
of God, of the Father^ and Son. But, that these attributes,
of power, understanding, and will, or power, wisdom, and
goodness, are of the same importance with the terms of
personality. Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we presume not
to affirm. It sufficeth us, 1. That God hath assumed these
attributes to himself in Scripture. 2. And that man who
beareth the natural image of God, hath power, understand-'
ing and will ; and as he beareth the holy moral .image of
God, he hath a power to execute that which is good, and
wisdom to direct, and goodness of will to determine for the
execution; and so while God is seen of us in this glass of
THE KNOWLEDOB OF GOD. 57
man^ we mast conceive of him after the image that in man
appeareth to us, and speak of him in the language of man,
as he. doth of himself.
And first. The Almightiness of God most make these im-
pressions on our souls. 1. It must possess the soul with
▼ery awful> reverent thoughts of Grod ; and fill, us continually
with his holy fear. Infinite Greatness and Power, must have
DO common, careless thoughts, lest we blaspheme him in
our minds, and be guilty of contempt. The dread of the
heavenly Majesty should be still upon us ; and we must
*' be in his fear all the day long." (Prov. xxiii. 17.) Not
under that slavish fear that is void of love, as men fear an
enemy, or hurtful creature, or that which is evil: for we
have not such a Spirit from the Lord, nor stand in a relfsi-
Uon of enmity and bondage to him : but reverence is neces-
sary ; and from thence a fear of sinning and displeasing so
great a God. '' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom.'' (Prov. i. 7 ; ix. 10 ; Psal. cxi. 10.) '' By it men
depart from evil.'' (Prov. xvi. 6.) Sin is for want of the
fear of God. (Luke xxiii. 40; Prov. iii. 7; Jer. v. 24; Ley.
XXV. 3(3.) The fear of God is often put for the whole new
man^ or all the work of grace within us, even the principle
of new life. (Jer. ii. 19 ; xxxii. 40,) And it is ofi;en put for
the whole work of. religion, or service of God. (Psal. xxxiv.
11 ; Prov. i. 29 ; Psal. cxxx. 4; xxxiv. 9.) And therefore
the godly are usually denominated, such as fear God. (PsaL
zv. 4; xxii. 23; cxv. 11. 13 ; cxxxv. 20; xxiv. 7. 9, S^.)
The godly are ** devoted to the fear of God." (Psal. cxix.
38.) It is our '' sanctifying the Lord in our hearts, that he
be our fear and dread." (Isa. viii. 13.) If we fear him not,
we take him not for our master. (Mai. i. 6.) Evangelical
grace excludeth not this feltr. (Luke xii. 5.) Though we re-
ceive a kingdom that cannot be moved, yet must our ac-
ceptable service of God, be with reverence and godly fear.
(Heb. xii. 28.) With fear and trembling we must work out
our salvation. (PhiL ii. 12.) In fear we must pass the time
of sojourning here. (1 Pet. i. 17.) In it we must con-
verse together. (Eph. v. 4.) Yea, holiness.is to be perfected
in the fear of God; (2 Cor. vii. !;> and that because we
have the promises. The most prosperous churches walk in
this fear* (Acts ix. 31.) It is a necessary means of pre-
venting destruction; (Heb. xi. 7;) and of attaining salva;
!
S6 THB DIVINE LIFE.
ttoti when we have the prottiset* (Heb. i. 7.) God pais
this fear in the hearts of those that shall not depart from
hlnu (Jer. xxxii. 40.) See therefore that the gr^ness of
the Almighty God possess thy soul continually with his
fear.
2. God's Almightiness ishould also possess us with holy
admiration of him, and cause us in heart and voice to mag-
nify him. O what a power is that which made the world
of nothing ! which upholdeth the earth without any founda-
tion but his will ! which placed and maintaineth all things
in their order in heaven and earth ! which causeth so greait
and glorious a creature as the sun^ that is so much bigger
than all the earth, to moVe so many thousand miles in a
few moments, and constantly to keep its time and course I
that giveth its instinct to every brute, and causeUi every
part of nature to do its office ! By his power it is that every
motion of the creature is performed, and that order is kept
in the kingdoms of the world. " He made the heaven and
the earth by his great power and stretched out arm, and
nothing is too hard for him: The greats the mighty God,
the Lord of Hosts is his name ; great ih counsel, and mighty
in works." (Jer. xxxii* 17 — 19.) "The greait, the mighty,
the terrible God.^' (Neh. ix; 32.) To him therefore that
alone doth great wonders we must give the greatest praise.
(Psal. cxxxvi* 4.) ** O how great are his works, and his
thoughts are very deep." (Psal. xcii. 5.) " Great is' our Lord
and of great power." (Psal. cxlvii. d.) And therefore in
Zion must he be great* (Psal. xcix. 12.) And his great and
terrible name muiit be praised «
3. In the church where he is known, must his name be
^reat4 (Psal. lxxvi» 1.) "For we know that the Lord is
great, and our God ifr above all gods." (Psal. cxxxv. &) His
saints delight to praise his greatttees. " ttess the Lord, O
my soul ! O Lord my God thou art vefy greet I Thou art
clothed with honour and majesty^ who coverest thyself
with light as with a garment, who streHeheist out the hea-
vens like a curtain, who Uyeth the beams of bis chambers
in the waters, who maketh the clouds his chariot, who
walketh upon the wings of the wind, who maketh his angels
spirits, his ministers a flame of fire,'* 8cc« (Psal. civ. 1—4.)
From Almightiness all things have their being, and therefore
must honour the Almighty " Alpha and Omega, the begin-
THE KNOWI^DOB OF GOD. 5A
mo^ and the ending; miith the Lord ; whidi is and which
was^ and which is to come, the Almighty/* (Rev. i. 8.) They
that magnify the Lord with the song of Moses and of the
Lamb aay, ** Great and marvellous are thy wcMrks, O Lord
God Almighty; just and true are thy ways thou King of
Saints." (Rev. xv. 2.)
3. The Almightiness of G od must imprint upon our souls
a strong and steadfast confidence in him» according to^the
tenor of his covenant and promises. Nothing more certain
than that impotency and insufficiency will never cause hon
to fail us, or to break his word. O what an encouragement
is it to the saints, that they are built on such an impregnable
rock, and that Omnipotency is engaged for them ! and O,
what a shame is this to our unbelief, that ever we should
distrust Omnipotency !
If God be Almighty, L Remember in thy greatest /l
wants, that there is no want but he can easily and abun- / /
dantly supply.
2. Remember in thy greatest sufferings, pains, or dan-
gers, that no pain is so great which he cannot mitigate and
remove, and no danger so great from which he is not able to /
deliver thee. The servants of Christ dare venture on the /
flames, because they trust upon the Almighty. (Daiu iii* :
16 — 18.) In confidence on Omnipotency they dare stand j
against the threatenings of the greatest upon earth. " We \
are not careful (said those three believers to the king) to
answer thee in this matter : if it be so, our God whom we \
serve is able to deliver us,*' See. He that is afraid to stsmd
upon a slender bow, or upon the unstable waters, ,is not
afraid to stand upon the earth ; and he that is afraid of rob-
bers when he is alone, is bolder in a conquering army ; what
will man trust, if he distrust Omnipotency f Where can we
be safe, if not in the love, the covenant, the hands of the
Almighty God ? When storms and winds had frighted the dis-
ciples, lest they should be drowned when Christ was in the
ship, their sin was aggravated by the presence of their power-
ful Lord, whose mighty works they had often seen ; ** Why
fear ye, (saith he) O ye of little faith !" (Matt. viii. 26.) Canr
not he rebuke our winds and waves ! and will not all obey
the rebukes of the Almighty? When thou hast a want that
God cannot supply, or a sickness that he cannot cure, or a
\
60 THE DIVINE LIFE.
danger that he cannot prevent^ then be thou fearfnl, and dis-*
trust him and spare not*
' 3. Remember also in thy lowest state, and in the church's
greatest sufferings or dangers, that the Almighty is able to
raise up his church or thee even in a moment.
If you say, that it is true Ood can do it, but we know
not whether he will; I answer, 1. I shall shew you in due
place, how far he hath revealed his will for such deliverances.
In sum, we have his promise, ** that all things shall work
together for our good,'' (Rom. viii. 28,) and what would we
have more ! Would you have that which is evil for you ?
2. At present, see that Omnipotency do establish thy
confidence so far as it is concerned in the cause. As 1. Be
sure that no work is too hard for the Almighty ; do not so
much as in the thoughts of thy heart, make question of his
power, and say with those unbelievers, " Can God furnish
a table in the wilderness ? can he give .bread also ? can he
provide flesh?" (Psal. Ixxviii. 19, 20.) If really thou dis-
trust not the power of God, believe then the most difficult
or improbable things, as well as the easiest and most proba-
ble, if God reveal or promise them. The resurrection
seemeth improbable to impotent man ; but God hath pro-
mised it; and nothing is difficult to Omnipotency. The
calling of the Jews ; the ruin of the Turk ; die downfall of
the Pope; the unity of Christians, do all seem to us unlikely
things ; but all things to God are not only possible but easy.
He is at no more labour to make a world, than to make a
straw, or make a fly. " Whatsoever pleased the Lord, that
did he in heaven and earth, in the sea and in the depths."
(Psal. cxxxv. 6.) Dost thou think it improbable that ever
all thy sins should be conquered ; and that ever thy soul
should live with Christ among the holy saints and angels ;
and that ever thy body, that must first be dust, should shine
as the stars in the firmament of God? And why doth it
seem to thee improbable % Is it not as easy to God as to
clause the earth to stand on nothing, and the sun to run its
daily course ? If God had promised thee to live a day
longer, or any small and common things, thou couldst then
believe him ; and is it not as easy to him to advance thee to
everlasting glory, as to cause thee to live another hour, or
to keep a hair of thy head firom perishing ? Sin is too
THK KNOWLfiDGK OF GOD. 61
Strong for thee to overcome, bat not for Ood. Death is too
strong for thee to conquer, but not for Christ. Heaven is
too high for thee to reach by thy own strength ; but he that
is there, and prepared it for thee, can take thee thither. Trust
God or trust nothing ; he that cannot trust in him shall
despair for ever ; for all other confidence will deceive him.
'* They that know his name, will put their trust in him ; for
the Lord hath not forsaken them that seek him." (Psal. ix.
10.) All those that trust in him shall rejoice, and ever shout
for joy, because he defendeth them. (Psal. v. 11.) ''Blessed
is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not
the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies/' (Psal. xl. 4.)
" Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." (Prov.
xxix. 25.) O what hath Almightiness done in the world ;
and what for the church ; and what for thee ; and yet wilt
thou distrust him ? '' O how great is the goodness that he
hath laid up for them that fear him ; which he hath wrought
for them that trust in him before the sons of men !" (Psal.
xxxi. 19.) " The Lord redeemeth the souls of his servants,
and none of them that trust in him shall be diesolate." (Psal.,
xxxiv. 22.) Are thy straits too great; thy work too hard?.
" Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also to him and he,
shall bring it to pass." (Psal. xxxvii. 5.) In thy lowest state
look up to the Almighty, and say, '' What time I am afraid,
I will trust in thee : In God have I put my trust; I will not
fear, what man can do unto me." (Psal. Ivi. 3, 4.) " The
Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer : my God ;
my strength ; in whom I will put my trust ; my buckler,
and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." (Psal.
xviii. 2.) He is a buckler to all that tri|st in him. '' Some
trust in chariots, apd some in horsei^; but we will remember
the name of the Lord our God.'* (Psal. xx. 7.) Trust not
in the creature ; that is, in vanity and infirmity. There is
not almightiness in man, or any other creature : ** It is bet-
ter therefore to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in.
man : it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence
in princes." (Psal. cxviii. 7, 8.) What a working passage
is that, Jer. xvii. 5 — 7, "Thus saith the Lord, cursed.be
the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm,
and whose heart departeth from the Lord ! for he shall be
like the heath in the deserts, and shall not see. when good
f
t
I
I
03 THE PIVINE LIFE.
cometh. Btessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord,
whose hope the Lord is ; for he shall be as a tree planted
by the waters^ and that spreadeth oat her roots by the river,
and shall not see when heat cometh -•*'
2. Trust also in God, as one that is assured that no
enemy is too strong for the Almighty : Alas, what is an army
of dust to Omnipotency ! If the Lord do but arise, his
enemies will be scattered, and they that hate him will flee
before him ; as smoke is driven away, and as wax melteth
before the fire, the wicked shall perish at the presence of the
Lord; (Psal. Ixviii. 1, 2.) While the Lord of Hosts is for
us, we need' not fbar if hosts come against us ; at worst
they can but kill our bodies ; and " greater is he that is in us,
than he that is in the world." (1 John iv. 4.) O what a
match have the miserable enemies of the church ! what a
work do they undertake? what a desperate attempt do they
enterprise? to strive against Heaven, and overcome Omni-
potency !
3. Trust in the Lord, as one that believeth that no means
or instruments are too small or weak for Almightiness suc-
cessfully to use. No matter who the instrument be, how
mean, and weak, and despicable, if it be but an Almighty
hand that uses it. A few poor fishermen and despised, peo-
ple, shall pull down Satan's kingdom in the world, and con-
quer the greatest, and bring in the nations to the faith, if
Omnipotency be with them.
4* The Almightiness of God must fill our hearts with
courage and resolution in his cause, and make us go on with
the greatest alacrity in his work. Though we must be doves
and lambs for innocency and meekness ; yet must we be
soldiers for valour and stability. Shall we flag or shrink,
that have Omnipotency on our side! Whoever scorneth
thee, hateth thee, threaten^th thee, imprisoneth thee, is not
the Almighty enough to set against them all, for thy encou-
ragement?
5. The Almightiness of God must be the comfort of all
that have interest in him. O, did the blind world but see
him that his Omnipotent, or know the strength that is en-
gaged for the weakest saint, they would soon see which is
the strongest side, and which to cleave to for their security.
O blessed people, that have the Almighty on their side, and
THE KNaWLi£DQ£ OF GOD. tf.t
engaged with them against their enemies, and to do their
works, aiMl answer their desires ! How oan any of them
perish when the Aknighty is engaged for their salvation !
'' The Father is greater than all, and none shall take them
out of his hands." (John x. 29.) How glad would men be
in the beginning of a war, to know which side will prove the
stronger, that they may join with that. Can the side that
God is on be conquered ? If you are wise, observe what
cause is his, and let that be yours. " It is hard to kick
against the pricks." Woe to those souls that the Almighty
is against, aad that dash themselves on the Rock that they
should build on.
CHAP. Vlli.
7. The next attribute that must work upon us, is the Infinite
Wisdom or Oomiscience of Ood. '' His understanding is
infinite.'^ (Psal. cxlvii. 5.) And the impressions that this
should make upon our souls, are these :
1. Delight in wisdom, that you may in your places be
like to Qod. The new man is renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created him." (Col. iii. 10.) If God
be infinitely wise^ those then are the most excellent that are
the wisest. Ignorance is the souFs blindness, and the pri-
vation of the image of God on the underatanding. '* Wis-
dom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness."
(Eccles. ii. 13.) To desire, as Adam did, any of that know-
ledge that God hath reserved to himself^ or is unnecessary
for ua, is not indeed to be wise in our desires : unnecessary
knowledge is but a trouble. But to know the Lord, and his
revealed will, and the way of life, is the light and glory of
ottr minds. He that hath Lost his eyesight, hath lost his
prinpipal natural delight, and is as one out of the world
while he is in it. And the ignorant souls that are void of
the heavenly illumination, must needs be void of the de-
lights of gcace ; and though they live in. the visible church,
where the beauty of holiness is the excellency of the saints,
yet they do not see this beauty ; but are like the infidels
that are out of the church, while they are in it. The blind
are in continual danger; they know not where they set their
feet ; and they know not when to be confident, nor when to
fear : sometimes they are afiraid where there is no cause,
bec^ause there may be cause for ought they know; and
CML THE DIVINE LIFE.
sometimes they are feariess a^ the very brink of death, and
little think of the evil that they are near. Why do our poor
deluded people so boldly live in an unconverted state, but
because they know not where they are ? Why do they so
carelessly lie down and rise in an unsanctified condition,
unpardoned, unready for death and judgment, and under the
condemnation of the law, but because they know not the
misery or danger in which they stand ? Why do they go ou
so carelessly and wilfully in sin, and despise the counsel of
their teachers, and of the Lord, and take a holy life as need-
less, but because they know not what they do? Men couUI
not go so quietly or merrily to hell, with their eyes open, as
they do when they are shut by ignorance. Whence is it,
that such multitudes are still ungodly, under all the teach-
ings and warnings of the Lord ; but because " they have
their understandings darkened, being alienated from the
life of God, by the ignorance that is in them, because of
the blindness of their heart ; and therefore many being past
feeling, have given them over to lasciviousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness." (Ephes. i v. 18, 19.) Sin is the
fruit of folly, and the greatest folly : they are '' fools that make
a jest of it." (Prov. xiv. 9.) And it is for " want of wisdom
that they die." (Prov. x. 21 ; i. 32.) The ignorant are prisoners
to the prince of darkness. (Ephes. vi* 12 ; v. 8.) " Know-
ledge is despised by none but fools." (Prov. i. 7. 22.) The
conquest of so many subtle enemies, the performance of so
many spiritual duties, which we must go through, if we will
be saved, are works too hard for fools to do* The saving of
a man's soul, is a work that requireth the greatest wisdom,
and therefore the illumination of the mind is God's first
work in the conversion of a sinner. (Acts xxvi. .18 ; Ephes.
i. 18.) If Infinite Wisdom communicate to you but the
smallest beam of heavenly light, it will change your minds,
and make you other men than before, and set you on an-
other course ; wisdom will be your guide, and keep you in
safe paths; it will cause you to refuse the evil, and to choose
the good : it will shew you true happiness, and the 3vay to
obtain it; it will cause you to foresee the evil, and escape it,
when fools go on and are destroyed. (Prov. xxii. 3») Wisdom
will teach you to know the season, and redeem your time,
and walk exactly, when folly will leave you to too late re-
pentance. (Ephes. V. 15.) There is not a soul in hell but was
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 65
broaght thither by sinful folly ; nor is there a soul in hearen
(of them at age) but by heavenly wisdom was conducted
thither. In worldly matters the wicked may seem wisest ;
and many a saint may be very ignorant ; but when you see
the end, you will confess that those were the wise men that
had wisdom to repel temptations, and to refuse the enticing
baits of sin, and to make sure of everlasting joys.
O therefore apply your hearts to wisdom ! Go to Christ
for it, who is " the wisdom of God ;" (I Cor. i. 24 ;) and is I
appointed by him to be " our wisdom." (1 Cor. i. 30.) He will
teach it you, who is the best Master in the world, so you
will but keep in his school, that is, his church, and will
humbly learn as little children, and apply yourselves sub-
missively to his Spirit, word and ministers. *' Ask wisdom of
God, that giveth liberally and upbraideth not" with former
ignorance. (James i. 6.) Think not any pains in holy means
too much to get it. *' If thou wilt receive the words of
God, and hide his commandments with thee, and incline thy
heart to wisdom, aiid apply it to understanding ; yea if thou
cries t after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for under-
standing ; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for
her as for hid treasures, then shalt thoa understand the fear
of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God ; for the Lord
giveth wisdom ; out of his mouth is knowledge and under- ^
standing." (Prov. ii. 1 — 6.) And fear not being a loser by
thy cost or labour. For ' '* Happy is the .man that findeth
wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding ; for the
merchandise of it is better than silver, and the gain thereof
than of fine gold : she is more precious than rubies, and all
the things thou canst desire, are not to he compared to her ;
her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are
peace." (Prov. iii. 13 — 18.)
2. The Infinite Wisdom of God, must resolve you to take ./
him for your principal Teacher, Counsellor and Director, in
all your undertakings. Who would go seek the advice of a
fool, when he may have Infallible Wisdom to direct him !
In a work of so great difficulty and concernment, a work
that hell, and earth, and flesh, opppseth; a work that
our everlasting state dependeth on ; I think it behoveth
08 to take the best advice that we can get. And who
knoweth the will of God, like God ! or who knoweth the
VOL. XIII. F
66 THE DIVINK LIFE.
certain means of talvation, like him that ia the
and Giver of Salvation! Would you know whether tt
be beat to live a mortified holy life; who shall be yoor
counsellor ? If you adviao with the flesh, you know that it
would be pleased. If you advise with the world of wioked
men, you know that they would be imitated, and judgef ais
they are; and ^jre not like to he wise for you, that are so
foolish for themselves, as to part with heaven for a merry
dream. If you advise with the devil, you know he w>ould be
obeyed, and have company in his mis^y. You can adv^ise
with none but God, but such as are your enemies : And will
you ask an enemy, a deadly enemy, what course you should
take to make you happy? Will you ask the devil how you
may be saved? Or, will you ask the blind, ungodly world,
what course you should t^ake tp plea&e the Lord? Or, will
you ask the flesh, by what means you may aubdue it and
become spritual ? If you take advice of Scripture, of the
Spirit, of a holy, well-^informed minister or Christian, or of
a renewed weU-^informed eonscience^ I take this for your
advising with the Lord ^ but besides theae that are his
mouth, you can ask advice of none but enemies. But if
they were never so much yow friends^ and wanted wisdom,
they could but ignorantly seduce you* And do you think
that any of them all, is as wise as God ? It b the constant
eourse of 9. worldly maa to advise with the world, and of
oama) men to advise with t^ flesh ; and therefore it ia that
they are hurried to perdition. Thefleah ia brutish, and will
lead you to a brutish life; and ^^ if you lite after it,'* lu^
doubtedly ^ you shall die;*' (^oauniiL 13;)and^if you sow to
it, you shall but reap corruption/^ (Cial.. vu &» 7.) If you are
tempted to lust, will you aak the flesh that tempteth you,
whether you should yield ? If the> oup of excess be ofiered
to yoU|, or flesb^pfeasing feasts prepared foo you, will you
ask the flesh whether yxMt shjould take- tbeM 01: rafuse them 1
You may easify know i^dfiat ooiuisel it will giflce you* The
counsel of God, mm! of your fle€^, are contrary^; and there*
fbreHhe live* of the carnal find spiiitual man are oontraryi
And will you v^ature on the advioe of a brutish appetite^
and refuse the. counsel of the alb-knowing God !^ Such aa
is your guide and counseHor snob will b» your end. Nev«r
man miscarried by obeying Qod ; wad nevwr msA' sped, well
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 67
hf ^fteykig (he fl^^ : God Uadeth no man to perdition, And
tht fl^h kadeth tib man to his sahatioA. God's motions
9t^ iAl for dttr et^ftxal good, though they seem to be fOr oui^
t^&ptrrftl hurt: The motions of the flesh are for dni
eleMiJ hiirt> though at preseiit they seem to be for ou^
eoif ornl benefit. If at any time you be at a loss ; and youf
{f^Q^ri fHendd, or your cominodity, or pleasure adviseth yoU
otife Way, and the ivord of God, and his faithful ministers!
advise you another way ; use but your reason well, and con-
sid^ whether God or those that contradict him be the wiser,
tild aocordingly suit your practice. Alas, man, thy fHend
is i^ftorant, and knows not what is good foi* himself. Thy
flesh it }gn<)rant, and knows not what is good for thy sonl !
Bttt God kAoweth all things* Your flesh and friends do fe^t
#hat pleaseth theAi at present, and judge accordingly : but
lirhat win be heif^afler they understand not, oi^ consider not:
But Qod khoweth aa well what will be, as what is : he
co^selleth yon as one that knoweth how your actions wiff
appear M last, and what it is that ^ill sare you oi* undo yoo ,
Ut all etettiity'. If you be but sick, it is two to one biit
the ccmndel of yotir physician and of your appetite will dilFer.
And If you obey your physician before your appetite, for
70111* health 61* life, should you not obey God before it, for
yotff isalvAflion? Do you think in your consciences thstt
aAy thftt freri^ade y6u to a cslreless, worldly, fleshly life, are
as wiirfe a£s G6d that persuadeth you to the contrary ? You
ikte Ittt Sa;y so with your tongues ! and yet the ihost dat*e
say so #Mh their lives. O how justly do the tiiigodly perish,
tfakt def^i'ately choose a brutish appetite, a malignant
world^, ^nd a malicious devil, as ai wiser or (tttei^ conductor
6xatt die' lidrd ! But ** blessed is the mati that walketh not ia
^ the ctvtMei tt the ungodly, but his delight is in the law of
fhe Lord ;* (Psiil. i. 1,2;) and woe to the ungodly, that re-
fect aAd s^€ 8tt n6(ight the codnsel of the Lord, (Prov. i. 25.
30'; Zttik^ Vit. 30,) and v^ill haVe none of it ; that wait ilot,
foi^bidCdtiflsdl; (l^sal.cvi. 13;) that '' I'^bel against the Words
of Obd, arid 66fttemri the counsel of the Most High.'*' (Psal.
cni. 11.) AtLdi tVoe to them ** that take counsel against the
Lord sLiid his Chrrst, that they may break aisunder his bonds,
HxSl cast a^^^y his oblig^tiotifs.*' (Psal. it. 1 — 3.) And woe to
thetti tliat aCr^ given ap to the lusts of theit oWn hearts, aiid'
to walk in their own counsels. (PsaL Ixxxi. 12.) For by th^ir
!i
08 THE DIVINE LIFE.
•
own counsels shall they fall. (Psal.v. 10.) But had they
hearkened to the Lord, and walked in his yray, with the ful-
ness of his blessing would he have satisfied them. (Psal.
Ixxxi. 13. 16.) Resolve therefore, whatever the flesh or the
world say, that the testimonies of God shall be your coun-
sellors; (Psal. cxix. 24;) and bless the Lord that giveth thee
counsel; (Psal. xvi. 7;) for his counsel is infallible; having
guided thee by his counsel, he will bring thee to his glory.
(Psal. Ixxiii. 24.)
3. The Infinite Wisdom of God, must resolve the soul to
rest in his determinations. We are most certain that God
/ is not deceived. Though all men seem liars to you, let
{ God be true : for it is impossible for him to lie. (Heb. vi. 18.)
: If our reason be to seek, so is not God. When we are say-
: ing with Nicodemus, " How can these things be ?*' God
knows how : and it is enough for us to know that they are
so. If Infinite Wisdom say the word, believe it, though all
the world contradict it. Though proud unbelievers say,
that the words of God are improbable, let them know that
God is not at a loss when men's dark understandings are at
a loss. The sun is not taken out of the firniament, when-
ever a man closeth or loseth his eyes. What ! will those
cavillers puzzle the Almighty ! will they pose Omniscience ?
Doth it follow that the course of the planets, and the hea-
vens, and all the creatures are out of order, if these silly
moles understand not the order of them? No more will it
follow that any word of God is false, or any rule of God is
crooked, because they see not its truth and rectitude. Shall
dust and ashes judge the Lord ? " Who hath been his coun^
seller," and with whom hath he advised for tl^e making, re-
deemingy or governing of the world ? There is no rest to
an inquisitive soul, but in the infinite wisdom of the Lord.
Find once that it is his word, and inquire no further. It is
madness to demand a further proof. As all goodness is
comprised in his will and love ; so all truth is comprised in
liis wisdom and revelations. There are no arguments but
what are lower and subordinate to this. And therefore if
thy reason be at a loss^ as to the cause or manner, yet hast
thou the greatest reason to believe that all is just and true
that proceedeth from the wisdom of the Lord. If flesh and
blood, and all the world gainsay it, yet rest in the. word of
God.
THE KNOWL£DO£ OP GOD. 69
4. And that is the next effect that God*s Omniscience
should have upon our minds. Take all the sayings of men
as folly, that are against the Lord. Let them be high or
low^ learned or unlearned, if they contradict the God of
infinite wisdom, tak^ it but as the words -of a distracted
man. Did you ever meet with any man of them, that durst
say he was wiser than God himself? Herod, that was eaten
to death by vermin, was applauded by the flattering crowd,
but with this acclamation, " It is the voice of a god, and
not of a man.'* (Acts xii. 22.) And will you say of any
man that he is wiser than God? If you dare not say so,
how dare you hear them and believe them against the word
of God ; how dare you be drawn from a holy life, or from a
self-denying duty, or from the truth of God, by the words
of a man, yea, perhaps, of a very sot, that speaks against
the word of God ! ** To the law, and to the testimony ; if
they speak not according to these, it is because there is no
light in them.'' (Isa. viii. 20.)
6. The Infinite Wisdom of God, should establish our
confidence concerning the fulfilling of all his word. He will
not fail for want of knowledge : When he spoke that pro-
phecy« that promise, or that threatening, he perfectly knew
all things that would come to pass, to all eternity. He
knew therefore what he said when he gave out his word,
and therefore will fulfil it. Heaven and earth may pass
away, but one iota or tittle of his word shall not pass away
till ail be accomplished. (Matt. v. 18.)
6. Anf from the Infinite Wisdom of God, the church
must be encouraged in its greatest straits, and against all
the cunning and subtlety of their enemies. Are we ever in
such straits that God knows not how to bring us out?
When we see no way for our deliverance, doth it follow that
be sees none ? If cunning serpents are too subtle for us,
do we think that they can overwit the Lord ? What had
become of us long ago, if God had not known whatever is
plotted at Rome, or Spain, or hell, against us; if he know-
eth.notof all the consultations of the conclave, and of all
the contrivances of Jesuits and Friars; and of all the jug-
glings of the masked emissaries ; if God bad not known of
Faux land his powder mine, it might have blown up all our
hopes. But while we know that God is in their councils,
and heareth every word they sa^f , and knoweth every secret
70 Tiii: pifii9« hlFU.
of theif betrttt, md ^?ery 9»isc)itef which tbfiy mt^tf^i^^,
hi ufb do our (li»(y» and fest in tbe wisdom of our giwl
Pr^teotpr, who yfi\\ prqy^ 4II bis adversaries to have playtd
the fool. For as SQre a^ bis piAaipoteacy shall h^ glorifiad
hy oyefftopping aU opposing powers^ so sur6 sbaH his iofioitc
wisdoi«i be glorified, by conquering and befooling the via^
dom that is ag^nat him.
7. Laslly» if God be infinite in knowledge, it must resolve
us aU to live accordingly. O remember whatever thoa ^
tbiahest* that God is acquainted with all thy thoughti^
And wilt thou feed on lustful, or covetous/ oi ma-
licious, or unbelieving thoughts, in the eye of God?
Remember in thy prayers and every duty, that he knowa
the very frame of all thy afieotions, and the wanner as weU
as the matter of thy services. And wilt thou be cold and
careless in the sight of God? O remember in thy nMMjt
secret sins, and thy works of darkness, that nothing is un-
known to God ; and that before bim tboi]| art in the op^o
light : and fearest thou not the face of the Almighty ? Wilt
thou do that when he knoweth it, that thou wouldst npt dp
if man did kiK^w ? He knows whether thou deceive thy
neighbour, or deal uprightly ! Defraud not therefore, for
tj^ Lord is the avenger. (1 Thess* iv. &) Do nothing that
thou wouldst not have God to know; for certainly he
knoweth all things. Shall he not see, that made and illu-
minateth the eye ; and shall he not hear that made both
tongue and ears ; and shall he not know that g^iveth us un-
derstanding, and by whom we know ? (Psal. xciv. 8 — ^.10.)
And let this be thy comfort in thy secret duties. He
that knoweth thy heart, will not overlook the desires of thy
heart, though thou hadst not words as thou, desiiiest to ex-
press them. And he that knoweth tliy uprightness, will
justify thee, if all the world condemn thee. He that seeth
thee in thy secret alms, or prayers, or teaxs, wiU openly
reward thee. (Matt. vi. 4. 6.) Let this also comfort thee
under all the slanders of malicious or misinformed men,:
He that must be thy judge and theirs, is acquainted with the
truth ; who will certainly " bring forth thy righteousness as
the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day.'' (Psal. xxxvii.
6.) O how many souls are justified with the Omniscient
God, that are condemned by the malignant world. And
how many biota will be wiped off before the world at the
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. ' 71
day of jiklguient^ that here did lie upon the names of faiUi-
fttlj upright men ! O how many hypocrites shall be then die-
dated ! And what a cutting thought should it be to the die-
leflibler, that his secret falsehood is known to God ; and
wbea he hath the reputation that he sought with men, ** he
bath his reward !" (Matt. yi. 2.) For it is a sadder reward
that God will give bin^
CHAP. IX.
8. The next of God's attributes that must make its impress
on the 8oul» is his Infinite Goodness. The denomination of
goodness (as all other his attributes) is fetched from, and
snited to the capacity or affections of the soul of man.
That which is truly amiable is called good. Not as if there
were no goodness but what is a means to man's felicity, as
some most sottishly have affirmed ; for our end and felicity
itself, and God as he is perfect and excellent in himself, is
more amiable than all means.
In three respects therefore it is that God is called good
or aoaiable to man. 1. In that he is infinitely excellent and
perfectjn^ himself. For the love of friendship is a higheir
love tfaan that of desire ; and the most perfect SfoH of love
is thai which wholly carrieth the lover from hitnself to the
perfect object of his love. The soul delighteth to contem-
plate ej»^llency, when the excellency itself and not the
delight, is the ultimate end of that desire and contemplation.
2. God is called good, as he is the pattern and fouiitain
of all Hftoi^l good ; as be maketh us righteous, holy laws,
comnmnding moral good, and forbidding and condemning
evil. Aad thu's his goodness is his holiness and righteous-
nesa, his faithfulness and truth.
3. Gk)d is called good, as he is the^ountain^of all the
creatove's happinesa,, and as he is bountiful and gracious,
aad teady to do good, and as he is the felicitating end and
objeet of the soul.
And this Infinite Goodness must have these effects upon
\uL 1. It must posset us with a superlative love to God.
This Ueseed attribute it is that makes us saints indeed, and
uftafcefb that impression on us, which is as the heart of thif
new citotupe. It is goodness that produceth love. And
love is that grace that oloseth with God as our happiness and
end, and is the felicitating enjoying grace. Without it We
: i
72 TH£ DIVINE LIFE.
are but ^* as sounding brass, or tinkling cymbals/' whatever
our gifts and parts may be. (I Cor. xiii.) Love is the very
excellency of the soul, as it closeth with the infinite excel-*
lency of God. It is the very felicity of the soul, as it en-
joyeth him that is our felicity. Most certainly the prevail-
ing love of God^ is the surest evidence of true sanctification.
He that hath most love hath most grace, and is the best and
strongest Christian; and he that hath least love, is the worst
or weakest. Knowledge and faith are but to work our
hearts to love ; and when love is perfect, they have done
their work. (1 Cor. xii. 31 ; xiii. 8 — 10. 13.) Teaching and
distant revelations will not be for ever ; and therefore such
knowledge and faith as we have now, will not be foi[ ever*
But God will be for ever amiable to us, and therefore love
will endure for ever. The goodness of God is called love,
and as God is love, so ** he that dwelleth in love doth dwell
in God, and God in him.*' (I Johniv. 16.) The knowledge
of divine goodness makes us good, because it maketh us
love him that is good. It is love that acteth most purely
for God. Fear is selfish, and hath somewhat of aversation.
Though there be no evil in God for us to fear, yet is there
such good in him that will bring the evil of punishment
upon the evil; and this they fear. But love doth resign the
soul to God, and that in the most congruous, acceptable
manner. Make it therefore your daily work to possess your
souls with the love of God. Love him once, and all that
he saith and doth will be more acceptable to you ; and all that
you say or do in love will be more acceptable unto him. Love
him and you will be loath to oifend him ; you will be de-
sirous to please him ; you will be satisfied in his love.
Love him and you may be sure that he loveth you. " Love i&
the fulfilling of his law." (Rom. xiii. 10.) And that you may
love him, this must be your work, to believe and contem-
plate his goodness. Consider daily of the infinite goodness
or amiableness of his nature, ancT of his excellency appear-
ing in his worka, and of the perfect holiness of his laws.
But especially see him in the face of Christ, and behold his
love in the ^design of our redemption, in the person of the
Redeemer, and in the promises of grace, and in all the bene-
fits of redemption. Yea look by faith to heaven itself, and
think how you must for ever live in the perfect^ blessed love
of infinite enjoyed-Goodness. As it is the knowledge and
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 73
sight of gold, or beauty, or any other earthly vanity, that
kindleth the love of them in the minds of men ; so is it the
knowledge and serious contemplation of the goodness of
God that must make us love him, if ever we will love him.
The Goodness of God must also encourage the soul to
trust him. For Infinite Good will not deceive us. Nor can
we fear any hurt from him, but what we wilfully bring upon
ourselves. If I knew but which were the* best and most
loving man in the world, I could trust him above all men ;
and I should not fear any injury from him. How many
friends have I that I dare trust, with my estate and life, be-
' cause I know that they have love and goodness in their low
degree ! And shall I not trust the blessed God, that is love
itself, and infinitely good? whatever he will be in justice to
the ungodly, I am sure he ** delighteth not in the death of
sinners, but rather that they turn and live ;" and that he will
not cast off the soul that loveth him, and would fain be fully
conformed to his will. It cannot be that he should spurn
at them Ihat are humbled at his feet, and long, and pray, and
seek, and mourn after nothing more than his grace and love !
Think not of God as if he had less of love and goodness,
than the creature has : If you have high and confident
thoughts of the goodness and fidelity of any man on earth,
and dare quietly trust him with your life and all ; see that
you have much higher thoughts of God, and trust him with
greater confidence, lest you set him below the silly creature
in the attributes of his goodness, which his glory and yoiir
happiness require you to know.
3. The Infinite Goodness of God, must call off our hearts
from the inordinate love of all created good whatever. Who
would stoop so low as earth, that may converse with God ?
And who would feed on such poor delights, that hath tasted
the graciousness of the Lord? Nothing more sure than
that the love of God doth not reign in that soul, where the
love of the world, or of fleshly lust, or pleasure reigneth.
(1 John ii. 15.) Had worldlings, or sensual, or ambitious
men, but truly known the goodness of the Lord, they could
never have so fallen in love with those deceitful vanities. If
we could but open their eyes to see the loveliness of their
Redeemer, they would soon be weaned from other loves.
Would you conquer the love of riches, or honour» or any
thin^ cUie that corrupteth your affections; O try this sure
74 . TH£ OIVINB hlWK.
and powerful way ! Draw nigh to God* and take the fulleet
view thou canst, in thy most serious meditation of his infi-
nite goodness, and all things else will be rile in thy esteem,
and thy heart will soon contemn them and forget th«m» and
thou wilt never dote upon them. more.
4. The Infinite Goodness of God, should increatfe repen*
tance, and win the soul to & more resolute, cheirful servioe
of the liord. O what a h^t is that which can offend, and
wttfiilly offend, so good a God I This is the odiousnesa ni
sin, that it is an abuse of an Infinite Good. This is the
most heinous, damning aggravation of it, that Imfinitt Good**
ness could not prevail with wretched souls against the
empty, flattering world ! but that they suffered a dream and
shadow, to weigh down Infinite Goodness in their esteem.
And is it possible for worse than this to be found in man ?
He that had rather the sua were out of the firmament, thaa
a hair were taken off him head,, were unworthy to see the ligbt
of the wuL And sorely he that will turn away £rom QoA
himself, to enjoy the fdeaaures of his flesh, is unvgbrthy to
cii^oy the Lord. It is bad enough that Augustine m en^ of
his Epistles saith of sottish worldly men, that ' they bad
rather there were two stars fewer in the firmament, than oaie
cow fewer in their pastures, or one tree fewer in their woods
OS grounds ;' but it is ten thousand times a greater evil that
eireory wicked maa is guilty c^ that will rather forsake the
limng God, and lose hie part ia Infinite Goodness* than he
will let go his filthy and eaprofitable' sins. O sinners, as
you love your souls, ^^ despise not ihe riches of the goodness,
aad feffbearsoce,. and. longsuflieriBg of the Lord.; but know
that his goffldxiesa shoukk lead you to* repentance." (Rom.
ii. 4Jy Would yoa spit at the sunl Woiild yon revile the
abafs 1 Would wvk crarae tl^ holrr aiifitels.? If not, O do not
t«.tha««^ wo«.v By yo« wS «n«.g.g«n.t the
Infinite Gtoodnesa itsdif.
Bat for youi Christians,, that have seen the amiaUeness of
tlsa Losd,. and tasted of h» perfect goodn^s^ let this be
enough to melt yomr hearts^ tiiat ever you have wHfuUy
sinned against him: O what a good did you contona in the
daya of your unregeneracy,. and ia the hour of your sin 1
Be not so ungrateful and disingenuous as to do so again.
Remember whenever a temptation eomes^ that it would en-
tiee yeu. from the infinite Good; Adc the temf^ter, mm: or
TH£ i^NOWU^IMS OF OOD. 76
iufiXs wb^tbfir \k^ hath more tbw w lafioite Ofood to offer
yw ; wd whether be can outbid tbe Lord for your affec-
tion?
And now for the tioie that is before you^ how oheerfuUy
9hQ«i)d you addre«B yo«reelTe9 unto his senrice ! and bow
delightfully should you follow it on firom day to day ! What
mann^ of percone should the senrants of this God be, that
eve called to nothing but what is good ! How good a Mastef !
bow good a work ! and how good company* eneouragsmeiita
and helpe ! and how good an end ! AU is good, beoanae i^
is Uie Infinite Good* that we serve and seek. And shaU we
be loitering* unprofitable servants ! I
5. Moreover, this Infinite Goodness should be the mat- f
ter of our daily praises. He that cannot cheerfully magnify |
ftis attribute of God* so suitable to the nature of the will* '
ia e^irely a stranger to the pnuses of the Lord. The good-
lens ef God should be a daily feast to a graoious soul* and
ihoiiikl continually feed our cheerful praises* as tbe spring
or eiflitem fille the pipes. I know no sweeter work on eartbip f
nay* I am sure there is no sweeter* than for faiitbful sanctifieii
90i^# ic^>oicingly to magnify the goodness of the Lerd* and
join togethirr«ia his cheerful praises* O ChristieMi* if yen
would taste die joye of saints^ and Uve lika tbe redefMosed of
due Lord indeed, be much ia the exercise of this heavealy
work* and with holy David* n»ke it your employment* and
say *^ O how gteat ia thy goodness which tkon hast laid «p
for them that fear thee !" (Psal. xxxi« 19k) ^ The eartb ie
full of the goodness of the Lord r (Psal. xxxiik &> What
thea are the heavens? '' Thy oongregatioik hadli dwell
therein : thou O Loid hast prepared tJxy geodneea for the
poor.'' ^ Q that men would praise the Lord for his good** /
nesa* and for his wonderful works to the children of meoi ! /
for he aalisfieth the loi^ng soul* and fiUeth the hungry soul \ \
witk goodness,'^ (Psal. cvii. 8, 9.) " The goodneee of €ted '
endnreth coMtinually." (Fial. lift. K> '« Truly God \% go^
to Israel* even to such as are of a clewa beast.'' (Psal. laociii^
L> ^* O taate and see that the Lord b goodvUeaaod ia the
man that trosteth in htm.'* (PsaL xxxiv. 8%) '* TbeL(»d ia
good^ his mercy is everlasting, his truth ettduveth from^ gen^*
mtiea to generatioift^'' (Psal. c. 5.> '' The Lovd ie good te
all* fltnd hia tender mercies are over aU hie worka.'' (P^al.
exU. 94> '' O praiee the Lord* for the Lord i» good ; sing
.)
76 THfi DIVINE LirE.
praises to his name^ for it is pleasant.*' (Psal. cxxxv. S.)
Call him as David, '' My Goodness, and my Fortress, my
High Tower, and my Deliverer, and my Shield, and he in
whom I trust.*' (Psal. cxliv. 2.) " Let men therefore speak
of the glorious honour of his Majesty and of his wondrous
works : let them abundantly utter the memory of his great
goodness, and sing of his righteousness/'(Psal. cxlv. 5. 7.) If
there be a thought that is truly sweet to the soul, it is the
thought of the Infinite Goodness of the Lord. If there be a
pleasant word for man to speaks it is the mention of the
Infinite Goodness of the Lord. And if there be a pleasant
hour for man on earth to spend, and a delightful work for
man to do, it is to meditate on, and with the saints to praise
the Infinite Goodness of the Lord. What was the glory that
God shewed unto Moses, and the taste of heaven that he
gave him upon earth, but this, ** I will make all my good-
ness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee ; and I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy?''
(Exod. xxxiii. 19.) And his proclaimed name was, " The
Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abundant in goodness and truth." (Exod. xxxiv. 6.)
These were the holy praises that Solomon did consecrate the
temple with, ** Arise, O Lord God^ into thy resting place,
thou and the ark of thy strength : let thy priests, O Lord
God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in
Goodness." (2 Chron. vi. 41 ; see Isa. Ixiii.) O Christians,
if you would have joy indeed, let this be your employment !
Draw near to God, and have no low undervaluing thoughts
of his Infinite Goodness ; for, " How great is his goodness
and how great is his beauty?" (Zech. ix. 17.) Why is it
that Divine consolations are so strange to us, but because
Divine Goodness is so lightly thought upon ! As those that
think little of God at all, have little of God upon their
hearts; so they that think but little of his goodness in par-
ticular, have little love, or joy, or praise."
6. Moreover, the Goodness of God, must possess us with
desire to be conformed to his goodness in our measure. The
holy perfection of his will, must make us desire to have our
wills conformed to the will of God ; we are not called to
imitate him in his works of power, nor so much in the paths
of his omniscience, as we are iii his goodness, which, as
THE KNOWI/EPGE OF GOD. 77
manifested in his work and word, is the pattern and stan-
dard of moral goodness in the sons of men. The impress
of his goodness within us, is the chief part of his image on
us ; and the fruits of it in our lives is their holiness and
virtue. As he " is good and doth good;" (Psal. cxix. 68;)
so it must be our greatest care to be as good, and do as
much good as possibly we can. Any thing within us that is
sinful and contrary to the goodness of God, should be to
our souls as griping poison to our bodies, which nature is
excited to strive against with all its strength, and can have
no safety or rest till it be cast out. And for doing good, it
must be the very study and trade of our lives. As world-
lings study and labour for the world, and the pleasing of
their flesh ; so must the Christian study and labour to im-
prove his Master's talents to his use, and to do as much
good as he is able, and to please the Lord. '* The desire of
the righteous (as such) is only good.'* (Prov. xi. 23.) " To
depart from evil and do good," is the careof the just. (Psal.
xxxiv. 14.) We musf please our neighbours for good to
their edification.*' (Rom. xv. 2.) " While we have time we
must do good to all men (as we are able) but especially to
them of the household of faith." (Gal. vi. 10.) Not only .to
them that "do good to us,*' but to " our enemies." (Luke vi.
33_34 ; Matt. v. 44.) This is it we must " not forget ;'* (Heb.
xiii. 16 ;) and which by ministers we must be ** put in mind
of;" (1 Tim. vi. 18;) which all that "love life and would in-
herit the blessing" must devote themselves to. (1 Peter iii.
10 — 12.) In this we must be " like our heavenly Father," and
approve ourselves his children. (Matt. v. 45, 46.) *
7. From the perfect Infinite Goodness of God, we must
learn to judge of good and evil, in all the creatures. To this
must all be reduced as the standard, and by this must they
be tried. It is a most wretched absurdity of sensual men,
to try the will, or word, or ways of God, by themselves, and
by their own interests or wills ; and to judge all to be evil
in God that is s^ainst them. And yet, alas, how common
is this case ! Every man is naturally loath to be miserable :
sufiTering he abhors : and therefore that which causeth his
suffering he calleth evil. And so when he hath deserved it
himself by his sin, he thinks that the law is evil for threaten-
ing it, and that God himself is evil for inflicting it, so that
Infinite Goodness must be tried and judged by the vicious
78 TH& mvtnt hipt.
cfwtturcf, ?md di«f rok ai^d dtafidfard iHMt be reduedd ta tfMf
crooked li^e of htrfafttt actions ot diflpotitiotis $ fcitd if Go^
will please tfae worldling, the densudifit, the pfonA, the tteg^
ligenl, who shotild please him, then he shall be good, and he
shall be God ; if not, say these judges, he shall be evil, aiid
usuMrcifal, and no God. They will not belieye that he is
good that pmiisheth them. And thus if the thief or mur-
deref had the choice of kings and judges, yon may know
what persona he would choose ; no one should be a jndge,
or accomnted a good man, that would ted:demn and bang
him*
But I beseech you consider, what is fit to be the rule
and standard, if ^ not perfection of Goodness itself* Do yoU
think that the will of ignorant, fleshly, sinful maU', is^ fitter
to be the rule of goodness, than the will of God ? We' are
sure that God is itot deceived, and sure that there h u^
iniquity with him ; but we know that all men are liabler io
deceit, and have private interests, and corrupted mitldil, and
wills that ha^' sotdBt vicious inclinations. O what blas^
phemy is in the heart of that man, that will Sooner dondemrl
Che holy will and law of God, than his own will, or the WrH^I
of My men, bo Aey never so seemingly wise or greart! The
will 6f God is' revealed in his laws, concerning the necea^^tty
of a holy Ufe ; and the will of fooHsh wicked men^ rs by their
eeornftfl speeches and sinful lives revealed to he against it.
And which of these do you follow ; which h it that pre-
eeribeth you the better Course ; the wiH of God that i^ in^
ftttftely good, or the wiH of man that in miserably evil' T ft*
thou know any better than God, foHow him before God.
But if none be greater and more powerful than be; if none
be wiser or of more knowledge, H is as i^re that noM^ is
belier. Mach^Iessi are ^ose igtt<)rant wicked men, that
^^pise the Seripttfre and a holy life, and would persuade
you diat they can tell you of a better wuy. Let m!i^ spesfck
it to Che terror of tfhe ungodly soul, that by the decdHs 0t
scorns of any sotff of men', is drawtt aw^y fi-om Christ and
boKness ; it shall stand on record ^gainist thee until judg^
tnent, and it shall stick e^illastingly as a dagger itr €tf
heart; &uti iJio« dtdrt prefer the reason and the will of matt,
yea perhaps of a sottish drunlutd or a Worldling, before die
word or will of God. And though thytotigue dtt^t not speak
it, thy Itfr did spealb it, that thou thoughtest the word and
THE KNOWLEDOK OF GOt>. 79
will of man to be better than the word and will of God :
Yea inore^ that thou tookest the way of the devil to be better
than Qod's ways, who is infinitely good : for surely thou
choosest that which thou takest to best for thee. And there^
fore if that man deserve damnation that sets up a man, or a
horse^ or an image» and saitb, ' This is greater and wiser
than Gody and therefore this shall be my God/ then dost
thou deserve the same damnation, that settest up the words
and will of man, even of wicked men, and sayest by thy.
practice, * These are better than Qod, and his word, or will,
and therefore I will choose or follow. them/ For God is full
as jealous of the honour of his goodness, as of his power
or wisdom.
Well, Christians, let flesh and blood say what it will, and
let the world say what they will, judge that best that is most
agreeable to the will of God ; for good and evil must be
neasvred by this will. That event is best which he deter-
mineth of^ and that action is best which he commandeth.
And all is naught, and will prove so in the end, that is
against this wiU of God, what policy or good soever may
be psettoded for it.
8. And if the will of God be infinitely good, we musi
aU labour both to understand it, and perform it. Many say,
" Wba will shew us any good ?'* (Psal. iv. 6.) Would yoB
not know what is best, that you may choose and seek it?
Aa die inordinate desire of knowing natural good and evil
did cause ouv misery, so the holy rectified desires of know-
ing spiritual good, must recover us : Seai'eh the Seripture^
then, and study and inquire ; for it more concerns you to
know the will of God, than to know the will of your prineen
or benefsctorst, or know of any treasures of the world. The
iitthe» oC grace ave gtven tot us> by God's making known the
BDfstery of his vinll> according tahis good pleasure which he
puposed in himself. (Ephes. i. 7. 9.) And our desice to
know the good will o£ God,, must be that we may do it ;
for this* must we pray, ^ That we may* be filled vrith' the
knowledge^ of hia W4ll> in all wisdom and spiritual und^^-
atandHig; that we may walk worthy of the Lord, unto aH
plsasing, Mng finiil^ul i& evevy good vi^iiE ;'' (Col. u 9, tO;)
Aat w« may ^ be made per&ot in every good work to do hie
will, aad ham tfaatwvousht in us^whteb is {basing" in bia
sielhi '^' (HUk xiik 211 ;>t)£at we may not only kmcrw his Wftl
I
,90 THE DIVINE LIFE.
and approve the things that are excellent, (Rom. ii. 18,) but
may prepare ourselves to do according to his will, lest we
be punished the more. (Luke xii. 47.) Sec that the will of no
man be preferred before God's will ; seek not your own wills,
nor set them up against the Lord's. If Christ, whose will
was pure and holy, profess that he sought not his own will,
but his Father's ; (John v. 30 j) and that he came not to do his
own will, but his that sent him ; (John vi. 38 ;) should it not
be our resolution, whose wills are so misguided and corrupt?
9. If God's will be infinitely good, we must rest in his
will; when his ways are dark, or grievous to our flesh; when
his word seems difficult ; -when we^know not what he is doing
with us ; remember it is the Will that is infinitely good that
is disposing of us. Only let us see that we stand not cross
to the greater good of his church and honour ; and then we
may be sure that he will not be against our good. * We that
can rest in the will of a dear and faithful friend, should
much more rest in the will of God. Do your duty, and be
*' not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is*'
for you to do, (Ephes. v. 17,) and then distract not your
minds with distrustful fears about his will that is infinitely
good, but say, " The will of the Lord be done." (Acts xxi. 14.)
10. The Infinite Goodness of God, should draw out our
hearts to desire communion Vith him, and to long after the
blessed fruition of him in the life to come. O how glad
should we be to tread his courts ! . to draw near him in his
holy worship, to meditate on him, and secretly open our
hearts before him, and to converse with those gracious souls
that love to be speaking honourably of his name ! What
will draw the heart of man, if goodness and Infinite Good-
ness will not? When the drunkard saith, in the alehouse,
' It is good to be here;* and the covetous man among his
gains, and the sensual man among his recreations and merry
companions, ' It is good to be here ;' the Christian that can
get nigh to God, or have any prospect of his love in his
ordinances, concludeth that of all pls^ces upon earth, *' It is
good to be here," and that '' aday in his courts is better than
a thousand.'' (Psal. Ixxxiv. 10.) But O, '' to depart and be
with Christ, is far better.*' (Phil. i. 23.) With Infinite Good-
ness we shall find no eyil, no emptiness, or defect ; when we
perfectly enjoy the Perfect Good, what more can be added,
but for ever to enjoy it! O, therefore think on this, Chris
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 61
tians, when death is dreadful to you, and you would fain stay
here» as being afraid to come before the Lord, or loath to
leave the things which you here possess, shall Goodness
itself be distrusted by you, or seem no more desirable to
you? Are you afraid of Goodness; even of your Father;
of your happiness itself f Are you better here than you
shall be with God? Are your houses, or lands, or friends,
or pleasures, or any thing better than Infinite Goodness ?
0 meditate on this blessed attribute of God, till you distaste
the world, till you are angry with your withdrawing murmur-
ing flesh, till you are ashamed of your unwillingness to be
with God, and till you can calmly look in the face of death,
and contentedly hear the message that is posting towards
you, that you must presently come away to God* Your
natural birthday brought you into a better place than the
womb ; and your gracious birthday brought you into a far
better state than your former sinful miserable captivity;
and will not your glorious birthday put you into a better
habitation than this world? O know, and choose, and seek,
and live to the Infinite Good, and then it may be your great*
est joy when you are called to him»
CHAP. X.
9. Having spoken of these three great Attributes of God, I
must needs speak of those three great Relations of God to
man, and of those three works in which they are founded,
which have flowed from these attributes.
This one God in three persons, hath created man and all
things, which before were not ; hath redeemed man when
he was lost by sin ; and sanctifieth those that shall be saved
by redemption. Though the external works of the Trinity
are undivided, yet not indistinct, as to the order of working,
and a special interest that each person hath in each of these
works. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost did create the
world ; and they also did redeem us, and do sanctify us.
Bat so as that creation is in a special sort ascribed to the
Father, redemption to the Son, and sanctification to the
Holy Spirit ; not only because of the order of operation,
agreeable to the order of subsisting ; for then the Father
would be as properly said to be incarnate, or to die for us,
or mediate, as the Son to create us ; (which is not to be
VOL. XIII. G
82 THE I>1VINE LIFE.
gftid ;) for he created the world by his Word^ or Son and
Spirit ; (John i. 3 ; Psal. xxxiii. 6^) and he redeemed it by
bis Son ; and sanctifie£h it by his Spirit. But Scripture
assureth us that the Son alone was incarnate for uSj; and
died and rose again> and not the Father, or the Spirit; -and
80 that the human nature is peculiarly united to the. second
person in glory ; and so that each person hath apeouliu:
interest in these several works, the reason of which is much
above our reach* *
The first of these Relations of God to man, which we are
to consider of, is, that he is our Creator : it is he that
giveth being to us and all things ; and that giveth us all our
faculties or powers. Under this, for brevity, we shall speak
of him also as he is our Preserver ; because preservation is
but a kind of continued creation, or a continuance of the
beings which God hath caused. God then is the first effi-
cient cause of all the creatures, from the greatest to the
least ; (Gen. i ;) and easily did he make them, for he spake
but the word and they were created : They are the products
of his power, wisdom and goodness. (PsaU xxxiii. 6; John
i. 3.) " He commanded and they were created." (Pjsal.
cxlviii. 5.) He still produceth all things that iu the course
of nature are brought forth. " Thou sendest forth thy
Spirit, they are created: thou renewest the face of the
earth." (Psal. civ. 30.) And from hence these following
impressions must be made upon the considering soul.
1. If all things be from God as the Creator and Preser-
ver, then we must be deeply possessed with this truth, that
all things are for God as their ultimate end ; for he that is
the beginning and first cause of all things, must needs be'
the end of all. His will produced them, and the pleasure
of his will is the end for which he did produce them. *' I
have created him for my glory." (Isa. xliii. 7.) ** The Lord
hath made all things for himself, yea even the wicked for
Uie day of evil." (Prov. xvi. 4.) I think the Chaldee para-
phrase, the Syriac aiid Arabic give us the true meaning
of this, who concordantly translate it» ' The wicked is kept
for the day of evil; as Job hath it, (xxi. 30>) " The wicked
is reserved to the day of destruction ; they shall be brought
forth to the day of wrath f" and 2 Peter ii. 9, " To reserve
the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished." God
THE RNOWLKDGE OF GOD. 83
made not die wicked as wicked, or to be wicked ; but he
that gave them their bein;; and continueth it, will not be a
loser by bis creation or preservation, but will have the glory
of his justice by them in the day of wrath or evil, for which
he keeps them, and till which he beareth with them, because
they would not obediently give him the glory of his holiness
and mercy. So it is said of Christ, Col. i. 16, 17, " For by
him are ^1 things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible all things were created by
him and for him/' If they are by him, they must needs be
for Wm. So Rev. iv. 11, " Thou art worthy, O Lord> to
receive glory, and honour, and power ; for thou hast created
all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."
This pleasure of God*8 will is the end of all things : and
&erefore it is certain that he will see that all things shall
accomplish that end, and his will shall be pleased. Romans
xi. 26, we have all in few words, " For of him, and through
him, and to him are all things, and to whom be glory for ever,
Amen." Of him, as the first efficient that giveth them
their beings: and through him, as the preserver, dis*
poser and conductor of them to their end: and to him, as
die ultimate end.
If you say, * But how is the pleasure of God's will at-
tained from the wicked that break his laws, and displease
his will V
I answer : Understand but how his will is crossed or ac-
complished, pleased or displeased, and you will see, that
his will is always done and pleased, even by them that dis-
please him in violating his will. For God's will hath two
sorts of objects or products, which must be still distin-
guished : 1. He willeth what shall be diie from us to him,
and from him to us. 2. He willeth entities and events, or
what shall actually be, or come to pass. Strictly both
diese acts of God's will, perform the things willed, and so
are not witiiout their proper effect. God, as the cause and
dnposer of all things, attaineth his will concerning events :
all tilings shall come to pass which he absolutely willeth
ekall come to pass. He is not frustrated of his will herein,
Mng neither unwise, nor impotent, nor unhappy. ** What-
loever pleased the Lord, that did he in heaven and in earth,
t& t}ie sea, and in the depths." (Psal. cxxxv. 6.) ** Our
God is in faeaten, he hath done whatsoever he -pleased."
84 THE DIVINE LIFE.
(Psal. cxv. 3.). And as God, as our Governor, doth by his
laws oblige man tp his duty, his will hath its eflPect : A
command doth but make the thing commanded to be our
duty ; and our duty it is : and so this act of the will of God
is not in vain. Thus far he hath his will. By his promises
he maketh the reward to be due to all, on condition they
perform the duty, on which he hath suspended it, and to be
actually due to those only that perform the condition: and
all this is accomplished. Heaven is conditionally given to
all, and actually to the faithful only. So that what God
willeth to be due as a Lawgiver, is accordingly due ; and
what he actually willeth shall come to pass, shall come to
pass according to his will.
But perhaps you will say, ' He doth riot will that all
men shall eventually obey his laws, but only that it shall be
their duty.*
I answer. Our speeches of God being borrowed from
man, (who is one of the glasses in which he is here seen by
us ; especially the manhood of Jesus Christ,) we must
accordingly conceive and say (acknowledging still the im-
proprieties and imperfections of our conceptions and ex-
pressions), that as man doth simply and most properly will
the event of some things, which he absolutely desireth
should come to pass, and doth not simply will some other
things, but only ' in tantum ;' he so far willeth them, that he
willeth and resolveth to do such and such things as have a
tendency thereto, and to go no farther, and do no more for
the attaining of them, though he could; so God doth
simply and properly will some things, that is, the things
which he decreeth shall come to pass : but we must after
our manner conceive and say, that there are other things
which he willeth but 'in tantum,' so far as to make it man's
duty to perform it, and persuade him to the doing of that
duty, and give him such a measure of help, as leaveth him
without any just excuse, if he do it not ; and so far he
willeth the salvation of such, as to promise or offer it theoqi
on such terms : and no further doth he will the obedience
or salvation which never comes to pass, but leaveth it here
to the will of man. For if he simply willed that every duty-
should be eventually done, it would be done: and if he
simply willed that all men should be actually saved, they
would be saved. And that he simply willeth their duty or
TUEKNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 85
obligation, and ' in tantum/ so far, doth will the event of
their obedience and salvation, as this comes to, as aforesaid,
is certain, and in this we are all agreed ; and I am not so
Well skilled in dividing, as to understand where the real
difference lieth between the parties that here most contend :
But about the bare name I know they differ, some thinking
that this last is not to be named aii act of God's will, or a
willing of man's obedience or salvation, and some thinking
that it is so to be named : who doubtless are in the right ;
nor is there room for controversies, while we confess the
impropriety of this and all our speeches of God, as speak-
ing after the manner of men ; and while Scripture, that
must teach us how to speak of God, doth frequently so
speak before us.
2. God being the maker and first cause of all things,
that is of all substantial beings, commonly called creatures,
we must conclude that sin is no such being, because it is
most certain that he is not the creator or cause of it.
Scripture assureth us, and all Christians are agreed, that
God is not the cause or author of sin. How odious then
should that be to us, that is so bad as not to come from
Qod? If God disclaim it, let us disclaim it. Let us abhor
that it should come from us, seeing God abhorreth that it
should come from him. Own not that which hath nothing
of God upon it.
If you 8ay, ' That it is an accident though not a sub«
stance, and therefore it must needs come from God ; be-
cause even accidents have their being.' ^
I answer, That among the most subtle disputersit is grant-
ed, that it hath no created being, or no being that isxaused
by God ; of this they are agreed. It is granted by all
Christians that sin hath no other kind of being, but what
the will of man can cause. And if that be so, the philoso-
plncal trifling controversy, whether it be only a privation,
or a relation, or ' modus entis,' which the will thus causeth,
must be handled as philosophical, and valued but as it de-
lerveth : for this is all the controversy that here remains.
If the form be relative, and the foundation be but a mere
privation, (the disconformity being founded in a defect)
tb^ the case is soon resolved, as to the rest. He that
sneth, understandeth amiss: that he understandeth, is of
God : that: he erreth, that is, is defective, and so false in his
I
86 THE DIVINE LIFE.
understanding, is of himself: That be willeth when he .
chooseth s\n, is of God the universal cause : hut that he
willeth a forbidden object, rather than the contrary, and
faileth in his understanding and his will^ this is not of
God, but of himself. If others say, that the very ' funda-
mentum' of that disconformity which is the form of sin, is .
sometimes an act, they must also say that it is not an act as
such, but this act comparatively considered^ or as circum-
stantiated, or as exercised on the forbidden object rather
than another, or a volition instead of a nolition, and choos-
ing that which should be refused, or a refusing that which
should be chosen : and whether this comparative specifying
foundation, be a privation, or a mode, is a philosophical
controversy ; and in philosophy, and not in theology, is the
difficulty ; divines being agreed as aforesaid, that whatever
you name it, being, or privation, or mode, it is but such as
must be resolved ultimately into the will of man as its
original or first cause,' supposing God to be the creator and
conserver, of that free power that is able to choose or to re-
fuse, and as an universal cause to concur with the agent to
the act as such. But philosophers indeed are at a loss, and
are fain to tell us of privations, modes, relations, denomina-
tions, ' entia rationis,' and I know not what, that they say
are neither beings nor nothing, but between both they
know not what ! The nature of things, in the utmost ex-
tremities of the branches, being so capillar, and spun with
so fine a thread, that the understanding is not subtle enough
to discern tUem, And shall this disturb us in divinity, or
be imputed to it ?
If you say, ' That the will of God is the cause of all
things, and therefore of sin.'
I answer. If you call sin nothing, as a shadow, darkness,
death, &c. are nothing (for all that we abhor them), then
you answer yourselves. If you call it something, we are all
agreed, that it is. but such a something as man can cause,
without God's first causing it. It sufficeth that God do the
part of a Creator in giving man the free power of choosing
or refusing ; and the part of a Preserver, in maintaining
that power, and as an universal cause concurring to all acts'
' in genere,' as the sun doth shine on the dunghill and the
flowers : and that he also do the part of a just Governor in
prohibiting, and dissuading, and threatening^ sinners.
THE KNO'WLEDGE OF GOD. 87
ObjecU * But how can sin eventually be, if God decree
it not^ seeing all events are from his will?'
I answer, 1. We are agreed that he causeth it not. 2.
And that he doth not so much as will the event of sin as
sin. 3, And that he willingly permitteth what is by him
permitted. 4. And that sin is such a thing as may ^ evenjre/
be brought forth by a bare permission^ if there be no posi-
tive decree for the event. As a negative in the effects, re-
quif eth not a positive cause, so neither a positive will for
its production. There are millions of millions of worlds,
and individual creatures, and species possible, that shall
never be : and it is audaciousness to assert, that there must
be millions of millions of positive decrees, that such worlds
or creatures shall not be. 5. Nor is it any dishonour to
God, if he have not a positive decree or will about every
negation (as that all the men in the world shall not be Called
by a thousand possible names rather than their own, &c.).
These things being all certain, I add, 1. Let them dis--
pute that dare, that yet * de facto' God doth positively will
the events of all privations, or negations of acts. 2. But
when men aie once habitually wicked, and bent to evil, it is
just with him, if he permit them to follow their own lusts,
and if be leave before them such mercies as he foreknoweth
they will wilfully make occasions of their sin ; and if he
refK>lve to make use of the sin which he knoweth they will
commit, for his church's good, and for his glory.
Object. ' But doth not God will that sin eventually shall
not be ?'
Amw. Even as I before said, he willeth that obedience
eveutaally shall be. If sin come to pass, it is certain that
Ood did not simply will that it should not come to pass :
for then fae must be conquered and unhappy by every sin :
But he willeth simply that it shall be the duty of man to
avoid it ; and it may be said to ' nill' the event ' in tantum,'
so &r as that he will forbid it, and direaten and dissuade
the sinnerf and give him the helps, that shall leave him in-
fxcvfiable if he sin, and So leave it to his will. Thus far he
VMiy be said to will that sin eventually shall not be ; but not "
simply.
Thou^ these things are not obvious to vulgar capaci-
ties, yet they are such, as the subject in hand, viz. God's
fimt causation and creation, together with the weight of
88^ THE DIVINE LIFE.
them, and the contentions of the world about them, have
made needful.
3. If God be the creator and cause of ail^ then we must
remember that all his works are good : and therefore no-
thing must be bated by us that he hath made, considered in
its native goodness. Ood hateth sin^ and so must we : for
that he made it nojL. (Rev* ii. 6 ; Psal. xlv. 7 ; Isa. i. 14«)
And he hateth all the workers of iniquity as such^ (Psal. v*
5,) and so must we ; but we must love all of God that is in
them» and love them for it. There is somewhat good and
amiable in every creature ; yea, all of it, that is of God*
Though toads and serpents are odious to us, because they
are hurtful, and seem deformed in themselves, yet are they
good in themselves, and not deformed as parts of the universe,
but good unto the common end. The wants in the wheels of
your watch are as useful to the motion as the nucks or
solid parts. The night is part of the useful order of the
creation, as well as the day. The vacant interspace in your
writing, is needful as well as the words : every letter should
not be a vowel, nor every character a capital ; every mem-
ber should not be a heart, or head, or eye : nor should every
one in a commonwealth be a king, or lord : So in the crea-
tion the parts that seem base, are useful in their places, and
good unto their ends. Let us not therefore vilify or detest
the works of God, but study the excellencies of them, and
see, and admire, and love then^ as they are of God. It is
one of the hardest practical points before us, to know how
to esteem of all the creatures, and to use them without
running into one extreme. At the same time to love the
world, and not to love it ; to honour it, and despise it : to
exalt it, and to tread it under our feet ; to mind it, and
use it with delight, and yet to be weaned from it as those
that mind it not. And yet a great part of our Christian
duty lieth in the doing of this difficult work. As the world
is the devil's bait, and the flesh's idol, set up against God,
ajld would tice us from him, or hinder us in his service, and
either be our carnal end and happiness, or a means thereto,
so we must make it the care of our hearts to hate it, de-
spise it, neglect it, and tread it under foot; and the labour
of our lives to conquer it* But the same creatures must be
admired, studied, loved, honoured, delighted in, and daily
used, as they are the excellent work of the Almighty Grod,
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 89
and reveal to us his attributes or will, being the glass iir
which we must see him while we are in the flesh ; and as
they lead us to God, and strengthen, furnish or help us in
his service. But to love them for God, and not for them-^
selves, O how hard is it ! To keep pure affections towards
them, and a spiritual delight in them, that shall not degene-
rate into a carnal delight, is a task for the holiest saint on
earth, to labour in with all his care and power, as long as he
here liveth. Yet this must be done ; and the soul that hath
obtained true self-denial, and is dead to the world, and de-
TOted and alive to God, is able in some good measure to
perform it. To love the world for itself, and make the crea^
ture our chief delight, and to live to it as to our end, and
idol, this is the common damning course. To cast away
oar possessions, and put our talents into our fellow-servants'
bands, and to withdraw ourselves as it were out of the
world into solitude, as monks or hermits do, this is too like
the hiding of our talents, and a dangerous course of unfaith-
fulness and unprofitableness, unless in some extraordinary
case ; and is at best the too easy way of weaklings, that
will be soldiers only out of the army, or where there is but
little danger of the enemy : But to keep our stations, and
take honours, and riches, as our Master's talents, as a bur*
den that we must honour him by bearing, and the instm-'
ments by which we must laboriously do him service ; and
to see and love him in every creature, and study him in it,
and sanctify it to his use ; and to see that our lust get no
advantage by it, and feed not on it ; but that we tame our
bodies, and have all that we have for God, and not for our
flesh ; this is the hard, but the excellent, most acceptable
course of living in this world.
And it is not only other creatures, but ourselves also,
that we must thus admire, and love^ and use for God, while
we abase ourselves, as to ourselves, and deny ourselves,
and use not ourselves for ourselves, but as we stand in due
•ubordination to him. Abase yourselves as sinful, and ab-
hor that which is your own, and not the Lord's ; but vilify
not your nature in itself, nor any thing in you that is the
work of God. Pretend not humility for the dishonouring
of your Maker. Reason and natural freedom of the will,
are God's work, and not yours, and therefore must be ho-
noured, and not scorned and reviled ; >)ut the blindness and
90 THE DIViN]( UFK.
error of your Tea8on> and the bad inolinatiomi and actiooa o£
your free^wills, these are your own, aod therefore rUiSy
them, and hate them, and spare not. And when you lament
the smallness of your graceB, deny them not ; and alight not*,
but magnify the preciousness of that little that youhave«
while you mourn for the imperfection. And when mea-
oifend you, or prove your enemies, forget not to value and
love that of God that yet is in them. All is good that is>
of God.
4. If all things be of God, as the Creator and Conserver^
we must hence remember on whom it is that ourselves and
all things else depend. " In him we live, and move, and
have our being.'^ (Acts xvii* 28.) *' He upholdeth all things
by the word of his power." (Heb. i. 3.) The earth standeth
upon his will and word. The nations are in his hands, so
are the lives of our friends and enemies, and so are our-
selves. And therefore our eye must be upon him ; and our
care must be to please hiip ; and our trust and quietness
must be in him ; and blessed is he that maketh sure of an
interest in his special love.
5. Hence also we must observe the vanity of all cret^
ture-confidence, and our hearts must be withdrawn from
resting in any means or instruments. They are nothing to
us, and can do nothing for us^ but what they have or do
from him that made and preserveth us.
6. And lastly. Hence also we may see the patience and
goodness of the Lord, that as he refused not to make those
men that he foreknew would live ungodlily, so he deiueth
not to uphold their being, even while they sin against him.
All the while that they ajre abusing his creatures, they are
sustained by him, and have those creatures from him.
From him the drunkard hath his drink, and the glutton his
meat, and the voluptuous youth their abused health and
strength ; and all men have from him the powers or facul*
ties of the soul and body by which they sin. And shaU
any be so ungrateful as to say therefore that God doth cause
their sin? It is true he can easily stop thy breath while
thou art swearing, and lying, and speakmg against the ser«
vice of God that made thee : And wouldst thou have him
do so ? He can easily take away the meat, and drink, and
riches, and health, and life which thou abusest: And
wouldst thou have him do it? He can easily keep thee
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 9}
from sinning any more on earthy by cutting off thy life, and
sending thee to pay for what thou hast done : And art thou
content with this ? Must he be taken to be a partaker in
thy sin^ because he doth not strike thee dead, or lame, or
speechless, or disable thee from sinning ? Provoke him not
hj thy blasphemies, lest he clear himself in a way that thou
desirest not. But O ! wonder at his patience, that holds
thee in his hand, and keepeth thee from falling into the
grave andhell, while thou art sinning against him ! While
a curse or oath is in thy mouth, he could let thee fall into
utter misery. How oft hast thou provoked him to take thee
in thy lust, in thy rage, or in thy neglect of God, and give
thee thy desert ! Would any of you support your enemy, as
God doth you ?
. CHAP. XL
10. As we must know God as our Creator, so also as our
Redeemer ; of which I shall say but little now, because I
have mentioned it more fully in the '^ Directions for Sound
Conversion.*' It is life eternal to know the Father, and Je- )
SUB Christ whom he hath sent. (John xvii. 3.) The Father ]
redeemeth us by the Son, whom he sent, and whose sacri- •.
fice he accepted, and in whom he is well pleased. And this
must have these effects upon our souls.
1. We must be hence convinced, that we are not now in
a state of innocency, nor to be saved as innocents, or on
the terms of the law of our creation : But salvation is now
by a Redeemer : and therefore consisteth in our recovery
. and restoration. The objects of it are only lapsed, sinful^
miserable men. Name the creature if you can, since Adam,
that stood before God here in the flesh, in a state of per-
sonal perfect innocency, except the immaculate Lamb of
God. If God, as a Creator, should now save any, without
respect to a redemption, it must be on the terms of the law
of creation : upon which it is certain that no toian hath or
shall be saved ; that is, upon perfect personal persevering
obedience. You cannot exempt infantn themselves from
sin and misery, without exempting them from Christ the
Redeemer, and the remedy : " There is^ none righteous (in
himself without a Redeemer), no not one— —They are ail
gone out of the way That every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before God ; (and if
92 THE DIVINR LIFE.
all the world be guilty, none are innocent ;) therefore by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God; being justified freely by his grace, through the re^
demption that is in Jesus Christ/' (Rom. iii. 10. 19. 20. 22,
23.) " All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned
every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all." (Isa. liii. 6.) " Through the offence
of one, many are dead ; and the judgment was by one to
condemnation; by the offence of one, death reigned by
one ; by the offence of one, judgment came on all men to
condemnation : By one man's disobedience many were made
sinners." (Rom. v. 16 — 19.) " We were sliapen in iaiquityy
and in sin did our mothers conceive us." (PsaL li« 6.)
•' We were by nature the children of wrath, and dead in
trespasses and sins." (Eph. ii. 1. 3.) " In Adam all die/
(1 Cor. XV. 22.) " We thus judge, that if one died for all.
then were all dead." (2 Cor. v. 14.) " Christ is the Saviour
of the body : Christ loved the church, and gave himself for
it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water, by the word, that be might present it to himself a
glorious church p-." (Eph. v. 23. 26 — 27.) If infants have
no sin and misery, then they are none of the body, the
church, which Christ loved and gave himself for^ that he
might cleanse it. But what need we further proof when we
have the common experience of all the world? Would every .
man that is born of a woman, without exception, so early
manifest sin in the life, if there were no corrupt disposition
at the heart? And should all mankind, without exemption^
taste of the punishment of sin, if they had no participation
of the guilt? " Death is the wages of sin ; and by sin death
entered into the world, and it passeth upon all men, for
that all have sinned." (Rom. v. 12.) Infants have sick-
ness, and torments, and death, which are the fruits of sin.
And were they not presented to Christ as a Saviour, when
he took them in his arms and blessed them, and said, ^' Of
such is the kingdom of God^" Certainly, none that never
were guilty, or miserable, are capable of a place in the
kingdom of the Mediator^ For to what end should he
mediate for them ? or how can he redeem them that need
not a redemption ? or how should he reconcile them to 6od«
that never were at enmity with him ? or how can he wash
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 93
them that were never unclean ? or how can he be a physi-
cian to them that never were sick ? when '^ the whole have no
need of the physician/' (Matt. ix. 12.) He " came to seek
and to save that which was lost/' (Luke xix. 10,) and to
save " his people from their sins." (Matt. i. 21.) They are
none of his saved people therefore, that had no sin. He
came to *' redeem those that were under the law." (Gal. iv.
5.) But it is most certain, that infants were under the law,
as well as the adult : and they were a part of '* his people
Israel, whom he visited and redeemed." (Luke i. 68.) If
ever they be admitted into glory, they must *' praise him ^
that redeemed them by his blood." (Rev. v. 9.) God doth
first justify those whom he glorifieth. (Rom. viii. 30.) And
they must be " born again" that will " enter into his kingdom."
(John iii. 3. 5.) And there is no regeneration or. renovation
but from sin : (Col. iii. 10 ; Eph. iv. 22 :) nor any justifica-
tion but irom sin, and " from what we could not be justified
from by the la\^ of Moses ;" (Acts xiii. 39 ;) nor any justi-
fication but what containeth a " remission of sin." (Rom.
iii. 26.) And where there is no sin, there is none to be re-
mitted ; nor is there any justification but what is '^ through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and his propitia-
tion." (Rom. iii. 24, 25.) " He is made of God redemption
to us;" (1 Cor. i. 30 ;) and the redemption that we have by.
him, '' is remission of sins by his blood." (Col. i. 14 ; Eph.
i. 7.) ** By his oWn blood entered he once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us :" The eter-
nal inheritance is received by means of death for the re-
demption of transgressions. (Heb. ix. 12. 15.) So that all
Scripture speaks this truth aloud to us, that there is now
no salvation promised but to the church, the justified, the
regenerate, the redeemed ; and that none can be capable of
these but sinners, and such as are lost and miserable in
themselves. And till our necessity be understood, redemp-
tion cannot be well understood. They that believe that
Chriat died not only for this or that man in particular, but
for the world, methinks should believe that the world are
sinners, and need his de$tth. He is called " the Saviour of
the world," (John i v. 42,) and the "Saviour of all men,
especially of believers." (1 Tim. iv. 10.) " We have seen
and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savi-
fiour of. the world " (1 John iv. 14.) And from what doth he
94 THE DIVINE LIFE.
save them? ''From their sins/' (Matt. i. 21 ») and ''Aroin
the wrath to come." (1 Tbess. i. 10.) ''For this is a fkith-
ful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners." Infants then are
sinners, or none of those that he came to save. Christ
hath made no man righteous by his obedience, but such as
Adam made sinners by his disobedience ; ** For as by one
man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of one, many shall be made righteous." (Rom.
V. 19.) Infants are not made righteous by Christ, if they were
not sinner^ : and sinners they cannot be by any but original
sin : " God commended his love to us, in tihat while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us : Much more being now
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
him : When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son ;" (Rom. v. 8 — 10 ;) so that it is
sinners that " Christ died for," and sinners Aat " are juiti-
fied by his blood," and sinners that are "reconciled to
God." Infants therefore are sinners, or they are none of
the redeemed, justified, or reconciled. And when Jesus
Christ " by the grace of God did taste death for every
man," (Heb. ii. 9,) infants are sure included. " There is
one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself a ransom for all;" (1 Tim. ii. 6, 6;)
therefore all had sin and misery, and needed that ransom.
*' He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world." And is it not
plain that the whole world are sinners ?
I speak all this for the evincing of original sin only, be-
cause that only is denied by such as yet pretend to Chris-
tianity ; for actual sin is commonly confessed, and shews
itself. And truly so doth original sin, in our proneness to
actual ; and in the earliness and commonness of such evil
inclinations ; and in the remnants of it, which the sancti-
fied feel, though they are such as were sanctified never so
early, before actual sin had time to breed those evil habits,
which therefore certainly were bom with us.
And if 'the image of God, consisting in true holiness, be
not natural, or born in every infant in the world, then origi-
nal sin must needs be bom with them : for that sin is either
only or chiefly the privation of that image or holiness. He
that will say that this image is not requisite to in&nts, and
THE KNOWLfiDOfi OF GOD. 95
•o that the absence of it is a mere negation^ doth make them
luvtes^ and not of the race of man, whom God created after
his image> and leaves them incapable of heaven or hell, or
any other life than beasts have* And he that thinks so of
infants to-day may think so of himself to-morrow. And he
that will affirm that this image or holiness is born with every
infant into the worlds so wilfully contradicteth common evi-
dence which appeareth in the contrary^effects, that he is not
worthy to be farther talked with.
One thing more I will propound yet to the contrary-
minded : Can they say that any infants are saved or not f If
not, either they perish as brutes (which is a brutish opinion),
or they live in misery; and then they had sin that did de-
serve it ; yea, if they think that any of them perish in the
wrath to come, it must be for sin. If they think that any
of them are saved, it is either by covenant, or without ;
there is some promise for it, or there is none. If none, then
no man can say that any of them are saved. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord without his revelation ? It is
arrogancy to tell the world of the saving of any that God
did no way reveal that he will save. But if they plead a
revelation or promise, it is either the covenant of nature or
of grace ; a promise contained in nature, law or Gospel.
The former cannot be affirmed, (not only because the dis-
senters themselves deny any such covenant to have been in
nature, or any way made to Adam, but) because there is no
such covenant or promise in nature to be found, for the sal-
vation of all infants (and if not for all then for none) : and
becaotte it is contrary to abundance of plain passages in the
Scriptures, that assure us there is but one covenant of sal-
vation now in force : and that a,ll the "world shall become
g«ilty before God, and every mouih be stopped, (Rom. iii.
19,) and that by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be jus-
tified in his sight.'' (ver.20; Gal. ii. 16.) And if <' righteous-
nesd Gome by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Gal. ii.
21.) " For as many as are of the works of the law, are
under the curse. And that no man is justified by the law
m the sight of God, is evident ; for The just shall live by
iiuth ; a^ the law is not of faith ; but. The man that doeth
them shall live in them.'' (Gal. iii. 10 — 12.) And certainly the
law c^ fMtare requireth not less than Moses* law, to a man's
justifitoticm, if not more. And " if there had been a law
06 THE DIVINE LIP£.
giiren which could have given life, verily righteousnesi
should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath con-
cluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of J^ttus
Christ, might be given to them that believo,." (Gal. iii. 21, 22.)
By the fulness of this evidence, it is easy to see, that
infants and all mankind are sinners, and therefore have need
of the Redeemer.
2. To know God as our Redeemer, containeth the know-
ledge of the great ends of our redemption, and of the ma-
nifestation of God to man thereby. Having treated of these
in the book forecited, I shall now say but this in brief. It
is beyond dispute, that God could have made man capable
of glory, and kept him from falling by confirming grace,
and without a redeemer settled him in felicity, as he did the
angels. He that foresaw man's fall, and necessity of a sa-
viour, could easily have prevented that sin and necessity :
but he would not; he did not: but chose rather to permit
it, and save man by the way of a redeemer. In which his
infinite wisdom is exceedingly manifested. And in Christ,
who is the " power and wisdom of God," (1 Cor. i. 24,) among
others these excellent effects are declared to us, which the
way of redemption attaineth, above what the saving us on
the terms of nature would have attained.
1. God is now wonderfully admired and magnified in the
person of the Redeemer. Angels themselves desire to pry
into this mystery. (1 Peter i. 12.) As the frame of nature
is set us to see God in, where we daily as in a glass behold
him and admire him ; so the person of th^ Redeemer, and
work of incarnation and redemption, is set the angels for
their contemplation and admiration, as well as us : ** To the
intent that now unto the^. principalities and powers in hea-
, venly places, might be known by the church the manifold
wisdom of God.*' (Ephes. iii. 10.) And in the glorious per-
fection and dignity of the Redeemer, will God be everlast-
ingly glorified ; for his greatest works do most greatly honour
him : and as the sun doth now to us more honour him than
a star ; so the glorified person of the Redeemer, doth more
honour God than man or angels. ** He is gone into heaven,
and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities, and
powers, being made subject to him." (1 Pet. iii. 23.) " Being
raised from the dead, God hath set him at his own right
hand in heavenly places, far above all principalities, and
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 97
powers, and might, and dominion, and every name that is
uamed, not only in this world, but also in that which is to
come ; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him
to be the Head over all things to the church, which is his
body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephes. i.
20 — 22.) " Who being the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person, and upholding all things by
the word of his power, when he bad by himself purged our
sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,
being made so much better than the angels, as be hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."
(Heb. i. 3.)
And here a very great truth appeareth, which very many
overlook, that the exaltation of the person of the Redeemer,
and the glory that God will have in him, is a higher and
more principal part of God's intent in the sending of him
to be incarnate and redeem us, than the glorifying of man,
and of God by us. Christ will be more glorious than men
or angels, and therefore will more glorify God ; and God
will eternally take more complacency in him than in men or
angels ; and therefore (though in several respects) he is for
us, and the means of our felicity and we are for him, and the
means of his glory (as the head is for the body, and the body
for the head), yet we are more for Christ as a means to his
glory, than he for us : I mean he is the more excellent prin-
cipal end. " For to this end Christ both died, rose and
revivjcd, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living ;"
(Rom. xiv. 9 ;) " who being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God ; but made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men : and being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedi<-
eht onto death, even the death of the cross : wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, which
is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow> both of things in heaven and things in earth and
under the earth ; and that every tongue should cbnfess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil,
ii, Q — X3*) '^ And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many
angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the
aiders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
n
98 THK DlVlNb: LrlFE.
thousand, and thousands of thousands : saying with a loud
voice. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power,
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and
glory, and blessing: And every creature which is in heaveil,
and on earth, and under the 6arth, and such as ate in the
4»ea, and all that are in them, heard I saying. Blessing,
honour, glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." (Rev. v.
8—12 ; so XV. 3, 4, and xx. 6.) " The city had no need of
the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it ; for the glory
of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof/'
(Rev. xxi. 23.) " The throne of God and of the Lamb shall
be in it, and his servants shall serve him ; and they shall see
his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads." (Rev.
xxii. 3, 4.) These and many other Scriptures shew vl», that
God will be for ever glorified in the person of the Redeemer,
more than in either men or angels ; and consequently that
it was the principal part of his intention in the design of
man's redemption.'
2. (I will be more brief in the rest) In the way of redemp-
tion man will be saved with greater humiliation and self-
denial than he should have been in the way of creation. If
we had been saved in a way of ijmocency, we should have
had more to ascribe to ourselves. And it is meet that all
creatures be humbled and abased, and nothing in them-
selves, before the Lord.
3. By the way of redemption, sin will be the more dis-
honoured, and holiness more advanced, than if sin had
never been known in the world. Contraries illustrate one
another. Health would not be so much valued, if there
were no sickness ; nor life, if there were no death ; nor day,
if there were no night ; nor knowledge, if there were no
ignorance ; nor good, if man had not known evil. The holi-
ness of God would never have appeared in execution of
vindictive justice against sin, if there had never been any
sin ; and therefore he hath permitted it, and will recover us
from it, when he could have prevented our falling into it.
4. By this way also, holiness and recovering grace shall
be more triumphant against the devil and all its enemies:
By the'many conquests that Christ will make over Satan,
thfe world, and the flesh,. and dedtth, there will be very much
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. i)i)
of God to be seen to us, that innocency would not thus
ha?e manife&ted.
5. Redemption brings God nearer unto man. The mys-
tery of incarnation giveth us wonderful advantages to have
mot« &miUar thoughts of God, and to see him in a clearer
glass, than ever we should else have seen him in on earth,
and to have access with boldness to the throne of grace.
The pure Deity is at so vast a distance from us, while we
are here in flesh, that if it had not appeared in the flesh
unto us,^ we should have been at a greater loss. But now
*' without controversy great is the mystery of godliness ;
God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world,
and received up into glory." (1 Tim. iii. 16.)
6. In the way of redemption, man is brought to more
earnest and frequent addresses unto God, and dependance
on him ; necessity driveth him ; and he hath use for more
of God, or for God in more of the ways of his mercy, than
else he would have had.
7. Principally in this way of saving miserable man by a
Redeemer, there is opportunity for the more abundant exer-
cise of God's mercy, and consequently for the more glorious
discovery of his love and goodness to the sons of men, than
if they had fallen into no such necessities. Misery pre-
pareth men for the sense of mercy. In the Redeemer there
is so wonderful a discovery of love and mercy, as is the
astonishment of men and angels. " Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should
be called the sons of God !'* (1 John iii, 1.) " God who is
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up toge-
ther, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus ; that in the ages to come he might shew the exceed-
ing riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us by Christ
Jesus ; for by grace ye are saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves, it is tho gift of God : not of works, lest any
man should boast." (Ephes. ii. 4 — 9.) *' For we ourselves
w«re sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving dt'^
vcn lusts and pleasures, &c. But after that the kindneiral
and love of Ood our Saviour toward man appeared ; not by
100 THE DIVINE LIFE.
worka ofrighteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost.'* (Titus iii. 3 — 5.) Never was
there such a discovery of God as he is Love, in a way of
mercy to man on earth, as in the Redeemer, and his benefits.
8. In the way of redemption the soul of man is formed
to the most sweet and excellent temper, and his obedience '
cast into the happiest mould. The glorious demonstration of
love, doth animate us with loye to God ; and the shedding
abroad of his love in our hearts by the Spirit of the Re-
deemer, doth draw out our hearts in love to him again : And
the sense of his wonderful love and mercy fiUeth us with
thankfulness: so that love is hereby made the nature of the
new man ; and thankfulness is the life of all our obedience :
for all floweth from these principles, and expresseth them :
soihat Love is the compendium of all holiness in one word;
[ and Thankfulness of all evangelical obedience. And it is a
\ more sweet and excellent state of life, to be the spouse of
; Christ, and his members, and serve God as friends and chil-
I dren, with love and thankfulness, than to serve him merely
I as the most loyal subjects, or with an obedience that hath
less of love.
9. In theway of redemption, holiness is more admirably ex-
emplified in Christ, than it was, or would have been in Adam.
^ Adam would never have declared it in that eminency of
charity to others, submission to God, contempt of the
world, self-denial, and conquest of Satan, as Christ hath
done.
10. And in the way of redemption, there is a double
I obligation laid upon man for every duty. To the obligations
; of creation, all the obligations of redemption and the new
\ creation are superadded : and this threefold cord should not
\ so easily be broken. Here are moral means more powerfully
to hold the soul to God.
11. And in this way there is a clearer discovery of the
everlasting state of man, and life and immortality are more
fully brought to light by the Gospel, (2 Tim. i. 10,) than for
ought we find in Scripture, they were to innocent man him-
self. '* No man hath seen God at any time : the only be-
gotten Son that is in the bosom of the Father, he hath de-
clared him.'' (John i. 18.) " For no man hath ascended
THE KNOWLEDGE OF OOD. H)l
into heaVen, but he that came down from heaven, even the
Son of man, which is in heaven/' (John iii. 13.)
12. Man will be advanced to the judging of the ungodly
and of the conquered angels : even by the goodwill of the
Father, and a participation in the honour of Christ our head,
and by a participation in his victories, and by our own vic-
tories in his strength, by the right of conquest, we shall
judge with Christ, both devils and men, that were enemies
to him, and our salvation ; as you may see 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. And
there is more in that promise than we yet well understand,
'' He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to
him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule
tliem with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they
be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father.'*
(Rev. ii. 26, 27.)
13. And that which Augustine so much insisteth on, I
think is also plain in Scripture, that the salvation of the
elect is better secured in the hands of Christ, than his own
or any of his posterities was in the hands of Adam. We
know that Adam lost that which was committed to him :
But " we know whom we have believed, and are persuaded,
that he is able to keep that which we commit to him, against
that day." (1 Tim. ii. 12.) Force not these Scriptures
against our own consolation, and the glory of our Re-
deemer, and then judge. " As thou hast given him power,
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as
thou hast given him." (John xvii. 2.) " All that the Father
giveth me, shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me, I
will in nd wise cast out.** (John vi. 37.) " And this is the
Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath
given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day." (ver. 39.) " But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep, as I said unto you : My sl^eep hear
my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and none
shall take them out of my hands : My Father which gave
them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hands." (John x. 26 — 29.) " Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
102 THE DIVINK LITE.
without blame before him in love : having predestinated us io
the adoption of children by Je^us Christ to himself, accord-
ing to the good pleasure of his will, tQ the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us ^cc^pt^ in the
Beloved/' (EpheS. i. 3, 4.) '' Being predestinated accord-
ing to the purpose of him that workeUi all things after Ibe
counsel of his own will." (ver. 11.)
And if faith, and repentance, and the right disposition
of the will itself, be his resolved gift to his elect, and not
things left merely to our uncertain wills, then the ^^ase is
past all question. ** In meekness instructing those that
oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them re*
pentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they
may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil.^
(2 Tim. ii. 25, 26.) " By grace ye are saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." (Ephes.
ii. 8.) " The fruit of the Spirit is love, faith r (Gal.
V. 22,) " To you it is given on the behalf of Christ, not
only to believe on him^^ — -."(Phil. i. 29.) " As many as were
ordained to eternal life believed.*' (Acts xiii. 28.) '* And I will
give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God ; for they shall
return unto me with their whole heart." (Jer. xxiv. 7.) ** And
I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within
you : and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and
will give them an heart of flesh, that they may walk in my
statutes, and keep my ordinances, and dO them, and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God.'* (Ezek. xi. 19^
20.) " A new heai*t also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh, and give you an heart of flesh, and I will
put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my sta-
tutes." (Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27.) See also Heb. viii. 6 — 10,
where this is called the " new" and better *' covenant." " I
will put my laws in their minds, and write them in their
hearts — — ." (Jer. xxxi. 33.) And Jer. xxxii. 39, 40, " And
I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear
me for ever. And I will make an everlasting covenant with
them, and I will not turn away from them to do them good,
but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not
depart from me." ** Who maketh thee to differ? and what
hast thou that thou didst not reteive ?" (1 Cor.iv. 7.) Much
THE KNOWLEDGE OP GOD. lOS
more may be produced^ from whioh it is evident that '* Chridt
it tlie author and fimiaker of our faith ;" and that the cer-
tainty of the salvation of his elect, doth lie more on his
undertaking and resolution infallibly to accompli^ their
salvation, than upon our wisdom^ or the stability of our
mutable free-willa ; and that thus we are better in the hands
of the second Adam, than we were in the hands of the first.
14. To conclude : Vindictive justice will be doubly ho-
noured upon them that are final rejecters of this grace.
Though conscience would have had matter enough to work
upon for the torment of the sinner, and the justifying of God,
upon the mere violation of the law of nature or works, yet
nothing to what it now will have on them that are the de-
spiseirs of this great salvation. For of how much sorer
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, that
hath trodden under foot the Sou of Ood ? when it is wilful
impenitency, against most eteellent means and mercies, that
is to be charged upon sinners, and when they perish be-
cause they would not be saved, justice will be most fully
glorified before all, and in the conscience of the sinner him-
self All this considered, you may see that (besides what
reasona of the counsel of God are unknown to us) there is
abundant reason open to our isight, from the great advan-
tages of this way, why God would rather save us by a
Redeemer, than in a way of innocency, as our mere Creator.
But, for the answering of all objections agsdnst this, I
must desire you to observe these two things following :
1. That we here suppose man a terrestrial inhabitant clothed
with flesh : otherwise it is confessed that if he were perfect
in heaven, where he had the beatifical vision to confirm him,
many of these forementioned advantages to him would be
none.
And it is supposed that Ood will work on man by '
moral means ; and where he never so infallibly produceth
the good of man, he doth it in a way agreeable to his nature
and present state ; and his work of Grace is Sapiential, mag-
nifying the contrivance and conduct of his wisdom, as well
M his power : otherwise indeed Ood might have done all
without these or any other means.
3* The knowledge of God in Christ as our Redeemer, ^
must imprint upon the soul those holy affections which the i
design and nature of our redemption do bespeak, and an- \
f
104 THE DIV1N£ LIF£.
8W€r theefte forementioned ends. As, 1. It must keep the
soul in a sense of the odiousness of sin, that must have sudi
a ramedy.to pardon and destroy it.
2. It must raise us to most high and honourable tbonghts^
of our Redeemer, the Captain of our Salvation, that bring--
eth back lost sinners unto God ; and we must study to ad*
vance the glory of our Lord, whom the Father hath advan-*
ced and set over all.
3m It must drive us out of ourselves, and bring us to be
nothing in our own eyes, and cause us to have humble, pe«
nitent, self-condemning thoughts, as mien that have been our
own undoers, and deserved so ill of God and man.
4« It must drive us to a full and constant dependance on
I Christ our Redeemer, and on the Father by him: As our life
is now in the Son as its Root and Fountain, so in him must
be our faith and confidence* and to him we must daily have
recourse, and seek to him, and' to the Father in his name,
for all that we need for daily pardon, strength, protection^
provision and consolation.
5. It must cause us the more to admire the holiness of
God, which is so admirably declared in our redemption ^
and still be sensible how he hateth sin and loveth purity^
6. It must invite and encourage us to draw near to God/
who hath condescended to come so near to us; and as son&
we must cry, " Abba, Father," and though with reverence,
yet with holy confidence must set ourselves continually be^
fore him.
7. It must cause us to make it our daily employment to
study the riches of the love of God, and his abundant mercy
manifested in Christ f so that above all books in the world,
we should most diligently and delightfully peruse the Son
of God incarnate, and in him behold the power, and wisdom,
and goodness of the Father: and with Paul we should de-
sire ** to know nothing but Christ crucified ;" and all things
should be counted " but loss and dung for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord." (Phil, iii, 8.)
" That we may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is
the breadth, and length, and depth and height, and to know
the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that we may
be filled with all the fulness of God."
8. Alcove all, if we know God as our Redeemer, we must
live in the power of holy love and gratitude. His manifested
THE KNOWLEDOB OP 60D« 105
love must prevail with us so far, that unfeigned love to him
may be the predominant affection of our souls. And being*
free from the spirit of bondage and slavish fear, we must
make love and thankfulness the sum of our religion ; and
think not any thing will prove us Christians, without pre-
vailing love to Christ; nor that any duty is accepted that
proceedethnot from it.
9. Redemption must teach us to apply ourselves to the
holy laws and example of our Redeemer for the forming and
ordering of our hearts and. lives.
10* And it must quicken us to love the Lord with a re-
doubled vigour, and to obey with double resolution and di*
ligence, because we are under a double obligation. What
should . a people so redeemed esteem too much or too dear
for God?
11. Redemption must make us a more heavenly people,
as being redeemed to the incorruptible inheritance in hea-
ven. "The blessed God and Father of oui^ Lord Jesus
Christ, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us
again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from tlie dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us, who are
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation;
(lPet.i.3.)
12. Lastly, Redemption must cause us to walk the mor^
carefully, and with a greater care to avoid all sin, and to
avoid the threatened wrath of God, because sin against such
unspeakable mercy, is unspeakably great ; and condemna-
tion by a Redeemer for despising his grace, will be a double
condemnation. (John iii. 19. 36.)
CHAP. XII.
11. The third Relation in which God is to be known by us^
is as he is our Sanctifier and Comforter, which is specially
ascribed to the Holy Ghost. And doubtless as the dispen-
sation of the Holy Ghost is the perfecting dispensaticm,
without which creation and redemption would not attain
their ends; and as the sin against the Holy Ghost, is the
great and dangerous sin; so our belief in the Holy Ghost,
and knowledge of God as our Sanctifier by the Spirit, is not
the least or lowest act of our faith or knowledge. And it
implieth or containeth these things following.
w *
100 TH£ DIVINE LIFE.
. }. We must hence take notice of the certainty of our
common original sin. The necefisity of sanctifioationproTeUi
the corruption^ aa the necessity of a Redeemer proveth the
guilt: It is not one but all that are baptized, that must be
" baptized into the name of the Son and Holy Ghost/' as
well as of the Father : which is an entering into covenant with
the Son as our Redeemer, and with the Holy Ghost as our
Sanctifier. So that infants themselves must be sanctified, or
be non^ of the church of Christ, which consisteth of bap-^
tized sanctified persons : " Except a man be bom again (even
of the Spirit, as well as water) he cannot enter into the king-
dom of heaven. For that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," (John iii.3.5,6,) and
therefore the fleshly birth producing not a spiritual creature,
will not serve without the spiritual birth : The words are most
plain ; not only against them that deny original sin, but
against them that misunderstanding the nature of redemp*
tion, do think that all infants are merely by the price paid,
put into a state of salvation, and have the pardon of their
original sin in common, attending their natural birth. But
these men should consider^ 1. That this text and constant
experience tell us that the new birth doth not thus com-
monly to all accompany the natural birth : and yet without
the new birth none can be saved, nor without holiness any
see God* 2. That pardon of sin is no man's, upon the bare
suffering of Jesus Christ ; but must be theirs by some
Qovenant or promise conveying to them a right to the bene^
fits of his suffering. And therefore no man can be said to
be pardoned or saved (without great arrogancy in the af-
firmer) that hath not from God a promise of such mercy.
But no man can shew any promise that giveth remission of
original sin to all infants. Produce it, or presume not to
affirm it, lest you fall under the heavy doom of those that
add to his holy word. The promise is to the faithful and
their seed. The rest are not the children of the promise,
but are under the commination of the violated law ; which
indeed is dispensable ; and therefore we cannot say that
God will pardon none of them ; but withal^ we cannot say
that he will, unless he had told us so. All the world stand
in need of a Sanctifier : and therefore most certainly (even
since Christ's death) they are naturally corrupted.
2. And as our belief in the Holy Ghost, as Sanctifier,
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 107
engageth US to acknowledge our original sin and misery « so
doth it engage us to magnify his renewing work of grace,
and be convinced of th^ necessity of it« and to confess the-
insufficiency of corrupted nature to its own renovation. A»
no man must dishonour the work of our Creator; and
therefore our faculties of reason and natural freewill are
not to be denied or reproached : so must we be as careful
that we dishonour not the works of our Redeemer or Sanc^
tifier ; and therefore the viciousness and ill-disposedness of
these faculties, and the thraldom of our wills to their own
misiflclinations, and to concupisence, must be confessed ;
and the need of grace to work the cure. It is not ingenu-<'
ous for us, when Ood made it so admirable a part of his
work in the world, to redeem us, and save us from our sin
and misery, that we should hide or deny our diseases, and
make ourselves believe that we have but little need of the
physician, and so that the cure is no great matter, and con*
sequently deservetb no great praise. I know the church is
troubled by men of dark, yet self-conceited minds, that in
these points are running all into extremes. One side deny-
ing the Sapiential method, and the other the Omnipotential
way of Ood in our recovery. One plainly casting our sin
and misery principally on Clod ; and the other as plainly
robbing the Redeemer and Holy Spirit of the honour of our
recovery. But it is the latter thiat my subject leadeth me
now to speak to. I beseech you take heei of any conceit
that would draw you to extenuate the honour of our Sane-
tifier. Dare you contend against the Holy Ghost for the
integrity of your natures, or the honour of your cure?
Surely he that hath felt the power of this renewing grace,
and found how little of it was firom himself, nay, how much
be was an enemy to it, will be less inclined to extenuate
the praise of grace than unexperienced men will be. Be-
cause the case is very weighty, give me leave byway of
question to propound these considerations to you.
Quest. 1. Why is it, think you, that all must be bap-
tized into the name of the Son and Holy Ohost, as well as
of the Father? Doth it not imply that all have need of a
Sanctifier, and must be engaged to that end in covenanl
with the Sanctifier ? I suppose you know that it is not
to a bare profession of our belief of the trinity of per-
sons that we are baptized. It is the covenant entrance into
f
108 TH£ DIVINE LIF£.
our happy relation to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;*
that is then celebrated. And therefore as infants and alt
mast be thus engaged to the Sanctifier, so all must acknow*
ledge their necessity of this mercy » and the excellency of
it. It is essential to our Christianity, that we value it, de-
sire it, and receive it. And therefore an error inconsis-
tent with it proveth us indeed no Christians. (Matt.
xxviii. 19.)
Qm%U 2. Why is it, think you, that the Holy Ghost and
this renewing work, are so much mi^nified in the Scrip-
ture ? Is not the glory of it answerable to those high ex^
pressions ? undoubtedly it is. I have already told you else-;
where of the elogies of this work. It is that by which
** Christ dwelleth in them, and they are made a habitatfon
of God by the Spirit.*' (Ephes. iii. 17 ; ii. 22.) They are
made by it V the temples of the Holy Ghost.*' (1 Cor. vi. 19.)
It is the Divine Power (which is no other than Omnipo-
tency) that '' giveth us all things pertaining unto life and
godliness.'' (2 Pet. i. 3.) Think not, I beseech you, any
lower of this work than is consistent with these expressions.
It is the ** opening of the blind eyes of our understanding,
and turning us from darkness to light, and from the power
of Satan unto God," and bringing us *' into his marvellous
light." (Acts xxvi. 18 ; Ephes. i. 18 ; 1 Pet. ii. 9.) It is an
inward " teaching of us by God," (John vi. 46 ; 1 Thess. iv.
9,) and effectual '' teaching and anointing," (1 John ii. 27,)
and a ** writing the law in our hearts, and putting them in
our inward parts." (Heb* viii, 10, 11.) I purposely forbear
any exposition of these texts, lest I seem to distort them;
and because 1 would only lay the naked word of God be-
fore your own impartial considerations. It is God's work'
by the Spirit, and not our own, as ours, that is here so much
magnified. And can all this signify no more but a com-
mon bare proposal of truth and good to the intellect and
will ? even such as ignorant and wicked men have ? Doth
God do as much to illuminate, teach, and sanctify them,
that never are illuminated, or taught, and sanctified, as them
that are ? This work of the Holy Ghost is called a quicken-
ing, or making men that were dead, alive. (Ephes. ii. 1^ 2 ;
Rom. vi. 11. 13) It is called a new begetting or new birth,
without which none can enter intp heaven. (John iii. 3. 5, 6.)
A renewing us, and making us new men, and new creatures^
THE KNOWLEDGJS OP GOD. 109
SO far as that '' old things are passed away, and all become
new.^ CEphes. iv. 23, 24 ; CoL iii. 10 ; 2 Cor. v. 17.) It is
a " new creating us after the image of God.'* (Ephes. ir. 24.)
It maketh "us holy as God is holy;" (1 Pet. i. 16, 16;)
yea, it maketh us " partakers of the Divine Nature." (2 Pet
i. 4.) It " giveth us repentance to the acknowledging of
the truth, that we may recover ourselves out of the snare
of the devil, who were taken captive by him at his will."
(2 Tim. ii. 25, 26.) It giveth us that " love by which God
dwelleth in us, and we in God." (1 John iv. 16.) We are
redeemed by Christ " from all iniquity," and therefore it is
that *' he gave himself for us, to purify to himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works." (Titus ii. 14.) It is an
'* abundant shedding of the Holy Ghost" on us for our reno- f
vation, (Titus iii. 6, 6,) and by it a *' shedding the love of '
God abroad in our hearts.*' (Rom. v. 5.) It is this Holy
Spirit given to believers by which they pray, and by which,
they " mortify the flesh." (Jude 20 ; Rom. viii. 13. 26.) By
this Spirit we live, and walk, and rejoice." (Rom. viii. 1 ;
xiv. 17.) Our joy, and peace, and hope, is through the
power of the Holy Ghost. (Rom. xv. 13.) It giveth us a
spiritual mind, and taketh away the " carnal mind that is
enmity against God, and neither is nor can be subject to his
law." (Rom. viii. 7.) By this Spirit that is given to us, we
must " know that we are God's children." (1 John iii. 24 ;
iv. 13.) " For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the
same is none of his." (Rom. viii. 9.) All holy graces are
the •' fruits of the Spirit." (Gal. v. 22, 23.) It would be
too long to number the several excellent effects of the sanc-
tifying work of the Spirit upon the soul, and to recite the
elogies of it in Scripture. Surely it is no low or needless
thing which all these expressions do intend.
/jQuest. 3. If you think it a most heinous sin to vilify the
Creator and his work, and the Redeemer and his work, why
should you not think so of the vilifying of the Sanctifier
and his work, when God hath so magnified it, and will be
glorified in it? and when it is the applying perfecting work,
that jodaketh the purchased benefits of redemption to be
oars, and formeth our Father's image on us.
Quest. 4. Do we not doctrinally commit too much of
that sin (if we undervalue the Spirit's sanctifying work, as
a conu^on thing) which . the ungodly world do m^ifest in
110 THE DIVINE LIFE.
/
practice, when they speak and live in a contempt or low
esteem of grace ? And which is more injurious to Ood ? for
a profane person to jest at the Spirit's work, or for a Chris-
tian, or minister, deliberately to extenuate it; especially
when the preaching of grace is a minister's chief work,
«ure we should much fear partaking in so great a sin.
Qm$t. 5. Why is it that the Scripture speaks so much
ta take men off from boasting or ascribing any thing to
themselves ? " That every mouth may be stopped ;" (Rom.
iii. 19^;) and why doth not the law of works exclude boast-
ing but only the " law of faith ?" (Rom. iii. 27.) Surely
the actions of nature (except so far as it is corrupt) are as
truly of God, as the acts of grace. And yet God will not
take it well to deny him the glory of redemption, or sancti-
fication, and tell him that we paid it him in another kind,
and ascribed all to him as the author of our freewill by
natural production. For as nature shall honour the Crea-
tor, so grace shall also honour the Redeemer and Sanctifier.
And God designeth the humbling of the sinner, and teach-
ing him to deny himself; and to honour God in such a wiEiy
its may stand with self-abasement, leaving it to God to
honour those by way of reward, that honour him in way of
duty, and deny their own honour.
Ctuest. 6. Why is the blaspheming, and sinning against
the Holy Ghost made so heinous and dangerous a siir, if
the works of the Holy Ghost were not most excellent, and
such as God will be most honoured by ?
Quest. 7. Is it not exceeding ingratitude for the soul
that hath been illuminated, converted, renewed, quickened,
and saved by the Holy Ghost, to extenuate the mercy, and
ascribe it most to his natural will ? O what a change was it
that sanctification made ! what a blessed birthday was that
to our souls, when we entered here upon Life Eternal !
(John xvii. 3.) And is this the thanks we give the Lord for
so great a mercy !
Quest. 8. What mean those texts, if thigy confute not
this unthankful opinion? " It is God that worketh in you
to will and to do of his good pleasture." (PhiL ii. 13.)
** God hath raised us up together, and made us sit togeUier
in heavenly places in Christ Jesuit, that in the ages to come
he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his
kindneM towards uft tlirotigh Christ Jesus : For by grace
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. Ill
ye are i^ved tbrough faith, and that not of yourselves^ it is
the gift of God ; Not of works^ lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship created to good works in
Christ Jesus." (Ephes. ii, 7—10.) The like is in Titus iu.
5 — 7 ; John xv. 16: " Ye have not chosen me, but I have
chosen you, and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." ** Herein is
love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us ."
(1 John iv. 10.) " For who maketh thee to differ ? and
what hast thou that thou didst not receive ?" (1 Cor. iv. 7.)
" No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath
sent me draw him." (John vi. 44.) " The natural man re-
ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they arc
foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.) '' That
which is bom of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit ;" (John iii. 6 ;) that is, plainly, the
fleshly birth produceth but flesh and not spirit; if any
man will have the Spirit (and so be saved) it must be by a
spiritual begetting and birth by the Holy Ghost : " The
Lord opened Lydia's heart tliat she attended to the things
that were spoken of Paul," &c. (Acts xvi. 14.) Was the
conversion of Paul, a murdering persecutor, his own work
rather than the Lord's, when the means and manner were
such 2J^ we read of? " The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee that thou shoiildst know his will, and see that Just
One, and hear the voice of his mouth," 8cc. (Acts xxit. 14.)
He was chosen to the means and to faith, ahd not only *' in
faith onto salvation." When Christ called his disciples to
come and follow him, was there no prevailing inward pdwer
that made them leave all and follow him ? And was it not
the power of the Holy Ghost that converted three thousand
Jews at a sermon, of them that by wicked hands had cruci-
fied and slain the Lord Jesus ? (Acts ii. 23. 41.) When th^
preaching and miracles of Christ converted so few ; his
brethren, and they that *' saw his miracles believed not oik
him/' (John xii. 37 ; v. 38 ; vi. 36 ; vii. 5,) but when th^
Holy Ghost was given after his ascension, in that plenty
lAiob answered the Gospel and promise, his words were
fulfilled: ''And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all idMn unto m6." (John xii. 32.) I pass by abiin^
dttftce more such evidence.
112 THE DIVINE LIFE.
Quest. 9. Doth it not tend to bring sin into credit, which
holiness is contrary to, and to bring the love of God into
discredit^ and to hinder men's conversion, and keep them
from a holy life, when holiness is taken for so low and natu-
ral or common a thing ?
QMest, 10. And consequently doth it not tend to the
vilifying of the attribute of holiness in God, when the image
and effect of it is so extenuated f
Qfiest. 11. And doth it not tend to the contempt of hea^
ven itself, whose state of felicity consisteth much in perfect
holiness? And if sanctitication be but some common mo-
tion, which Cain and Judas had, as well as Paul, sure it is
less divine and more inconsiderable tlian we thought.
Quest. 12. Doth it not speak a very dangerous suspicion
of a soul that never felt the special work of grace, that can
make light of it, and ascribe it most to his own will? And
would not sound humiliation do more than arguments to
cure this great mistake? I never yet came near a thoroughly
humbled soul, but I found them too low and vile in their
own eyes, to have such undervaluing thoughts of grace, or
to think it best for them to leave all the efficacy of grace to
their own wills ! A broken heart abhors such thoughts.
Quest. 13. Dare any wise and sober man desii*e such a
thing of God, or dare you say that you will expect no other
grace, but what shall leave it to yourselves to make it effec*
tual or frustrate it? I think he is no friend to his soul that
would take up with this.
Quest. 14. Do not the constant prayers of all that have
but a show of godliness contradict the doctrine which I am
contradicting? Do you not beg of God to melt and soften
and bow your hearts, and to make them more holy, and fill
them with light, and faith, and love, and hold you close to
God lind duty ! In a word, do you not daily pray for effec-
tual grace, that shall infallibly procure your desired ends ?
I scarce ever heard a prayer from a sober man but was or-
ithodox in such points, though their speeches would be
heterodox.
Questi 15. Do you not know that there is. an enmity in
every unrenewed heart against sanctitication, till God re-
move it? Are we not greater enemies . to ourselves, and
greater resisters of the Holy Ghost, and of our own conver*
sjon, and sanctification, and salvation, than all the world
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 113
besides is ? Woe to him that feeleth not this by himself.
And is it likely^ that we that are enemies to holiness^ i^hould
do more to our own sanctification, than the Holy Ghost ?
Woe to us if he conquer not our enmity.
Quest. 16. Is it probable that so great a work as the de-
stroying of our dearest sins, the setting of our hearts and
all our hopes on an invisible glory, and delighting in the
Lord, and forsaking all for him, &c. should come rather from
the choice of a will that loveth those sins, and hateth that
holy, heavenly life, than from the Spirit of Christ? sure this
is much above us.
Quest. 17. Whence is it that so often one man that hath
been a notorious sinner is converted by a sermon, when a
ci viler man, of better nature and life, is never changed,
though he have that and ten times more persuasions ?
Quest. 18* Doth not experience tell impartial observers,
that the high esteemers of the sanctifying work of the Holy
Ghost, are ordinarily of more holy, heavenly lives, than they
that use to ascribe the differencing work to their freewills ?
In my observation it is so*
Quest. 19. Should not every gracious, humble soul, be
more inclined to magnify God, than himself? and to give
him the glory, than to give it to ourselves, especially in a
case where Scripture and experience telleth us that we are
more unlikely than God to deserve the praise ? Our destruc-
tion is of ourselves, but in him is our help. (Hos. xiii. 9.)
When we see the effect and know it, and the causes that are
in question, it is easy to conjecture from the quality, which
is the true cause. If I see a serpent brought forth, I will
sooner think that it was generated by a serpent than a dove.
If I see sin in the world, I shall easily believe it is the spawn
of this corrupted will, that is so prone to it. But if I find a
divine nature in me, or see a holy, heavenly life in any, I
must needs think that this is liker to be the work of the
blessed God, than of such a naughty heart as man's, that
hath already beeti a self- destroyer.
Quest. 20. What motive hath any man to exalt himself,
and sin against the Holy Ghost by such an extenuation of
his saving grace ? It is a causeless, fruitless sin. The only
reason that ever I could hear for it, was lest the doctrine of
diflferencing grace should make God a respecter of person..
VOL. XIII. 1
114 THE DIVINE LIFE.
OF the author of sin^ of which there is no reason of a svik-
picion. We all agree that no man perisheth, or is denied
grace, but such as deserve it : And when all deserve it^ it is
no more respect of persons in God to sanctify some only of
those ill deservers, than it is that he makes not all men
kings^ nor every dog, or toad a man, nor every star a son,
or every man an angel. To clear all objections concerning
this, would be but to digress.
3. Lastly, Our knowledge of the Holy Ghost must raise
us to an high estimation of his works, and a ready reception
of his graces, and cheerful obedience to his motions. He
sanctified our Head, that had no sin, by preventing sin in his
conception, and he anointed him to his office, and came
upon him at his baptism. He sanctified and anointed the
prophets and the apostles to their offices, and by th^m en-
dited the Holy Scripture* He illuminateth, converteth, sanc-
tifieth and guideth all that are to be heirs of life. This is
his work. Honour that part of it that is done on Christy on
the prophets, apostles, and the Scriptures ; and vahie and
seek after that which belongeth to yourselves. Think not
to be holy without the Sanctifier, nor to do any thing well
without the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who is Christ's internal,
invisible agent here on earth (as TertuUian in the church's
creed speaks, * misit vicariam vim Spiritus sancti qui cre-
dentes agat). O that men knew how much of their welfare
dependeth on a faithful obeying of the Holy Ghost !
CHAP. XIII.
12.. The next part of our knowledge of God is to know him
in those great consequent Relations, to which he is entitled
by creation and redemption ; viz. as he is our absolute Lord
or Owner, our most righteous Governor, and our most boun-
tiful or gracious Father or Benefactor.
1. God both as our creator and^ redeemer hath 'jus do-
minii,' an absolute dominion of the world ; that is, he is our
Owner or Proprietary, and we are his own ; for we take not
the term, lordship or dominion, here in the looser sense as it
signifiedi a ruler, but in the stricter sense, as it signifieth an
owner. Of this relation I have already spoken in a sermon
of '' Christ's Dominion :** and therefore shall say the less
in this place.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF OOD. Up
The knowledge of God's dominion or propriety must
comprehend, 1. The certain truth of this his right ; 2. The
fuhiess of it ; 3. The effects that it must have on us.
I. And the truth of it is beyond dispute, even among
infidels that know there is a God. He that made us of his
own materials, or of nothing, must needs be the owner of us;
and ao niust he that bought us from destruction; " Behold,
all souls are mine !*' (Ezek. xviii. 4.) " To this end Christ
both died, rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of
the dead and living." (Rom. xiv. 9.) " All things that the
Father hath are mine." (John xvi. 14, 15.) The Father then
bath this propriety by creation, and the Son by redemption :
and the Father also by communication with the Son in re-
demption ; and the Son by communication with the Father
in creation.
IL And it must be the most aJ>solute plenary dominion,
because the very being of all the creatures is from God, and
therefore no one can be co-ordinate with him, or his co-rival,
nor any thing limit his interest in us.
III« And the effects that this must have upon us, are
these fallowing.
1. Hence we must conclude, and reverently and willingly
confess, that further than he voluntarily doth oblige himself
to us, it is impossible that God should be our debtor; and
consequently that upon terms of commutative justice we
should merit any thing of God. For what can we render to
him bat his own? And how should he (properly and ante-
cedently) be indebted to and for his own ?
2. And we must conclude, that (antecedently to his laws
and promise) it is impossible that God can do us any wrong,
or any thing that he can do, can be guilty of injustice : For
justice giveth to all their own ; and therefore it giveth no-
thing to us from God, but what he voluntarily giveth us him-
self, which therefore is first a gift of bounty, and but secon-
darily,^ due in justice.
.3. And therefore we must hence learn, that God may do
with his own as he list. And therefore we must take heed that
we repine not at any of his decrees or providences, or any
passages concerning them in his word. Much maybe above
us, because our blindness cannot reach the reasons of
his ways; but nothing is unreasonable or evil; for all pro-
ceedeth from Infinite Wisdom and Goodness, as well as from
116 THE DIVINE LIFE.
Omnipotency : As no man must feign any thing of Ood, and
say, * This is his decree, or word, or providence ; and there-
fore it is good,' when there is no such thing revealed to us;
so when we find that it is indeed revealed, our reason must
presently submit, and undoubtedly conclude it reasonable
and good. Yet is there no cause from hence to fear, lest
God should condemn the innocent, or break his promises,
and deny us the reward ; nor is there any hope to wicked
men that he should violate his peremptory threatenings, or
(as they call it in their selfish language) be better than his
word : Because though God have an absolute propriety, and
therefore in regard of his interest or power, may do what
he will, yet he is essentially also most wise and good^ and
accordingly hath fitted all things to their use, and taken
upon him the relation of our Governor, and as it were
obliged himself by his laws and covenants, and declared
himself to be most just ; and shewed us hereby that he will
do nothing contrary to these. As there is no contradiction
but most perfect unity in God's omnipotency, wisdom, and
goodness; his dominion or propriety, his kingdom, and
paternity ; so shall there be no contradiction but a perfect
concord of all these in the exercise. He therefore Uiat as
our King and Governor, hath undertaken to advance the
godly, and destroy the wicked, will not by the exercise .of
his absolute dominion, deny himself, nor be unfaithful to his
people, or to his rules of government.
If you ask me, in what cases then this dominion is ex-
ercised? I answer, 1. Inlaying the foundations of laws,
and right. 2. In the disposal of the unreasonable creatures.
3. In abundance of things about his rational creatures,
wherein as Rector he is not engaged, nor hath in his laws
declared his will : As about the various constitutions and
complexions of men, their ranks and dignities in the world,
their riches or poverty, their health or sickness, their gifts
and parts both natural and acquired ; the first giving of the
Gospel, and of special grace, to such as had forfeited them^
and had no promise of them : the degrees of outward means
and mercies ; the degrees of inward grace, more than what
is promised, &c.
From hence also we must learn, not to repine at the pro-
vidences of God about his church, which are strange to us;
and past our reach, and seem to make against its welfare.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 117
Remember that as he may do with bis own as he list^ so we
have no reason to think that he will be lavish or disregardful
of his own. The church is not ours, but God's ; and therefore
he is fitter than we to be trusted with it.
And so in our own distresses by affliction ; when flesh
repineth, let us remember, that we are his own, and he may
do with us as he pleases. If we be poor, despised, sick and
miserable in the world, let us remember, that as it is no in-
jury to the beasts that they are not men, or to the worms
that they are not beasts, or to the plants that they have not
sense, or to the stars that they are not suns ; so it is no
wrong to the subjects that they are not princes, or to the
poor, that they are not rich, or to the sick that they are not
healthful. May not God do with his own, as he list? shall
a beggar grudge that you give not all that he desireth, when
you are not bound to give him any thing?
4. Yea, hence we must learn to be the more thankful for
all our mercies, because they proceed from the absolute
Lord, that was not obliged to us. He might have made us
idiots, or madmen ; he might have made us beasts or toads,
without any injury to us ; and the mercies which are conse-
quently from his promise, are antecedently from his pro-
priety and dominion ; for he might have put us into other
capacities, and have chosen not to have made those pro-
mises. And his promises bind us not to be less thankful
but more. As his mercies are not the less mercies but the
greater, for being promised ; because we have now the com-
fort and use of them in the promise, before we have them.
d« Hence also we must learn, that there can be no sim-
ple absolute propriety in any creature. No creature gave
all the being and wellbeing to another that it hath, and this
originally as of its own. We being not our own but God's,
cannot have any thing that is absolutely our own. Human
propriety is but derived, limited, and respective. Our goods,
and lands, and lives are ours ; that is, they are ours to use
for God, as the instruments of a workman to da his work ;
but not ours to use as we think meet. They are sa ours, as
fliat men may not take them from us, but God may take them
from us at his pleasure. And therefore think not you may
misspend a penny if you were never so rich, because it is
your own ; but know that you must misspend nothing, be-^
cause it is not your own but God's.
118 THE DIVINE LIFE.
6. Principally, we must hence learn to deny ounelyeci;
as being not our own^ and having nothing in the world thst<
is our own, in respect to God, the absolute owner; And
therefore above all the sins of your souls, still watch against ^
this selfishness ; lest you should grow to look at your time,
your strength, your wealth, your interests, as your owniand
forget that you ate mere stewards ; and say as the ungodly,
" Our lips are our own: who is lord over us?" (Psal, xii.
4.) O take heed that you use not your streligtb, or interest^
or any thing for yourselves : no not so much as your food
and raiment; (1 Cor. x. 31;) that is, for yourselves ulti-
mately, or not in subordination to the Lord. For self asF
subject unto God, or as closed with him in the bond of love,
is no longer self in enmity and opposition, nor that Which
we are forbidden to seek or serve.-
7. And this knowledge of the dominion of God, must
prevail with us effectually to resign ourselves absolutely to
him. Our consent doth give him no title to us, but it is
necessary to our welfare that we confess his title. AH men,
even the wicked, are his own, but that is against their wills :
but the godly are willingly his own, and disclaim all interest in
themselves but what is duly subordinate to his : The name
of God is put upon them, as you put your names on your
goods or sheep. '* I sware unto thee, and entered into a
covenant with thee, saith the Lord, and thou becamest
mine." (Ezek. xvi. 8.) *' And they shall be mine, saith the
Lord, in that day when I make up my jewels." (Mal.iii. 17.)
To be entirely his by covenant, is proper to a saint : for
sanctification hath these parts ; one is the habitual devotion
of the soul to God, and the other is the actual dedication,
and a third is the relation of the person as thus dedicated,
and the fourth is the actual using of ourselves for God.
These four are the parts of sanctification ; so that all is
but our giving up ourselves to God. But to be his in
right, is common to the devils, and most ungodly. The
hearts of the sanctified do resolvedly and delightfully say,
" My beloved is mine, and I am his;" (Cant. ii. 16;) and
'' I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." (vi. 3.) See
then that you keep not any thing back, but resign up your-
selves entirely to God, as those that know they are wholly
his.
8. And with ourselves we must resign up all to God that
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 119
we bare. For if we are not our owm but bis, then our chil-
dren, our wealth, our wits, our time, our abilities, and all
that we baFe are bis. All i^ not to be used one way for
God : not all to the poor, nor all to the commonwealth, nor
all to the direct promoting of bis worship : but all must be
hig» and used for bim, in one way or other, and in those ways
wiiob lie lequiretb* Possess not any thing merely for your-*
selrea*
9* And especially see to it in the use and improvement
that you use yourselves, and all that you have, for 06d« Let
this be your intention, trade, and study. See that you be
always at bis work ; that if a man come in upon you any
hoar of the day, and ask you what you are doing, and whose
work it is that you are upon, you may truly be able to say,
the LcNrd's. If you be asked, who you are now speaking for,
or spending your time for, or for whom do you expend your
wealth? You may truly say of every hour, and every penny,
and every word. It is for the Lord. Even that which you
give your children or friends, and that which you receive for
your support or comfort, may all be principally and ulti-
matdy for God : '' Ye are not your own ; for ye are bought
with a price : therefore glorify God in your body, and in
yoiff spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.) " Christ died
for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but to bim that died for them, and rose again."
(2 Cor. V. 160
10. Lastly, This must be a stay to the souls of true be-
lievers, and cause them with comfort to trust themselves and
all their affairs in the hands of God. When we have first
made it our care to " give to God the things that are God's ;"
(MatU xxii. 21 ;) and heartily consecrated ourselves and all
that we have to bim as bis own; we have no reason to doubt
of bis acceptance, nor of bis care, and protection, and mer-
ciful disposal of us. This is a wonderful comfort to poor
Christians, to think that they have such an owner. Who-
ever 18 against you, Christians, be sure of it, God will look
to you, as bis own ! And if you do but promise another
ihat you will be as careful of his child, his horse, bis goods,
at if they were your own, be will think you say as much as
can be expected. If you be poor, or sick, or desolate, you
may be sore that yet God will look to you as his own. And
why should you think that be will be careless of his own ?
120 THE DIVINE LIFE.
Ground your prayers and confidence on this, as David doth,
" I am thine, save me." (PsaL cxix. 94.) And in all our
labours, and the affairs of our lives, when our consciences
can say that we live to God, and study to do all we do for
him, and to improve all our time and parts, and other talents,
to his use, it may very much quiet us in all his disposals of u^.
If he keep us in the lowest case, if we be his, we must rest
in his wisdom, that knows best how to use his own. If he
take our friends from us, he taketh but his own. If he deny
his saving grace to our ungodly children (a heavy judgment
of which we must be sensible) ; yet when we have devoted
them to God, and done our own part, we must be silent, as
Aaron was when his sons were destroyed ; (Lev. x. 3 ;) and
confess that the " potter hath power over his own clay, to
make of the same lump a vessel to honour, and another to
dishonour." (Rom. ix. 21.) All his disposals shall work to
that end which is the most universal perfect good, and most
denominateth all the means. But those that are his own by
consent and covenant, may be sure that all shall work to
their own good. Let us die with Christ, and be buried to
the world, and know no lord or owner but our great Creator
and Redeemer (except in a limited subservient sense), and
then we may boldly argue with him to the quiet of our souls
from this relation, " I am thine, help me/' " Stir up thy-
self, and awake to my judgment, even to my cause, my Lord
and my God;" when faith and love have first said as
Thomas, " My Lord and my God." (John xx. 28.)
CHAP. XIV.
13. The next Relation to be spoken of, is God's Sovereignty :
Both by creation and redemption he has the right of govern-
ing us as our Sovereign King, and we are obliged to be his
willing subjects, and as such to obey his holy laws. He is
the Lord or Owner of all the world; even of brutes as
properly as of man : But he is the Sovereign King or Go-
vernor only of the reasonable creature ; because no other
are capable of that proper moral government which now we
speak of. Vulgarly indeed his physical motions and dispo-
sitions are called his rule or government; and so God is said
to govern brutes and inanimate creatures ; but that is but a
metaphorical expression : as an artificer metaphorically go-
verneth his clock or engine, or a shepherd his sheep. But
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 121
we now speak of proper moral government. , Qod having
made man^a rational and free agent, having an immortal
soul, and capable of everlasting happiness, his very nature
and the end of his creation required, that he should be con-
ducted to that end and happiness by means agreeable to his
nature ; that is, by the revelation of the reward before he
seeth it, that he may seek it and be fitted for it : and by
prescribed duties that are necessary to obtain it, and to his
living here according to his nature : and by threatened pe-
nalties to quicken him to his duty : so that he is naturally
a creature to be governed, both as sociable, and as one to be
conducted to his end. He therefore that created him having
alone both sufficiency and right, doth by this very creation
become his Governor. His government hath two parts (the
world being thus constituted the kingdom of God). The
first is by legislation, or making laws and officers for execu-
tion. The second is by the procuring the execution of these
laws : to which end he doth exhort and persuade the sub-
jects to obedience, and judge them according to their works,
and execute his judgment* His first law was to Adam, the
law of nature, obliging him to adhere to his Creator, and to
iQve him, trust him, fear him, honour him, and obey him with
all his might, in order to the pleasing of his Creator, and the
attainment of everlasting life : to which was [added a posi-
tive law, against the eating of the tree of knowledge ; and
death was the penalty due to the sinner. This law was
quickly broken by man ; and God delayed not his judgment,
but sentenced the tempter, the woman and the man ; but not
according to their merits : but graciously providing a re-
deemer, he presently stopt the execution of the far greatest
part of the penalty, the Son of God undertaking as our
surety to become a sacrifice and ransom for us. Hereupon
the, covenant of grace was niade,and the law of grace enacted
with mankind; but more obscurely in the beginning; being
cleared up by degrees in the several promises to the fathers,
the types of the law, and the prophecies of the prophets
of several ages, and the law being interposed because of
transgression : In the fulness of time the Messiah was incar-
nate, and the first promises concerning him fulfilled, and
after his holy life, and preachings, and conquests of the
tempter and the world, he gave himself a ransom for us, and
conquering death he rose again, ascended into heaven, being
122 THE DIVINE LIFE.
possessed in his manhood of the fulness of his power, and
ail things being delivered into his hands ; so that be was
made the General Administrator and Lord of alL And thus
he more clearly revealing his cov^[iant of graoe, and bring-
ing life and immortality to light, commissioned his ministers
to preach this Gospel to all the world. And thus the primi-
tive Sovereign is God, and the Sovereign by derivation is
Jesus the Mediator, in his manhood united to the second
person in the Godhead ; and the laws that we are govensed
by, are the laws of nature with the sopeiadded eovenant of
grace ; the subordinate officers are angels, magistrates and
pastors of the church (having works distinct) ; the society
itself is called the church and kingdom of God; the reward
is everlasting glory, with the mercies of this life in order to
it : and the punishment is everlasting misery, with the pre-
paratory judgments, especially on the soul, which are here
inflicted. Subjection is due upon our first being ; and-is
consented to, or vowed in baptism, and is to be manifested in
holy obedience to the death. This is die Sovereignty and
Government of God. And now let us see how Ood^ as our
Sovereign, must be known.
1. The princes, and all the rulers of the world, must un-
derstand their place and duty : They are first God's sub-
jects, and then his officers, and can have " no power but
from Gk)d,"^ (Rom. xiii. 3, 4,) nor hold any but in depen-
dance on him, and subordination to him. Their power ex-
tendeth iio further than the -Heavenly Sovereign hath signi-
fied his pleasure, and by commission to them, or command
to us, conferred it on them. As they have no strength (or
natursd power) but from the Omnipotent God, so can they
have no authority (or governing power or right) but from
the absolute King of all the world. They can less pretend
to a right of governing not derived from God, than a justice
or constable may to such power, not derived from the oart^ly
sovereigns.
Princes and states also must hence understand their
end and work. God who is the beginning, must be the end
also of their government : Their laws must be but by-laws
subservient to his laws, to further men's obedience to them.
The common good, which is their lower nearer end, must
be measured by bis interest in the nations, and men's rela-
tions unto him. The common possession of his favour.
THE KKOWLBDGB OF GOD. 123
Ueflsing and protection, is the greatest common good. His^
intercM iw xm, and ours in him^ must theiefore be princi-
pally maiifttiaed.
2. The knowledge of God as our sovereign King, must
bring the whole man in subjection to him« Our under-
standings must be subject to his doctrine^ and resigned to
him, as teachable and tractable : when w« know what ie bis
law and will, we must- rest in it, tbtougb we knowvot the
reasons of it* We take not on us to be competent judges
of ail the reasons of the laws of mea, but must obey them
without dispii-ting the reasons (with the limitations after ta
be mentioned). How much more must we subavit to the
wisdom of the infallible Lawgiver, that cannot deceive, or
be deceived! Oar wills also must be fully subject to his
will, revealed by his precepts. We must desire no more to*
move us, or to stop us,^ but to know what God would have
us do. As the first wheels in a watch or other engine mov-
' eth all the rest, so the will of God must move all our willsy
and rule our Ihres. We must take heed above all things in
the world, lest our wills (which are the lower wheels) should
have any such defects, distempers, reserves, any carnal bias,
interest, of incliiiatio]l>/ that makes them unfit to receive the
law of Oodf or be ruled by his will. We must imitate our
Lord, (Heb. X. 7,) and learn of the prophet, '' I delight to
do thy wHl, O God.^' (Psal. xl. 8.) With cheerful readiness
to obey, we must stand waiting for the word of his cobh
mand ; and say as Psal. cxliik 10. ** Teach nie to do thy
will, for thou art my God :" And as Samuel, (I Bam. iiL 9,)
"Speak,^ Lord^ for thy servant heareth." When a man's
selfish carnal will is mortified, and his will lies flat before
the Lord, aiid wholly applieth itself to his will, and it is
enough to a mau to move him in the greatest matters, to
know that it is the will of God, this is a state of true sub-
jection. Thus must we be " in subjection to the Father of
Spirits," submitting even to bis sharpest dispensations.
(Heb. xiL 9.) And all the church is subject unto Christ^
(Ephes. v« 24.) And this is essential to our holy covenant
md Christianity itself. When God is taken to be our God,
and we give up ourselves to be his people ^ when Christ is
taken to be our Saviour, and we give up ourselves to him
as 1»8 members, and redeemed ones, it essentially con*
tsufietb Our t^dking him for our chief Governor, and giving
124 THE mVINE LIFE.
up ourselves to him as his subjects. Take heed of that
wisdom that would overtop the wisdom of God, and be
your guide itself, without depending on his wisdom. This
is the foolish damning wisdom of the world. Take heed of
that concupiscence or will that would be your rul^r, and
overtop the will of God. For this is the grand rebels and
greatest enemy of God and us.
3. And subjection must produce obedience ; subjection
is the consent of the will to be subjects, and to obey : obe-
dience is the actual performance of commanded duties.
Subjection is the root of obedience, and virtually containeth
it : Obedience is the fruit of subjection, and supposeth it.
If God be your master, shew it by his fear, or service.
(Mai. i. 6.) It is not calling Christ our King, but obeying
him before all, that will prove us subjects. ^' Not every one
that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king-
dom of heaven : but he that doth the will of my Father
which is in heaven." (Matt. vii. 21.) "I beseech you, there-
fore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, your rea-
sonable service : And be not conformed to this world, but
be you transformed (or turned into other men) by the re-
newing of your mind, that you may prove what is that
good, diat acceptable and perfect will of God." (Rom. ^ii.
1, 2.) " And this is the will of God, even your sancti&ca-
tion." (1 Thess. iv. 3.) " Forasmuch then as Christ hath
suffered for us in the fleish, arm yourselves likewise with the
same mind : For he that hath suffered in the flesh, hath
ceased from sin : that he no longer should live the rest of
his time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of
God." (1 Pet. iv. 1, 2.) Yea, we should *' stand perfect and
complete in all the will of God." (CoL iv. 12.) And by the
power of the word of God, " every thought should be
brought in obedience unto Christ." (2 Cor. x. 6.) Our obe-
dience should be public and exemplary. (Rom. xvi. 19.)
" For so is the will of God, that with well doing we put to
silence the ignorance of foolish men." (1 Pet ii. 16.) " Obe-
dience is better than sacrifice." (1 Sam. xv. 22.) Whatever
you do therefore, keep close to the law of God.
4. To this end we must labour to know the law, and be
acquainted with God's will. The book of nature must be
studied : The holy Scripture must be searched, (John v. 39,)
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. > 125
*' and meditated in both day and night/^ (Psal. i. 2.) Princes
must have this book continually in their hands. (Deut. xvii.
18 — 20 ; Josh. i. 8. 9.) Rich and poor must learn it^ that
they may obey it. (Deut. vi. 6, 7.)
5. And our subjection to God obligeth us to a subjection
to the officers which he sets over us. If any man say to
judges, justices^ and constables, * I will obey the king, but
you are no kings, therefore I will not obey you,* he shall
sufifer as disobeying the king in his officers. Contempt of
magistrates and ministers, reflects on God.
6. Yea, hence we must practically understand, in what
respect to obey pur governors: Not merely as the officers of
men : not only as chosen by the people ; but as the officers
of God, that from him have their authority. The atheistical
politicians that derive authority no higher than the sword,
or the people's choice, or natural strength, do teach men to
obey^ their governors, but as a little dog submits unto a
mastifi*, or so far as their commodity persuadeth them, but
not for conscience in obedience to God. And they teach
men to look to no higher end than common preservation
and liberties, and not to expect protection or reward from
the Absolute Sovereign. In a word, they entice all princes
and people into damning rebellion against the Lord ; as
much as if they should entice all constables and justices to
hold their places without dependence on the prince. But
God teacheth us that " there is no power but of God : the
powers that be, are ordained of God : Whosoever therefore
resisteth the power, shall receive to themselves damnation :
For he is the minister of God to us for good ; even the
minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that
doth evil. Wherefore we must needs be subject not only
for wrath, but also for conscience sake For they are
God's ministers continually attending upon this very thing :
and for this cause we must pay them tribute." (Rom. xiii. 1,
2. 4 — 6.) " Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man
for the Lord's sake, For so is the will of God .'*
(1 Pet. ii. 13. 16.) " Judge righteously between every man
and his brother ye shall not respect persons in judg-
ment, but shall hear the small as well as the great, you
shall notice afraid of the face of man : For the judgment is
GodW (Deut, i. IG, 17.) " And he said to the judges.
Take heed what ye do; for you judge not for man, but for
156 THE DIVINP. L1F£.
the hard,, who is oyith y4>uin the judgment ; wk^eforel^t
tbe fear of the Lord be upon you.'' (2 Ohron. xix, 6—7.)
But our atheistical politicians would teach rulers that they
are none of th^ ministers of God, and that they judge for
man only, and not for him. The nature of all true obe-
dience is such as Paul *describeth in children and servants,
Ephes. vi. 1. 6 — 8, that fetoheth its rise and motiyes :from
thie Lord ; " Children obey your parents in the Lord^ for
this is right Servants be obedient to them that^are your
masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in
singleness of your heart, as unto Christ: not with eye-ser-
-vioe as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing
-the will of God from the heart; with goodwill, doing ser-
vice as to the Lord, and not to men." So Colos. iii. 22, 23.
7. Hence also you must learn, that God's authority is
the highest jetuthority, and there is indeed no such thing in
the world as true authority that is against him, or not subordi-
«iaite unto him : And therefore if men command us to dis-
obey God, by neglecting that which is ' hie et nunc' a duty,
-or by suming against him, their commands are from a dis-
obedient will of their own, but from no authority: and it is
better in such cases to obey God than man ; (Acts v. 29 0
so many prophets, apostles, and other martyrs, would not
ifaave been sacrificed by the fury of persecutors, if they had
thought it just to obey them before God. God never gave
any .man authority against bim. Nor to nullify his laws.
The acts of a justice or constable against the king, orbe-
yond itheir power, are private or rebellious acts, and not
authoritative. And so are the laws of men that are against
God. Yet rtnote well, that though we must rather disobey
men, than God, yet we may not forcibly resist, when we
may not obey them. And in some cases (as if a king would
ravish a woman, or the like) when it is lawful to resist his
£Eiot, it is not lawful to resist his state, and disturb the go-
vernment of the commonwealth : Obey men cheerfully when
God forbids it not: but see that God be your absolute
Sovereign, whose laws can be dispensed with by none.
If parents or masters command you to break the laws of
God, obey them not. Despise them not, but humbly de-
^precate their displeasure, and t»bey them in all other things;
but in the unlawful thing obey them not: no not if they
were the greatest princes upon earth. But say as the three
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 127
wknesses of God, " We ore not cai^eful to answer thee in
this matter: If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to
deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will de-
liver us out of thy hands* O king : But if not, be it known
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up/' (Dan.
iii. 16, 17.)
What I have said of magistrates, in the two last cases, I
mean also of pastors of the church. They must be obeyed in
and for the Lord ; but not against the Lord. Saith Paul of
the churches of Macedonia, " They gave their ownselves to
the Lord, and unto us, by the will of God." {2 Cor. viii. 6.)
See Acts xx. 28 ; 1 Tbess. v. 12. " He that hearetfa you
heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me.*' (Luke
X. 16.) And yet the leaven of the Pharisees must be avoid-
ed : And ^' an angel from heaven be held as accursed, if he
should preach another Gospel." (Gal. i. 8.) And I would
not have flatterers to set either princes or pastors above the
angels of heaven. Though yet in other respects, we may be
still obliged, as I said before, to hear and obey them.
8. And the knowledge of God's Sovereignty must teadi
us to fear his righteous threatenings,«nd reverence his jus-
tice, and prepare ourselves to be judged by him. He ruleth
by his laws, and so by threatenings and promises, which he
will make good. It is not a painted fire that he threateneth.
Judgment is a part of government. Laws are but shadows
if there be no execution. ** O worship the Lord in the
beaaty of holiness'; fear before him all the earth. Say
among the heathen, that the Lord reigneth*-— *•" (Psal.
xcvi. 9, 10.)r As his promises, so his peremptory threaten-
ings shall be fulfilled. He will not revoke his established
laws for fear of hurting wilful sinners, that will not fear his
judgments till they feel them. " Let all the earth fear the
Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of
him : for 'he spake, and it wasd one ; he commanded, and
it stood fest." (Psal. xxxiii. 8.) Mark also the present
judgment of the Lord, and rush not on his indignation.
For ^^ the Lord is known by the judgments which he exe-
ciAeth : the wjicked is (oft) snared in the work of his own
hands.'^ ^Pisal. ix. 16.) Though *' the wickod contemn God,
and say in bis heart. Thou wilt not require it ;*' (Psal. x. 13 0
yet they shall find that '^he beholdeth mischief to requite
128 THE DIVINE LIFE.
it with his hand, and that he is the helper of the fatherless *
and poor that commit themselves unto him." (ver. 14.)
** The Lord's throne is in heaven : his eyes behold, his eye-
lids try the children of men : the Lord trieth the righteous ;
but the veicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul
hateth." (PsaL xi. 4, 6.)
9. The Sovereignty of God is a comfort to his loyal sub-
jects. They may be sure that he will protect them, and
make good his word. " Behold he cometh, and his reward
is with him." (Rev. xxii. 12.) '* The righteous Judge at his
appearing will give the crown of righteousness to all liietn
that love his appearing." (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. 18.) " O let the
nations be glad.and sing for joy, for thou shalt judge the
people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth."
(Psal. Ixvii. 4.) " Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth
be glad before the Lord ; for he cometh, for he cometh
to judge the world with righteousness, and the people with
his truth." (Psal. Ixix. 11. 13.)
10. Lastly, The Knowledge of God as our Sovereign
King, must cause us to desire and pray for and promote the
' I glory of his kingdom, and the obedience of his subjects in
? the world ; that his name may be hallowed, by the coming
of his kingdom, and the doing of his will on earth as it is
in heaven, must be the matter of our daily requests to Ood.
I It must be the grief of every subject of the Lord, to think
\ of the heathen and infidel parts of the world ; and to see
• x^^, jebellion of the profane among us ; and that the laws of
I God are unknown or despised by the most of men. Alas !
( what abundance are ruled by their lusts, and self-conceited-
ness, and corrupted wills, and the customs of the world, or
the wills of men ! but how few are ruled by the laws of God !
O how should it grieve an honest heart, to see God's king-
dom hindered by infidelity, and weakened, divided, and
disturbed by popery, and heresy, and dishonoured by scan-
dal and impiety, as it is ! And to see the multitude, and
the violence and industry of corrupters, dividers, and de-
stroyers : and the fewness, the coldness, and the remissness
of the builders, the healers and restorers! All you that are
loyal subjects to your Lord, lament these ways of rebellipn
and disobedience, and the diminutions and distempers of
the subjects of his kingdom, and the unfaithfulness and
egligence of his ministers : and bend your cares, desires.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 1S9
and prayers, to the promoting of God's kingdom in you,
aod in the world, and befriend not any thing that hindereth
its prosperity.
CHAP. XV.
14. The third ^f these Relations, and the next point in the
Knowledge of God, to be spoken of, is. That he is our
Most Loving Father, or Bountiful Benefactor. As he is
Good, so he doth Good. (Psal. cxix. 68.) And as he is the
chiefest Grood, so he bestoweth the greatest benefits : and
therefore is thence by a necessary resultancy, our Most
Bountiful Benefactor. The term Father comprehendeth in m
it all his three great relations to us. LA father gives be- f
ing to his children, and therefore hath some propriety i\i
them ; and God is the first cause of our whole being, and /
therefore we are his own. 2. A father is the governor of
his children : and God is our chief governor. 3. A father ^
tenderly loveth his children that are childlike, loving, and ^
obedient to him ; and seeketh their felicity : and so doth
Ood love, and will make happy, his loving and obedient
children, who have not only their being from him as their
maker, but their new being, or holy nature, from him as
their sanctifier. And this last being the end and perfection
of the rest, doth communicate its nature to the rest,
as the means. And so, 1. The new nature that God *
thus giveth us in our regeneration, is not from his com-
mon love, but is an act of special grace, proceeding from
his special Fatherly love. 2. The government that he ex- 1 ^
erciseth over them, as his regenerate children, is not a com-
mon government, such as is that of the mere law of nature,
or of works ; but it is a special government by a law of
grace, a justifying, remedying, saving law, or covenant ;
together with an internal illuminating, quickening, guiding
Spirit, vnth church-state, and officers and ordinances, all
suited to this way of grace : Even as his dominion or pro-
priety by redemption, and our sanctification and resigna-
tion, is not a common propriety, but a gracious relation to
us as our own Father^ who hath the endeared relation to
him of being his own children. All is from love, and in a \\
way of love, and for the exercise and demonstration of love :
So that when I call God our Benefactor, I precisely dis-
VOL. XIII. K
ISO THK DIVINC: LIFE.
tinguiah this last pan of his relation to us, from the reiii :
But when I call him « Father^ I mean the «ame thing, or
relation which a benefactor signifieth ; but with fuller as-
pect on the foregoing relations, and connotation of them as
they are perfected all in this.
And here, L I shall briefly name the benefits on which
this relation of God is founded. And, 1. Even in creatiiig
us, he acted as a benefactor, giving us the fundamuital
good of being, and the excellency of manhood. 2. By sot-
ting us in a well-furnished world, and putting all things un-
der our feet, and giving us the use of creatures. 3. By
entering into the relation of a governor to us, and conse-
quently engaging himself to terms of justice in his dealing
with us, and to protect us, and reward us, if we did obey ;
and making us capable of an everlasting happiness as our
end, and appointing us sufficient means thereto. These
benefits denominated God the Great Benefactor or Father
unto man« in the state of his creation.
But then moreover he is a common benefector also. 4.
By so loving the world, as to give his only begotten Son,
to be their Redeemer; a sufficient sacrifice for sin. 6. By
giving out his promise or covenant of grace, and making a
common deed of gift of pardon, reconciliation, and eternal
life, to all that will accept it in and with Christ, to Gospel
ends. 6. By sending forth the messengers of this grace,
commanding them to preach to every creature the Gospel,
or word of reconciliation committed to them, and to be-
seech men in Christ's stead, as his ambassadors ; as if €rod
himself did entreat by them« to be reconciled to God." (Matt,
xxviii. 18,19; M ark xvi. 16; 2 Cor. v. 19, 20.) 7. By afford-
ing some common mercies without, and motions of his Spirit
within, to second these invi tations. But though by this much
God hath a title to their dearest love, yet tiiey have no title to
his highest benefits, nor are in the nearest relation of chil-
dren or beneficiaries to him.
But, 8. When he begettetb us again to a lively hope, by
his incorruptible Seed, and giveth us both to will and to do,
and when the Father effectcially draweth us to the Son, and
reneweth us according to his image, and taketh away our old
and stony hearts, and giveth us new and tender hearts, and
giveth us to know him, and love him as a Father ; then is
he our Father in the dearest and most comfortable sense.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 131
and w^ are his cbUdren, that have interest in his dearest
lave* 0. And therefore we have his Spirit, and pardon,
justification, and reconciliation with him. 10. And also
we have special communion with him in prayers, praises,
sscraments, and all holy ordinances imd conversation. IL
And we and our services are pleasing to him, and so we are
in the light of his countenance, and under a special promise
cf his protection and provision, and that ** all things shall
work together for our good." Yt, And we have the promise
of perfection in everlasting glory.
II. And now as you see how Ood is our benefactor, or
most gracious and loving Father, let us next see what tfai^
must work on us.
And, 1. Goodness and bounty should shame m«i from
their din, and lead them to repentance. (Rom. ii* 4, 5.)
Lore is not to be abused and requited with unkindness and
provocation. He that can turn grace into wantonness, and
do evil because grace hath abounded, or that it may abound,
shall be forced to confess that his damnation is just. He
that will not hate his sin, when he seeth such exceeding
benefits stand by, and heareth mercy, and wonderful mercy
plead against it, and upbraid the sinner with ingratitude, is
like to die a double death, and shall have no more sacrifice
for Ain.
2. The £itherly love and benefits of God, do call for our
best returns of love. The benefits of creation* oblige all to
love him with all their heart, and soul, and might : mu<^ more
the benefits of redemption, and especially (as applied by
sanctifying grace to them that shall be heirs of life, it
obligetii 'them by multiplied strongest obligations: The
worst are obliged to as much love of God, as the best (for
none can be obliged to more than to Love him with all their
heart, &c); but they are not as much obliged to that love.
We have new and specicd obligations ; and therefore must
return a hearty love, or we are doubly guilty. Mercies are
love's messengers, sent from heaven to win up our hearts to
love again, and entice us thither. All mercies therefore
should be used to this end. That mercy that doth not in-
crease, or excite and help our love, is abused and lost, as
seed that is buried when it is sowed, and never more ap-
peareth. Earthly mercies point to heaven, and tell us
whenee^tl^j come, and for what. Like the flowers of the
132 THE DIVINE LIFE.
springy they tell us of the reviving approaches of the sun :
But like foolish children, because they are near us, we love
the flowers better than the sun ; forgetting that the winter
is drawing on. But spiritual mercies are as the sunshine
that more immediately dependeth on, and iloweth from the
sun itself. And he that will not see (and value) the sun by
its light, will never see it ! These beams come down to in-
vite our minds and hearts to Ood ; and if we shut the win-
dows, or play till night, and they return without us^ we
shall be left to utter darkness.
The mercies of Ood must imprint upon our minds the
fullest and deepest conceptions of him, as the most perfect,
suitable, lovely object to the soul of man ; when all our good
is originally in him, and all flows from him, that hath the
goodness of a means, and finally himself is all ; not to love
God then, is not to love goodness itself; and there is no-
thing but good that is suited to our love. Night and day
therefore should the believer be drawing and deriving from
Ood, by the views and tastes of his precious mercies, a
sweetness of nature, and increase of holy love to God, as
the bee sucks honey from the flowers. We should not now
and then for a recreation light upon a flower, and meditate
on some mercy of the Lord, but make this our work from
day to day, and keep continually upon our souls, the lively
tastes and deep impressions of the infinite goodness and
amiableness of God. When we love Ood most, we are at
the best, most pleasing to Ood ; and our lives are sweetest
to ourselves : And when we steep our minds in the believ-
ing thoughts of the abundant fatherly mercies of the Lord,
we shall most abundantly love him. Every mercy is a
suitor to us from God ! The contents of them all is this,
' My Son, give me thy heart. Love him that thus loveth
thee.* Love him, or you reject him. O wonderful love !
that God will regard the love of man ! that he will enter in-
to a covenant of love! that he will be related to us in a re-
lation of love ! and that he will deal with us on terms of
love! that he will give us leave to love him, that are so base,
and have so loved earth and sin ! yea, and that he will be so
earnest a suitor for our love, as if he needed it, when it is
only we that need ! But the pajbhs of love are mysterious
and incomprehensible.
3. As Ood is in special a Benefactor and a Father to us.
TH£ KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 133
We must be the readiest and most diligent in obedience to
him. Childlike duty is the most willing and unwearied
kind of duty. Where love is the principle^ we shall not be
eye-servants^ but delight to do the will of God, and wish,
0 that I could please him more ! It is a singular delight to
a gracious soul to be upon any acceptable duty ; and the
more he can do good, and please the Lord, that more he is
pleased. As fatherly love and benefits are the fullest and
the surest, so will filial duty be. The heart is no fit soil for
mercies, if they grow not up to holy fruits. The more you
love, the more cheerfully will you obey.
4. From hence we must well learn, both how God is
man's end, and what are the chief means that lead us to him.
L God is not the end of reason, nakedly considered, but
he is ' finis amantis/ the end which love inclineth us to, and
which by love is attained, and by love enjoyed : The under-
standing of which would resolve many great perplexing dif-
ficulties that ^ si natura finis' do step into our way in theolo-
gical studies. I will name no more now, but only that it
teacheth us. How both God and our own felicity in the
fruition of him» may be said to be our ultimate end, without
any contradiction, ^et so that it be eminently and chiefly
God« For it is a union (such as our natures are capable of)
that is desired, in which the soul doth long to be swallowed
up in God : Understand but what a filial or friendly love is,
and you may understand what a regular intention is, and
how God must be the Christian's end.
2. And withal it shews us, that the most direct and ex-
cellent means of our felicity, and to our end, are those that
are most suited to the work of love. Others are means
more remotely, and necessary in their places ; but these di-
rectly. And therefore the promises and narratives of the
love and mercy of the Lord, are the most direct and power-
ful part of the Gospel, conducing to our end: and the
threatenings the remoter means. And therefore as grace
was advanced in the world, the promissory part of God's
covenant or law, grew more illustrious, and the Gospel con-
sisted so much of promises,, that it is called ** Glad tidings
of great joy." And therefore the most full demonstration of
God's goodness and loveliness to our hearers, is the most
excellent part of all our preaching, though it is not all. And
134 THE DltlNB LIFE*
therefore the meditation of redemption^ is more powerftfl
than the bare meditation of creation^ because it is redemiJl-
tion that most eminently revealeth love. And therefore
Christ is the principal means of life^ because he is the prin-
cipal messenger and demonstration of the Fathei^'s lovef^
and by the wonders of love which he revealeth, and ejdiibit-
eth in his wondrous grace^ he wins the soul to the love of
0(Dd. For God will have external objective means, and in-
ternal effective means concur, because he will work on man
agreeably to the nature of man. Though there was never
given out such prevalent invincible measures of- the Spirit,
as Christ hath given for the renewing of those that he will
save, yet shall not that Spirit do it without as excellent ob-
jective means. And though Christ, and the riches of his
grace revealed In the Gospel, be the most wonderful objec-
tive means, yet shall not these do it without the internal
effective means. But when love doth shine to us so re-
splendency without us, in the face of the glorious Sun of
Love, and is also set into us by the Spirit's illumination,
that sheds abroad this love in our hearts, then will the holy
fire burn, which comes from heaven, and leads to heaved,
and will never rest till it have reached its centre, and
brought us to the face and arms of God.
6. And from the fatherly relation and love of God, we
must learn to trust him, and rest our souls in his securing
love. Shall we distrust a Father ? an Omnipotent Father !
Therefore is this relation prefixed to the petitions of the
Lord's Prayer, and we begin with " Our Father which art in
heaven,*' that when we remember his love, and our interest
in him, and his^allsufficiency, wemay be encouraged to trust
him, and make our addresses to him. If a Father, and such
a Father, smite me, I will submit, and kiss the rod : for I
know it is the healing fruit of love. If a Father, and such
a Father, afflict me, wound me, deal strangely with me, and
grieve my flesh, let me not murmur or distrust him ; for he
well understandeth what he doth ; and nothing that shall
hurt me finally can come from Omnipotent paternal love.
If a Father, and such a Father, kill me, yet let ine trust in
him, and let not my soul repine at his proceedings^ nbr
tremble at the separating stroke of death. A beast knows
ho% when we strive with him, what we intend, whether to
THE KN0WLfiDO£ OF ODD. 136
cure, or to kill him : But a cliild need not fear a killing
blow, nor a loving soul a damning deaths from such a Father*
If ho be a Father^ where is his lore and trust?
& If (j^od be our Father, and so wonderful a benefactor
to us, then thanks and praise must be our most constant
work, and must be studied above all the rest of duty, and
most diligently performed. If the tongue of man, which is
called his glory, be made for any thing, and good for any
thing, it is to give the Lord his glory, in the thankful ac-
knowledgment of his love and mercies, and the daily cheer-
ful praises of his name. Let this then be the Christian's
work.
7. The children of such a Father, should live a contented,
cheerful life. Diligence becometh them, but not contri-
vances for worldly greatness, nor carking cares for that
which their Father hath promised them to care for. Humi-
lity and reverence beseemeth them, but not dejection and
despondency of mind, and a still complaining, fearful, trou-
bled, disconsolate soul. If the children of such a Father
shall not be bold, and confident, and cheerful, let joy arid
confidence then be banished from the earth, and be renounced
by all the sons of men.
CHAP. XVI.
15. There are yet divers subordinate attributes of God, that
being comprised in the forementioned, may be passed over
with the briefer touch. And the next that I shall speak of
is, his Freedom. And Qod is free in more senses than one ;
but for brevity, I shall speak of all together.
1 . And first, God hath a natural Freedom of Will, being
determined to will by nothing without him, nor liable to any
necessity, but what is consistent with perfect blessedness
and liberty. His own being, and blessedness, and perfec-
tions, are not the objects of his election ; and therefore not
of that which we call freewill : But all his works without,
as creation, providence, redemption, 8cc. are the effects of
his freewill : Not but that his will concerning all these, hath
a necessity of existence : for God did from eternity will the
ereation, and all that is done in time ; and therefore from
eleiiiity that will existing, had a necessity of existence: but
yet it was free, because it proceedeth not necessarily from
the very nature of God : God was God before he made the
136 THE DiVlN£ L1P£.
world, or redeemed it, or did the things that are daily done«
And therefore one part of the schoolmen maintain, not only
that there is contingency from God, but that there could, be
no contingency in the creature, if it had not its original in
God : The liberty of God being the fountain of contingency.
2. There is also an emineney both of dominion and so-
vereignty in God, according to which he may be called Free«
His absoluteness of propriety freeth him from the restraint
of any obligation, but what floweth from bis own freewill,
from disposing of his own ^ he pleases. And his absolute
Sovereignty freeth him from the obligation of his own laws,
as laws, though he will still be true to his promises and pre*
dictions. Let man therefore take heed how he questionetb
his Maker, or censureth his laws, or works, or ways.
ctiAp. xvn.
16. Another attribute of God is his Justice. With submis-*
sion, I conceive that this is not to be said to be from eter^
nity, any otherwise than all God's relations are (as Creator^
Redeemer, &c.) ; because there is no time with God. For
though the blessed nature denominated Just is from eternity^
yet not the formality or denomination of justice. For justice
is an attribute of God as he is Governor only ; and he was
not Governor, till he had creatures to govern : and he could
not be a Just Governor when he was no Governor. The de->
nomination did not arise till the creation had laid the foun^
dation. Many questions may be resolved hence, which I
will not troubleyou to recite.
Justice in God is the perfection of his nature, as it giveth
every one his due, or governeth the world in the most per-
fect orders for the ends of government* Because he is Just,
he will reward the righteous, and difference between the
godly and the wicked : for that governor that useth all alike
is not just. The ** crown of righteousness" is given by him
as a " Righteous Judge." (2 Tim. iv. 8.)
1. The Justice of God is substantially (in men we call it
an inclination) in his nature, and so it is eternal.
2. It is founded formally in his relation of Governor.
3. It is expressively first in his laws; For as a Just
Governor he made them suited to the subjects, objects and
ends.
4. it is expressively secondarily in his judgments and
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 137
6Jtecation8; which is when they are according to his law} or
in the cases of penalty where he may dispense at least ac-
cording to the state of the subject, and fitted to the ends
of government.
L The Justice of God is the consolation of the just:
He will justify them whom his Gospel justifieth, because he
is Just. The Justice of God in many places of Scripture,
is taken for his fidelity in vindicating his people, and his
judging for them, and procuring them the happy fruits of
his government, and so is taken in a consolatory sense.
*' Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne;
mercy and truth shall go before thy face/' (Psal. Ixxxix. 14.)
" It is a righteous thing with God to recompense. tribulation
to them that trouble us, and rest to the troubled/' (2 Thess.
i. 6, 6.>
2. The Justice of God is the terror of the ungodly. As
he would not make unrighteous laws, for the pleasure of un-
righteous men, so neither will he pass unrighteous judgment.
But look what a man soweth, that shall he also reap. All
his peremptory threatenings shall be made ^ood, and his
wrath poured out for ever upon impenitent souls, because he
is the Righteous God.
CHAP. xvni.
17. Another of God's attributes is his Holiness. He is called
Holy. 1. As he is transcendently above and separated from
all the creatures, in comparison of whom the heavens are
not clean ; and from whom all things stand at an infinite
distance. 2. As the perfection of his nature is the fountain
of all moral good. 1. In the holiness of his law, the rule
of holiness. 2. In the holiness of the soul ;. and 3. In his
holy judgments. And consequently as this perfect nature
is contrary to all the moral pollution of the creature, loathing
iniquity, forbidding and condemning it* That perfect
goodness of the will of God, from whence floweth holy laws^
and motions, and the holiness of the soul of man, is it that
Scripture meaneth usually by God's Holiness ; rather than
the aforesaid distance from the creatures. And therefore
his Holiness is usually given as the reason of his laws and
judgments, and of his enmity to sin : And our holiness is
called his image (who imitate not his transcendency), and
we are commanded to be '' Holy as he is Holy." (1 Peter i.
/
138 TU£ 0IVINS LIFE.
16.) The nature of the image will best tell ub whst Holiseit
is in God. Holiness in us is called ** the Divine Nature^''
(2 Peter i. 4») and therefore is radically a right inclination
and disposition of the soul ; which hath its rise from tran*
scendent Holiness in God, even as our wisdom from his
transcendent wisdom, and our being from his being. Holi*
ness therefore being indeed the same with the transcendeutly
moral goodness of God, which I have spoken of before, I
shall say but little of it now. Thus must the Holiness of
God be known.
1. It must cause us to have a most high and honourable
esteem of holiness in the creature, because it is the image
of the Holiness of God. Three sorts of creatures have a
derivative holiness : The first is the law ; which is the mere
signification of the wise and Holy Will of God concerning
man's duty, with rewards and penalties, for the holy govern-
ing of the world ! This is the nearest image of God, en-
graven upon that seal which must be the instrument of im-
printing it in our souls. Now the holiness of the word is
not the mere product of the will of God, considered as a
will ; but of die will of God considered as Holy, that is, as
the infinite transcendent moral goodness in the Arehitype
or Original. For all events that proceed from God, are ttie
products of his will which is Holy, but not as holy as the
creating, preserving, disposing of every fly, or fish in the sea,
or worm in the earth, &c. There is somewhat therefore in
the nature of God, which is the perfection of his will, and
is called Holiness, which the holiness of the law doth flow
from and express.
This Holy Word is the immortal seed that begetteth
holiness in the soul, which is the second subject of derived
holiness : And this our holiness is a conformity of the soul
to the law, as the product of the Holy Will of God, and not
a mere conformity to his predictions, and decreeing will as
such. It is a separation to God, but not every separation :
Pharaoh was set apart to be the passive monument of the
honour of God's name : and Cyrus was his servant to restore
his people, and yet not thus holy. But it is a separation
from common and unclean uses ; and a purgation firom pol-
luting vice, and a renovation by reception of the image of
God's Holiness, whose nature is to incline the soul to God,
and devote it wholly to him ; both in j ustice, because we
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 139
are hi& own, and in \ote, because he is most Holy and per-
fectly good.
The third snbjei^t of Holiness is those creatures that are
bat separated to holy uses, and these have but a relatiye
holiness, and ^ secundum quid :* As the temple, the holy
atensils, the Bible as to the materials, t^ minister as an
officer^ the people as visible members. Sec.
All these must be reverenced and honoured by us accord*
ing to the proportion of their holiness. 1. Ourprinoipri
reverence must be to the Holy Word of God ; for holiness
is more perfect there than in our souls. The Holiness of the
Word, which is it that the ungodly hate or quarrel at, is the
glory of it in the eyes of holy men. We may much discern
a holy and an unholy soul, by their loving or not loving
a holy law ; especially as it is a rule to themselves. A dis-
taste of the holiness of Scripture, and of the holiness of the
writings of divines, and of the holiness of their preaching
or conference, discovereth an unholy soul. A love to holy
doctrine sheweth that there is somewhat suitable to it in the
soul that loveth it. It is the elogy of the Scriptures, the
promises, the Covenant, the prophets and apostles, that they
are all holy. (Rom. i. 2 ; Psal. cv. 42 ; Luke i. 70. 72 ; Rev.
xviii. 20; 2 Tim. iiii 16; Rom. vii. 12.) The holiness of the
Scripture doth make it as suit£ible and savoury to a holy soul,
as light is suitable to the eyesight, and sweetness to the
taste : and therefore it is to them ab the honeycomb. But
to the tinholy it is a mystery, and as foolishness, atid that
which is contrary to their disposition, and they have an en^
mity to it: which make^ a wonderful differetice in their
judging of the evidences of Scripture verity, and much fa-
cilitateth the work of faith in one sort, and strengtheneth
unbelief in the other. Holy doctrine is the glass that dheWetfa
us the holy face of Ood himself, and therefore must needs
be i&ost excelletit to the saints.
2. And we must honour and love also the holiness of the
saints ; for they also bear the image of the Lord. Their
holy affections, prayers, discourses, and conversations must
be beautiful in our eyes : and we must take heed of those
temptations, that either from personal injuries received froih
any, or fi'om their blots or iitiperfections, or from their mean-
ness in the worldi or fi*om the contempt, and reproach, and
liatiders of the ungodly, would draw us to thibk dishonour-
140 l^H£ DIVINE LIFE.
ably of their holiness. He that honoureth the Holy God
will honour his image in his holy people. ** In his eyes a
vile person will be contemned^ but he will honour them that
fear the Lord.'' (Psal. xv. 4.) "The saints on earth are the
excellent'' in his eyes, and his " delight" in them. (Psal. xvi.
2, 3.) The breathings of di?ine love in the holy prayers,
praises and speeches of the saints, and their reverent and
holy mention of his name, are things that a holy soul doth
sweetly relish, and take pleasure in, as we would do to hear
an angel speak of the holy things of the invisible glory.
3. And relative holiness itself, though the lowest, must
be honoured by us. Holy offices and persons in them must
be reverenced for their relative holiness. Holy ordinances
(which also participate of the law, as significative) must be
reverently used. Due reverence must be given even to that
which is lawfully by men devoted to a holy use, as are tem-
ples and utensils of worship, and the maintenance dedicated
to the service of Ood. That which is holy, must not be de-
voured, (Prov. XX. 26,) nor used as we do things common
and unclean.
2. God*s Holiness must make us holy : we must fall in
love with it, and wholly conform ourselves unto it. Every
part of sanctifying grace must be entertained, and cherished,
wd excited, and used by us. Sin must be loathsome to us,
because it is contrary to the Holiness of God. No toad or
snake should seem to us so ugly. A dead carcase is an un-
pleasant sight, because it sheweth us a privation of natural
life : But an unholy soul is incomparably a more loathsome,
ghastly sight, because it sheweth us the privation of the life
of holiness. No man can well know the odiousness of sin,
and the misery and loathsomeness of the unholy soul, that
knoweth not the Holiness of God. " Speak unto all the
congregation of Israel, and say unto them, ye shall be holy ;
for I the Lord your God am holy." (Lev. xix. 2.) " Sanc-
tify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy, for I am the Lord
your God.'* (Lev. xx. 7, 8.) ** As he that hath called us is
Holy, so must we be holy in all manner of conversation.**
(1 Peter i. 25.) It is ** an holy calling wherewith we are
called." (2 Tim. i. 9.) We are " sanctified to be a peculiar
people to Christ." (Titus ii. 14.) " That denying ungodli-
ness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously^
and godly in this present world.*' (:veT.l2.') We are made
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 141
" an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice, accept-
able to God, by Jesus Christ/' (1 Peter ii. 6.) We must
therefore " present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac-
ceptable to God, our reasonable service.'* (Rom. xii, 1, 2.)
For we are ** chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy, and without blame,'' (Ephes.
i. 4,) and are redeemed and sanctified by Christ, '^ that we
may be presented glorious, holy, and without blemish."
(Ephes. V. 26, 27.) See therefore that you " follow holiness,
without which no man shall see the Xord.** (Heb. xii. 14.)
For " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see him."
(Matt. V. 8.)
3. The Holiness of God, must be to us a standing un-
answerable argument to shun all temptations that would
draw us to be unholy, and to confound all the words of
wicked men that are spoken against holiness. Remember
but that God is Holy, and if thou like that which is spoken
against God, thou art his enemy. Think on the prophecies
of Enoch, ** Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of
his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all ,
that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds
which they have ungodlily committed, and of all their hard
speeches, which ungodly sinners- have spoken against him."
{Jade 14, 15.) ** God will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his holy name in vain ;** much less that blasphemeth Holi-
ness, which is the perfection of his blessed nature.
4. The Holiness of God must possess us with a sense of
oar uncleanness, and further our humiliation. When Isaiah
heard the seraphims cry, '' Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of
Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory," (Isa. vi. 3,) he
said, '' Woe is me, for I am undone ; because I am a man
of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of un-
clean lips ; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
Hosts." <verse 6.)
5. The Holiness of God must cause us to walk continu-
ally in his fear, and to take heed to all the affections of our
soulsy and even to the manner of our behaviour, when we
come near to him in his holy worship. What suffered the
Bethshemites for irreverent looking into the holy ark, (1 Sam.
vi. 19,) and Uzzah but for touching it ? And what a dread-
ful example is that of the two sons of Aaron, that were slain.
by a devouring fire horn the Lord, for offering aiiaxki^^^ ^t^
142 THE DIVINE LIFE.
I which hQ commanded not. (her. x. 1, 2.) And Aaron was
awed into silence by this account from God. " I will be
aanctified in them that come nigfa me, and before all the
people I will be glorified.*' (ver. 3.) Take heed lest irrsrer
rence» or deadneas; or customary, heartless, wordy services^
should be brought before a Holy God. Take heed of hypo-
critical, carnal worship. The Holy God will not be mocked
with compliments and shows.
CHAP. XIX.
18. The next attribute of God to be spoken of is, his Vera-
city, Truth, and Faithfulness. This is the result of his per-
fect wisdom, goodness and omnipotency : For because he
is most wise and powerful, he cannot be necessitated to lie:
And because he is mo6t good, he will not lie. Though Ood
speaketh by none but a created voice, and signifieth his will
tio us by men, lliat in themselves considered are defiectible,
yet what he maketh Us voice shall speak truth; and srhat
he choosetfa to signify his will, shall truly signify it. Hie
therefore condemneth lyi^ in man, because it is contrary to
his own veracity. For if any should say that God is under
no law, and therefore is not bound to speak truth, or lu^ de-
ceive a prophet or apostle by his inspirations; I answer, tbat
he bateth lying as contrary to his perfect nature, and is Um-
aelf against it, and cannot possibly be guilty of it, becaose
of his own perfection ; and not because he is mider a law.
Lying comes from some imperfection, either of knowledge,
power, or goodness, which can none .<^ them be&ll the liood.
The goodness of the creature is a goodness of confomity
to an obliging law ; and the goodness -of the law is a Red-
ness of confonnity to, and expressive of the good will of
God. But the Goodness of God is a perfection of essence,
the primitive goodness, which is the fountain, and standard,
and end of all other good ; and not a. goodness of con-
formity to another.
And this attribute of God is of very great use to his
servants. 1. From hence we must be resolved for duty, and
for a holy, heavenly life : because tlie commands of God are
aerious, and his promises and threatenings true. If God
wereaott true, who tells us of tiiese great eternal things, then
might we excuse ourselves from godliness, and justify the
worldUng in his sensual way: There is nothing of common
THE KNOWLEDGE 0¥ GOD. 143
sease and reason that can be eaid against a holy life, by a
loan that denieth not the Truth of God or of his word.
And to deny God's Truths is most unreasonable of all. O
sirs* when you read and hear of the wonderful weighty mat-
ters of the Scripture, of an endless life, and the way thereto ;
bethink you, if these things be true, '' what manner of per-
sons you should be, in all holy conversation and godliness !'*
(2 Peter ill. 11.) If the word be true, that telieth us of
death and judgment, and heaven and hell, is it time for us to
sia, to trifle, and live unready !
2* The Ttttth of God is the terror of his enemies. O
happy men, if their unbelief could make void the l^reaten-
iogs of God, and doubting of them would make them false !
and if their misery were as easily remedied as denied ; and
ended as easily as now forgotten ! or forgotten hereafter as
easily as now ! But true and righteous is the Lord, and
" from the beginning his word is true." (Psal. cxix« 16.) Not
a word shall fall to the ground, nor a jot or tittle pass un-
fdfilkd.
&. The Truth of God is the ground of faith, and the
stay of our souls and the rock of all our confidence and
coinfort : A Christian did not differ from another man (un-
less in being somewhat more deluded) if God were not true.
Bui thtf is the foundation of all our hopes, and the life of
our rdigion, €md all that we are as Christians, proceeds from
this. Failii is anisoated by God's Veracity, and from thence
all ot^cr graces flow, or are excited in us. O Christians,
what a treasure is before your eyes, when you open the
blessed Book of God ! What life should it put into your
confidence and comforts, to think that all these words are
true ! Ail those descriptions of the everlasting kingdom,
and ftU those exceeding precious promises of this life, and
that which is to come, and all Uie expressions of that ex-
ceeding love of God unito his servants, all these are the
true sayings of God. " A ^thful witness will not lie,''
(Prov. xiv. 6,) much less will the faithful God. ** Eternal life
is promised by God that cannot lie." (Titus i. 2.) '* Wherein
God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of pro-
mise) the immutability of bis counsel, confirmed it by an
oath ; that by two inunutable things, in which it was impos-
sible ior God to lie, we might have a strong consolation,
who have fibd for ref\ige to lay hold upon the hope set be-
144 THE DIVINE LIFE.
fore us." (Heb. vi. 17, 18.) Let faith therefWe live upon th«
truth of God, and let ns be strengthened, and rejoice thereifi>
4. Abhor all doctrines which deny the truth and fiiith'
fulness of God, for they destroy the ground of Christian
faith, of all divine faith, and all religion. The Veracity of
God is the formal object of all divine faith : We believe
God, because he cannot lie : If he can lie, and do lie, he is
not credible. But you will say, Is there any that hold such
odious doctrines ? Answ. I like not the charging of persons
with the consequences of their opinions which they discern
not, but disclaim : God will not charge them with such con-
sequences, who do their best to know the truth, and why
should we ? All men have some errors, whose consequences
contradict some articles of faith. It is not the persons that
I persuade you to dislike/ but the doctrine. And the doc-
trine is never the less to be abhorred, because a wise or good
man may hold that which doth infer it.
I shall now instance only in the Dominicans' predetermi-
nation. They that hold that it is necessary to the being of
every circumstantiated act, natural and free, that God be the
principal immediate physical efficient predetermining cause
of it, do hold that he so causeth all the false speeches and
writings, (as well as other sins) that ever were spoken or
written in the world : not only as they are acts * in genere,'
but as these words in particular ; as that he so predeter-
mined the tongues of Ananias andSapphira to say those very
words which they said, rather than others : Now seeing it is
apparent, 1. That God hath not a voice, but speaketh to us
by a created voice, even by prophets and apostles, and that
the Scripture was written by men. 2. And that God's Ve-
racity, which 4s the formal object of our faith, consisteth in-
his not using lying instruments, nor sending a lying messen-
* ger to us ; (it is * Veracitas revelantis per alium.') 3. And
that no way of inspiration can ms^e God to be any more the
cause of the words or writings of an apostle, than his im-
mediate physical efficient specifying predetermination doth
(for it can do no more than irresistibly as the first cause,
physically to premove the agent to his thought, will, word,
or deed, considered with all its circumstances). It foUoweth
that we have no certainty when God premove th an apostle-
or prophet to speak true, and when to speak falsely ; and
that no words or writings are of certain truth upon any ac-
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 145
count of God*s inspiration or premotion^ because God not
only can, but doth cause all the untruths that are spoken or
written in the world : therefore no faith in God's revelations
hath any sure foundation, nor any formal object at all : And
80 all religion is dashed out at a stroke* To say that God
causeth not the falsity of the word, nor the word as false,
but the word which is false, might well be the justification
of them that affirm God to be but the universal cause of the
word or act * in genere,' as a word or act ; and that the speci-
fication is only from the sinner. But in thein that say he is
the particular cause of this word comparatively, rather than
another, it is but a contradiction : 1. For there is no other
cause of the falsity, which is a mere relation, but that which
causeth the rule and the word or writing which is false, and
so layeth the foundation. 2. It oveiiihroweth all certainty
of faith, if God speak to us by his instruments, those words
that are fdse : The ' quod falsum,* as well as the ' qua fal-
som,' leaveth us no ground of certainty. The Dominicans
therefore have but one task in which their hope is placed, to
excuse their opinion from plain obliterating all divine belief
and religion, and that is, to prove that there is so great a
difference between inspiration and their physical predeter-
mination^ that God cannot by inspiration premove to an
untmth, though by physical predetermination he may : This
is their task, which I see not the least possibility that ever
they ahould perform. If God premove, and predeterminate
every will, and tongue, and pen, to every lie that is spoken
or written, more potently and irresistibly than I move my
pen in writing, it is past my power to understand what more
he can do by inspiration, to interest him in the creature's act :
or at least how the difference can be so great as that one of
the waya he can predetermine all men to their falsities, -and
none the other way. But of this I have written a large dis^
putation; yet think it not needless, even ia a practical trea*-
tise to say thus much here.
5. The Truth of God much teach us to hate every mo-
tion to unbelief in ourselves and others : It is a heinous sin
to give God the lie, though he speak to us but by his mes-
sengers* Every honest man, so far as he is honest, is to be
believed ; $md is God less true ? A graceless gallant will
challenge you to the field for the dishonour, if you give him
vol.. Xfll. h
146 THE DIVINB LIFE.
the lie. If you deny God's veracity, you do not only equal
him with the worst of men, but with the devil, who was a
liar from the beginning. Yea, you may make him incapable
of being the Governor of the World, or suppose hinoi to go-
vern it by deceits and lies. Abhor therefore the first motions
of unbelief: it makes men somewhat worse than devils ; for
the devils know that God cannot lie, and therefore they
believe and tremble. Unbelief of the truth of the word of
God, is the curse of the soul ; the enemy and bane of all
grace and religion, so far as it prevaileth: Let it be the prin-
cipal care and labour of your souls, to settle the foundation
of your faith aright, and to discern the evidence of Divine
authority in the holy Scriptures, and to extirpate the rem-
nants of infidelity in your hearts.
6. Let the Truth and Faithfulness of God engage you to
be true and faithful to him, and to each other. You have
promised him to be his servants ; be faithful in your pro-
mises : You are in covenant with him ; break not your cove-
nant. Many a particular promise of reformation you have
xnade to God : Prove not false to him that is true to you.
Be as good as your word to all men that you have to
do with. Abhor a lie, as the offspring of the devil, who is
the father of it: Remember you serve a God of Truth: and
that it is the rectitude and glory of his servants to be
conformable to him. They say the Turks are offended al
Christianity, because of the lies and falsehood of Chriv-
tians. But sure they were but nominal Christians, and no
true Christians that ever they found such : And itis pity thai
Christianity should be judged of through the world, by the
lives of them that never were Christians but from the teeth
outward, and the skin that was washed in baptism. They
that will lie to God, and covenant to be his holy 8ervanti»
when they hate his holy service, will lie to man, when tbek
commodity requireth it. When they seem to repent, and
honour him with their tongues ; " They flatter him widl
their mouth, and lie to him with their tongues ; for their
heart is not right with him, neither are they steadfast in hii
covenant." (Psal. Ixxviii. 34 — 37.) God saith, ** Ye aha!
not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie one to another.'' (Lev*
xix. 11.) "A righteous man hateth lying." (Prov. xiii.6.)
" The lying torfgue is but for a moment, (Prov. xii. 19*)
THE KNOWLEDGE OF OOD. 147
*' for God faateth it, and it is an abomination to him." (Prov.
xvi. 16, 17,) " The lovers and makers of lies are shut out
of the kingdom of Christ/* (Rev. xxii. 15.)
Bat above all, false teachers that preach and prophesy
lies, and deceive the rulers and people of the earth, are abo-
minable to God: see Jer. xxvii. 10. 14 — 16; xiv. 14.23.25,
26. 32 ; Ezek. xiii. 9. 12 ; Isa. liv« 13. When Ahab was to
be destroyed, a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets
deceived him. And " if a ruler hearken to lies, all his ser-
vants are wicked.'* (Prov. xxix. 2.)
7. Above all, false witness and perjury should be most
odious to the servants of the God of Truth. " A false wit-
ness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall
perish/' (Prov. xix. 9.) ** When thou vowest a vow to
God, defer not to pay it." (Eccles. v. 4, 5.) Saith David,
" Hiy vows are upon me, O God." (Psal. Ivi. 12.) And
"unto thee shall the vow be performed." (Psal. Ixv. 1.)
Perjury is a sin that seldom escapeth vengeance, even in this
life. The instances of Saul the first, and Zedekiah the last
of the kings of Judah, before the desolation, are both very
terrible. Saul's posterity must be hanged, to stay the famine
ihat canie upon the people for his breaking a vow that was
made by Joshua, and not by him, though he did it in zeal
far Israel. (2 Sam. xxi.) Zedekiah's case you may see,
2 Cliron. xxvi ; Ezek. xvii. He that sweareth, appealeth to
Ck)d as the Searcher of Hearts and Avenger of Perjury.
The perjured person chooseth the vengeance of God. He
it an£t (till he repent) to be a member of any civil society.
For he dissolveth the bond of all societies. He cannot well
be supposed to make conscience of any sin or villany in
die world, against God, his country, his king, his friend or
Beigbbour, that makes no conscience of an oath. It is not
easy to name a greater wickedness out of hell, than to ap-
ffovc of perjury by laws or doctrine. And whether the
church of Rome do so or not, I only desire them to con-
lider that have read the third canon of the Council at Late-
nan under pope Innocent the third, where an approved Gene-
Td Council decreeth, ' That the pope discharge vassals from
their- allegiance or fidelity to those temporal lords that ex-
terminate not heretics (as they call them) out of their domi-
nioiiB.' Wliat shall restrain men from killing kings, or any
villany, if olice the bond of oaths be nullified ? But Scri^
148 THE DIVIN£ LIFE.
ture saith, '* Keep the king's commandment, and that in re-
gard of the oath of God/' (Eccles. viii. 2.) No man defend-
eth perjury by name : But to say that men that swear to do
that which God commandeth, or forbids not, are not bound
to keep that oath ; or that the pope may absolve men, or
disoblige them that swore fidelity to temporal lords, when
once the pope hath excommunicated them, doth seem to me
of the same importance.
CHAP, XX.
19. The next attribute to be spoken of is, his Mercifulness,
and his Longsuffering Patience, which we may set together.
This is implied in his Goodness, and the relation of a Father
before expressed. Mercy is God's goodness inclining him
to prevent or remove his creature's misery. It is not only
the misemble that are the objects of it, but also those that
may be miserable ; it being as truly mercy to keep us out of
it foreseen, as to deliver us out of it when we were in it
Hence it is that he " taketh not pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but rather that he may turn and live." And hence it
is that he " afflicts not willingly, nor grieves the childreaof ]
men." (Lam. iii. 33») Not that his mercy^ engageth him to
do all that he can do for the salvation of every sinner, or ab-
solutely to prevent or heal his misery ^ but it is his attribute
chiefly considered as Governor of the rational creature ; and
so his mercy is so great to all, that he will destroy none but
for their wilful sin, and shut none among us out of heaven,
but those that were guilty of contemning it. God doth not
prevent the sinner with his judgment, but with his grace he
often doth. He never punisheth before we are sinners, nor
never decreed so to do, as all will grant. He punisheth none,'
where his foregoing commands and warnings have had their
due effect for the prevention : and therefore because the pre*
cept is the first part of his law, and the threatening is but
subservient to that, and the first intent of a governor is to
procure obedience, and punishing is but upon supposition
that he misseth of the first, therefore is God not to afflict
willingly ; because he doth it not ' ex voluntate antece*-
dente,' but 'ex voluntate consequente,' that is (for so the dis-
tinction is sound) not as a lawgiver, and ruler by those laws
considered before the violation ; but only as a judge of tim
lawbreakers. But ycit God's mercy is no security to tha
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 149
abusers of his mercy. But rather will sink them into deeper
misery, as the i^gravation of their sin : As God afliicts not
willingly, and yet we feel that he afflicteth : so if he do not
condemn you willingly, you shall find if you are impenitent,
that he will condemn you.
If you say, God can be forced to do nothing against his
will : I answer you, that it is not simply against his will ; for
then it should never come to pass : but it is against the prin-
cipal act of his will, which floweth from him as a lawgiver,
or ruler by laws, in which respect it may be said, that he had
" rather that the wicked turn and live :'* but yet if they will
not turn, they shall not live. A merciful judge had rather
the thief had saved his life by forbearing to steal ; but yet
be had not rather that thieves go unpunished than he should
condemn them.
1. The mercy of God should lead sinners to repentance, and
shame them from their sin, and lead them up to God in love.
2. Mercy should encourage sinners to repent, as well as
engine them to it : for we have to do with a merciful God,
that hath not shut up any among us in despair, nor forbid
them to come in, but continueth to invite when we have oft
refused, and will undoubtedly pardon and welcome all that
do return.
3. Mercy being specially the portion of the saints, must
keep them in thankfulness, love and comfort : and all mer-
cies must be improved for their proper ends. When a mer-
eifnl God is pleased to fill up his servants* lives with such
peat and various mercies as he doth, it should breed a con-
tinoal sweetness upon their hearts, and cause them to study
die most grateful retribution. He should breathe forth no-
thing but thankfulness, obedience and praise, who breathes •
aothing but mercies from God. As the food that men live
ipon, will be seen in their temperature, health and strength ;
io they that live continually upon mercies, should be wholly
tuned into love and thankfulness : it should become as it
wiere their nature, temperature and constitution. O how
laspeakable is the love of God, that provideth so sweet a
Bfiifor his servants, even in their warfare and pilgrimage in
Ais world ! that mercy must be as it were the air that they
breathe in^the food which they must live upon; and the
lemembrance, improvement and thankful mention of it,
must be the business and employment of their lives ! O with
150 THE DIVINE LIFE.
what sweet afiPections, meditations and expressions should
we live, if we lived but according to the rate of those mer*
cies upon which we live ! Love, and joy, and thanks, and
praise, would be our very lives. What sweet thoughts would
mercy breed and feed in our minds when we are alone ! What
sweet apprehensions of the love of God, and Ufe eternal,
should we have in prayer, reading, sacraments, and othcrr
holy ordinances ! Sickness and health, poverty and wealth,
death as well as life would be comfortable to us : for all is
full of mercy to the vessels of mercy. O Christians, what
a shame is it that God is so much wronged, and ourselves so
much defrauded of our peace and joy, by passing over such
abundance of great invaluable mercies, without tasting their
sweetness, or well considering what we do receive ! Had
we David's heart, what songs of praise would Mercy teach
us to indite! How affectionately should we recount the
mercies of our youth and riper age ; of every place and state
that we have lived in to the honour of our gracious Lord,
and the encouragement of those that know not how good
and merciful he is.
But withal, see that you contemn not, or abuse not
mercy : use it well ; for it is mercy that you must trust to
in the hour of your distresses. O do not trample upon
mercy now, lest you should be confounded when you should
cry for mercy in your extremity!
4. The Mercifulness of God, must cause his servants to
imitate him in love and mercy : " Be merciful, for your hea-
venly Father is merciful. Blessed are the merciful, for they
shall obtain mercy." (Matt. v. 7.) Be merciful in your
censures : Be merciful in your retributions : You are none
of God's children, if you " love not your enemies, and pray
not for them that curse you, and do not good to them that
hate and persecute you" (according to your power). (Matt*
V. 44, 46.) " If you forgive not men their trespasses," but
take your brother by the throat, *' neither will your heavenly
Father forgive you your trespasses/' (Matt. vi. 14, 16.)
Mark, that even while he is called ** your heavenly Father/'
yet he will not forgive, if you forgive not. Unmerciful men
are too unlike to God, to claim any interest in his saving
mercy, in the hour of their extremest misery. Men of
cruelty, blood, and violence, he abhorreth : and usually they
do not " live out half their days :" but they that ** bite and
TH£ KNOWLEDGE OF OOD. 151
devour one another^ are devoured one of another/* (Gal. v»
15.) The last judgment will pass much according to men*s
works of mercy, to the members of Christ. (Matt, xxv.)
''He shall have judgment without mercy » that hath shewed
no mercy: and mercy rejoiceth against judgment/' (James
ii. 13.) ** Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the
Father, is this. To visit the fatherless and widows in their
afflictions, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
(James i. 27.) *' He that having this world's goods, seeth
his brother in need, and shutteth up the bowels of his com-:
passion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"
Bat above all cruelty, there is none more devilish than
craelty to souls. And in those that undertake the place of
pastors, cruelty to men's souls is a far greater sin than in
aay others. To starve those that they undertake to feed ;
and to seduce those whom they undertake to guide, and be
wolves to those whose shepherds they pretend to be, and to
prefer their worldly honours, and commodity, and ease, be-
fore the souls of many thousands, to be so cruel to souls,
when Christ hath been so merciful to them, as to come
down on earth to seek and save them, and to give his life a
ransom for them ; this will one day be so heavy a charge,
that the man that must stand as guilty under it, will a thou-
sand times wish, that a ''milstone had been hanged about
his neck, and he had been cast into the bottom of the sea,"
before he had betrayed or murdered souls, or offended one
of the little ones of Christ. Be merciful to men*s souls and
bodies, as ever you would find mercy with a merciful God
in the hour of your necessity and distress.
CHAP. XXI.
20. The last of God*s attributes which I shall now mention,
is, his Dreadfulness or Terribleness, to those that are the
objects of his wrath. This is the result of his other attri-
butes, especially of his Holiness, and governing Justice, and
Troth in his comminations. He is a ^* great and dreadful
God." (Dan. ix. 4.) " A mighty God and terrible.'* (Deut.
vii. 21.) " A great and terrible God," (Nah. i. 5.) " With
God is terrible Majesty." (Job xxxvii. 22.) "The Lord
most high is terrible." (Psal, xlvii. 22.)
1. His children therefore must be kept in a holy awe;
Gfod is never to be approached or mentioned, but with the
152 THE DlVlNB LlF£.
greatest reverence. • We must '' sanctify the Lord of Hosttf
himself, and he must be our fear and dread*" (Isa. viii. 13.}
Even they that *' receive the unmoveable kii^om, must
have grace in their hearts to serve him acceptably, with
reverence and godly fear, because our God is a consuming
fire." (Heb. xii. 28, 29.) When we come to worship in the
holy assemblies, we should think, as Jacob, " How dreadful
is this place ! This is none other but the house of God, and
this is the gate of heaven." (Gen. xxviii. 17.) Esp^ially
when God seemeth to frown upon the soul, his servants
must humble themselves before him, and deprecate his
wrath, as Jeremiah did, " Be not a terror to me«" (Jer. xvii.
17.) It ill becometh the best of men, to make light of the
frowns and threatenings of God. Also when he dealeth
with us in judgment, and we feel the smart of his chastise-
ments, though we must remember that he is a Father, yet
withal we must consider that he sheweth himself an offended
Father : And therefore true and deep hiuuiliation hath ever
been the course of afflicted saints, to turn away the wrath
of a terrible God.
2. But above all, what cause have the ungodly to trem-*
ble at the dreadfulness of that God, who is engaged injus-
tice, (except they be converted) to use them everlastingly
as his unpardoned enemies. As there is no felicity like the
favour of God; and no joy comparable to his children's
joys ; so there is no misery like the sense of his displeasure^
nor any terrors to be compared to those, which his wrath
inflicteth everlastingly on the ungodly. O wretched sinner i
what hast thou doue to make God thine enemy ? what could
hire thee to offend him by thy wilful sin ? and to do that
which thou kuewest he forbid and condemned in his word ?
What madness caused thee to make a mock at sin and hell,
and to play with the vengeance of the Almighty ? What
gain did hire thee to cast thy soul into the danger of dam*
nation ? Canst thou save by the match, if thou win the
world and lose thy soul ? Didst thou < not know who it was
thou hadst to do with ? It had been better for thee that all
the world had been offended with thee, even men and
angels, great and small, than the most dreadful God ! Didst
thou not believe him, when he told Aee how he was resolved
to judge and punish the ungodly ? Read it, 2 Thess. ii. 7—10 ;
ii. 10, 11 ; Matt. xxv|; Jude 15 ; Psalm i. 8cc. What caused
THE KNOWLEDGE Ot 000. 1*53
thee to venture upon the consuming fire? Didst thou not
know that he is merciful^ so he is jealous, holy, just, and
terrible ? In the name of God, I require and entreat thee,
fly to his mercy in Jesus Christ ; and hearken speedily to his
grace, and turn at his reproof and warning ; to-day, while
it is called to-day, harden not thy heart, but hear his voice,
lest he resolve in his wrath, that thou shalt never enter into
his rest ; there is no enduring, there is no overcoming, there
is no contending with an angry, dreadful, holy God: Repent
therefore and turn to him, and obey the voice of mercy that
thy soul may live.
3. The dreadfulness of God, doth tell both good and
bad, the great necessity of a Mediator. What an unspeak-
able mercy is it that God hath given us his Son ! and that by
Jesus Christ we may come with boldness and confidence
into the presence of the dreadful God, that else would have
been to us a greater terror than all the world, yea than Sa-
tan himself. The more we are apprehensive of our distance
from God, and of his terrible Majesty, and his more terrible
justice against such sinners as we have been, the more we
shall understand the mystery of redemption, and highly va-
lue the mediation of Christ.
4. Lastly, Let the dreadfulness of God prevail with
every believing soul, to pity the ungodly that pity not them-*
selves. O pray for them, O warn them, exhort them, entreat
them, as men that know the terrors of the Lord. (2 Cor. v.
11.) If they knew, as well as you do, what sin is, and what
it is to be children of wrath, and what it is to be unpardon-
ed, unjustified, and unsanctified, they would pity them-
selves, and cry for mercy, mercy, mercy, from day to day,
till they were recovered into a state of life, and turned from
the power of Satan unto God. Alas ! they know not what
it is to die, and to see the world to come, and to appear be-
fore a dreadful God : They know not what it is to be in hell
fire ; nor what it is to be glorified in heaven : They never
saw or tried these things, and they want the faith by which
they mast be foreseen by those that are yet short of nearer
knowledge : You therefore that have faith to foreknow these
things, and are enlightened by the Spirit of God, O pity, and
warn, and help the miserable ! Tell them how much easier
it is to escape hell, than to endure it : and how much easier
a holy life on earth is, than the endless wrath of the most
154 THE DIVINE LIFE.
dreadful God. Tell them that unbelief, presumption, and
security, are the certain m^ans to bring their misery, but
will do nothing to keep it oJST.; though they may keep off
the present knowledge and sense of it, which would have
driven them to seek a cure. Tell them that death and judg-
ment are at hand, and that when they laugh, or sport, or
scorn, and jest at the displeasure of the dreadful God, it is
posting toward them, and will be upon them before they are
aware ; and when they slumber, their damnation slumbereth
not : but while unbelieving sinners say, peace, peace, sud-
den destruction will come upon them, as unexpected travail
on a woman with child, and they shall not escape. O tell
them how dreadful a thing it is, for a soul that is unregene-
rate and unsanctified, to go from that body which it pam-
pered and sold its salvation to please, and to appear at the
tribunal of God ; ami how dreadful it is for such a soul to
fall into the hands of the living God. At least save your
own souls, by the faithful discharge of so great a duty ; and
if they will take no warning, let them at last remember,
when it is too late, that they were told in time, what they
should see and feel at last, and what their latter end would
prove; and that God and man did warn them in compas-
sion, though they perish because they would have no com-
passion or mercy upon themselves. Thus let the terrible-
ness of God provoke you, to do your duty with speed and
zeal, for the converting and saving of miserable souls.
And thus I have briefly set before you the glass in which
you may see the Lord, and told you how he must be known :
and how he must be conceived of in our apprehensions ;
and how the knowledge of God must be improved, and
what impressions it must make upon the heart, and what
effect it mu&t have upon our lives. Blessed, and for ever
blessed, are those souls, that have the true and lively image
of this God, and all these his attributes imprinted on them,
(as to the creature they are communicable). And O that
the " veil were taken from our hearts, and that we all with
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
may be changed into the same image, from glory to glory,
as by the Spirit of the Lord,*' (2 Cor. iii. 18,) and may in-
crease and live in the knowledge of the true and only God,
and of Jesus Christ, which is eternal life. Amen.
155
PART II.
THE DESCRIPTION, REASONS AND REWARD
OP THE
BELIEVER'S WALKING WITH GOD.
GENESIS T. 24.
And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God
took him.
CHAPTER I.
Being to speak of our Converse with God in Solitude, I
think it will not be unsuitable, nor unserviceable to the
ends of that discourse, if I here premise a short description
of the Genera^ Duty of Practical Godliness, as it is called in
Scripture ' a Walking with God.' It is here commended to
us in the example of holy Enoch, whose excellency is re-
corded in this signal character, that " he walked with God :"
and his special reward expressed in the words following,
*' and he was not, for God took him." I shall speak most
of his character, and then somewhat of his reward.
The Samaritan and vulgar Latin versions do strictly
translate the Hebrew as we read it : but the interpretation
of the Septuagint, the Syriac, the Chaldee, and the Arabic,
are rather good expositions (all set together) of the mean-
ing^ of die word, than strict translations. The Septuagint
and Syiiac read it, ' Enoch pleased God.' The Chaldee
hath, ' Enoch walked in the fear of God/ And the Arabic,
'he walked in obedience to God.' And indeed to walk in
the fear and obedience of Qod, and thereby to please him,
is the principal thing in our ''walking with God." The
tame character is given of Noah, in Gen. vi. 19. and the ex-
traorcKnary reward annexed ; he and his family were saved
in the deluge. And the holy life which God commanded
f
156 TH£ DIVINE LIF£«
Abraham, is called ' a walking before God/ " Walk before
me, and be thou perfect/' (Gen. xvii. 1.) And in the New
Testament the Christian conversation is ordinarily called by
the name of Walking. Sometimes a 'walking in Christ;'
as Col. ii. 6. Sometimes a * walking in the Spirit, in which
we live/ (Gal. v. 26.) And a 'walking after the Spirit/
(Rom. viii. 1.) Sometimes a ' walking in the light, as God
is in the light.' (1 John i. 7.) Those that ' abide in Christ
must so walk even as he hath walked.' (1 John ii. 6.) These
phrases set together tell us, what it is to walk with God.
But I think it not unprofitable somewhat more particularly
to shew you what this walking with God doth contain.
As atheism is the sum of wickedness, so all true religi-
ousness is called by the name of Godliness or Holiness,
which is nothing else but our devotedness to God, and living
to him, and our relation to him as thus devoted in heart
and life. Practical atheism is a '' living as without God in
the world." (Ephes. ii. 12.) Godliness is contrary to practi-
cal atheism, and is a living as with and to God in the world
and in the church, and is here called a walking with God.
And it containeth in it these particulars.
1 . To walk with God includeth the practical acknow-
Jedgsaent (that is made by the will as well as' tfie^under-
f , standing) of the grand attributes of God, and his relations
!: to man; that he is Infinite in his Being, that is. Immense
and Eternal ; as also in his Power, Wisdom and Goodness:
That he is the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier : That he
is our absolute Lord (or Owner), our most righteous Go-
vernor, and most bountiful Benefactor (or Father) : That ''of
him, and through him, and to him, are all things :" That ''in
, him we live, and move, and have our being :" That he is the
fountain, or first cause, from which all (proper) being, truth
I and goodness in the creature is but a derived stream. To
i have the soul unfeignedly resign itself to him, as his own;
and subject itself to him as our Governor, walking in the
awe of his sovereign power ; sensible of the strong obliga-
tion of his laws, which reason, justice and necessity do all
command us to obey. To live as in full dependence on
him : to have the first and greatest respect unto him : a
more observant respect to him than to our rulers : a moi'e
obedient respect to him than to our masters : a more de-
pendent, tender, and honourable le^i^ectto him than to pa-
WALKING WITH GOD. 157
rents^ or our nearest friends. Thus *'he that cometh to God"
<as6od,and so as to be accepted of him), ** must believe that
he is/' (his essential attributes) and (what he is in his rela-
tions to' man ; especially that as our Governor and Bene-
factor) ** he is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek m
him/' (Heb. xi. 6.) The impress of a Deity in his essential / ^
and relative attributes must be upon the heart of him that > *
walks with God. Yea, the being of God must be much
more remarkable to him, than the being of all creatures,
and his presence more regarded, than the presence of the
creature ; and all things must be to us in comparison of
God, as a candle is in comparison of the sun : His greatness
and transcendent excellencies must so overpower them all,
as to make them less observed and regarded, by his taking
up our chief observation and regard.
2. Our walking with God includeth our reconciliation
to him, and that we are not in our natural state of enmity,
but made his children and friends in Christ. *' Can two
walk together unless they be agreed f" (Amos iii. 3.) En-
mity is against unity; disaffection causeth aversion, and
flying from each other : yea, the fears of a guilty child may
make him fly from his father's presence, till there be a par-
ticular reconciliation, besides the general state of reconci-
liation. A provoking, faulty child doth dwell with God his
Father, though under the continual terror of his frowns ;
but to walk with him (in the full sense) is more than to be
related to him, and to dwell with him. In a large sense in- *
deed all God's children may be said to walk with him, as it
signifieth only a conversation ordered in godliness, sincerity
and simplicity. But in this more sublime sense, as it sig-
aifieth a lively exercise of faith and love, and heavenly-
mindedness^ .and a course of complacential cojotemplation, '^
and holy converse with God, so it is proper only to some of .
Iha sounder and moce vigilant industrious believers. And
hereto it is necessary, not only that we be justified and re-
-Gonciled to God from our state of enmity^ but also that we
be pardoned, justified and reconciled from our particular
•wounding falls, which are more than the ordinary infirmities
of believers. And also it is necessary that we have grateful*
friendly thoughts of God : that we have so much sense of
his .ex<^Uency» goodness and kindness to ourselves, as vx^
give uB a coBipJjicency in converfling witVi \um» ^aid^ tos^
158 THE DIVINE LIFE.
make the thoughts and mentioa of him to be desirable and
pleasing to us. Walking with God doth import^ though
not the full assurance of his special love and grace to «s,
yet such an apprehension of his love and goodness, as may
draw the heart to think of him with desire, if not with de-
light. A loathness to draw near him, to think of him, or to
mention him, a weariness of his special service, are contrary
to this special walking with God.
3. Our walking with God, doth include our esteeming
and intending Him as the ultimate end and felicity of our
souls. He is not to be sought, or loved, or conversed with,
as a means to any greater good (for there is no greater), nor
as inferior, or merely equal unto any. His goodness must
be the most powerful attractive of our love : his favour must
be valued as our happiness ; and the pleasing of him must
be our most industrious employment. To walk with him,
is to live in the warming, reviving sunshine of his goodness,
and to feel a delighting, satisfying virtue in his love and
gracious presence. To live as those that are not their own,
and that have their lives, and faculties, and provisions, and
helps for their master's service : as a horse or dog is of so
much worth, as he is of use to him that owneth him ; and
that is the best that is the most serviceable to his master :
yet with this very great difference, that man being a more
noble and capacious creature, is admitted not only into a
state of service, but of sonship, and friendship, and com-
munion with God ; and is allowed and appointed to share
more in the pleasure and fruits of his services, and to put
in his own felicity and delight into his end ; not only be-
cause self-love is natural and necessary to the creature, but
also because he is und^ the promise of a reward ; and (more
than either) because he is a lover, and not only a servant,
and his work is principally a work of love, and therefore his
end is ' finis amantis,* the end of a lover, which is mutual
complacency in the exercises of love.
He that seeketh not first the kingdom and righteousness
of Grod, and referreth not other things to him, but seeks first
the creature, and God only for it, doth but deny God in his
heart, and basely subject him to the works of his own hands,
and <doth not widk with €rod, but vilify and reject him. If
yott live not to God, even to obey, and please, and honour
him, you do not walk with him ; but walk contrary to him
WAI^KINO WITH GOD. 159
(by living to his enemies, the flesh, the world, and the devil),
and therefore God will " walk contrary to you/' (Levit. xxvi.
21. 23, 24. 27, 28. You were both created and redeemed,
though for your own felicity, yet principally for the glory
and pleasure of your Creator and Redeemer; and for no fe-
licity of your o5vn, but what consisteth in pleasing him,
glorifying him, and enjoying him : "Whether therefore we
eat, or drink, or whatever we do, it should all be done
to the glory of God." (1 Cor. x. 31.) He that regardeth
a day, or regardeth it not ; he that eateth, or that eateth
not, must do it to the Lord. (And though a good in-
tention will not sanctify a forbiciden action, yet sins of ig-
norance and mere frailty are forborne and pardoned of God,
when it is his glory and service that is sincerely intended,
though there be a mistake in the choice of means.) " None
of us livedi to himself, and no man dieth to himself: for
whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; and whether we die,
we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die, we
are the Lord's. For to tliis end Christ both died, rose, and
revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.*' jf
(Rom. xiv. 6 — 9.) Our walking with God, is a serious " la- j
bouring, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted
of him." (2 Cor. v. 9.) To this the love of our Redeemer
must constrain us : - ' For he died for all, that they which
Uve, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him that died for them, and rose again." (Ver. 14, 15.) Re-
ligion therefore is called the seeking of God, because the
soul doth press after him, and labour to enjoy him, as the
runner seeks to reach the prize ; or as a suitor seeketh the
love and fruition of the person beloved. And all the parti-
cular acts of religion are oft denominated from this intention
of tike end, and following after it, and are all called ' a seek-
ing the Lord.' Conversion is called ' a seeking the Lord.*
"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.'' (Isa. Iv. 6.)
" The children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their
God.*' (Hos. iii. 5.) " They dp not return to the Lord their
Grod, nor seek him." (Hos. vii. 10.) Men that are called to
conversion, are called to seek God. " Break up your fal-
low ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and
rain righteousness upon you.'' (Hos. x. 12.) The converted
children of ** Israel and Judah shall go weeping together to
wdk the Lord their God.'* (Jer. k 4.) The wicked are des-
/
100 THE DIVINE LIFE.
cribed to be men that " do not seek the Lord.'* (Isa. ix. 13.
xxxi. 1.) The holy covenant was " to seek the Lord.*' (2 Chron.
xv. 12, 13.) If therefore you would walk with God, let him
be the mark, the prize, the treasure, the happiness, the hea-
ven itself which you aim at, and sincerely seek« ** Now set
your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God."
(1 Chron. xxii. 19.) " Glory ye in his holy name. Let the
heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord
and his strength, seek his face for evermore." (Psal. cv.
3, 4.) As the life of a covetous man is a seeking of riches,
and the life of an ambitious man is a seeking of worldly ho-
nour and applause, so the life of a man that liveth to God, is
a seeking him ; to please him, honour him, and enjoy him :
and so much of this as he attaineth, so much doth he attain
of satisfaction and content. If you live to God, and seek
him as your end and all, the want of any thing will be tole-
rable to you, which is but consistent with the fruition of his
love. If he be pleased, man's displeasure may be borne. The
loss of all things if Christ be won, will not undo us. Man's
condemnation of us signifieth but little, if God the absolute
Judge do justify us. He walketh not with God, that liveth
not to him as his only happiness and end.
4. Moreover our walking with God includeth our subjec-
tion to his authority, and our taking his wisdom and will to
bi^^otif "guide, and his laws in nature and Scripture for our
rule : You must not walk with him as his equals, but as his
i^ubjects : nor give him the honour of an ordinary superior,
but of the universal King. In our doubts he must resolve
tts ; and in our straits we must ask counsel of the Lord.
'* Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do/' is one of the first
words of a penitent soul, (Acts ix. 6.) When sensual world-
lings do first ask the flesh, or those that can do it hurt or
good, what they would have them be or do. None of Christ's
true subjects, do call any man father or master on earth, but
in subordination to their highest Lord. (Matt* xxiii.) The
authority of God doth awe them, and govern them more than
the fear of the greatest upon earth. Indeed they know no
power but God's, and that which he committeth unto man.
And therefore they can obey no man against God, whatever
it cost them : but under God they are most readily and faith«-
fttUy subject to their governors, not merely as to men that
have power to hurt them if they disobey ; but as to the offi^
WALKING WITH GOD. 161
cers of the Lord, whose authority they discern and reverence
in them. But when they have to do with the enemies of
Christ, who usurp a power which he never gave them against
his kingdom and the souls of men, they think it easy to re-
solve the question, ** Whether it be better to obey Grod or
men ?'* As the commands of a rebellious constable, or
other fellow-subject, are of no authority against the king's
commands ; so the commands of all the men on earth are of
so small authority with them against the laws of God, that
they fully approve of the ready and resolute answer of those
witnesses, " We are not careful to answer thee in this mat-
ter. If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver
us, &c. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we
will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which
thou hast set up." (Dan. iii. 16—18.) Worldlings are ruled
by their fleshly interest, and wisdom, and self«will, and by
the will of man so far as it doth comport with these. By
these you may handle them and lead them up and down
the world : by these doth Satan hold them in captivity.
But believers feel themselves in subjection to a higher Lord,
and better law, which they faithfully, though imperfectly
observe. Therefore our walking with God is called a * walk-
ing in his law;' (Exod. xvi. 4 ;) a ' walking in his statutes,
suid keeping and doing his commands ;' (Lev. xxvi. 3 ;)
'walking in his paths.' (Mic. iv, 2.) It is our * following
the Lamb, which way soever he goeth :' To be given up to
our own heart's lusts, and to walk in our counsels, is con-
trary to this holy walk. with God, (Psal. Ixxxi. 12,) and is
the course of those that are departed from him : and they
that are far from him shall perish : he destroyeth those that
go a whoring from him. But it is good for us to draw near
to God. (Psal. Ixxiii. 27, 28.)
6. Oar walking with God doth imply that as we are
ruled by his will, so we fear no punishment like his threat-
ened displeasure : and that the threats of death from mor-
tal men, will not prevail with us so much as his threats of
hell. (Lukexii. 4.) If God say, * I will condemn thee to
everlasting punishment if thou wilt not keep my laws ;* and
if men say, ' We will condemn thee to imprisonment or death
if flioti k«ep them,' the believer more feareth God than man.
Tke lair of the king doth condemn Daniel to the lion's den^
vol.. XIIX. M
162 THE DIVINE LIFE.
if he forbear not to pray for a certain time. But he more
feareth God, that will deny those that deny him, and for-
sake those that forsake him. Therefore the forementioned
witnesses ventured on the fiery furnace, because God threat-
ened a more dreadful fire. Therefore a true believer dare
not live, when an unbeliever dare not die : he dare not save
his life from God, lest he lose it ; but loseth it that he may
save it. But unbelievers that walk not with God, but after
the flesh, do most fear them that they observe most power-
ful in the world, and will more be moved with the penalty of
some worldly loss or suffering, than with God's most dreads
ful threats of hell : for that which they see not, is to them as
nothing, while they want that faith by which it is foreknown,
and must be escaped.
I 6. Moreover he that walks with God, doth from God ex-
I pect his full reward. He ceaseth not his holy course, though
: no man observe him, or none commend him or approve him ;
though all about him hate him and condemn him ; though
he be so far from gaining by it with men, that it cost him all
that he hath or hoped for in the world : for he knoweth that
godliness is of itself great gain, and that it ** hath the pro-
mise of this life and that to come," and none can make
God's promise void. He knoweth that his " Father which
seeth in secret will reward him openly ;" (Matt, vi ;) and
that he ** shall have a treasure in heaven" that parteth with
all on earth for Christ. (Luke xviii. 22.) And he hath such
respect to this promised " recompence of reward," that for
it he can '* suffer with the people of God, and account the
very reproach of Christ a greater treasure" than court or
country can afford him in a way of sin. (Heb. xi. 26.) He
accounteth them ** blessed that are persecuted for righteous-
ness sake, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs." He
judgeth it a cause of exceeding joy, to be reviled and per-
secuted, and to have all manner of evil falsely spoken of us
for the sake of Christ, because our reward in heaven is great.
(Matt. v. 10 — 12.) For he verily believeth, that as sure as
these transitory pleasures will have an end, and everlastingly
forsake those miserable souls that were deluded by them, so
certainly is there a life of endless joys, to be possessed in
heaven with God and all the holy ones ; and this he will
trust to, as that which will fully repair his losses, and repay
WALKING WITH GOD. 163
his cost, and not deceive him. Let otherB trust to what they
will, it is this that he is resolved to trust to, and venture all
to make it sure (when he is sure that all is nothing which
he ventureth, and that by the adventure he can never be a
loser, nor ever save by choosing that which itself must pe-
rish). Thus he that truly walks with God expecteth his re-
ward from God, and with God, and thence is encouraged in
all his duty, and thence is emboldened in all his conflicts,
and thence is upheld and comforted in his su£ferings. When
man is the rewarder (as well as the chief ruler) of the hypo-
crite, and earthly things are the poise and motives to his
earthly mind.
7. Our walking with God importeth that as we expect
our reward from him, so also that we take his promise for
our security for that reward* Believing his word and trust-
ing his fidelity to the quieting and emboldening of the soul,
is part of our holy walking with him. A promise of God is
greater satisfaction and encouragement to a true believer,
than idl the visible things on earth. A promise of God can
do more, and prevail further with an upright soul, than all
the sensible objects in the world. He will do more, and go
further upon such a promise, than he will for all that man
can give him. Peruse the life of Christ's apostles, and see
what a promise of Christ can do : How it made them forsake
all earthly pleasures, possessions and hopes, and part with
friends, and houses, and country, and travel up and down
the world, in dangers and su£ferings, and unwearied labours,
despised and abused by great and small : and all this to
preach the Gospel of the kingdom, which they had never
seen, and to attain that everlasting happiness, and help
others to attain it, for which they had nothing but the pro-
mise of their Lord. See what a promise well believed will
make a Christian do and suffer. Believers did those noble
acts, and the martyrs underwent those torments, which are
mentioned Heb. xi. because " they judged him faithful that
had promised." (Heb. xi. 11.) They considered not difficul-
ties, and defect of means, and improbabilities as to second
causes, nor '* staggered at the promise of God through un-
belief ; but being strong in faith, gave glory to God ; being
folly persuaded, that what he had promised he was also
able to perform." As it is said of Abraham, Rom. iv. 19 — ^2L
& To walk with God, is to live as in his presence, and
164 TM£ DlVINIi: LIFE.
that with desire and delight. When we believe and appre«
hend that wherever we are, we are before the Lord, who
seeth our hearts and all our ways ; who knoweth every
thought we think, and every word we speak, and every se-
cret thing which we do : as verily to believe that God is
here present and observeth all,- as we do that we ourselves
are here. To compose our minds, our thoughts, our affec-
tions to that holy reverence and seriousness as beseemeth
man before his Maker. To order our words with that care
and gravity as beseems those that speak in the hearing of
the Lord. That no man's presence do seem more conside-
rable to us than his presence : as we are not moved at the
presence of a fly, or worm, or dog, when persons of honour
and reverence are present, so should we not comparatively
be moved at the presence of man, how great, or rich, or ter-
rible soever, when we know that God himself is present, to
whom the greatest of the sons of men, are more inconside-
rable than a fly or worm is unto them. As the presence of
the king makes ordinary standers by to be unobserved, and
the discourses of the learned make us disregard the babblings
of children ; so the presence of God should make the great-
est to be scarce observed or regarded in comparison of him.
God, who is still with us, should so much take up our re-
gard, that all others in his presence should be but as a can-
dle in the presence of the sun. Therefore it is that a believer
composeth himself to that behaviour which he knoweth God
doth most expect, and beseemeth those that stand beforie
him. When others accommodate themselves to the persona
that are present, observing them, pleasing them, and shew-
ing them respect, while they take no notice of God at all,
as if they believed not that he is there. Hence it is that the
men of God were wont to speak (though reverently, yet) fa-
miliarly of God, as children of their father with whom they
dwell, as being indeed fellow-citizens with the saints, who
are his household. Abraham calleth him, " The Lord be-
fore whom I walk.'* (Gen. xxiv. 40.) And Jacob, *' God
before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked.*'
(Gen. xlviii. 16.) And David resolveth, " I will walk before
the Lord in the land of the living." (Psal. cxvi. 9.) Yea
God himself is pleased to use the terms of gracious, con-
descending familiarity with them. "Christ dwelleth in
them by faith." (Ephes. iii. 17.) His Spirit dwelleth in
WALKING WITH OOD. 165
them as his house and temple. (Rom. viii. 9.) Yea the
Father himself is said to dwell in them^ and they in him,
" He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and
he in him.*' (1 John iii. 24.) *' If we love one another, God
dwelleth in us. Hereby we know that we dwell in him, and
he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. Whoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in
him, and he in God. God is love, and he that dwelleth in
love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.'^ (1 John iv. 12, 13.
15, 16.) Yea, God is said to walk in them, as they are said
to walk with him ; " For ye are the temple of the living God ;
as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them,
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (2 Cor.
vi. 16.)
Our walking with God then is not only a sense of that
common presence which he must needs afford to all ; but it
is also a believing apprehension of his gracious presence,
as our God and reconciled Father, with whom we dwell,
Being brought near unto him by Christ ; and who dwelleth
in us by his Spirit.
9. To walk with God (as here we are in flesh) includeth
not only our believing his presence, but also that we see him
(as the chief cause in the effects) in his creatures, and his
daily providence, that we look not on creatures as indepen-
dent or separated from God ; but see them as the glass, and
Gk>d as the represented face ; and see them as the letters and
words, and God as the sense of all the creatures that are the
first book which he appointed man to read. We must behold {
his glory declared by the heavens^ (Psal. xix. 1,) and see ;
him shining in the sun ; and see his power in the fabric of
the world, and his wisdom in the admirable order of the
whole : We must taste the sweetness of his love in the sweet-
ness of our food, and in the comforts of our friends, and all
our accommodations ; we must see, and love his image in
his holy ones ; a^d we must hear his voice in the ministry of
his messengers.^ Thus every creature must become a prea-
cher to us, and we must see the name of God upon it : And
thus aU things will be sanctified to us, while *' Holiness to
the Lord*' is written upon all. Though we must not therefore
make idols of the creatures, because God appeareth to us
in iheni, yet must we hear the message which they bring us,
and lererence in them the name of the Creator which they
I
160 THE DIYINE LIFE.
bear. By this way of conversing with them, they will not
ensnare us, or deceive, or poison us, as they do the carnal, un-
believing world : But as the fish brought money to Peter to
pay his tribute, so every creature would bring us a greater,
even a spiritual gain. When we behold it, we should say
with pleasant admiration, '^ This is the work of God, and
it is wonderful in our eyes." This is the true divine philo-
sophy, which seeketh, and findeth, and contemplateth, otnd
admireth the great Creator in his works : When that which
sticketh in the creature itself (whatever discovery it seem to
make) is but a childish, unprofitable trifling : like learmvg
to shape all the letters aright, without learning to know their
signification and sense. It is Ood appearing in the creatures,
this is the life, and beauty, and use, and excellency of all
the creatures; without him they are but carcases, deformed,
useless, vain, insignificant and very nothings.
10. Our walking with God, doth contain our willing and
sincere attendance on him in the use-of those holy duties in
which he hath appointed us to expect his grace. He is every
1 1 where in his essential presence, but he is not every where
I I alike to be found in the communications of grace. The
^ \ assemblies of his saints that worship him in holy commu-
nion, are places where he is more likely to be found than in
an alehouse or a playhouse. You are more likely to have
holy converse with him among the holy> that will speak of
holy things to your edification, than among the senseless^
ignorant sensualists, and the scornful enemies of holiness,
that are the servants of the devil, whom he useth in his daily
work for the deceiving and perdition of the world. There-
fore the conversation of the wicked doth grieve and vex the
righteous soul, (as it is said the Sodomites did by Lot,
2 Peter ii. 7, 8,) because all their conversation is ungodly,
far from God, not savouring of any true knowledge of him,
or love to him, but is against him by enmity and provoca-
tion. If God himself do dwell and walk in all his holy ones,
then they that dwell and walk with them, have the best op*
portunity to dwell and walk with God. To converse with
those in whom God dwelleth, is to converse with him in his
image, and to attend him at his dwelling : And wilfully to
run among the wicked, is to run far away from God. " In
his temple doth every man speak of his glory ;" (Psal. xxix.
9 ;) when among his brutish enemies every man speaketh to
WALKING WITH QOD. 167
the disfaoaour of him in his word and ways. He is otherwise
present with those that are congregated in his name and for
his worship, than be is with those that are assembled for
wickedness or vanity, or live as brutes without God in the
world. And we must draw as near him as we can, if we
would be such as walk with God.
We must not be strange to him in our thoughts, but
make him the object of our most serious meditations : It is
said of the wicked that *' they are far from God ;" and
that '^ God is not in all their thoughts.'' (Psal. Ixxiii. 27 ;
X. 4.) The thoughts are the mind's employment. It dwells
on that which it frequently thinks of. It is a walk of the
mind, and not of the body which we are treating of. To
mind the world, and fleshly things, is contrary to this walk
with God : we Q.r^ far from him, when our thoughts are
(ordinarily) far from him. I know that it is lawful and meet
to think of the business of our callings, so far as is neces-
sary to the prudent successful management of them : and
that it is not requisite that our thoughts be always actucdly
upon God : but he that doth manage his calling in holiness,
doth all in obedience to God's commands, and sees that his
work be the work of God, and he intendeth all to the glory
of God, or the pleasing of his blessed will : And he oft re-
neweth these actual intentions ; and oftinterposeth thoughts
of the presence, or power, or love, or interest of him whom
he is serving : he often lifteth up his soul in some holy desire
or ejaculatory request to God : he oft taketh occasion from
what he seeth, or heareth, or is doing, for some more spiri-
tual meditation or discourse : so that still it is God that his
mind is principally employed on or for, even in his ordinary
work (while he liveth as a Christian).
And it is not enough to think of God ; but we must think
of him as God ; with such respect, and reverence, and love,
and trust, and submission (in our measure) as is due from
the creature to his Creator. For as some kind of speaking
of him is but a taking his name in vain; so some kind of
thinking of him is but a dishonouring of him, by contemptu-
ous, or false, unworthy thoughts. Most of our walking with
God consisteth in such affectionate apprehensions of him
as are suitable to his blessed attributes and relations. All
the day long our thoughts should be working either on God,
or for Gk>d : either upon iiome work of obedience which he
168 THE DIVINE LIFE.
hath imposed on us, and in which we desire to please and
honour him, or else directly upon himself. Our hearts must
be taken up in contemplating and admiring him, in magni-
fying his name, his word and works ; and in pleasant con-
tentful thoughts of his benignity, and of his glory, and the
glory which he conferreth on his saints. He that is unskil-
ful or unable to manage his own thoughts with some acti-
vity, seriousness and order, will be a stranger to much of
the holy converse which believer's have with God. They
that have given up the government of their thoughts,
and turned them loose to go which way fantasy pleaseth,
and present sensitive objects do invite them, and to run up
and down the world as masterless, unruly vagrants, can
hardly expect to keep them in any constant attendance upon
God, or readiness for any sacred worker And the sudden
thoughts which they have of God, will be rude and stupid,
savouring more of profane contempt, than of holiness,
when they should be reverent, serious, a£fectionate and prac-
tical, and such as conduce to a holy composure of their
hearts and lives.
N^ And as we must walk with God, 1. In our communion
\ with his servants ; 2. And in our affectionate meditations ;
>^^ so also, 3. In all the ordinances which he hath appointed
for our edification and his worship.
1. Thp reading of the word of God, and the explication
and application of it in good books, is a means to possess
the mind with sound, and orderly, and working apprehen-
sions of God, and of his holy truths : so that in such read-
ing our understandings are oft illustrated with a heavenly
I light, and our hearts are touched with a special delightful
1 relish of that truth, and they are secretly attracted and en-
gaged unto God, and all the powers of our souls are excited
and animated to a holy, obedient life.
2. The same word preached with a lively voice, with
clearness and affection, hath a greater advantage for the
same illumination and excitation of the souL When a minis-
ter of Christ that is truly a divine, being filled with the
knowledge and love of God, shall copiously and affection-
ately open to his hearers, the excellencies which he hath
seen, and the happiness which he hath foreseen and tasted
of himself, it frequently (through the co-operation o/ the
Spirit of Christ) doth wrap up the hearers' hearts taGod,and
WALKING WITH ODD. 169
bring them into a more lively knowledge of him^ actuating
their gifaces, and inflaming their hearts with a heavenly love,
and such desires as God hath promised to satisfy. Christ
doth not only send his ministers furnished with authority
from him, but also furnished with his Spirit, to speak of spi-
ritual things in a spiritual manner ; so that in both respectg
he might say, '' He that heareth you, heareth me :" and also
by the same Spirit doth open and excite the hearts of the
hearers : So that it is God himself that a serious Christian is
principally employed with, in the hearing of his heavenly,
transforming word : and therefore he is affected with reve-
rence and holy fear, with some taste of heavenly delight, with
obediential subjection and resignation of himself to God.
The word of God is powerful, not only in pulling down all
high exalting thoughts, that rise up against God, but also
in lifting up depressed souls, that are unable to rise unto
heavenly knowledge, or communion with God. If some
Christians could but always find as much of Grod upon their
hearts at other times, as they find sometimes under a spiri-
tual, powerful ministry, they would not so complain that they
seem forsaken, and strangers to all communion with God, as
many of them do. While God (by his messengers and Spirit) ;
is speaking, and man is hearing him ; while God is treating
with man about his reconciliation and everlasting happiness,
and man is seriously attending to the treaty and motions of
his Lord, surely this is a very considerable part of our walk-
ing and converse with God.
3. Also in the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ,
we are called to a familiar converse with God : He there
appeureth to us by a wonderful condescension in the repre^
senting, communicating signs of the flesh and blood of his
Son, in which he hath most conspicuously revealed his love
and goodness to believers : there Christ himself with his
covenant-gifts are all delivered to us by these investing . *
signs of his own institution ; even as knighthood is given I '
by a sword, and as a house is delivered by a key, or land by - ,
a twig and turf. N9. where is God so near to man as in Jesus f f
Ohiist : and no where is Christ so familiarly represented to
H8.-a8 in this^oly sacrament. Here we are called to sit with
him at hia table, as his invited welcome guests ; to comme-
moratip hifrisacrifice, to feed upon his very flesh and blood;
that 18, with our mouths upon his representative flesh and
170 THE DIVINE LIFE.
blood, and with our applying faith upon his real flesh and
bloody by such a feeding as belongs to faith. The manriage-
covenant betwixt God incarnate, and his espoused ones, n
there publicly sealed, celebrated and solemnized. There we
are entertained by God as friends, and not as servants only,
and that at the most precious costly feast. If ever a believer
may on earth expect his kindest entertainment, and near
access, and a humble intimacy with his Lord, it is in the
participation of his sacrifice-feast, which is called ' Hie
Communion,* because it is appointed as well for onr special
communion with Christ as with one another. It is here that
we have the fullest intimation, expression and communica*
tion of the wondrous love of God ; and therefore it is here
that we have the loudest call, and best assistance, to make
a large return of love : and where there is most of this love
between God and man, there is most communion, and most
of heaven, that can be had on earth.
But it much concemeth the members of Christ, that they
deprive not themselves of this conmiunion with God in this
holy sacrament through their miscarriage ; which is too fre-
quently done by one of these extremes. Either by rushing
upon holy things with a presumptuous, careless, common
fi^e of heart, as if they knew not that they go to feast
with Christ, and discerned not his body : or else by an ex-
cess of fear, drawing back and questioning the goodwill of
God, and thinking diminutively of his love and mercy : By
this means Satan depriveth many of the comfortable part of
their communion with God, both in this sacrament, and in
other ways of grace : and maketh them avoid him as an
enemy, and be loath to come into his special presence ; and
even to be afraid to think of him, to pray to him, or to have
any holy converse with him : when the just belief and obser-
vation of his love would establish them, and revive their
souls with joy, and give them experience of the sweet de-
lights which are opened to them in the Gospel, and which
believers find in the love of God, and the foretaste of the
everlasting pleasures.
4. In holy, faithful, fervent prayer, a Christian hath very
much of his converse with God. For prayer is our approach
to €rod, and calling to mind his presence and his attributes,
and exercising all his graces in a holy motion towards him,
and an exciting all the powers of our souls to seek him»
WALKING WITH GOD. 171
ftitend him and reverendy to worship him : It is our treating
ivith him about the most important businesses in all the
world : a begging of the greatest mercies^ and a deprecating
his most grievous judgments ; and all this with the nearest
familiarity that man in flesh can have with God. In prayer,
the Spirit of God is working up our hearts unto him, with
desires expressed in sighs and groans: it is a work of God as
well as of man : he bloweth the fire, though it be our hearts
that burn and boil. In prayer we lay hold on Jesus Christ,
and plead his merits and intercession with the Father : he
taketh us as it were by the hand, and leadeth us unto God,
and hideth our sins, and procureth our acceptance, and pre-
senteth us amiable to his Father, having jtistified and sancti-
fied us, and cleansed us from those pollutions, which ren- ,
dered ib» loathsome and abominable. To speak to God in '
serious prayer, is a work so high, and of iso great moment,
that it calleth off our minds from all things else, and giveth
no creature room or leave to look into the soul, or once to be
observed : The mind is so taken up with God, and employed
with him, that creatures are forgotten, and we take no notice
of them (unless when through the diversions of the flesh,
our prayers are interrupted and corrupted, and so far dege-
nerate, and are no prayer ; so far I say as we thus turn away f
from God). So that the soul that is most and best at prayer, 1 !
is most and best at walking with God, and hath most com*
munion with him in the Spirit: And to withdraw from prayer^
is to withdraw from God : And to be unwilling to pray, is to ^
be unwilling to draw near to God» Meditation or contem- •
plation is a duty in which God is much enjoyed : But prayer
hath meditation in it, and much more. All that is upon the
mind in meditation, is upon the mind in prayer, and that
with great advantage, as being presented before God, and
pleaded with him, and so animated by the apprehensions of
his observing presence, and actuated by the desires and
pleadings of the soul. When we are commanded to pray,
it includeth a command to repent, and believe, and fear the
Lord, and desire his grace. For faith and repentance, and
fear and desire, are altogether in action in a serious prayer ;
and, as it were, naturally each one takes his place, and diere
is a holy order in the acting of these graces in a Christian's
prayers, and a harmony which he doth seldom himself ob^
serve. He that in meditation knowetfanot how to be regular
172 TH£ DIVINE LIFE.
and methodical, when he is Btudiously contriving and 6n<'
deavouring it, yet in prayer before he is aware, hath repen-
tance, and faith, and fear, and desire, and every grace fall in
its proper place and order, and contribute its part to the
performance of the work. The new nature of a Christian is
more immediately and vigorously operative in prayer, than
in many other duties : and therefore every infant in the fa-
mily of Qod can pray (with groaning desires, and ordered
graces, if not with well-ordered words) : When Paul began
to live to Christ, he began (aright) to pray : ** Behold he
prayeth," saith God to Ananias. (Acts ix. 11.) And ** be-
cause they are sons, God sends the Spirit of his Son into
the hearts of his elect, even the Spirit of Adoption, by which
they cry Abba, Father," (Gal. iv. 6,) as children naturally
cry to their parents for relief. And nature is more regular
in its works than art or human contrivance is. Necessity
reacheth many a beggar to pray better for relief to men, than
many learned men (that feel not their necessities) can pray
to God. The Spirit of God is a better methodist than we
are. . And though I know that we are bound to use our ut-
most care and skill for the orderly actuating of each holy'
affection in our prayers, and not pretend the sufficiency of
the Spirit for the patronage of our negligence or sloth (for
the Spirit makes use of our understandings for the actu-
ating of our wills and affections) ; yet withal it cannot be
denied, but that it was upon a special reason that the Spirit
that is promised to believers is called a ** spirit of grace and
supplication." (Zech.xii. 10.) And that it is given us to "help
our infirmities," even the infirmities of our understanding,
when " we know not what to pray for as we ought." (Rom.
viii. 26.) And that the Spirit itself is said to ^' make interces*
sion for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered." It is
not the Spirit without, that is here meant : such intercession
is no where ascribed to that. How then is the prayer of
the Spirit within us distingushed from our prayer? Not as
different effects of different causes : as different prayers by
these different parties. But as the same prayer proceeding
from different causes, having a special force (for quality and
degree) as from one cause (the Spirit), which it hath not from
the other cause (from ourselves), except as received from the
Spirit. The Spirit is a new nature or fixed inclination in
the saints : for their very self-love and will to good, is sane-
WALKING WITH GOD. 173
tlfi^d in them, which works so readily (though voluntarily)
as that it is in a sort by the way of nature, though not ex-
cluding reason and will ; and not as the motion of the brutish
appetite. And that Ood is their felicity, and the only help
and comfort of their souls, and so the principal good to be
desired by them, is become to them a truth so certain, and
beyond all doubt, that their understandings are convinced
that ' velle bonum,' and ' velle Deum,' to love good, and to
love Gk>d, are words that have almost the same signification;
and therefore here is no room for deliberation and choice,
where there is ' omnimoda ratio boni,' nothing but unques-
tionable good. A Christian (so far as he is such) cannot
choose but desire the favour and fruition of God in immor-
tality, even as he cannot choose (because he is a man) but
desire his own felicity in general : And as he cannot (as a
man) but be unwilling of destruction, and cannot but fear
apparent misery, and that which bringeth it ; so as a Chris-
tian he cannot choose but be unwilling of damnation, and
of the wrath of God, and of sin as sin, and fear the appa-
rent danger of his soul, so that his new nature will presently
cast his fear,' and repentance, and desires into their proper
course and order, and set them on work on their several ob-
jects (about the niaih unquestionable things, however they
may err, or need more deliberation about things doubtful) :
The new creature is not as a lifeless engine (as a clock, or
watch, or ship), where every part must be set in order by the
ait and hand of man, and so kept and used : But it is more
like the frame of our own nature, even like man who is a
living engine, when every part is set in its place and order
by the Creator, and hath in itself a living and harmonical
prbciple, which disposeth it to action, and to regular action,
aad is so to be kept in order and daily exercise by ourselves,
as yet to be principally ordered and actuated, by the Spirit
which is the principal cause.
By all which you may understand how the Holy Ghost
is in ii(» a Spirit of supplication, and helpeth our infirmities,
and teachedl us to pray, and intercedeth in us ; and also
tliat prayer is to the new man so natural a motion of the
acid towards God, that much of our walking with God is
exercised in this holy duty : and that it is to the new life
as breaihiiig to our natural life ; and therefore no wonder
that we are commanded to ^* pray continually,'' (1 Theaa. v.
174 THE DIVIN£ LIFX.
17,) as we must breathe continually, or as nature which iieed*
eth a daily supply of food for nourishmeut, hath a daily ap-
petite to the food which it needeth, so hath the spiritual na«
ture to its necessary food, and nothing but sickness doth
take it off.
And thus I have shewed how our walking with God,
containeth a holy use of faia appointed means.
11. To walk with God includeth our dependance on him
for our receivings, and taking our mercies as from his hand.
'To live as upon his love and bounty ; as children with theur
father, that can look for nothing but from him* As the eye
of a servant, yea, of a craving dog, is upon his master's
face and hand, so must our eye be on the Lord, for the
gracious supply of all our wants. If men give us any thing,
we take them but as the messengers of God, by whom he
sendeth it us : We will not be unthankful to men'; but we
thank them but for bringing us our Father's gifts. Indeed
man is so much more than a mere messenger, as that his own
charity also is exercised in the gift. A mere messenger is
to do no more but obediently to deliver what is sent us, and
he need not exercise any charity of his own ; and we owe
him thanks only for his fidelity and labour, but only to his
master for the gift : But God will so far honour man, as
that he sh^U be called also to use his charity, and distribute
his master's gifts with some self-denial ; and we owe him
thanks, as under God, he partaketh in the charity of the
gift ; and as one child oweth thanks to another, who both
in obedience to the father, and love to his brother, doth
give some part of that which his father had givei^ him be-
fore. But still it is from our Father's bounty, as the prin-
cipal cause that all proceeds. Thus Jacob speaketh of God.
** God, before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac did
walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads,"
8cc. (Gen. xlviii. 15, 16,) When he had mentioned his
father Abraham and Isaac's walking with God, he describeth
his own by his dependance upon God, and receiving from
him^ acknowledging him the God that had fed him, and de-
livered him all his life. Carnal men that live by sense, do
depend upon inferior sensible causes ; and though they are
taught to pray to God, and thank him with their tongues,
it is indeed their own contrivances and industry, or their
WALKINO WITH OOD. 175
Ti»ihk benefoctors, which their hearts depend upon and
thank. It were a shame to them to be so plain as Pharaoh,
and to 8ay> '* Who is the Lord ?" or to speak as openly as
' Nebuchadnezzar, and say, '' Is not this great Babyloa that
1 have built, by the might of my power," &c. (Dan. iy. 30.)
Yet the same atheism and self-idolizing is in their hearts,
though it be more modestly and cunningly expressed. Hence ,
it is that they that walk with God, have all their receivings j
sanctified to them, and have in all a divine and spiritual I
sweetneM, which those that take them but as from creatures, i
do never feel or understand.
12. Lastly, It is contained in our walking with God,
that the greatest business of our lives be with him, and for
him. It is not a walk for compliment or recreation only,
that is here meant ; but it is a life of nearness, converse,
and employment, as a servant or child that dwelleth with
his master or father in the house. God should be always
so regarded, that man should stand by as nothing, and be
scarce observed in comparison of him. We should begin
die day with God, and entertain him in the first and
sweetest of our thoughts : We should walk abroad and do j
our works as in his sight : We must resolve to do no work
but his, no not in our trades and ordinary callings : We
must be able to say, It is the work which my Master set
me to do, and I do it to obey and please his will. At night
we must take an account of ourselves, and spread opehlEhat
account before him, desiring his acceptance of what was
well, and his pardon for what we did amiss, that we may
thus be ready for our last account. In a word, though men
be our fellow-labourers and companions, yet the principal
business of our care and diligence, must be our Master's
service in the world. And therefore we must look about
us, and discern the opportunities of serving him, and of the
best improvement of his talents; and must make it our
daily study and business, to do him the greatest service we
are able, whatever it may cost us through the malice of the
enemies, being sure our labour shall not be in vain, and that
we cannot serve him at too dear a rate. It is not as idle
companions, but as servants, as soldiers, as those that put
forth all their strength, to do his work and reach the crown, j
that w^ are called to walk with Ood. And all this is done, I 1
--^».
i !
t i
I I
t ;
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A
176* THE DIVINE LIFE.
though not in the same degree by all« yet according to the
measure of their holiness by every one that lives by faith.
Having told you vvhat it is to walk with God, as to the
matter of it, I shall more briefly tell you as to the maim^:
The nature of God, of man, and of the work, will tell it you.
1. That our walk with God must be with the greatest
reverence : were we ever so much assured of his special
love to us, and never so full of faith and joy, our reverence
must be never the less for this. Though love cast out that
guilty fear which discourageth the sinner from hoping and
seeking for the mercy which would save him, and which
disposeth him to hate and fly from God, yet doth it not
cast out that reverence of God, which we owe him as his
creatures, so infinitely below him as we are. It cannot be
that God should be known and remembered as God, with-
out some admiring and awful apprehensions of him. Infi*
niteness, omnipotency, and inaccessible majesty and glory,
must needs afiect the soul that knoweth them, with reverence
and self-abasement. Though *' we receive a kingdom that
cannot be moved," yet if we will "serve God acceptably,"
we must " serve him with reverence and godly fear," as
knowing he " is our God," so he is also a " consuming fire."
(Heb. xii. 28, 29.) We must so worship him as those that
remember that we are worms and guilty sinners, and that
he is most high and holy, and will be " sanctified in them
that come nigh him, and before all the people he will be
glorified.'* (Lev. x. 3.) Unreverence sheweth a kind of
atheistical contempt of God, or else a sleepiness and incon-
siderateness of the soul. The sense of the goodness and
love of God, must consist with the sense of his holiness
and omnipotency. It is presumption, pride, or blockish
stupidity, which excludeth reverence; which faith doth
cause, and not oppose.
2. Our walking with God must be a work of humble
boldness and familiarity. The reverence of his holiness
and greatness, must not overcome or exclude the sense of
his goodness and compassion, nor the full assurance of faith
and hope : Though by sin we are enemies and strangers to
God, and stand afar off*, yet in Christ we are reconciled to
him, and brought near. (Ephes. ii. 13.) " For he is our
peace, who hath taken down the partition, and abolished
WALKING WIJH GOD. 177
the enmity^ and reconciled Jew and Gentile unto Ood.*'
(ver. 14 — 16.) " And through him we have all an access to
the Father by one Spirit : We are now no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the
household of God." (ver. 18, 19.) " In him we have bold-
ness and access with confidence by the belief of him."
(Ephes. iii. 12.) Though of ourselves we are unworthy to
be called his children, and may well stand afar off with the
publican, and not dare to lift up our faces towards heaven,
but smite our breasts, and say, ** O Lord be merciful to me
a sinner." Yet '* have we boldness to enter into the holiest,
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he
hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh : And having an High Priest over the house of God,
we may draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith." (Heb. x. 19 — 22. Therefore whensoever we are
afraid at the sight of sin and justice, let us remember that
^' we have a great High Priest that is passed into the hea-
vens, even Jesus the Son of God : And therefore let us come
boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. iv. 14 — 16.)
He that alloweth us to walk with him, doth allow us such
humble familiarity as beseemeth those that walk together
with him.
3. Our walking with God must be a work of some holy
pleasure and delight. We may willingly be dragged into
the presence of an enemy, and serve as drudges upon mere
necessity or fear. But walking together is the loving and
delightful converse of friends. When we take sweet coun-
sel of the Lord, and set him always at our right hand, and
are glad to hear from him, and glad to speak to him, and
glad to withdraw our thoughts from all the things and per-
sons in the world, that we may solace ourselves in the con-
templations of his excellency, and the admirations of his
love and glory, this is indeed to walk with God. You con-
verse with him as with a stranger, an enemy, or your de-
stroyer, and not as with God, while you had rather be far
from him, and only tremble in his presence, and are glad
when you have done and are got away, but have no delight
or pleasure in him. If we can take delight in our walking
with a friend, a friend that is truly loving and constant, a
VOL. XIII. N
176 THE DIVINE LIFE.
friend that is learned^ wise and holy ! if their wise and hea-
venly discourse be better to us, than our recreations, meat,
or drink, or clothes ! What delight then should we find in.
our secret converse with the most high, most wise and gra-
cious God ! How glad should we be to find him willing and
ready to entertain us ! How glad should we be that we may
employ our thoughts on so high and excellent an object !
What cause have we to say, '' My meditation of him shall
be sweet, and I will be glad in the Lord/' (Psal. civ. 34.)
** In the multitude of my thoughts within me (my sorrowftii,
troublesome, weary thoughts) thy comforts do delight my
soul." (Psal. xciv. 19.) Let others take pleasure in childish
vanity or sensuality, but say thou as David, " I have re-
joiced in the ways of thy commandments, as much as in all
riches : 1 will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect un-
to thy ways : I will delight myself in thy statutes, and will
not forget thy word. I will delight myself in thy comiriand-
ments which I have loved.'* (Psal. cxix. 14 — 16. 47.) Let
" scorners delight in scorning, and fools hate knowledge,"
(Prov. i. 22,) but " make me to go in the path of thy com-
mandments, for therein do I delight." (Psal. cxix. 35.) If
thou wouldst experimentally know the safety and glory of a
holy life, ** delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give
thee the desire of thy heart." (Psal. xxxvii. 4.) Especially
when we draw near him in his solemn worship, and when
we separate ourselves on his holy days from all our com-
mon worldly thoughts, to be conversant, as in heaven, with
the blessed God ; then may we with the holy apostle be
" in the Spirit on the Lord's day," (Rev. i. 10,) " and if we
turn away our foot from the Sabbath, from doing our plea- ,i
sure on that holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the {;
holy of the Lord, honourable, and shall honour him, not A6^\\
ing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speak- ^
ing our own words, then shall we delight ourselves in the^j,^
Lord," (Isa. Iviii. 13, 14,) and understand how great a pri-K
vilege it is, to have the liberty of those holy days and datiesi« '
for our sweet and heavenly converse with God. 5
4. Our walking With God must be a matter of industry^?
and diligence : It is not an occasional idle converse, but aijn
% of observance, obedience, and employment, that thia^
irase importeth. The sluggish, idle wishes of the hypo-J
WALKING WITH GOD. 179
crite, whose hands refuse to labour, are not this wsdking
with God : nor . " the sacrifice of fools," who are hasty to
utter the overflowings of their fantasy before the Lord, while
th^y " keep not their foot, nor hearken to the law, nor con-
sider that they do evil." (Eccles. v. 1 — 3.) " He that cometh
to God (and will walk with him) must believe that he is,
and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek
him : God is with you, while you are with him ; but if you
forsake him, he wUl forsake you." (2 Chron. xv. 2.) " Up
and be doing, and the Lord will be with you." (1 Chron.
xxii. 16.) If you would meet with God in the way of mercy
** take diligent heed to do the commandment and law, to
love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to
cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart, and
with all your soul." (Josh. xxii. 5.)
5. Our walking with God is a matter of some constancy:
It signifieth our course and trade of life, and not some ac-
cidental action on the by : A man may walk with a stranger
for a visit, or in compliment, or upon some unusual occa-
sion : But this walk with God, is the act of those that
dwell with him in his family, and do his work. It is not
only to step and speak with him, pr cry to him for mercy
in some great e;stremity, or to go to church for company or
custom, or think or talk of him sometimes heartlessly on
the by, as a man will talk ,of news, or matters that are done
in a foreign land, or of persons that we have little to do
with: But it is to ''be always with him." (Luke xv. 31.)
'' To seek first his kingdom and righteousness." (Matt. vi.
33.) *' Not to labour (comparatively) for the food that perish-
eUi, but for that which endure th to everlasting life." (John
vi. 27«) '* To delight in the law of the Lord, and meditate
in it day and night." (Psal. i. 2.) That his " words be in
oar hearts, and that we teach them diligently to our chil-
dren, and talk of them sitting in the house, and walking by
the way, lying down, and rising up," &c. (Deut vi. 6 8.)
That ** we pray continually." (1 Thess. v. 17.) *' And in all
things give thanks." But will the hypocrite delight himself
in the Almighty, or will he always . call upon God ?" (Job
xxvii. 10.) " His goodness is as the morning cloud, and as
the early dew it goeth away." (Uos. vi. 4.)
Somuch of the description of this * walking with God.'
180 THE DIVINE LIFE.
CHAP. 11.
Use. We are next to consider how far this doctrine dotli
concern ourselves, and what use we have to make of it up-*
on our hearts and lives.
And First, It acquainteth us with the abundance of
atheism that is in the world, even among those that profess
the knowledge of God. It is atheism not only to say,
" There is no God :" but to say so " in the heart." (PssJ.
xiv. 1.) While the heart is no more affected towards him,
observant of him, or confident in him, or submissive to him,
than if indeed there were no God : When there is nothing
of God upon the heart, no love, no fear, no trust, no sub-
jection, this is heart atheism. When men that have some
kind of knowledge of God, yet glorify him not " as God,
nor are thankful to him, but become vain in their imagina-
tions, and their foolish hearts are darkened ; these men are
heart-atheists ; and professing themselves wise, they become
fools, and are given up to vile affections : And as they do
not like to retain God in their knowledge (however they
may discourse of him, so) God oft giveth them over to a
reprobate mind, to do those things that are not convenient,
being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wicked-
ness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, debate,
deceit, malignity,*' &c. (Rom. i. 21, 22. 26. 28—30.) Swarms
of such atheists go up and down under the self-deceiving
name of Christians : Being indeed unbelieving and defiled,
so void of purity, that they deride it, and " nothing is pure
to them ; but even their mind and conscience is defiled :
They profess that they know God, but they deny him in
their works, being abominable and disobedient, and to
every good work reprobate.** (Titus i. 16, 16.) What are
they bat atheists, when " God is not in all their thoughts,*'
(Psal. X. 4,) unless it be in their impious or blaspheming
thoughts, or in their slight contemptuous thoughts ! To
take God for God indeed, and for our God, essentially in-
cludeth the taking him to be the most powerful, wise and
good, the most just and holy, the Creator, Preserver and
Governor of the world, whom we and all men are obliged ,
absolutely to obey and fear, to love and desire, whose will
is our beginning, rule ai^d end : He that taketh not God for
such as here described, taketh him not for God, and there-
WALKINO WITH GOD. 181
fore is indeed an atheist : What name soever he assumeth
to himself, this is the name that God will call him by ; even
a ** fool that hath said in his heart there is no God: while
they are corrupt and do abominably, they understand not,
and seek not after God ; they are all gone aside, and are
altogether become filthy, there is none of them that doth
good; they are workers of iniquity, they have no know-'
ledge, and eat up the people of God as bread, and call not
upon the Lord." (Psal. xiv. I — 4.) Ungodliness is but the
English for atheism. The atheist or ungodly in opinion, is
he that thinks that there is no God, or that he is one that
we need not love and serve (and that is but the same, viz.
to be no God). The atheist or ungodly in heart, or will, is
he that consenteth not that God shall be his God, to be
loved, feared, and obeyed before all. The atheist in life, or
outward practice, is he that liveth as without God in the
world ; that seeketh him not as his chiefest good, and obey-
eth him not as his highest absolute Lord ; so that indeed
atheism is the sum of all iniquity, as godliness is the sum
of all religion and moral good. If you see by the descrip-
tion which I have given you, what it is to be godly, and to
walk with God, and what it is to be an atheist or ungodly,
you may easily see that godliness is more rare, and atheism
more common, than many that themselves are atheists will
believe. It is not that which a man calls his God, that is
taken hy him for his God indeed. It is not the tongue, but
the heart that is the man. Pilate called Christ the King of
the Jews, when he crucified him. The Jews called God
their Father, when Christ telleth them, they were of their
father the devil, and proveth it because (whatever they
said) they would do their lusts. (John viii. 44.) The
same Jews pretended to honour the name of the Messiah,
and expect him, while they killed him. The question is not
what men call themselves, but what they are: Not whether
yon say you take God for your God, but whether you do so
ind#Bd : Not whether you profess yourselves to be atheists,
but whether you are atheists indeed or not. If you are not,
look over what I have here said, and ask your consciences,
IJPo yoii walk with God? who is it you submit yourselves
willingly to be disposed of by ? to whom are you most sub-
ject? and whose commands have the most effectual autho-
ity with you ? who is the^ chief Governor of your hearts
182 TH£ DIVINE LIFE.
f and lives? whom is it that you principally desire ta please?
whom do you most fear? and whose displeasure do you
principally avoid ? from whom is it that you expect your
greatest reward? and in whom, and with whom do you
place and expect your happiness? whose w^ork is it that
you do, as the greatest business of your lives ? Is it the
goodness of God in himself, and unto you, that draweth up
your hearts to him in love ? Is he the ultimate end of the
main intentions, design, and industry of your lives ? Do
you trust upon his word as your security for your everlast-
ing hopes and happiness ? Do you study and observe him in
his works? Do you really live as in his presence? Do you
delight in his word, and meditate on it ? Do you love the
communion of saints ? and to be most frequent and femiliar
with them that are most frequent and familiar with Christ?
Do you favour more the particular affectionate discourse
about his nature, will and kingdom, than the frothy talk of
empty wits, or the common discourse of carnal worldlings ?
Do you love to be employed in thanking him for his mercies,
and in Raising him, and declaring the glory of his attri-
butes and" works? Is your dependance on him as your great
Benefactor, and do you receive your mercies as his gifts ?
If thus your principal observation be of God, and your chief
desire after God, and your chiefest confidence in God, and
your chiefest business in the world be with God, and for
God, and your chiefest joy be in the favour of God, (when
you can apprehend it) and in the prosperity of his church,
and your hopes of glory ; and your chiefest grief and trou-
ble be your sinful distance from him, and your backward-
ness and disability in his love and service, and the fear of a
his displeasure, and the injuries done to his Gospel and f
honour in the world ; then I must needs say, you are sav- ^
ingly delivered from your atheism and ungodliness ; you do ^j.
not only talk of God, but walk with God ; you are then ac- w
quainted with that spiritual life and work, which the sen- ^
sual world is unacquainted with, and with those invisible,
everlasting excellencies, which if worldlings knew, they
would change their minds, and choice, and pleasures : Yea w
are then acquainted with that rational, manly, saintlike '3!
life, which ungodly men are strangers to ; and you are in ^
the way of that well-grounded hope and peace to which all
the pleasures and crowns on barth, if compared, ar6 but -
WALKING WITH QCXD. 183
cheats and misery. But if you were never yet brought to
walk with God, do not think you have a sound belief in
God, nor that you acknowledge him sincerely, nor that you
are saved from heart-atheism : nor is it piety in the opinion
and the tongue, that will save him that is an atheist, or
ungodly in heart and life. Divinity is an affective-practical
science : Knowing is not the ultimate or perfective act of
man: but a means to holy love, and joy, and service. Nor
is it clear and solid knowledge, if it do not somewhat affect
the heart, and engage and actuate the life, according to the
nature and use of the thing known. The soundness of
knowledge and belief, is not best discerned in the intellec-
tual acts themselves, but in their powerful, free and pleasant
efficacy, upon our choice and practice. By these therefore
you must judge, whether you are godly or atheistical. The
question is not what your tongues say of God, nor what
complimental ceremonious observances you allow him, but
what your hearts and your endeavours say of him, and whe-
ther you glorify him as God, when you say you know him :
otherwise you will find that the " wrath of God is revealed
from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." (Rom.i. 18.21.)
And now, alas ! what matter of lamentation is here be-
fore us ! To see how seriously men converse with one ano-
ther ; and how God is overlooked or neglected by the most !
How men live together, as if there were more that is con-
siderable and regardable in these partidles of animated
dust, than in the Lord Almighty, and in all his graces, ser-
vice and rewards ! To see how God is cast aside, and his in-
terest made to give place to the interest of the flesh, and
his services must stay till men have done their service to
their lusts, or to worldly men, that can do them hurt, or
shew them favour ! And his will must not be done, when it
crosseth the will of sinful man ! How little do all the com-
mands, and promises, and threatenings of God signify, with
these atheistical men, in comparison of their lusts, or the
laws of men, or any thing that concerneth their temporal
prosperity ! O how is the world revolted from their Maker !
How have they lost the knowledge of themselves, and for-
gotten their natures, capacities and obligations, and what it
is to be indeed a man ! O hearken, sinners, to the call of
your Redeemer ! Return, O seduced, wandering souls, and
184 THE inVlNE LIFE.
know at last your resting place ! Why is not God in all
your thoughts ? or why is he thought on with so much re-
missness, unwillingness, and contempt! and with so little
pleasure, seriousness, or regard ? Do you understand your-
selves in this ? Do you deal worthily with God ? or wisely
for yourselves ? Do you take more pleasure, with the prodi-
gal, to feed swine, and to feed with swine, than to dwell at
home with your heavenly Father ? and to walk before him,
and serve him in the world ? Did you but know how dan-
gerous a way you have been in, and how unreasonably you
have dealt, to forsake God in your hearts, and follow that
which cannot profit you, what haste would you make to
leave the crowd, and come home to God, and try a more
noble and gainful conversation ? If reasons may have room
and leave to work upon you, I will set a few before you
more distinctly, to call you off from your barren, inordinate
creature-converse, to a believing, serious converse with God.
1. The higher and more excellent the object is (espe-
cially when it is also of most concernment to ourselves), the
more excellent is the converse. Therefore as nothing dare
compare itself with God, so no employment may be com-
pared with this of holy walking with him. How vile a con-
tempt is it of the Almighty, and of our celestial joys, for
the heetrt to neglect them, aqd turn away, and dwell upon
vanity and trouble, and let these highest pleasures go ! Is not
God and glory worthy of thy thoughts, and all thy service ?
2. What are those things that take thee up ? Are they
better than God ? or fitter to supply thy wants ? If thou
think, and trust in them accordingly, ere long thou shalt
know better what they are, and have enough of thy cursed
choice and confidence. Tell those that stand by thee at
the parting hour, whether thou didst choose aright and
make a gaining or a saving match. O poor sinners ! have
you not yet warning enough to satisfy you that all things
below are vanity and vexation, and that all your hope of
happiness is above ? Will not the testimony of God satisfy
you? Will not the experience of the world for so many
thousand years together satisfy you ? Will not the ill suc-
cess of the damned satisfy you ? Will nothing but your own
experience convince you ? If so, consider well the expe-
rience you have already made, and seasonably retire, and
try no further, and trust not so dangerous a deceiver to the
WALKING WITH QOV. 185
last, lest you buy your knowledge at a dearer rate than you
will now believe. j\
3. You have daily more to do with God^ than with all
the world, whether you will or no : And therefore seeing
yea cannot avoid him if you would^ prefer that voluntary
obediential converse, which hath a reward, before that
necessitated converse which hath none. You are always in
his hands : he made you for his service ; and he will dis-
pose of you and all that you have, according to his will. It
shall not go with you as yourselves would have it, nor as
your friends would have it, nor as princes and great ones of
the world would have it; (unless as their wills comply with
God's) but as God would have it, who will infallibly ac-
complish all his will. If a sparrow fall not to the ground
without him, and all the hairs of our heads are numbered,
then certainly he overruleth all your interests and affairs,
and they are absolutely at his disposal. To whom then in
reason should you so much apply yourselves as unto him ?
If you will not take 'notice of him, he will take notice of
you : he will remember you, whether you remember him or
not; but it may be with so strict and severe a remem^
brance, as may make you wish he did quite forget you.
You are always in his presence ; and can you then forget
him, and hold no voluntary converse with him, when you
stand before him ? If it be but mean, inferior persons that
we dwell with, and are still in company with, we mind
them more, and speak more to them, than we do to greater
persons that we seldom see. But in God there is both
greatness and nearness to invite you. Should not all the
worms on earth stand by, while the glorious God doth call
you to him, and offer you the honour and happiness of his
converse ? Shall the Lord of heaven and earth stand by,
and be shut out, while you are chatting or trifling with his
creatures ? Nay, shall he be neglected that is always with
you? You cannot remove yourselves a moment from his
sight 9 and therefore you should not shut your eyes, and
turn away your face, and refuse to observe him who is still
observing you.
Moreover, your dependence, both for soul and body/ is
all on him : You can have nothing desirable but by his gift.
He feeds you, he clotheth you, he 'maintaineth you, he
gives you life, and breath, and all things ; and yet cau ^q\x
186 tH£ DIVINE LIFE.
overlook him, or forget himf Do not all his mercies rciquire
your acknowledgment? A dog will follow him that feedeth
him : his eye will be upon his master : And shall we live
upon Qod, and yet forget and disregard him? We are
taught a better use of his mercies by the holy prophet^
*' O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his
praise to be heard : which holdeth our soul in life, and suf*
fereth not our feet to be moved !*' (Psal. Ixvi. 8, 9.)
Nay, it is not yourselves alone, but all the world that
depends on God, It is his power that supporteth them,
and his will that disposeth of them, and his bounty that pro-
videth for them : and therefore he must be the observation
and admiration of the world: It is less unreasonable to
take no notice of the earth that beareth us and yieldeth us
fruit, and of the sun that yieldeth us heat and light, than to
disregard the Lord that is more to us than sun, and earth,
and all things. ** The eyes of all things wait on him; and
he giyeth them their meat in season : He openeth his hand
and satisfieth the desire of every living thing/' (PsaL cxlv.
15, 16.) " The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies
are over all his works : All his works therefore shall praise
him, and his saints shall bless him : They shall speak of the
glory of his kingdom, and talk of his power." (ver. 10, XL)
Moreover God is so abundantly and wonderfully repre-
sented to us in all his works, as will leave us under the
guilt of most unexcusable contempt, if we overlook him,
and live as without him in the world. ** The heavens de-
clare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his
handy work : Day unto day uttereth speech, and night un-
to night sheweth knowledge." (Psal. xix. 1, 2.) Thus ** that
which may be known of God is manifest ; for the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world, are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even
his eternal power and Godhead ; so that the ungodly are
without excuse.'' (Rom. i. 19, 20.) Cannot you see that
which all the world revealeth ; nor hear that which all the
world proclaimeth ? " O sing ye forth the honour of his name :
make his praise glorious ! Say to the Lord, How terrible
aft thou in thy works! Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee :
All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee :
they shall sing unto thy name : come and see the works of
WALKING WITH GaD. *87
Ood : he is terrible in his doings towards the children of
men." (PsaL Ixvi. 2 — 6.) Can we pass him by, that is erery
where present, and by every creatare represented to us?
Caa we forget him, when all the world are onr remem-
brancers? Can we stop onr ears against the voice of heaven
and earth ? Can we be ignorant of him, when the whole
creation is our teacher? Can we overlook that holy» glorious
name, which is written so legibly upon all things that ever
our eyes beheld, that nothing but blindness, sleepiness, or
distraction, could possibly keep ns from discerning it ! I
have many a time wondered, that (as the eye is dazzled so
with the beholding of the greatest light, that it can scarce
perceive the shining of a lesser, so) the glorious transcen-
dent majesty of the Lord, doth not even overwhelm our un-
derstandings, and so transport and take us up, as that we
scarce observe or remember any thing else. For naturally
the greatest objects of onr sense, are apt to make us at that
time insensible of the smaller: And our exceeding great
business, is apt to make us utterly neglect and forget those
that are exceeding small : And O what nothings are the
best and greatest of the creatures, in comparison of God !
And what toys and trifles are all our other businesses in the
world, in comparison of the business which we have with
him ! But I have been stopped in these admirations by con-
sidering that the wise Creator hath fitted and ordered all
his creatures according to the use which he designeth them
to : And therefore as the eye must be receptive only of so
much light as is proportioned to its use and pleasure, and
must be so distant from the sun, that its light may rather
guide, than blind us, and its heat may rather quicken, than
consume us ; so God hath made our understandings capa-
ble of no other knowledge of him here, than what is suited
to the work of holiness: And while we have flesh, and
fleshly works to do, and lawful and necessary business in
the world, which God*s own commands employ us, our souls
in this laiithorn of the body, must see him through so thick
a glass, as shall so far allay our apprehension, as not to dis-
tract us, and take us off" the works which he enjoineth us.
And God and our souls shall be at such a distance, as that
the proportionable light of his countenance may conduct us,
and not overwhelm us ; and his love may be so revealed, as
to quieken our desires, and draw us on to a b'^llex %V:^Vi^^
188 THE DIVIN£ LIFE.
but not so as to make us utterly impatient of this world and
utterly weary of our lives^ or to swallow us up, or possess
us of our most desired happiness, before we arrive at the
state of happiness. While the soul is in the body, it maketh
so much us6 of the body (the brains and spirits) in all ita
operations ; that our wise and merciful Creator and Go-
vernor, doth respect the body as well as the soul, in his or-
dering, disposing, and representing of the objects of those
operations : So that when I consider that certainly all men
would be distracted, if their apprehensions of God were any
whit answerable to the greatness of his majesty and glory,
(the brain being not able to bear such high operations of
the soul, nor the greatness of the passions which would
necessarily follow,) it much reconcileth my wondering mind,
to the wise and gracious providence of God, even in setting
innocent nature itself at such a distance from his glory (al-
lowing us the presence of such grace, as is necessary to
bring us up to gloiy). Though it reconcile me not to that
doleful distance which is introduced by sin, and which is
furthered by Satan, the world, and the flesh, and which our
Redeemer by his Spirit and intercession must heal.
And it further reconcileth me to this disposure and will
of the blessed God, and this necessary natural distance and
darkness of our mind, when I consider, that if God, and hea-
ven, and hell, were as near and open to our apprehensions,
as the things are which we see and feel, this life would not
be what God intended it to be, a life of trial and prepara-
tion to another, a work, a race, a pilgrimage, a warfare ;
what trial would there be of any man's faith, or love, or
obedience, or constancy, or self-denial? If we saw God
stand by, or apprehended him as if we saw him (in degree)
it would be no more praiseworthy or rewardable for a man
to abhor all temptations to worldliness, ambition, gluttony,
drunkenness, lust, cruelty, 8cci than it is for a man to be
kept from sleeping that is pierced with thorns, or for a man
to forbear to drink a cup of melted gold which he knoweth
will burn out his bowels, or to forbear to burn his flesh in
fire. It were no great commendation to his chastity, that
would forbear his filthiness, if he saw or had the fullest ap-
prehensions of God ; when he will forbear it in the presence
f a mortal man : It were no great commendation to the in-
tmperate and voluptuous, to have no mind of sensual de^-
WALKING WITH GOD. 189
lights, if they had but such a knowledge of God as were
equal to sight. It were no thanks to the persecutor to for-
bear his cruelty against the servants of the Lord, if he " saw
Christ coming with his glorious angels, to take vengeance on
them that know not Ood, and obey not the Gospel, and to be
admired in his saints, and glorified in them that now believe."
(2 Thess. i. 7 — 10.) I deny not but this happily necessi-
tated holiness is best in itself, and therefore will be our state
in heaven ; but what is there of trial in it? or how can it
be suitable to the state of man, that must have good and
evil set before him, and life and death left to his choice ;
and that must conquer if he will be crowned, and approve
his fidelity to his Creator against competitors, and must live
a rewardable life before he have the reward ?
But though in this life we may neither hope for, nor de-
sire, such overwhelming, sensible apprehensions of God, as
the rest of our faculties cannot answer, nor our bodies bear ;
yet that our apprehensions of him should be so base, and
small, and dull, and unconstant, as to be borne down by the
noise of worldly business, or by the presence of any creature,
or by the tempting baits of sensuality, this is the more odi-
ous, by how much God is more great and glorious than the
creature, and even because the use of the creature itself is
bat to reveal the glory of the Lord. To have such slight and
stupid thoughts of him, as will not carry us on in upright-
ness of obedience, nor keep us in his fear, nor draw out our
hearts in sincere desires to please him, and enjoy him, and
as will not raise us to a contempt of the pleasures, and pro-
fits, and honours of this world, this is to be despisers of the
Lord, and to live as in a sleep, and to be dead to God, and
alive only to the world and flesh. It is no unjust dishonour
or injury to the creature, to be accounted as nothing in com-
parison of God, that it may be able to do nothing against him
and his interest : But to make such a nothing of the most
glorious God, by our contemptuous forgetfulness or neglect,
as that our apprehensions of him cannot prevail against the
sordid pleasures of the flesh, and against the richest baits of
sin, and all the wrath or allurements of man, this is but to
make a god of dust, and dung, and nothing, and (in heart
and practice) to make God worse than dust and dung. And
it is a wonder that man's understanding can become so sot-
tishi as thus to wink the sun itself into a constant darkufi«i%^
190 THR DIVINK LIFE.
€uid to tak« God as nothing, or as no God, who is sa abun-
dantly revealed to them in astonishing transcendex^t great-
ness and excellency, by all the creatures in the world, and
with whom we have continually so much to do. O sinful
man ! into how great a depth of ignorance, stupidity and
misery art thou fallen !
But because we may see by the lives of the ungodly, that
they little think that they have so much to do with God,
though I have spoke of this to the godly in the other part
of this treatise, I shall someWhat more particularly acquaint
those that have most need to be informed of it, what busi-
ness it is that they have with God.
1. It is not a business that may be done, or left undone
like your business with men : but it is such as must be done,
or you are undone for ever. Nothing is absolutely necessary
but this : nothing in all the world doth so much concern
you. You may at far cheaper rates forbear to eat, or drink,
or clothe yourselves, or live, than forbear the dispatch of this
necessary work.
2. Your business with God, and for God in the world, is
that which you have all your powers and endowments for ;
it is that which you were born into the world for, and that
which you have understanding and freewill for, and that
which' you have your thoughts, and memories, and affections
for, and that which you. have eyes, and ears, and tongues,
and your corporal parts and abilities for; and that which you
have your time for ; and your preservation, protection and
provisions : It is that which you have all your teaching for ;
which Christ himself came into the world for; which the
Scriptures are written for; which ministers are sent for;
which all order and government in church and state is prin-
cipally appointed for : In a word, it is that for which you have
your lives, and all things, and without which all were as no-
thing, and will be to you worse than nothing, if they do not
fnrther your work with Grod : You will wish you had never
seen them if they befriend you not in this.
3. Your business with God, and for him, is such as you
must be continually doing : as is incumbent on you every
hour, for you have every hour given you for this end. You
may dispatch this man to day, and another to-mprrow, and
have no more to do with them again of a long time,: But you
have always incessantly impcMi;ant works to do with God.
WALKING WITH GOD. lf>l
For your common work should be all his work ; and all
shoold be done with principal respect to him.
But I shall yet more particularly tell the ungodly what
business it is that, they have with God^ which it seems, by
their careless negligent lives, they are not aware of«
1. You must be either saved or damned by him ; either
glorified with him/ or punished by him to everlasting : and
it is now that the matter must be determined, which of the
two conditions you must be in : You must now obtain your
titte to heaven, if ever you will come thither : You must now
procure deliverance from hell-fire, if ever you will escape it.
Now it is that all must be done, upon which the scales must
turn for your salvation or damnation : and you know this
work is principally to be done between you and God, who
alone can save you or destroy you ; and yet do you forget
him, and live as if you had no business with him, when you
have your salvation to obtain from him, and your damnation
to prevent ! Have you such business as this with any other?
2. You have a strict and righteous judgment to undergo,
in order to this salvation or damnation. You must stand
before the Holy Majesty, and be judged by the Governor of
the world : you must be there accused, and found guilty or
not guilty ; and judged as fulfiUers, or as breakers of the
holy covenant of grace : You must be set on the right hand
or on the left : You must answer for all the time that you
here spent, and for all the means and mercies which you here
received, and for that you have done, whether it were good
or evil. And it is now in this life that all your preparation
must be made, and all that must be done, upon which your
justification or condemnation will then depend. And it is
between Ood and you that all this business must be done :
and yet can you live as negligently towards him, as if you
had no buisiness with him?
3. You have a death to die, a change to make, which
must be made but once ; which will be the entrance upon
endless joy or pain: and do you think this needeth not your
meet timely and diligent preparation? You must struggle
with pains, and^faint with weakness, and feel death taking
down your earthen tabernacle : You must then have a life
that is ending to review, and all that you have done laid
open to your more impartial judgment ; you must then see
t^OQie as at an end, and the last sand running, and your osii:
192 THE DIVINE LIFE.
die ready to go out^ and leave the snuff; you must then look
back upon all that you had from the world, as ending ; and
upon all that you have done as that which cannot be undone
again, that you may do it better ; and you must have a more
serious look into eternity, when you are stepping thither,
than you can now conceive of: And doth all this need no
preparation? It is with God that all that business must be
now transacted, that must make your death to be comfortable
or safe. If now you will only converse with men, and know
no business that you have with God, you shall find at last
to your exceeding terror, that you are in his hands, and pass-
ing to his bar, and that it is God that then you have to do
with, when your business with all the world is at an end :
He will then have something to do with you, if yoa will now
find nothing to do with him.
4. In order to all this, you have now your peace to be
made with God, and the pardon of all your sins to be ob-
tained. For woe to you if then you are found under the
guilt of any sin. Look back upon your lives, and remember
how you have lived in the world, and what you have been
doing : how you have spent your time in youth, and in
your riper age ; and how many sinful thoughts, and words,
and deeds you have been guilty of; how oft you have sin-
fully pleased your appetites, and gratified your flesh, and
yielded to temptations, and abused mercy, and lost your
time : How oft you have neglected your duty, and betrayed
your souls : how long you have lived in forgetfulness of God
and your salvation ; minding only the things of the flesh
and of the world : How oft you have sinned ignorantly and
against knowledge, through carelessness, and through rash-
ness, through negligence and through presumption, in pas-
sion, and upon deliberation ; against convictions, purposes
and promises : How oft you have sinned against the pre-
cepts of piety to God, and of justice and charity to men.
Think how your sins are multiplied and aggravated, more in
number than the hours of your lives: aggravated by a world
of mercies, by the clearest teachings and the loudest calls,
and sharpest reproofs, and seasonable warnings, and by the
long and urgent importunities of grace. Think of all these,
and then consider whether you have nothing now to do with
God, whether it be not a business to be followed with all
possible speed and diligence, to procure the pardon of all
WALKING WITH GOD. 193
tkesesins: You have no such businesses as these to trans-
act with men : You may have business with them which
your estates depend upon« or which touch your credit, com-
modity or lives ; but you have no business with men (unless
in subordination to God) which your salvation dotk depend
apML: Your eternal happiness is not in their hands': they
may kill your bodies (if God permit them), but not your
souls. You need not solicit them to pardon your sins
against God : It is a small matter how you are ju<i%ed of by
man : You have one Uiat judgeth you, even the Lord. (1 Cor.
iv. 3, 4.) No man can forgive sin, but God only. O then
how^arly, how earnestly should you cry to him for mercy i
Pardon must be obtained now or never. There is no justifi-
cation for that man at the day of judgment, that is not for-
given and justified now. Blessed then is the man whose
iniquity is forgiven, whose sin is covered, and to whom it
is not imputed by the Lord. <Rom. iv. 7, 8.) And woe to
that man that ever he was bom, that is then found without
the pardon of his sins ! Think of this as the case deserves*
a»i then think if you can, that your daily business with
God is small.
5. Moreover, you have peace of conscience to obtain :
and that dependeth upon your peace with God. Conscience
will be your accuser, condemnerand tormentor, if you make
it not your firiend, by making God your friend. Consider
what conscience hath to say against you, and how certainly
it will speak home, when you would be loath to hear it: And
bethink you how to answer all its accusations, and what will
he necessiury to make it a messenger of peace ; and then
think your business with God to be but small, if you are able.
It is no «asy matter to get assurance that Grod is reconciled
to you, and that he hath forgiven all youar sins.
6. In order to all this, you must be united to Jesus Christ,
and be made his members, that you may have part in him, and
that he may wash you by his blood, .and that he may answer
for you to his Father ! woe to you if he be not your righte-
teoaBneBs,and if you have not him to plead youroause^ and
take upon him your final justification ! None else can save
you from the wrath of God : And he is the Saviour only of
his body. (Ephes. v. 23.) He hath died for you without
your; own consent, and be hath made a universal conditional
VOL. Kill. o
194 THE DIVINE LIFE.
grant of pardon and salvation, before yon consenled to it:
but be will not be anited to you, por actually forgive, and
justify, and save you, without your own content : and there-
fore that the Father may draw you to the Son, and may
give you Clirist, and life in him, (1 John v. 9—11,) when
all your hope dependeth on it, you may see that you have
more to do with God, than your senseless hearts have hitherto
understood.
7. And that you may have a saving interest in Jesus
Christ, you must have sound repentance for all your former
life of wickedness, atid a lively, effectual faith in Christ :
neither sin nor Christ must be made light of. Bepentance
must tell you to the very heart, that you have done foolishly
in sinning, and that it is an evil and a bitter thing that you
forsook the Lord, and that his fear was not in you : and tiius
your wickedness shall correct you and reprove you. (Jer.
ii. 19.) And faith must tell you that Christ is more neces-
sary to you than food or life, and that there is no other name
given under heaven* by which you can be saved. (Acts iv.
12.) And it is not so easy, nor so common a thing to repent
and believe, as ignorant presumptuous sinners do imagine.
It is a greater matter to have a truly humbled, contrite heart,
and to loathe yourselves for all your sins, and to loathe those
sins, and resolvedly give up yourselves to Christ and to his
Spirit for a holy life, than heartlessly and hypocritically to
say, I am sorry, or, I repent, without any true contrition or
renovation. And it is a greater matter to betake yourselves
to Jesus Christ as your only hope, to save you both from
sin and from damnation, than barely through^ custom, and
the benefit of education, to say, I do believe in Christ. I
tell you it is so great a work to bring you to sound re-
pentance and faith, that it must be done by the power of
God himself. (Acts v. 31 ; 2 Tim. ii. 25.) They are the
" gift of God ;" (Ephes. ii. 8 ;) you must have his Spirit to
illuminate you, (Ephes. i. 18,) and shew you the odiousness
of sin, the intolerableness of the wrath of God, the neces-
sity and sufficiency, the power and willingness of Christ ; and
to overcome all your prejudice, and save you from false opi-
nions and deceits ; and to repulse the temptations of Satan,
the world and the flesh, which will all rise up against you.
All this must be done to bring you home to Jesus Christ, or
WALKING WITH GOD. ' 195
else you will have no part in him« his righteousness and
grace: And can you think that you have not most important
buainess with God, who must do all this upon you, or else
you are undone for ever !
8« Moreover you must have all the corruptions of your
natures healed, and your sins subdued, and your hearts
made new by sanctifying grace, and the image of God im-
planted in you, and your lives made holy and sincerely con-
formable to the will of God. All this must be done, or you
cannot be acceptable to God, nor ever will be saved : though
your carnal interest rise against it ; though your old cor-
rupted natures be against it ; though your custom, and plea«-
sure, and worldly gain and honour be against it; though all
your carnal friends and superiors be against it ; though the
devil will do all that he can against it, yet all this must be
done, or you are lost for ever : and all this must be done by
the Spirit of God ; for it is his work to make you new and
holy : And can you think then that the business is not great
which you have with God ? When you have tried how hard
every part of this work is, to be begun and carried on, you
will find you have more to do with God, than with all the
world.
S» Moreover in order to this It is necessary that you read,
and hear, and understand the Gospel, which must be the
meana^of bringing you to God by Chri&t : This must be the
instrument of God, by which he will bring you to repent and
believe, and by which he will renew your natures, and im-
print his image on you, and bring you to love him, and obey
his will. The word of God must be your counsellor, and
your delight, and you must set your heart to it, and meditate-
in it day and night. Knowledge must be the means to re-
claim your perverse, misguided wills, and to reform your
careless, crooked lives, and to bring you out of the kingdom
of darkness, intoiha state of light and life. And such know-
ledge cannot be expected without a diligent attending unto
Christ the teacher of your souls, and a due consideration of
the truth. By that time you have learnt what is needful
to be learnt for a true conversion, a sound repentance, a
swing faith, and a holy life, you will find that you have &r
greater business with God than with all the world.
10; Moreover for the attaining of all this mercy, you
have ttiwiy a prayer to put up to God : You must daily pray
196 THE DIVINE LIFE.
for the forgiveness of your sins, and deliverance from tMip«
tations, and even for your daily bread, or necessary provi-
sions for the work which you have to do : you must daily
pray for the supplies of grace which yon want, and for the
gradual mortification of the flesh, and for help in all the
duties which you must perform ; and for strength against all
spiritual enemies which will assault you ; and preservation
from the manifest evils which attend you: and these prayers
must be put up with unwearied constancy, fervency and
faith. Keep up this course of fervent prayer, and beg for
Christ, and grace, and pardon, and salvation in any measure
as they deserve, and according to thy own necessity, and then
tell me whether thy business with God be small, and to be
put off as lightly as it is by the ungodly.
11. Moreover, you are made for the glory of your Crea-
tor, and must apply yourselves wholly to glorify- him in the
world : you must maJ^e his service the trade and business of
your lives, and not put him off with something on the by :
You are good for nothing else but to serve him ; as a knife
is made to cut, and as your clothes are made to cover you,
and your meat to feed you, and your horse to labour for you ;
so you are made, and redeemed, and maintained for this, to
love and please your great Creator. And can you think that
it is but little business that yqu have with him, when he is
the End and Master of your lives, and all you are or have is
for him ?
12. And for the due performance of his service, you
have all his talents to employ. To this end it is that he hath
intrusted you with reason, and health, and strength ; with
time, and parts, and interest, and wealth, and all his mercies,
and all his ordinances and means of grace ; and to this end
must you use them, or you lose them : and you must give
him an account of all at last, whether you have improved
them all to your Master's use. And can you look within
you, without you, about you, and see how much you are
trusted with, and must be accountable to him for, and yet not
see how great your business is with God?
13. Moreover, you have all the graces which you shall
receive to exercise ; and every grace doth carry you to 6od«
and is exercised upon him, or for him : It is God that yoa
must study, and k now, and love, and desire, and trust, and
hope in, and obey : It is God that you must seek after, and
WALKING WITH OOD. 197
delight in, so far as you enjoy him: It is his absence or dis-
pleasure that must be your fear and sorrow : therefore the
soul is said to be sanctified when it is renewed, because it is
both disposed and devoted unto God. And therefore grace
is called holiness, because it all disposeth, and carrieth the
soul to God, and useth it upon and for him. And can you
think. your business with God is small, when you must live
upon him, and all the powers of your soul must be addicted
to him, and be in serious motion towards him ? And when
he must be much more to you than the air which you breathe
in, or the earth you live upon, or than the sun that gives you
light and heat ; yea, than the soul is to your bodies f
14. Lastly, You have abundance of temptations and im-
pediments to watch and strive against, which would hinder
you in the doing of all this work, and a corrupt and trea-
cherous heart to watch and keep in order, which will be
looking back, and shrinking from the service. Lay all this
together, and then consider whether you have not more and
greater business with God, than with all the creatures in the
world.
And if this be so (as undeniably it is so), is there any
cloak for that man's sin, who is all day taken up with crear
tores, and thinks of God as seldom and as carelessly as if
he had no business with him? And yet, alas, if you take a
survey of high and low, of court, and city, and country, you
shall find that this is the case of no small number, yea of
many that observe it not to be their case ; it is the case of
the profane Uiat pray in jest, and swear, and curse, and rail
in earnest. It is the case of the malignant enemies of Holi-
nesB, that hate them at the heart that are most acquainted
with this converse with God, and count it but hypocrisy,
pride or fancy, and would not suffer them to live upon the
earth, who are most sincerely conversant in heaven. It is
the case of Pharisees and hypocrites, who take up with
ceremonious observances, as, ' touch not, taste not, handle
not/ and such like traditions of their forefathers, instead of
a spiritual, rational service, and a holy, serious walking with
the Lord. It is the case of all ambitious men, and covetous
WQrldlings, who make more ado to climb up a little higher
than their brethren, and to hold the reins, and have their
wiBs^ and be admired and adored in the world, or to get a
large estate for themselves and their posterity, than to please
198 THE DIVINE LIFE.
their Maker, or to save their bouIs^ It is the case of. every
sensual epicure, whose belly is his god, and serveth his fimcy,
lust and appetite before the Lord* It is the caseof erery
Uttsanctified man, that seeketh first the prosperity of his
flesh, before the kingdom and righteousness of Qodf and is
most careful and laborious to lay up a treasure pn earth,, and
laboureth more (with greater estimation, resolution, and de^
light,) for the meat that perisheth, than for that which en-
duteth to everlasting life. All these <who are too great a
part of the world, and too great a part of professed Chris-
tians) are taken up with creature converse ^ and yet think
to escape the deluge of God's displeasure, because the
Enochs and Nosdis are so few who walk with God; and they
think God will not destroy so many : and thus they think
to be saved by their multitude, and to hide themselves in the
crowd from God : They will go the wide and common path,
and be of the mind that most are of : They will not be con-
vinced till most men are convinced ; that is, till wisdom come
too late, and cost them dearer than its worth. When all
men are convinced that God should have been preferred
before the world, and served before their fleshly lusts (as
they will certainly and sadly be), then they will be convinced
with the rest. When all men understand that tife was given
them to have done the work which eternal life dependeth on,
then they will understand it with the rest. When all men
shall discern between the righteous and the wicked ; be-
tween those that serve God, and that serve him not, then
they will discern it with the rest: They will know what their
business was in the world, and how much they had to do
with God, when all men know it. But O how much better
for them had it been to have known it in time, while know-
ledge might have done theni better service, than to make
them feel the greatness of their sin and folly, and the hopes
which once they had of happiness, apd to help the sting of
continually to prick th^m at the heart : They
would uoT^Hifso " lititle a flock" as that to which it was
the " good pleaShte*' of God to *' give the kingdom." <Luk«
xii. 32.) I^ y^^ <^|toand a reason of all this, their reason
^as in their throats^td bellies : they had fleshly appetite^
and lusts, and thevemh. could relish fleshly pleaisures ; but
spiritual life and ^PFTlte they had none, and therefore re-
lished not spiritual thlgg . Had Christ, and holiness, and
WALKING WITH GOD. 199
beavea, beea a» suitable to their appetites as the sweetness
of their meat^ and drink, and lusts, and as suitable to their
fantasies as their worldly dignities and greatness were, they
would then have made a better choice. They would have
walked with God, if drunkenness^ and gluttony, and pride^
and wantonness, and covetousness, and idleness, had been
the way in which they might have walked with him. If thes^
had been godliness, how godly would they have been! How
certainly would they have come to heaven if this had been
the way ! To be idle, and proud> and fleshly, and worldly,
is it that they love ; and to be humble, and holy, and hea^
v^y, and mortified, is that which they hate, and cannot
away with : And their love and hatred proceed from their
corrupt natures ; and these are instead of reason to them*
Their strong apprehensions of a present suitableness in
fleshly pleasures to their appetites, and of a present unsuit-
ableness of a holy life, do keep out all efiectual apprehen-
sions of the excellencies of God, and of spiritual, heavenly
delights, which cross them in the pleasures which they most
desire.
But yet (their appetites corrupting their understandings
as well as their wills) they will not be mad without some
reason, nor reject their Maker and their happiness without
some reason, nor neglect that holy work which they were
made for without some reason : Let us hear then what it is.
CHAP. III.
Object. 1. They say, ' It is true that God hath much to do
with us, and for us : But it folio weth not that we have so
much to do with him, or for him, as you would have us to be-
lieve: for he is necessarily good, and necessarily doth good ;
and therefore will do so, whether we think of him or not :
The sun will not give over shining on me, though I never
think on it, or never pray to it, or give it thanks. Nor doth
God need any service, that we can do him, no more than the
sun doth ; nor is he pleased any more in the praise of men,
or in their works.'
Answ. 1. It is most certain that Qod is good as necessa-
rily fl6 be is God : But it is not true, that he must necessarily
do good to you, or other individual persons ; nor that he
necessarily doth the good he doth them. As he is not ne-
S0O THE DIVINE LIFE.
cessitated to make toads and serpents as happy as iiien> or*
men as angels ; so he is not necessitated to save the devils or
damned souls (for he will not save them). And he was under a»
greater a necessity to save you^ than them. He was not necessi-
tated to give you a being; he could have passed you by« and
caused others to have possessed your room. As it was God's
freewill, and not any necessity, that millions more are never
born, that were in possibility of it : (for all that is possible doth
not come to pass.) So that you and millions more were bom
was not of necessity but of the same freewill. And as God did
not make you of necessity but of freewill ; so he doth not ne*
cessarily but freely justify, or sanctify, or save. If be. did
it by necessity of nature, he would do it to all as well as
some ; seeing all have a natural capacity of grace as vrfUl aa
those that receive it : God is able to sanctify and save more,
yea all, if it were his will : and it is not for want of power
or goodness that he doth not. Millions of beings are pes*
sible which are not future. God doth not all the good whidi
he is able, but commnnicateth so much to his several crea-
tures as to his wisdom seemeth meet. If the damned would
be so presumptuous as to argue, that because God is able
yet to sanctify and save them, therefore he must do it of ne-
cessity of nature, it would not be long before they should
thus dispute themselves out of their torments. God will not
ask leave of sinners to be God : their denying him to be
good (that is to be God), because hecomplieth not with their
conceits and wills, doth but prove them to be fools and bad
themselves.
Indeed some sciolists, pretending to learning, while they
are ignorant of most obvious principles of natural know-
ledge, have taught poor sinners to cheat their souls with
such dreams as these. They have made themselves believe
that goodness in God is nothing else but his benignity, or
disposition to do good. As if the creature were the ultimate
end, and all God's goodness but a means thereto : And so
God were the Alpha or first efficient, and yet the creature 4lie
Omega or ' finis ultimus :' and all the goodness in God were
to be estimated and denominated by its respect to the feli-
city of man : and so the creature hath the best part of the
Deity. Such notions evidently shew us, that lapsed man is
predominantly selfish, and is become hii^ own idol, and is lost
WALKING WitH GOD. 201
in himself, while he hath lost himself by his loss of God.
When we see how powerful his self-interest is, both with
his intellect and will ; even men of great ingenuity, till sanc-
tification hath restored them to God, and taught them better
to know him and themselves, are ready to measure all good
or evil by their own interests; when yet common reason
would have told them, if they had not perverted it by pride
and partial studies, that short of God, even among the crea*
tures, Uiere are many things to be preferred before them-
selves and their own felicity. He is irrationally enslaved by
self-love, that cannot see that the happiness of the world, or
of his country, or of multitudes, is more to be desired than
his happiness alone : and that he ought rather to choose to
be annihilated, or to be miserable (if it were made a matter
of his deliberation and choice), than to have the sun taken
out of the firmament, or the world, or his country to be an-
nihilated or miserable. And God is infinitely above the
creature.
Object. But they say, ' He needeth nothing to make him
happy, having no defect of happiness.'
Answ. And what of that? Must it needs therefore fol-
low, that he made not all things for himself, but for the crea-
ture finally ¥ ' He is perfectly happy in himself, and his will
is himself: this will was fulfilled when the world was not
made (for it was his will that it should not be made till it
was made), and it is fulfilled when it is made, and fulfilled
by all that comes to pass. And as the absolute simple good-
ness and perfection of God's essence is the greatest good,
the eternal immutable good ; so the fulfilling of his will is
the ultimate end of all obedience : He hath expressed him-
self to take pleasure in his works, and in the holiness, obe-
dience and happiness of his chosen : and though pleasure
be not the same thing in God as it is in a man (no more than
will or understanding is), yet it is not nothing which God
eipresseth by such terms, but something which we have
no fitter expression for: this pleasing of the will of Grod
being the end of all, even of our felicity, is better than our
felicity itself. .
They that wifl maintain that God, who is naturally and
neceissarily good, hath no other goodness but his benignity,
or. aptness to do good to his creatures, must needs also main-
tain that (God being for the creature, and not the creature
202 TH£ DIVINE LIFB.
for God) Che creature Ib better thaa God, as being the idti-
mate end of God himself, and the highest use of all his
goodness being but for the felicity of the creature : As also
that God doth all the good that he is able : (for natund
necessary agents work ^ ad ultimum posse/) Afid that all
men shall be saved, and all devils, and every worm and toad
be equal to the highest angel, or else that God is notable to
do it. And that he did thus make happy all his creatures
from eternity (for natural, necessary agents work always if
they be not forcibly hindered) ; and that there never was
such a thing as pain or misery, in man or brute, or else that
God was not able to prevent it. But abundance -of such
odious consequences must needs follow from the denying of
the highest Good, which is God himself, and confessing
none but his efficient goodness. But some will be offended
with me for being so serious in confuting such an irratiooal,
atheistical conceit, who know not how far it prevaileth with
an atheistical generation.
Be it known to you^ careless sinners, that though the sun
will shine on you whether you think on it or not, or love it,
or thank it or not ; and the fire will warm you whether you
think on it or not, or love it or not; yet God will not justify
or save you, whether you love him or think on him or not :
God doth not operate brutishly in your salvation.; but
govemeth you wisely, as rational creatures are to be go-
verned; and therefore will give you happiness as » re-
ward; and therefore will not deal alike with those that
love him, and that love him not; that seek him and that
seek him not; with the labourers and the loiterers, the
faithful and slothful servant. Would you have us believe
that you know better than God himself what pleaseth him-
self, or on what terms he will give his benefits, and save
men's spuls 7 or do you know his nature better than he
knoweth it, that you dare presume to say, because he need-
eth not our love or duty, therefore they are not pleasing to
him ! Then what hath God to do in governing the world, if
he be pleased and displeased with nothing that men do, or
with good and evil actions equally ? Though you cannot
hurt him, you shall find that he will hurt you, if you disobey
him : And though you cannot make him happy by your
holiness, you shall find that he will not make you happy
without it.
WALKING WITH GOD. 203
And if he did work ag necessarily as the sun doth shine,
according to your similitude; yet, 1. Even the shining of
the .sun doth not illuminate the blind, nor doth it make the
seeds of diorns and nettles to bring forth vines or roses, nor
the gendering of frogs to bring forth men ; but it actuateth
ail tfamgs according to the several natures of their powers.
And therefore how cap you expect that an unbelieving and
unholy soul, should enjoy felicity in Ood, when in that
state they are incapable of it? 2. And if the sun do neces-
sarily illuminate any one, he must necessarily be illumi-
nated ; and if it necessarily warm or quicken any thing, it
mast nepessarily be warmed and quickened ; else you would
assert ecMitradictions. So if God did necessarily save you,
and make you happy, yqu would necessarily be saved and
madeJbappy. And that containeth essentially your holi-
aess, your loving, desiring and seeking after God ; to be
saved or happy without enjoying God by love, or to love
faim imdnot desire him, seek him or obey him, are as great
oontradictions as to be illuminated without light, or quick-
ened mthout life. What way soever it be that God convey-
6th his sanctifyiag Spirit, 1 am sure that ** if any man have
not tire Spirit of Christ, the same is none of his,'' (Rom.
yiii. 9,) and that without '' holiness none shall see God,'^
(Heb.xii. .14,)aBd that if you will have the kingdom of God,
yon must tseek it first, preferring it before all earthly things.
(Matt. Ti.,33 ; John vi. 21 ; Col, iv. \—Z.) And then if all
the question that remaiaetii undecided be> whether God do
you wrong or not in damning you, or. whether God be good
becau&e he will not save you when he can, I shall leave you
to him to receive satisfaction, who will easily silence and
eonfoundyour impudence, and justify his works and laws.
Pre)>are your accusations against him, if you will needs in-
sist upon them, and try whether he or you shall prev^ : but
mmqmber that thou art a worm, and he is God, and that he
will be the only Judge when all is done; and ignorance and
impiety, that prate against hipi to their own confusion, in the
day of his paJtience^ shall not then usurp the throne.
Object. 2. * But how can Qod be fit for mortals to con-
verse with; when they see him not, and are infinitely below
himjv '
Ajuta. I hope you will hot say that you have nothing to
do at home, with your own souls: and yet you never saw
204 THE DIVINE LIFE.
your souls. And it is the souls, the reason and the will of
men that you daily converse with here in the world, more
than their bodies, and yet you never saw their souls, their
reason or their wills. If you have no higher light to dis-
cern by than your eyesight, you are not men but beasts. If
you are men, you have reason ; and if you are Christians,
you have faith, by which you know things that you never
saw. You have more dependance on the things that are
unseen, than on those which you see, and have much more
to do with them.
And though God be infinitely above us ; yet he conde-
scendeth to communicate to us according to our capacities :
As the sun is far from us, and yet doth not disdain to en^
lighten, and warm, and quicken a worm or fly here below.
If any be yet so much an atheist as to think that religious
converse with Qod is but a fancy, let him well answer me
these few questions.
Quest. 1. Doth not the continued being and well-being
of the creatures, tell us that there is a God on whom (for
being and well-being) they depend, and from whom they
are and have whatsoever they are, and whatsoever they
have ? And therefore that passively all the creatures have
more respect to him by far, than to one another ?
Quest. 2. Seeing God communicateth to every creatore
according to their several capacities ; is it not meet then
that he deal with man as man, even as a creature rational,
capable to know, and love, and obey his great Creator, and
to be happy in the knowledge, love and fruition of him?
That man hath such natural faculties, and capacities, is not
to be denied by a man that knoweth what it is to be a mao:
And that God hath not given him these in vain, will be
easily believed by any that indeed believe that he is God.
QtuHt. 3. Is there any thing else that is finally worthy of
the highest actions of our souls ? or that is fully adequate
to them, and fit to be our happiness? If not, then we are
left either to certain infelicity, contrary to the tendency of
our natures, or else we must seek our felicity in God.
Quest. 4. Is there any thing more certain than that by
the title of creation, our Maker hath a full and absolute
right to all that he hath made ; and consequently to all our
love and obedience, our time and powers? For whom should
they all be used but for him from whom we have them ?
WALKING WITH GOD. 205
Quest. 6. Can any thing be more sure, than that God is
the righteoos Governor of the world ? And that he govemeth
man as a rational creature, by laws and judgment ? And can
we live under his absolute sovereignty, and under his many
righteous laws, and under his promises of salvation to the
justified, and under, his threatenings of damnation to the
unjustified, and yet not have more to do with God than with
all the world ? If indeed you think that God doth not love
and reward the holy and obedient, and punish the ungodly
and disobedient, then either you take him not to be the
Governor of the world, or (which is worse) you take him to
be an unrighteous Governor : And then you must by the
same reason say, that magistrates and parents should do so
too, and love and reward the obedient and disobedient
alike 7 But if any man's disobedience were exercised to
your hurt, by slandering, or beating, or robbing you, I dare
say you would not then commend so indifferent and unjust
a Governor*
Quest. 6. If it be not needless for man to labour for food
and raiment, and necessary provision for his body, how can
it be needless for him to labour for the happiness of his
aoul? If God will not give us our daily bread while we
never think of it, or seek it, why should we expect that he
will give us heaven though we never think on it, value it, or
•eekit?
Queetm 7. Is it not a contradiction to be happj in the
fruition of God, and yet not to mind him, desire him, or
leek him? 'How' is it that the soul can reach its object, but
lij; estimation, desire and seeking after it : And how should
itiemoy it but by loving it, and taking pleasure in it?
^iMesf. 8. While you seem but to wrangle against the
duty 4f believers, do you not plead against the comfort and
happin^s.of believers? For surely the employment of the
soul lon^d (and for him) is the health and pleasure of the
loul; Wl\ to call away the soul from such employment, is
to imprisefi it in the dungeon of this world, and to forbid
us to smell^to the sweetest flowers, and confine us to a sink
or dumghilk and to forbid us to taste of the food of angels,
or ioi meui^and to offer us vinegar and gall, or turn us over
io feed wiit swine. He that pleadeth that there is no such
-fliing as reailholiness and communion with God, doth plead
in effect ihafii^ihere is no true felicity or delight for any of
206 THE DIVINE LIFE.
the sons of men : And how welcome should ungodly atheists
be unto mankind, that would for ever exclude Uiem all fit>m
happiness, and msJce them believe they are all made to be
remeditessly miserable ?
And here take notice of the madness of the unthankful
world; that hateth and persecuteth the preachers of the
Gospel, that bring them the glad tidings of pardon, and
hope, and. life eternal, of solid happiness, and durable de^
light ; and yet they are not offended at these atheists and
ungodly cavillers, that would take them off from all that is
truly good and pleasant, and make them believe that nature
hath made them capable of no higher things than beasts,
and hath enthralled them in remediless infelicity.
Quest. 9. Do you not see by experience that there are a
people in the world whose hearts are upon God, and the life
to come, and that make it their chiefest core and business
to seek him and to serve him? How then can you say that
there is no such thing, or that we are not capabkr of it,
when it is the case of so many before your eyes ? If yoa
say that it is but their fancy or self-dec^eit: I answer. That
really their hearts are set upon God, and the eveilasting
world, and that it is their chiefest care and business to at-
tain it; this is a thing that they feel, and you may see in
the bent and labour of their lives ; and therefore you cannot
call that a fancy, of which you have so full experience : But
whether the motives that have invited them, and eogeLged
them to such a choice and course, be fancies and deceits at
not, let God be judge, and let the awakened consciences #f
worldlings themselves be judge, when they have seen die
end, and tried whether it be earth or heaven that i$ the
shadow, and whether it be God or their unbelievin^Ciearta
that was deceived. T
Qicest, 10. Have you any hopes of living witfaf God for
ever, or not? If you have not, no wonder if y<^ live as
beasts, when you have no higher expectations tbkn beasts :
When we are so blind as to give up all our hojres, we will
also give up all our care and holy diligence, and think we
have nothing to do with heaven. But if you hiBive any such
hopes, can you think that any thing is fitter for the chiefest
of your thoughts and cai*es, than the God tmd kingdoiti,
which you hope for ever to enjoy? Or is there any thii^
that can be more suitable, or should be mote delightful ti6
I
WALKING WITH GOD. 207
your thoughts^ than to einploy them about your highest
hopes, upon your endless happiness and joy? and should
not that be now the most noble and pleasant employment
for your minds, which is nearest to that which you hope to
be exercised in for ever? Undoubtedly he that hath true
and serious thoughts of heaven, will most highly value that
life on earth which is most like to the life in heaven : And
he that hateth, or is most averse to that which is nearest to
the work of heaven, does boast in vain of his hopes of
heaven*
By this time you may see (if you love not to be blind)
that man's chiefest business in the world is with his God,
and that our thoughts, and all our powers, are made to be
employed upon him, or for him ; and that this is no such
needless work as atheists make themselves believe.
Remember that it is the description of the desperately
wicked,. (Psal. x.iv,) that " God is not in all their thoughts."
And if yet you understand it not, I will a little further
ahew you the evil of such atheistical, unhallowed thoughts.
1. There is nothing but darkness in all thy thoughts, if
God be not in them. Thou knowest nothing, if thou
knowest not him ; and thou usest not thy knowledge, if
thon use it not on him. To know the creature as without
God, is to know nothing: no more than to know all the let-
ters in the book, and not to know their signification or
lense. All things i^ the world are but insignificant ciphers.
and of no other sense or use, if you separate them from
God, who is their sense and end. If you leave out God in
dl your studies, you do but dream and doat,and not under-
itand what you seem to understand. Though you were
taken for the most learned men in the world, and were able
to discourse of all the sciences, and your thoughts had no
lower employment daily than the most sublime speculations
which the nature of all the creatures doth afford, it is all
but folly and impertinent dotage, if it reach not unto God.
2. Yea, your thoughts ai*e erroneous and false, which is
more than barely ignorant, if God be not in them. You
We hlse thoughts of the world, of your houses and lands»
and friends and pleasures, and whatsoever is the daily em-
^ojment of. your minds. You take them to be something,
when they are nothing ; you are covetous of the empty
purse, and know not that you cast away the treasure : You
208 THE D1VIN£ L1F£.
are thirsty after the empty, cup, when you wilfully cast
away the drink. You hungrily seek to feed upon a punted
feast : You murder the creature by separating it from Qoi
who is its life, and then you are enamoured on the carcase;
and spend your days and thoughts in its cold embracemtots.
Your thoughts are but vagabonds, straggling abroad the
world, and following impertinencies, if Crod be not in them*
You are like men that walk up and down in their sleep, or
like those that have lost themselves in the dark, who weary
themselves in going they know not whither, and have no
end nor certain way.
3« If God be not in all your thoughts, they are all in
vain. They are like the drone that gathereth no honey :
They fly abroad and return home empty : They bring home
no matter of honour to God, or profit or comfort to your-*
selves: They cure employed to no more purpose than in
your dreams : only they are more capable of sin : like the
distracted thoughts of one that doteth in a fever, they are
all but nonsense, whatever you employ them on, while you
leave out God, who is the sense of all.
4. If God be not in all your thoughts, they are nothing
but confusion : There can be no just unity in them, because
they forsake him who is the only centre, and are scattered
abroad upon incoherent creatures. There can be no true
unity but in God : The further we go from him, the further
we run into divisions and confusions. There can be no
just method in them, because he is left out that is the be-
ginning and the end. They are not like a well-ordered
army, where every one is moved by the will of one com-
mander, and all know their colours and their ranks, and
unanimously agree to do their work : But like a swarm of
flies, that buzz about they know not whither, nor why, nor
for what. There is no true government in your thoughts,
if God be not in them ; they are masterless and vagrants,
and have no true order, if they be not ordered by him and
to him ; if he be not their first and last.
5. If God be not in all your thoughts, there is no life in
them : they are but like the motion of a bubble, or a feather
in the air : they are impotent as to the resisting of any evil,
and as to the doing of any saving good: they have no
strength in them, because they are laid out upon objects
that have no strength: they have no quickening, renewing.
^
WALKING WITH GOD. 409
reforming, encouraging, resolving^ confirming power in
thern^ because there is no such power in the things on
which they are employed : whereas the thoughts of God
and everlasting life, can do wonders upon the soul : they
can raise up men above this world, and teach them to de-
spise the worldling's idol, and look upon all the pleasures
of the flesh as upon a swine's delight in wallowing in the
mire. They can renew the soul, and cast out the most
powerful beloved sin, and bring all our powers into the obe-
dience of God, and that with pleasure and delight : they
'can employ us with the angels, in a heavenly conversation,
and shew us the glory of the world above, and advance
us above the life of the greatest princes upon earth : but
the thoughts of earthly, fleshly things have power indeed to
delude men, and mislead them, and hurry them about in a
vertiginous motion ; but no power to support us, or sub-
due concupiscence, or heal our folly, or save us from temp-
tations, or reduce us from our errors, or help us to be use-
ful in the world, or to attain felicity at last. There is no
life, nor power, nor efficacy in our thoughts^ if God be not
in th^m.
6. There is no stability or fixedness in our thoughts if
God be not in them* They are like a boat upon the ocean,
tossed up and down with winds and waves: the mutable
uncertain creatures can yield up rest or settlement to your
minds. Vou are troubled about many things ; and the
more you think on them, and have to do with them, the
more are you troubled : but you forget the one thing neces-
sary, and fly from the eternal rock, on which you must
kiild, if ever you will be established. While the creature
is in your thought instead of God, you will be one day de-
laded with its unwholesome pleasure, and the next day feel
it gripe you at the heart: one day it will seem your happi-
ness, and the next you will wish you had never known it :
that which seemeth the only comfort of your lives this year,
may the next year make you weary of your lives. One
day you are impatiently desiring and seeking it, as if you
eonld not live without it : and the next day, or ere long
.you are impatiently desiring to be rid of it. You are now
taking in your pleasant morsels, and drinking down your
ddicious draughts, and jovially sporting it with your incon-
vox. XJII. p
210 THE DIVINE LIFE.
siderate companionB; but how quickly will you be repent*
ing of all this, and complaining of your folly, and vexiog
yourselves, that you took not warning, and made not a
wiser choice in time? The creature was never made to be
our end, or rest, or happiness : and therefore you are but
like a man in a wilderness or maze, that may go and go, but
knoweth not whither, and findeth no end, till you come
home to God, who only is your proper end, and make him
the Lord, and life, and pleasure of your thoughts.
7. As there is no present fixedness in your thoughts, so
the business and pleasure of them will be of very short con-
tinuance, if God be not the chief in all. And who would
choose to employ his thoughts on such things as he is sure
they must soon forget, and never more have any business
with to all eternity ? You shall think of those houses, and
lands, and friends, and pleasures, but a little while, unless
it be with repenting, tormenting thoughts, in the place of
misery : you will have no delight to think of any thing,
which is now most precious to your flesh, when once the
flesh itself decays, and is no more capable of delight. ** His
breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth ; in that very
day his thoughts perish/' (Psal. cxlvi. 4.)
Call in your thoughts then from these transitory things,
that have no consistency or continuance, and turn them un-
to him with whom they may find everlasting employment
and delight : Remember not the enticing baits of sensuality
and pride, but " Remember now thy Creator in the days <rf
thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw
nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them."
8. Thy thoughts are but sordid, dishonourable and low,
if God be not the chiefest in them. They reach no higher
than the habitation of beasts ; nor do they attain to aivf
sweeter employment than to meditate on the felicity of »
brute. Thou choosest with the fly to feed on dung and
filthy ulcers, and as maggots to live on stinking carrioii^
when thou mightest have free access to God himself, and
mightest be entertained in the court of heaven, and wel-
comed thither by the holy angels. Thou wallowest in thft
mire with the swine, or diggest thyself a house in the earth,
as worms and moles do, when thy thoughts might be soaiv
ing up to God, and might be taken up with high and holy,
and everlasting things. What if your thoughts were em-
WAIKINO WITH GOD. 211
ployed for preferment, wealth, and honour in the world If
Alas i what silly things are these, in comparison of what
yoar souls are capable of! You will say so yourselves when
you see how they will end, and fail your expectations. Im-
prison not your minds in this infernal cell, when the supe-
rior regions are open to their access : confine them not to
this narrow vessel of the body, whose tossings and dangers
on these boisterous seas will make them restless, and dis-
quiet them with tumultuous passions, when they may safely
land in Paradise, and there converse with Christ. God
made you men, and if you reject not his grace, will make
your saints: make not yourselves like beasts or vermin.
God gave you souls that can step in a moment from earth
to heaven, and there foretaste the endless joys : do not
you stick then fast in clay, and fetter them with worldly
cares, or intoxicate them with fleshly pleasures, nor employ
them in the worse than childish toys of ambitions, sensual,
worldly men. Your thoughts have manna, angels' food,
provided them by God : if you will loathe this and refuse
it, and choose with the serpent to feed on the dust, or upon
the filth of sin, God shall be judge, and your consciences
one day ^hall be more faithful witnesses, whether you have
dealt like wise men or like fools ; like friends or enemies to
yourselves ; and whether yon have not chosen baseness, and
denied yourselves the advancement which was offered you.
9. If God be not the chiefest in your thoughts, they are
no better than dishonest and unjust. You are guilty of
denying him his own. He made not your minds for lust
and pleasure, but for himself: You expect that your cattle,
your goods.^ your servants, be employed for yourselves, be-
cause they are your own. But God may call your minds
ins own by a much fuller title : for you hold all but deriva-
tively and dependently firom him. What will you call it but
injustice and dishonesty, if your wife, or children, or ser-
nxxtB, OfT goods, be more at the use and service of others,
ttan of jTOti ? If any can shew a better title to your thoughts
ikan God doth, let him have them; but if not, deny him not
kii own. O straggle not so much from home ; for you will
be no where else so well as there. Desire not to follow
(tranfrerft, you know not whither, nor for what ; you have a
Master of yonr own/ that will be better to you than all the
•ttangem in the world. Bow not down to creatures, that
212 THE DIVINE LIFE.
are but images of the true and solid good : commit not ■'
idolatry or adultery with them in your thoughts : remember
still that God stands by : bethink you how he will take it
at your hands ; and how it will be judged of at last, when
he pleads his rights his kindness, and solicitations of you;
and you have so little to say for any pretence of right or
merit in the creature. Why are not men ashamed of the
greatest dishonesty against God, when all that have any
humility left them, do take adultery, theft, and other dis-
honesty against creatures, for a shame ? The time will come
when God and his interest shall be better understood, when
this dishonesty against him, will be the matter of the most
confounding shame, that ever did or could befal men. Pre-
vent this by the juster exercise of your thT)ughts, and keep-
ing them pure and chaste to God.
10. If God be not in your thoughts (and the chiefest in
them) there will be no matter in them of solid comfort or
content. Trouble and deceit will be all their work : when
they have fled about the earth, and taken a taste of every
flower, they will come loaden home with nothing better
than vanity and vexation. Such thoughts may excite the
laughter of a fool, and cause that mirth that is called mad-
ness ; (Eccles. vii. 4. 6 ; ii. 2 ;) but they will never conduce
to settled peace, and durable content : and therefore they
are always repented of themselves, and are troublesome to
our review, as being the shame of the sinner, which he
would fain be cleared of, or disown. Though you may ap-
proach the creature with passionate fondness and the most
delightful promises and hopes, be sure of it, you will come
ofi* at last with grief and disappointment, if not with the
loathing of that which you chose for your delight. Your
thoughts are in a wilderness among thorns and briars, when
God is not in them as their guide and end : they are lost and
torn among the creatures; but rest and satisfaction they
will find none. It may be at the present it is pleasanter to
you to think of recreation, or business, or worldly wealth,
than to think of God ; but the pleasure of these thoughts is as
delusory, and short-lived, as are the things themselves on
which you think. How long will you think with pleasure
on such fading transitory things ? And the pleasure cannot
be greater at the present, which reacheth but the flesh and
fantasy, and which the po»aeaaed\LTio\NeX\iv^\\\\i^ h\xt short.
WALKING WITH GOD. 213
Nay, you will shortly find by sad experience, that of all the
creatures under heaven, there will none be so bitter to your
thoughts, as those which you now find greatest carnal
sweetness in, O how bitter will thfe thought of idolized
honour, and abused wealth and greatness be, to a dying or a
damned Dives! The thoughts of that alehouse or playhouse
where tliou hadst thy greatest pleasure, will trouble thee
more than the thoughts of all the houses in the town be-
sides ! The thoughts of that one woman with whom thou
didst commit thy pleasant sin, will wound and vex thee
more than the thoughts of all the women in the town be^
sides ! The thoughts of that beloved sport which thou
couldst not be weaned from, will be more troublesome to
thee than the thoughts of a thousand other things in which
thou hadst no inordinate delight ! For the end of sinful
mirth is sorrow. When Solomon had tried to please himself
to the full, in mirth, in buildings, vineyards, woods, waters,
in servants, and possessions, silver, and gold, and cattle,
and singers, and instruments of music of all sorts, in great-
ness^ and all that the eye or appetite or heart desired ; he
findeth when he awaked from this pleasant dream, that he
hiad all this while been taken up with vanity and vexation,
in so much that he saith on the review, " Therefore I hated
life, because the work that is wrought under the sun, is
grievous to me, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit: Yea,
I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun/'
(Eccles. ii. 1 — 3, &c. ; xvii. 18.) You may toil out and tire
yourselves among these briars, in this barren wilderness ;
but if ever you would feel any solid ground of quietness
and rest, it must be by coming off from vanity, and seeking
your felicity in God, and living sincerely for him and upon
him^ as. the worldling doth upon the world. His pardoning
Biercy must begin your peace, forgiving you your former
thoughts ; and his healing, quickening mercy must increase
it, by teaching you better to employ your thoughts, and
drawing up your hearts unto himself; and his glorifying
mercy must perfect it, by giving you the full intuition and
fruition of himsielf in heaven, and employing you in his per-
fect love and praise, not leaving any room for creatures,
nor suflfering a thought to be employed on vanity for ever.
214 THE DIVINE LIF£»
CHAP, IV.
By this time I hope you may ($ee reason to call yoiineWes
to a strict account, what converse you liave been taken up
with in the world, and upon what you hare exercised yonr
thoughts. Surely you must needs be conscious, that the
thoughts which have been denied God, have brought you
home but little satisfaction, and have not answered the
ends of your creation, redemption or preservation ! and that
they are now much fitter matter for your penitential tears,
than your comfort, in the review ! I do not think yoa dare
own, and stand to those thoughts which have been spent
for fleshly pleasures, or in unnecessary worldly cares, or
that were wasted in impertinent vagaries upon any thing,
or nothing, when you should have been seeking God ! I do
not think you have now any great pleasure, in the review of
those thoughts, which once were taken up with pleasure,
when your most pleasant thoughts should have been of
God. Dare you approve of your rejecting your Creator,
and the great concernments of your soul, out of yow
thoughts, and wasting them upon things unprofitable and
vain ? Did not God and heaven deserve more of your seri-
ous thoughts than any thing else that ever they were em-
ployed on ? Have you laid them out on any thing that more
concerned you? Or on any thing more excellent, more
honourable^ more durable, or that could claim precedency
upon any just account? Did you not shut heaven itself out
of your thoughts, when you shut out God ? And is it not
just that God and heaven should shut out you? If heaven
be not the principal matter of your thoughts, it is plain that
you do not principally love it : and if so, judge you whether
those that love it not are fit to be made possessors of it.
O poor distracted senseless world ! Is not God great
enough to command and take up your chiefest thoughts?
Is not heaven enough to find them work, and afford them
satisfaction and delight? And y.et is the dung and dotage
of the world enough ? Is your honour, and wealth, and
fleshly delights, and sports enough ? God will shortly make
you know, whether this were wise and equal dealing! Is
God so low, so little, so undeserving, to be so oft and
easily forgotten, and so hardly, and so slightly remem-
bered ? I tell you, ere long ^e viVW xaaJR.^ ^jckxsi l\\vnk of
WALKING WITH OOD. 216
him to your sorrow, whether you will or no, if grace do not
now set open your hearts, and procure him better enter-
tainment*
But perhaps you will think that you walk with God, be-
cause you think of him sometimes ineffectually, and as on
the by. But is he esteemed as your Go4> if he have not
the command, and if he have not the precedency of his crea-
tares? Can you dream that indeed you walk with God,
when your hearts were never grieved for offending him, nor
never much solicitous how to be reconciled to him ; nor
much inquisitive whether your state or way be pleasing or
displeasing to him? When all the business of an unspeak-
able importance, which you have to do with God, before
you pass to judgment, is forgotten and undone, as if you
knew not of any such work that you had to do ! When you
make no serious preparation for death, when you call not
upon God in secret, or in your families, unless with a little
heartless lip labour ; and when you love not the spirituality
of his worship, but only delude your souls with the mockage
of hypocritical outside compliment. Do you walk with God
wbUe you are plotting for preferment, and gaping after
worldly greatness ; while you are gratifying all the desires of
your flesh, and making provision for Uie future satisfaction
of its lusts ? (Rom. xiii. 13.) Are you walking with God
when you are hating him in his holiness, his justice, his
word and ways, and hating all that seriously love and seek
him ; when you are doing your worst to dispatch the work
of your damnation, and put your salvation past all hope,
aad draw as many to hell with you as you can ? If this be
a walking with God, you may take further comfort that you
shall also dwell with God, according to the sense of such
a walk: you shall dwell with him as a devouring fire, and as
just, whom you thus walked with in the contempt of his
nercies, and the provocation of his justice.
I tell you, if you walked with God indeed, his authority
voold rule you, his greattiess would much take up your
Hinds, and leave less room for little things ; you would
trust his promises, and fear his threatenin^gs, and be awed
by his presence, and the idols of your hearts would fall
before him : he would overpower your lusts, and call you off
from your ambitious and covetous designs, and ob^cwt^ ^
the cfesLtare*s glory. Believing, serious, effecluaX \\vow^\.%
216 THE DIVINE LIFE*
of God, are very much different from the common, doubtful,
dreaming, ineffectual thoughts of the ungodly world.
Object, But (perhaps some will say), * This seemeth to
be the work of preachers, and not of every Christian to be
always meditating of God : poor people must think of oAer
matters : they have their business to do, and their families
to provide for : and ignorant people are weak-headed, and
are not able either to manage or endure a contemplative life:
So much thinking of God will make them melancholy and
mad, as experience tells us it hath done by many : and
therefore this is no exercise for them.*
To this I answer, 1. Every Christian hath a God to serve,
and a soul to save, and a Christ to belii&ve in and obey,
and an endless happiness to secure and enjoy, as well as
preachers. Pastors must study to instruct their flock, and
to save themselves, and those that hear them. The people
must study to understand and receive the mercy offered them,
and to make their calling and election sure. It is not said
of pastors only, but of every blessed man, that "his delight
is in the law of the Lord, and therein doth he meditate day
and night." (Psal. i. 2.) 2. And the due meditation of the
soul upon God, is so far from taking you off from your ne-
cessary business in the world, that it is the only way to year
orderly and successful management of it. 3. And it is not
a distracting thoughtfulness that I persuade you to, or which
is included in a Christian's walk with God ; but it is a di-
recting, quickening, exalting, comforting course of medita-
tion. Many a hundred have grown melancholy and mad
with careful, discontented thoughts of the world ; it doth
not follow therefore that no man must think of the world at
all, for fear of being mad or melancholy ; but only that they
should think of it more regularly, and correct the error of
their thoughts and passions. So is it about God and hea^
venly things. Our thoughts are to be well ordered, and the
error of them cured, and not the use of them forborne.
Atheism and impiety, and forgetting God, are unhappy
means to prevent melancholy. There are wiser means for
avoiding madness, than by renouncing all our reason, and
living by sense, like the beasts that perish, and forgetting
that we have an everlasting life to live.
But yet because I am sensible that some do here mistake
on the other hand, and! wo\Ad nall^^d^ovsi mto any ex-
WALKING WITH GOD. 217
treme, I shall fully remove the scruple contained in this ob-
jection, by shewing you in the following propositions, in
what sense, and how far your thoughts must be taken up
with God (supposing what was said in the beginning, where
I described to you the duty of walking with God).
Prop, 1. When we tell you that your thoughts must be
on God, it is not a course of idle musing, or mere thinking,
that we call you to, but it is a necessary practical thinking
of that which you have to do, and of him that you must
love, obey and enjoy. You will not forget your parents, or
husband, or wife, or friend ; and yet you will not spend your
time in sitting still and thinking of them, with a musing un-
profitable thoughtfulness : But you will have such thoughts
of them, and so many as are necessary to the ends, even to
die love and service which you owe them, and to the delight
that your hearts should have in the fruition of them. You
cannot love, or obey, or take pleasure in those that you will
not think of: You will follow your trades, or your master's
service but unhappily, if you will not think on them. Think-
ing is not the work that we must take up with : it is but a
subservient, instrumental duty, to promote some greater,
higher duty : therefore we must think of God, that we may
love him, and do his service, and trust him, and fear, and
hope in him, and make him our delight. And all this is it
that we call you to, when we are persuading you to think on
God.
2. An hypocrite, or a wicked enemy of God, may think
of him speculatively, and perhaps be more frequent in such
thoughts than many practical believers. A learned man
may study about God, as he doth about other matters, and
Dames, and notions ; and propositions and decisions con-
cerning God, may be a principal part of his learning. A
preacher may study about God, and the matters of God, as
a physician or a lawyer does about matters of their own
profession, either for the pleasure which knowledge, as know-
ledge, brings to human nature, or for the credit of being
esteemed wise and learned, or because their gain and main-
tenance comes in this way. They that fill many volumes
with controversies concerning God, and fill the church with
contentions and troubles by them, and their own heart with
malice and uncharitableness against those that ate wot ol
their opinwhs, have many and many a thought ot Go^, vAvvOsv
218 TH£ DIVINE LIFE.
yet will do nothing^ to the Baviiig of thmr sqibIs, no nuNre than
they do to the iaactifying of them. And such learned buhi
may think more orthodoxly and methodically conoeming
God, than many an honest, serious Christian, who yet thiidu
of him more effectually and savingl]^ : even as they can dis^
course more orderly and copiously of God, when yet they
have no saving knowledge of him.
3. Ail men must not bestow so much time in meditation
as some must do : [t is the calling of ministers to study so
as to furnish their minds with all those truths concerning
Gody which are needful to the edification of the church ;
and BO to meditate on these things as to give themselves
wholly to them. (1 Tim. iv* 16, 16.) It is both the work of
their common and their special calling. The study neces*
sary to Christians as such, belongeth as well to others as to
them: but other men have another special or particular
calling, which also they must think of, so far as the nature
and ends of their daily labours do require. It is a hurtful
error to imagine that men must either lay by their callings
to meditate on God, or that they must do them negligently,
or to be taken up in the midst of their employments with
such studies of God as ministers are, that are separated to
that work.
4. No man is bound to be continually taken up with ac-
tual, distinct thoughts of God : for in duty we have many
other things to think on, which must have their time : and
as we have callings to follow, and must eat our bread in the
sweat of our brows, so we must manage them with prudence :
** A good man will guide his affairs with discretion." (Psal.
exii. 5.) It is both necessary as a duty, and necessary as a
means to the preservation of our very faculties, that both
body and mind have their times of employment about our
lawful business in the world : The understandings of many
cannot bear it, to be always employed on the greatest and
most serious things : Like lutestrings they will break, if
they be raised too high, and be not let down and relaxed,
when the lesson is played. To think of nothing else but
God, is to break the law of God, and to confound the mind,
and to disable it to think aright of God, or any thing. As
he that bid us pray continually, did not mean that we should
do nothing else, or that actual prayer should have no inter-
ruptions, but that habitual desires should on all meet occa-
WALKING WITH OOD. 319
nenft im actuated and expressed ; so be that would be cbief
in all their tbongbta^ did never mean that we should have no
thoughts of any thing else, or that onr serious meditation on
him should be continual without interruption ; but that the
fiaal intending of God, and our dependence on him, should
be so constant as to be the spring or mover of the rest of the
thoughts and actions of our lives*
6. An habitual^ intending Ood as our end» and depend-
ing on his support, and subjection to bis govemment» will
Qurry on the soul in a sincere and constant course of godli-
oess, though the actual most observed thoughts of the soul,
be fewer in number about God, than about the means that
lead unto him, and the occurrences in our way* The soul of
man is very active and comprehensive, and can think of se-
veral things at once ; and when it is once dear and resolved
in any case, it can act according to that knowledge and re-
solution, without any present sensible thought; nay while
its actual, most observed thoughts, are upon something else,
A musician that hath an habitual skill, can keep time and
tune while he is thinking of some other matter, A weaver
can cast his shuttle right, and work truly, while be is think-»
ing or talking of other things. A man can eat and drink
with discretion, while he talks of other things* Some men
can dictate to two or three scribes at once, upon divers sub-
jects. A traveller can keep on bis way, though he seldom
think distinctly of his journey's end, but be thinking or dis-
coursing most of the way, upon other matters : for before
he undertook his journey he thought both of the end and
way, and resolved then which way to go, and that he would
go through all both fair and foul, and not turn back till be
saw the place. And this habitual understanding and reso-
hition, may be secretly and unobservedly active, so as to
keep a man from erring, and from turning back, though at
the same time the traveller's most sensible thoughts and his
discourse may be upon something else. When a man is
OQce resolved of his end, and hath laid his design, he is past
deliberating of that, and therefore hath less use of his
thoughts about it ; but is readier to lay them out upon the
means^ which may be still uncertain, or may require his fre-
quent deliberation. We have usually more thoughts and
speeches by the way, about our company, or our horses, or
220 THE DIVIN£ LIFU.
inns^ or other accommodations, or the fairness, or foukiess
of the way, or other such occurrences, than we have about
the place we are going to : and yet this secret intention of
our end, will bring us thither. So when a soul hath cast up
his accounts, and hath renounced a worldly, sensual felicity,
and hath fixed his hopes and resolution upon heaven, and is
resolved to cast himself upon Christ, and take God for bis
only portion, this secret, habitual resolution will do much
to keep him constant in the way, though, his thoughts
and talk be frequently on other things : yea, when we are
thinking of the creature, and feel no actual thoughts of God,
it is yet God more than the creature that we think of : for
we did beforehand look on the creature as God's work, re-
presenting him unto the world, and as his talents, which we
must employ for him, and as every creature is related to him:
And this estimation of the creature is still habitually (and
in some secret less-perceived act) most prevalent in the souL
Though I am not always sensibly thinking of the king, when
I use his coin, or obey his laws, &c. yet it is only as his coin
still that I use it, and as his laws that I obey them. Weak
habits cannot do their work without great carefulness of
thoughts; but perfect habits will act a man with little
thoughtfulness, as coming near the natural way of operation.
And indeed the imperfection of our habitual godliness doth
make our serious thoughts, and vigilancy, and industry to be
the more necessary to us.
6. There are some thoughts of God that are necessary to
the very being of a holy state ; as that God be so much in
our thoughts^; as to be preferred before all things else, and
principally beloved and obeyed ; and to the end of our lives^
and the bias of our wills. And there are some thoughts of
God that are necessary only to the acting and increase of
grace.
7. So great is the weakness of our habits, so many and
great are the temptations to be overcome, so many difficul-
ties are in our way, and the occasions so various for the ex-
ercise of each grace, that it behoveth a Christian to exercise
as much thoughtfulness about his end and work, as hath any
tendency to promote his work, and to attain his end ; but
such a thoughtfulness as hindereth us in our work, by stop-
ping, or distracting, or diverting us, is no way pleasing unto
WALKING WITH GOD. 221
God. So excellent is our end, that we can never encourage
find delight the mind too much in the forethoughts of it. So
sluggish are our hearts, and so loose and unconstant are our
apprehensions and resolutions, that we have need to be most
frequently quickening them, and lifting at them, and renew-
ing our desires> and suppressing the contrary desires, by the
serious thoughts of God and immortality. Our thoughts
are the bellows that must kindle the flames of love, desire,
hope and zeal. Our thoughts are the spur that must put on
a slugglish, tired heart. And so far as they conduce to any
such works and ends as these, they are desirable and good.
But what master loveth to see his servant sit down and think
when he should be at work? Or to use his thoughts only to
grieve and vex himself for his faults, but not to mend them.
To sit down lamenting that he is so bad and unprofitable a
servant, when he should be up and doing his master's busi-
ness as well as he is able? Such thoughts as hinder us from
duty, or discourage, or unfit us for it, are real sins, however
they may go under a better name.
8. The godly themselves are very much wanting in the
holiness of their thoughts, and the liveliness of their aflec-
tions. Sense leadeth away the thoughts too easily after
these present sensible things ; while faith being infirm, the
thoughts of God and heaven are much disadvantaged by
their invisibility. Many a gracious soul cryeth out, O that
I could think as easily, and as affectionately, and as un-
weariedly about the Lord, and the life to come, as I can do
about my friends, my health, my habitation, my business,
and other concernments of this life ! Bat, alas, such thoughts
of God and heaven, have far more enemies and resistance,
than the thoughts of earthly matters have.
9. It is not distracting, vexatious thoughts of God, that
the Holy Scriptures call us to; but it is to such thoughts as
tend to the healing, and peace, and felicity of the soul ; and
therefore it is not a melancholy, but a joyful life. If God be
better tl^an the world, it must needs be better to think of
him. If he be more beloved than any friend, the thoughts
of him should be sweeter to us. If he be the everlasting
hope and happiness of the soul, it should be a foretaste of
happiness to find him nearest to our hearts. The nature and
use of holy thoughts, and of all religion^ is but to ^x^\. ^sA
222 THE DIVINE LIFB.
sanctify and delight the soul, and bring it up to ererladting
rest: And ie this the way to melancholy or madneis? Or is it
not more likely to make men melancholy, to think of nothing
but a vain, deceitful and vexatious world, that hath much to
disquiet us, but nothing to satisfy us, and can give the soul
no hopes of any durable delight ?
10. Yet as God is not equally related unto all, so is he
not the same to all men's thoughts. If a wicked enemy of
God and godliness, be forced and frightened into some
thoughts of God, you cannot expect that they should be as
sweet and comfortable thoughts, as those of his most obe-
dient children are. While a man is under the guilt and
power of his reigning sin, and under the wrath and curse of
God, unpardoned, unjustified, a child of the devil, it is not
this man's duty to think of God, as if he were fully recon-
ciled to him, and took pleasure in him as in his own. Nor
is it any wonder if such a man think of God with fear, and
think of his sin with grief and shame* Nor is it any wonder
the justified themselves do think of God with fear and grief,
when they have provoked him by some sinful and unkind
behaviour, or are cast into doubts of their sincerity and in-
terest in Christ, and when he hides his face or assaulteth
them >^ith his terrors. To doubt whether a man shall live
for ever in heaven or hell, may rationally trouble the thoughts
of the wisest man in the world ; and it were but sottishness
not to be troubled at it : David himself could say, '' In the
day of my trouble I sought the Lord : my sore ran in the
night and ceased not : my soul refused to be comforted : I
remembered God and was troubled : I complained and my
spirit was overwhelmed : thou boldest mine eyes waking: I
am so troubled that I cannot speak.*-' — Will the Lord cast
off for ever? " (Psal. Ixxvii. 2—6. 7.)
Yet all the sorrowful thoughts of God, which are the
duty either of the godly or the wicked^ are but necessary
preparatives of their joy. It is not to melancholy^ distract
tion or despair, that God calleth any, even the worst : but
it is that the wicked would " Seek the Lord while he may be
found, and call upon him while he is near ; that he would
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and
return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and
to our God^ and be will abundantly pardon." (Ido. Iv. 6, 7.)
WALKING WITH GOB. 223
Despair is ftin ; and the thoughts that tend to it are ainfnl
thoughts^ even in the wicked. If worldly crosseSi or the
sense of danger to the soul had cast any into melancholy,
or overwhelmed them with fears, you can name nothing in
tbe world that in reason should be so powerful a remedy to
recover them, as the thoughts of God^ his goodness, and
mercy, and readiness to receive and pardon those that turn
unto him, his covenant, and promises, and grace, through
Christ, and the everlasting happiness which all may have
thai will accept and seek it in the time of grace, and prefer
it before the deceitful transitory pleasures of the world. If
the thoughts of God, and of the heavenly, everlasting joys
will not comfort the soul, and cure a sad, despairing mind,
I know not what can rationally do it. Though yet it is true,
that a presumptuous sinner must needs be in a trembling
state, till he find himself at peace with God : and mistaken
Christians, that are cast into causeless doubts and fears, by
tbe malice of Satan, are unlikely to walk comfortably with
Grod, till they are resolved and recovered from their mis^
takes and fears.
CHAP. V.
Object. But it may be the objector will be ready to think,
that 'If it be indeed our duty to walk with God, yet
thoughts are no considerable part of it. What more uncer-
tain or mutable than our thoughts ? It is deeds and not
thoughts that God regardeth. To do no harm to any, but to
do good to all, this is indeed to walk with God. You set a
man upon a troublesome and impossible work, while you set
him Qpon so strict a guard, and so much exercise of his
thoughts. What cares the Almighty for my thoughts?'
Answ* 1 . If God knows better than you, and be to be
believed, then thoughts are not so inconsiderable as you
sappose* Doth he not say, that '' the thoughts of the wicked
are an abomination to the Lord 1** (Prov. xv. 26.) It is the
work of theGospel by its power, to ** pull down strong holds,
casting down imaginations, and ev^y high thing that exalt*
eth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ/' (2 Cor.
X. 4, 6.) The unrighteous man's forsaking his thoughts, is
part of Ids necessary conversion. (Isa. Iv; 7.) It was the
description of the deplorate state of the oW world, '' God
2j24 THE DIVINE LIFE.
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, was
only evil continually ; and it repented the Lord that he had
made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart."
(Gen. vi. 5.) Judge by this, whether thoughts be so little
regarded by God, as you imagine. David saith of himself,
I hate vain thoughts." (Psal. cxix. 113.) Solomon saith,
The thoughts of the righteous are right.'* (Prov. xii. 6.)
Paul saith that, " Charity thinketh not evil." (1 Cor. xiii. 6.)
2. Thoughts are the issue of a rational soul. And if its
operations be contemptible, its essence is contemptible : If
its essence be noble, its operations are considerable. If the
soul be more excellent than the body, its operations must be
more excellent. To neglect our dioughts and not employ
them upon God, and for God, is to vilifie our noblest facul-
ties, and deny God, who is a Spirit, that spiritual service
which he requireth.
3. Our thoughts are commonly our most cordial, volun-
tary acts, and shew the temper and inclination of the heart:
and therefore are regardable to God that searcheth the heart,
and calleth first for the service of the heart.
4. Our thoughts are radical and instrumental acts : such
as they are, such are the actions of our lives. Christ telleth
us that '* out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies,
which defile the man." (Matt. xv. 19, 20.)
5. Our thoughts are under a law, as well as words and
deeds. " The thought of foolishness is sin." (Prov. xxiv. 9.)
And Matt. v. 28, Sec. Christ extendeth the law even to the
thoughts and desires of the heart. And under t]he law it is
said, '* Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked
heart," Sec, (Deut. xv. 9,) viz. of unmercifulness towards thy
brother.
6. Thoughts can reach higher much than sense, and may
be employed upon the most excellent and invisible objects;
and therefore are fit instruments to elevate the soul that
would converse with God. Though God be in&ffitely above
us, our thoughts may be excercised on him: Our persons
never were in heaven, and yet our conversation must be in
heaven. (Phil. iii. 20.) And how is that but by our thoughts ?
Though we see not Christ, yet by the the exercise of believing
thoughts on him, we \oveYKvi!\,axid t^^Q\eAY(vth j^oy unspeak-
WALKING WITH GOD. 225
able and full of glory. Though God be invisible, yet our
*f meditations of him may be sweet, and we may delight in
the Lord.'' (Psal. civ. 34.) Say not that all this is but fan-
tastical and delusory, as long as thoughts of things unseen
are fitter to actuate and elevate the love, desires and delights
t)f the soul, and to move and guide us in a regular and holy
life, than the sense of lesser present good. The thoughts
are not vain or delusory, unless the object of them be false
and vain, and delusory. Where the object is great, and sure ,
and excellent, the thoughts of such things are excellent
operations of the soul. If the thoughts of vain-glory,
wealth and pleasure, can delight the ambitious, covetous
and sensual \ no wonder if the thoughts of God and life
eternal, afford us solid, high delights.
7« The thoughts are not so liable to be counterfeit and
l)ypocritical as are the words and outward deeds : and
therefore they shew more what the man is, and what is in his
heart. For as Solomon saith, '* As he thinketh in his heart,
«o is he." (Prov. xxiii. 7.)
B. Our thoughts may exercise the highest graces of God
in man ; and also shew those graces, as being their effects.
flow is our faith, and love, and desire, and trust, and joy,
aad hope to be exercised but by our thoughts ? If grace
ivsere not necessary and excellent, it would not be wrought
by the Spirit of God, and called the Divine Nature, and the
Image of Grod. And if grace be excellent, the use and ex-
er4;ise of it is excellent : and therefore our thoughts by which
it is exercised must needs have their excellency too.
9L Our thoughts must be the instruments of our im-
proving all holy truth in Scripture, and all the mercies which
we receive, and all the afflictions which we undergo. What
good will reading a chapter in the Bible do to any one that
never thinketh on it? " Our delight in the law of God,''
must engs^e us to '' meditate in it day and night." (Psal. i.
2.) What good shall he get by hearing a sermon that exer-
ciseth not his thoughts for the receiving and digesting it ?
Our considering what is said, is the way in which we may
expect .that God should give us " understanding in all
things." (2 Tim. iu 7.) What the better will he be for any
of the merciful providences of God, who never bethinks him
inrheneethey come, or what is the use and end that the^ %.\^
VOI<. XIIJ. Q
S36 THE DIVINK LIFE.
given for ? What good will he get by any afflictionfty that
never bethinks him, who it is that chastiseth him, and for
what, and how he must get them removed, and sanctified to
his good. A man is but like one of the pillars in the ohurch>
or like the corpse which he treadeth on, or at best but like
the dog that foUoweth him thither for company, if he use
not his thoughts about the work which he hath in hand, and
cannot say, as Psal. xlviii. 9, ** We have thought of thy
loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.'' He
that biddeth you hear, doth also bid you ^* Take heed how
you hear." (Luke viii. 18.) And you are commanded to
^' lay up the word in your heart and soul."(Deut«xi. 18,19.)
And to set your hearts to all the words which are testified
among you: for it is not a vain thing for you, because it is
your life.
10. Our thoughts are so considerable a paxt of God's
service, that they are oft put for the whole. ** A book of
remembrance was written for them that feared the Lord,
and that thought upon his name." (Mai. iii. 16.) Our be-
lieving and loving God, and trusting in him, and desiring
him and his grace, are the principal parts of his service,
which are exercised immediately by our thoughts : and in
praise and prayer it is this inward part that is the soul and
lifci of all. He is a foolish hypocrite that thinks ^* to be
heard for his much speaking.*' (Matt. vi. 7.)
And on the contrary, the thoughts are named as the
sum of all iniquity. " Their thoughts are thoughts of ini-
quity." (Isa. Ixix. 7.) •* I have spread out my hands all the
day long unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way
that was not good, after their own thoughts.*' (Isa, Ixv. 2.)
'^0 Jerusalem, wash thy heart from .wickedness that thou
mayest be saved : how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge
within thee ! (Jer. iv. 14.) '* The fool hath said in his heart
there is no God." (Psal. xiv. 1.)
11. A man's thoughts are the appointed orderly way for
the conversion of a sinner, and the preventing of his sin and
misery. David saith, *' I thought on my ways, and turned
my feet unto thy testimonies." (Psal. cxix. 69.) The pro-
digal '' came to himself," and returned to his father, by the
success of his own consideration. (Luke xv. 17, 18.) "Thus
saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways," (Hag. i. 6,)
WALKING WITH GOD. 227
IS a voice thai every sinner should hear. *' It is he that
eotisideretb and doth not according to his father's sins^ that
shall not die." (Ezek. xviii. 14.) Therefore it is Ood's
desire, *' 0 that they were wise and understood this, and
thai they would consider their latter end." (Deut. xxxii. 29.)
It is either men's inoonsiderateness, or the error of their
thoughts, that is the cause of all their wickedness. " My
people doth not consider." (Isa. i. 3.) Paul " verily thought
that he ought to do many things against the name of Jesus."
(Acts xxvi. 90 Many " deceive themselves by thinking
ihemseltes something when they are liothing." (Gal. vi. 3.)
*' They think it strange that we run not with them to excess
of riot:*' and therefore *' they speak evil of us.*' (1 Pet. iv.
4^ ' Disobedient formalists ''consider not that they do
evil/' when they think that they are offering acceptable
sacrifices to God. (Eccles. v. 1, 2.) The very murder of
God's holy ones hath proceeded from these erroneous
thoughts ; '' They that kill you shall think they do God ser-
vice.*^ (John xvi. 2.) All the ambition, and covetousness,
and injustice and cruelty following thereupon, which trou-
bleth the world, and ruinet^ men's souls, is from their
etroneons thoughts, overvi^nlg these deceitful things.
" Their inward thought is that their bouses shall continue
for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations." (Psal.
xlix. 11.) The presumptuovra and impenitent are surprised
by destruction, for want of thinking of it to prevent it : '' In
such an hour as you think not, the Son of man cometh."
12. Lastly, The thoughts are the most constant actions
of a man, and therefore most of the man is in them. We
are not always reading, or hearings or praying, or working :
bat we are always thinking. And therefore it doth espe-
eially concern us to see that this constant breath of the
soul be sweet, and that this constant stream be pure and
Fun IB the right channel. Well therefore did David make
lhi» his request ; ** Search me, O God, and know my heart :
fry naey and know my thoughts ; and see if there be any
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.'^
(Psal. cxxxix. 23, 24.) I say therefore to those that insist
OH' this irrational objection, that these very thoughts of
theirs, concerning the inconsiderableness of thoughts, are
80 foofisfa and ungodly, that when they und^T^latidL \Xv^ ^VA
even of these, tbey will know that thoughts weie TCiCk\«i X.^
228 THE DIVINE LIFE.
be regarded. " If therefore thou hast done foolishly in
lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thy
hand upon thy mouth."
And though after all this, I still confess that it is so ex-
ceeding hard a matter to keep the thoughts in holy exercise
and order, that even the best do daily and hourly sin, in
the omissions, the disorder or vanity of their thoughts; yet
for all that, we must needs conclude that the inclination
and design of our thoughts must be principally for God,
and that the thoughts are principal instruments of the soul,
in acting it in his service, and moving it towards him, and
in all this holy work of our walking with God : and there-
fore to imagine that thoughts are inconsiderable and of lit-
tle use, is to unman us, and unchristen us. The labour of
the mind is necessary for the attaining the felicity of the
mind ; as the labour of the body is necessary for the things
that belong unto the body. As bodily idleness bringeth
unto beggary, when the diligent hand makes rich ; so the
idleness of the soul doth impoverish the soul, when the la-
borious Christian liveth plentifully and comfortably through
the blessing of God upon his industry and labour. You
cannot expect that God should appear to you in a bodily
shape, that you may have immediate converse with him in
the body. The corporal eating of him in transubstantiated
bread, supposed common to men, and mice, or dogs, we
leave to Papists, who have made themselves a singular
new religion, in despite of the common sense and reason of
mankind, as well as of the Scriptures and the judgment of
the church. It is in the Spirit that thou must converse with
God who is a Spirit. The mind seeth him by faith, who is
invisible to the bodily eyes. Nay, if you will have a true and
saving knowledge or God, you must not liken him to any
thing that is visible, nor have any corporal conceivings of
him. Earthly things may be the glass in which we may be-
hold him, while we are here in the flesh ; but our conceiv-
ings of him must be spiritual, and minds that are immersed
in flesh and earth, are unmeet to hold communion with
him. The natural man knoweth him not, and the " carnal
mind is enmity to him, and they that are in the flesh cannot
please him.*' (Rom. viii.) It is the pure, abstracted, ele-
vated soul, that understandeth by experience what it is to
walk with God. \
WALKING WITH GOD. 2^9
CHAP. VI.
§ 1. Having in the foregoing uses^ reproved the atheism and
contempt of Qod, which ungodly men are continually guilty
of, and endeavoured to convince them of the necessity and
desirableness of walking with God, and in particular of im-
proving our thoughts for holy converse with him, and an-
swered the objections of the impious and atheists ; I shall
next endeavour to cure the remnants of this disease in those
that are sincerely holy, who live too strangely to God their
Father in the world. In the performance of this, I shall
first shew you what are the benefits of this holy life, which
should make it appear desirable and delightful. 2. I shall
shew you why believers should addict themselves to it as
doubly obliged, and that their neglect of it is a sin attended
with special aggravations. This is the remainder of my task.
§ 2. I. To walk with God in a holy and heavenly con-
versation, is the employment most suitable to human nature,
not to its corrupt disposition, nor to the carnal interest and
appetite ; but to nature as nature, to man as man* It is the
very work that he was made for: the faculties and frame of
the soul and body were composed for it by the wise Crea-
tor: they are restored for it by the gracious Redeemer. _
Though in corrupted nature, where sensuality is predomi-
nant, there is an estrangedness from God, and an enmity
and hatred of him, so that the wicked are more averse to all
serious, holy converse with him (in prayer, contemplation,
and a heavenly life) than they are to a worldly sinful life ;
yet all this is but the disease of nature, corrupting its appe-
tite, andjburning it against that proper food, which is most
suitable to its sound desires, and necessary to its health
and happiness. Though sinful habits are become as it
were a second nature to the ungodly, so depraving their
judgments and desires, that they verily think the business
and pleasures of the flesh are most suitable to them ; yet
these are as contrary to nature as nature, that is, to the
primitive tendencies of all our faculties, ^nd the proper use
to which they were fitted by our Creator, and to that true
felicity which is the end of all our parts and powers, even
as madness is contrary to the rational nature, though it
were hereditary.
!• What can be more agreeable to the nature of man^
2^0 THE DIVINfi LIFE.
than to be rational and wise, and to live in the purest exer-
cise of reason ? And certainly there is nothing more rational
than that we should live to Qod^ and gladly ac^epl of all
that communion with him whicli our n^tuir^s on ef^|h are
capable of. Nothing can be more reasonal^le thfiQ fertile
reasonable soul to be entirely addicted to him tbf^t did
create it, that doth preserve it> and by whom it doth subsipt
and act. Nothing is more reasonable than that thei abso-
lute-Lord of nature be honoured and served wholly by his
own. Nothing is more reasonable than that the reasonable
creature do live in the truest dependance upon, and subor-
dination to the highest reason ; and that derived, imperfect,
defectible wisdoni, be subservient to> and guided by the
primitive, perfect, indefectible wisdom. It is most reason-
able that the children depend upon the Father, and the
foolish be ruled by the most wise, and that the subjects be
governed by the universal King ; and that they bpnour him
and obey him, and that the indigent apply themselves to
him that is allsufficient, and is most able and ready to sup-
ply their wants ; and that the impotent rest upon hi^pa tW
is Omnipotent.
2. Nothing can be more reasonable, than that the reason-
able nature should intend its end, and seek after its true and
chief felicity : and that it should love good as good, and
therefore prefer the chiefest good before that which is tran-
sitory and insufficient. Reason commandeth the reasonable
creature to avoid its own delusion and destruction, and to
rest upon him that can everlastingly support us, and not
upop the creature that will deceive us and undo us : and to
prefer the highest and noblest converse before that which
is inferior, unprofitable, and base, bnd that we rejoice moxe
in the highest, purest, and most durable delights, than in
those that are sordid, and of short continuance. And who
knoweth not that God is the chiefest good, and true felicity
of man, the everlasting rock, the dural>le delight, and to be
preferred before his creatures ? And vho might not find,
that would use his reason, that all thiiigs below are vanity
and vexation ? /
3. Nothing can be more rationalflfnd agreeable to man's
nature, than that the superior fac^ties should govern the
inferior, that the brutish part h)g subject to the rational ;
and that the ends and objects » this higher faculty be pre-
WA&KINO WITH OaD. 231
ferred before the objects of thd lower; that the objects of
sense be made subservient to the objects of reason. If this
be not natural and rational^ then it is natural to m&n to be
no man^ but a beasts and reasonable to be unreasonable.
Now it is evident that a holy living unto God> is but the
improrement of true reason, and its employment for and
apon Its noblest object, amd its ultimate end : and that a
sensual life is the exercise of the inferior, brutish faculties^
in predominancy above and before the rational : and there"
fore to question whether God or the creature should be first
sought, and loved, and principally desired, and delighted
in, and served, is but to question whether we should live
like lien or like beasts, and whether dogs or wise men be
the fitter companions for us ? And whether the rider or
the horse should have the rule ? Whether the rational or
Sensitive powers be superior and proper to the nature of a
man?
Object. * But there is a middle stieite of life betwixt the
sensual and the divine or holy life, which sober philosophers
did live, and this is the most natural life, and most properly
so called.'
Amw. I deny this: There is no middle state of life, if
you denominate the several states of life> from the several
ends, or the several powers. I grant that the very sensitive
powers in man, especially the imagination, is much ad-
vanced by the conjunction of reason, above that of a brute :
and t grant that the delights of the phantasy may be pre-
ferred before the immediate pleasure of tbe senses : and I grant
that some little distant knowledge of God, and things divine,
and hopes of attaining them, may affisot an unsanctified
aian with an answerable pleasure. But all this is nothing
to prove that there is a third sort of end> or of powers, and
sa a third or middle state of life, specifically distinct from
the sensitive and the holy life. Besides, the vegetative man
hath no other life or fiauiulties, than the sensitive and the
rational : and therefore one of these must be in predomi-
nancy or rule. And therefore he can have no middle sort
or eiid ; and therefore tio middle state of life, that can be
said to be agreeable to his nature. Those that seek and
take up their chief felicity in riches ttnd plenty, and provi-
sioni^ for the flesh, thotigh not in present pleasing of the
sense, do liv^ but the life of sensuality. A fox or dog
232 THE DIVIN£ LIFK.
takes pleasure when he hath eaten his belly Ml^ to hide
and lay up the rest : and so doth the bee to fill the hive,
and make provision for the winter. The proud that delight
in honour and applause, and making others subject to their
lusts, do live but the life of sensuality : a dog, a horse, and
other brutes, have something of the same. They that are
grave through melancholy, or because they can reach no
great matter in the world, and because their old or duller
spirits are not much pleased with juvenile delights, and so
live retiredly, and seek no higher pleasure or felicity; but
only sit down with the weeping or the laughing philosopher,
lamenting or deriding the vanity of the world, do yet live
no other than a sensual life : as an old dog that hath no
pleasure in hunting or playfulness, as he had when he was
a whelp. Only he is less deluded, and less vain, than other
sensualists that find more pleasure in their course.
All the doubt is concerning those that place their feli-
city in knowledge, and those that delight in moral virtues,,
or that delight in studying of God, though they are no
Christians.
Answ. The point is weighty, and hath oft unhappily
fallen into injudicious hands. I shall endeavour to resolve
it as truly, clearly, and impartially as I can. L It is a
great error against tlie nature of man, to say, that know-
ledge as such, is fit to be any man's chief and ultimate end.
It may be that act which is next the enjoying act of the
will, which is it that indeed is next the end, objectively
considered : but it is not that act which we call ' ultimate
ultimus.' And this is plain, 1. Because the object of the
understanding, which is truth, is not formally the nearest
object or matter of full felicity or delight: it is goodness
that is the nearest object. 2. And therefore the office of
the intellect is but introductive and subservient to the
office of the will, to apprehend the verity of good, and pre-
sent it to the will to be prosecuted or embraced, or de-
lighted in. There are many truths that are ungrateful and
vexatious, and which men would wish to be no truths.
And there is a knowledge which is tr6ublesome, useless,
undesirable and tormenting, which even a wise man would
fain avoid, if he knew how. Morality is but preparatively
in the intellect : and therefore intellectual acts, as such, are
not morally good, or evi\, but otiVj ip^.tV\civ^^i\velY* as sub-
WALKING WITH OOD. 233
j«ct to the wilh And therefore knowledge, as such, being
not a moral good, can be no other than such a natural good
as is * bonum alicui/ only so far as it tendeth to some wel-
fare or happiness, or pleasure of the possessor or some
other : and this welfare or pleasure is either that which is
suited to the sensitive powers, or to the rational (which is
to be found in the love of Gkxl alone).
2. I add therefore, that even those men thai seem to
take up their felicity in common knowledge, indeed do but
make their knowledge subservient to something else which
they take for their felicity* For knowledge of evil may tor-
ment them. It is only to know something which they take
to be good, that is their delight. And it is the complacency
or love of that good at the heart, which sets them on work,
and causeth the delight of knowing. If you will say
that common knowledge, as knowledge, doth immediately
delight, yet will it be found but such a pleasing of the
phantasy, as an ape hath in spying marvels, which if it have
no end that is higher, is still but a sensitive delight; but if
it be referred to a higher delight (in God) it doth participate
of. the nature of it. Delight in general is the common end
of men iand brutes : but in specie they are distinguished as
sensual or rational.
3. If you suppose a philosopher to be delighted in stu-
dying mathematics, or any of the works of God, either he
hath herein an end, or no end beyond the knowledge of
the creature : either he terminateth his desires and delights
in the creature, or else useth it as a means to raise him to
the Creator. If he study and delight in the creature ultir
mately, this is indeed the act of a rational creature, and an
act of reason, as to the faculty it proceeds from (and so is a
rational contrivance for sensual ends and pleasures) : but it
is but the error of reason, and is no more agreeable to the
rational nature, than the deceit of the senses is to the sensi-
tive. Nor is it finally to be numbered with the operations ^
felicitating human nature, any more than an erroneous
dream of pleasure, or than that man is to be numbered with
the lovers of learning, who taketh pleasure in the binding,
leaves, or letters of the book, while he understandeth no-
thing of the sense. But if this philosopher seek to know
the Creator in and by the Creatures, and take de\\^\it \w\kv&
^dikeT's powe^, wisdom and goodness, wVicYi aipipe^i^XJa. m
234 'SHE, PIVINfi LiFB.
them, then this is truly a rational delight^ in iUi^lf cofUr
sidered, and beseenodiig a man. And if he f eadi bo far in il>
as to make God his highest desire and d^lighti oyerpower-
ing the desires and delights of sensuality, be shall be happji
as being led by the Son unto the Father ; but if he inake
bat some little approaches towards it, and drown all sodi
desires in the sensual desires and delights, he is then but an
unhappy sensualist, and liveth brutishly in the tenor of his
life, though in some acts in part he operate rationally as a
man.
The like I may say of them that are said to place their
delight in moral virtnes. Indeed, nothing is properiy a
moral good (or virtue) but that which is exercised upoaOod
as our end, or upon the creature as a meana to this cnd^
To study and know mere notions of God, or what is to be
held and said of him in discourse, ia not to study to know
God, no more than to love the language and phrase of holy
writing, is to lore God. To study God, as cme that is less
regardable and desirable than oar sensual delights, is but to
blaspheme him. To study, aeek and serve him as one that
can promote or hind^ oor sensual felicity, is but to s^se
him as a means to your sensuality. And for the virtues of
temperance, justice, or charity, they are but imalogically
and * secundum qmd' to be found in any ungodly person.
Materially they may have them in an eminent degree i but
not aa they are informed by the end which moralized them.
Jezebel's fast was not formally a virtue, but an odioaa way
of hypocrisy to oppress the innocent. He that doth works
of justice and mercy, to evil ends only (as for af^lMse, or
to deceive. Sic.) and not from the true* principlea of jastiee
and mercy, doth not thereby exercise moral virtue, bait
hypocrisy, and otb^ vice. He that doth works* of ju9liee
and mercy, out of mere natural compassion to others, smd
desire of their good, without respect to God, as obliging, or
rewarding, of desiring it, doth perform such a natural good
work, as a lamb or a gentle beast doth to his fellows, which
hath not the true form of Bsoral virtue, but the matter only.
He that in such works hath some little by-respect, to 6o4,
bat more to bis carnal interest among men, doth that whtdL
on the by, participateth of moral good, or is such * seeun^
dfun quid,' but not ' simpliciter,' being to be denominated
from the part predominaYvt. ^ei^^t diO^ Ni^sAa^ of ^aatice
WAI^IilNQ WITH QQV. 336
or cbaFity princififtUy to ph^t^e God. wti in trva obedienca
to hrs will, and a desire to be conformed th^ielo, d<^ that
which is formally a moral good» and holy, though there may
be abhorred mixtures of worse respects*
So that there are but two states of life here : one of
those that walk after the flesh, and the other of those that
walk after the Spirit. Howerer the flesh hath several mate-
rials and ways of pleasure : and even the rational actings
that haye a^ carnal end, are oamal finally and morally,
though they are acts of reason ; for they are but the errors
of reason, and defectiveness of true rationality ; and being
but the acts of erroneous reason as captivated by the flesh,
and subservient to the carnal interest, they are themselves
to be denominated oamal : and so even the reasonable soul
aa biassed by sensuality, and captivated thereto* is included
in the name of * flesh' in the Scripture.
How much moral good is in that course of piety or obe*
dience to God, which proceedeth only from the fear of
God's judgments, without any love to him; I shall not now
discuss, because I have too far digressed already.
All that I have last said, is to shew you the reaaonable-
Hess of living unto God, as being indeed the proper and just
employment of the superior faculties of the soul, and the
government of the lower facnltiea. For if any other^ called
Hioralists, do aeem to subject the sensual life to the rational,
either they do but aeem to do so ; the sensual interest b^ing
indeed predominant, and their rational operations sulo^ected
thereto : or at the best, it is but some poor and erroneous
empleiyment of the rational faculties which they exercise,
or some weak approaches towards that high and holy Kle,
which is indeed the life which the rational nature was cre-
ated for, and which is the right improvement of iU
4« Moreover, nothing is more beseeming the nature of
Bian, than to aspire after the highest and noblest improve*
ment of itself; and to live the most excellent life that it ie
' capable of^ For every nature tendeth to ita own perfection.
Hui it is most evident, that to wa^lk with Goit in holiness^
i«, a*, titling that human nature is capable, of; and that is tlM
bigliesl life that we are capable of on earth ; and therefore
itifi #ie life moat suitable to our natiires;.
5« An^d what can be more rational and beiaeuiMn^ %, <tt^
ated Mjtme, tb%n to live tOr those ends, wlYiicYi Wki C^to^jtot
236 TH£ blVINE LIFE.
intended in the very forming of our natures ? It is bis endi»
that are principally to be served. But the very composure
of our faculties plainly prove, that his end was that we
should be tilted for his service : he gave us no powers or
capacity in vain : and therefore to serve him and walk with
him^ is most suitable to our natures.
Object. * That is natural which is firsts and bom with us :
but our enmity to holiness is firsts and not our holiness/
Amw. It may be called natural indeed^ because it is
first, and born with us : and in that respect we confess that
sin, and not holiness, is natural to us. But holiness is
called natural to us, in a higher respect, because it was the
primitive, natural constitution of man, and was before sin,
and is the perfection or health of nature, and the right em-
ployment and improvement of it, and tends to its happiness.
An hereditary leprosy may be called natural, as it is first,
and before health in that person : but health and soundness
is natural, as being the well-being of nature, when the
leprosy is unnatural, as being but its disease, and tending
to its destruction.
Object. * But nature in its first constitution was not holy,
but innocent only, and it was by a superadded gift of grace
that it became holy, as some schoolmen think, and as others
think, Adam had no holiness till his restoration.'
AnsfWi These are Popish improved fancies, and contrary
to nature and the word of God. 1. They are no where writ-
ten, nor have any evidence in nature, and therefore are the
groundless dreJs of men.
2. The work of our recovery to God is called in Scrip-
ture a redemption, renovation, restoration, which imply that
nature was once in that holy estate before the fall. And it
is expressly said, that the " new man" which we " put on,
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him." (Col. iii. 10.) And after God's image Adam was
created.
3. If it belong to the soundness and integrity of nature
to be holy, (^that is, disposed and addicted to live to God)
then it is rash and foolish for men out of their own imagina-
tion, to feign that God first made nature defective, and then
mended it by superadded grace. But if it belong not to the
soundness and integrity of human nature to be holy, then why
did God give him grace tom«ike\i\m^o'\ 'Svj»VSsveiv\\.^^uld
WALKING WITH GOD. 237
follow, that when God sanctified Adam, or any since^ he
made him specifically another thing, another creature^ of
another nature, and did not only cure the disease^ of his
nature.
4. It is yet apparent in the very nature of man's facul*-
ties, that their very usefulness and tendency, is to live to
God, and to enjoy him : and that God should make a nature
apt for such a use, and give it no disposedness to its proper
■use, is an unnatural conceit* We see to this day that
it is but an unreasonable abuse of reason, when it is
not used holily for God ; and it is a very disease of nature
to be otherwise disposed. Therefore primitive nature had
such a holy inclination.
6. The contrary opinion tendeth to infidelity, and to
brutify human nature. For if no man can believe that he
must be holy, and live to God, and enjoy him hereafter in
heaven, but he that also believeth that primitive nature was
never disposed or qualified for such a life ; and that God
must first make a man another creature in specie, of another
nature (and consequently not a man) this is not only im-
probable, but so contrary to Scripture and reason, that few
considerate persons would believe it. As if we must believe
that God would turn brutes into men. God healeth, elevat-
eth, and perfecteth nature, but doth not specifically change
it, at least in this life.
Objects ' But let it be granted that he giveth no man
specifically another nature, yet he may give him such higher
gifts, as may be like another nature to him so far.'
Answ. No doubt he may and doth give him such gifts as
actuate and perfect nature: but3«ome disposition to our
ultimate end is essential to our nature ; and therefore to as-
sign man another ultimate end, and to give a disposition to
it, of which he had no seed, or part, or principle before, is
to make him another creature. I confess that in lapsed
man, the holy disposition is so far dead, as that the change
maketh a man a new creature in a moral sense (as he is a
new man that changeth his mind and manners) : but still
nature hath its aptitude, as rational, to be employed for its
Maker; so that he is not a new creature in a natural sense.
An actual or habitual willingness to his holy employ-
ment, a promptitude to it, and a due understanding of \t.«
is the new creature, morally so called, which is gv^etv \xi omy
238 THE DIYIKK LIFE^
Bttnotifi^ation-: but th^ tidtlitid afyfitttde that 16 In Our faoal-
tie& ad rational, to thig holy tife^ id esi»^ntlal t4» a# aa mea,
or as rational ; even to have the ' potcintiaii^ nataralen'
which must yet have further help or moral life to actctate it
And Adam had both thes^ : the one he retained, or else he
had not continued a man ; the other he lost, or else he bad
not had nettd of renovation.
6. If Adam's nature had tiot been disposed to Ood^ as
to his end and sovereign, then the law of nature (to adhere
to God, and obey and serve him) was not written in his
heart t and them it would tiot have be6n hid duty to ad-
here to God, and to obey and serve him ^ which is so fidse,
that even in lapsed, unrenewed nature, Uiei^ k left so much
aptitude hereto, as will prove him to be still imdef the obli-
gations of this law of nature, even aetaally to adhere to
God, and to obey him, which a dead Ittan, a mad Mao^, or an
tnfknt, is not (immediately).
By all this you see, that though the blindness and dis-
ease of reason^ is contrary to faith and holiness^ yist f etason
itself is so much for it, as that faith itself is but the act of
elevated well informed reason ; and supernatural revelation
is but the means to inform our reason^ about things tthioh
have not a natural evidence, discemable by us^ And sane*
tifieation (actively taken) is but the healing of out ireascto
and rational appetite : and holiness is but the health oi
soundnesi^ of them. The error of reason muist be ri^MyUilced
by believers ; but not ther use of reason : the suffioieivey of rea
son and natural light, without superkiatural ligbt aafd help, we
must all d^ny : bat to set reason, ais reason, in o{iposition to
fliith or holiness, or divine revelation, is as gross a piece of
foolery, as to set the visive faculty in opposition^ to the
light of the sun, or to its objects. It is the unreasoaabk"
ness of sinners that is to be cured by ilkfminaling gra^Or ^
" They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have: no know-'
ledge.'* Their reason is T^ounded, deprsfvedl and coiVo^led
about the matters of God :■ th^y bate reason^ to servo the^
flesh, but not to master it. God doth rene# xtaemr by giving
them wisdom^ and bringing them to a soUtid mind : ^s logic
helpeth reason in discourse and arguh^g^ so theology ii^
formeth reason about the matters of God and our salvation:
and the Spirit of God doth fli^ke his doctrine and revelation
effectuei. Make natnie ^oAmi^ ^En^ lek^oiw t^nAin Q^nd then
WALKINO WITH QOD. 239
we will consent that all men be persuaded to live according
to their nature and their reason. But if a bedlam will rave
and tear himself and others, and say. This is according to
my nature or my reason; it is fitter that chains and whips
do cure that nature and reason, than that he be allowed to
liire according to his madness. If a drunkard or whore-
monger will say. My nature and reason incline me to please
my appetite and lust, it is fit that the swinish nature be cor-
rected, and the beast which rideth and ruleth the man, be
taken down ; and when indeed his nature is the nature of
man, and fitted to the use and ends it was made for, then let
him lire according to it and spare not. If a malicious man
will abuse or kill his neighbour, and say, This is according
to my nature, let that nature be used as the nature of wolres
and foxes, and other noxious creatures are. But let human
nature be cured of its blindness, carnality, and corruption,
and then it will need no external testimony to convince it,
that DO employment is so natural and suitable to man, as to
walk with God, in lore and confidence, and reverent wo?'-
ship, and cheerful obedience to his will. A worldly^ fleshly,
sensual life, will then appear to be below the rational na-
tare of a man, as it is below us to go to grass with horses,
or to live as mere companions of brutes. It will then ap-
pear to be as natural for us to love and live to our Creator
and Redeemer, and to walk with God, as for a child to love
his pwrents, and to live with tbem and serve them. When
I say that this is natural, I mean not that it is necessary by
natmral necessity, or that grace doth operate * per modum
aatnrtt/ as their rational motion is so called. There is a
btatiBlx or inanimate nature^ and there is a rational, volun-
tary nature^ Grace worketh not according to the way of
inanimale nature, in free agents. I may well say, that
whatever is rational, is natural to a rational creature as
soch, so far as he discerneth it. Yea, and habits, though
they effect not necessarily,, but fireely in a rational nature^
yet ihe]f incline necessarily,, ' et per modum naturee/ They
contain in their being a natural aptitude and propensity to
action.
C%*eef. ' But thus you confound nature and grace, na-
tural aBd supernatural operations, while you make grace
Antm. No $uch matter : Though walknig Vvlii Go^\i^
240 THE DIVINE LIFE.
called natural, as it is most agreeable to natore so Aur as it
is sound 9 and is the felicity and meetest employment of the
rational nature as such: yet, 1. Diseased nature doth ab«
hor it, as a diseased stomach the pleasantest and most
wholesome food, (as I said before). 2. And this disease
of nature cannot be cured without divine, supernatural
grace. So that as to the efficient cause, our holiness is su- *
pernaturah But it is unsound doctrine of those that affirm
that Adam in his pure, natural state of innocence, had no
natural holiness, or aptitude and promptitude to walk with
'God in order to everlasting happiness ; but say that all this
was either wanting to him, and was a state specifically dis-
tinct, which he fell short of by his sin, or that it was given
him by superadded grace, and was not in his entire nature.
And yet we deny not but as to degrees, Adam's nature
was to grow up to more perfection: and that his lu^ural
holiness contained not a sufficient immediate aptitude and
promptitude to every duty which might afterward be re-
quired of him ; but this was to be obtained in the exercise
of that holiness which he had : even as a vine or other fruit-
tree, though it be natural to it to bear its proper fruit, yet
hath it not an immediate sufficient aptitude hereto, whilst
it is but appearing out of the seed, before it be grown up
to just maturity. Or as it is natural to a man to discourse
and reason ; but yet his nature in infancy, or untaught and
unexercised, hath not a sufficient immediate aptitude and
promptitude hereunto. Or as grace inclineth a renewed
soul to every holy truth and duty; and yet such a soul in
its infancy of grace, hath not a sufficient, immediate aptitude
or promptitude to the receiving of every holy truth, or the
doing of every holy duty ; but must grow up to it by degi*ees.
But the addition of these degrees, is no specifical alteration
of the nature of man, or of that grace which was before re-
ceived.
Having been so long upon this first consideration (that
walking with God is most agreeable to human nature) I
shall be more brief in the rest that follow.
II. To walk with God, and live to him, is incomparably
the highest and noblest life. To converse with men only,
is to converse with worms : whether they be princes or poor
meii, tb^y differ but as lYveVvg^^x N^\mmfeom the lesser.
WALKING WITH GOD. 241
If they be wise and good, their converse may be profitable
and delightful, because they have a beam of excellency
from the face of God : (And O how unspeakable is the dis-
tance between his wisdom and goodness, and theirs !) But if
they be. foolish, ungodly and dishonest, how loathsome is
thciir conversation! What stinking breath is in their pro-
fane and filthy language ! in their lives and slanders of the
just! in their sottish jears and scorns of those that walk
with God ! which expose at once their folly and misery to
the pity of all that are truly understanding. When they
are gravely speaking evil of the things which they under-
stand not, or with a fleering confidence deriding merrily
the holy commands and ways of God, they are much more'
lamentably expressing their infatuation, than any that are
kept in chains in bedlam : though indeed, with the most,
they escape the reputation which they deserve, because
they are attended with persons of their own proportion of
wisdom, that always reverence a silken coat, and judge
them wise that wear gold lace, and have the greatest satis-
faction of their wills and lusts, and are able to do most
mischief in the world : and because good man have learned
to honour the worst of their superiors, and not to call them
as they are. But God is bold to call them as they are, and
give them in his word, such names and characters by which
they might come to know themselves. And is it tiot a
higher, nobler life to walk with God, than to converse in
bedlam, or with intoxicated sensualists, that live in a con-
stant deliration.
Yea, worse than so : ungodly men are " children of the
devil,'* so called by Jesus Christ himself, (John viii. 44,)
because they have much of the nature of the devil, and the
lusts of their father they will do ; yea, they " are taken cap-
tive by him at his will." (2 Tim. ii. 26.) They are " the
servants of sin,'' and do the drudgery that so vile a master
sets them on. (John viii. 34.) Certainly as the spirits of
the just are so like to angels, that Christ saith, we shall be
as they, and equal to them ; so the wicked are nearer kin to
devils, than they themselves will easily believe. They are
as like him as children to their father. He is a liar, and so
are they. He is a hater of God, and godliness, and godly
men, and so are they. He is a murderer, and w6ald (a\tv d^-
VOL. XJiJ. R
242 THE IMVINE LIFE.
veur the holy seed ; and suoh are they. He envieth the
progress of the Gospel, and the prosperity of the church,
and the increase of holiness, and so do they. He hath a
special malice against the most powerful and successfnl
preachers of the word of God, and against the most zealous
and eminent saints ; and so have they. He cares not by
what lies and fictions he disgraceth them, nor how cfuelly
he useth them ; no more do they, (or some of them at
least). He cherisheth licentiousness, sensuality alid iia-
piety ; and so do they. If they do seem better in their ad-
versity and restraint, yet try them but with prosperity, and
power, and you shall see quickly how like they are to
.devils. And shall we delight more to converse with brutes
and incarnate devils, than with God ? Is it not a more high
and excellent conversation to walk with Godi and live, to
him, than to be companions of such degenerate men, that
have almost forfeited the reputation of humanity ? Alas !
they are companions so deluded and ignorant, and yet so
wilful ; so miserable, and yet so. confident and secure, that
they are, to a believing eye, the most lamentable sight that
the whole world can shew us out of helL And how sad a
life must it then needs be, to converse with such, were it
not for the hope that we have of furthering their recovery
and salvation!
But to wietlk with God is a word so high, that I shpuld
have feared the guilt of arrogance in using it, if I had not
found it in the holy Scriptures; It is a word that impgrteth
so high and holy a frame of soul, and expressetb such high
and holy actionsj, that the naming of it striketh my heart
with reverence, as if I had heard the voice to Moses^ " Put
off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou
standeth is holy ground.'' (Exod. iii. 5.). Metliinks he that
shall say to me. Come see a man that walks with God, doth
call me to see one that is next unto an angel, pr glorified
soul ! It is a far more reverend object in mine ey§, than ten
thousand lords or princes, considered only in their fleshly
glory. It i9 a wiser action for people to run and crowd to-
gether, to see a man that walks with God, than to see thie
pompous train of princes, their ei^tertainments, or their
triumph. O happy man, that walks with God, though neg-
lected and contemned by all about him ! What blessed
WALKING WITH GOD. 343
sights .<ipth he daily, see! What, raviBhipg tidingd, what
pleasant melody doth he duily hear, ' unless it ^ t& his
8¥jroqns<>r sipknfjss ! What delectable food doth.he ditily toste !
He seeth by faith ihe God» the ,glory, which the ble9$^d
9pirits^,seQ.al hand by nearest intuition !. He seeth that m a
glass and darkly, whiqh they behold witb open face 1 lie
seeth tbe glorious Maje^fy of his Creator, the eteroal.lSLing,
tl^c^lCause of causes, the Composer, Upholder, Pj^e^rver, a^id
Governor, of all the wo]:ld8 ! He beboldeth jthe ^ironderfol
^lethods of his providence: and what he c^innotT^^chi.to
^ee, !)e ^dmireth, and waiteth for the. time when that^.ct|@o
sb^l be open to hi? view! He s^th by f^th the, world, of
^irits, the hosts that attend the throve of Qod; their per-
f^ righteousness, their full devotedness, to God; their
ard^i^t love, their flaming i^eal, their ready and cheerful
obedience, their dignity and .shinipg glory« in which ti^
IjQWi^st of them exceedeth that whiph the disciples s^-w 9^
Bfjo^e^ find Elias when they appeared on the holy moupt,
and talked with Christ! They hear by. faith the. he^^vei^y
coB^cert, the high and, harmonious songs of pr^i^e, jbhe jpy-
ful tri^piphs of crowned saints, the sweet. coipineiTicwtjyQ^s
of t^ things that were done and suffered on earth, with :the
prais^es: of him that redeem/^d them by his blood, aiid mf^de
th^m kings and priests to God : herein he haUi sometimes a
sweet foret{t3te of the ev^lasting pleasures, which though
i( be but litUe,. as Jonathan's honey oii the end of his rod,
<f^9^ the clusters of grapes jjKhich w^jre brOiUght frppaCaA^an
inio the wilderness, yet are they more excellent than all Uie
4e}tghts of sinners* And in the beholding of this celestial
glory, sqme beams do penetrate his breast, and so irradiate
Us longing soul,, .that he is changed thereby i^to th^ same
i^DQtage, from glory to glory; the Spirit of Glory.and <pf Qod
doth rest upon him« And O what, an e^cqelle^nt holy frame
doth, this converse with Gqd possess hi^ soul of! How reve-
rently doth he think of JiiTni What life. is there in every
lEtame and attribute of God. whi^h he heajceth or thinketh on !
Tb^. mention of his power, his wisdoni, his goodness, his
lQFe,iiis holiness>his truth, ^w powerfuliand.how pleasant
ve they to him! when to those that know him but by the
hearing of the ear, all these are but like common names and
notions; and even to the weaker sort of Christians > vi\vc^^%
walking; with God is more uneven, and low, lat^vt^v^^^^^
244 THE DIVINE LIF£.
their sins, and doubts, and fears, this life and glory of a
Christian course, is less perceived.
And the sweet appropriating and applying works of
faith, by which the soul can own his God, and finds himself
owned by him, are exercised most easily and happily in
these near approaches unto God. Our doubts are cherished
by our darkness, and that is much caused by our distance :
the nearer the soul doth approach to God, the more dis-
tinctly it heareth the voice of mercy, the sweet reconciling
invitations of love ; and the more clearly it discemeth that
goodness and amiableness in God, which maketh it easier
to us to believe that he loveth us, or is ready to embrace
us ; and banisheth all those false and horrid apprehensions
of him, which before were our discouragement, and made
him seem to us more terrible than amiable. A& the minis-
ters and faithful servants of Christ, are ordinarily so misre-
presented by the malignant devil, to those that know them
not, that they are ready to think them some silly fools, or
false-hearted hypocrites, and to shun them as strange unde-
sirable persons ; but when they come to thorough acquaint-
ance with them by a nearer tad familiar converse, they see
how much they were mistaken, and wronged by their preju-
dice and belief of slanderers' misreports : even so a weak
believer, that is under troubles, in the apprehension of his
»in and danger, is apt to hearken to the enemy of God, that
would shew him nothing but his wrath, and represent God
as an enemy to him : and in this case it is exceeding hard
for a poor sinner to believe that God is reconciled to him,
or loveth him, or intends him good, but he is ready to dread
and shun him as an enemy, or as he would fly from a wild
beast or murderer, or from fire or water, that would destroy
him: and all these injurious thoughts of God are cherished
by strangeness and disacquaintance. But as the soul doth
fall into an understanding and serious converse with God,
and having been often with him, doth find him more merci-
ful than he was by Satan represented to him, his experience
reconcileth his' mind to God, and maketh it much easier to
him to believe that God is reconciled unto him, when he
hath found much better entertainment with God than he
expected, and hath observed his benignity, and the trea-
sures of his bounty laid up in Christ, and by him distri-
buted to believers, and hath (oxmd Ivvvsl ready to hear and
WALKING WITH GOD. 245
Tielp, and found him the only full and suitable felicitating
good, this banisheth his former horrid "thoughts, and maketh
him ashamed that ever he should think so suspiciously, in-
juriously, and dishonourably of his dearest God and Father.
Yet I must confess that there are many upright, trou-
bled souls, that are much in reading, prayer, and meditar
tion» that still find it hard to be persuaded of the love of
Xjod, and that have much more disquietment and fear since
they set themselves to think of God, than they had before.
But yet for all this, we may well conclude, that to walk
with God, is the way to consolation, and teadeth to ac-
quaint us with his love. As for those troubled souls, whose
experience is objected against this, some of them are such
as are yet but in their return to God, from a life of former
sin and misery, and are yet but like the needle in the com-
pass that is shaken, in a trembling motion towards their
rest, and not in any settled apprehensions of it. Some of
them by the straying of their imaginations too high, and
putting themselves upon more than their heads can beai'^
and by the violence of fears, or other passions, do make
themselves incapable of those sweet consolations which
else they might find in their converse with God ; as a lute,
when the strings are broken with straining, is incapable of
making any melody. All of them have false apprehensions
of God, and therefore trouble themselves by their own mis-
takes. And if some perplex themselves by their error, doth
it follow that therefore the truth is not comfortable ? Is not
a father's presence consolatory, because some children are
afraid of their fathers, that know them not because of some
disguise? And some of God's children walk so unevenly
and carelessly before him, that their sins provoke him to
hide his face, and to seem to reject them and disown them,
and so to trouble them that he may bring them home : but
shall the comforts of our Father's love and family be judged
of by the fears or smart of those whom he is scourging for
their disobedience, or their trial? Seek God with under-
standing, as knowing his essential properties,, and what he
will be to them that sincerely and diligently seek him; and
then you will quickly have experience, that nothing so
niuch tendeth to quiet and settle a doubting, troubled, mvw-
stable soul> as faithfully to walk with God.
But the soul that estrangeth itself from God, vria.^ mdi^^^
246 TU£ DIVINB LIFE.
fot a time hive the auletness of Security ; but (so far) it Vil!
be strange to the asdaraii^ce of his love, and to trae consola-
tibn. . Expect not that Gcfd should follow you with his
Gotiifbrts in youV sinfulness and negligence, add cast theni
into your hearts. whilst you neither seek nor mind them ; or
Ih&t he will give you the fhiit of his w^ys in your own way's.
Will be be your joy when you forget him? Will he delight
ybul* sduls with bis goodness and amiableness, Wbile you
are taken up 'with other matt)ers, and think not of him? Can
you expect to find the comforts of his family; among his
enemies, out of doors ? The experience of all the' woiU
can tell ycfu, that prodigals, while they are straggling from
their Father^s bouse, do never taste the comforts of his em-
braces ; the stratigers meddle not with his children's joys :
they grow not in the way of ambition, covetousness, vain*
glory, or sensuality ; but in the way of holy obedience, and
of believing contemplations of the divine, everlasting objects
of delight. " For, lo, they that are far from him siiaU
perish : He destroyeth them that go a whoring from him :
But it is good for us to draw nigh to God." (Psal. Ixxiii.
27,28.)
III. Walking with God is the only course that can prove
and make' men truly wise. It proves them wise that mak^
so wise and good a choice, and are disposed and skilled in
any measure for so high a work. Practical wisdom is the
solid, useful, profitable wisdom : and practical wisdom is
seen in our choice of good, and refusal of evil, iels its most
imtnediate and excellent effect* And no choosing or Refus-
ing doth show the wisdom or folly of man so 'much as. that
which is about the greatest matters, and which everlasting
life or death depend on. He is not thought so wise among
men that can write a volume about the orthography or ety-
mology of a word, or can guess what wood the Trojan horse
was made of, or that can make a chain to tie a flea in, as he
that can bring home gold and pearls, or he that can obtain and
manage governments, or he that can cure mortal maladies.
For as in lading we difference bulk and value, and take not
that for the best commodity which is of greatest quantity or
weight, but that which is most precious and of greatest
use ; 80 there is a bulky kiiow\ed^<&« exletided far, to a mul-
titude of words and ihinga, viYi\c\i ?lt^ ^^ ^^ xi^ %t«^\.m%v. ^t
WALKING WITH GOD. 247
Tolue; and therefore the knowledge of them is such as
they: and there is a precious sort of knowledge^ which
fixeth upon the most precious things; which being of
greatest use and value, do accordingly prove the knowledge
such. Nothing will prove a man simply and properly wise,
but that which will prove or make him happy. He is wise
indeed, that is wise to his own and others' good ; and that
is^ indeed his good, which saveth his soul, and maketh him
for ever blessed. Though we may admire the cunning of
those that can make the most curious engines, or by deceiv-
ing others advance themselves, or that can subtilly dispute
the most curious niceties, or criticise upon the words of
several languages ; yet 1 will never call them wise, that are
all that while the devil's slaves^ the enemies of God, the
refusers of grace, and are making haste to endless misery.
And I think there is not one of those in hell who were once
the subtile men on earth, that now take themselves to have
been truly v^ise, or glory much in the remembrance of such
wisdom.
And as the choice doth prove men wise, so the practice
of this holy walking with God, doth make them much wiser
than they were. As there must be some work of the Spirit
to draw men to believe in Christ, and yet the Spirit is pro-
mised and given (in a special sort or measure) to them that
do believe ; so must there be some special wisdom to make
men choose to walk with God ; but much more is given to
them in this holy course. As Solomon was wiser than most
of the world, before he asked wisdom of God, or else he
would not have made so wise a choice, and preferred wis-
dom before the riches and honours of the world ; and yet it
vas a more notable degree of wisdom that was afterwards
given him in answer to his prayers : so it is in this base.
There are many undeniable evidences to prove, that
walking with God doth do more to make men truly wise,
than all other learning or policy in the world.
1. He that walketh with God, doth begin aright, and
settles upon a sure foundation ; (and we use to say, that a
work is half finished that is well begun ;) he hath engaged
himself to the best and wisest teacher; he is a disciple to
him that knoweth all things. He hath taken in infallible
principles, and taken them in their proper place ?ixid oT&<ex \
he haUi learned those truths whicTi will every one become %.
*i4& TUfi DIVINE LIFIS«
a teaclier to him, and help him to that which is yel.ilii*
learned. Whereas many that thought they were doctors in
Israel, if ever they will be wise and happy, must " become
fools (that is, such as they have esteemed fools) if ever they
will be wise;" (1 Cor. iii. 18;) and must be called back
with Nicodemus to learn Christ's cross, and to be taught
that, " that which is born of the flesh is but flesh, and that
which is bom of the Spirit is Spirit ;" and that therefore
they '' must be born agaiin'^ (not only of water, but also of
the Spirit) if ever they '' will enter into the kingdom of
heaven." (John iii. 3. 5, 6.) O miserable beginning ! and
miserable progress ! when men that never soundly learned
the mysteries of regeneration, and faith, and love, and self-
denial, and mortification, do proceed to study names and
words, and to turn over a multitude of books, to fill their
brains witli airy notions, and their common-places with
such sayings as may be provision and furniture for their
pride and ostentation, and ornament to their style and lan-
guage ; and know not yet what they must do to be saved,
and indeed know nothing as they ought to know ! (1 Cor.
viii. 2.) As every science hath its principles, which are
supposed in all the consequential verities ; so hath religion
as doctrinal and practical, those truths which must be first
received, before any other can be received as it ought; and
those things which must be first done, before any other can
be done, so as to attain their ends. And these truths and
duties are principally about God himself, and are known
and done effectually by those, and only those, that walk
with God, or are devoted to him. It is a lamentable thing
to see men immersed in serious studies, even till they grow
aged, and to hear them seriously disputing and discoursing
about the controversies or difficulties in theology, or in-
ferior sciences, before ever they had any saving knowledge
of God, or of the work of the Holy Ghost in the converting
and sanctifying of the soul, or how to escape everlasting
misery !
2. He that walketh with God hath fixed upon a right
end, and is renewing his estimation and intention of it^ and
daily prosecuting it : and this is the first and greatest part
of practical wisdom. When a man once knoweth his end
arighty he may better judge of the aptitude and seasonable-
ness of all the means. V/Vieu vi^ Vlxvovi <)tvca tkat heaven
WALKING WITH GOD. 249
CQ&teineth the only felicity of man, it will direct ns to hea*
renly thoughts, and to such spiritual means as are fitted to
that end : if we have the right mark in our eye, we are more
like to level at it, than if we mistake our mark. He is the
wise man, and only he, that hath steadily fixed his eye up-
on that blessedness which he was created and redeemed for,
and maketh straight towards it, and bends the powers of
soul and body, by faithful, constant diligence to obtain it*
He that hath rightly and resolvedly determined of his end,
hath virtually resolved a thousand controversies that others
are unsatisfied and erroneous in. He that is resolved, that
his end is to please and glorify God, and to enjoy him for
ever, is easily resolved whether a holy life, or a sensual
and worldly, be the way ; whether the way be to be godly,
or to make a mock at godliness : whether covetousness and
riches, ambition and preferment, voluptuousness and fleshly
pleasures, be the means to attain his end : whether it will
be attained rather by the studying of the word of God, and
meditating on it day and night, and by holy conference,
and fervent prayer, and an obedient life ; or by negligence,
or worldliness, or drunkenness, or gluttony, or cards and
dice, or beastly filthiness, or injustice and deceit. Know
once but whither it is that we are going, and it is easy to
know whether the saint, or the swine, or the swaggerer, be
in the way. But a man that doth mistake his end, is out of
his way at the first step ; and the further he goes, the fur-
ther he is from true felicity ; and the more he erreth, and
the further he hath to go back again, if ever he return.
Every thing^that a man doth in the world, which is not for
the right end (the heavenly felicity) is an act of foolishness
and error, how splendid soever the matter or the name, may
make it appear to ignorant men. Every word that an un-
godly person speaketh, being not for a right end, il^ in him
but sin and folly, however materially it may be an excel-
lent and useful truth. While a miserable soul hath his
back upon God, and his face upon the world, every step be
goeth is an act of folly, and tending unto his further misery.
It can be no act of wisdom, which tendeth to a man's dam-
natiop. When such a wretch begins to inquire and bethink
him where he is, and whither he is going, and whither he
should go, and to think of turning back to God^ t\v^x\> ^vA
never til] then, be is beginning to come taYv\mae\?, ^xAV^
3^ THE DIVINE Uf£.
be wise. (Luke xt. 17.) TillOod and glory be the end that
he aimeth at^ and seriously bends his study^ heart and life to
seek, though a man were searching into the mysteries of
nature ; though he were studying or discussing the notions
of theology ; though he were admired for his learning and
wisdom by the world, and cried up as the oracle of the earth,
he is all the while but playing the fool, and going a more
cleanly way to hell than the grosser sinners of the w<Hld!
For is he wise, that knoweth not whether heaven or earth lie
better? Whether God or his flesh should be ohjeyed? Whe-
ther everlasting joys, or the transitory pleasures of sin
should be preferred ? Or that seemeth to be convinced of
the triith in these and such like cases, and yet hath not the
wit to make his choice, and bend his life according to his
conviction ? He cannot be wise who practically mistakes
his end.
3. He that walketh with God doth know those things
with a deep, effectual, heart-changing knowledge, which
other men know but superficially, by the halves, and as in
a dream. And true wisdom consisteth in the intensiveness
of the knowledge subjectively, as much as in the extensive-
ness of it objectively. To see a few things in a narrow room
perspicuously and clearly, doth shew a better eyesight, than
in the open air to see many things obscurely, so as scarce
to discern any of them aright ; (like him that saw men walk
like trees). The clearness and depth of knowledge, which
makes it elBrectual to its proper use, is the greatness and ex-
cellency of it : therefore it is, that unlearned men that love
and fear the Lord, may well be said to be incomparably
more wise and knowing men than the most learned that are
ungodly. As he hath more riches that hath a little gold or
jewels, than he tha^t hath many load of stones ; ,so he that
hath a deep, effectual knowledge of God the Father, and
the Redeemer, and of the life to come, is wiser and more
knowing than he that hath only a notional knowledge of the
same things, and of a thousand more. A wicked man hath
so much knowledge, as teacheth him to speak the same
words of God, and Christ, and heaven, which a true believer
speaks ; but not so much as to work in him the same affec-
tions and choice, nor so much as to cause him to do the same
work. As it is a far more excellent kind of knowledge
which a man hath of any country by travel and habitation
WALKING WITH GOD. 261
thet'e« ihun that which cometh but by riding or report; or
which '&r man hath ^of meat, of fruits, of wines, by eating and
driidkin^, than that which another hath by hearsay : so is
the inward heart-affecting knowledge of a true believer, more
excellent than the flashy notions of the ungodly. Truth,
simply as truth, is not the highest and most excellent object
of the mind : but good, as good, must be apprehended by
the understanding, and commended to the will, which enter-
taineth it' with complacency, adhereth to it with choice and
resolution, prodecuteth it with desire and endbavour, and en-
joyeth it with delight. And though it be the understanding'
which apprehendeth it, yet it is the heart or will that relish-
eth it, and tasteth the greatest sweetness in it, working upon
it with some mixture of internal sense, (which hath made
some ascribe a knowledge of good, as such, unto the will).
And it is the will's intention that causeth the understanding
to be denominated practical : and therefore I may well say,
that It is wisdom indeed when it reacheth to the heart. No
man knbweth the truth of God so well as he that most firmly
beliereth him : and no maii knoweth the goodiiess of God
so well as he that loveth him tnost. No man knoweth his
power and mercy so well as he that doth most confidently
trust him : and no man knoweth his justice and dreadful-
ness so well as he that feareth'him. No man knoweth or
believeth the glory of heaven so' well as he that most es-
teemeth, desireth and seeketh it, and hath the most heavenly
heart and conversation. No man believeth in Jesus Christ
80 'well, as he that giveth up himself unto him, with the
greatest love, and thankfulness, and trust, and obedience.
As James saith, " Shew me thy fa;ith by thy works,*' so say
I, let me know the measure and value of my knowledge by
m;^ heart and life. That is wisdom indeed, which conform-
•eth a man to God, and saveth his soul: this only will be
owned as wisdom to eternity, when dreaming notions will
prove but folly.
4. He that walketh with God hath ah infallible rufe, and
taketh the right course to have the best acquaintance with
it, and skill to use it. The doctrine that informeth him is
divine : it is from heaven, and not of men: and therefore if
God 1)6 wiser than man, he is able to make his disciples
wisest ; and tieaching will more certainly and powerfully il-
luminate, Mfany among men have pretended to infallibility^
252 THE DIVINE LIFE.
that never could justify their pretensions, but have confuted
them by their own mistakes and crimes ; but none can deny
the infallibility of God. He never yet was deceived, or did
deceive : he erreth not^ nor teacheth error. Nicodemus
knew Christ was to be believed, when he knew that he was
'* a teacher come from God." (John iii. 2.) Christ knew
that the Jews themselves durst not deny the truths of John's
doctrine, if he could but convince them that it was '' from
heaven, and not of men." It is impossible for God to lie :
it is the devil that '' was a liar from the beginning/' and is
yet the Father of lies. No wonder if they believe lies that
follow such a teacher : and those that follow the flesh and
the world, do follow the devil. They that will believe what
their fleshly interests and lusts persuade them to believe,
do believe what the devil persuadeth them to believe ; for
he persuadeth them by these, and for these. What marvel
then, if there be found men in the world, that can believe
that holiness is hypocrisy, or a needless thing ? That those
are the worst men that are most careful to please God !
that the world is more worthy of their care and labour, than
their salvation is ! tliat the pleasures of sin for a season are
more desirable, than the everlasting happiness of the saints !
that cards and dice, and mirth and lust, and wealth and ho-
nour, are matters more delectable than prayer, and meditat-
ing on the word of God, and loving him, and obeying him,
and waiting in the hopes of life eternal ! that gluttons and
drunkards, and whoremongers, and covetous persons, may
enter into the kingdom of God, &c. What wonder, if a
thousand such damnable lies, are believed by the disciples of
the father of lies ? What wonder, if there are so many saint-
haters and God-haters in the world, as to fill the earth with
persecutions and cruelties, or make a scorn of that which
God most highly valueth, and all this under pretences of or-
der, or unity, or justice, or something that is good, and
therefore fit to palliate their sin ! Is there any thing so false,
or foul, or wicked, that Satan will not teach his followers ?
Is he grown modest, or moderate, or holy, or just? Is he
reconciled to Christ, to Scripture, to godliness, or to the
godly ? Or is his kingdom of darkness at ^an end ? And
hath he lost the earth? Or are men therefore none of the
servanta of the devil, because they were bapti^d (as Simon
w vras) and call and lYuxvV iVem^^N^^ >8^^ %^\H^\v\.^ ^€
TTALKINO WITH GOD. 253
Chrifit 1 As if still it were not the art by which he gets and
keeps disciples, to suffer them to wear the livery of Christ,'
and to use his name, that he may thus keep possession of
them in peace, who else would be frighted from him, and
fly to Christ ! He will give them leave to study arts and
sciences, and to understand things excellent of inferior use,
80 be it they will, be deceived by him in the matters of God
and their salvation. He can allow them to be learned
lawyers, excellent physicians, philosophers, politicians, to
. be skilful artists, so be it they will follow him in sin to their
damnation, and will overlook the " trut}i that should set
ihem free." (John viii. 32.) Yea he will permit them (when
there is no remedy) to study the holy Scriptures, if he may
bathe the expounder and applier of it. Yea he will permit
them notionally to understand it, if they will not learn by it
to be converted, to be holy, and to be saved. He can suffer
them to be eminent divines, so they will not be serious
Christians. Thus is the world by the grand deceiver buried
in darkness to perdition, being ** taken captive by him at his
will." (2 Tim. ii. 26.) But the sanctified are all illuminated
by the Holy Ghost, by whom their eyes are so effectually
opened, that they " are turned from darkness unto light, and
from the power of Satan unto God.*' (Acts xxvi. 18.) " The
Father of glory hath given them the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation^ in the knowledge of Christ, that the eyes of their
im^erstanding being enlightened, they may know what is
the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of
his inheritance in the saints.*' (Ephes. i. 17, 18.) Certainly
that illumination of the Holy Ghost, which is so often men-
tioned in Scripture as given to all true believers, is not a
fancy, nor an insignificant name : and if it signify any thing,
it mgnrfieth somewhat that is much above the teaching of
man. All that walk with God are taught of God ! And can
man teach like God ? God hath access unto the heart, and
there he doth transcribe his laws, and put them into our in-
ward parts. And they that walk with him have not only his
word to read, but his Spirit to help them to understand it :
and being with him, in his family (yea, he dwelleth in them,
and they in him) he is ready at hand to resolve their doubts :
wh^ihe^ve them his fear, he gave them the " beginning
of wisdom." (Psal. cxi. 10.) He causeth them to " 'mcXm^
tbehr ear to wisdom ;" (Prov. ii. 2. 6 ;) and to " awV} ^^^"^
254 THE DIViNE LIF£.
hearts unto it ;" (Psal. xc. 12 ;) " aad maketh them to know
it in the hidden parts." (Psal. li. 6.)
Jt is his, law that they have determined, t.Q mak^ their
rule : they live as under his authority : they are more obser-
vant of his will aqd government, than of any laws or govern-
ment of man. And as they obey i^an jin and fpr the IjO^A,
so th^y do it in subordination to him^ and therefore not
against him and his laws, which being the 9ta(^daKd of Jus-
tice, and the rule of rulers^ and of subjects both, t^ey. ace, jJA
the safest way of unerring wisdom, who walk with. Qgdi^)-
cording to that rule ; and refuse tp turn s^side, though QOJV-
manded by man, or. enticed by Satan, the wprld, oc flesh..
5. He that walketh with jGod is the most considerate
person, and therefore hath great advantage, to be wise. The
frequent and serious thoughts, of God^ do awaken all. the
powers of the soul, so that drowsiness doth not hinder the un-
derstanding, and so occasion its deceit. There is scarcer
more common and powerful cause of men's, folly aad dek*
sion and perdition, in all the world, than that sleepiness sod
stupidity which hindereth reason from the vigorous perfor*
trance of its office. In this senseless case, thaugh A.man
both know and consider. of the same truths, which in their
nature are most powerful to cleanse and ,govern and save lus
soul, yet sluggishness doth enervate them : heknoweth .thieffi
us if he knew them not, and considereth them as ^f be never
thought of them* They work little more upon him> thaiiif
lie believed them not, or had never heard of them* Eiren/as
a dream of the greatest matters, moyethnot the sleeper jQrom
his pillow. In this senseless state, the devil can do pXmofii
any thing with a sinner. He can make him sin against Jmb
knowledge : and when conscience , hath f^ghi^d, ,hiin iuto
some kind of penitence, ai^d made him cry out, ' I have ^ip'
ned and done foolishly,* and caused him to promise to do9P
no more; yet doth the devil prevail with him to gp.pn,.and
to break his promises, as if he had never been.convinced./of
his sins, or confessed them, or seen any reason or n^cesiitjf
to amend: he doth but imprison the truth in unright^pQ9- fa
ness, and bury it in a senseless heart : whereas if yon could
but awaken all the powers of his soul, tP give this same twtb
its due entertainment, and take it deeper into his heart, it
would make him even scprn the baits of sin^ and se^thatthe a
ungodly are beside themselvesi and make him presently re- a
K
WALKING WITH QOD. 265
solve and set upon a holy life. And hence it is, that sick-
ness which causeth men to receive the sentence of deaths
doth usually make men bewail their former sinful lives, and
marvel that they could be before so sottish as to resist such
known and weighty truths : and it makes them purpose and
promise reformation, and wish themselves in the case of
those that they were wont before to deride and scorn : be-
cause now the truth is more deeply received and digested,
by their awakened souls, and appeareth in its proper evi-
dence and strength. There is no man but must acknowledge
that the same truth doth at one time command his soul,
which at another time seems of little force. It is a wonder
to observe how differently the same consideration worketh
with a man when he is awakened, and when he is in a se-
cure, stupid state*
Ifow this is his advantage that walks with God. He is
o^ueh more frequently than others awakened to a serious
apprehension of the things which he understandeth. The
thoughts of the presence of the most holy God, will not suf-
fer him to be secure and senseless as others are, or as he is
himself, when he turneth aside from this heavenly conversa-
tion. He hath in God such exceeding transcendent excel-
lencies, such greatness, such goodness continually to behold,
that it keepeth his soul in a much more serious, lively frame
than any other ^ means could keep it in: so that whenever
^ny traih or duty is presented to him, all his faculties are
awake and ready to observe and improve it. A sermon, or
a good book, or godly conference, or a mercy, when a man
hath been with God in prayer and contemplation, will relish
better with him, and sink much deeper, than at another time.
Nay one. serious thought of God himself, will do more to
make ^ man truly and solidly wise, than all the reading and
learning in the world, which shuts him out.
6. Walking with God doth fix the mind, and keep it
ftom diversioni^ and vagaries, and consequently much help-
eih to make men wise. A straggling mind is empty and un-
fbroished. He that hath no dwelling, for the most part hath
no wealth. Wandering is the beggar's life. Men do but
bewilder and lose themselves, and not grow wise, whose
thoughts are tanging in the corners of the earth, and are like
maaterless dogs, that run up and down according to thevt
kxkcajfi^jaLd.ioaygo any whither, but have b\x^\ive%^tvo''<nW\<^«^
256 THE DIVINE LIFE.
The creature will not fix the soul ; but God is the centre of
all our thoughts : in him only they may unite, and fix, and
rest. He is the only loadstone that can effectually attract
and hold it stedfast to himself. Therefore he that walks
with God is the most constant and unmoveable of men. Let
prosperity or adversity come ; let the world be turned up-
side down, and the mountains be hurled into the sea, yet he
changeth not : let men allure or threat, let them scorn or
rage, let laws, and customs, and governments, and interest
change, he is still the same. For he knoweth that God is
still the same, and that his word changeth not. Let that be
death one year, which was the way to reputation another,
and let the giddy world turn about as the ses^ons of the year,
this changeth not his mind and life (though in things lawful
he is of a yielding temper) : for he knoweth that the interest
of his soul doth not change with the humours or interests of
men: he still feareth sinning, for he knoweth that judgment
is still drawing on, in all changes and seasons whatsoever:
he is still set upon the pleasing of the most holy God, who-
ever be uppermost among men ; as knowing that the God
whom he serveth is able to deliver him from man, but man
is not able to deliver him from God. He still goeth on in
the holy path, as knowing that heaven is as sure and as de-
sirable as ever it was. " Surely he shall not be moved for
ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings : his heart is fixed,
trusting in the Lord : his heart is established, he shall not
be afraid." (Psal. cxii. 6, 7.)
7. He that walketh with God, hath the great master-
truths upon his heart, which are the standard of the rest, and
the stock, as it were, out of which they spring. The great
truths about God, and grace, and glory, have a greater
power than many hundred truths of an inferior nature. And
moreover, such a one is sure that he shall be wise in the
greatest and most necessary points. He is guilty of no ig-
norance or error thaA shall keep him out of heaven, or hinder
his acceptance with his God. And if he be wise enough to
please God and to be saved, he is wise indeed (as before
was hinted).
8.. Walking with God doth take off the vizor of deluding
things, and keepeth us out of the reach and power of those
objecta and arguments wYvVcVi %x& tVi^ m^tcuments of deceit
WAliKINO WITH GOD. 257
When a tnan liaUi been believingly and seriously with God,
how easily can he see through the sophistry of the tempting
world ! How easily can he practically confute the reason-
ings of the flesh, and discern the dotage of the seeming
subtilties of wicked men, that will needs think they have
reason for that which is displeasing to their Maker, and
tends to the damning of their souls ! So far as a man is con-
Tersant with God, so far he is sensible, that all things are
nothing, which can be offered as a price to hire him to sin :
and that the name of preferment, and honour, and wealth,
or of disgrace, and imprisonment, and death, are words al-
most of no signification, as to the tempter's ends^ to draw
the. soul from God and duty. It is men that know not God,
and know not what it is to walk with him, that think these
words 80 big and powerful, to whom wealth and honour do
signify more than God and heaven ; and poverty, disgrace
aad death, do signify more than God's displeasure and ever-
lasting punishment in helL As it is easy to cheat a man
that is far from the light, so is it easy to deceive the most
learned man that is far from God.
9. Walking with God, doth greatly help us against the
deceitful and erroneous disposition of our own hearts. The
will hath a very great power upon the understanding : and
tharefore ungodly, fleshly men will very hardly receive any
truth which crosseth the carnal interest or disposition : and
will hardly let go any error that feedeth them; because
their corrupted wills are a bias to their understandings, and
make them desperately partial in all their reading and hear-
ing, and hypocritical in their prayers and inquiries after
truth. Interest and corruption locketh up their hearts from
their own observation. Whereas a man that walketh with
God, that is jealous, and holy, and just, and a searcher of
the heart, is driven from hypocrisy, and forced to behave
himself as in the open light, and to do all as in the sight of
all the world, as knowing that the sig:ht of God is of far
greater concernment and regard. The partiality, corruption
and bias, of the heart, is detected and shamed by the pre-
sence of God. Therefore to walk with God is to walk in
the light, and as children of the light, and not in darkness.
And he that doth truth " cometh to the light, that his deeds
might be manifest, that they are wrought in God : when
VOL. XIII. 8
258 THE DIVINE XilFE. ^
every one that doth evil hateth the light ; neithcnr eometh id
the light lest his deeds should be reproved. And 4kis is
their condemnation^ that light is come into the world, and
men love the darkness rather than the light, because their
deeds are evil." (Johniii. 19 — 21.) It tendeth therefore ex-
ceedingly to make men wise, to walk with God, because it
is a walking in the light, and in such a presence as most
powerfully prevaileth against that hypocrisy, deceitfolness
and partiality of the heart, which is the common cause of
damning error.
10. Lastly, they that walk with God are entitled by many
promises, to the guidance and direction of his Spirit. And
blessed are those that have such a guide : at once a light in
the world without them, and a light immediately from God
within them. For so far as he is received and worketh in
Uiem, he will lead them into truth, and save them from de-
ceit and folly, and having ** guided ih^m by his counsel^ Will
afterwards take them unto glory." (Psal. Ixxiiii24.) Where-
as the ungodly are led by the flesh, and often ** given up to
their own heart's lusts, to walk in their own counsels;''
(Rom. viii. 1. 13 ; Psal. Uxxi. 12 ;) till at last'' the fools do
say in their hearts, there is no God ;" (Psal. xiv. 1 ;) *' and
they become corrupt and abominable, eating up the people
of the Lord as bread, and call not on his name :" (ver. 2.8cc.:)
''Deceiving and being deceived: sensual, having not the
Spirit;'* (Jude 19;) "who shall receive the reward of their
unrighteousness, as accountii^ it pleasure to riot in the day i
time.*' (2 Pet. ii. 13.) x
IV. Another benefit of walking with God is, that it
maketh men good, as well as wise. It is the most excellent
means for the advancement of man's soul to the highest de-
gree of holiness attainable in this life. If conversing with
good men doth powerfully tend to make men good ; con*
versing with God must needs be more effectual ; which may
appear in these particulars.
1. The apprehensions of the presence and attributes of
God, do most effectually check the stirrings of corruption,
and rebuke all the vicious inclinations and motions of the
soul: even the most secret sin of the heart, is rebuked by
his presence, as well as the most open transgression of tbe
WALKING WITH GOD. 259
life : for the thoughts of the heart are open to his Tiew. All
that is done before God, is done as4n,tbe open light: no-
thing of it can be hid : no sin can have the encouragement
of secresy to embolden it. It is all committed in the pre^
sence of the universal King and Lawgiver of the world, who
hath forbidden it* It is done before him that most abhorreth
it, and will never be reconciled to it. It is done before him
that is the Judge of die world, and will shortly pass the sen-
tence on us according to what we have done in the body. It
standeth up in his presence who is of infinite majesty and
perfection, and therefore most to be reverenced and ho-
noured : and therefore if the presence of a wise, and grave,
and venerable person will restrain men from sin, the pre-
sence of God apprehended seriously, will do it much more.
It is committed before him who is our dearest friend, and
tender Father, and chiefest Benefactor : and therefore in-
genuity, gratitude and love will all rise up against it in those
that walk with God. There is that in God, before the eyes
of those that walk with hin.. which ia most contraxy toTin,
and most powerful against it of any thing in the world*
Every one will confess, that if men's eyes were opened to
see the Lord in glory standing over them, it would be the
most powerful means to restrain them firom transgressing.
The drunkard would not then venture upon his cups : the
fbnucator would have a cooling for his lusts : the swearer
would be afraid to take his Maker's name in vain : the pro-
fane would scarce presume to scorn or persecute a holy life.
And he that walketh with God, though he see him not cor-
porally, yet seeth him by faith, and livethasin his presence ;
and therefore must needs be restrained from sin, as having
the means which is next to the sight of God. If pride should
begin to stir in one that walks with God» O what a power-
ful remedy is at hand! How eflfectually would the presence
of the great and holy God rebuke it ! aiad constrain us to
say as Job xlii. 5, 6, " I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I ab-
hor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." If worldly love,
or carnal lust, should stir in such a one, how powerfully
would the terrors of the Lord repress it; and his majesty
rebuke it; and his love and goodness overcome it! If
worldly cares oar murmuring discontents begin to trouble
such a one ; how effectually will the goodness, tVie %!i\-«M&-
260 THE DIVINE LIF£.
ciency and the faithfulness of God allay them, and quiet and
satisfy the soul, and cause it to be offended at its own.of-
fence, and to chide itself for its repinings and distrust ! If
passion arise and begin to discompose us, bow powerfully
will the presence of God rebuke it ! and the reverence of
his majesty y and the sense of his authority and pardoning
grace will assuage it, and shame us into silent quietness !
Who dare let out his passions upon man, in the presence of
his Maker, that apprehendeth his presence ? The same I
might say of all other sins.
2. The presence and attributes of God apprehended by
those that walk witli him, is the potent remedy against temp-
tations. Who will once turn an eye to the gold and glory
of the world, that is offered him to allure to sin, if he see
God stand by ? Who would be tempted to lust or any sin-
ful pleasure, if he observe the presence of the Lord ? Satan
can never come in so ill a time with his temptations, and
have so little hope to speed, as when the soul is contemplat-
ing the attributes of God, or taken up in prayer with him,
or any way apprehensive of his presence. The soul that
faithfully walks with God, hath enough at hand in him to
answer all temptations. And the further any man is from
God, and the less he knoweth him, the more temptations can
do upon him.
3. The presence of God affordeth the most powerful mo-
tives unto good, to those that walk with him. There is no
grace in man, but is from God, and may find in God its pro-
per object or incentive. As God is God, above the creature
transcendently and infinitely in all perfections, so all the
motives to goodness which are fetched from him, are trans-
cendently above all that may be fetched from any creature.
He that liveth always by the fire, or in the sunshine, is most
like to be warm. He that is most with God, will be most
like to God in holiness. Frequent and serious converse with
him, doth most deeply imprint his communicable attributes
on the heart, and make there the clearest impression of his
image. Believers have learned by their own experience,
that one hour*s serious prayer, or meditation, in which they
can get nigh to God in the Spirit, doth more advance their
grace, than any help that the creature can afford them.
4. Moreover those that walk with God, have not only a
powerful, but an universal incentive for the actuating and
V^ALKINO WITH OOD. 361
increasing of every grace. Knowledge, and faith, and fear,
and love, and trust, and hope^ and obedience, and zeal, and
all have in God their proper objects and incentives. One
creature may be useful to us in one thing, and another in
another thing ; but God is the most effectual mover of all
his graces : and that in a holy harmony and order. Indeed
he hath no greater motive to draw us to love him, and fear
him, and trust him, and obey him, than himself. *' It is life
eternal to know him in his Son :'' (John xvii. 3 :) and that
is, not only because it entitleth to life eternal, but also be-
cause it is the beginning and incentive of that life of holi-
ness which will be eternal.
5. Moreover, those that walk with God, have a constant
as well as a powerful and universal incentive to exercise and
increase their graces. Other helps may be out of the way :
their preachers may be silenced or removed : their friends
may be scattered or taken from them : their books may be
forbidden, or not at hand : but God is always ready and
willing ;- they have leave at all times to come to him, and
be welcome. Whenever they are willing they may go to him
by prayer or contemplation, and find all in him which they
can desire. If they want not hearts, they shall find no
want of any thing in God. At what time soever fear would
torment them, they may draw near and put their trust in
him. (Psal. Ivi. 2— -4 ; xi. 1 ; xviii. 2. 30; xxxi. 1. 6.) He
will be a sure and speedy refuge for them, a very present help
in trouble. (PsaL xlvi. 1 ; Ixii. 7, 8; XGi.2. 9 ;-xciv. 22.)
Whenever coldness 6t lukewarmness would extinguish the
work of grace, they may go to him, and find those streams of
flaming love flow from him, those strong attractives, those
wonderful mercies, those terrible judgments, of which, while
they are musing, the fire may again wax hot within them.
Psid. xzxix. 3.
6. Lastly, by way of encouraging reward, God useth to
give abundantly of his grace, to those that walk most faith-
fully with him. He will shew most love to those that most
love him. He will be nearest to them that most desirously
draw nigh to him ; while he forsaketh those' that forsake
him, and tumeth away from those that turn away from him.
"The hand of our God is for good upon all them that seek
lum \ bat his power and his wrath is against all theia llvdA.
forsake him.'' (2 Chron. xv. 2 ; Prov. i. 32 \ "Eat^. nvv\. *i^»^^
86S THE DIVINE LIFE.
Thus it is apparent in all these eyidences, that walking
wiih God, is not only a discovery of the goodness that men
have, but the only way to increase their grace, and make
them better* O what a sweet humility, and seriousness,
and spirituality appeareth in the conference, or co&Tersa-
tioB. or both, of those that newly come from a beUeTing,
clofe converse with God ! When they that come from men
and books, may have but a common mind or life. And those
that come from the business and pleasure of the world and
fleshi and from the company of foolish, riotous gallants^ may
come defiled, as the swine out of the mire !
V. Lastly to walk with God, is the best preparation for
times of suffering, and for the day of death. As we must be
judged according to what we iiave done in the body ; so the
nearer we find ourselves to judgment, the more we shall bcf
constrained to judge ourselves according to what we have
done, and shall the more perceive the effect upoii o«r
souls.
That this is so excellent a preparative for sufferings
and death, will appear by the consideration of these par*
ticulars.
1. They that walk with God are most safe from all des-
tructive sufferings ; and shall have none but what are sanc-
tified to their good. (Rom. viii. 28.) They are near ta God,
where destruction cometh not ; as the chicken under the
wings of the hen. They walk with him that will not lead
them to perdition : that will not neglect them, nor sell them
for nought, nor expose them to the will of men and devils,
though he may suffer them to be tried for their good. No
one can take them out of his hands. Be near to him» and
you are safe: the destroyer cannot fetch you thence. He
can fetch you (when the time is come) from the side of your
merriest companions, and dearest friends; from the presence
of the greatest princes ; from the strongest tower, or most
sumptuous palace, or from your heaps of riches, in your se-
curest health : but be cannot take you from the arms of
Christ, nor from under the wings of your Creator's love.
'* For there is no god like him, in heaven above, or on the
earth beneath, who keepeth covenant and mercy with his
servants, that walk before him with all their heart." (1 Kings
vHL 23 ; xi. 38.) However we are used in our Father's pre-
WALKING WITH ODD. 26S
Bence, we are sure it shall be for good m the latter end : folr
he wanteth neither power nor love to deliver ws, if he saw
deliverance to be best.
2. Walking with Qod is the surest way to obtain a cer-
tainty of his special love, and of our salvation. And what
an excellent preparative for sufierings or death such assa*»
ranee i8> I need not tell any considerate believer. How easy
may it be to us to suffer poverty, disgrace or wrongs, or the
pains of sickness or death, when once we are certain that
we shall not suffer the pains of hell ! How cheerfully may
we go out of this troublesome world, and leave the greatest
prosperity behind us, when we are sure to live in heaven for
ever f Even an infidel will say, that he could suffer or die,
if he could but be certain to be glorified in heaven when he
is dead !
3. Walking with Gted doth mortify the fiesh, and all the
affections and lusts thereof. The soul that is taken up with
higher matters, and daily seeth things more excellent, be-
Cometh as dead to the things below : and thus it weaneth
us from all that in the world which seemeth most desirable
to carnal m^n. And when the flesh is mortified, and the
world is nothing to us, or but as a dead or loathsome car-
cass, what is there left to be very troublesome in any suffer-
ing from the world f Or to make us loath by death to leave
it? It is men that know not God, that overvalue the profits
and honours of the world ; and men that never felt the com-
forts of communion with God, that set too much by the plea*
sures of the flesh : and it is men that set too much by these,
that make so great a matter of suffering. It in he that basely
overvalueth wealth, that whineth and repineth when be
comes to poverty. It is he that sets too much by his ho-
aour, and being befooled by his pride, doth greatly esteem
the thoughts or applauding words of men, that swelleth
against those that disesteem him, and breaketh his heart
when he falleth into disgrace. He that is cheated out of
his wits by the pomp and splendor of a high and prosperous
estate, doth think he is undone when he is brought low.
But it is not so with him that walks with God : for being
taken tip with far higher things, he knoweth the vanity of
these. As he seeth not in them any thing that is worthy of
bis strong desires, so neither any thing that is worthy of
much lamentation when they are gone. He never thought
2<i4 TU1£ PI YIN £ LIF£.
that a shadow, or feather, or a blast of wind could make him
happy : and he cannot think that the loss of these can make
him miserable. He that is taken up with God» hath a higher
interest and business, and findeth not himself so much con-
cerned in the storms or calms that are here below, as others
are, who know no better, and never minded higher things.
4. Walking with God doth much overcome* the fear of
man. The fear of him who can destroy both soul and body
in hell fire, will extinguish the fear of them that can but kiU
the body. (Luke xii. 4.) The threats or frowns of a worm
are inconsiderable to him that daily walketh with the great
and dreadful God, and hath his power and word for his se-
curity. As Moses ** esteemed the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt, because he had respect
to the recompence of reward ; so he feared not the wrath of
the king, for he endured as seeing him that is invisible."
Heb.xi.27.
5. Walking with God doth much prepare for sufferings
and death, in that it breedeth quietness in the conscience.
So that when all is at peace within, it will be easy to suffer
any thing from without. Though there is no proper merit
in our works to comfort us, yet it is an unspeakable conso-
lation to a slandered, persecuted man to be able to say,
' These evil sayings are spoken falsely of me, for the sake of
Christ : and I suffer not as an evil doer, but as a Christian.'
And it is matter of very great peace to a man that is hasting
unto death, to be able to say as Hezekiah, ** Remember now,
O Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a
perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy
sight." (2 Kings xx. 3.) And as Paul, 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. " I
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have
kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness," &c. And as 2 Cor. i. 12. *' For our re-
joicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in sim-
plicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by
the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the
world.*' Such a testimony of conscience is a precious cor-
dial to a suffering or a dying man. The time we have spent
in a holy and heavenly conversation, will be exceedingly
sweet in the last review, when time spent in sinful vanity,
and idleness, and in worldly and fleshly designs, will be.
grievous and tormenting. The day is comings and is even
WALKING WITH QOD. 265
at band, whea thoae that are now the most hardened infidels,
or obstinate, presumptuoas sinners, or scornful, malicious
enemies of holiness, would wish and wish a thousand times,
that they had spent that life in a serious, obedient walking
with God, which they spent in seeking worldly wealth, and
laying up a treasure on earth, and feeding the inordinate
desires of their flesh. I tell you, it is walking with God,
that is the only way to have a sound and quiet conscience :
and he that is healing and settling his conscience upon the
love of God and the grace of Christ, in the time of prospe-
rity, is making the wisest preparation for adversity : and the
preparation thus made so long before (perhaps twenty, or
forty, or threescore years or more) is as truly useful and com-
fortable at a dying hour, as that part which is made imme-
diately before. I know that besides this general preparation,
there should be also a particular, special preparation for
sufferings and death : but yet this general part is the chief*
est and most necessary part. A man that hath walked in '
his life- time with God, shall certainly be saved, though
death surprise him unexpectedly, without any more particu-
lar preparation. But a particular preparation without either
such a life, or such a heart as would cause it if he had re-
covered, is no sufficient preparation at all, and will not serve
to any man's salvation. Alas! what a pitiful provision doth
that man make for death and for salvation, who neglecteth
his soul, despiseth the commands of God, and disregardeth
the promises of eternal life,, till he is ready to die, and then
cryeth out, ' 1 repent, I am sorry forvmy sin, I would I had
lived better :' and this only from the constraint of fear,
without any such love to God and holiness which would
make him walk with God if he should recover. What if
the priest absolve this man froiti all his sins ? Doth God
therefore absolve him? Or shall he thus be saved ? No, it
is certain that all the sacraments and absolutions in the
world will never serve to save such a soul, without that
grace which must make it new and truly holy. The abso-
lution of a minister of Christ, which is pronounced in his
name, is a very great comfort to the truly penitent : for such
God hath first pardoned by his general act of oblivion in the
Gospel, and it is God that sendeth his messenger to them
(in sacraments and ministerial absolution) with that pardon
particularised and applied by themselves. B^iV. v^^\e ^<^
286 THE DIVINE LIPB.
heart is not truly penitent and convertedi that person is not
pardoned by the Gospel, as being not in the coTeoant^ or a
child of promise ; and therefore the pardon of a ministeri
being upon mistake, or to an unqualified person, can reaoh
no further than to admit him into the esteem of men, and to
the communion and outward privileges of the church (which
is a poor comfort to a soul that must lie in hell) : but it can
never admit him into the kingdom of heaven« God indeed
may approve the act of his ministers, if they go according
to his rule, and deal in church administrations with those
that make A CREDIBLE PROFESSION of FAITH and
HOLINESS, as if they had true faith and holiness : but yet
he will not therefore make such ministerial acts efiectual to
the saving of unbelieving or unholy souls. Nay (because I
have found many sensual, ungodly people inclining to turn
Papists, because with them they can have a quick and easy
pardon of their sins, by the pope, or by the absolution of the
priest) let me tell such, that if they understand what they doi
even this cheat is too thin to quiet their defiled consciences:
for even the Papist's school doctors do conclude, that when
the priest absolveth an impenitent sinner, or one that is not
qualified for pardon, such a one is not loosed or pardoned
in heaven. (Leg. Martini de Ripalda Exposit. Liber. Magist
lib. 4. dist. 18. p. 654, 655, and p. 663, 664, dist. 20. Aqnin.
dist.'20. q. 1. a. 5. Suar. Tom. 4. in 3. p. disp. 52. Greg. Va-
lent. Tom. 4. disp. 7. q. 20. p. 5. Tolet. lib. 6. cap. 27. Na-*
var. Notab. 17. and 18. Cordub. de indulg. lib. 5. q. 23.)
They deny not the truth of those words of Origen. Horn. 14.
ad cap. 24. Levit. ' Exit quis k fide, perexit de castris Ec*
desiser etiamsi, Episcopi voce non abjiciatur : sicut contra
interdum fit, ut aliquis non recto judicio eorumqui praraunt
Ecdesiee, foras mittatur: sed si non egit ut mereretur exire,
nihil Iseditur : interdum enim quod foras mittitur,intu8 est ;
et qui foris est, intus videtur retineri.* And what he saith
of excommunication, is true of absolution : an erring key
doth neither lojck out of heaven, nor let into heaven. A
godly believer shall be saved though the priest condemn him :
and an unbeliever or ungodly person shall be condemned by
God, though he be absolved by the priest.
Nay, if you have not walked with God in the Spirit, but
walked after the flesh, though your repentance should be
aaund and true at the last, it vrill yet very hardly serve to
wAXi&iNo WITH aov. 987
comfort yoa» though it may serve to your Ralvation : because
you will very hardly get any assurance that it is sincere. It
is dangerous lest it should prove but the effect of fear (which
will not save) when it cometh not till death do fright you to
it. As Augustine saiih, ^ NuUus expectet, quando peccare
non|>otest: arbitrii enim libertatem qusBrit Deus, ut deleri
possint commissa; non necessitatem^ sed charitatem, non
tantum timorem : quia non in solo timore vivit homo/ There-
fore the same Augustine saith, 'Siquis positus in ultima
necessitate voluerit accipere poenitentiam, et accipit ; fateor
vobisy non illi negamus quod petit ; sed non prsesumimus
quod bene hinc exit : si securus hinc exierit, ego nescio :
Poenitentiam dare possumus, securitatem non possumus.'
You see then how much it is needful to the peace of con-
science at the hour of death, that you walk with God in the
time of life.
6. Moreover, to walk with God is an excellent prepara-
tion for sufferings and death, because it tendeth to acquaint
the 80ul with God, and to embolden it both to go to him in
prayer, and to trust on him, and expect salvation from him.
He that walketh with Ood is so much used to holy prayer,
that he is a man of prayer, and is skilled in it, and hadi tried
what prayer can do wiUi Ood : so that in the hour of his ex*^
tremity, he is not to seek either for a God to pray to, or a
Mediator to intercede for him, or a Spirit of adoption to en-
able him as a child to fly for help to his reconciled Father.
And having not only been frequently with God, but fre*
queptly entertained and accepted by him, and bad his
prayers heard and granted, it is a great encouragement to an
afflicted soul in the hour of distress, to go to such a God for
help. And it is a dreadful thing when a soul is ready to go
out of the world, to have no comfortable knowledge of Grod,
or 8kiU to pray to him, or encouragement to expect aeeep-
tance with him : to think that he must presently appear be-^
fore a ^God whom he never knew, nor heartily loved, being
never acquainted with that communion with him in the way'
of grace, which is the way to communion in glory ; O what
a terrible thought is this ! But how comfortable is it when
the soul can say, ' I know whom I have believed. The God
that afflicteth me is he that loveth me, and hath manifested
his love to me by his daily attractive, assisting and aoc^l*
iag grace. 1 am going by death to see him mtu\l\yc\^ ^vAvo\£l
269 THE DIVIN£ LIFE.
I have often see by the eye of faith, and to live with him in
heaven, with whom I lived here on earth : from whom, and
through whom, and to whom was my life ! I go not to an
enemy, nor an utter stranger, but to that God who was the
spring, the ruler, the guide, the strength and the comfort of
my life ! He hath heard me so oft, that I cannot think he
will now reject me. He hath so often comforted my. soul,
that I will not believe he will now thrust me into helL . He
hath mercifully received me so oft, that I cannot believe he
will now refuse me. Those that come to him in the way of
grace, I have found he will in no wise cast out.' As strange-
ness to God doth fill the soul with distrustful fears, so waJk<»
ing with him doth breed that humble confidence, which is a
wonderful comfort in the hour of distress, and a happy pre-
paration to sufferings and death.
7. Lastly, to walk with God, doth increase the love of
God in the soul, which is the heavenly tincture, and inclin-
eth it to look upward, and being weary of a sinful flesh and
world, to desire to be perfected with God. How happy a
preparation for death is this, when it is but the passage to
that God with whom we desire to be, and to that place where
we fain would dwell for ever ! To love the state and place
that we are going to, being made connatural and suitable
thereto, will much overcome the fears of death. But for a
soul that is acquainted with nothing but this life, and Ba-
voureth nothing but earth and flesh, and hath no connatu-
rality with the things above, for such a soul to be surprised
with the tidings of death, alas ! how dreadful must it be.
And thus I have shewed you the benefits that come by
walking with God, which if you love yourselves with a ra-
tional love, methinks should resolve every impartial, consi-
derate reader, to give up himself without delay, to so desir-
able a course of life. Or, if he have begun it, to follow it more
cheerfully and faithfully than he had done.
CHAP. VII.
I am next to shew you that believers have special obliga-
tions to this holy course of life, and therefore are doubly
faulty if they neglect it ; though indeed, to neglect it totally,
or in the main drift of their lives, is a thing inconsistent
with a living faith.
Coi^sider, 1* If you ^.te Itwe Christians, your relations
WALKING WITH GOD. 269
engage you to walk with God. Is he not your reconciled
Father, and you his children in a special sense ? And whom
should children dwell with, but with their Father ? You
were glad when he received you into his covenant that he
would enter into so near a relation to you, as he expresseth,
(2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.) " I will receive you, and will be a Father
to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the
Lord Almighty." And do you draw back, as if you re-
pented of your covenant ; and were not only weary of the
d^ty> but of the privileges and benefits of your relation ?
You may have access to God when others are shut out :
your prayers may be heard, when the prayers of the wicked
are abominable : you may be welcome, when the worldlings,
and ambitious, and carnstl are despised. He that dwelleth
in the highest heaven, is willing to look to you with respect,
and '' dwell with you, when he beholdeth the proud afar off."
(Isa. Ixvi. 1, 2 ; Ivii. 15, 16.) And yet will you not come
that may be welcome? Doth he put such a difference be-
tween you and others, as to feed you as children at his ta^
ble, while others are called dogs, and are without the doors,
and have but your crumbs and leavings ? And yet will you
be so foolish and unthankful, as to run out of your Father's
presence, and choose to be without among the dogs ? How
came your Father^s presence to be so grievous to you ? and
the privileges of his family to seem so vile ? Is it not some
anchildlik^ carriage 9 the guilt of some disobedience or con-
tempt that hath first caused this ? Or have you fallen again
in love with fleshly pleasures, and some vanity of the world ?
Or have you had enough of God and godliness, till you be-
gin to grow aweary of him? If so, you never truly knew
him. However it be, if you grow as indifferent to God, do
not wonder if shortly you find him set as light by you. And
believe it, the day is not far off, in which the Fatherly rela-
tion of God, and the privileges of children, will be more es-
teemed by you : when all things else forsake you in your
last distress, you will be loath that God should then forsake
you, or seem as a stranger to hide his face. Then you will
cry out, as the afflicted church, " Look down from heaven,
aad behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy
glory. Where is thy zesd and thy strength ? the sounding
of thy bowels, and of thy mercies towards me ? are they
restrained ? Doubtless thou art our Father : iVvougVi X>a\^-
270 THE DIVINE LIFE.
ham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us n6t>4hou,
O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer, thy name is from
everlasting," (Isa. Ixiii. 16, 16.) Nothing but God,' and his
Fatherly relation will then support you. Attend him there-
fore, and with reverent, obedient cheerfulness and delight,
converse with him as with your dearest Father. For since
the beginning of the world, men have not known by sensi-
ble evidence, either of the ear or the eye, " besides God him-
self, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him."
Isa. Ixiv. 4. Though he be '' wroth with us because we have
sinned, yet doth he meet him that rejoiceth and worketh
righteousness, that remembereth him in his ways." (Ver. 6.)
Say not, I have played abroad so long that I dare not now
go home : I have sinned so greatly, that I dare not speak to
him, or look him in the face. Come yet but with a penitent,
returning heart, and thou mayest be accepted through the
Prince of Peace. Prodigals find better entertainment than
they did expect, when once they do but resolve for home. If
he allow us to begin with '* Our Father which art in heaven,"
we may boldly proceed to ask forgiveness of our trespasses,
and whatever else is truly good for us. But,alas, as our iniqui-
ties seduce us away from Crod, so the guilt of them affright-
eth some from returning to him, and the love of them cor-
rupteth the hearts of others, and makes them too indifferent as
to their communion with him ; so that too many of his chiMfen
live as if they'did not know their Father, or had fc^gotten
him. We may say as Isa. lxiv« 6 — ^9. '' But we are all as im
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy ngg,
and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind
have taken us away : and there is none that calleth upon
thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee ; for
thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us be-
cause of our iniquities : but now, O Lord, thou art our Fa-
ther ; we are the clay, and thou our potter, and we are all
the work of thy hand. Be not wroth very sore, O Lord,
neither remember iniquity for ever. Behold, see, we beseech
thee, we are all thy people." 0> do not provoke your Fa-
ther to disown you, or to withdraw his help, or hide his.face,
or to send the rod to call you home ! for if you do, yon will
wish you had known the privileges of his presence, and had
kept nearer to him ! Be not so unnatural, so unthankful,
WALKING WITH GOD. 271
90 aakinid, as to be weary of your Father^s presence, (and
such a Father's too) and to take more delight in any others.
Moreover you are related to God in Christ, as a wife
unto a husband, as to covenant union, and nearness and
deamess of affection, and as to his tender care of you for
your good : and is it seemly, is it wisely or gratefully done
of you, to desire rather the company of others, and delight
in creatures more than him 7 (Isa. liv. 6, 6.) How affec-
tionately doth thy Maker call himself the Husband of his
people ! And can thy heart commit adultery, and forsake
him ? '^ My covenant they brake, though I was an Hus-
band to them, saith the Lord/' (Jen xxxi. 32.) O put not
Qod to exercise his jealousy. It is one of his terrible attri-
butes, to be '^ a jealous God.'* And can he be otherwise to
thee, when thou lovest not his converse or company, and
carest not how long thou art from him in the world ? Woe
to thee if he once say a& Hos. ii. 2. '' She is not my wife,
neither am I her husband."
Nay, more than this, if you sure Christians, you are
members of the body of Christ ; and therefore how can you
withdraw yourselves from him, and not feel the pain and
torment of so sore a wound or dislocation ? You cannot live
without a constant dependance on him, and communication
from him: ^'I am the true Vine, and my Father is the Hus-
bandman : abide in me, and I in you.— - ■ I am the Vine, ye
are the branches ; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit ; for without me, ye can do
nothing. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,
ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.*'
(John XV. 1. 4, 5.)
So near are you to Christ, that he delighteth to acquaint
you with his secrets: O how many mysteries doth he re-
veal to those that walk with him, which carnal strangers
never know! mysteries of wisdom ! mysteries of love and
saving grace ! mysteries of Scripture, and mysteries of Pro-
vidence ! mysteries felt by inward experience, and mysteries
levealed, foreseen by faith! Not only the strangers that
pass by the doors, but even the common servants of the
family, are unacquainted with the secret operations of the
Spirit, and entertainments of grace, and joy in believing,
which those that walk with God either do or may possess.
Therefore Christ cdileth you friends, as being more than ser-
27S THE DIVINE LIFE.
Tants. '' Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I.command
yoa : henceforth I call you not servants ; for the servant
knoweth not what his Lord doth : bot I call you friends ;
for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made
known unto you.'* (John xv. 14> 15.) It is true, for all this,
that every true Christian hath reason (and is apt) to com-
plain of his darkness and distance from God. - Alas! they
know so little of him, and of the mysteries of his love and
kingdom, that sometimes they are apt to think that they are
indeed but utter strangers to him ; but this is, because there
is infinitely more still unknown to them than they know !
What ! can the silly shallow creature comprehend his infi*
nite Creator? or shall we know all that is to be known in
heaven, before we enjoy all that is to be enjoyed in heaven?
It is no more wonder to hear a believer pant and mourn af-
ter a fuller knowledge of God, and nearer access to him,
than to seek after heaven, where this will be his happiness.
But yet, though his knowledge of God be small, compared
with his ignorance, that little knowledge of God which he
hath attained, is more mysterious, sublime and excellent,
than all the learning of the greatest unsanctified scholars in
the world. Walk with him according to the nearness of
your relations to him, and you shall have this excellent
knowledge of his mysteries, which no books or teachers
alone can give. You shall be effectually touched at the
heart with the truths which others do uneffectually hear :
you shall be powerfully moved, when they are but uneffec-
tually exhorted. When they only hear the voice without
them, you shall hear the voice within you, and as it were
behind you, saying. This is the way, walk in it. O that you
could duly value such a friend, to watch over you, and for
you, and dwell in you, and tell you faithfully of every dan-
ger, and of every duty, and teach you to know good and
evil, and what to choose, and what to refuse ! how closely
and delightfully would you converse with such a blessed
friend, if you rightly valued him ! .
2. Moreover, you that are the servants of God, have by
your covenant and profession, renounced and forsaken all
things else (as they stand in any opposition to him, or com-
petition with him) and have resigned yourselves wholly un-
> to him alone ; and therefore with him must you converse,
and be employed, unless you will forsake your covenant.
WALKING WITH GOD. 273
You knew first that it was your interest to forsake the
world and to turn to God ; you knew the world would not
serve your turn, nor be instead of Ood to you« either in life,
or at death; and upon this knowledge it was that you
changed your master, and changed your minds, and changed
your way, your work, your hopes. And do you dream now
that you were mistaken ? Do you begin to think that the
world is fitter to be your God or happiness? if not, you
must still confess that both your interest and your covenant
do oblige you to turn your hearts and minds firom the things
which you have repounced, and to walk with him that you
have taken for your God, and to obey him whom you have
taken for your King and Judge, and to keep close to him
with purest love, whom you have taken for your everlasting
portion. Mark what you are minding all the day, while
you are neglecting God ; is it not something that you have
renounced? and did not you renounce it upon sufficient
cause ? was it not a work of your most serious deliberation?
and of as great wisdom, as any that ever you performed ? if
it were, turn not back in your hearts again from God unto the
renounced creature. You have had many a lightning from
heaven into your understandings, to bring you to see the
difference between them ; you have had many a teaching,
and many a warning, and many a striving of the Spirit, be-
fore you were prevailed with to. renounce the world, the
flesh and the devil, and to give up yourself entirely and ah- *
solutely to God. . Nay, did it not cost you the smart of
some afflictions, before you would be made so wise ? and
did it not cost you many a gripe of conscience, and many a
terrible thought of hell, and of the wrath of God, before you
would be heartily engaged to him, in his covenant ? And
will yoii now live as strangely and neglectfully towards him,
as if those days were quite forgotten ? and as if you had
never felt such things ? and as if you had never been so
convinced, or resolved ? O Christians, take heed of forget-
ting your former case ! your former thoughts ! your former
convictions, and complaints, and covenants ! God did not
work alt that upon your hearts to be forgotten ; he intended
not only your present change, but your after remembrance
of it, for your close adhering to him while you live ; and for
yonr quickening and constant perseverance to the end. The
VOL* XIII. T
274 THE DIYINfi L1P£«
forgetting of their former miseriegy and the workings of Ood
upon their hearts in their conversion^ is a great cause oS
mutability and revolting, and of unspeakable hurt to naiiy
a soul.
Nay> may you not remember also what sorrow you bad
in the day of your repentance, for your forsaking and nsg*
lecting God so long ? And will you grow again n^lectiire
of him? Was it then so heinous a sin in your eyes? and is
it now grown less ? Could you then aggravate it so msny
ways (and justly),- and now do you justify or extenuate it?
Were you then ready to sink under the burden of it? sad
were so hardly persuaded Uiat it would be forgiven yoa?
and now do you make so small a mattet of it? Did yva
then so much wonder at your folly, that could so long let
out your thoughts and affections upon the creature^ while
you neglected God and heaven ? and do yon begin to look
that way again ? Do you now grow familiar with a life so
like to that which was once your state of death ? and bear
that easily that once was the breaking of your heart? 0
Christians, turn not away from that God again, who once
fetched you home, with so much smart and so much grace I
with such a twist of love and fatherly severity ! M ethiukfl
when you remember how you were once awakened^ you
should not easily fall asleep again* And when you remem-
ber the thoughts which then were in your hearts, and the
tears that were in your eyes, and the earnest prayers which
you then put up, that God would receive* and take you for
bis own, you should not now forget him, and live as if yoo
Could live without him* Remember that so for as you with-
draw your hearts from God, and let them follow inferior
things, so far you contradict his works upon your hearts?
so far you violate your covenant with him, or sin against
it ; so far you are revolters, and go against the principal
part of your professed religion ; yea; so far you are ungodly
as you thus withdraw your hearts ftom God. Cleave to
him, and prosecute your covenant, if you will have the
saving benefits of his love and covenant.
3. Moredver, die servants of God are doubly obliged to
walk with him, because they have had that experience of
goodness, the safety and sweetness of it, which strangers
have not. Do you not rememb^ how glad you were, when
WALKING WITH QUO. 276
y^m first bdieved Uiat be pardoned aod accepted y<^? . and
Ik^w nmeh; you rejoiced in bis love and entertaiiiiment?. and
bow mucb better yoa found your Falber*a booae,. than ever
you had found your sinful state? and bow much sweeter his
servii^ was» than you did before believe ? {t is likei yQu can
i*e8Aembcar soniething like that which is described in Luke xv*
20. 22 — 24k, *' And he arose and came to bis father ; but
when he was yet a great way off, his father saw bini» and
had compassion, and ran and fell on bis neck and kissed
him ; and the son said unto him« Father, I have sinned
against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to
be called thy son. !3ut the father said to bis servantSj^ Bring
forth the best robe and put it on himt. ^i^d put a ring on his
hand, aiid shoes on his feet, and bring tutber the fatted calf«
and kill it, and let us eat and be merry ; for this my son was
dead, and is alive again, he was lost, and is found." What
would you have thought or said of this prodigal^ if after all
this, he should have been weary of bis father's house and
company, and have taken more pleasure in his former coopw
pany? Would you not have said. He was a forgetful and
unthankful wretch, and worthy never more to be received t
I do not speak to you now as to apostates, that are turned
ungodly, and have quite forsaken Gpd and holiness ; but I
beseech you cK>nsider what it is, after such experiences and
obligfttioi;]^ ^ these, so much as to abate your love, and
grow remiss, and mindless, and indifferent, as if you were
weary of God, and were inclined to neglect him, and IpoV
agaiP ta the world for your hope, and satisfaction, and de-
light I As you love your souls, and as you would avoid the
sorrows which are greater than any that ever you felt, take
heed qf slighting the love that hath done such wonders for
yQ9, and of dealing so unthankfully with the everlasting
God, and of turning thus away from bim that bath received
]poo { Remember, whilst you live, tbe Ipve of your espousals.
Wa9 4jrod 9Q good to you at first, and holiness so desirable?
wl is it net so still ?
And I am sure that your own experienqe will bear wit-
assa, tb%t since that time, in all your lives, it never was so
wall witii you as when you walked mqst faithfully with
Qod* if yon b^ve received any fam and hurts, it hath beep
wbw yoii biiye straggled from him ; if ever you had safety,,
{^ce or joy, it hath been when you have beeu tve^xe^V. Xa^
S76 THE DIVINE LIF£.
him ; your wounds, and grief, and death, hath been the finrit
of your own ways, and of your forsaking him: your re-
covery, and health, and life, have been the fruit of his ways,
and of your adhering to him : many and many a time you
have confessed this, and have said. It is good for me to
draw near to God. He hath helped you when none else
could help you ; and comforted you when none else could
comfort you. How far are you above the worldling's happi-
ness, when you are nigh to God ! One lively thought of his
greatness, and excellency, and of his love to you in Jesus
Christ, will make the name of wealth, and honour^ and fii-
vour, and preferment, and sensual pleasures, to seem to you
as words of no signification. How indifferent will you be,
us to your prosperity in the world, when you feel what it is
to walk with God! If you are lively, experimental Chris-
tians, you have found this to be true : have you not found
that it is the very health and ease, and proper employment
of your souls to walk with God, and keep close to him?
and that all goes well with you while you can do thus, how-
ever the world doth esteem or use you? and that when you
grow strange or disobedient to God, and mindless of his
goodness, his presence and his authority, you are like the
stomach that is sick, and like a bone that is out of joint,
that can have no ease till it be healed, and restored to its
proper place ? No meats or drinks, no company nor recre-
ation, no wealth or greatness will serve to make a sick man
well, or ease the dislocated bones. Nothing will serve a
iaithful, holy soul but God ; this is the cause of the dolour
of his heart, and of the secret groans and complainings of
his life, because in this life of distance and imperfection, he
finds himself so far from God > and when he hath done all
that he can, he is still so dark, and strange, and cold in his
affections! When persecution driveth him from the ordi-
nances and public worship, or when sin hath set him at a
greater distance from his God, he bemoaneth his soul, as
David in his banishment from the tabernacle : ** As the hart
panteth after the water«brooks, so panteth my soul after
thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living
God ; when shall I come and appear before God ? My tears
have been my meat day and night, while they continually
say unto me. Where is thy God?" (Psal. xlii. 1, 2, &c.)
And it is no wonder, \f viVlb \v\^ ^teatest joy, he be yet
WALKING WITH BOD. 277
clonded with these sorrows, because he yet wanteth more of
(3od than he enjoyeth ; and his enjoying graces (love and
joy) are yet imperfect. But when he hath attained his
nearest approach to God, he will have fulness of delight in
fulness of fruition.
O Christians ! do I need to tell you, that after all the
trials you have made in the world, you have never fouBd
any state of life that was worthy your desires, nor that gave
yoa any true content, but only this living upon God ? If
you have not found such comfort here as others have done,
yet at least you have seen it afar off, within your reach ; as
men that in the Indies, in the discovery of plantations, ex-
pect gold mines, when they find those golden sands that
promise it. You have found a life which is certainly de-
sirable, and leadeth to joy in the midst of sorrow ; and it is
no small joy to have a certsun promise and prospect of
everlasting joy. It is therefore more excusable in those
that never tasted any better than the pleasures of the flesh,
to neglect this sweeter heavenly life, than it is in you, that
have been convinced by your own experience, that there is
no life to be compared with it.
4. Your walking with God is the necessary prosecution
of your choice and hopes of life eternal. It is your neces-
sary preparation to your enjoying him in heaven. And
have you fixed on those hopes with so great reason and de-
liberation, and will you now draw back and be slack in. the
prosecution of them? Have you gone so far in the way to
heaven, and do you now begin to look behind you, as if
yon were about to change yoiir mind ? Paul setteth you a
better example : ''Yea doubtless, I account all things but
loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord ; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be
found in him If by any m^ans I might attain to the re-
surrection of the dead ; not as though I had already attain-
ed, either were already perfect ; but I follow after,, if that I
may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of
Christ Jesus : brethren, I count not myself to have appre-
hended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things
which are before, I press towards the mark for the ^rix^ o(
the high calling- of God in Christ Jesus." (^PYiW. \\\. ft— VX.^
S78 THE »IVIN£ I.IPE.
Hfe ^e^Mnpareth bimsetf to a mniier in a race» thiHt till he ap-
prehend tbe prize or mAtk, doth 'Siill make forwaid with all
his mighty and will not so much as mind or look at any
tbif^ hehind him, that w<mld turn him back, or vtjop him in
his course. The world and the flesh are the things behind
us : we turned oar back-s upon them at our conversion,
when we turned to Qod : it is these that would now call
back our thoughts, and corrupt our afiections, when we
should run on, and reach forward to the heavenly prize : it
is God and heaven, and the remaining duties of a holy Hfe,
that are the things before us ! And shall we now look badL?
what we, that are running and striving fonr a crown cf exiA-
less glory ! we, that if we lose it, do lose our souls amd
hopes for e?er1 we, that have loitered in tbemoniing of our
lires, and lost so much precious time as we havie done ! we,
that have gone so far in our way, and held out thromgh «o -^
many difficulties and assaults ! shall we now grow weary of ?
walking with God, and begin to look to the things behind j
us ? Did he not tell us at the first, that father and mother, ^
and house and land, and life, 'and all things must be for- "'
saken for Christ, if we will be his disciples ? These are the
things behind us, which we turned our back on when we
consented to the covenant; and are they now gtown better?
or is God grown worse, that we turn our hearts from him to
tdiem? When we first begun our Christian race, it was iipcm
supposition that it was for that immortal crown, which all
the world is not to be compared to : and have we not still
the same consideration before us, to move us to hold on till
we attain it ? Hold on Christians, it is for heaven ; is there
not enough in that word to drive buck all tine cares and
pleasures, that importune your minds to forget your Gredf
is there not enough in that word to quicken you up in your
greatest dullness? and to call you home, when you ai£
wandering from God ; and to make you again fall out with
all that would reduce you, or divert you, and call it vanity
and vexation of spirit ? Methinks the forethought «of that
life and work which you hope to have with God for eynet,
should make you earnestly desire to have as much •of (the
like on earth, as is here to be attained ! If it will be your
lieaven and happiness then, it must needs be desirable now.
It is not beseeming a man that saith he is seeking for per-
feot communion wit\\ Go& uv Vi^vi^ti, ^»d that above att
WALKING WITH GOD. 279
things, (as every Christian doth) to live in a daily neglect or
forgetfalnesB of God on earth. Delightfully to draw near
hiiDy and exercise all our faculties upon him, or for him,
sometimes in prayer and contemplation on himself, and al-
ways in works of obedience to him ; this is the life that be-
seemeih those that profess to seek eternal life. O therefore
let us make it our daily work, to keep our God and glory
in our eye, and to spur on our dull affections, and in the
diligent attendance and following the Captain of our salva-
tion, to prosecute our expected end.
5. Lastly consider, that God doth purposely provide
you hard entertainment in the world, and cause every crea-
ture to deny you the pleasure and satisfaction which you
desire, that so you may have none to walk with but himself,
with any heart-settling comfort and content. If you see
no$ enough in him to allure you to himself, you shall feel
enough in the world to drive you to him : if his love and
goodness will not serve you alone to make him your plea-
sure, and hold you to him in the best, and most excellent
way (of love), at least the storms and troubles that are
abroad shall show you a necessity of keeping close to God ;
and the love of yourselves shall help you to do that, which
was not done by the attraction of his love alone. If you
will put him to it, to send out his command to every crea-
ture, to cross and vex you, and disappoint all expectations
from it, that so he may force you to remember your Father
and your home, deny not then but it is long of yourselves
that you were not saved in an easy way Would you wish
God to make that condition pleasant to you, which he seeth
you take too much pleasure in already (or seek and desire
it, at least)? when as it is the pleasantness of the creature
that is your danger, and which detaineth your thoughts and
affections from himself? If you could but learn to walk
with bim, and to take up your pleasure in his love appearing
to you in his creatures, and to make their sweetness a
means to your apprehension of the sweetness of his favour,
and of the everlasting joys, then you might say the crea-
ture doth you good ; and then it is like you might be per-
laiited to possess and use it for such pleasure. The jealous
Gk>d ^11 watch your hearts, though you watch them not ;
sad he will make you know that he seeth which way the^
ran out from him^ and what creature it is that \» mvcvdi^di^xA
280 THB DIVINB LIFfi.
delighted in» while he is neglected^ as if he were unsuitabk,
and scarce desirable. And you must never look that he
should long permit you those prohibited delights, or let you
alone in those idolatrous inclinations. If he love you, he
will cure that carnal love, and recover your love to himself
that hath deserved it. If he intended not your salvationt
he may let you go, and try again whether the creature will
prove better to you than himself; but you cannot think that
he will thus let go his children that must live with him for
ever. Have you not perceived that this is the design and
meaning of his afflicting and disappointing providences?
even to leave you no comfortable entertainment or converse
but with himself, and with his servants, and with those
means that lead you to himself? If you begin to desire to
lodge abroad in strange habitations, he will uncover those
houses, and will not leave you a room that is dry to put
your head in ; or he will throw open the doors, and leave
all open to the lust of ravenous beasts and robbers. He will
have thy heart, and he will have thy company, because thou
art his child, and because he loveth thee. He will allow
thee neither thy carnal delights nor hopes. If he perceive
thee either taking that pleasure in thy prosperity, which
thou shouldest take in him alone, or hoping at least that
the world may hereafter prove more amiable and delightful
to thee ; the more he loveth thee, the more his providence
shall conspire with his grace, to change thy mind, by de*
priving thee of thy unwholesome, dangerous delights, and
of all thy hopes of such hereafter. Use the world as a tra-
veller, for the ends to which it was ordained, to the service
of God, and the furtherance of thy salvation, and then thou
shalt find that God will furnish thee with all that is neces-
sary to these necessary ends : but if the world must have
your love and care, and must be your chiefest business and
delight, and your excuse for not attending upon God, mur-
mur not, nor marvel not, if he dispose of it and you accord-
ingly. If you are yet too healthful to think with seriousness
on your eternal state ; if you are too rich to part with all for
Christ, or openly to own his cause ; if you are too much
esteemed in the world to own a scorned, slandered religion ;
if you are so busy for earth, that you cannot have time to
think of heaven ; if you have so much delight in house or
land, or m your employment, or tecteations, or friends, that
WALKING WITH OOD. 281
God and godliness can have little or none of your delight :
marvel not then if God do shake your health, or waste your
riches^ or turn your honour into contempt, and suffer men
to. slander and reproach you, and spit in your face, and
make you of no reputation : marvel not if he turn you out
of all, or turn all to your grief and trouble, and make the
world a desert to you, and the inhabitants as wolves and
bears. The great lesson that Christ hath undertaken to
teach you, is the difference betwixt the Creator and the
creature, and Uie difference betwixt heaven and earth. The
great work that Christ hath undertaken to do upon you, is
to recover your hearts frOm the world to God : and this les-
son he will teach you, and this work he will do upon you,
whatever it cost you : for it must be done. Yet is not the
world unjust enough, or cruel, or vexatious enough to you,
to teach you to come home, and take up your content and -
rest in God ? It may then prove more cruel, and more vexa-
tious to you, till you have better learned this necessary les-
son. Yet is not your condition empty enough of carnal
delusory pleasures, to wean you from the world, and make
you look to surer things? Yet are you keeping up your
worldly hopes, that the world will again prove better to you,
and that you shall have happy days hereafter? It seems you
are not yet brought low enough : you must yet take another
purge, and perhaps a sharper than you took before : you
must have more bloodletting, till your deliration cease, and
your feverish thirst after creature comforts do abate. It is
sad that we should be so foolish and unkind, as to stay from
God, as long as any preferments, or pleasures, or profits in
the world, will entertain us : but seeing it is so, let us be
thankful both to that grace and that Providence which
cnreth us. If you perceive it not better to dwell with God,
than with a flattering, prospering world, he will try whether
yon can think it better to dwell with God, than with a ma-
licious, cruel, persecutii^ world : and whether it be better
to have your hearts in heaven, than in poverty, prison,
banishment or reproach. If you find it not better to con-
Terse with God, than with those that honour you, please
you, or prefer you ; he will try whether you can think it
better to converse with him, than with those that hate, re-
vile, belie, and persecute you. And are these the wise ^.xvA.
wholesome methods of our great Physician'! And ^\\?l)\ ^^
282 THE DIVINE LIFE.
not rather be ruled by him/ than by onr brutish appetites?
and think better of bis counsels, than of the blind concu^
piscence of the flesh ? Let this be the issue of all our suffer-
ings^ and all the cruelties and injuries of the world, to drive
us home to converse with Qod, and to tnm our desires, and
labours, and expectations, to the true felicity that never will
fi^rsake us ; and then, lihe will of the Lord be done ! Let
him choose his means, if this may be the end ; let us kiss
the rod. and not revile it. if this may be the fruit of his cor-
rections. Who will not pray that God woidd deny us those
contents, which keep us from seeking our content in him?
And that he would deny us all those hurtful pleasures
which binder us from pleasing him. or from making him
and his ways our dtdefest pleasure 7 and that he would per^
mit us no such creature-converse, as hindereth our converse
with him ? It is best living there (be it in prison or at liberty)
where we may live best to God. Come home. O suffering
Christian, to thy God ! take up thy content and rest in
him ; be satisfied with him as thy portion ; and remember
where it is that he is to be fully and perpetually enjoyed;
and then it is good for thee that thou wast afflicted ^ for all
thy sufferings have their end*
This last consideration will be further prosecuted in the
following part : and the Directions for Walking with God.
which I shall here give you. I have reserved for a peculiar
Treatise, entitled* '' A Christian Directory.''
283
PART III.
THS
CHRISTIAN'S CONVERSB WITH GOD :
OB,
TH£ INSUFFICIENCY AND CTNCBRTAINTY OF HUMAN FRIENDSHIP ;
AND TH£ IMPBX) VEBIENT OF SOLITUDE IN CONVERSE
WITH GOD : WITH SOME OF THE AUTHOR'S
BREATHINGS AFTER HUf.
JOHN xvi. 3«.
BeMd the kmir oom^, yea, k came, thai ye $ball he scMered
ea&y mam to his awm, mul shaU lea»e me alotte. And yet I
mm wxt abne, becmuae the Father is vfith me,
ilAviNG treated of our conforoaUy to Christ Mijufiecuig«,
in g«n^*al5 1 sinoe came distinctly to treat oi bis pfMrtieular
sufferiiigs in wbidi we januftt be conformed to bim: and baying
g(M)e over many of tbose particulars^ I am this >day to handle
the instance of '<2brist!s being forsaken by bi^ friends and
foUowec^/
He thouigbt meet to foretell tbem bow Jtb^y jshonld mani-
fest their infirmity and un^rnstiness in iJans ten^porary for-
saking of him« that so be might more fuUy convince tbem,
that he knew what was in man, and diat be kx^w fatnre con-
ting/cncies, (or things to come, which seem m>eAt dependant
on the wiU of man) and that he iKolruntarUy submitted to Jma
deserted stafte, and expected no support ftom creatuices, bnt
that man shonld then do least for Christ, when Cbml; was
doing most for man : that man by an untba&kfnJi forsakii^
Christ, should then manifest Jus forsaken, defdorate state,
wben Christ was to make a^onemeiU; for his reooncUiation
to God, <and wsts preparing tb9 most costly^ remedy for Jus
recoiv^i?. He foretold them of the jpEnit wbicb their ii»&r-
mity would produ4>e, U> bumble then^ that vi^ve ^$^ V^ >dm^
2S4 THE DIVINE LIFE.
too highly of themselves for the late free confession they had
made of Christ, when they had newly said, ** Now we are
sure that thou knowest all things : by this we are sure that
thou comest forth from God." (John xvi. 30.)
Heanswereth them, ''Do ye now believe? Behold the
hour cometh,'' &c. Not that Christ would not have his ser-
vants know his graces in them, but he would also have them
know the corruption that is latent, and the infirmity consis-
tent with their grace. We are very apt to judge of all that
is in us, and of all that we shall do hereafter, by what we feel
at the present upon our hearts. As when we feel the stirring
of some corruption, we are apt to think that there is nothing
else, and hardly perceive the contrary grace, and are apt to
think it will never be better with us : so when we feel the
exercise of faith, desire or love, we are apt to overlook the
contrary corruptions, and to think that we shall never feel
more. But Christ would keep us both humble and vigilant,
by acquainting us with the mutability and inconstancy
of our minds. When it goes well with us, we forget that
the time is coming when it may go worse. As Christ said
to his disciples here in the case of believing, we may say to
ourselves in that and other cases, ' Do we now believe V It
is well : but the time may be coining in which we may be
brought to shake with the stirrings of our remaining unbe-
lief, and shrewdly tempted to question the truth of Christi-
anity itself, and of the holy Scriptures, and of the life to
come. Do we now rejoice in the persuasions of the love of
God ? The time may be coming when we may think our-
selves forsaken and undone, and think he will esteem and
use us as his- enemies. Do we now pray with fervour, and
pour out our souls enlargedly to Grod ? It is well ; but the
time may be coming when we shall seem to be as dumb and
prayerless, and say, we cannot pray, or else we find ho au-
dience and acceptance of our prayers. Christ knoweth that
in us which we little know by ourselves ; and therefore may
foreknow that we will commit such sins, or fall into such
dangers, as we little fear.
What Christ here prophesieth to them, did afterwards
all come to pass. As soon as ever danger and trouble did
appear, they began to flag, and to shew how ill they could
adhere unto him, or suffer with him, without his special cor-
roborating grace. In the g^Tdexi Nvhftti he was sweating
CONVERSING WITH GOD I« SOLITUDE. 286
blood in prayer, they were sleeping: ''Though the spirit
was willing, the flesh was weak :" they could not V watch
with him one. hour." (Matt. xxvi. 40, 41.) When be was
apprehended, they shifted each man for himself, ^'Then all
the disciples forsook him and fled :" (ver. 66 :) and as this
is said to be ''that the Scriptures might be fulfilled/' (ver.
54.66,) SO it might be said to be, that this prediction of
Christ himself might be fulfilled. Not that Scripture pro*
phecies did cause the sin by which Uiey were fulfilled ; nor
that God caused the sin, to fulfil his own predictions, but
that God cannot be deceived who foretold in Scriptures long
before that thus it would come to pass. When it is said
that " thus it must be that the Scripture might be fulfilled,''
the meaning is not, that ' thus God will make it be,' or ' thus
he causeth men to do,' that he may fulfil the Scriptures. It
is not ' necessitas consequents vel causata,' that is inferred
from predictions; but only 'necessitas consequentise ;' a
•logical necessity ' in ordine cognoscendi et dicendi ;' not a
natural necessity ' in ordine essendi :' not a necessity of the
thing itself, as caused by the prediction or decree ; but a
necessity of the tfuth of this conclusion in arguing; 'such
a thing will be, because God hath decreed, foreknown or
foretold it:* or, 'whatever God foretelleth, must necessarily
come to pass ;' that is, will certainly come to pass : ' but
this God hath foretold: therefore this will come to pas&'
Here are three observable points in the text, that are
worthy our distinct consideration, though for brevity sake I
shidl handle them together.
1. Th^t Christ was forsaken by his own disciples and
left alone.
2. When the disciples left Christ, they were scattered
evei^ one to his own. They returned to their old habita-
tions,, and old acquaintance, and old employment, as if their
hopes and hearts had been almost brokep, and they had lost
all their labour in following Christ so long. Yet the root
of faith and love that still remained, caused them to inquire
farther of the end, and to come together in secret to confer
about these matters.
3. When Christ was forsaken of his disciples and left
alone, yet was he not forsaken of his Father, nor left so alone
Si to be separated from. him or his love.
> W« are now to consider of tins not otA^ a^ ^ ^%x\.aA>
tHU DIVINE I>1FE.
Cbrist'ft humiliation, but also as a point in wbiob vie moal
expect to be conformed to him. It GB&y possibly «eem
strange to us that Christ woald suffer alt hia disoiplea to
forsake him in his extremity ; and i doabt it will seem
strange to us, when in our extremity, and our tofferiog
for Christ (and perhaps for tliem) we shall find ourselves
forsaken by those that we most highly valued^ and had the
greatest familiarity with. But there are many reasons of
this permissive providence open to our observation*
!• No wonder, if when Christ was suffering for sin^ he
would even then permit the pow«r and odiousness. of sin to
break forth, that it might be known he suffered not in vain.
No wonder, if he permitted his followers to desert him; and
shew the latent unbelief, and selfishness, and luithankful*
ness that remained in them, that so they might know that
the death of Christ was as necessary for them as ficur others |
and the universality of the disease might shew the need that
the remedy should be universal. And it is none of Christ's
intent to make his servants to seem better than they are, to
themselves, or others, or to honour himself by the hiding of
their faults, but to magnify hia pardoning and healing graoe^
by the means or occasion of .their sins which he pardoneth
and healeth.
2. Hereby he will bring his followers to the fuller kuow<-
ledge of themselves, and shew them that which all their days
should keep them humble; and watchful, and save them from
presumption and trusting in themselves. When we have
made any full confession of Christ, or done him any c<xoMr
derable service, we are apt to say with the disciples, ** Be*
hold we have forsaken all and followed thee : what shall we
have ?*' (Matt. xix. 27*) As if they had rather been givers to
Christ than receivers from him ; and had highly merited at
his hands. But when Peter forsweareth him, and the rest
shift for themselves, and when they come to tbemselvea^
after such cowardly and ungrateful dealings ; then they will
better understand their weakness, and know en whom they
must depend.
3. Hereby also they shall better understand what they
would have been if Ood had left them to themseii^es, that
so they may be thankful for grace received, and may not
boast themselves against the miserable world, as if they had
made themselves to differ, and U%d not. received all that
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE* 287
fi^race by which they excel the ooaunon sort. When our falls
have hurt us and stmmed us, we shall know to whom we must
be beholden to support us.
4« Christ would permit his disciples thus far to forsake
him, because he would have no support from man, in his
sufferings for man. This was part of his Toluntary humilia-
tion, to be deprived of all earthly comforts, and to bear af-
fliction even from those few, that but lately were his faithful
servants. That men, dealing like men, and sinners, while
he was doing like God, and as a Saviour, no man might
challenge to himself the honour of contributing to the re*
demption of the world, so much as by encouraging the
Redeemer.
6. Christ did permit the faith and courage of his disci-
ples thus far to fail, that their witness to him might be of
the greater credit and authority, when bis actual resurrec-
tion, and the communication of the Spirit, should compel
them to believe* When all their doubts were dissipated,
they that had doubted themselves, and yet were constrained
to believe, would be received as the most impartial wit-
nesses by the doubting world.
(>• Lastly, by the desertion and dissipation of his disci-
ples, Christ would teach us whenever we are called to follow
him in suffering, what to expect from the best of men : even
to know that of themselves they are untrusty, and may fail
us : and therefore not to look for too much assistance or en-
couragement frpm them. Paul lived in a time when Chris*
tians were more self-denying and steadfast than they are
now. And Paul was one that might better expect to be
fitithfully accompanied in his sufferings for Christ, than any
of us: and yet he saith, " At my first answer no one stood
with nfte, but all men forsook me :" (2 Tim. iv* 16 :) and
prayeth, that it be not laid to their charge. Thus you have
seen some reasons why Christ consented to be lefl of all,
and permitted his disciples to desert him in his sufferings.
Yet, note here, that it is but a partial, temporary forsak-
ing that Christ permitteth ; and not a total or final forsak-
ing or apostacy. Though he will let them see that they are
yet men«he will not leave them to be but as other men : nor
win he quite cast them off, or suffer them to perish.
Kor is it idl alike that thus forsake him. Peter doth not
288 THE UIVK^E LIFE.
do as Judas. The sincere may manifest their infirmity ; b«t
the hypocrites will manifest their hypocrisy.
And accordingly in our sufferings, our familiars that
were false-hearted (as being worldlings and carnal at the
heart) may perhaps betray us» and set against us, or forsake
the cause of Christ, and follow the way of gain and honour.
When our tempted, shrinking friends, that yet may have
some sincerity, may perhaps look strange at us, and seem
not to know us, and may hide their heads and shew their
fears ; and perhaps also begin to study some self-deceiving
arguments and distinctions, and to stretch their consciences,
and venture on some sin, because they are afraid to venture
on affliction; till Christ shall cast a gracious; rebakii^,
quickening aspect on them, and shame them for their sinful
shame, and fear them from their sinful fears, and inflame
their love to him by the motions of his love to them, and des-
troy the love that turned them from him : and then the same
men that dishonourably failed Christ and us, and began to
shrink, will turn back and reassume their arms, and by pa-
tient suffering overcome, and win the crown, as we have
done before.
C/se.' Christians expect to be conformed to our Lord in
this part of his humiliation also. Are your friends yet fast
and friendly to you ? For all that expect that many of them,
at least, should prove less friendly : and promise not your-
selves an unchanged constancy in them. Are they yet use-
ful to you ? Expect the time when they cannot help you.
Are they your comforters and delight, and is their company
much of your solace upon earth? Be ready for the time
when they may become your sharpest scourges, and most
heart-piercing griefs, or at least when you shall say, *' We
have no pleasure in them." Have any of them, or all, already
failed you ? What wonder ? Are they not men, and sin-
ners? To whom were they ever so constant as not to fail
them ? Rebuke yourselves for your unwarrantable expec-
. tations from them : and learn hereafter to know what man
is, and expect that friends should use you as foUoweth.
1. Some of them that you thought sincere, shall prove
perhaps unfaithful and dissemblers, and upon fallings out,
or matters of self-interest, may seek your ruin. Are you
better than David, that had an Achitophel ? Or than Paul,
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE 289
that had a Demas? Or than Christ, that had a Judas? Some
will forsake God : what wonder then if they forsake you ?
*^ Because iniquity shall abound^ the love of many shall wax
cold.** (Matt. xxiv. 12.) Where pride and vain-glory, and
sensuality and worldliness are unmortified at the heart, there
is no trustiness in such persons: for their wealth, or honour,
or fleshly interest, they will part with God and their salva-
tion ; much more with their best deserving friends. Why
may not you, as well as Job, have occasion to. complain,
** He hath put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintance
are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed, and
my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in
my house, and my maidens, count me for a stranger : I am
an alien in their sight. I called my servant, and he gave me
ao answer: I entreated him with my mouth: my breath is
strange to my wife ; though I entreated for the childrens'
sake of my own body: yea, young children despised me : I
arose, and they spake against me : all my inward friends ab-
horred me ; and they whom I loved are turned against me.*'
(Job xix. 13 — 19.) Why may not you as well as David be
put to say, " Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
which did eat of my bread, hath lift up his heel against me.''
(Psal. xli. 9.) Those that have been most acquainted with
the secrets of your soul, and privy to your very thoughts, may
be the persons that shall betray you, or grow strange to you.
Those that you have most obliged by benefits, may prove
your greatest enemies. You may find some of your friends
like birds of prey, that hover about you for what they can
get, and when they have caught it fly away. If you have
given them all that you have, they will forsake you, and per-
haps reproach you, because you have no more to give them.
They are your friends more for what they yet expect from
you, than for what they have already received. If you can-
not still be helpful to them, or feed their covetous desires,
or supply their wants, you are to them but as one that they
had never known. Many a faithful minister of Christ hath
studied, and preached, and prayed, and wept for their peo-
ple's souls, and after all have been taken for their enemies,
and used as sucih ; yea even because they have done so much
for them. lakp the patient, that being cured of a mortal
sickness, sued /his physician at law for making him sick with
VOL. XIII. 1 U
)
290 THE DIVINE LIFE.
the physic. (But it is, indeed, our uncured patients only
that are offended with us.) Paul was accounted an enemy
to the Galatians, because he told them the truth. Ungrate-
ful truth maketh the faithfullest preachers most ungrateful.
It must seem no wonder to a preacher of the Gospel, when
he hath entreated, prayed and wept night and day for mise-
rable souls, and laid his hands as it were under their feet, in
hopes of their conversion and salvation, to find them after
all his bitterest enemies, and seeking his destruction, th^
could have laid down his life for their salvation. Jeremy
seemed too impatient under this affliction, when he, said,
** Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them i
that contend with me. Shall «vil be recompensed for good?
Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them,
and to turn away thy wrath from them. Therefore deliver
up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by
the force of the sword,*' 8w5, (Jer. xviii. 19, 20.)
Thus may ingratitude afflict you, and kindness be re-
quited with unkindness, and the greatest benefits be forgot-
ten, and requited with the greatest wrongs. Your old fa-
miliars may be your foes ; and you may be put to say as Je-
remy, " For I heard the defaming of many : fear on every
side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my fa-
miliars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will
be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall
take our revenge on him.*' (Jer. xx. 10.) Thus must the
servants of Christ be used, in conformity to their suffering
Head.
2. And some that are sincere, and whose hearts are with
you, may yet be drawn by temptation to disown you. When
malice is slandering you, timorous friendship may perhaps
be silent, and afraid to justify you or take your part. When
a Peter in such imbecility and fear can disown and deny his
suffering Lord, what wonder if faint-hearted friends disown
you, or me, that may give them too much occasion or pre-
tience ? Why may not you and I be put to say as David did,
" My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my S9re, and
my kinsmen stand afar off. They that seek after my life lay
snares for me : and they that seek my hurt speak mis-
chievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.**
(Psal. xxxviii. 11, 12.) The^ tlv^.t iufeatfulness will fail their
CONVERSING WITH COD IN SOLITUDE. 291
Maker and Redeemer, and hazard their salvation^ may by a
smaller temptation be drawn to fail such friends as we.
3. Moreover a hundred things may occasion fallings out
even ai^ongst unfeigned friends. 'Passions may cause incon-
venient actions or expressions, and these may cause passions
in their friends ; and these may grow so high till friends do
seem to one another to be like enemies. Paul and Barna-
bas may grow so hot, as to fall out to a parting. How easily
can Satan set fire on the tinder which he findeth in the best
and gentlest natures, if Ood permit him ? No friends so
near and dear, that passionate weaknesses may not either
alienate or make a grief to one another. How apt are we to
take unkindnesses at one another, and to be suspicious of our
friends, or offended with them ! And how apt to give occa-
sion of such offence ! How apt are we to censure one an-
other, and to misinterpret the words and actions of our
friends ! And how apt to give occasion of such mistakes
and cutting censures ! And the more kindness we have
found in, or expected from our friends, the more their real
or supposed injuries will affect us. We are apt to say, ' Had
it been a stranger, I could have borne it : but to be used thus
by my bosom or familiar friend, goes near my heart' And
indeed, the unkindnesses of friends is no small affliction ;
the suffering going usually as near the heart, as the person
that caused it was near it. Especially when our own weak-
ness causeth us to forget the frailty and infirmities of man,
and with what allowances and expectations we must choose
and use our friends ; and when we forget the love that re-
maineth in the midst of passions.
4. Also cross interests and unsuitabieness may exceed-
ingly interrupt the fastest friendship. Friendship is very
much founded in suitableness, and maintained by it : and
among mortals, there is no perfect suitableness to be found ;
but much unsuitabieness still remaineth. That which pleas-
eth one, is displeasing to another. One liketh this place,
and the other that : one liketh this habit, and the other that :
one is for mirth, and the other for sadness : one for talk, and
the other for silence : one for a public, and the other for a
private life. And their personality or individuation having
self-love as inseparable, will unavoidably cause a contrariety
of interests. The creature is insufficient for us : if one have
it, perhaps the other must want it : like a covering too uax-
292 THE DIVINE LIFE.
row for the bed. Sometimes our reputations seem to stand
cross, so that one man's is diminished by another's. And
how apt is envy to create a grudge, and raise unfriendly jea^
lousies and distastes ! Sometimes the commodity of one it
the discommodity of the other: and then mnte and tkkie
(which are contrary to the community of friendship) may
divide, and alienate, and make two of those that seemed one.
The instances of Abraham and Lot (upon the difference
among their servants), and of Isaac and Ishmael, and of Ja-
cob and Esau, and of Laban and Jacob, and of Leah and
Rachael, and of Joseph and his brethren, and of Saul and
David, and of Ziba, Mephibosheth and David, with many
others, tell us this. It is rare to meet with a Jonathan, that
will endearedly love that man to the death, who is appointed ^
to deprive him of a kingdom. If one can but say, I suffisr ^
by him, or I am a loser by him, it seemeth enough to excuse
unfriendly thoughts and actions. When you can gratify
the desires of all covetous, ambitious, self-seeking persons
in the world, or else cure their diseases, and possess their
minds with perfect charity, then all the world will be your
friends.
5. Cross opinions also are like to alienate many of youf
friends. This age hath over and over again given the world
as full and sad demonstrations of the power of cross opinions
to alienate friends, and make divisions, as most ages of the
world have ever had. If your friend be proud, it is wonder-
ful how he will slight you, and withdraw his love, if you be
not of his mind. If he be zealous, he is easily tempted to
think it a part of his duty to God, to disown you if you differ
from him, as taking you for one that disownelh the truth of
God, and therefore one that God himself disowneth ; or at .
least to grow cold in his affection toward you, and tadecliD9 ;
from you, as he that thinks you do from God* As agree* i
ment in opinions doth strangely reconcile affections ; so dis- ^
agreement doth secretly and strangely alienate them : ev^ ^
before you are well aware, your friend hath lost possession l.
of your hearts, because of an unavoidable diversity of ap* \
ions. When all your friends have the same intet ;
omplexion and temperature, and measure of under* ,
with yourselves, then you may have hope to escape
.ures which uuUkeuess and differences of apprehenr*
flight elae cau^. •
CONVERSING WITH OOD IN SOLITUDE. 293
6. Moreover, some of yoar friends may so far overgrow
you in wisdom, or wealth, or honour, or worth in their own
conceits, that they may begin to take you to be unsuitable
for them, and unmeet for their further special friendship.
Alas I poor man, they will pity thee that thou art no wiser,
and that thou hast no greater light to change thy mind as
fast as they^ or that thou art so weak and ignorant as not to
see what seems to them so cleiar a truth ; or that thou art so
simple to cast away thyself by crossing them that might
prefer thee, or to fall under the displeasure of those that
have power to raise or ruin thee : but if thou be so simple,
thou mayest.be the object of their lamentation, but art no
fiuooiliar friend for them. They think it fittest to close and
converse with those of their own rank and stature, and not
with such shrubs and children, that may prove their trouble
and dishonour.
7. And some of your friends will think that by a more
thorough acquaintance with you, they have found out more
of your infirmities or faults ; and therefore have found that
you are less amiable and valuable than at first they judged
you. They will think that by distance, uuacquaintedness,
and an overhasty love and judgment, they were mistaken in
you ; and that now they see reason to repent of the love
which they think was guilty of some errors and excess :
when they come nearer you, and have had more trial of you,
they will think they are fitter to judge of you than before :
and indeed our defects are so many, and all our infirmities so
great, that the more men know us, the more they may see
in us that deserveth pity or reproof; and as pictures, we
appear less beautiful at the nearest view : though this will
not vrarrant the withdrawing of that love which is due to
friends, and to virtue, even in the imperfect ; nor will ex-
cuse that alienation, and decay of friendship that is caused
by the pride of such as overlook perhaps much greater fail-
ings and weaknesses in themselves, which need forgiveness.
8. And perhaps some of your friends will grow weary of
iheir friendship, having that infirmity of human nature, not
to be much pleased with one thing long. Their love is a
flower that quickly withereth ; it is a short lived thing that
Mm groweth old. It must be novelty that must feed their
love and their delight.
' A And perhaps they may have got somebeUex ?t\^w^^
294 THE DIVINE LIFE.
in their apprehensions, they may have so much interest as
to take them up> and leave no room for ancient friends. It
may be, thay have met with those that are more suitable, or
can be more useful to them : that have more learning, or
wit, or wealth, or pow«r, than you have, and therefore seem
more worthy of their friendship*
10. And some of them may think when you are in a low
and suffering state, and in danger of worse, that it is part of
their duty of self-preservation to be strange to you (though
in heart they wish you well). They will think they are not
bound to hazdrd themselves upon the displeasure of supe*
riors, to own or befriend you, or any other : though they
must not desert Christ, they think they may desert a man
for their own preservation.
To avoid both extremes, in such a case, men must both
study to understand which way is most serviceable to Christ,
and to his church, and withal, to be able to deny them-
selves, and also must study to understand what Christ
meaneth in his final sentence, '* In as much as you <lid it
(or did it not) to one of the least of these my brethren, you
did it (or did it not) to me.*' As, if it were to visit the con-
tagious ; we must neither cast away our lives to do no
good, or for that which in value holdeth no proportion with
them ; nor yet must we deny to run any hazard when it is
indeed our duty: sots it in our visiting those that suffer
for the cause of Christ : (only here the owning them being
the confessing of him, we need more seldom to fear being
too forward).
11. And some pf your friends may cover their unfaith-
fulness with the pretence of some fault that you have been
guilty of, some error that you hold, or some unhandsome or
culpable act that you have done, or some duty that you
have left undone or failed in. For they think there is not a
better shelter for their unfaithfulness, than to pretend for it
the name and cause of God, and so to make a duty of their
sin. Who would not justify them, if they can but prove,
that God requireth them> and religion obligeth them, to for-
sake you for jour faults ? There are few crimes in the world
that by some are not fathered on God (that most hateth
them), as thinking no name can so much honour them^
False friends therefore use this means as well as othei
iiypocrites : and thoVigYi GoA. \^ Von^» ^\A c.^\A»KSNk».V\v no-
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 295
thing more than uncharitableness and malice^ yet these are
commonly by false-hearted hypocrites, called by some pious,
virtaous names, and God himself is entitled to them : so
that few worldlings, ambitious persons or time-servers» but
will confidently pretend religion for all their falsehood to
their friends, or bloody cruelty to the servants of Christ,
that comply not with their carnal interest.
12. Perhapssome of your friends may really misteike your
case, and think that you suffer as evil doers, and instead of
comforting you, may be your sharpest censurers. This is
one of the most notable things set out to our observation in
the book of Job .: it was not the smallest part of his afflic-
tion, that when the hand of God was heavy upon him, and
then if ever was the time for his friends to have been his
comforters, and friends indeed, on the contrary they be-
r came his scourge, and by unjust accusations, and misinter-
pretations of the providence of God, did greatly add to his
affliction ! When God had taken away his children, wealth
and health, his friends would take away the reputation and
comfort of his integrity ; and under pretence of bringing
him to repentance, did charge him with that which he was
never guilty of: they wounded his good name, and would
have wounded his conscience, and deprived him of his in-
ward peace: censorious, false accusing friends, do cut
deeper than malicious, slandering enemies. It is' no wonder,
if strangers or enemies do misjudge and misreport our
actions : but when your bosom friends, that should most
intimately know you, and be the chief witnesses of your in-
nocency against all others, shall in their jealolisy, or envy,
or peevishness, or falling out, be your chief reproaches and
unjust accusers, as it makes it seem more credible to others,
10 it will come nearer to yourselves. And yet this is- a
thing that must be expected ; yea, even your most self-de-
nying acts of obedience to God, may be so misunderstood
by godly men, and real friends, as by them to be taken for
your great miscarriage, and turned to your rebuke: as
Band's dancing before the ark was by his wife ; which yet
did but make him resolve to be yet more vile. If you be
cast into poverty, or disgrace, or prison, or banishment, for
your necessary obedience to Chrbt, perhaps your friend or
wife may become your accuser for this your greatest service »
and say. This is your own doing : your laihtiea^, ot vcvdA%-
296 THE DIVINE LIFE.
cretion, or self-cbnceitedness^ or wilfulnesB liath brought it
upon you. What need had you to say such words, or to do
this or that ? Why could not you have yielded in so small a
matter ? Perhaps your most costly and excellent obedience
shall, by your nearest friends, be called the fruits of pride,
or humour, or passion, or some corrupt affection, or at least
of folly or inconsiderateness. When flesh and blood hath
long been striving in you against your duty, and saying.
Do not cast away thyself: O serve not God at so dear a
rate ! God doth not require thee to undo thyself; why
shouldest thou not avoid so great inconveniences? When
with much ado you have conquered all your carnal reason-
ings, and denied yourselves and your carnal interests, you
must expect, even from some religious friends, to be ac-
cused for these very actions, and perhaps their accusations
may fasten such a blot upon your names, as shall never be
washed out till the day of judgment. By difference of in-
terests, or apprehensions, and by unacquaintedness with
your hearts, and actions, the righteousness of the righteoas
may be thus taken from him, and friends may do the work
of enemies, yea, of Satan himself, the accuser of the bre-
thren ; and may prove as thorns in your bed, and gravel in
your shoes, yea, in your eyes, and wrong you much more
than open adversaries could have done. How it is like to
go with that man's reputation, you may easily judge, whose
friends are like Job's« and his enemies like David's, that lay
snares before him, and diligently watch for matter of re-
proach ; yet this may befall the best of men.
13. You may be permitted by God to fall into some real
crime, and then your friends may possibly think it is their
duty to disown you, so far as you have wronged God : when
you provoke God to frown upon you, he may cause your
friends to frown upon you : if you will fall out with him,
and grow strange to him, no marvel if your truest friends
fall out with you, and grow strange to you. They love you
for your godliness, and for the sake of Christ ; and there-
fore must abate their love, if you abate your godliness ; and
must, for the sake of Christ, be displeased with you for your
sins. And if in such a case of real guilt, you should be dis-
pleased at their displeasute, and should expect that your
friend should befriend your sin, or carry himself towards
you in your guilt, as if you were iauocent, you will but show
CONYBRSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 307
that you understand not the nature of true friendship, nor
the use of a true friend ; and are yet yourselves too friendly
to your sins.
14. Moreover, those few friends that are truest to you»
may be utterly unable to relieve you in your distress, or to
give you ease, or to do you any good. The case may be
such that they can but pity you, and lament your sorrows,
and weep over you : you may see in them that man is not as
God, whose friendship can accomplish all the good that he
desireth to his friends. The wisest, and greatest, and best
of men, are silly comforters, and uneffectual helps. You
may be sick, and pained, and grieved, and distressed, not-
withstanding any thing that they can do for you ; nay, per-
haps in their ignorance, they m^y increase your misery,
while they desire your relief; and by striving indirectly to
help and ease you, may tie the knot faster and make you
worse. They may provoke those more against you that
oppress you, while they think they speak that which should
tend to set you free : they may think to ease your troubled
minds by such words as shall increase the troubled ; or to
deliver you as Peter would have delivered Christ, and saved
his Saviour, first by carnal counsel ; " Be it far from thee.
Lord ; this shall not be unto thee :" (Matt. xvi. 22 :) And
then by carnal unjust force, (by drawing his sword against
the officers). Love and good meaning will not prevent the
mischiefs of ignorance and mistake. If your friend cut
your throat, while he thought to cut but a vein to cure your
disease, it is not his friendly meaning that will save your
lives. Many a thousand sick people are killed by their
friends, that attend them, with an earnest desire of their
life ; while they ignorantly give them that which is contrary
to their disease, and will not be the less pernicious for the
good meaning of the giver. Who have more tender affec-
tions than mothers to their children ? And yet a great part
of the calamity of the world of sickness, and the misery of
man's life, proceedeth from the ignorant and erroneous in-
dulgence of mothers to their children, who to please them,
let them eat and drink what they will, and use them to ex-
cess and gluttony in their childhood, till nature be abused
and mastered, and clogged with those superfluities and cru-
dities, which are the dunghill matter of rao^t ot XXv^ ^o^Xani-
iog AiBease^ of their lives.
298 TH£ DIVINE LIFE.
I might here also remember you how your friends may
themselves be overcome with a temptation^ and then become
the more dangerous tempters of you« by how much the
greater their interest is in your affections. If they be in-
fected with error, they are the likest persons to ensnare
you : if they be tainted with covetousness or pride, there is
none so likely to draw you to the same sin : and so your
friends may be. in effect your most deadly enemies, deceivers
and destroyers.
15. And if you have friends that are never so firm and
constant, they may prove (not only unable to relieve you,
but) very additions to your grief. If they are afflicted in
the participation of your sufferings, as your troubles are be-
come, theirs (without your ease), so their trouble for you
will become yours, and so the stock of your sorrow will be
increased. And they are mortals, and liable to distress as
well as you. And therefore they are like to bear their share
in several sorts of sufferings : and so friendship will make
their sufferings to be yours: their sicknesses and pains,
their fears and griefs, their wants and dangers, vnll all be
yours. And the more they are your hearty friends, the
more they will be yours. And so you will have as many
additions to the proper burden of your griefs, as you have
suffering friends : when you*do but hear that they are dead,
you say as Thomas, ^^ Let us also go that we may die with
him.'' (John xi. 16.) And having many such friends you
will almost always have one or other of them in distress ;
and so be seldom free from sorrow ; besides all that which
is properly your own.
16. I^sUy, If you have a friend that is both true and
useful, yet you may be sure he must stay with you but a
little while. " The godly men will cease, and the faithful
fail from among the children of men ; while men of lying,
flattering lips, and double hearts survive, and the wicked
walk on every side, while the vilest men are exalted.*' (Psal.
xii. 1, 2. 8.) While swarms of false, malicious men ai^e left
round about you, perhaps God will take away your dearest
friends. If among a multitude of unfaithful ones, you have
but one that is your friend indeed, perhaps God will take
away that one. He may be separated from you into ano-
ther country ; or taken away to God by death. Not that
God doth grudge you the meic^ o? %. ^^\\JaM Cciend ; but
CONVERSING WITH OOD IK SOLITUDE. 299
that he would be your All, and would not have you hurt
yourselres with too much affection to any creature, and for
other reasons to be named anon.
And to be forsaken of your friends is not all your afflic-
tion : but to be forsaken is a great aggravation of it 1. For
they used to forsake us in our greatest sufferings and
straits, when we have the greatest need of them.
2. They fail us most at a dying hour, when all other
worldly comfort faileth: as we mnst leave our houses,
lands and wealth, so must we for the present leave our
friends : and as all the rest are silly comforters, when we
have once received our citation to appear before the Lord,
so also are our friends but silly comforters : they can weep
over us, but they cannot, with all their care, delay the
separating stroke of death, one day or hoar.
Only by their prayers, and holy advice, remembering us
of everlasting things, and provoking us in the work of pre-
paration, they may prove to us friends indeed. And there-
fore we must value a holy, heavenly, faithful friend, as one
of the greatest treasures upon earth. And while we take
notice how, as men, they may forsake us, we must not deny
but that, as saints, they are precious, and of singular use to
us ; and Christ useth by them to communicate his mercies ;
and if any creatures in the world may be blessings to us, it
is holy persons, that have most of God in their hearts and
lives.
3. And it is an aggravation of the cross, that they often
fail us, when we are most faithful in our duty, and stumble
most upon the most excellent acts of our obedience.
4. And those are the persons that oftentimes fail us, of
whom we have deserved best, and from whom we might
have expected most.
Review the experiences of the choicest servants that
Christ hath bad in the world, and you shall find enough to
confirm you of the vanity of man, and the instability of the
dearest friends. How highly was Athanasius esteemed; and
yet at last deserted and banished by the famous Constantine
himself! How excellent a man was Gregory Nasianzen, and
highly valued in the church ; and yet by reproach and dis- .
covn^ments driven away from his church at Constant!- \
nople whither he was chosen, and envied by the b\fth«^ \
round about him. How worthy a man Vfa& VAie ^\ot3^^-
300 THE DIVINE LIF£.
Chrysostom, and highly valued in the church ; and yet how
bitterly was he prosecuted by Hierom and EpiphaniuB ; and
banished^ and died in a second banishment, by the proYOcar
tion of factious, contentious bishops, and an empress im-
patient of his plain reproofs ! What person more generally
esteemed and honoured for learning, piety, and peaceable-
ness, than Melancthon; and yet by the contentions of lUy-
ricus and his party, he was made aweary of his life. As
highly as Calvin was (deservedly) valued at Geneva, yet
once in a popular lunacy and displeasure, they drove him
out of their city, and in contempt of him some called their
dogs by the name of Calvin ; (though after they were glad
to entreat him to return.) How much our Grindal and Abbot
were esteemed, it appeareth by their advancement to the
archbishopric of Canterbury ; and yet who knoweth not
that their eminent piety sufficed not to keep them from de-
jecting frowns ! And if you say, that it is no wonder if with
princes through interest, and with people through levity, it
be thus ; I might heap up instances of the like untrustiness
of particular friends ; but all history, and the experiences of
the most, do so much abound with them, that I think it
needless. Which of us must not say with David, that " All
men are liars ;'' (Psal. cxvi ;) that is, deceitful and untrusty ;
either through unfaithfulness, weakness or insufficiency;
that either will forsake us, or cannot help us in time of need.
Was Christ forsaken in his extremity by his own disci-
ples, to teach us what to expect, or bear? Think it not
strange then to be conformed to your Lord, in this, as well
as in other parts of his humiliation. Expect that men should
prove deceitful : Not that you should entertain censorious
suspicions of your particular friends : but remember in ge-
neral that man is frail, and the best too selfish and uncer-
tain ; and that it is no wonder if those should prove your
greatest grief, from whom you had the highest expectations.
Are you better than Job, or David, or Christ? and are your
friends more firm and unchangeable than theirs ?
Consider, 1. That creatures must be set at a sufficient
distance from their Creator. AUsufficiency, immutability
and indefectible fidelity, are proper to Jehovah. As it is no
wonder for the sun to set, or be eclipsed, as glorious a body
as it is, so it is no wonder for a friend, a pious firiend, to fail
uis, for a time, in the hour ot out di\^\.x^^%. ^^^\% ^\^ ti^ome
CONVfiUSINO WITH GOD IK SOLITUDE. 3Q1
that will not : but there is none but may, if Ood should
leave them to their weakness. Man is not your rock : he
hath no stability but what is derived^ dependant^ and uncer-
tain, and defectible. Learn therefore to rest on Ood alone,
and lean not too hard or confidently upon any mortal wight.
2. And God will have the common infirmity of man to
be known, that so the weakest may not be utterly discou-
raged, nor take their weakness to be gracelessness, whilst
they see that the strongest also have their infirmities, though
not so great as theirs. If any of God's servants liine in con-
stant holiness and fidelity, without any shakings or stum-
bling in their way, it would tempt some self-accusing, trou-
bled souls, to think that they were altogether graceless,
because they are so far short of others. But when we read
of a Peter's denying his master in so horrid a manner, with
swearing and cursing, that he knew not the man, (Matt.
xxvi. 74,) and of his dissimulation and not walking up-
rightly ; (Gal. ii ;) and of a David*s unfriendly and unrigh-
teous dealing with Mephibosheth, the seed of Jonathan ;
and of his most vile and treacherous dealing with Uriah, a
fidthful and deserving subject ; it may both abate our won-
der and offence at the unfaithfulness of our friends, anc(
teach us to compassionate their frailty, when they desert
us; and also somewhat abate our immoderate dejectedness
and trouble, when we have failed God or man ourselves.
3. Moreover, consider, how the odiousness of that
sin, which is the root and cause of such unfaithfulness, is
greatly manifested by the failing of our friends. God
will have the odiousness of the remnants of our self-love
and carnal-mindedness, and cowardice appear : we should
not discern it in the seed ai^d root, if we did not see, and
taste it in the fruits. Seeing without tasting will not suflGl-
ciently convince us. A crab looks as beautiful as an apple ;
bat when you taste it, you better knowthe difference. When
you must yourselves be unkindly used by your friends, and
forsaken by them in your distress, and you have tasted the
firaits of the remnants of their worldliness, selfishness and
carnal fears, you will better know the odiousness of these
▼ices, which thus break forth against all obligations to God
u^ you, and notwithstanding the light, the conscience, and
ferluips tbe grace, that doth resist them.
302 THE DIVINE LIFE.
4. Are you not prone to overvalue and overlove your
friends? If bo, is not this the meetest remedy for your
disease ? In the loving of God, we are in no danger of ex-
cess ; and therefore have no need of anything to quench it
And in the loving of the godly, purely upon account of
Christ, and in loving saints as saints, we are not apt to go
too far. But yet our understandings may mistake, and we
may think that saints have more of sanctity than indeed
they have ; and we are exceeding apt to mix a selfisb com-
mon loi^e, with that which is spiritual and holy ; and at the
same time, when we love a Christian as a Christian, we are
apt not only to love him (as we ought) but to overlove him
because he is our friend, and loveth us* Those Christians
that have no special love to us, we are apt to undervalue and
neglect, and love them below their holiness and worth : btt
those that we think entirely love us, we love above their
proper worth, as they stand in the esteem of God: not but
that we may love those that love us, and add this love to that
which is purely for the sake of Christ ; but we should not
let our own interest prevail and overtop the interest of Christ,
nor love any so much for loving us, as for loving Christ :
and if we do so, no wonder if God shall use such remedies
as he seeth meet, to abate our excess of selfish love.
O how highly are we apt to think of all that good which
is found in those who are the highest esteemers of us, and
most dearly love us ; when perhaps in itself it is but some
ordinary good, or ordinary degree of goodness which is in
them ! Their love to us irresistibly procureth our love to
them : and when we love them, it is wonderful to observe,
how easily we are brought to think well of almost all they
do, and highly to value their judgments, grsCces, parts and
works : when greater excellencies in another, perhaps, are
scarce observed, or regarded but as a common thing. And
therefore the destruction or want of love, is apparent in the
vilifying thoughts and speeches, that most men have of one
another; and in the low esteem of the judgments, and per-
formances and lives of other-men : (much more in their con-
tempt, reproaches and cruel persecutions.) Now though
God will have us increase in our love of Christ in his mem-
bers, and in our pure love of Christians, as such, and
in our common charity to all, ^ea, and in our just fide-
lity to our friend ; yet wo\x\d \\^ >aa.N^ w^ %\v»^^«X. ^ssA
CONVERSING WITH ODD IN SOLITUDE. 303
moderate our selfish aad excessive love^.and inordinate par-
tial esteem of one above another^ when it is but for ourselves
and on our own account. And therefore as he will make us
know, that we ourselves are no such excellent persons, as
that it should make another so laudable, or* advance his
worth, because he loveth us ; so he will make us know, that
our friends, whom we overvalue, are but like other men : if
we exalt them too highly in our esteem, it is a sign that God
must cast them down. And as their love to us, was it that
made us so exalt them; so their unkindness or unfaithful-
ness to us is the fittest means to bring them lower in our
estimation and affection. Qod is very jealous of our hearts,
as to our overvaluing and overloving any of his creatures :
What we give inordinately and excessively to them, is some
way or other taken from him, and given them to his injury, ..
and therefore to his offence. Though I know that to be void •
of natural, friendly or social affections, is an odious extreme ^
on the other side ; yet God will rebuke us if we are guilty
of excess. And it is the greater and more inexcusable fault
to overlove the creature, because our love to God is so cold,
and 80 hardlj^ kindled and kept alive ! He cannot take it
well to see us dote upon dust and frailty like ourselves, at
the same time when all his wondrous kindness, and attrac-
tive goodness, do cause but such a faint and languid love to
him> which we ourselves can scarcely feel. If thefefore he
cure us by permitting our friends to shew us truly what they
are, and how little they deserve such excessive love (when
God hath so little) it is no more wonder, than it is that he
is tender of bis glory, and merciful to his servants* souls.
fi. By the failing and unfaithfulness of our friends, the
wonderful patience of God will be observed and honoured,
• as it is shewed both to them and us. When they forsake us
in Qur distress (especially when we suffer for the cause of
Christ) it is God that they injure more than us : and there-
fore if he bear with them, and forgive their weakpess upon
repentance, why should not we do so, that are much less in-
jured ? The world's perfidiousness should make us think,
how great and wonderful is the patience of God, that beareth
with^ and beareth up sq vile, ungrateful, treacherous men
that abuse him to whom they are infinitely obliged ! And
it should make us consider, when men dea\ ite^c)E\etQ»\i^^
mtb UB, how great is that mercy that hat\v \iorcie m^i)Kv,
'304 THE DIVINE LIFfi.
and pardoned greater wrongs, which I myself have done to
God, th'fin these can be which men have done to me ! It was
the remembrance of David's sin, that had provoked God to
raise up his own son against him (of whom he had been too
fond), which made him so easily bear the curses and reproach
of Shimei. It will make us bear abuse from others, to re-
member how ill we have dealt with God, and how ill we have
deserved at his hands ourselves.
6. And I have observed another reason of God's per-
mitting the failing of our friends. It is, that the love of our
friends may not hinder us when we are called to suffer or
die. When we bverlove them, it teareth our very hearts to
leave them : and therefore it is a strong temptation to draw
us from our duty, and to be unfaithful to the cause of Christ,
lest we should be taken from our too dear friends, or lest
our suffering cause their too much grief. It is so hard a
thing to die with willingness and peace, that it must needs
be a mercy to be saved from the impediments which make
us backward : And the excessive love of friends and rela-
tions, is not the least of these impediments : O how loath is
many a one to die, when they think of parting with wife, or
husband, or children, or dear and faithful friends ! Now I
have oft observed, that a little before their death or sickness,
it is ordinary with God to permit some unkindness between
such too dear friends to arise, by which he moderated and
abated their affections, and made them a great deal the more
willing to die. Then we are ready to say. It is time for me
to leave the world, when not only the rest of the world but
my dearest friends have first forsaken me ! This helpeth us
to remember our dearest everlasting Friend, and to be grieved
at the heart that we have been no truer ourselves to him,
who would not have forsaken us in our extremity. And
sometimes it maketh us even aweary of the world, and to
say as Elias, " Lord take away my life,*' &c., (1 Kings xix.
4, 10. 14,) when we must say, ' I thought I had one friend
left, and behold even he forsaketh me in my distress.' As
the love of friends entangleth our affections to this world,
so to be weaned, by their unkindnesses, from our friends, is
a great help to loosen us from the world, and proveth oft a
very great mercy to a soul that is ready to depart.
And as the friends that love us most, and have most
interest in our esteem aud\o've,ifta.^ d.omox^^^Ka^i'^w^.vx
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 305
tempting us to be unfaithful to our Lord^ to entertain any
erroF, to commit any sin^ or to flinch in suffering ; so when
God hath permitted them to forsake us^ and to lose their
too great interest in us, we are fortified against all such
temptations from them. I have known where a former inti-^
mate friend hath grown strange, and broken former friend-
ship, and quickly after turned to such dangerous ways and
errors, as convinced the other of the mercifulness of God,
in weakening his temptation by his friend's desertion ; who
might else have drawn him along with him into sin. And I
have often observed, that when the husbands have turned
from religion to infidelity, familism, or some dangerous her
resy, that God hath permitted them to hate and abuse their
wives so inhumanly, as that it preserved the poor women
from the temptation of following them in their apostacy or
sin : when as some other women with whom their husbands
have dealt more kindly, have been drawn away with th^m
into pernicious paths.
Therefore still I must say, we were undone if we had the
disposing of our own conditions. It would be long before
we should have been willing ourselves to be thus unkindly
dealt with by our friends ; and yet God hath made it to many
a soul, a notable means of preserving them from being un-
done for ever. Yea, the unfaithfulness of all our friends,
and the malice and cruelty of all our enemies, doth us not
osually so much harm, as the love and temptation of some
one deluded erring friend, whom we are ready to follow into
the gulf.
7. Lastly, consider that it is not desirable or suitable to
our state, to have too much of our comfort by any creature :
not only because it is most pure and sweet, which is most
immediately from God ; but because also we are very prone to
over-love the creature ; and if it should but seem to be very
commodious to us, by serving our necessities or desires, it
would seem the more amiable, and therefore be the stronger
snare. The work of mortification doth much consist in the
annihilation or deadness of all the creatures, as to any power
to draw away our hearts from God, or to entangle us and
detain us from our duty. And the more excellent and lovely
the creature appeareth to us, the less it is dead to us, or we
to it; and the more will it be able to hinder or ensnare us.
VOL. XIII. X
306 THE DIVINE lilFE.
When you have well considered all these thingii, I sup-
pose you will admire the wisdom of God in leaving you un-
der this kind of trial, and weaning you from every creature,
and teaching you by his providence, as well as by his word,
to cease from man whose breath is in hia nostrils ; for wherein
is he to be accounted of? And you will see that it is no great
wonder that corrupted souls, that live in other sins, should
be guilty of this unfaithfulness to their friends : and that he
that dare unthankfully trample upon the unspeakable kind-
ness of the Lord, should deal unkindly with the best of men.
You make no great wonder at other kind of sins, when you
see the world continually commit them ; why then should
you make a greater or stranger matter of this, than of the
rest? Are you better than God ? Must unfaithfulness to you
be made more heinous, than that unfaithfulness to him,
which yet you daily see and slight ? The least wrong to
God is a thousandfold more than the greatest that can be
done to you, as such. Have you done that for your nearest
friend, which God hath done for him, and you, and all men ?
Their obligations to you are nothing in comparison of their
great and manifold obligations to God.
And you know that you have more wronged God your-
selves, than any man ever wronged you ; and if yet for alt
that, he bear with yon, have you not great reason to bear
with others ?
Yea, you have not been innocent towards men your-
selves. Did you never wrong or fail another? Or rather, are
you not more apt to see and aggravate the wrong that others
do to you, than that which you have done to others 1 May
you not call to mind your own neglects, and say as Adoni-
bezek, ** Threescore and ten kings having their thumbs and
their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table:
As I have done so G<Td hath requited me.'' (Judges i. 7.)
Many a one have 1 failed or wronged, and no wonder if
others fail and wrong me.
Nay, you have been much more unfaithful and injurious
to yourselves, than ever any other hath been to you. No
friend was so near you, as yourselves ; none had such a
charge of you ; none had such helps and advantages to do
you good or hurt ; and yet all the enemies you have in the
world, even in earth or hell, have not wronged and hurt you
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 307
balf so much as you have done yourselves ! O, methinks
the man or woman that knoweth themselves^ and knoweth
what it is to repent ; that ever saw the greatness of their
own sin and folly, should have no great mind or leisure to
aggravate the failing of their friends, or the injuries of their
enemies, considering what they have proved to themselves !
Have I forfeited my own salvation, and deserved everlasting
wrath, and sold my Saviour and my soul for so base a thing
as sinful pleasure, and shall I ever make a wonder of it, that
another man doth me some temporal hurt? Was any friend
so near to me as myself; or more obliged to me? O sinful
soul, let thy own, rather than thy friend's deceit and trea-
chery, and neglects, be the matter of thy displeasure, won-
der and complaints !
And let thy conformity herein to Jesus Christ, be thy
holy ambition and delight : not as it is thy suffering, nor as
it is caused by men's sin ; but as it is thy conformity and
fellowship in the sufferings of thy Lord, and caused by his
love.
1 have already shewed you that sufferers for Christ, are
in the highest form among his disciples. The order of bis
followers usually is this : 1. At our entrance, and in the
lowest form, we are exercised with the fe^rs of hell, and
God's displeasure, and in the works of repentance for the
sin that we have done. 2. In the second form, we come
to think more seriously of the remedy, and to inquire what
we shall do to be saved, and to understand better what
Christ hath done and suffered, and what he is and will be to
us ; and to value him, and his love and grace. And here we
are much inquiring how we may know our own sincerity,
and our interest in Christ, and are labouring for some assu-
rance, and looking after signs of grace. 3. In the next form
or order we are searching after further knowledge, and la-
touring better to understand the mysteries of religion, and
to get above the rudiments and first principles : and here if
we escape turning bare opinionists or heretics, by the snare
of controversy or curiosity, it is well. 4. In the next form
we set ourselves to the fuller improvement of all. our further
degrees of knowledge ; and to digest it all, and turn it into
stronger faith, and love, and hope, and greater humility^
pia^ence, self-denial, mortification, and contempt of earthly
vanifties, and hatred of sin ; and to walk mote vv^VOcd\^^
308 THE DIVINE LIFE.
and holily, and to be more in holy duty. 5. In the next
form we grow to be more public-spirited : to set our heartff
on the church's welfare, and long more for the progress of
the Gospel, and for the good of others ; and to do all the
good in the world that we are able, for men's souls or bodies,
but especially to long and lay out ourselves for the conver-
sion and salvation of ignorant, secure, unconverted souls.
The counterfeit of this, is, an eager desire to proselyte others
to our opinions, or that religion which we have chosen, by
the direction of flesh and blood, or which is not of God, nor
according unto godliness, but doth subserve our carnal ends.
6. In the next form we grow to study more the pure and
wonderful love of God in Christ, and to relish and admire
that love, and to be taken up with the goodness and tender
mercies of the Lord, and to be kindling the flames of holy
love to him that hath thus loved us ; and to keep our souls
in the exercise of that love : and withal to live in joy,
and thanks, and praise to him that hath redeemed us and
loved us; and also by faith to converse in heaven, and
to live in holy contemplation, beholding the glory of the
Father and the Redeemer in the glass which is fitted to
our present use, till we come to see him face to face. Those
that are the highest in this form, do so walk with God, and
burn in love, and are so much above inferior vanities, and
are so conversant by faith in heaven, that their hearts even
dwell there, and there they long to be for ever. 7. And in
the highest form of the school of Christ, we are exercising
this confirmed faith and love, in suflerings, especially for
Christ; in following him with our cross, and being con-
formed to him, and glorifying God in the fullest exercise and
discovery of his graces in us, and in an actual trampling
upon all that standeth up against him, for our hearts: and
in bearing the fullest witness to his truth and cause, by con-
stant enduring, though to the death. Not but that the
weakest that are sincere, must suffer for Christ if he call
them to it : martyrdom itself is not proper to the strong
believers. Whoever forsaketh not all that he hath for Christ,
cannot be his disciple. (Luke xiv. 33.) But to suffer with
that faith and love forementioned, and in that manner, i^
proper to the stroilg : and usually God doth not try and ex«
ercise his young and weak ones with the trials of the strong;
nor spt his infanta on &o Yv^id ^. ^ersice, wot ^\xt them in the
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 309
front or hottest of the battle^ as he doth the ripe confirmed
Christians. The sufferings of their inward doubts and fears
doth take up such : it is the strong that ordinarily are called
to sufferings for Christ, at least in any high degree. I have
digressed thus far to make it plain to you» that our con«
formity to Christ, and fellowship with him in his sufferings,
in any notable degree, is the lot of his best, confirmed ser-
vants, and the highest form in l>is school among his disci-
ples; and therefore not to be inordinately feared or abhorred,
nor to be the matter of impatience, but of holy joy; and in
such infirmities we may glory. And if it be so of sufferings
in the general (for Christ), then is it so of this particular
sort of sufferings, even to be forsaken of all our best and
nearest, dearest friends, when we come to be most abused
by the enemies.
For my own part, I must confess that as I am much want-
ing in other parts of my conformity to Christ, so I take myself
to be yet much short of what I expect he should advance me
to, as long as my friends no more forsake me. It is not
long since I found myself in a low (if not a doubflng) case,
because I had so few enemies, and so little sufferings for the
cause of Christ (though I had much of other sorts) : and
now that doubt is removed by the multitude of furies which
God hath let loose against me. But yet, methinks, while
my friends themselves are so friendly to me, I am much
short of what I think I must at last attain to.
But let us look further into the text, and see what is the
oause of the failing and forsaking Christ in the disciples ;
^nd what it is that they betake themselves to, when they
leave him.
" Ye shall be scattered every man to his own."
Self-denial was not perfect in them, selfishness therefore
in this hour of temptation did prevail. They bad before
forsaken all to follow Christ ; they had left their parents,
their families, their estates, their trades, to be his disciples :
lut though they believed him to be the Christ, yet they
dreamt of a visible kingdom, and did all this with too carnal
expectations of being great men on earth, when Christ should
begin his reign ; ^nd therefore when they saw his apprehen-
sion and ignominious suffering, and thought now they were
frustrate of their hopes, they seem to repent tVi^l \)[i«>j \ia.^
followed bim (though not by apostacy and atv Vi«Xn\.\xa\ vjrt
310 THB DIVINE LIFE.
plenary change of mind, yet) by a sudden passionate fright-
ful apprehension, which vanished when grace performed its
part. They now began to xhink that they had lives of their
own to save, and families of their own to mind, and business
of their own to do. They had before forsaken their private
interests and affairs, and gathered themselves to Jesus Christ,
and lived in communion with him, and one another : but
now they return to their trades and callings, and are scat-*
tered everv man to his own.
Selfishness is the great enemy of all societies, of all fide-
lity and friendship : there is no trusting that person in whom
it is predominant : and the remnants of it, where it doth not
reign, do make men walk unevenly and unsteadfastly towards
God and men. They will certainly deny both God and their
friends, in a time of trial, who are not able to deny themr
selves : or rather he never was a real friend to any, that is
predominantly selfish. They have always some interest of
their own, which their friend must needs contradict, or is
insufficient to satisfy. Their houses, their lands, their monies,
their ohildren, their honour, or something which they call
their own, will be frequently the matter of contention ; and
are so near them, that they can for the sake of these, cast
off the nearest friend. Contract no special friendship with a
selfish man ; nor put any confidence in him, whatever friend-
ship he may profess. He is so confined to himself, that he
hath no true love to spare for others : if he seem to love a friend
it is not as a friend, but as a servant, or at best as a bene-
factor. He loveth you for himself, as he loveth his money,
or horse, or house, because you may be serviceable to him :
or as a horse or dog doth love his keeper, for feeding him :
and therefore when your provender is gone, his love is gone;
when you have done feeding him, he hath done loving you ;
when you have no more for him, he hath no more for you.
Object. ' But (some will say> it is not the falseness of
my friend that I lament, but the separation, or the loss of
one that was most faithful : I have found the deceitf ulness of
ordinary friends ; and therefore the more highly prize those
few that are sincere. I had but one true friend among
abundance of self-seekers ; and that one is dead, or taken
from me, and I am left as in a wilderness, having no mortal
man that I can trust, or take much comfort in.*
Answ, Is this your easel 1 "^t^"^ '^om ^wK^^t *C^^:e»^ few
C0NV£RSIKO WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. HI
questions, and suffer the truth to have its proper work upon
your mind.
Quest. 1. Who wds it that deprived you of your friend?
Was it not God ? Did not he that gave him you, take him
from you ? Was it not his Lord and Owner that called him
home? And can God do any thing injuriously or amiss?
Will you not give him leave to do as he list with his own ?
Dare you think that there was wanting either wisdom, or
goodness, justice or mercy, in God's disposal of your friend?
Or will you ever have rest, if you cannot have rest in the will
of God?
2. How know you what sin your friend might have fallen
into, if he had lived as long as you would have, him? You
will say, that God could have preserved him from sin. It is
true ; but God preserveth sapientially, by means, as well as
omnipotentially : and sometimes he seeth that the tempta-
tions to that person are like to be so strong, and his cor-
ruption like to get such advantage, that no means is so fit
as death itself, for his preservation. And if God had per-
mitted your friend by temptation to have fallen into some
scandalous sin, or course of evil, or into errors or false
ways, would it not have been much worse than death to him
and you? God might have suffered your friend, that was so
faithful, to have been sifted and shaken, as Peter was, and
to have denied his Lord ; and to have seemed in your own
eyes as odious as he before seemed amiable.
3* How know you what unkindness to yourself your
dearest friend might have been ^ilty of? Alas! there is
greater frailty and inconstancy in man, than you are aware
of. And there are sadder roots of corruption unmortified,
that may spring up into bitter fruits, than most of us ever
discover in ourselves. Many a mother hath her heart broken
by the unnaturalness of such a child, or the unkindness of
such a husband, as if they had died before, would have been
lamented by her, with great impatience and excess. How
confident soever you may be of the future fidelity of your
friend, you little know what trials might have discovered.
Many a one hath failed God and man, that once were as con-
fident of tliemselves, as ever you were of your friend. And
which of us see not reason to be distrustful of ourselves ?
And can we know another better than ourselves? or pro-
mise more concerning him ?
812 THE DIVINE LIFE.
4. How know you what great calamity might have befalls
your friend, if he had lived as long as you desired? When
the righteous seem to men to perish, and '^ merciful men
are taken away," it is " from the evil to come" that they are
taken. (Isa. Ivii. L) How many of my friends have I la-
mented as if they had died unseasonably, concerning whom
some following providence quickly shewed me, that it
would have been a grievous misery to them to have lived
longer ! Little know you what calamities were imminent on
his person, his family, kindred, neighbours, country, that
would have broke his heart. What if a friend of yours had
died immediately before some calamitous subversion of a
kingdom, some ruins of the church, &c. and if, ignorantly,
he had dQne that which brought these things to pass, can
you imagine how lamentably sad his life would have been
to him, to have seen the church, the Gospel, and his coun-
try, in so sad a case ? especially if it had been long of him?
Many that have unawares done that which hath ruined a
particular friend, have lived in so much grief and trouble,
as made them consent that death should both revenge the
injured on them, and conclude their misery. What then
would it have been to have seen the public good subverted,
and the faithful overwhelmed in misery, and the Gospel hin-
dered, and holy worship changed for deceit and vanity ; and
for conscience to have been daily saying, * 1 had a hand in
all this misery ; I kindled the fire that hath burned up all V
What comfort can you think such friends, if they had
survived, would have found on earth ? unless it were a com-
fort to hear the complaints of the afflicted, to see and hear
such odious sins as sometimes vexed righteous Lot to see
and hear ; or to hear of the scandals of one friend, and the
apostacy of another, and the sinful compliances and de-
clinings of a third; and to be under temptations, reproaches
and afflictions themselves ? Is it a matter to be so much
lamented, that God hath prevented their greater miseries
and woe ?
6. What was the world to your friends while they did
enjoy it ? or what is it now, or like to be hereafter to your-
selves ? Was it so good and kind to them, as that you should
lament their separation from it? Was it not to them a place
of toil and trouble, of envy and vexation, of enmity and
'}iBon 1 of successive c^eb, ^.wdi fe^x^, ^x^^ ^\a€^? and
CONVERSING MTITH OOD IN SOLITUDE, 3ld
worst of ally a place of sin? Did they groan under the bur-
den of a sinful nature, a distempered, tempted, troubled
heart> of languisbings and weakness of every grace ; of the
rebukes of God, the wounds of conscience, and the malice
of a wicked world ? And would ]fSou have them under these
i^ain ? or is their deliverance become your grief? Did you
not often join in prayer with them, for deliverance from
malice, calamities, troubles, imperfections, temptations and
sin ? and now those prayers are answered in their deliver-
ance ; and do you now grieve at that which then you prayed
for?
Doth the world use yourselves so well and kindly, as
that you should be sorry that your friends partake not of
the feast? Are you not groaning from day to day your-
selves? and are you grieved that your friends are taken
from your griefs ? You are not well pleased with your own
condition : when you look into your hearts, you are dis-
pleased and complain : when you look into your lives, you
are displeased and complain ; when you look into your
families, into your neighbourhoods, unto your friends, unto
the church, unto the kingdom, unto the world, you are dis-
pleased and complain. And are you also displeased that your
friends are not under the same displeasure and complaints
as you ? Is the world a place of rest or trouble to you ? And-
would you have your friends to be as far from rest as you ?
And if you have some ease and peace at present, you
little know what storms are near ! you may see the days,
you may hear the tidings, you may feel the griping griefs
and pains, which may make you call for death yourselves,
and make you say. That a life on earth is no felicity, and
make you confess that they are ** Blessed that are dead in
the Lord, as resting from their labours,^ and being past
these troubles, griefs and fears. Many a poor troubled soul
is in. so great distress, as that they take away their own
lives to have some taste of hell ; and yet, at the same time,
are grieving because their friends are taken from them, who
woold have been grieved for their griefs, and for ought they
know might have fallen into as sad a state as they them-
selves are now lamenting.
6. Do you think it is for the hurt or the good of your
friend that he is removed hence ? It cannot be?ox\vv&\v\«V.»
unless he be in bell. {At least, it is uncettaiu vi\i«XJ5^st \»
314 THE DIVINE LIFE.
live would have been for his good, by an increase of grace,
and so for greater glory.) And if he be in hell, he was^ no
fit person for you to take much pleasure in upon eaurth : he
might be indeed a fit object for your compassion, but not
for your complacency. '#ure you are not undone for want
of such company as God will not endure in his sight, and
you must be separated from for ever. But if they be b
heaven, you are scarce their friend if you would wish them
thence. Friendship hath as great respect to the good of
our friends as of ourselves. And do you pretend to friend*
ship, and yet lament the removal of your friend to hii
greatest happiness ! Do you set more by your own enjoying
his company, than by his enjoying God in perfect blessed-
ness ? This sheweth a very culpable defect either in fiadth
or friendship ; and therefore beseemeth not Christians and
friends. If love teacheth us to mourn with them that mourn,
and to rejoice with tliem that rejoice; can it be an act of
rational love to mourn for them that are possessed of the
highest everlasting joys ?
7. God will not honour himself by one only, but by
many : he knoweth best when his work is done : when our
friends have finished all God intended them for, when he
put them into the world, is it not time for them to be gone,
and for others to take their places, and finish their work also
in their time ? God will have a succession of his servants in
the world. Would you not come down, and give place to
him that is to follow you, when your part is played, and his
is to begin ? If David had not died, there had been no Solo-
mon, no Jehoshaphat, no Hezekiah, no Josiah, to succeed
him and honour God in the same throne. You may as
wisely grudge that one day only takes not up all the week,
and that the clock striketh not the same hour still, but pro-
ceedeth from one to two, from two to three. Sec as to mur-
mur that one man only continueth not, to do die work of
his place, excluding his successors.
8. You must not have all your mercies by one messen-
ger or hand : God will not have you confine your love to
one only of his servants ; and therefore he will not make
one only useful to you ; but when one hath delivered his
.message and done his part, perhaps Grod will send you
other mercies by another hand ; and it belongeth to him to
choose the messenger, v/Yio ^\^^^ Vk^ ^\l\i. KxAvC ^qu will
1
1
CONVERSING V^rVH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 315
childishly dote upon the first messenger^ and say you will
have all the rest of your mercies by his hand, or you will
have no more, your frowardness more deserveth correction
than compassion : and if you be kept fasting till you can
thankfully take your food, from any hand that your Father
sends it by, it is a correction very suitable to your sin.
9* Do you so highly value your friends for God, or for
them, or for yourselves, iti the final consideration ? If it
was for God, what treason of trouble have yon, that God
' hath disposed of them, according to his wisdom and unerr-
ing will ? Should you not then be more pleased that God
hath them, and employeth them in his highest service, than
displeased that you want them ?
But if you value them and love them for themseW.es,
they are now more lovely when they are more perfect ; and
they are now fitter for your content and joy, than they could
be in their sin and sorrows.
But if you valued and loved them but for yourselves
only, it is just ^ith God to take them from you, to teach
you to value men to righter ends, and upon better consider-
ations ; and both to prefer God before yourselves, and bet-
ter to understand the nature of true friendship, and better
to know that your own felicity is not in the hands of any
creature, but of God alone.
10* Did you improve your friends while you had them?
or did you only love them, while you made but little use of
them for your souls ? If you used them not, it was just with
God, for all your love, to take them from you. They were
given you as your candle, not only to love it, but to work
by the light of it ; and as your garments, not only to love
them, but to wear them ; and as your meat, not only to love
it, but to feed upon it. Did you receive their counsel, and
barken to their reproofs, and pray with them, and confer
with them upon those holy truths that tended to elevate
your minds to God, and to inflame your breasts with sacred
love ? If not, be it now known to you, that God gave you
not sujch helps and mercies only to talk of, or to look upon
and love, but also to improve for the benefit of your souls.
11. Do you not seem to forge.t where you are yourselves,
and whare you must shortly and for ever live T Where would
you have your friends^ but where you must be 'joxxx^.e.Vi^^l
Do jroa mourn that they are taken hence 1 WVi^» Vf vJa«^
316 THE DIVIN£ LIFE.
had staid here a thousand years, how little of that time
should you have had their company? When you are almost
leaving the world yourselves, would you not send your trea^
sure before you to the place where you must abide? How
quickly will you pass from hence to God, where you shall
find your friends that you lamented as if they had been lost,
and there shall dwell with them for ever ! O foolish mourn-
ers ! would you not have your friends at home ? at their
home and your home, with their Father and your Father,
their God and your God? Shall you not there enjoy them
long enough? Can you so much miss them for one day,
that must live with them to all eternity? and is not eternity
long enough to enjoy your friends in?
Object. * But I do not know whether ever I shall there
have any distinct knowledge of them, or love to them, and
whether God shall not there be so far All in All, as that we
shall need or fetch no comfort from the creature/
Answ. There is no reason for either of these doubts : For,
L You cannot justly think that the knowledge of the
glorified shall be more confused or imperfect than the
knowledge of natural men on earth. We shall know much
more, but not so much less. Heaven exceedeth the eartb
in knowledge, as much as it doth in joy.
2. The angels in heaven have now a distinct, particular
knowledge of the least believers, rejoicing particulai*ly in
their conversion, and being called by Christ himself '' llieir
Angels." Therefore when we shall be equal to the angels,
we shall certainly know our nearest friends that there dwell
with us, and are employed in the same attendance.
3. Abraham knew the rich man in hell, and the rich man
knew Abraham and Lazarus : therefore we shall have as
distinct a knowledge.
4. The two disciples knew Moses and Elias in the mount,
whom they had never seen before ; though it is possible
Christ told them who they were, yet there is no such thing
expressed ; and therefore it is as probable that they knew
them by the communication of their irradiating glory:
much more shall we be then illuminated to a clearer know-
ledge.
5. It is said expressly, 1 Cor. xiii. 10 — 12, that our
present knowledge shall be done away only in regard of its
imperfection; and not of it&eVi, nsVycXi ^^\^'^^Ti^^\ftA.\
CONVERSING WITH OOD IN SOLITUDE. 317
^ when that which is perfect is come^ then that which is in
part shall be done away :" as we put away childish thoughts
and speeches^ when we become men : the change will be
from " seeing in a glass'' to •' seeing face to face," and from
*• knowing in part" to " knowing even as we are known."
2. And that we shall both know, and love, and rejoice in
creatures, even in heaven, notwithstanding that God is all
i& all, appeareth further thus :
1. Christ, in his glorified humanity, is a creature ; and
,.yet there is no doubt but all his members will there know
'. and love him in his glorified humanity, without any deroga-
; tioQ from the glory of his Deity.
2. The body of Christ will continue its union, and every
member will be so nearly related, even in heaven, that they
ci^mot choose but know and love each other. Shall we
be ignorant of the members of our body t and not be con-
cerned in their felicity with whom we are so nearly one?
3. The state and felicity of the church hereafter, is fre-
quently described in Scripture, as consisting in society. It
is a kingdom, the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem ; and
it is mentioned as part of our happiness to be of that society.
(Heb. xii. 22—24, &c.)
4. The saints are called kings themselves ; and it is said
that they shall judge the world, and the angels (and judg-
ing in Scripture is frequently put for governing) ; therefore
(whether there will be another world of mortals which they
shall govern, as angels now govern men; or whether the
misery of damned men and angels will partly consist in as
base a subjection to the glorified saints, as dogs now have
to men, or wicked reprobates on earth to angels ; or whe-
ther in respect of both these together, the saints shall then
be kings, and rule and judge; or whether it be only the
participa'tion of the glory of Christ, that is called a king-
dom, I will not here determine ; but) it is most clear that
tiiey will have a distinct, particular knowledge of the world,
which they themselves must judge; and some concernment
in that work.
5. It is put into the description of the happiness of the
saints, that they shall come from the east, and from the
west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in
the kingdom of God. Therefore they shall know them, and
take fiome comfort in their presence.
318 THE DIVINE LIFE.
6, Love (even to the saints, as well as unto Ctod) is on
.of the graces which shall endure for ever. (I Cor. xiii.) • I
is exercised upon an immortal object (the image and chil
dren of the Most High)« and therefore must be one of tb
immortal graces. For grace in the nature of it dieth not
and therefore if the object cease not^ how should the grto
cease« unless you will call its perfecting a ceasing f
It is a state too high for such as we, and I think for an]
mere creature to live so immediately and only upon God, ai
to have no use for any fellow creature, nor no comfort ii
them. God can make use of glorified creatures, in sacb
subserviency and subordination to himself, as shall be no
diminution to his allsufficiency and honour, nor to our glofy
and felicity. We must take heed of fancying such a heaveii
itself, as is above the capacity of a creature ; as some v^
wise divines think they have done, that tell us we shall im-
mediately see God's essence (his glory being that viHbidi is
provided for our intuition and felicity, and is distinct from
his essence ; being not every where, as his essence is). And
as those do, that tell us, because that God will be All in AUf
therefore we shall there have none of our comfort by any
creature. Though flesh and blood shall not enter into that
kingdom, but our bodies will then be spiritual bodies ; yet
will they be really the same as now, and distinct from our
souls ; and therefore must have a felicity suitable to a body
glorified. And if the soul did immediately see God's es-
sence, yet as no reason can conclude that it can see nothing
else, or that it can see even created good, and not love it»
so the body however must have objects and felicity fit fort
body.
Object. ' But it is said. If we knew Christ after the fleshi
henceforth know we him no more.'
Answ. No doubt but all the carnality in principles, mat-
ter, manner and ends of our knowledge, will then cease, 9$
its imperfections ; but that a carnal knowledge be turned
into a spiritual, is no more a diminution to it, than it i$ to
the glory of our bodies, to be made like the stars in the
firmament of our Father.
Object, * But then I shall have no more comfort in my
present friends than in any other.'
Answ. 1. If you had none in them, it is nodimimitioE
io our happiness, if m^eed yf^ %\io\Ad Vvajir^ all in God, im-
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 319
mediately and alone. 2. But if yoa have as much in others
that you never knew before, that will not diminish any of
your comfort in your ancient friends. 3. But it is most pro-
bable to us, that as there is a twofold object for our love in
the glorified saints ; one is their holiness, and the other is
the relation which they stood in between God and us, being
made his instruments for our conversion and salvation, so
that we shall love saints in heaven in both respects : and in
the first respect (which is the chiefest) we shall love those
most that have most of God, and the greatest glory (though
such as we never knew on earth). And in the second re-
spect we shall love those most, that were employed by God
for our greatest good.
And that we shall not there lay by so much respect to
ourselves, as to forget or disregard our benefactors, is mani-
fest, 1. In that we shall for ever remember Christ, and love
him, and praise him, as one that formerly redeemed us, and
washed us in his blood, and hath made us kings and priests
to God : and therefore we may also, in just subordination
to Christ, remember them with love and thankfulness, that
were his instruments for the collation of these benefits.
2. And this kind of self-love (to be sensible of good and
evil to ourselves) is none of the sinful or imperfect selfish-
ness to be renounced or laid by, but part of our very na-
tures, and as inseparable from us as we are from ourselves.
Much more, were it not digressive, might be said on this
subject ; but I shall only add. That as God doth draw us to
every holy duty by shewing us the exqellency of that duty ;
and as perpetuity is not the smallest excellency ; so he
hath purposely mentioned that love endureth for ever (when
he had described the love of one another), as a principal
motive to kindle and increase this love. And therefore
those that think they shall have no personal knowledge of
one another, nor personal love to one another (for we can-
not love personally, if we know not personally), do take a-
most effectual course to destroy in their souls all holy spe-
cial love to saints, by casting away that principal or very
great motive given them by the Holy Ghost. I am not able
to love much where I foreknow that I shall not love long.
I cannot love a comely inn, so well as a meaner dwelling of
my own, because I must be gone tQ-morrow. Therefore
320 THE DIVING LIFE.
must I love my Bible better than my law-books^ or physic^
books, 8cc. because it leadeth to eternity. And therefore I
must love holiness in myself and others, better than meat
and drink, and wealth and honour, and beauty and pleasure;
because it must be loved for ever, when the love of these
must needs be transitory, as they are transitory. I must
profess from the very experience of my soul, that it is the
belief that I shall love my friends in heaven, that principally
kindleth my love to them on earth; and if I thought I
should never know them after death, and consequently
never love them more, when this life is ended^ I should in
reason number them with temporal things, and love them
comparatively but a little ; even as I love other transitory
things (allowing for the excellency in the nature of grace).
But now I converse with some delight with my godly
friends, as believing I shall converse with them for ever,
and take comfort in the very dead and absent, as believing
we shall shortly meet in heaven : and I love them, I hope,
with a love that is of a heavenly nature, while I love them
as the heirs of heaven, with a love which I expect ^hall
there be perfected, and more fully and for ever exercised.
12. The last reason that I give you, to move you to bear
the loss or absence of your friends, is, that it gives you the
loudest call to retire from all the world, and to converse
with God himself, and to long for heaven, where you shall
be separated from your friends no more. And your for-
saken state will somewhat assist you to that solitary con-
verse with God, which it calls you to: but this brings us up
to the third part of the text.
'' And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with
me.**
Doct. * When all forsake us, and leave us (as to them)
alone, we are far from being simply alone ; because God is
with us.'
He is not without company, that is with the king,
though twenty others have turned him off. He is not with-
out light that hath the shining sun, though all his candles
be put out. If God be our God, he is our All, and is enough
for us ; and if he be our All, we shall not much find the
want of creatures while he is with us.
For, 1. He is with us, who is every where, and therefore
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 321
is never from us ; and knoweth all the ways and projects of
our enemies ; being with them in wrath, as he is with us in
mercy.
2. He is with us who is Almighty, sufEciept to preserve
us, conquerable by none ; and therefore while he is with us,
we need not fear what man can do unto us ; for they can do
nothing but what he will. No danger, no sickness, no trou-
ble or want can be so great as to make it any difficulty to
God to deli versus, when and how he pleases.
3. He is with us who is infinitely wise, and therefore we
need not fear the subtilty of enemies ; nor shall any of his
undertaken works for his church or us miscarry for want of
foresight, or through any oversight. We shall be preserved
even from our own folly, as well as from our enemies sub-
tilty; for it is not our own wisdom that our greatest concern-
ments do principally rest upon, nor that our safety and peace
are chiefly secured by ; but it is the wisdom of our great
Preserver. He knoweth what to do with us, and. what paths
to lead us in, and what is best for us in all conditions. And
he hath promised to teach us, and will be our sure, infallible
guide.
3. He is with us who is infinitely good, and therefore is
only fit to be a continual delight and satisfaction to our
souls ; that hath nothing in him to disaffect us, or discou-
rage us : whom we may love without fear of overloving; and
need not set any bounds to our love, the object of it being
infinite.
4. He is with us, who is most nearly related to us, and ^
most dearly loveth us ; and therefore will never be wanting
to us in any thing that is fit for us to have. This is he that
is with us, when all have left us, and as to man we are alone ;
and therefore we may well say that we are not alone. Of this
I shall say more anon in the application.
Quest. * But how is he with usf Amw. 1. He is with
us not only in his essential presence, as he is every where,!
bat by his gracious fatherly presence : we are in his family
attending on him ; even as the eye of a servant is to the
hand of his master : we are always with him, and (as he
phraseth it himself in the parable, Luke xv,) ** all that he
hath is ours ;" that is, all that is fit to be communicated to
us, and all the provisions of his bounty for Vv\a c\vv\At««v,
voi^. xitr, Y
332 THE DIYIN£ LIFE.
When we awake, we should be still with him ; when we go
abroad, we should be always as before him ; our life and
works should be a walking with God.
I 2. He is always with us sufficiently to do us good.
Though we have none else that caretb for us, yet will he
never cast us out of his care, but biddeth us cast our care
on him, as promising that he will care for us. Though we
have none else to provide for us, he is always with us, and
our Father knoweth what we want, and will make the best
provision for us. (Matt. vi. 32, 33.) Though we have none
else to defend us against the power of our enemies^ he is
always with us to be our sure defence. He is the rock to
which we fly, and upon which we are surely built. He
gathereth us to himself, an the '' hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings." -(Matt, xxiii. 37.) And sure while love
is thus protecting us, we may well say that the Father huur
self is with us. Though in all our wants we have no other
to supply us, yet he is still with us to perform his promise
that no good tiling shall be wanting to them that fear him.
Though we may have none else to strengthen and help us,
and support us in our weakness, yet he is always with U8>
whose grace is sufficient for us, to manifest his strength in
weakness. Though we have no other to teach us, and to
resolve our doubts, yet he is with us that is our chiefest
Master, and ha& taken us to be his disciples, and will be
our light and guide, and will lead us into the truth. Though
we have none else to be our comforter in our agony, dark-
ness or distress ; but all forsake us, or are taken ftom us,
and we are ex^sed as Hagar with Ishmael in a wilderness,
yet still the Father of all consolations is with us ; his Spirit
who is the Comforter is in us : and he that so often speaketh
the words of comfort to us in his Gospel, and sait^, ** Be of
good cheer; let not your hearts be troubled, neither be
afraid," &c., will speak them (in the season and measure
which is fittest for us) unto our hearts. Though all friends
turn enemies, and would destroy us, or turn false accusers,
as Job's friends in their ignorance or passion; though all
of them should add affliction to our affliction, yet is' our
Redeemer and Justifier still with us> and will etay his re-
straining hand upon our enemies, and say to their proudest
fury, •' Hitherto and no further shalt thou go." He is
angry with Job's accusing friends, notwithstanding their
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. t}^
frifsndisbip and good meaniag, and though they sean^sd to
plea4 for Go4 and godliness against Job's sin. And who
shall be ag^ipst us while God is for us? or, who shall co|:i-
d^ipp us rwhen i|b is he that justifieth us? Though we be
pVL^ to say as David^ " I looked on my r^ght hand, and be-
held, but there was no man that would know me : refuge
flailed me ; no man cared for my soul;" (Psal. cxlii. 4;) yet
we njiay say with him, " I cried unto thee, O Lord ; I said,
thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living :
bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name :
the righteous shall compass me about : for thou shalt deal
bountifully with me." (ver. 6 — 7.) " I poured out my cpi»-
plaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble : when
my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewestmy
path: in the way wherein I walked have they privily laid
a so^e for me.*' (ver. 2, 3.) Thus, " God is our refuge and
strength ; a very present help in trouble ; therefore should
we not fear though the earth were removed, and though the
mountains were carried into the midst of the sea ; though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled," &c. (Psal.iclvi.
1 — 3.) Though, as David saith, ** Mine enemies speak evil
of me : when shall he die, and his name perish ? And if he
come to ^ee me, he speaketh vanity : his heart gather^th
iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad he telleth it : All
that hate me whisper together against me : against me do
they devi&e my hurt : An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast
unto him ; and now that he lieth be shall rise up no more :
Yea, my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, liiat did eat
of my bread, hath lift up his heel against me — •. — .'* (Psal.
xli. 6-^7.) Yet we may add as he, ver. 12, " And as for me, thou
upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face
for ever.'' Though, as Psal. xxxv. 7. 11. 15, 16. 20, " Without
cause they have hid for me their net in a pit, which without
cause they have digged for my soul : and false witnesses did.
rise up, they laid to pay charge things that I knew not ; they
rewarded me evil for good. In my adversity they rejoiced, and
gathered themselves together; the abjects gathered them-
selves together against me, and I knew it not ; they did tear and
ceased not; with hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed
upon me with their teeth. For they speak not peace, but they
devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the
land/' Yet, " My soul shall be joyful in the Lord ; it shall re-».
324 THE DIVINE LIFE.
joice in his salvation. All my bones shall say^ Lord» who is like
unto thee« who deliverest the poor from him that is too strong
for him, yea the poor and the needy from him that spoiletb
him." (ver. 9, 10.) Though friends be far off, " The Lord
is nigh to them that are of a broken heart, and saveth
such as be of a contrite spirit : Many are the afflictions of
the righteous ; but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
The Lprd redeemeth the soul of his servants ; and none of
them that trust in him shall be desolate.'^ (Psal. xxxiv. 18,
19. 22.) Therefore, " I will be glad and rejoice in his mercy,
for h^ hath considered my trouble, and hath known (and
owned) my soul in adversity ; and hath not shut me in the
hand of the enemy. — ^When my life- was spent with grief, and
my years with sighing ; my strength failed because of mine
iniquity, and my bones were consumed ; I was a reproach
among all mine enemies, but especially among my neigh-
bours, and a fear to mine acquaintance ; they that did see
me without, fled from me : I was forgotten, and as a dead
man out of mind : I was like a broken vessel : I heard the
slander of many : Fear was on every side, while they took
counsel together against me, they devised to take away my
life ; but I trusted in thee, O Lord : I said, thou art my
God ; my times are in thy hand ; deliver me from the hands
of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me : Make
thy face to shine upon thy servant : Save me for thy mercies*
sake. O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid
up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them
that trust in thee before the sons of men ! Thou sh^lt hide
them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man ;
thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of
tongues." (Psal. xxxi.) Thus God is with us when men are
far from us, or against us. His people find by happy expe-
rience that they are not alone. Because hi? is nigh them,
evil shall not come nigh them unless as it worf^eth for their
good. " He is their hiding-place to preserve them from
trouble ; the great waterfloods shall not come\nigh them ;
he will compass them about with songs of deJiverance."
(Psal. xxxii. 6, 7.) [
I 3* And as God is with us thus relatively and) efficiently,
so also objectively, for our holy converse, wkerever our
friends are, God is . still at hand to be the moit profitable,
honourable and delightful object of out thovi^iits. There is
CONVKRSINO WITH GOD. IN SOLITUDE. 326
enough in him to take up all the faculties of my soul. He
that is but in a well-furnished library, may find great and
jBXcellent employment for his thoughts many years together;
and so may he that liveth in the open world, and hath all
the visible works of God to meditate upon : but all this
were nothing if God were n9t the sense of books and crea-
tures, and the matter of all these noble studies. He that is
alone, and hath only God himself 4;o study, hath the matter
and sense of all the books and creatures in the world, to
employ his thoughts upon. He never need to want matter
for his meditation, that bath God to meditate on. He need
not want matter of discourse (whether mental or vocal) that
hath God to talk of, though he have not the name of any
other friend to mention. All our affections may have in him
the highest and most pleasant work. The soul of man can-
not have a more sweet and excellent work than to love him :
He wanteth neither work nor pleasure, that in his solitude .
is taken up in the believing contemplations of Eternal Love,
and of all his blessed attributes and works. O then what
happy and delightful converse may a believer have with God
alone! He is always present, and always at leisure to be
spoken with; and always willing of our access and audience.
He hath no interest cross to our felicity, which should move
him to reject us (as worldly great ones *often have). He /
never misunderstandeth us, nor chargeth that upon us which
we were never guilty of. If we converse with men, their
mistakes, and interests, and passions, and insufficiencies, do
make the trouble so great, and the benefit so small, that
many have become thereby aweary of the world, or of hu-
man society, and have spent the rest of their days alone in
desert places. Indeed so much of God as appears in men,
so much is their converse excellent and delightful ; and
their's is the best that have most of God. But there is so
much of vanity, and self, and fiesh, and sin in the most, or
all of us,- as very much darkeneth our light, and dampeth
the pleasure, and blasteth the fruit of our societies and con-
verse. O how oft have I been solaced in God, when I found
nothing but deceit and darkness in the world ! How oft hath
he comforted me, when it was past the power of man! How oft
hath he relieved and delivered me, when all the help of man
was in vain ! It hath been my stay and rest, to looklQ> \\\vsw
when the creature bsith been a broken »taff , ^ivd ^^^^\\Kvi\.
dStf TH£ DITIN£ LIFfi.
fritods have been but «b a broken tOOth, or a foot thftt 19
oat of joint (as Soloifidfi Bpc^elh df cotifidcfnoei ih an «6-
faithfal man in the time of tfbiibl^, Frot* Hjcv. 39.) Verily,
aa the world wete but a horrid dttngeoti Withoift the stin^
so it were a howling wilderness, a phite of nd ttonstdef^ble
employment or delight, ifrer^ it not thsit in it We tAkf ik¥t to
6od and do him service, aiid sometimes be reireabed wMi
the light of his conhtenaiice^ and the comtbntiieatiolis of
his lore. But of this i&ore anon*
Use li We see our example, and our eiKCouragetfiMls.
Let us now, as followers of Christ, endeavour to imitate him
in this, and to live Upon God, wheti meii forsake Us, itftd to
know that while God is with us, we are not alone, hdr indeed
forsaken while he forsake^ us not.
I shall, L Shew you here negatitely, whart you ifiu^lnet
dd. 2. Affirmatively, What you mtist do ; for the perfbm-
ance of youi* duty in this imitation df Christ*
1. You must not makie this your pretence for the under-
valuing your useful friends^ nor for your unthankfulhess for so
great a benefit as a godly friend; nor for the neglect of your
duty ih improving the company and help of your fricnoKis.
Two is better than ohe. The commutiion df saints ftnd help
of those that are wise and faithful, is a mercy highly to be
esteemed^ And the undervaluing of it, is at leal^ a sign of
a declining soul.
2. You must not hence fetch any pretence to slight your
friends, and disoblige theiu, or neglect any duty that yon
owe them, or any means therein necessary to the continua-
tion of their friendship.
3. You must not causelessly withdraw from humao
society into solitude. A weiaLriness of converse with tnen,
is oft conjunct with a weariness of our duty ; and a retiring
voluntarily into solitude, when God doth not call or drive v»
thither, is oft but a retiring from the place and work which
God hath appointed us ; and consequently a retiring rather
from God than to God. Like some idle servants that think
they should not work so hard> because it is but worldly
business, and think their masters deal not religiously by
them, unless they let them neglect their labour, that they
may spend more time in serving God ; as if it Were not
serving God to be faithful in their master's service.
/ deny not but very bLoVy ipeT^oi\^'WN^\vN^^\xi'auiaXaj(AQ(
CONVBRSiNQ WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 927
reliremeut from human converse. In such oases as these, it
m^y become a duty : 1. In case of such persecution as at
present leaveth us no opportunity of serving or honouring
God so much in any other place or state.
2. In case that natural infirmity, or disability, or any
other accident shall make one less serviceable to God and
his church in society thfm he is in solitude.
3. In case he hath committed a sin so heinous, and of
indelible scandal and reproach, as that it is not fit for the
servants of Christ any more to receive him into their local
communion, though he repent : (for as to local communion,
I think, such a case may be.)
4.. In case a man through custom and ill company be so
captivated to some fleshly lust, as that he is not able to bear
the -temptations that are found in human converse ; but
falleth by them into frequent heinous sinning ; in this case
the right hand or eye is rather to be parted with, than their
salvation. And though a mere restraint by distance of
temptsitions and opportunities of sinning, will not prove a
man sanctified, nor save the soul that loveth the sin, and
fain would live in it; yet,.l. Grace may sometimes appear
in the strength and self-denial which is exercised in the very
avoiding of temptations, when yet perhaps the person hath
not strength enough to have stood against the temptations
if it had not been avoided. And, 2. The distance of temp-
tations, and opportunity of serious and frequent considera-
tion, may be a means to help them to sincerity that want it.
6* In case a man by age or sickness find himself so near
to death, as that he hath now a more special call to look
after his present actual preparation, than to endeavour any
more the good of others ; and find withal, that solitude will
help him in his preparations, his society being such as would
but hinder him. In these five cases, I suppose it lawful to
retire from human converse into solitude.
But when there is no such necessity or call, it usually
proceedeth from one of these vicious distempers: 1. From
cowardice and fear of sufiering, when the soldiers of Christ
do hide their heads, instead of confessing him before men.
2. From a laziness of mind and weariness of duty ; when
slothful and unprofitable servants hide their talents, pretend-
ing their fear of the austerity of their Lord. It is easier to
run away from our work than do it *, and to ^o o\x\. <^S. X^t^
328 TH£ DIVINE LIFE.
reach of ignorance^ malice, contradiction and ungodliness,
than to encounter them, and conquer them by truth and
holy lives. So many persons as we converse with, so many
are there to whom we owe some duty : and this is not su
easy as it is to over-run our work, and to hide ourselves in
some wilderness or cell, whilst others are fighting the battles
of the Lord. 3. Or it may proceed from mere impatience.
When men cannot bear the frown, and scorns, and violence
of the ungodly, they fly from sufferings, which by patience
they should overcome. 4. Or it may come from humour
and mutability of mind, and discontent with ones condition.
Many retire from human converse to please a discontented,
passionate mind ; or expecting to find that in privacy, which
in public they could not find, nor is any where to be found
on earth. 5. And some do it in melancholy, merely to
please a sick imagination, which is vexed in company, and
a little easeth itself in living as the possessed man among
the tombs. 6. And sometimes it proceedeth from self-igno-
rance, and an unhumbled state of soul. When men think
much better of themselves than others, they think they can
more comfortably converse with themselves than with
others : whereas if they well understood that they are the
worst or greatest enemies, or troubles to themselves, they
would more fear their own company than other men's. They
would then consider what proud, and fleshly, and worldly,
and selfish, and disordered hearts they are likely to carry
with them into their solitude, and there to be annoyed with
from day to day : and that the nearest enemy is the worst,
and the nearest trouble is the greatest.
These vices or infirmities carry many into solitude ; and
if they live where Popish vanity may seduce them, they will
perhaps imagine that they are serving God, and entering into
perfection, when they are but sinfully obeying their corrup-
tions : and that they are advanced above others in degrees
of grace, while they are pleasing a .diseased fancy, and en-
tering into a dangerous course of sin. No doubt but the
duties of a public life are more in number, and greater in
weight, and of more excellent consequence and tendency
(even to the most public good, and greatest honour of God)
than the duties of privacy or retirement. ' Vir bonus e9t
I commune bonum :' A good man is a common good. And
saith Seneca) ' Nulla essent couirnxxuv^ m%\ i^^t« illorum
CONV£R61NG WITH OOD IK 9S0LITUDB. ^ 3*29
pertineret ad singulos*' If every one have not some share or
interest in them» how are they common? Let me add these
few considerations, to shew you the evil of voluntary, unne-
cessary solitude.
1. You less contribute to the honour of your Redeemer,
and less promote his kingdom in the world, and less sub-
serve his death and office, while you do good but to few, and
live but almost to yourselves.
2. You live in the poorest exercise of the grace of cha-
rity ; and therefore in a low, undesirable condition.
3. You will want the communion of saints, and benefit
of public ordinances (for I account not a college life a soli-
tary life). And you will want the help of the charity, graces
and gifts of others, by which you might be benefitted.
4. It will be a life of smaller comfort, as it is a life of
smaller benefit to others. They that do but little good (ac-
cording to their ability) must expect but little comfort.
They have usually most peace and comfort to themselves
that are the most profitable to others. ' Non potest quis-
quam bene degere qui se tantum intuetur: alteri vivas opor-
tet, si tibi vis vivere.' Sen. ' No man can live well, that
looketh but to himself: thou must live to another, if thou
wilt live to thyself.'
O the delight that there is in doing good to many ! None
knoweth it that hath not tried it : not upon any account of
merit ; but as it pleaseth God, and as goodness itself is
amiable and sweet ; and as we receive by communicating ;
and as we are under promise ; and as charity makes all the
good that is done to another to be to us as our own.
5. We are dark and partial, and heedl^ess of ourselves,
and hardly brought or kept in acquaintance with our hearts ;
and therefore have the more need of the eye of others. And
even an enemy's eye may be useful, though malicious ; and
may do us good, while he intends us evil, saith Bernard,
' Malum quod nemo videt, nemo arguit : Ubi autem non ti-
metur reprehensor, securus accedit tentator ; licentius per-
petratur iniquitas.' ' The evil that none seeth, none reprov-
eth: and where the reprover is not feared, the tempter
cometh more boldly, and the sin is committed the more li-
centiously.' It is hard to know the spots in our own faces,
when we have no glass or beholder to accYvxaiivX. \xs» ^Vii
them. SaitA Cbrysostom, Solitude is 'vel^xd^xv otcl\v\\i\£l
d«30 TUfi DIVIN£ LIF£.
vitierum :' the cover of all vtcea. In company this cover »
laid aside, and vice being more naked, is moie ashanied. It
is beholders that cause shame ; which solitude is not sc»
quainted with : and it is a piece of impenitency not to be
ashamed of sin.
6. And we are for the most part so weak and sickly^ that
we are unable to subsist without the help of others. ' Nemo
est ex imprudentibus qui relinqui sibi debet*' Sen. * Un-
wise men (or infants, or sick-like men) must not be left to
themselves/ And God hath left some impotency, insuffi-
ciency and necessity upon all that should keep men-soctable
and make them acluK>wledge their need of others^ and be
thankful for assistance from them, and be ready to do good
to others, as we would have others do to us. He that feel-
eth not the need of others, is so unhumbled as to have the
greater need of them<
7. Pride will have great advantage in private, and repen-
tance great disadvantage, while our sins seem to be all dead,
because there is not a ten^ptation to draw them out, or an
observer to reprove them. ' Tam diu patiens quisque sibi
videtur et humilis, donee nuUius hominum consortio com-
miscetur : ad naturam pristinam reversurus quum interpel-
laverit cujuslibet occasionis commotio,' inquit Cassiamus.
' Many a man seems to himself patient and humble, while
he keeps out of company ; who would return to his own na-
ture, if the commotion of any occasion did but provoke him.'
It is hard to know what sin or grace is in us, if we have not
such trials as are not to be found in solitude.
8. Flying from the observation and judgment of othersi
is a kind of self-accusation ; as if we confessed ourselves so
bad as that we cannot stand the trial of the light. ' Bona
conscientia turbam advocat. Mala in solitudine anxia est
et soUicita: si honesta sunt quea facis, omnes sciant: si
turpia, quid refert neminem scire, cum tu scias i O te mi-
serum si Gontemnis hunc testem :'' inquit Seneca. That is^
' A good conscience will call in the crowd (or witnesses,
not caring who seeth) : A bad conscience is anxious and
solicitous even in solitude. If they be things honest whiols
thou dost, let all men know : if they be dishonest, what good
doth it thee that no man else knoweth it, when thou knowesl^
it thyself 7 0 miserable man, if thou despise this witness !'
^Something is suspected to \>e ^\a\%% viV^ >JBtoi^ Vlcis^ ^le
CONV£RSlNa WITH eOD IN SOLITUDE. 331
always in their chambcftBi and are never seen. Tell not men
Unit ytrn oannot bear the light i it is hg (hat doth eVll that
hatoth the light, lest his Aet^B should be reproved.
9v Solitude is too like death to be desttable. He liveth
that doth good ; and he is dead that id tideless. ^ Vivit is
qui inaltid nsui est : vivit is qui sentittir ; qui vero latitant
et torpent, mortem snam antedesserint/ inquit Sen. ' He
liveth tbstt is profitable to many : he liveth that is obiierved
or perceived ; but they that lie hid and drowsy, da antici-
pate their death.' And it is the most culpable death, and
therefore the Wot^i, to have life and not to use it.
10. And a life of holy eonununion is most like unto hea-
ven, where none shall be solitary, but all as members of the
heavenly Jerusalem, shall in hamibny love and praise their
Maker.
These reasons seem sufficient to me to satisfy you that
no tnan should choose solitude without a special necessity
or call : nor yet should it be taken for a life of greater per-
fection^ than a fkithful serving of God in public, and doing
g6od to taot^.
I shall now cotDie to the affirmative, and tell yott for all
thils, that ' tf Qod Call us into solitude, or men forsake us, we
ih^y Rejoice in this, that we are not alone, but the Father is
With us/ t^'ear not such solitude, but be ready to improve it
if you be bast *p<m if. If God be your God, reconciled to
you in Christ, iud his Spirit be in ydU, ydU are provided for
solitude, and need not feaf if all the world should Ckdt you
off. If you be banished, imprisoned Or left alotie, it is but
a relaxation fi'om yoUr greatest labours i which though you
may not cast off yourdel?es, you may lawf\illy be sensible
of your ease, if (Jod take off yout burdeu. It is but a ces-
sation from your sharpest conflicts, and removal ftom a mul-
titude of gteat temptationiii And though you may not
cowardly retreat or shift yourselves from the fight and dan-
ger, yet if God Will dispense with you, and let you live In
greater peace and safety, yau have no cause to murmur at
his dealing. A ftuit tree that groweth by the highway side,
doth seldom keep its fruit to ripeness, while so many pas-
sengers have each his ^tone or cudgel to Cast at it. Seneca
oonld say, ' Nunquam a turba mores quos e^ttuli rcfero. Alv-
qaid et eo quod oomposui turbatur ; a\\t\\iid e-x. \vv% c^wai W-
gari redit: inimic^ est mtiltorum com^v^a^tio? * A w^>i«
332 TUB DIVINE LIFE.
bring home well from a crowd the maimers which I took out
f with me : something is disordered of that which I had set
in order ; something of that which I had banished doth re-
turn ; the conversation of many I find an enemy to me,' 0
how many vain and foolish words corrupt the minds of those
that converse with an ungodly worlds when your ears 9/ai
minds who live in solitude are free from such temptations !
You live not in so corrupt an air as they. You hear not the
filthy, ribald speeches, which fight against modesty and
chastity, and are the bellows of lust. You hear not the dis-
contented, complaining words of the impatient; nor the
passionate, provoking words of the offended ; nor the wrang-
ling, quarrelsome words of the contentious ; nor the censo-
rious, or slanderous, or reproachful words of the malicious,
who think it their interest to have their brethren taken to be
bad, and to have others hate them, because they themselves
hate them ; and who are as zealous to quench the charity of
others, when it is destroyed in themselves, as holy persons
are zealous to provoke others to love, which dwelleth and
vuleth in themselves. In your solitude with God, you shall
not hear the lies and malicious revilings of the ungodly
against the generation of the just : nor the subtle, cheating
words of heretics, who being themselves deceived, would
deceive others of their faith, and corrupt their lives. You
shall not there be distracted with the noise and clamours of
contending, uncharitable professors of religion, endeavour-
ing to make odious first the opinions, and then the persons
of one another : one saying, Here is the church, and another.
There is the church : one saying. This is the true church-
government, and another saying. Nay, but that is it : one
saying, God will be worshipped thus, another. Not so, but
thus, or thus. You shall not there be drawn to side with
one against another, nor to join with any faction, or be
guilty of divisions. You shall not be troubled with the oaths
and blasphemies of the wicked, nor with the imprudent mis-
carriages of the weak ; with the persecutions of enemies, or
the falling out of friends. You shall not see the cruelty of
proud oppressors, that set up lies by armed violence, and
care not what they s^y or do, nor how much other men are
injured and suffer, so that themselves may tyrannize, and
their wills and words may rule the world, when they do so
"ubappily rule themselves. Iti'jovxt ^cK\V.\sAamV3cLQ<id, you
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLlTUPfi. 333
shall not see the prosperity of the wicked, to mo?e you to
«nvy ; nor the adversity of the just, to be your grief. You
shall see no worldly pomp and splendor to befool you, nor
adorned beauty to entice you, nor wasting calamities to
afflict you. You shall not hear the laughter of fools, nor
the sick man's groans, nor the wronged man's complaints,
nor the poor man's murmurings, nor the proud man's boast-
ings, or the angry man's abusive ragings. As you lose the
help of your gracious friends, so you are freed from the
fruits of their peevishness and passions ; of their differing
, opinions, and ways, and tempers; of their inequality, un-
suitableness, and contrariety of minds or interests ; of their
levity and inconstancy, and the powerful temptations of
their friendship, to draw you to the errors or other sins
which they are tainted with themselves. In a word, you are
there half delivered from the VANITY and VEXATION of
the world ; and were it not that you are yet undelivered from
yourselves, and that you take distempered, corrupted hearts
with you. Oh what a felicity would your solitude be ! But,
alas ! we cannot overrun our own diseases, we must carry
with us the remnants of our corrupted nature ; our deadness
-and dulness, our selfishness and earthly minds, our impa-
tience and discontents; and worst of all, our lamentable
weakness of faith, and love, and heavenly-mindedness, and
our strangeness to God, and backwardness to the matters
of eternal life. O that I could escape these, though I were
in the hands of the most cruel enemies ! O that such a heart
could be left behind ! how gladly would I overrun both
house and land, and honour, and all sensual delights, that I
might but overrun it ! O where is the place where there is
none of this darkness, nor disaffection, nor distance, nor
estirangedness from God ! O that I knew it ! O that I could
find it ! O that I might there dwell ! though I should never
more see the face of mortals ; nor ever hear a human voice,
nor ever taste of the delights of fiesh ! Alas ! foolish soul !
such a place there is, that hath all this, and more than this ;
but it is not in a wilderness, but in a Paradise, not here on
earth, but above with Christ ! and yet am I so loath to die ?
yet am I no more desirous of the blessed day, when I shall
be unclothed of flesh and sin ? O death, what an enemy art
thou even to my soul ! by affrighting me from the presence
of my JLord^ and hindering my desires and mWvcv^w^^^^ V^X^^
334 THS UIVIN1S LIFE.
gone, thou wrongest me much more, than by laying my
flesh to rot in darkneas. Fain I would know Qodt and &in
I would more lore him and enjoy him ; but O this hurtful
love of li& ! O this unreasonable fear of dying, dataineth
my desires from pressing on to the happy place where all
this may be had ! '' O wretched man that I am, who shall de-
liver me from this body of death !'' this carnal believing heart,
that sometimes can think more delightfuUy of a wilderness
than of heaven ; that can go seek after God in desert soli-
tude, among Uie birds, and beasts, and trees, and yet so
backward to be loosed from flesh that I may find him and
/enjoy him in the world of glory i Can I expect that li^aven
sbovdd come down to earth ! and that the Lord of glory
should remove his court, and either leave the retinue of his
celestial courtiers, or bring them all down into this drossy
world of flesh and sin, and this to satisfy my fleshly, foolish
mind ! or can I expect the translation of Enoch, or the cha-
riot of Elias ? Is it not enough that my Lord hath conquered
death, and sanctified the passage, and prepared the place
of my perpetual abode ?
Well ! for all this, though a wilderness is not heaven, it
shall be sweet and welcome, for the sake of heaven, if
thence I may have a clearer prospect of it; and if by retiring
from the crowd and noise of folly, I may but be more com-
posed and better disposed to converse above, and to use my
faith (alas ! my too weak, languid faith) until the beautiful
vision and fruition come. If there may be but more of Ood,
or readier access to him, or more heart-quickening flames
of love, or more heartrcomforting intimations of his favour,
in a wilderness than in a city, in a prison than in a palace,
let that wilderness be my city, and let that prison >be my
palace, while I must abide on earth* If in solitude J may
have Enoch's walk with God, I shall in due season have
such a translation as shall bring me to the same felicity
which he enjoy eth ; and in the mean time, as well as a.fter,
it is no disadvantage, if by mortal eyes I be seen no more.
If the chariot of contemplation will in solitude raise we to
move believing, aflectionate converse with heaven, than I
could expect in tumults and temptations, it shall reconcile
me unto solitude, and make it my Paradise on earthy till
angels, instead of the chariot of Elias, shall convey me to
the presence of my glotv^edB-^^dLjViv^Sp^fe ^^Wv\ft]LP^radise«
CONVBRSINO WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 335
Object, y But it is grievous to one that hath been used to /
much Qompany, to be alone/
AtwH). Company may so use you, that it may be more
grievous to you not to be alone* The society of wasps and
serpents may be spared ; and bees themselves have such
stings as make some that have felt them think they bought
the honey dear.
But can you say you are alone while you are with God ?
Is his presence nothing to you ? doth it not signify more
than the company of all men in the world ? Saith Hierom,
* Sapiens nunquam solus esse potest ; habet enim secum
omnes qui sunt, et qui fuerunt boni ■ et si hominum sit
inopia, liquitur cum Deo :' viz. * A wise man cannot be
alone ; for he hath with him the good men that are or have
been and if there be a want of men, he speaketh witli
God.' He should rather have said. There can be no want
of man, when we may speak with God ; and were it not that
God is here revecded to us as in a glass, and that we do con-
verse with God in man, we should think human converse
little worth.
Object. * O but solitude is disconsolate to a sociable (
mind.'
Amw. But the most desirable society is no solitude.
Saitii Hierom, * Infiaita erimi vastitas te terret ? sed tu Pa-
radisum mente deambula; quotiescunque cogitatione ac
mente illuc conscenderis, toties in erema non eris :' that is,
* Doth the infinite vastness of the wilderness terrify thee? but
do thou <ascend) in mind and walk in Paradise ; as oft as thou
ascendest thither in thought and mind, so oft thou shalt not
be in the wilderness.' If God be nothing to thee, thou art
not a Christian but an atheist. If Qod be God to thee,
he is all i|i all to thee ; and then should not his presence be
instead of all ? O that I might get one step nearer unto God,
though I receded many from all the world I O that I could
find that place on earth, where a soul may have nearest \ac-
cess unto him, and fullest knowledge and enjoyment of
turn, though I never more saw the face of friends! I should
cheerfully say with my blessed Saviour, ** I am not alone,
' for the Father is with me." And should say so for these
reasons following.
I. If God be with me, the Maker, and Ruler » and I>\%-\
poeer of all ia with me ; so that all thmga axe Vvt^xx^"^ xfhsQcv
330 THE DIVINE LIFE.
me in him. I have that in gold {ind jewels which I seem to
want in silver, lead and dross. I can want no friend, if God
vouchsafe to be my friend ; and I can enjoy no benefit by
all my friends, if God be my enemy : I need not fear the
greatest enemies, if God be reconciled to me. I shall not
miss the light of the candle, if I have this blessed suu. The
creature is nothing but what it is from God, and in God ;
and it is worth noticing, or good for nothing, but what it is
worth in order unto God, as it declareth him, and helps the
soul to know him, serve him, or draw nearer to him. As it
is idolatry in the unhappy worldling to thirst after the crea-
ture with the neglect of God, and so to make the world his
God ; so dofh it savour of the same heinous sin to lament
our loss of creatures more than the displeasure of God. If
God be my enemy, or I am fallen under his indignatian, I
have then so much greater matters to lament than the loss,
or absence, or frowns of man, as should almost make me
forget that there is such a thing as man to be regarded ; but
if God be my Father, and my Friend in Christ, I have then
so much to think of with delight, and to recreate and con- ,
content my soul, as will proclaim it most incongruous and
absurd to lament inordinately the absence of a worm, while
I have his love and presence who is all in all. If God can-
i not content me, and be not enough for me, how is he then
my God ? or how shall he be my heaven and everlasting
happiness ?
2. If God be with me, he is with me to whom I am ab-
f solutely devoted. I am wholly his, and have acknowledged
his interest in me, and long ago disclaimed all usurpers, and
repented of alienations, and unreservedly resigned myself
to him ; and where should I dwell but with him that is my
Owner, and with whom I have made the most solemn core-
nant that ever I made ? I never gave myself to any other, but
in subordination to him, and with a * salvo' for his highest,
inviolable right. Where should my goods be but in my
own house ? With whom should a servant dwell but with
his master ? and a wife, but with her husband ? and chil-
dren, but with their father ? I am more nearly related to my
God, and to my Saviour, than I am to my relations in this
world. I owe more to him than to all the world ; I have re-
nounced all the world, as they stand in competition or
comparison with him •, axvd c^xvl -w^wX. VXvra ^Q\!K^%:a:^ then,
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 337
whik I am with him f How shall I hate father and mother,
and wife and children, and brother and sister for his sake, if
i cannot spare them, or be without them to enjoy himf To
hate them is but to use diem as men do hated things, that
ts, to cast them away with contempt, as they would alienate
me from Christ, and to cleave to him, and be satisfied in
him alone. I am now married to Christ, and therefore must
cheerfully leave father and mother, and my native place,
and ail, to cleave to him ; and with whom should I now de-
list to dwell, but with him who hath taken vae into so near
relation, to be, as' it were, one flesh with him ! O my dear
Lord, hide not thou thy face from an unkind, an unworthy
simier! let me but dwell with thee and see thy face, and /
feel the gracious embracements of diy love, and then let me
be cast off by all the world, if thou seest it meetest for me ; >
or let all other friends be where diey will, so that my soul
maybe with thee ; I have agreed for thy sake to forsake all,
even the dearest that shall stand against thee ; and I resolve
hy thy grace to stand to this agreement.
3. If God be with me, I am not alone, for he is with me
that loveth me best. The love of all the friends on earth >
is nothing to his love. O how plainly hath he declared
diat he loveth me, in the strange condescension, the suf-
ferings, death, and intercession of his Son! What love
hath he declared in the communications of his Spirit, and
the operations of his grace, and the near relations into
which he brought me ! What love hath he declared in the
course of his providences! in many and wonderful preserva-
tions and deliverances ! in the conduct of his wisdom, and
in a life of mercies! What love appeareth in his precious
promises, and the glorious provisions he hath made for me
with himself to all eternity ! O my Lord, I cun ashamed that
thy love is so much lost ^ that it hath no better return from
aa unkind, unthankful heart; that I am no more delighted
in thee, and swallowed up in the contemplation of thy love ;
lean contentedly let go the society and converse of all
others, for the converse of some one bosom friend, that is
clearer to me than they all, as Jonathan to David. And can
I not much more be satisfied in thee alone, and let go all, if
I may continue with thee f My very dog will gladly forsake
&U the town, and all persons in the world, to follow me
▼o^., xiii. z
f
338 THE DIVINE 1.IFE.
alone ! And have I not yet found so much love a&d goodfieM
in thee, my dear and blessed Ood, as to be willing to cook
Terse alone with thee ? All men delight most in tbe company
of those that love them best ; they choose not to eonyersa
with the multitude when they look for solace and content,
but with their dearest friends. And should any be so near
to me as God? O were not thy love unworthily neglected
by ah unthankful heart, I should never be so ansatisfiedin
thee, but should take up, or seek my comforts in thee ; I
should then say, ** Whom have I in heaven but thee, and theie
is none on earth that I desire besides thee V* Though not
only my friends, but my flesh and heart themselves should
fail me, it is thou that wilt still be the strength of my hearty
and my portion for ever ; it is good therefore for me to draw
near to thee, how far soever I am from man. O let me there
dwell where thou wilt not be strange, for thy loving-kindr
ness is better than life ; instead of the multitude of my tur*^
moiling thoughts, let me be taken up ill the believing views
of thy reconciled face, and in the glad attendance. of thy
grace ; or at least in the multitude of my thoughts within
me, let thy celestial comforts delight my souL Let me
dwell as in thy family ; and when I awake, let me be still
with thee ! Let me go no where but where I am still follow-
ing thee ; let ilue do nothing but thy work, nor serve any
other, but when I may truly call it a serving thee ;: let. me
hear nothing but thy voice, and let me know thy voice by
whatever instrument thou shalt speak ; letme never see any
thing but thyself, and the glass that representeth thee, and
the books in which I may read thy name ; and let me never
play with the outside, and gaze on words and letters as in-
significant, and liot observe thy name which is the sense.
Whether it be in company or in solitude, let me be con-
tinually with thee, and do thou vouchsafe to hold me by my
right hand ; and guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards
receive me unto thy glory. (Psal. Ixxiii. 23—26; Ixiii. 3.)
4. If God be With me I am not alone ; for I shall be with
bim whose love is of greater use and benefit to me, than the
love of all my friends in the world. Their love may perhaps
be some little comfort, as it floweth from his ; but it is Us
love by which, and upon which I live. It is his love that
gives me life and time, and health and food, and preserva-^
CONVERSING WlTlf GOD IN SOLITUDE, 33S
tlM ; thut gives' me books; atid givetfa me understahdhig :
thilt giveth me provision, and saveth me from turning it to
j^miciocts fieshliness and excess ; that giveth me even my
friends themselves, and saveth me from that abuse which
might make them to me worse than enemies. The sun, the
eeorth, the air, is not so useful or needful to me as his love.
The. love of all my friends cannot make me well when I am
sick : it cannot forgive the smallest of my sins ; nor yet as-
sufe me of God's forgiveness : it cannot heal the maladies
of my soul, nor give a solid, lasting peace to the conscience
which is troubled : if all my friends stand about me when I
a^ dying, they cannot take away the fears of death, nor
s^ccfre my passage to everlasting life ; death will be death
still, and danger will be danger, when all my friends have
done their best. But my Almighty Friend is allsufficient;
he can prevent my sicknesss, or rebuke and cure it, or make
it so good to me, that I shall thank him for it : he can blot
out my transgressions, and forgive all my sin; and justify
me when the world and my conscience do condemn me : he
can teach me to believe, to repent, to pray, to hope, to suf-
fer, and to overcome : he can quiet my soul in the midst of
trouble, and give me a well-grounded, everlasting peace,
and a joy that no man can take from me. He can deliver
me from all the corruptions ^nd distempers of my frowafd
heart ; and ease me and secure me in the troublesome war
which is daily managed in my breast. He can msike it as
easy a thing to die, as to lie down and take my rest when I
am weary, or to undress me at night and go to bed. He
can teach death to lay by its terrible aspect, and speak with
a mild and comfortable voice, and to me the most joyful
tidings that ever came unto my ears ; and to preach to me
the last and sweetest sermon, even the same that our Saviour
preached on the cross; "Verily I say unto thee. To-day
shalt thou be with Christ in Paradise.** (Luke xxiii. 430
And is this the difference between the love of man and
of God ? And yet do I lament the loss of man ! And yet am
I so backward to converse with God, and to be satisfied in
his love alone ! Ah, my God, how justly inayest thou with-
hold that love which I thus undervalue; and refuse that
converse which I have first refused ! and turn me over to
man, to silly man, to sinful man, whose converse I so much
desire^ tiJ] 1 have learnt by dear experience t\ie A\ffex^xvc^\i^-
340 THE DIVINE LIFE.
tween man and God, and between an earthly and an heavenly
friend ! Alas ! ha^ve I not tried it oft enough, to have known it
better before this day ! Have I not oft enough found what man
is in a time of trial ! Have I not been told it over and oyer, and
told it to the quick, by deceitful friends, by self-seeking
friends, by mutable, erroneous, deceived, scandalous, back-
sliding friends, by proud and self-conceited friends ; by pas-
sionate, quarrelsome, vexatious friends, by self-grieving, trou-
bled friends, that have but brought me all their calamities and
griefs to be additions to my own ; by tempting friends^ that
have drawn me to sin more effectually than enemies; by
tender, faithful, but unable friends, that have but fetched
fire from my calamities and sorrows, to kindle tl^r own,
not equally sharing, but each one taking all my trouble
entirely to himself; that have been willing, but insufficient
to relieve me ; and therefore the greater was tiieir love, the
greater was their own, and consequently mine affliction:
that would have been with me, but could not ; that would
fain have eased my pain, and strengthened my languishing
body, but could not; that would fain have removed all my
troubles, and comforted my cast-down mind, but could not.
0 how often have I found that human friendship is a sweet,
desired addition to our woe ; a beloved calamity, and an
affliction which nature will not be without, not because it
loveth evil, nor because it is wholly deceived in its choice
(for there is good in friendship, and delight in holy love) ;
but because the good which is here accompanied with so
much evil, is the beginning of a more high and durable
friendship, and pointeth us up to the blessed, delightful
society and converse which in the heavenly Jerusalem we
shall have with Christ.
But P how much better have I found the friendship of
the allsufficient God ! His love hath not only pitied me, but
relieved me ;. he hath not only been as it were afflicted with
me in my afflictions, but he hath delivered me seasonably,
and powerfully, and sweetly hath he delivered me: and
when he had once told me that my afflictions were his own,
1 had no reason to doubt of a deliverance. My burdened
mind hath been eased by his love, which was but mpre bur-
dened by the fruitless love of all my friends. Oft have I
come to man for help, and ease, and comfort, and gone
away as from an empt^ ci&t^xn., \\i^\.\i^^ t^^ ^^.t^c to cool
CON^£RSlNd WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 341
my thirst ; but God hath been a present help : could I but
get near him^ I was sure of light, how great soever was my
former darkness : could I but get near him, I was sure of
warming, quickening life, how dead soever I had been be-
fore: but all my misery was, that I could not get near him t
my darkened, estranged, guilty soul, could not get quieting
and satisfying acquaintance : my lumpish heart lay dead on
earth, and would not stir, or quickly fell dbwn again, if by
any celestial force it began to be drawn up, and move a lit-
tle towards him : my carnal mind was entangled in diverting
vanities : and thus I have been kept from communion with
my God. Kept ! not by force of human tyranny ; not by
bars or bolts, or distance of place^ or by the lowness of my
condition; nor by any misrepresentations or reproach of
man ; but, alas ! by myself, by the darkness and deadness,
and sluggishness, and earthliness, and fleshliness, and pas-
sions of a naughty heart! These have been my bars, and
bolts, and gaolers ; these are they that hieive kept me from
my God : had it not been for these, I might have got nearer
to him ; I might have walked with him, and dwelt with him ;
yea, *' dwelt in him, and he in me ;*^ and then I should not
have missed any friends, nor felt mine enemies : and is it
my sinful distance from my God that hath been my loss, my
wilderness, my woe? And is it a nearer admittance to the
presence of his love that must be my recovery and my joy,
if ever I attain to joy? O then, my soul, lay hold on Christ
the Reconciler, and in him and by him draw near to God ;
and cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils : love
God in his saints, and delightfully converse with Christ in
them, while thou hast opportunity. But remember thou
liyest not upon them, or on their love, but upon God ; and
therefore desire their company but for his ; and if thou have
his, be content if thou have not theirs. He wants not man
that enjoyeth God. Gather up all the love, and thoughts,
and desires which have been scattered and lost upon the
creatures, and set them all on God himself, and press into
his presence, and converse with him, and thou shalt find the
mistake of thy present discontents, and s>eet experience
fiball tell thee thou hast made a happy change.
5. If God be with me, I am not alone, because he is with
me with whom my greatest business lieth. A.Tid y)\v^\. c.c^\&l-
pany 8h0uld I desire, but theirs with whom 1 \i^N^ tk^ dL-saSc^
342 THE DlV^Nfi LIFB.
necessary work to dol I have mor^ to do >wiifa God than
with all the world ; yea, more and greater business with him
in one day, than with all the world in all my life. I have
business with man about house, or lands, or food, pr raiment,
or labour, or journeying, or recreations, about society and
public peace ; but what are tliese to my business with God !
Ii^deed with holy men I have holy business ; but that is bi^
as they are mesciengers from God, and come to me <m bis
business, and so they must be dearly welcome : but even
then my business is much more with God than with them ;
with him that sent them, than with the messengers. Indeed
my business with God is so great, that if 1 had not a media-
tor to encourage and assist me, to do my work and procure
me aoceptance, the thoughts of it would overwhelm my sofiL
O therefore, my soul, let man stand by ; it is the eter-
nal God that I have to do with : and with whom I am
to transact in this little time the business of my end-
less life. I have to deal with God through Christy fpr Ui6
pardon of my sins; of all' my great and grievous ^ins;
ajQid woe to me, if I speed not, that ever I was born ; I have
some hopes of pardon, l)ut intermixed with many perplexing
fears ; I have evidences much blotted, and not easily under-
stood : I want assyrance that he is indeed my Father aad re-
conciled to me, and will receive me to him3elf when the
world forsaketh me: I have many languishing graces tO;be
strengthened ; and, alas, what radicated, obstinate, vexations
corruptions to be cured! Can 1 look into my heart, into
such an unbelieving, dead, and earthly heart, into such a
proud, and peevish, and disordered heart, into such a trem-
bling, perplexed, self- accusing heart, and yet not under-
stand how great my business is with God ? Can I peruse
my sins, or feel my wants, and sink under my weaknesses,
and yet not discern how great my business is with God?
Can I look back upon all the time that I have lost, and all
the grace that I unthankfuUy resisted, and all the mercies
that I trod under foot or fooled away ; or can I look before
me and see how near my time is to an end, and yet not un-
derstand how great my business is with God ? Can I think
of the malice and diligence of Satan, the number^ power
and subtilty of mine enemies, the many snares and dangers
that are still before me, the strength and number of teippta-
tioiiB, and my ignorance, utwj?ttcJ\?\3\iv%^ ^xiA >n^'^\v&«^ to
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. 343
resist, and yet not know that my greatest business is with
God ? Can I feel my afflictions and lament them, and think
my burden greaterthan I can bear, s^d find that man cannot
relieve me ; can I go mourning in the heaviness of my soul,
and, water my bed with tears, and fill the air with my groans
and lamentations, or feel my soul overwhelmed within me,
so that my words are interceptied, and I aiu readier to break
than speak, and yet not perceive that my greatest biisiness
is with God ? Can I think of dying ; can I draw necor to
judgment ; can I think of everlasting joys in heaven, fmd. of
everlasting pains in hell, and yet hot feel that my greatest
business is with God i Q. then, my soul, the case is easily
resolved, with whom it is that thou must most desirously and
seriously converse. Where shouldst thou be but where thy
business is, and so great business ? Alas, what have I to
do with man ! What can it do but make my head ache, to
hear a deal of senseless chat, about preferments, lands, and
dignities ; about the words and thoughts of men, and a
thousand toys that are utterly impertinent to my great em-
ployments, and signify nothing but that the dreaming world
is not awake i What pleasure is it to see the bustles of a
bedlam-world ? What a stir they make to prove or make
themselves unhappy ! How long and of how little weight,
are the learned discourses about syllables and words, and
names and notions, and mood and figure, yea or about the
highest planets, when all are not referred unto God! Were
it not that some converse with men, doth further my con-
verse with God ; and that God did transact much of his bu*
siness by his messengers and servants, it were no matter
whether ever I more saw the fac^ of man : were it not that
Biy master hath placed me in society, and appointed me
much of my work for others, and with others, and much of
his mercy is conveyed by others, man might stand by> and
solitude were better than the best society, and God alone
should take me up. O nothing is so much my misery and
ahame, as that I am no more willing, nor better skilled in the
management of my great important business ! That my
work is with God, and my heart is no more with him ! O
what might I do in holy meditation or prayer one hour^ if I
were as ready for prayer, and as good at prayer, as one that
has bad so long opportunity and so great necessity to con-
Terse with God, should be ! A prayeTlessheaTt,^.\ve^t^\!GL^\.
344 THE DIVINE LIFE.
flieth away fronti God, is most inexcusable in soeh a one a« I^
that have so much important business with him: it is WMh
that must be done ; and if well done will never be repented
of* I use not to return from the presence of God (when is'^
deed I have drawn near him) as I do from the company of
empty men^ repenting that I have lost my time, and trembled
that my mind is discomposed or depressed by the vanity and
earthly savour of their discourse. I oft repent that I have
prayed to him so coldly, and conversed with him so niagli-
gently, and served him so remissly ; but I never repent of
the time, the care, the affections or the diligence employed in
his holy work. Many a time I have repented that ever I
spent so much time with man, and wished I had never seen
the faces of some that are eminent in the world, whose
favour and converse others are ambitious of; but it is my
grief and shame that so small a part of all my life bath been
spent with God, and that fervent prayer and heavenly eon-
templations, have been so seldom and so short. O that i
had lived more with God, though I had been less with the
dearest of my friends \ How much more sweet then would my
life have been ! How much more blameless, regular and pire !
How much more fruitful and answerable to my obligations
sind professions ! Ho w much more comfortable to my review !
How many falls, and hurts, and wounds, and griefe, and
groans might I have escaped ! O how much more pleasi&g
is it now to my remembrance, to think of the hours in which
I have lain at the feet of God, though it were in tears and
groans, than to think of the time which I have spent in any
common converse with the greatest, or the most learned, or
the dearest of my acquaintance.
And as my greatest business is with God, so my daily
business is also with him. He purposely leaveth me under
wants, and suffers necessities daily to return, and enemies
to assault me, and affliction to surprise me, that I may be
daily driven to him. He loveth to hear from me. He would
have me be no stranger with him. I have business with
him every hour, I need not want employment for all the fa-
culties of my soul, if I know what it is to converse in hea-
ven. Even prayer, and every holy thought of God, hath, an
object so great and excellent, as should wholly take me up.
-Nothing must be thought or spoken lightly about the Lord.
His name must not be takeu^m n^viy. Nothing that is com*
CONVERSINO WITH ODD Ml SOLITUDE. 345
moa beseemeth his worshippers. He will be sanctified of alt
that draw shall near him. He must be loved with all the heart
and 'might. His servants need not be weari^ for want of
employment, nor through the lightness or unprofitabletiess
of their employment. If I had cities to build, or kingdoms
to govern, I might better complain for want of employment,
for the faculties of my soul, than I can when I am to con»
Terse in heaven. In other studies the delight abateth when
I have reached my desire, and know all that I can know;
but in God there is infinitely more to be known^ when I
know the most. I am never satiated with the easiness of
knowing, nor are my desires abated by any uneasiness or
un worthiness in the object; but I am drawn to it by its
highest excellencies, and drawn on to desire more and more
by the infiniteness of the light which I have not yet beheld,
and the infiniteness of the good which yet I have not en*
joyed. If I be idle, or seem to want employment, when I
am to contemplate all the attributes, relations, mercies,
works, and revealed perfections of the Lord, it is sure for
want of eyes to see, or a heart inclined to my business. If
Ood be not enough to employ my soul, then all the persons,
and things on earth are not enough.
And when I have Infinite Goodness to delight in, where
my soul may freely let out itself, and never need to fear ex-
cess of love, how sweet should this employment be. As
knowledge, so love is never stinted here, by the narrowness
of the object. We can never love him in any proportion
either to his goodness and amiableness in himself, or to bis
love to us. What need have I then of any other company
or business, when I have Infinite Goodness to delight inr and
to love (further than they subserve this greatest work).
Come home then, O my soul, to God; converse in)
heaven: turn away thine eyes from beholding vanity ;ler
not thy affections kindle upon straw or briars, that go out
when they have made a flash or noiset and leave thee to thy
cold and darkness ; but come and dwell upon celestial
beauties, and make it thy daily and most diligent work, to
kindle thy affections on the infinite, everlasting Good ; atid
then they will never be extinguished or decay for want of
fuel ; but the further they go, and the longer they burn, the
greater will he the flame. Though thou find it hard while
love is but a spark to make it burn, and com^\^v&^^V»^^
340 THB 0IV1MB UPK.
cold and backward heart is bardly warmed with the love of
God, yet when the whole pile hath taken fire, and tke flama
asceodeth, fire will breed fire, loye will cause love ; and all
the malice of hell itself shall never be able to Bupprcas or
quench it unto all eternity.
6* And it is a great encouragement to my converse widi
j God, that no misunderstanding, no malice of enemies, no
• former sin or present frailty, no nor the infinite distance of
the most holy, glorious God, can hinder nqr access to him,
or turn away his ear or love, or interrupt my leave and
liberty of converse. If I converse with the poor, their wants
afflict me, being greater than I can supply ; their com-
plaints and expectations, which I cannot satisfy, are my
trouble^- If I would converse with great^ones, it is not
easy to get access; and less easy to have their favour,
unless I would purchase it at too dear a rate. How strangely
and contemptuously do they look at their inferiors ! Ghreat
friends must be made for. a word. or smile; and if you be
not quickly gone, they are aweary of you : and if you seek
any thing of them, or would put them to any cost or trouUe^
you are as welcome to them as so many vermin or noisome
creatures : they please them best that drive you away. With
hi>w much labour and difficulty must yon climb,^ if you will
see the top of one of these mountains ; and when you are
tb^re, you are but in a place of barrenness, and have nothing
to satisfy you for your pains, but a larger prospect and ver*
tiginous despect of the lower grounds which are not your
own. It is seldom that these grectt-^ones are to be spoken
with ; and perhaps their speech is but .a denial to your re*
quest, if not some snappish and contemptuous rejection,
that makes you glad when you are got far enough fro^ them,
and makes you better like and love the accessible, calm, and
fruitful plains.
But O bow much greater encouragements hath my
soul to converse with God! Company never hindereth
him from hearkening to my suit; he is infinite and om^r
nipotent, and is sufficient for every individual soul, as if
he had no other to look after in the world : when he is
taken up with the attendance and praises of his heavenly
host, he is as free and really to attend and answer the
groans and prayers of a contrite soul, as if he had no nobler
creatures, nor no higher aemc^ to ia%^^» \ ^m oft unready »
CONYERSINO WITH OOD IM 80UTUDE. S47
but €kkl is never unready ; I am unready to pray* but he is
not imready to hear; I am unready to come to Ood^ to walk
with him, and to solace my soul with him^ but he is never
unready to entertain me. Many a time my conscienoe would
have driven me away, when he hath called me to him, and
rebuked my accusing, fearful conscience. Many a time I
have called myself a prodigal, a companion of swine, a
miserable hard hearted sinner, unwortby to be called his
son, when he hath called me child, and qhid me for my q«es->
tioning his love. He hath readily forgiven the sins which I
thought would have made my soal the fuel of helU He hath
entertained me with joy, with masic and a feast, when I had
better deserved to have been among the dogs without his
doors* He hath embraced me in his sustaining consolatory
arms, when he might have spurned my guilty soul to hell,
and said, " Depart from me thou worker of iniquity, I know
thee nof O little did I think that he could ever have for-^
gotten the vanity and villainy of my youth; yea. so easily
have forgotten my most aggravated sins. When I had sin-
ned against light ; when I had resisted conscienoe ; when I
had frequently and wilfully injured love* I thought he would
never have forgotten it ; but the greatoess of his love and
mercy, and the blood and intercession of his Son, hath can-
celled all. O how many mercies have I tasted since i
tfaoBght I had sinned away all mercies ! How patiently hath
he borne with me, since I thought be would nevor have put
up n^ore! And yet besides my sins and thewithdrawings of
my own heart, there hath been nothing to interrupt our eon-
verse. Though he be God» and I a worm, yet that would*
not have kept me out : th6Ugh he be in heaven, yet he is
near to succour me on earth, in all that I call upon him forr
though he have the praise of angels, he disdaineth not my^
tears. and groans: though he have the perfect love of
perfect souls, he knoweth the little spark in my breast,
and despiseth not my weak and languid love: though I
injure and dishonour him by loving him no more ; though
I oft forget him, and have been out of the way when he hath
come or called me, though I have disobediently turned away
mine ears, and unkindly refused the entertainments of his
love, and unfaithfully played with those whose company he
forbad me, he hath not divorced me, nor tumecf me out of
doors. O wonderful! that heaven wiW \)e laxmVvax 'wfisv
348 THE DIVINE LIFE.
earth ! and Ood with man ! the Highest with a worm ! and
the Most Holy with an inconstant sinner ! Man refosetk
me, when Ood will entertain me ; man that is no wiser and
better than myself. Those that I never wronged> or desc^ed
ill of, reject me with reproach ; and Ood, whom I have un*
speakably injured, doth invite me, and entreat me, and con-
descendeth to me, as if he were beholden to me to be saved.
Men, that I have deserved well of, do abhor me ; and God,
that I have deserved hell of, doth accept me« The best of
them are briars, and a thorny hedge, and he is love, and rest,
and joy* And yet I can be more welcome to him, though I
have offended him, than I can to them whom I have obliged:
I have freer leave to cast myself into my Father*s arms, than
to tumble into those briars, or wallow in the dirt. I upbraid
myself with my sins, but he doth not upbraid me with thenu
I condemn myself for them, but he condemns me not; he
forgiveth me sooner than I can forgive myself: I have peace
with him, before I can have peace of conscience.
O, therefore, my soul, draw near to him that is so willing
of thy company ; that frowneth thee not away, unless it be
when thou hast fUlen into the dirt, that thou mayest wash
thee from thy filthiiiess, and be fitter for his converse. Draw
near to him that will not wrong thee, by believing misre-
ports of enemies, or laying to thy charge the things diou
knewest not; but will forgive the wrongs thou hast done t&
him, and justify thee from the sins that conscience layeth to
thy charge. Come to him that by his word and spirit, his
ministers and mercies calleth thee to come ; and hath pro-
mised that those that come to him, he will in no wise shut
out. O walk with him that will bear thee up, and lead thee
as by the right hand, (Psal. Ixxiii. 23.) and carry his infants
when they cannot go ! O speak to him that teacheth thee to
speak, and understandeth and accepts thy stammering } and^
helpeth thine infirmities, when thou knowest not what to
pray for as thou oughtest ; and giveth thee groans when
thou hast not words, and knoweth the meaning of his spirit
in thy groans ; that cannot be contained in the heaven of
heavens, and yet hath respect to the contrite souU that
trembleth at his word, and feareth his displeasure; thkt
pitieth the tears, and despiseth not the sighing of a broken
heart, nor the desires of the sorrowful. O walk with him
that is never weary o£ t\ie couNexa^ q^ ^^ \k^\v^\. %s^^ll
CONVERSING WITH OOD IN SOLITUDE. 340
that is never angry with thee but for flying from hiro^ or for
drawing back, or being too s]trange, and refusing the kind-
ness and felicity of his presence. The day is coming when
the proudest of the sons of men would be glad of a good
look from him that thou hast leave to walk with ; even they
that would not look on thee, and they that injured and
abused thee, and they that inferiors could have no access to !
O how glad would they be then of a smile, or a word of
hope and mercy from their Father! Draw near then to him,
on whom the whole creation doth depend ; whose favor at last
the proudest and the worst would purchase with the loudest
cries, when all their pomp and pleasure is gone, and can
purchase nothing. O walk with him that is love itself, and
think him not unwilling or unlovely ; and let not the de-
ceiver by hideous misrepresentations drive thee from him :
when thou hast felt a while the storms abroad, methinks thou
shouldst say. How good, how safe, how sweet is it to draw
near unto God !
7. With whom should I so desirously converse, as with
him whom I must live with for ever? If I take pleasure in )
my house, or land, or country, my walks, my books, or
friends themselves as cloathed with flesh, I must possess
this pleasure but a little while: henceforth know we no man
after the flesh : had we known Christ after the flesh, we
must know him so no more for ever. (Though his glorified,
spiritual body we shall know.) Do you converse with father
or mother, with wives or children, with pastors and teachers;
though you may converse with these as glorified saints when
you come to Christ, yet in these relations that they stand in
to you now, you shall converse with them but a little while;
for '' the time is short: it remaineth that both they that have
wives, be as. though they had none ; and they that weep, ets
though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they
rejoiced not; and those that buy, as though they possessed
not ; and they that use this world, as not abusing it (or as
though they used it not): for the fashion of this world
passeth away.'* 1 Cor. vii* 29—31.
Why then should I so much regard a converse of so
short continuance f Why should I be so familiar in my inn,
and so much in love with that fisimiliarity, as to grieve
when I must but think of leaving it, or talk of ^ouv^V\.Q>\fiL^,
and \o6k forward to the place where I mu&i dcw^ ^o\ ^n^\*\
350 THE DIVfNt Lirt.
Shall I be fond of the company of a passenger that 1 trftrel
with (yea, perhaps one that doth btit meet meifttbewty,
and goeth to a contrary place), and shall I not take more
pleasure to remember home? I will not be so unciTil as to
deny those I meet a short salute, or to be friendly with
my. fellow-travellers : but remember, O my soul, that thou
dost not dwell, but travel bere^ and that it is thy Father^s
house where thou must abide for ever ; yea, and he is nearer
thee than maa (though invisible), even in thy way. O see
him then that is invisible ; barken to him when he speaketb ;
obey his voice; observe his way; speak to him boldly,
though humbly and reverently^ as his child, about the great
concernments of thy state : tell him what it is that ailetb
thee ; and seeing all thy smfart is the iT«it of thy own sm,
confess thy folly and unkindness, crave his forgiveness, and
renkember him what his Son hath suffered, and for what J
treat with him about thy future course ; desire his grace,
and give up thyself to his conduct and his care : weep over
in. his ears the history of thy misdoings and ufnthankful
course ; tell it him with penitential tears and groans-; bul
tell him also the advantage that he hath for the honoaring
of his grace, if it may now abound where sin aboundetii :
tell him that thou art most offended with thyself, for that
which he is most offended with ; that thou art angry
with thy disobedient, unthankful heart; that thov art even^
aweary of that heart that loveth him no more ; and that it
shall never please thee, till it love him better, and be more'
desirous to please him : tell him of thy enemies^ and eravef
the protection of his love i tell him 6f thy frailties, infirmi-
ties and passions, and crave not only his tender forbearance,
but his help ; tell him that without him thou camst do no-
thing ; and crave the grace that is sufficient for thee, that
through him that strengtheneth thee tho» mayst do* aH
things : when thou falkst, despair not, but crave hia help-
ing hand to rake thee. Speak to him especially of the
everlasting things, and thank him for his promises, Bttidi fbr
thy hopes ; for what thou shalt be, and have, and do among
his holy <mes for ever. Express thy joys in the promise of
those joys ; that thou must see his glory, and love him, and
praise him better than thou canst now desire ! begin those
praiaes, and as thou walkest with him, take pleiksure in tke
atentiojok of hisf perfeetiona \ ^)e \^v^ix^i\i\ V^Wh^ ^sgA ^^euk
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDE. SAI
good of his name : solace thyself in remembering what a
6od« what a defence and portion all believers have ; and in
consideong whither he is now conducting thee^ wad what
he will do with thee, and what use he will make of thee for
ever: speak with rejoicing of the glory of his works, and
the righteousness of his judgments, and the holiness and
evenness of his ways : sing forth his praises with a joyful
heart, and pleasant and triumphing voice ; and frown away
all slavish fears, all importune, malicious suggestions and
doubts, all peevish, hurtful, nipping griefs, that would mar
or interrupt the melody ; and would untune or unstring a
raised well-composed soiiL Thy Father loveth thy very
moans and tears; but how much more doth he love thy
thanks and praise ! Or if indeed it be a winter^time, a stormy
day with thee, and he seem to chide or hide his face because
thou hast offended him, let the cloud that is gathered by thy
folly come down in tears, and tell him, " Thou hast sinned
against heaven, and before him, and art no more worthy to
be called his son;" but yet fly not from him, but beg his
pardon and the privilege of a servant ; and thou wilt find
emboM^ements, when thou fearest condemnation ; and find
that he is merciful and ready to forgive : only return, and
keep closer for the time to come. If the breach through
thy neglect be gone so fieur, as that thou seemest to have lost
thy God, and to be cast off, and left forsaken; despair not
yet ; for he doUi but hide his face till thou repent : he doth
not forsake diee, but only tell thee what it is to walk so
carelessly as if thou wouldst forsake him : thou art faster
and surer in his love and covenant than thou canst believe
or apprehend. Thy Lord was as dear as ever to his Father,
when he cried out, *' My God, why hast thou forsaken me?'^
But yet neglect him not, and be not regardless of his with*^^
drawings, and of thy loss: lift up thy voice and cry bvt
Father ; in despite of unbelief, cry out. My Father, my Sa-
viour, my God, and thou shalt hear him answer thee at last.
My child ; cry out, O why dost thou hide thy face 7 and
why hast thou forsaken me ! O what shall I do here with-
out thee ! O leave me not, lose me not in this howling wil-
derness ! Let me not be a prey to any ravening beast ! to my
sin, to Satan, to my foes and thine! Lift up thy voice and
weep, and tell him, they are the tears and lamentations oC
352 THE DIVINE LIFE.
his child : O beg of him, that thy wanderings and childish
folly, may not be taken as acts of enmity, or at least that
they may be pardoned ; and though he correct thee, that he
will return and not forsake thee, but still take thee and use
thee as his child, or if thou hast not words to pour out be-^
fore him, at least smite upon thy breast, and though thou
be ashamed or afraid to look up towards heaven, look down
and say, "O Lord, be merciful to me a sinner,*^ and he will
take it for an acceptable suit, that tendeth to thy pardon
and justification, and will number such a sentence with the
prayers which he cannot deny. Or if thou cry and canst
not hear of him, and hast long called out upon thy Father's
name, and hearest not his voice and hast no return ; inquire
after him of those thou meetest: ask for him of them that
know him, and are acquainted with his way; make thy
moan unto the watchmen ; and ask them, where thou mayst
find thy Lord. And at last he will appear to thee» and find
thee first, that thou mayst find him, and shew thee where it *
was that thou didst lose him, by losing thyself and taming
firom him! seek him and thou shalt find him; wait and he
will appear in kindness ; for he never faileth or forsaketh
those that wait upon him.
This kind of converse, O my soul, thou hast to prosecute
with thy God. Thou hast also the concernments of all his
servants ; his afflicted ones, to tell him of; tell him also of
the concernments of his kingdom, the fury of his enemies,
the dishonour they cast upon his name, the matters of his
Gospel, cause, and interest in the world ; but still let his
righteous j udgment be remembered, and all be terminated
in the glorious, everlasting kingdom.
Ls it not much better thus to converse with him that L
must be with for ever» about the place, and the company^
and work, and concernments of my perpetual abode, tham-
to be taken up with stran^rs in my way, and detained b]^
their impertinencies ?
I have found myself so long in these meditations that
will but name the rest, and tell you what I had farther
have treated on, and leave the enlargement to your owr=^
meditations.
8. I have no reason to be weary of converse with God ^^
seeing it is that for which all human converse is regardabl
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUDK. 353
Converse with maii^ is only so far desirable as it tendeth to
our converse with God ; and therefore the end must be pre-
ferred before the means.
. 9. It is the office of Ciirist, and the. work of the Holy
^ Gliost, and the use of all the means of grace^ and of all
creatures, mercies, and afflictions, to redude our straying
souls to»Ood, that we may converse with him, and enjoy
him.
. 10. Converse with God is most suitable to those that
are so near death; it best prepareth for it ; it is likest to
the work that we are next to do. We had rather, when
death comes, be found conversing with God, Uian with man ;
itis.God that a dying man hath principally to do with ; it
is his judgment Uiat he is going to, and his mercy, that he
hath to trust upon; and therefore it concerneth us to draw
near him now, and be no strangers to him, lest strangeness
then should be our terror.
I L How wonderful a condesisension is it that God should I
be. willing to converse with me ! with such a worm and sin-
ful, wretch; aod therefore how inexcusable is my crime, if
1 refoise his company, and so great a mercy!
12* Lastly, Heaven itself is but our converse with Gx)d
and his glorified ones (though in a more perfect manner
than we can here perceive). And therefore our holy con-
verse with him here is the state that is likest heaven, and
that prepareth for it, and all the heaven tha^ is on earth.
It remaineth now that I briefly tell you what you should
do to attain and manage this converse with God, in. the im-
provement of your solitude. (For directions in general for
Walking with God, I reserve for another placeO At present
l^t these few suffice.
Direct. 1. • If you would comfortably converse with
C^od, make sure that you are reconciled to him in Christ,
Quid that he is indeed your Friend and Father.' " Can two 1
Vrsdk together except ihey be agreed?" Can you take plea-
sure in dwelling with the consuming fire ? or conversing
.Vrith the most dreadful enemy ? Yet this I^mtist add, that
^very doubting or self-accusing soul may not find a pre-
tence to fly from God. 1. That God ceaseth not to be a
f atlier whenever a fearful soul is drawn to question or deny
it. 2. That ip the universal love and grace of God \a \sx\^*
VOL. XIJI. A A *
354 TH£ DIVINE LIFE.
erable sinners, and in the uniyersal act of conditional par-
don and oblivion, and in the offers of grace, and the readi-*
ness of God to receive the penitent, there is glad tidings
that should exceedingly rejoice a sinner; and there is suffi-
cient encouragement to draw the most guilty, miserable sin-
ner to seek to God, and sue for mercy. But yet the sweetest
converse is for children, and for those that have* some as-
surance that they are children.
But perhaps you will say, that this is not easily attained.
How shall we know that he is our Friend?
In brief, I answer. If you are unfeignedly friends to God,
it is because he first loved you. Prefer him before all other
friends, and all the wealth and vanity of the world ; provoke
him not by wilfulness or neglect; use him as your best
Friend, and abuse him not by disobedience or ingratjitude ;
own him before all, at the dearest rateift, whenever you are
called to it: Desire his presence ; lament his absence: love
him from the bottom of your hearts ; think not hardly of
him ; suspect him not ; misunderstand him not ; hearken not
to his enemies ; receive not any false reports against him ;
take him to be really better for you, than all the world : Do
these, and doubt not but you are friends with God, and God
with you. In a word. Be but heartily willing to be friettds to
God, and that God should be your chiefest Friend, aofd you
may be sure that it is so indeed, and that you are and have
what you desire. And then how delightfully may yoq eon-
verse with God.
Direct. 2. ' Wholly depend on the mediation of Christ,
the great Reconciler.' Without him there is no conung
near to God; but. in his Beloved you shall be accepted.
Whatever fear of his displeasure shall surprise you, fly pre-
sently for safety unto Christ ; whatever guilt shall look you
in the face, commit yourself and cause to Christ,' and desire
him to answer you : when the doors of mercy tsce»i to be
shut against you, fly to him that bears tjhe k^eys, and can at
any time open to you and let you in : desire him to answM'
for you to God, to your own consciences, and against all
accusers ; by him alone you may boldly and comfortably
converse with God ; but God will not know you out of him.
Direct, 3. ' Take heed of bringing a particular guilt into
the presence of God, if you would have sweet communion
CONVERSING WITH QOD IN SOLITUDE. 3i&5
with him/ Christ himself never reconciled. God to sin ;
a,nd the sinner and sin are so nearly related, that notwith-
standing the death of Christ, you shall feel that iniquity
dwelleth not with God, but he hateth the workers^ of it, and
the foolish shall not stand in his sight ; and ths^t if you will
presume to sin because you are his children^ " be sure your
sin will find you out/' O what fears, what shame, what
self-abhorrence, and self-revenge will guilt raise in a peni-
tent soul, when it comes into the light of the presence of the
Ix>rd! It will unavoidably abate your boldness and your
comforts; when you should be sweetly delighting in his
pleased face, and promised glory, you will be befooling your-
selves for your former sin, and ready even to tear your flesh,
to think that ever you should do as you have done, and use
liim as you would not have used a common friend, and cast
yourselves upon his wrath. But an innocent soul, or paci-
iied conscience, doth walk with God in quietness and de-
light, without those frowns and feara which are a taste of
bell to others.
Direct. 4. * If you would comfortably converse with God,
be sure that you bring not idols in your hearts/ Take heed
of inordinate affection to any creature. Let all things eke
be nothing to you, that you may have none to take up yonr
thoughts but God. Let your minds be further separate
from them than your bodies ; bring not into solitude or con-
templation, a proud, or lustful, or covetous mind : it mueh
more concerneth thee, what heart thou bringest, than what
place thou art in, or what work thou art upon. A mind
that i» drowned in ambition, sensnality, or passion, will
scarce find God any sooner in a wilderness than in a crowd
(unless he be there returning from those sinS' to God),
wherever he seeth him, God will not own and be familiar
with so foul a soul. Seneca could say, ' Quid prodest toti-
us regionis silentium, si affectus fremunt ?' What good doth
the silence of all the country do thee, if thou have the noise
of raging affections within? And Gregory saith, 'Qui
CKurpore remotus vivit, &c«' He that in body is far Plough
from the tumult of human conversation, is not in solitude,
if he busy himself with earthly cogitations and desires :
and he is not in the city, that is not troubled with the ■■,
tumult of the worldly cares and fears^ though he be ^te^i&^d.
with the popular crowds. Bring- not tVvy Yiow.^^, oxSaxA^ ^\. \
356 THE DIVINB LIFE.
creditj or carnal friend along with thee in thine heart> if
thou desire and expect to walk in heaven^ and to oonverse
with God.
JUrecl. 6. ' Live still by faith ; let faitli lay heaven and
earth as it were together/ Look not at God' as if he were
far off; set hin^ always as before you, even as at your right
hand. ^Psal. xvi. 8.) Be still with him wben you awake.
(Psal. cxxxix. 18.) In the morning thank him for your rest';
and deliver up yourself to his conduct and service for that
day. Go forth as with him, and to do his work ; do every
action, with the command of God, and the promise of hea-
ven before your eyes, and upon your hearts : live as those
that have incomparably more to do with God and heaven,
than with all this world ; that you may say with David, (as
afore cited), '' Whom have I in heaven but thee ! and there
is none on «arth that I desire besides thee/* (Psal. xxxvii.
26, 26.) And with Paul, " To me to live is Christ> and
to die is gain/' (Phil. i. 21.) You must shut up the eye of
sense (save as subordinate to faith), and live by faith upon
a God, a Christ, and a world that is unseen, if you would
know by experience what it is to be above the brutish life of
sensualists, and to converse with God. O Christian, if thou
hast rightly learned this blessed life, what a high and noble
soul-conversation wouldst thou have ! How easily wouldst
thou spare, and how little wouldst thou miss the favour of
the greatest, the presence of any worldly comfort! City or
solitude would be much alike to thee, saving that the place
and state would be best to thee> where thou hast the greatest
help and freedom to converse with God. Thou wouldst
say of human society as Seneca, ' Unus pro populo mihi est,
et populus pro uno ; mihi satis est unus, satis est nullus.'
One is instead of all the people to me, and the people as
one; one is enough for me, and none is enough. Thus be-
ing taken up with God, thou mightest live in prison as at
liberty, and in a wilderness as in a city, and in a place of
banishmentas in thy native land; ''for the earth is theLord's,
and the fulness thereof;" and every where thou mayst .find
him, and converse with him, and lift up pure hands unto
him : in every place thou art within the sight of home ; and
l^eayen is in thine eye, and thou art conversing with that
1, in whose converse the highest angels do place their
lest felicity and delight.
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLlTtJDft. 367
How little cause then have all the church's enemies to
triumph, that can never shut up a true believer from the pre*
sence of his God ; nor banish him into such a place where
he cannot have his conversation in heaven ! The stones that i
were cast at holy Stephen^ could not hinder him from seeing \
the heavens opened, and Christ sitting at the right hand of
God. A Patmos allowed holy John communion with Christ,
being there in the Spirit on the LordVday. (Rev. i* 9, 10.)
Christ. never so speedily and comfortably owneth his .ser-
vants, as when the world disowneth them, and abuseth them
for his sake, and hurls them up and down as the scorn
and offscouring of all. He quickly found the blind man that
he had cured, when once the Jews had cast him out^ (John
ix. 35.) Persecutors do but promote the blessedness and
exceeding joy of aufierers for Christ. (Matt. v. II, 12.)
And how tittle reason then have Christians, to shun such
sufferings, by unlawful means, which turn to their so great
advantage ! and to give so dear as the. hazai*d of their souls
by wilful sin, to escape the honour^ and safety, and commo-
dity of martyrdom !
And indeed we judge not, we love not, we live not, ais
sanctified ones must do, if we judge not that the truest'
liberty and love is not its the best condition, in which we
may best converse with God. And O how much harder is it
to walk with God in a court, in the midst of sensual delights,
than in a prison or wilderness where we have none to inter-
rupt us, and nothing else to take us up ! It is our prepos-
sessed minds, our earthly hearts, our carnal affections and
concupiscence, and the pleasures of a prosperous state that
are the prison and the jailors of our souls. Were it not for
these, how free should we be, though our bodies were con-
fined to th^e straitest room ! He is at liberty that can walk in
heaven, and have access to God, and make use of all the
creatures in the world, to the promoting of this his heavenly
conversation. And he is the prisoner whose soul is chained
to flesh and earth, and confined to his lands and houses, and
feedeth on the dust of worldly riches, or walloweth in the
dung and filth of gluttony, drunkennesis and lust; that are
farfVom God, and desire not to be near him; but say to him.
Depart from us, we would not have the knowledge of thy
ways : that Jove their prison and chains so well, that they
would not be set free, but hate those with the most cruel
368 THE DIVINE LIFE.
hatred that endeavour their deliveranoe. Those are the poor
prisoners of Satan that have not liberty to believe, nor
love Gody nor converge in heaven, nor seriously to mind or
seek the things that are high and honourable ; thtit have nt)t
liberty to meditate or pray, of seriously to speak of holy
things, nor to love and converse with those that do bo : that
are tied so hard to the drudgery of sin, that they hiive not
liberty one month, or week, or day, to leave it, and walk with
God so much as for a recreation ! But he that liveth ki (he
family of God, and is employed in attending him, and doth
converse with Christ, and the host of holy ones above, in
reason should not much complain of his want of friends, <n
company, or accommodations, nor yet be too impatient of
any corporal confinement.
Lastly, be sure then most narrowly to watch your hearts,
that nothing have entertainment there, which is against your
liberty of converse with God. Fill not those hearts with
worldly trash, which are made and new-made to 'be the
dwelling-place of God. Desire not the company -li^hich
would diminish your heavenly acquaintance and correspon-
dence. Be not unfriendly, nor conceited of a self-sufficiency ;
but yet beware lest under the honest ingenuous title of a
friend^ a special, prudent, faithful friend, you shoiild enter-
tain an idol, or^an enemy to your love of God, or a coitival
and competitor with your highest friend ; for if yod do, it is
not the specious title of a friend that will save you fronl the
thorns and briars of disquietment, and from greater troubles
than ever you found from open enemies.
O blessed be that high and everlasting Friend, who is
everyway suited to the upright souls ; to their mind &, their
memories, their delight, their love, 8lc. by surest truth, by
fullest goodness, by clearest light, by dearest love, by film*
est constancy, &c. O why hath my drowsy and dark-
sighted soul been so seldom with him? Why hath it so often,
so strangely, and so unthankfuUy passed by, and not ob-
served him, nor hearkened to his kindest calls ? O what is
all this trash and trouble Hiat hath filled my memory, and
employed my mind, and cheated and corrupted my affec-
tions, while my dearest Lord hath been days and nights so
unworthily forgotten, so contemptuously neglected and dis-
regarded, and loved as if I loved him not ! O that these
drowsy and those wak\Tigm^V.%, \!to^^Viv\fc\^> \a^t^ and
CONVERSING WITH OOD IN SOLITUDE. 358
empty hours had been speut in the humblest converse with
him^ which have been dreamed and doted away upon — —
now I know hot what ! O my Ood, how much wiser and
happier had I been had I rather chosen to mourn with thee^
than to rejoice and sport with any other ! ' O that I had ra* \
ther wept with thee, than laughed with the creature ! For )
the time to come let that be my friend^ that most befriendeth
my dafk, and dull, and backward soul, in its undertaken
progress, and heavenly conversation ! or if there be none
such upon earth, let me here take no one for my friend ! O
blot out every name from my corrupted heart, which hin*^
d^neth the deeper engraving of thy name 1 Ah, Lord, what a
stoae^ what a blind, ungrateful thing, is a heart not touched
with celestial love ! yet shall I not run to thee, when I have
none else that will know me ! shall I not draw near thee,
when all fly from me! when daily experience criethoutso
land, • NONE BUT CHRIST ; GOD OR NOTHING/ Ah
foolish heart, that hast not thought of it. ' Where is that
place, that cave or desert, where I might soonest find thee, and
fmllest enjoy thee? is it in the wilderness that thou walkest,
or^ the crowd ; in the closet, or in the church ? where is
it tkat I might soonest meet with God?' But, alas ! I now
perceive, that I have a heart to find, before I am like to find
WKf Lord ! O loveless, lifeless, stony heart! that is dead to
him that gave it life! and to none but him! Could I not
love, or think, or feel at all, methinks I were less dead than
now ! less dead, if dead, than now I am alive ! I had almost
said, ' Lord, let me never love more till I can love thee !
nor think more on any thing till I can more willingly think
ef thee P But I must suppress that wish; for life will act :
atid the mercies and motions of nature are necessary to
tbost of grace. And therefore in the life of nature, and in
the glimmerings of thy light, I will wait for more of the ce<
lestial life ! My God, thou hast my consent ! it is here at*-
tcsted under my hand: ' Separate me from what and whom
ikon mil, 60 I may but be nearer thee!* Let me love thee
more^ and feel more of thy love, and then let me love or be
beloved of the world, as little as thou wilt.
I thought self-love had been a more predoininant thing ;
biitsow Ifind that repentance hath its anger, its hatred and
its 7 evemge ! I am truly angry with the heart tlv^t Vv^\!cl ^^
oft and fcfohsbiy offended (heel MethiukB l\iat^ WikSdXV^^a^
360 TH£ DIVIN£ LIFE.
that id so cold and^backward in thy love, and almost grudge
it a dwelling in my breast ! Alas I when love should be the
life of .prayer, the life of holy meditation, the life of 8ermon»
and of holy conference, and my soul in these should long to
me^ thee, and delight to mention thee, I straggle. Lord, I
know hot whither ! or sit still and wish, but do not rise and
run and follow thee, yea, I do not what I seem to do* AH
is dead, all is dead, for want of love ! I often cry, O where
is that. place, where the quickening beams of heaven are
Wartnest, . that my frozen soul might seek it out ! but whi-
ther can I go, to city or to solitude, alas, I find it is Hot
place that makes the difference. 1 know that Christ is peafv-
fectly rejplenished with life, and light, and love divine ^ jand
I hear him as our Head and Treasure proclaimed and offered
to us in the Gospel!" This ii^ thy record, that " he that faatb
tlie Son, hath life ! *' O why then is my barren soul so empty I'
I thotight I had long ago consented to thy offer; and then,
according to. thy covenant, both head and life in him are
mine! and yet must I still be dark and dead !
Ah, dearest Lord, I say not that I have too long waited 1
but if I continue thus to wait, wilt thou never find the time
of love? and come and own thy gasping worm ? wilt thoo
never dissipate these clouds, and shine upon this dead and
darkened soul? Hath my night no day ? Thrust me not from
thee, O my God! for that is hell, to be thrust from God.
But sure the cause is all at home, could I find it out, or ra-
ther could I cure it! It is sure my face that is turned from
God, when I ^y, His face is turned from me. But if my
life must here be out of sight, aiid hidden in the root (with
Christ in God), and if all the rest be reserved for that better
world, and I must here have but these small beginnings, O
make me more to love and long for the blessed day of thine
appearing, and not to fear the time of my deliverancie, nor
unbelievingly to linger in this Sodom, as one that had rather
stay with sin, than come to thee ! Though sin hath made me
backward to the fight, let it not make me backward to re-
ceive the crown ; though it hath made me a loiterer in thy
work, let it not make me backward to receive that wages,
which thy love will give to our pardoned, poor, accepted
services. Though I have too oft drawn back, when I should
have come unto thee, and walked with thee in thy ways of
grace, yet heal that unbeVVef ,>xi^ ^%^S^^\.^\i, Nvhich would
CONVERSING WITH GOD IN SOLITUlJE. 361
make me to draw back^ when thou callest me to possess thy
glory ! Though the sickness and lameness of my soul have
hindered me in my journey^ yet let their painfulness help me
to desire to be delivered from them and to be at home,
where (without the interposing nights of thy displeasure) I
shall fully feel thy fullest love, and walk with thy glorified
ones in the light of thy glory, triumphing in thy praise for
evermore. Amen.
But now I have given you these few directions for the
improvement of your solitude for converse with God, lest I
should occasion the hurt of those that are unfit for the les-
son I have given, I must conclude with this caution (which
I have formerly also published). That it is not melancholy
or weak-headed persons, who are not able to bear such ex-
ercises, for whom I have written these directions. Those
that are not able to be much in serious, solitary thought-
fulness, without confusions and distracting suggestions, and
hurrying, vexatious thoughts, must set themselves for the
most part to those duties which are to be done in company
by the help of others ; and must be very little in solitary
duties : for to them whose natural faculties are so diseased
or weak, it is no duty, as being no means to do them the
desired good ; but while they strive to do that which they
are natui*ally unable to endure, they will but confound and
distract themselves, and make themselves unable for those;
other duties which yet they are not utterly unfit for. To
such persons, instead of ordered, well-digested medita-
tions, and much time spent in secret thoughtfulness, it
must suffice that they be brief in secret prayer, and take up
with such occasional abrupter meditations as they are capa-
ble of, and that they be the more in reading, hearing, con-
ference, and praying and praising God with others ; until
their melancholy distempers are so far overcome, as that
(by the direction of their spiritual guides) they may judge
themselves fit for this improvement of their solitude.
END OF THE DIVINE LIFE.
THE
DIVINE APPOINTMENT
or THE
LORD'S DAY,
PROVED ;
AS A SEPARATED DAY FOR HOLY WORSHIP, ESPECIALLY IN
THE CHURCH-ASSEMBLIES : AND CONSEQUENTLY THE
CESSATION OF THE SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH.
PREFACE.
Reader,
If thou think this Treatise both superfluous and defective,
when so many larger have better done the work already, I
shall not at all gainsay the latter, nor much the former. The
reason of my writing it, was the necessity and request of
some yery upright, godly persons, who are lately fallen into
doubt or error, in point of the Sabbath-day, conceiving, that
because the fourth commandment was written in stone, it
is wholly unchangeable, and consequently the Seventh-day
Sabbath in force, and that the Lord's-day is not a day se-
parated by God to holy worship. I knew that there was
enough written on this subject long ago ; But, 1. Much of
it is in Latin. 2. Some writings which prove the abrogation
of the Jewish Sabbath, do withal treat so loosely of the
Lord's-day, as that they require a confutation in the latter,
as well as a commendation for the former. 3. Some are so
large, that the persons that I write for, will hardly be
brought to read them. 4. Most go upon those grounds,
ivhich I take to be less clear ; and build so much more than
I can do on the fourth commandment and on many passages
of the Old Testament, and plead so much for the old sab-
batical notion and rest, that I fear this is the chief occasion
of many people's errors ; who when they find themselves in
a wood of difficulties, and nothing plain and convincing thiat
is pleaded with them, do therefore think it safest to stick to
the old Jewish Sabbath. The friends and acquaintance of
some of these persons importuning me, to take the plainest
and nearest way to satisfy such honest doubters, I have here
done it according to ray judgment; not contending against
any that go another way to work, but thinking myself that
this is very clear and satisfactory ; viz. to prove, 1. That
Christ did commission his apostleB to tead^ w^ ^ Vicvvci^
which be commnnded, and to settle 0Tdet% mVu^ Ockut<(^% ^^
CCClxvi PREFACE.
And that he gave them his Spirit to enable them to do all
this infallibly^ by bringing all his words to their remem-
brance, and by leading them into all truth. 3. And that his
apostles by this Spirit did ' de facto ' separate the Lord's-
day for holy worship, especially in church-assemblies, and
declared the cessation of the Jewish Sabbaths. 4. And that
as this change had the very same author as the holy Scrip-
tures (the Holy Ghost in the apostles), so that fact hath the
same kind of proof, that we have of the canon smd the in-
tegrity and uncorruptness of the particular Scriptore'-books
and texts : and that, if so much Scripturq as mentiomeththe
keeping of the Lord's-day, expounded by the coiv^eDt and
practice of the universal church from the days of tb^ ^9^'
ties, (all keeping this day asholy, without the distent pf any
one sect, or single person, that I xemember to jbuave read oQ
I sayj if history will not fully prove, the poii|Lt,of fact^lbf^t
this day was kept in the apostle's times, md cqns^qoienily
by their appointment, then the same proof will fipt $ery^ to
evince that any text of Scripture is canonical,, and uncor-
rupted ; nor can we think that any thing in th^ worlds that
is past, can have historical proof.
I have been put to say something particularly out of
antiquity for this evidence of the fact, because it is that
which I lay the greatest stress upon. But I have not done
it so largely as might be done. 1. Because I would not lose
the unlearned reader in a wood of history, nor overwhelm
him instead of edifying him^ 2. Because it is done already
in Latin by Dr. Young in his/' Dies Dominica" (under the
name of Theophilus Loncardiensis) ; which I take to be the
most moderate, sound, and strong Treatise on this subject
that I have seen: tho^ugh Mr. Cawdry and Palmer, (jointly)
have done well, and at greater length ; and Mr. Eaton^ Mr.
Shephard, Dr. Bound, Wallaaus, Rivet, and my dear friend
Mr. George Abbot, against Broad, have said very much:
and in their way. Dr. White, Dr. Heylin, Bishop Ironside,
Mr. Brierwood, 8cc. 3. I choice most of the same citations
which Dr. Heylin himself producetl), because he being the
man that I am most put to defend myself against, his con-
cessions are my advantage. 4. And if I had been willing, I
could[ not have been so full in this as the subject will beppecdc,
because I have almost eleNoayQar^ been ^separated from my
Hbmry, and long ftom t\i^ xid^>>w3t\iQ^^ ^S. w^^ ^^> ^J^t.
PREFACE. CCCIxvii
I much pity and wonder at those godly men, who are so
much for stretching the words of Scripture, to a sense that
other men cannot find in them, as that in the word Graven
Images in the second commandment, they ean find all set
forms of prayer, all composed studied sermons, and all things
about worship of man's invention to be images or idolatry ;
and yet they cannot find the abrogation of the Jewish Sab-
bath in the express words of Col. ii. 16. nor the other texts
which I have cited ; nor can they find the institution of the
Lord's-day in all the texts and evidences produced for it.
But though Satan may somewhat disturb our concord, and
tempt some men's charity to remissness, by these differences,
he shall never keep them out of heaven, who worship God
through Christ, by the Spirit, even in spirit and truth. Nor
shall he, I hope, ever draw me to think such holy persons as
herein differ from me, to be worse than myself, though I
think them in this to be unhappily mistaken : much less to
approve of their own separation from others, or of other
men's condemning them as heretics, and inflicting severities
upon them, for these their opinionVsake.
THE
DIVINE APPOINTMENT
OP
THE LORD'S-DAY.
CHAPTER I.
Though the principal thing desired by the inquirers is,
That 1 would prove to them the cessation, of the Seventh-
day Sabbath, yet because they cast off the Lord*8-day, which
I take to be a far greater error and sin than the observation
of both days ; and because that when I have proved the in-
stitution of the Lord's-day, I shall the more easily take them
off the other, by proving that there are not two weekly days
set apart by Grod for holy worship ; therefore I will begin with
the first question. Whether the LordVday, or first day of
the week, be separated by God's institution for holy worship,
especially in public church-conventions ? Aff.
And here, for the right stating of the question, let it be
noted, L That it is not the name of a Sabbath that we now
meddle with, or stand upon. Let us agree in the thing, and
we shall easily bear a difference about the name. Grant that
it is * a day separated by God's institution for holy assemblies
and worship/ and then call it a Sabbath, or the Lord's-day,
as you please ; though for myself I add, that the ' Lord's-day*
is the name that the Holy Ghost hath set upon it, and the
name which the first churches principally used; and that they
call it also sometimes by the name of the Christian Sabbath ;
but that is only analogically, a» it is resembled to the Jewish
Sabbath ; and as they used the names Sacrifice and Altar,
(1 speak only * de facto' how the ancients used these wo|rds,)
VOL. XllI, B B
370 THE DIVIN£ APPOINTMENT
at the same time for the Christian's commemoration of
Christ's sacrifice in the Sacrament of the Lord's-supper, and
for the Table ; or, as Dr. Young saith, page 23, * As in
Scripture, Baptism is called Circumcision. And that very
rarely too.'
2. Tha't the question of the manner of observing the
Lord*s-day, and what exercises of worship it must be spent in,
and what diversions are lawful or unlawful, as also when the
day beginneth, are not to be here meddled with in the be-
ginning, but afterwards, when the Divine institution of the
day itself is first sufficiently proved. "Which is done as
foUoweth :
Arg. 'That day which was separated to holy worship by
the Holy Ghost, was separated to holy worship by God the
Father and the Son. But the first day of the week was se-
parated to holy worship by the Holy Ghost : therefore the
first day of the week was separated to holy worship, by God
the Father and the Son.'
The minor only needeth proof among Christians.
' That day which was separated to holy worship by the
apostles, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, was separa-
ted to holy worship by the Holy Ghost. But the first day
of the week w%is separatied to holy worship by the apostles,
by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Therefore the first
day of the week was separated to holy worship by the Holy
Ghost.'
The minor which only needteth proof, is thus proved.
' That day which was separated to holy worship by the
apostles who had the Holy Ghost promised them by Christ,
and given them, to lead them into all truth, alid to bring all
its doctrines to their remembrance, and to teach^the churches
to do all his commands, and to feed, and guide, and order
them, as his principal commissioned churofa-ministers, was
separated to holy worship by the apostles by the inspiratioa
of the Holy Ghost.
' But such is the first disiy of the week :
' Therefore the first day of the week is separated to holy
worship by the apostles by the inspirationof the Holy Ghost.'
I have five propositions now distinctly to be proved :
four for the proof of the major, and one for the proof of Uie
rainor.
or THE lohdVdaV. 37!
The first pro^dition is : ' That Christ cottimiBBion^d hk
^postle^ as his princit^dl chnrch-minifttisrs, to teach the
charclies ail his doctrine, and deliver them all his ccimmailds
and orders, and so to settle and guide the first churches/
Th^ second proposition is, ' That Christ promised them
his Spirit, to enable them to do ivbat he had commissioned
them to do, by leading them into all truth, and bringing his
words and deeds to their remembrance, and by guiding them
as his churches' guides.*
The third proposition is, * That Christ performed this
promise, and gave his Spirit accordingly to his apostles, to
enable them to all their commissioned work/
The fourth proposition is, * That the apostles did actu-
ally separate or appoint the first day of the week, for holy
worship, especially in church-assemblies/
The fifth proposition is, * That this act of theirs was
done by the guidance or inspiration of the iHoly Ghost,
which was given them/
And when I have distinctly proved these five things, no
sober understanding Christian can expect that I should
prove any more, towards the proof of the question in hand.
Whether the first day of the week he separated by Grod's in-
stitution for holy worship, especially in church-assemblies.
CHAPTER 11.
Prop. 1. That Christ commissioned hu Apostles, or hu prin^
cipal Church'-Ministers, to teach the Churches all his Doctrine,
and deliver them all his Commands and Orders, and so to
settle and guide the first Churches.
This I prove, 1. By their commissioii itself: 2. By their
performance with it^^roper seal : 3. By the consent of all
the Christian world.
1. ''He called to him his disciples, sind of fhem he chose
twelve, whom also he named apostles. (Luke vi. 13.) Their
first commission is recited Matt. x. at large.
" All authority is given me both in heaven and in earth :
Go ye therefore and disciple all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father/ and of the Son, ^tvii oS^ ^^
372 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe aU things what-
soever I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world; Amen/' (Matt,
xxviii. 18—20.)
'* Then said Jesus to them again. Peace be unto you ; as
the Father hath sent me, even so send I you : and whern he
had said this, he breathed on them, and said. Receive ye the
Holy Ghost : Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remit-
ted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are
retained,** (John xx. 21.)
Even of the seventy it is said» '' He that heajreth you,
heareth me ; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me ; and
he that despiseth me, despiseth him that ^ent me." (I^uke
X. 16.) And to the twelve, '* He that receiveth you, re-
ceiveth me," &c. (Matt. x. 40.)
** Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles,
to whom now I send thee, to open their eyes." (Acts xxvi. 17.)
** For I delivered to you first of all that which I also re-
ceived," &c. (1 Cor. XV. 3.)
'' For I received of the Lord, that which also I delivered
unto you." (1 Cor. xi. 23.)
'' Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ,
and stewards of the mysteries of God." (1 Cor. iv. \, 2.)
** But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was
preached of me, is not after man ; for I neither received it
of man, neither was I taught it, but by the Revelation of
Jesus Christ." (Gal. i. 11, 12.)
" Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me Feed my
Lambs." (John xxi. 15 — 17.)
''I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven :
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in
heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be
loosed in heaven." (Matt. xvi. 19.)
'' As thou hast sent me into the world." (John xvii. 18;
see John xiii. 16. 20.)
" Shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he
may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which
Judas by transgression fell." (Acts i. 24, 25.)
'' Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by
Jesus Christ, and God the Father." (GaL i. 1.)
'' After he through the Holy Ghost, had given command-
OF THE lord's-dat. 373
ment to the apostles whom he had chosen ; to whom also he
presented himself alive after his passion, by many infallible
proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God/* (Acts ii. 2.)
" They continued stedfast in the apostles' doctrine and
fellowship/' &c. (Acts ii. 42.)
** He gave some cipostles, some prophets/' &c. (Eph. iv.
11—16.)
** First apostles, secondarily prophets," &c. ** are all apos-
tles?" &c. (1 Cor. xii. 28, 29.)
" Being built upon the foundation, of the apostles," &c.
(Ephes. ii. 20.)
'' That ye may be mindful of the words which were spo-
ken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandments
of us the apostles of the Lord and Sayiour." (2 Peter iii. 2.)
'' Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, &c. and he
shall tell thee," &c. (Acts x. &)
They that will not take all this plain evidence of Scrip-
ture for a proof of this first proposition, I suppose Would
not be ever the more moved by it, if I should be so need-
lessly tedious, as to stay to fetch arguments from each text.
2. The apostles exercised such powier as the proposition
mentions, and God set to it the seal of miracles. Therefore
such a power of office was given them by Christ.
The consequence is undeniable. The antecedent of this
enthymeme is so plainly expressed in Scripture,. that I am loath
to take up much of my own or the reader's time, in proving
so known a thing.
They founded the churches; they delivered them the
doctrine and commands of Christ; they settled the churches,
as to officers, orders, and discipline, according to Christ's
commands and the Spirit'a determinations : Thus they or-
dained the new office of deacons, and deaconesses or widows ;
and they ordained them elders in every church,, or city, and
they determined of church-controversies: and gave the
church decrees, and delivered the will of Christ about the
sacrament, church-assemblies, prophecyings, ^c. (Acts ii. ;
xiv. 23 ; vi. 3, 4, 8cc. ; 1 Tim. iii. ; Titus i. ; Acts xv. ; 1 Cor.
xi.; xiv., 8cc.)
3. That all Christians (save heretics) did acknow-
ledge their power, and acquiesce in their decrees and cqm-
duct, being a matter of fact needs no otYiet ^\oo^» v!t\^w^Sar
374 THE DIYIKl^ APPOINTMENT
ooQunon hi$tary of former ages^ aad practice of thia* Wbiob
are sp weU kno^vn^ (hat I will not injure the reader by
proving iU
CHAPTEjR in.
Prop. 2. Christ promised his Spirit to his Apostks, to enabk
them to do, what he had commissioned them to do, by leading
them into all truth, and bringing his words and deeds to their
remembrance^ and by gliding them as his Church's Chddes.
In the OM Testament it i» prophesied and promised, ^* And
I will give you pastors according to, mine hearty which shall
feed you with knowledge and understanding.^ (Jer* in. 15.)
See all the texts that promise the pouring ont of the
Spirit, Isa. xliv. 3 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 27 ; xxxvii. 14 ; xxxix. 29;
Joel ii. 28, 29; which were principally fulfilled on the
apostles.
'' And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you :
but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with
power from on high/* (Luke xxiv. 49.)
" But when the Advocate is come, whom i will send
unto you from the Father, he shall testify of me : and ye
also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from
the beginning." (John xv. 26, 27.)
" It is expedient for you, that I go away ; for if I go not
away ; the Advocate will not come unto you : but if I depart,
I will send him unto you—- — . I have yet many things to
say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you urto all
truth. For he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever
he shall hear, that shall he speak ; and he shall shew you
things to come. He shall glorify me ; for he shall receive of
mine. Therefore said I that he shall take of mine, and shew
it unto you.'* (Johnxvi. 7. 12 — 15.)
** I have given to them the words which thou gavest
me, and they have received them . Sanctify them through
thy truth ; thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the
world, so have I sent them also into the world ; and for their
sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth." (Jo^n xVu. %. \1 A^^)
OF THE I^ORD'SoDAY. 37d
^' Teaohing tbem to observe all things whatBoever I have
eommandec} yoa; and l0| I am with 3^00 alway ev^si unto the
end of the world/' (Matt, xxriii 20.)
*' And being assembled together with them, co«nmanded
them that they should not depart from Jerusalem^ but wait
for the promise of the Father, which ye bay« heard of me.
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence* But ye shall
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you :
and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of
the earth/* (Acts i. 4. 8.)
By these texts it is most evident, that Christ promiseth
the apostles an extraordinary Spirit, or measure of the Spirit,
so to enable them to deliv^ his commands, and execute their
commission, aa that he will own what they do by the
guidance thereof; and the churches may rest upon it as the
infallible Revelation of the Will of God.
CHAPTER IV.
Prop. 3. Christ performed all these Promises to bis Apostles^
and gave them his Spirit to enahk th^mfor all their Commis'
missioned Work,
This 19 proved both from the fidelity of Christ, and from
the express assertions of the Scripture. '' He is faithful that
hath promised/' (Heb. x. 23.) " God that cannot lie, hath
promised/' (Titus i. 2.) " As God is true " (2 Cor. i. 18.)
" How long, O Lord, holy aad true-—-" (Rev. vi. 10.) " He
was called Faithful and True— — *' (Re^v. xix. 11.) "Let
God be true, ai^d every man a liar^rr,^— " (Bom. iii. 4.) '' He
tbat believetji not Gpd, hath made him a liar/' (1 John v. 10*)
" He breathed on them, and sait^ Ucnto thepi. Receive ye
tl^ Holy Gho$t/' (John xx. 22.)
Aet3 ii. Qontaim^tb the na^rf^tive of th>e coming down of
the Holy Ghost upon them, at large.
" It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, apd to us. — " (Acts
XV. 28.)
"God a] so bearing them witness, bolYi mV\\ i\^xv^ ^^^
37tS TH£ I>IV1NE APPOINTMENT
wonders^ and with diyers mighty works, and distribvtions
of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.''; (Heb. ii. 4.)
" The Uiings which are now reported unto you, by : them
that have preached the Gospel unto you, by the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven— — " (1 Peter i. 12.)
*' Through mighty signs and wonders,^ by the powei* of
the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem, and round' about
unto lUyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ.'^
(Rom. XV. 19.)
Read all the texts in Acts and elsewhere, that speak of
all the apostles' miracles, and their giving of the Holy Ghost,
&o ; and 1 Cor. vii. 40 ; Acts iv. 8.31 ; v. 3 ; vi. 3 ; vii. 51.
55; viii. 16. 17—19 ; ix. 17 ; x. 44, 46. 47 ; xi. 16, 16. 24;
xiii. 2. 4. 9. 62 ; xvi. 6 ; Rom. v. 6 ; ix. 1 ^ 1 Con ii. 13 ;
2 Tim. i. 1. 14 ; 1 Cor. xii ; Ephes. iv. 7, 8, &c. ; and iii. &
But this propbsition is confessed by all Christians..
CHAPTER V.
Prop. 4. The Apostles did actually separate and appoint the
First Day of the Week for Holy Worship, especially in Church-
Assemblies.
Here the reader must remember, that it is mere matter of
fact, that is to be proved in the proof of this proposition j
and that all till this, is clearly and undeniably proved ; so
that the whole controversy resteth upon the proof of the
fact. That indeed the apostles did set apart this day for ordi-
nary (public) worship.
And in order to the fuller proof of this, I have these
subordinate propositions to prove.
Pr(^. 1. ' Matter of past fact is to be known to us by
history,' (written, verbal or practical.)
This is evident in the nature of the thing. History is
the narration of facts that are past. We speak not of the
fact of mere natural agents, but of moral human facts. It
may be known without history what eclipses there have been
of the sun ; what changes of the moon, &c ; butnot what in
particular morals have been done by man.
The necessity of other distinct ways of knowledge, are
easily disproved. 1. It need not be known by Divine su-
pernatural revelation. OtVi^tm^^ tv.^ laBtL^oxiJAVftaw ^\sa.i
OF THE lord's«day. 377
is past^ btii prophets or inspired persons : Nor prophets, but
in few thingi^ ; for it cannot be proved, that Qod ever revealed
to prophets or inspired persons, the general knowledge of
things past ; but only some particulars of special use (the
creation to Moses, 8cc.) ; so diat if revelation by inspiration,
voice or visions, were necessary. Scripture itself could be
understood by none but inspired persons, or that had such
revelation.
2. It is not known by natural causes, and by arguing
from the natural cause to the effects. It is no more possible
to know all things past this way (by knowing the causes),
than all things future. Therefore it must be ordinarily
known by human report, which we call history or tradition.
Prop, 2. * Scripture history is not the only certan his-
tory ; much less the only credible.'
Without Scripture*history we may be certain that there
was in 1666 a great fire in London, and a great plague in
1G65, and that there were wars in England in 1642, 1643,
&c, and that there have been parliaments in Ei^land which
have made the statutes now in force ; and that there have
been such kings of England for many ages, as our records
and histories mentioUi &c.
Prop. 3« * Scripture-history is not the only certain his-
tory of th6 things of the ages in which it was written, or
of former ages ; much less the only credible history of them/
We may know by other history certainly, that there were
such persons «s Cyrus, Alexander, &c. That the Macedo-
nians had a large extended empire ; that the Romans after
by many victories obtained a spacious empire ; that there
were such persons as Julius Ccesar, Augustus, Tiberius,
Jfero, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, 8cc.
Prop. 4. ' Scripture-history is not the only means ap-
pointed by God, to help us to the knowledge of ecclesiasti-
cal matters of fact, transacted in Scripture-times.'
1. For if human history be certain or credible in other
cases,. it is certain or credible in these. There being no rea-
son why these things or much of them, should not be as
capable of a certain delivery to us by human history, as
other matters. As that there were Christians in those times,
may be known by what Tacitus, Suetonius, &c. say. And
the ancient writers often appeal in many cases to the
heathen's own history. And no man preteudel\i» ^'Si Vo VXv^
37ft THE Dl¥IV]» APPOINTMfiNT
ciyil matters mentioaod in tt^ Soriplnres^ that no othear Uth
tory of (he ssMne is credible or oeriaiiiu A» oi ^ goipcm*
meat of AiiguBtus,Tiberiii8»Herod» PUate^ Felix> F^fitus^^.
2. There are other Qcctaiu B»ean» koown to us ; of ipiiicli
I must refer the reader to what I have wriltesi in wj
" Reasoos of the Christiap Religioib'* part % chap. Yii.
S* No man can doubt but that thQ ChrUtianftof that taw&
age»(as till the year one hundred) might easily and certaiiily
kjg^w such a matter of public fact, as wh^the^r th^ liordV
day was ooAstanily set apart a^d ob^ecved by aU. th^ Cbrb^
tiaA chiiMrches for holy wcdrship, Fq? 1. U ia certain tha^ ih^
did know it by sight and sev^ac, and therel^re hadno need of
history. 2^ It is certain that theiy knew it b^Ccm l^ Serip"
tures were written, which w« n<>w apeak of ; for it ia not pos-
sible that for all those yqafs tim^ before any of the New
Testament was written, the Christiana who aaaembled to
worship God, should not know on what day they used to
assembleu
And if they knew it v^ the year lOQ,, they mast n^seds kiww
it SB well in the year IQIil and 1Q3« and 103, and so on^ Far
those that were young Christians fifty years after Christ*
would be c^ed at an hundred : and those that were young at
an hundred, would be aged at an hundred and fifty, and so
on. So that an age of people, not ending at the age of a
single person, congregations and societies are like rivera*- that
keep the same channel, and name, while one part of water
foUoweth another. Nay, some of the same men are there
anno 100, who were there anno 50, some anno 160^ who weie
there anno 100, and so on^ Ten thousand thousand ^^en,
woipen and children, can tell on what day the congrega-
tions of England use to assemble i whereas if the apoatle
were among us, and should write on what day we asaeoible,
fewer would know, it by that means ; and they that k^w it
but by his writing, would know it less cionfide^tly, thasi they
who knew it by sense and experience.
Yet forget not, that I am far from ascribing a certainty or
a credibility to all human history ; much more from equal-
ling any with the credit of Divine history ; but only I say,
1. That sense is more assuring, as to the subject, than any
history whatever. 2. And that this instance of the day on
which all churches in the world assembled for holy worship.
OF THE LORpVpAY, 379
is QQ^ 0f 4)iei QdOBt pulpaUe foi eefftomty^ that possiUy could
be ioijagined.
4. A<id I adcl> that if wtm hwaam bialpry or tradition b«
nol certain^ tW^ oan be no oertaii&ty of xnucb of ike IXi^ine
iMtory^ to any but the piersojos who were themselves inapvrod^
or th^t aaw the visions, or miracles ^t confirmied them.
For as int^inal sensse oi^ intuition must, a^surq the inspired
persons themselves, and external sense miwtasaure those that
BWf the matters oif fact ; so the rest have no wdy to liWhVf
them^^but either still by a snccessioiii of n^w revelationib from
heaven (which God doth not give), or eke by report^ And I
caja AO otherwise know what was revealed to an apostle^ nor
what was done in those times. (Of which more Sinon.)
Prc^. 5. ' The first institution of ohurch^fl^Ges, and
orders, and so of the Lord's-^day, was not by Scripture.'
The proof is undeniable ; because the Old Testtament did
not contain th^ institution, (e. g.) of particular charchea,
9acf iiments, presbyters, deacons, deaconesses^and the Lord's-
day» &0t i and the New Testament was none of it written till
^nnp 40, at soonest, when some (as Bnoholtster, BeUarmine,
^•)) think Matthew's Gospel was written (though others say
many je»^ after), aivl it was not all written till anno 99.
Now it is certain that the church was not all these days with-
Qutthe orders now in question, nor without a day to aiieei
on for public worship. Even as baptism and the Lord's*
anpper were instituted by Christ himself, long befoife the
writing of any part of the New Testament, and th^ chuioh
was. in long possession of them, upon the bare verbal deda*^
ratAOA of the apostles.
JPfcp. & '■ Therefore it is certain that no part of the New
Testament was written to any such end as to institute sacca*
ments, or church-offices, or standing orders; but to instruct
men about those that were already inatituted (as to the use
of tho^e times)/
For it could not be written to institute that which was
insiituted[ before, so many years.
Propw 7. 'No part of the New Testament was written to
make known to the churches of those times the said sacra*
maits, offices, stated orders and time of worship/ (Still
obaerve that by a part, I mean any book ; and I ejn^cept the
decree, written in a letter of the apostles, elders aadbretlu^n.,
(Acts XV.) conceiming; circumcision, not to be '\mi^i^^^^ Q\^^
380 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
the Gentiles ; which yet made no new institution^ nor de-
clared any, but only determined of the continued forbea^
ance of some things forbidden before of God, in the precepts
called Noah's, and Paul's epistles, which reduce the
churches to orders before settled, and urge them to duty, and
decide some doubts about particular cases of conscience.)
The proof is visible ; 1 • In the writings themselves. 2. In
that all the churches were in the possession and use of all
the things in question, long before: (for mutual orders and
circumstances are none of the things in question.) It would
be vain to write a history now to tell the Englishmen of this
present age, that the Lord's«day is used in England, as a
day set apart for public worship ; or that persons are bap*
tized, or receive the Lord's-supper in England. For seeing
it is the common usage of all the Christians almost of the
land, it is needless to tell men among us by writing that it is
so (unless it be to infer somewhat else from it).
Prop. 8. * Yet these holy Scriptures which were written
to men of those times, were also intended for the'instmction
of all succeeding ages ; and so the four evangelists wrote
the history of Christ, and Luke wrote the history of Paul till
his coming to Rome, and longer, and of some more of the
apostles; and on the by, in the epistles extant, the church's
customs of those times are much intimated ; and all this
together with the subordinate history and the universal tenoor
and practice of the churches, is that history by which we
must know the matter of fact of those times ; nor is there
any room left for a rational pretence of Rome, or any other
church, to produce Divine institutions, which were commit-
ted only to them, or entrusted to their particular keeping
only, and were not delivered in Scripture, nor in common to
the whole church/
Prop. 9. * Thus according to the use of the writings of
the New Testament, the matter of fact in question (of the
Lord's-day*s separation) is historically touched on, and
proved ; though but briefly and on the by, as a thing as well
known to the church before, as what day goeth over their
head.'
The historical hints of the New Testament must be taken
together, and not apart only ; that they may prove a usage.
And L That Christ rose on that day, is past doubt among
Ciristians. (Johnxx. \-, livx\L^xxviA\ Maxkxvi, 2^ Matt.
xxviii, I.)
OF THE LORDVdAY. 381
2. On that same day he taught the two disciples, (Luke
xxiv. 13,) and the same day he appeared to the disciples and
instructed them, and did eat with them. (Luke xxiv. 33. 36.)
Then the disciples were assembled, and then he blessed them,
gave them their commission and the Holy Ghost. (John
xix. 20—22.)
d. The next first day of the week Christ chose to appear
to them again, when Thomas was with them, and convinced
him. (John xx. 26.)
In Acts XX. 7. it is mentioned as the day of their assem-
bling to break bread (which though they did oft on other
days, yet no day else was particularly appointed for it). As
for the dissenters' cavil about the translation of 'Evni/ui^
r Jv caj3j3arciiv, Beza hath given them reason enough against
it; and Grotius and almost all expositors are against them:
and most that translate it literally * una sabbatorum,' take
' una' and * prima* here to be all one. And Calvin with others
QOteth, that the same phrase being used of the day of the
resurrection, (Matt. xxvi. 1 ; Luke xxiv. 1 ; John xx. 1,) will
direct us to expound this ; unless you mean also to deny the
resurrection to have been on the first day.
And Kara fuav (1 Cor. xvi. 1. 2.) must needs have the same
signification ; and Mark xxvi. 9. compared with the other
two evangelists so expounds them as Beza noteth ; who also
telleth us that in one old copy he found ^ded ** the Lord's-
day,'' and citeth Jerome adv. Vigilant, saying ** Per unam
sabbati ; hoc est in die Dominico," &c. And Dr. Hammond
well noteth that it plainly relateth to the Christian assem-
blies, to which they were not to come empty, but to deposit
what they brought into the treasury of the church ; or if it
were. in their private repositories, it doth not much difference
the case. Calvin's exception against Chrysostom' here is
groundless, as the reasons before evince. So that by this
text the custom of holding church-meetings on the Lord's-
day, as a peculiar day, is intimated, though but on the by, as
most, expositors agree.
And the denomination of the Lord's-day, John i. 10,
being the same which the Christian churches ever used of
the first day, puts it yet further out of doubt. As for his
conjecture, who doubteth whether it may be meant of the
anniversary day of Christ's resurrection, when as Ussa c^tv-
stant use of the name by all the churchesi ahevi^VXv VitvAX. \\.
38i THE DIVINE APPOINTMIENT
w«* t&ken e^rtet since (ot the weekly day, it deserveth no
refutation.
Now thotigh til this set together shew that S^ripttore is
not silent of the matteir of fact ; yet it is the fall and un-
questionable expository eridetoce of the practice of all
churches in the world, since the very days of th^ apostles,
which beyond all doubt assureth us that ' de facto' the Lord's-
day was by the apostles separated for holy worship, especi-
ally in public church-assemblies. But thesis seteral intima-
tions being seconded with so full an exposition, tell us that
the Scripture is not silent in the case, nor doth pass it by.
I was loath to name the day of the serding down oif the Holy
Ghost as a proof; because that some do coiltrOTert it ; hot
it seemeth to me a rery considerable thing: 1. That the
day (that year) of Pentecost on which the Holy Ohbst wbb
given, was indeed the first day of the week, even Dr. HeyKn
granteth, without any question ot stop. And the church's
observation of Whitsunday as the day, and that' so very
early, as Epiphanius and many others say, from the apostles,
doth seem a very credible history or tradition of it. 2. It is
agreed on that the Passover that year fell on the Sabbath-
day, and that Pentecost was fifty days after the Passover:
which falleth out on the Lord's-day. And Orotius notetii
from Exod. xix. 1, that it was the day the law was given on,
and so on which the Spirit was given for a new law. 3. And
considering that this great gift of the Holy Ghost, which wlas
to make the apostles infallible, and to enable them for their
commission work, and bring all Christ's doctrines abd com**
mands to their remembrance, was so memorable a tliittg, that
it was as it were the beginning of the full 6ospel<^tate of iitt
church and kingdom of Christ, (which through all Christ's
abode on earth, was as the infant, existent indeed, but in the
womb, and on this day was as it were born before &e world,
and brought into the open light;) the Lord's-day also seem-
eth to me to be as it were conceived on the day of Christ's
resurrection, but born on this day of the Holy Ghost's
descent.
But Dr. Heylin hath one poor reason against it, vii.
' Because it was an accidental thing that the day fell out that
year on the first day.'
Aftstv. 1 . Was it not according to the course of nature t
OF TH£ lord's-day. 383
[low then can that b6 called accidental? 2. But however
t was no contingent thuag (in bis ge&d^) that the Holy
3host was sent down on that day rather than on another,
[f a sparrow &11 hot unto the ground without God's provi^
lenoe, did God choose that day he knew not why? or did
it fall out haphazard) or by chance ?
I need not insist on the confutation of bis cavils about
the othet texts forecited* Note only, L That as to his ex-
ception about Christ's travel on his resurrection-day, I
have after answered it. % That hefireiely granted that piia
rtov ta^^Artov^ signifieth * the first day' of dte week» both in
A<ets XX. 7» and 1 Ck>r. xvi. 2« 3. That h» himself citeth
afterward many testimonies that oblations and contributions
were -in the churches an usual Lord's^ay's work, 4» That
be oaafesseth that Rev. i. 10, is meant of the Lord'8-day> as
by that time grown into reputation. 5. That he thinketh it
was in small reputation before^ because Paul chose the Sab-
bath so often to preach on, to the Jews and Hellenists, or
Greeks ; wfa^eas he himself is forced to confess that it Was
not for the day's sake, but the assemblies, to do them good.
6. That he vainly conceiteth (that because the Lord'S'-day
was kept on the account of Christ's resurrection,) it im^
plieth that it was not kept by God's command, which needeth
DO confutation. 7. That liis labour to prove that Paul
neaat the Jewish Sabbath as abrogated, is vain ; for we
d»y it not. That he cannot deny that Christians had all
that time of the aposUes a stated day (as Pliny himself wit-
aesseth) for solemn worship, above other days. 9. That
ks vainly snatcheth a little countenance from Calvin and
Beisa, iua. whien as no man, since Cochla&us, writeth more
detestably of them, 10. That after he confesseth that ' it is
ao doubt but the religious observation of the day began in
die aposties' age^ with their approbation and authority, and
hath since continued in the same respect.' And what needs
ke more for confutation ?
As to his allegations of the judgment of the Refowned,
Lutheran^ and Roman diurch, 1. We take none of them for
our rule, (so impartial are we). But, 2. He himself citeth
fi«aa, Mercer, Parseus, Cuchlinus, Simler, Hospinian, Zan-
chins, &c« as holding that it was an ^apostolical and truly
divine iraditioB, that the apostles tunaed tb<e^^b\)^i\tVu\.<>
t384 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
r
.the Lord's-day, that it was an apostolical custom, or a cus-
tom received in the apostles' times, &c.
And whereas afterward he would persuade us that they
spent but a little of the day in holy worship^ he himself
cited Mr. George Sandys's Travels, saying of the Coptics,
that * On Saturday, presently after midnight, they repair
unto their churches, where they remain well nigh till Son-
day at noon (of the evening he speaketh not, but of th^
first meeting), during which time they neither sit nor kneel,
but support themselves on crutches ; and they sing over the
most part of David's psalms at every meeting, with dxYtn
parcels of the New Testament/ (This is the old way; and
such a liturgy we do not contradict or scruple.)
Sandys also informeth us of the Armenian Christiaiis,
that * coming into the place of the assembly on Sunday, in
the afternoon (no doubt they had been there in the.moming),
he found one sitting in the midst of Jthe congr^ation, in
habit not differing from the rest, reading in a Bible in the
Chaldesan tongue ; that anon after, came the bishop in a
hood or vestment of black, with a staff in his hand ; that
first he prayed, and then sung certain psalms assisted by
two or three. After all of them singing jointly, at interims
praying to themselves, the bishop all this while with hands
erected, and his face towards the altar ; that service being
ended, they all kissed his hand, and bestowed their alms, he
laying his other hand on their heads, and blessing them,' &c. 1
And of the Abassines he reciteth out of Brierwood (and \
he from Damianus a Goes), that they honour the Lord's-day !
as the Christian Sabbath, and the Saturday as the Jews' 1
Sabbath, because they receive the canons called the Apes- \
ties, whr&h speak for both.
And king Edgar in England ordained that the Sabbath ;
shQuld begin on Saturday, at three o'clock in the afternoon, '
and continue till break of day on Monday. These laws '
for the Sabbath of Alfred, Edgar, &c. were coxi^ftned by ^
Ethelred, and more fully by Canutus. • \yf ' "^ '■■
But of these things I shall say more'wbn under the
proposition following : in the meantime only remembering ^
you, 1. That it is well that we are required after the fourth
commandment to pray, ' Lord have mercy upon us, and in-
cline our hearts to keep this law.' And we accept his con-
OP THE lord's-day. 386
cession^ that this includeth all of that commandment which
is the law of nature (though I have told you that it reacheth
somewhat further). 2. That we approve of the plain doc-
trine of the English homilies on this point, and stand to the
exposition of sober impartiality.
Pnyp. 10. * It hath been the constant practice of all
Christ's churches in the whole world, ever since the days of
the apostles to this day, to assemble for public worship on
the Lord's-day, as a day set apart thereunto by the apostles.
Yea, so universal was this judgment and practice, that there
is no one church, no one writer, or one heretic (that I re-
member to have read of), that can be proved ever to have
dissented or gainsaid it, till of late times.'
The proof of this is needless to any one that is versed in
the writings of the ancients ; and others cannot try what we
shall produce. I have been these ten years separated from
my library, and am therefore le^s furnished for this task
than is requisite ; but I will desire no man to receive more,
that the testimonies produced by Dr. Peter Heylin himself,
which witii pitiful weakness he would pervert. And he be-
ing the grand adversary with whom 1 do now contend, I
shall only premise these few observations, as sufficient to
confute all his cavils and evasions.
1. When his great work is to prove that the Lord's-day
was not called the Sabbath (unless by allusion), we grant it
him (as to a Jewish Sabbath), as nothing to the purpose.
2. Whereas he strenuously proveth that the Lord's-day
was not taken for a Sabbath, ' de re,' we grant it him also,
taking the word in the primitive Jewish sense.
3. When he laboureth to prove that Christians met on
other days of the week besides the Lord's-day (though not
for the Lord's- supper), we grant it him, as nothing to the
purpose. So Calvin preached or lectured daily at Geneva,
and yet kept not every day as a holy day separated to God's
worship, as they did the Lord's-day, though too remissly.
So we do still keep week-day lectures, and the church of
England requireth the reading of common-prayer on Wed-
nesdays and Fridays, and holy-day evens ; do they there-
fore keep them holy as the Lord's-day?
4. When he tells us that Clemens Alexandrinus and
Origen, plead against them that would hear and pray on
VOL. XIII. c c
386 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
that day only, we grant it him ; and we are ready to say as
they do, that we should not confine God's service to one
day only, as if we might be profane and worldly on all other
days ; bnt should take all fit opportunities for reUgious
helps, and should all the week keep our minds as near as
we can in a holy frame and temper. Of the rest of his ob-
jections I shall say more in due place.
5. But I must note in the beginning, that he granteth
the main cause which I plead for, acknowledging, (Hist. Sab.
L 2. pag. 30«) it thus ; ' So that the religious observation of
this day, beginning in the age of the apostles, no donbt but
with their approbation and authority, and since continuing
in the same respect for so many ages, may be very weU ac-
counted among those apostolical traditions, which have
been universally received in the church of Ood.' And what
need we more than the religious observation, in the apostW
time, by the apostles* approbation and authority, and thu
delivered to us by the universal church, as an apostolical
tradition.
But yet he saith that the apostles made it not a Sabbath.
Afisw. Give us the religious observation, and caU it by what
name you please. We are not fond of the name of the
Sabbath.
6. And therefore we grant all that he laboriously piroveth
of the abolition of the Jewish Sabbath, and that the ancients
commonly consent, that by the abolished Sabbath, (Col. ii.
16.)is meant inclusively the weekly Jewish Sabbath : Epiphan.
1. 1. Haeres. 33. n. 1 1 ; Ambros. in loc. Hieron. Epist. ad Algus.
qu. 10 ; Chrysost. Hom. 13. in Hebr. 7 ; August, cont. Jud.
cap. 2. and cont. Faust. Manich. 1. 16. c. 28. I recite the
places for them that doubt of it*
Now let us peruse the particular testimonies.
1. I begin with Ignatius, (though Dalla^us hath said so
much to prove the best copy of him of later date and spuri-
ous ; because others think otherwise, and that copy is by
him thought to be written cent. 3.) who saith, * Let us not
keep the Sabbath in a Jewish manner, in sloth and idleness,
but after a spiritual manner; not in bodily ease, but in the
study of the law ; not eating meat dressed yesterday, or
drinking warm drinks, and walking out a limited space, but
in the contemplation of the works of God And after the
*^
OF THE LOR]>'£$-DAY. 387
Sabbath> iet every one that loveth Christ keep the Lord'g-
day Festival, the resurrection-day, die queen and empress
of all days, in which our life was raised again, and death
was overcome by our Lord and Saviour.*
Either these epistles of Ignatius (ad Philip. 8cc.) are
genuine or spurious. If genuine, then note how cleariy it
is asserted diat the Lord's-day was to be observed as the
queen of «J1 days, by all that were lovers of Christ. And
that the Seventh-day Sabbath was kept with it then and
there (in Asia so near the apostles' days) no wonder ; when
it was but the honourable, gradual receding from the Mosai-
cal ceremonies, with an avoiding the scandalous hindrance
of the Jews' conversion. And Doctor Heylin well noteth,
that it was only the Eastern churches next the Jews that for
a time kept both days, but not the Western, who rather
turned the Sabbath to a fast.
But if Ignatius's epistle be spurious, written cent. 3,
then as Dalleeus would prove, that they were written by
some heretical or heterodox person ; and so it will be no
wonder that holy days are pleaded for,, when (as Doctor
Heylin observeth) Cerinthus and his followers in the apos-
tles' times, stood up for the Jewish Sabbath and ceremonies,
and so were for both days : but it will be our confirmation
that even the heretics held with the universal church for the
Lord's-day.
2. The great controversy about the day of Easter, which
spread so early through all the churches, is a full confirma-
tion of our matter of fact. For when the Western churches
were for the Passover-day (the better to content the Jews,
saith Heylin), the Eastern thought it intolerable that it
should not be kept on a Lord's-day, because that was the
weekly day observed on the same account of the resurrec-
tion. The Eastern churches never questioned their supposi-
tion of the Lord's-day ; and the Western (after Victor's rash
excommunicating the Asian bishops) never rested till they
brought them to keep it on the Lord's-day : Pius, Anicetus,
Victor, 8cc. prosecuting the cause.
3. The book (though perished) which Melito wrote of
the Lord's-day, (Euseb. 1. 4. c. 25.) by the title may be well
supposed to confirm at least the matter of fact of usage.
4. All those little councils, mentioned by HeyUu,'^. 4&»
held at Osroena, Corinth, in €}aul, in Pcmtw^, vcv ^o\fikfc»
388 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
prove this, ' The canons of them all/ saith Heylin, ' being
extant in Eusebius's time, and in all which it was concluded
for the Sunday/
But saith Heylin by this. ' You see that the Sunday and
the Sabbath were long in striving for the victory/ p. 49.
Answ. I see that some men can outface the clearest light.
Here was no striving at all which day should be the weekly
day set apart for holy worship, but only whether Easter
should follow the time of Passover, or be confined to the
Lord's-day.
6. Justin Martyr's testimony is so express, and so com-
monly cited, that I need not recite the words at large, ' Up-
on the Sunday all of us assemble in the congregation——
Upon the day called Sunday all within the cities, or in the
country, do meet together in some place, where,' Sec. He
proceedeth to shew the worship there performed.
Now, 1. Here being mention of no other day, no man
can question but that Uiis day was set apart for these holy
assemblies in a peculiar manner, as the other week days
were not, 2. This being the writing of one of the most
learned and ancient of all the Christian writers. 3. And
being purposely written to one of the wisest of all the em-
perors, as an apology for all the Christians. 4. And being
written in Rome, where the matter of fact was easily known,
and deserveth as much credit as any Christian history or
writing since the apostles can deserve. Nor hath Heylin
any thing to say against it.
6. The next remembered by Heylin is Dionysius Corinth,
who lived 176, cited out of Eusebius Hist.l. 4. c. 22. 'To
day we keep the holy Lord's-day, wherein we read the epis-
tle you wrote to us,' &c. Against this Heylin saith not a
word.
7. The next is Clemens Aloxandrinus, who expressly as«
serteth the matter of fact, that the Lord's-day was then
kept by Christians. Yea, Heylin derideth him for fetching
it as far as Plato, Strom. 1. 7. But Heylin thinks he was
against keeping any days : but he that will examine his
words shall find, that he speaketh only against them that
would be ceremonious observers of the day, more than of the
work of the day, and would be religious on that day alone.
And therefore he saith, ' He that leadeth his life according
to the ordinances of l\ie Oo^v^X, ^LftVJciYfc^^ V5w^\isst^^«da.^,
OF THE lord's-day. 389
when he casteth away every evil thought ; and doing thingR
with knowledge and .understanding, doth glorify the Lord
in his resurrection.' This is not to speak against the day,
but to shew how it ought to be sincerely kept. But if he .
had been against it, it is all one to my cause, who only
prove that ' de facto' all Christian churches kept it.
8. The next witness is TertuUian, who oft asserteth this
to be the holy day of the Christians' church-assemblies, and
holy worship : his testimony in Apolog. cap* 16, is so com-
monly known, that 1 need not recite it. It is the same in
sense with Justin Martyr's, and written in an apology for
the Christians, purposely describing their custom of meet-
ing and worshipping on the Sunday (as he calls it there), as
Justin did. And that it was not an hour's work, he shews
in saying, that ' The day was kept as a day of rejoicing,'
and then describeth the work. And de Idolol. c. 14. he
saith, that every eighth day was the Christians' festival.
And de Coron. Mil. c. 3. and oft he calleth it the Lord's-
day, and saith it was a crime to fast upon it. And the work
of the day described by Justin, and by him, Apolog. c. 39.
is just the same that we desire now the day to be spent in :
we plead for no other.
But most grossly saith Heylin, page 55, ' But sure it is
that their assemblies held no longer than our morning ser-
vice ; that they met only before noon ; for Justin saith, that
when they met, they used to receive the sacrament, and that
the service being done, every man went again to his daily
labours.' Answ. Is this a proof to conclude a certainty
from ? Most certainly abundance of testimonies might be
produced to prove that they came together early in the
morning, and stayed till evening, if not till within night.
The former, Pliny and many others witness : and the latter
many accusations of the heathens, that censured them for
night-crimes at their meetings :- and all that report it almost
tell us of, the sacrament administered, and TertuUian and
others, of their feasting together (their love-feasts), as a
supper before they parted. Now let the time be measured
by the work : by that time the Scriptures of the Old Testa-
ment and New were read, and all the prayers then made,
and all the preaching and exhortations, and then all the
prayers and praises at the celebration ot t\ie\»atdL^-^>\Y^^^
(especially if they were half as long as lYie \a\.>\\^\^5^ ^^e^x^^sA.
3d0 THE DiVINB APPOINTMENT
to Basil, ChrysoBtom, and the rest of the Bibliotb. PatriuaX
and by "^ that tune the sacrament itself was administered,
with all the action and singing of psalms, and all the obla-
.tions and collections made ; and besides this, all the church
discipline on paiticular persons exercised, where qisestions
and answers and proofs must take up a great deal of tiisiie,
ftuie one day must be at an end, or very near it. And. after
when the love-feasts were left off, and the church met twice,
and made an intermission, they did as we do now. And
the very custom of preaching all the morning to the aii-
dientes and catechumens, till almost noon, when they were
dismissed with a 'miss&est,' and apendingthe rest of tbe
day in teaching the church, and celebrating the sacrament
with all the larger eucharistical acts, do fully shew how the
day was spent ; which 1 would quickly shew by particular
testimonies, but that I am separated from my library ; and
Dr. Young hath fully done it to my hand. The vary con-
text of these testimonies, with what Albaspineeus hath of
their catechizing and church order, will soon satisfy the im-
partial searcher.
As for what be saith out of Justin, of ' returning to their
labours,' I can find no such word in him ; nor do I beUeve
there is any such to be found, unless of returning to their
six days weekly labour, when the religious work was ended
with the day : and I imagine that the reader will find no
more, if so much.
9. The next proof is universal, even the consent of all
the Christian churches, without one contradicting vote that
ever I read of, that the Lord's-day worship was to be per-
formed standing, and that it was not allowed them to pray
or worship kneeling, upon any Lord's^day in the year (or
any week-day between Easter and Whitsuntide) : and the
difficulty of these stations is expressed (see Albaspinseus of
it), which sheweth that it was for a long time. Whatever
they did in hearing (it is like they sat, for Justin saith. We
rise to pray), but it is certain they stood in worshipping acts,
as prayer and praise. This Justin Martyr hath before men-
tioned : Tertullian hath it expressly, and Heylin himself
citeth him, de Coron. Mil. et Basil 1. de Spir. S. c. 27, and
Hieron. advers. Luciferian. August. Epist. 118 ; Hilar. Praef.
in Psal. Ambros. Berm. 62. To vih\ch he may add Epipha-
nius, and divers councWs, e^^ee\^>f ^Vc.* \, wA'lwiS..^^
OF THE LORD'S-DAY. . 301
which after. (I ouce pleaded this ancient custom with them
that would have all excluded from the sacrament that kneel
not, to prove that kneeling at the sacrament on the Lord's-
days could not be in the church of so many hundred years
after the apostles, when the universal church condemned
kneeling on all Lord's-day worship*) And Dr. Heylin him-
self saith, ' What time this custom was laid by, I can hardly
say ; but sure I am, it was not laid aside in long time after ;
not till the time of Pope Alexander the third, who lived
about the year 1160,' Sic. Now from all this it is most
evident, that the Lord's-^day was then observed.
10. In this place, though by anticipation, I add the two
general councils now named : The first general council at
Nice, (Can. 20.) which reneweth and confirmeth this ancient
custom of not kneeling in prayer on the LordVdays, that
there might be an uniformity kept in the churches. And
the Canon. Concil. Trul. have the same again ; which proveth
what we seek, the matter of fact of the day's general ob-
servation.
11. The next is Origen, who is not denied to witness to
the matter of fact ; but Heylin thinks he was against the
right of it : but his mistake is the same, as about Clemens
Alexandrinus ; Origen did but desire that other days might
be kept also as profitably as they could ; as our lecture-
days are.
12. Cyprian is the next, whose testimonies for matter of
fact are full, and Heylin hath nothing to say against him,
but that it is his private opinion, that the Lord's-day was
prefigured in the eighth day destined to circumcision.
Which is nothing at all to our business in hand.
13. And he himself cites Pope Fabian's Decretal, anno
237 (a testimony therefore that he is not to refuse), ' for
every man and woman on the Lord's-days to bring a quan-
tity of bread and wine to be first offered on the altar, and
then distributed in the sacrament.'
The Canon of Clement before mentioned I now pre-
termit.
But saith Dr. Heylin, ' 1 . All days between Easter and
Whitsunday had adoration by genuflection also prohibited
OB them. 2. And the church had other festivals also.'
Answ. 1. The reason of station was to signifY ChvkC^
resurrection and ours ; therefore it coutrnxxed^ox \Xv^^^ ^%.'^%'-
392 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
but that was for the short occasional meetings of those
days, which he himself will not say were separated to .wor-
ship, 2. And the other festivals of the church make nothing
against us. For, 1. Some of them (as Easter and Whitsun-
day) were but the same Lord's-day. 2. And some of them
were but anniversary, and not weekly holidays; as. the
Nativity, &c. 3. And he confesseth even these were brought
in long after the apostles' days, and therefore can lay no
claim to apostolical institution. Page 62, he himself saitb
that ' The feast of Christ's Nativity was ordained or insti-
tuted in the second century, and that of his Incarnation in
the third.' And besides Easter and Whitsunday (which are
the Lord's-day), Christmas is all that he named out of Beda
(so long after) as the ^MajoraSolennia.* The eves were but
hours for preparation.
14. To these (though in the fourth century) I may add
Epiphanius, who recorded the station (and adoration to
the East) on the Lord's-days, as traditions received by the
universal church.
And here I would have it specially noted, that when
TertuUian, Epiphanius, and others, note standing on the
Lord's-days to be an unwritten tradition received by the
whole church, they do not say the same of the Lord's-day
itself, (though the ancients oft say, that we received it from
the apostles) : Now by this it is plain, that they took the
Lord's-day to be of apostolical institution past all question,
and the unwritten, universal traditions to be somewhat lower
(which there was no Scripture for at all). (Among which
the white garment, and the milk and honey to the baptized,
and the adoration toward the East, are numbered.) For he
that is appointed to worship on the Lord's-daya standing,
or towards the East, is supposed to know that on that day
he is to worship. If the mode on that day be of universal
tradition as a ceremony, the day is supposed to be some-
what more than of unwritten tradition.
16. I add here also (though in the fourth century, be-
cause it looks back to the institution) the words of Athana-
sius, cited by Heylin himself, Homil. de Semente, (though
Nannius question it,) * That our Lord transferred the Sab-
bath to the Lord's-day.' But saith Dr. Heylin, ' This must
be understood, not as if done by his commandment, but on
this occasion : the resuiteclvon ol o\it\i^t^^\x\5csa\.^vi^be'
OF THE LORdVdaY. 393
ing the principal motive which did influence his church to
make choice thereof for the assemblies— For otherwise it
would cross what formerly had been said by Athanasius in
his TTfiwjjLBv, 8cc.' Answ, It expresseth the common judg*
ment of the church, that Christ himself made the change by
these degrees : 1. Fundamentally, and as an exemplar, by
his own resurrection on that day ; giving the first cause of
it, as the creation-rest did of the seventh day : 2»> Secretly
commanding it to his apostles. 3. Commissioning them to
promulgate all his commands. 4. Sending down the Spirit
on that very day. 5. And by that Spirit determining them
by promulgation to determine publicly of tlie day, and set-
tle all the churches in long possession of it before their
death. That which is thus done, may well be said to be
done by Christ. 6. And what show of contradiction hath
his TifKafuv, to this? 'It was commanded first that the
Sabbath day should be observed in memory of the accom-
plishment of the world : so do we celebrate the Lord's-day,
as a memorial of the beginning of a new creation/ Had
not he a creating head here, that out of these words could
gather, that we celebrate the Lord's-day without a command
voluntarily ? One would think ' so* should signify the coor
trary.
But ib. page 8, he citeth Socrates for the same, saying
that ' The design of the apostles was not to busy themselves
in prescribing festivaUdays, but to instruct the people in
the ways of godliness.'
Answ. Socrates plainly rebuketh the busy ceremonious
arrogancy of after^ages for making new holidays ; and doth
not at all mean the Lord*s-day ; but saith that to make festi-
vals, that is, other and more, as since they did, was none of
the apostles' business. Nor is this any thing at all to the
matter of fact, which none denied.
16. I will add that as- another testimony which (p. 9.)
he citeth against it. The council at Paris, anno 829. c. 50.
which, as he speaketh, ascribeth the keeping of the Lord's-
day to apostolical tradition, confirmed by the authority of
the church. The words are, * ut creditur apostolorum tra-
ditione, immo ecclesiae authoritate descendit, &c.' Now 1
have proved that if the apostles did it, they did it by the
Holy Ghost, and by authority from Christ.
394 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
Blithe citeth (p. 7, 8.) the words of Atbanasins, Maxi-
mu8, Taurinensis and Augustine, saying that ' We honour
the Lord's-day for the resurrection, and because Christ rose/
and (Aug.) * The Lord'S'-day was declared to Christians by
the resurrection of our Lord, ieaid from that (or from him
rather) began to have its festivity/ From whence he ga--
thereth that it was only done by tha authority of the churcb,
and not by aiiy precept of our Saviour.
Answ. As if Christ's resurrection could not be the fun-
damental occasion, and yet Christ's law the obliging cause?
Would any else have thus argued, ' The Jewa obsenred the
Seventh-day-Sabbath, because the Creator rested the seventh
day : therefore they had no command from God for it?' Wo
to the churches that have such expositors of God's com-
mands ! or, as if Christ who both commissioned and in-
spired the apostles by the Holy Ghost, to teach all his com-
mands, and settle church orders, were not thus the chief
Author of what they did by his commission and Spirit.
What church can shew the same commission, or the like
miraculous and infallible Spirit as they had ?
See further August de Civitat. Dei. 1. 22. c» 30. and
Serm. 15. de Verb. Apostol.
But saith he, ' Christ and two of his disciples travelled
on the day of his resurrection from Jerusalem to Emmaus,
seven miles, and back again, which they would not have
done, if it had been a Sabbath.'
Answ. 1. They .would not have done it if it had been a
Jewish Sabbath of ceremonial rest; but those which you
call too precise, will go as far naw in case of need to hear a
sermon ; and remember that they spent the time in Christ's
preaching and Uieir hearing and conferring after of it. 2. But
we grant that though the foundation was laid by Christ's
resurrection, yet it was not a law fully p«fomulgate to, and
understood by the apostles, till the coming down of the
Holy Ghost (nor many greater matters neither), who was
promised and given to teach them all things, S&c«
And it is worth the noting, how Heylin beginneth his
Chap. iii. 1. 2. ' The Lord's-day taken up by the common
consent of the church, not instituted or established by any
text of Scripture, or edict of emperor, or decree of council,
save that some few counciU AVA le&^cA. ^i^ou it. In that
OF THK LORpVoAT. 3(96
which follows we sbalt find both emperors^ and couiicils
very frequent in ordering things abcHit this day and the
service of it.'
Ansm. Note reader. What could possibly, besides Christ
and the Holy Ghost in the apostles, be the institute? of a d^y ,
which neither emperor nor council ins^titnted, and yet was
received by the common consent of all churches in the
world, even from, and in the apostles' days? Yea, as this
man confesseth, ' by their approbation and authority f
But henceforward in the fourth century I too. prev^aited
from bringing in my most numerous witnesses, by Heylin*^
confession, that now emperors, councils, and all, were for
it. But yet let the reader remember, 1. How few and small
records be left of the second century, and not many of the
third. 3. And that historical copious testimonies of the
fourth century, that is, emperors, councils, and the most
pious and learned fathers, attesting that the universal church
received it from the apostles, is not vain, or a small evi-
dence ; when as the fourth century began but two hundred
years after St. John's death, or within less than a year.
And that the first Christian emperor finding all Chris-
tians unanimous in the possession of the day, should make
a law (as our kings do) for the due observing of itf and that
the first General Council should estabKah uniformity in the
very gesture of worship on that day, are strong confirmsr-
tions of the matter of fact, that the cbarehes unanimousfy
agreed in the holy use of it, as a separated day, even Scorn
and in the apostles' days.
Object. * But the Emperor Constantine's edict ailowetfi
husbandmen to labour.' ^
Amvx. Only in case of apparent hazard, lest the firuits of
the earth be lost^ as we allow seamen to work at sea, in
case of necessity. And so though by his second edict
manumission was allowed to the judge, as^an act of charity,
yet they were forbidden judging in all other ordinary
causes, lest the day be profaned by wrangling.
Gratian, Val^tinian, and Tbeodosius, by their edict
forlKid public spectacles or shows on the Lord's-day. And
afterward Valentinian and Yalens made an edict that no
' Christian should on that day be convented by the Exaet^Mrs
or Receivers.'
30(f THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
Object. 'But (saith Heylin) for three hundred years
there was no law to bind men to that day/
Answ. The apostles' institution was a law of Christ by
his Spirit, (Matt, xxviii. 20.) And how should there be a
human law, before there was a Christian magistracy ?
Object. (Saith Heylin, p. 96-) 'The powers which raised
it up, may take it lower if they please, yea, take it quite
away,' &c,
Answ. True ; that is, Christ may ; and when he doth it
by himself, or by new apostles, who confirm their commis-
sion by miracles, we will obey ; but we expect his presence
with the apostolical constitution to the end of the world.
(Matt xxviii. 20.)
Theodosius also enacted that on the Lord's-day, and in
the Christmas, and on Easter, and to Whitsuntide, the pub-
lic cirques and theatres should be shut up. (For we grant
that when Christian magistrates took the matter in hand,
other holy days were brought in by degrees ; whereas be-
fore the. Christians indeed met (yea, and communicated) as
oft as they could, even most of the days in the week ; but
did not separate the days as holy to God's service, as they
did the Lord's-day : only Christmas-day, and the memorials
of those martyrs that were near them (to encourage the peo-
ple to constancy) they honoured somewhat early ; but those
were anniversary, and not weekly. And the Wednesdays
and Fridays, were kept by them but as we keep them now,
or as a lecture-day.
I grant also that when Christian magistracy arose, as
the holy days multiplied, the manner of the day's observa-
tion altered. For whereas from the beginning, the Chris-
tians used to stay together from morning till night, (partly
through devotion, and partly for fear of persecution, if they
were noted to go in and out ;) afterward being free, they
met twice a day, with intermission, as we do now. Not that
their whole day's service was but an hour or two, as Heylin
would prove from a perverted word of Chrysostom's, and
another of Origen's (or Ruffinus), and from the length of
their published homilies ; for he perverteth what was spoken
of the sermon, as spoken of the length of the service of the
whole day ; whereas there was much more time spent in the
eucharistical andViturgic o^cft«», ot Y^^^^» ^taise^ sacra-^
OF THE LORO-iS-DAY. 307
ments, and exhortations proper to- the church, than was in
the sermon. When I was suffered to exercise my ministry
myself, having four hundred, or five hundred, if not six hun-
dred, to administer the sacrament to (though twice the
number kept themselves away), it took up the time of two
sermons usually to administer it, besides all the ordinary
readings, prayers and praises, morning and evening.
Heylin noteth by the way, 1. That now officiating in a
white garment begun. 2. And kneeling at the sacrament ;
which last he proveth from two or three words where adora-
tion only is named. But, L A late Treatise hath fully
proved that the wMie garment was not a religious ceremony
then at all, but the ordinary splendid apparel of honourable
persons in those times, which were thought meet for the ho-
nour of tlie ministry when Christian princes did advance
them. 2. And he quite forgot that adoration on the Lord's-
day was ever used standing, and that he had said before,
that it was above a thousand y^ars before the custom was
altered.
The inclinations to overmuch strictness on the Lord*s-
day. The destruction of the army of the Goths by the Ro-
mans in Africa, because they would not fight on that day,
&c. See in Heylin, pp. 112, 113, &c. His translation of
the words of the Synod or Council at Mascon, 588, I think
worthy the transcribing.
" It ^s observed that Christian people do very rashly
slight and neglect the Lord's-day ; giving themselves there-
on^ as other days, to continual labours, &c. Therefore let
every Christian, in case he carry not that name in vain, give
ear to our instruction ; knowing that we have care that you
should do well, as well as the power to bridle you, that you
do not ill. It foUoweth, ' Custodite diem Dominicum qui
nos denuo peperit, &c.' Keep the Lord's-day, the day of
our new birth, whereupon we were delivered from the snares
of sin. Let no man meddle in litigious controversies, or
deal in actions or lawsuits ; or put himself at all on such an
exigent, that needs he must prepare his oxen for their daily
work, but exercise yourselves in hymns, and singing praises
unto God ; being intent thereon both in mind and body. If
any have a church at hand, let him go unto it, and there
pour forth his soul in tears and prayers ; his eyes and hands
being" all that day Jifted up to God, \l \% \k^ «s«^'wa}GL\x^
398 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
day of rest, insinvated to ub under the shadow t>f theSereliith-
day or Sabbath, ia the law and prophets : And therefore it
is Tery meet that we should celebrate this day with one ac-
cord, whereon we have been made what at first we were not.
Let as then offer to God our free and voluntary Betvice, by
whose great goodness we are fireed from the gaol of erior:
not that tlie Lord exacts it of us, that we «faouid celebrate
this day in a corporeal abstinence or rest from labour, who
only looks that we do yield obedience to his hdiy will, by
which contenming earthly things, he may conduct us to the
heavens of hiA infinite mercy. However if any man shall
set at nought this our exhortation, be be assured, that God
shall punish him as he hath deserved ; and that he shall
be also subject unto the censures of the church. In case he
be a lawyer, he shall lose his cause ; if that he be an hus-
bandman, or servant, he shall be corporally punished lor it ;
but if a clergyman or monk« he shall be six months sepa-
rated from the congregation."
His reproof of Gregorius Tauronensis for his strictness
for the Lord's-day, sheweth but his own dissent from him,
and from the churches of that age.
King Alfred's laws for the observation of the Lord's-
day, and against dicing, drinking, &c. on it, are visible in
our constitutions, in Spelman and others. And many more
edicts and laws are recited by Heylin himself of other
countries.
Two are worthy of observation for the reasons of them.
L A law of Clotharius king of France, forbidding servile
labours on the Lord's-day, ' Because the law forbids it, and
the holy Scriptnre wholly contradicteth it.* 2. A constitution
of the emperor Leo Philosophus, to the same purpose, ' Se-
cundum quod Spiritui sancto ab ipsoque institutis apostolis
placuit; as it pleased the Holy Ghost and the apostles in-
structed by him.' You see that then Christian princes
judged the Lord's-day to be of Divine institution. Yea, to
these he addeth two mote princes of the same inind, con-
fessing tihat Leo was himself a scholar, and Gharles the
Great had as learned men about him as the times then bred,
and yet were thus persuaded of the day; yea, and that
many miracles were pretended in confirmation of it ; yet he
affirmeth, that the ' Church and the most learned men in it
were of another mind.' Let \x^ W^i Via \.t<j>X!fe.
OF TH£ LORD's-DAY* 309
1. Saith he> ' laidore a bishop of Sevil makes it an
apostolical sanction only^ no Divine commandment: a day
designed by the apostles, for religions exercises in honour- of
our Saviour's resurrection ; and it was called the Lord's-
day therefore: to this end and purpose, that resting in the
same from all earthly acts, and the temptations of Uie world,
we might intend God's holy worship^ giving this day due
honour for the hope of the resurrection which we hav^
therein/ The same verbatim is repeated by Beda. L de
Offic. and by Rabban. Maurus 1. de instit. Chr. 1. c. 2. 24,
and by Alcuinus de Div. Offic« c. 24, which plainly shews,
that all these took it only for an apostolical usage, 6cc.
Afmo. Reader, is not here astrange kind of proof? This
IS but just the same that we assert, and I am proving ; save
that he most grossly puts an apostolical usage, and sanction
(' sanxerunt') as distinct from, and exclusive of a command,
which I have fully proved to be Christ's own act and law to
us, by virtue of, 1. Their commission : 2. And the infallible
Spirit given them.
And having brought the history to so fair an account by
our chief adversary's own citations and confessions, I will
not tire myself and the reader any more ; but only wish
every Christian to consider, whether they that thus distin-
guish between apostolical sanctions, and Divine institutions
as this man doUi, do not teach men to deny all the holy
Scriptures of the New Testament, as being but apostolical
writings ; and go far to deny or subvert Christianity itself;
by denying the Divine authority of these commissioned in-
spired men, who are foundations of the church, and sealed
their doctrine by miracles, and from whom it is that our
Christian faith, and laws, and church-constitutions, which
are universal and Divine, are received.
I only remember you of Pliny, a heathen's testimony of
the Christian's practice ' stato die.' No man can question
Pliny on the account of partiality ; and therefore though a
heathen, his historical testimony, as joined with all the
Christian church-history, hath its credibility. He telleth
Trajan, that it was the use of Christians, ' on a stated day,
before it was light to meet together, to «ing a hynm to
Christ as to God ' secum invicem,' among themselves by
turns ; and to bind themselves by a sacrament, not to do
any wickedness, but that they commit not ftie5t%,i^:^:^i«TOfe»
400 TH£ DIVINE APPOINTMENT
adulteries ; that they break not their word (or trust) ; that
they deny not the pledge (or pawn) ; which being ended,
they used to depart^ and to come again together to take
meat^but promiscuous and harmless.' Epist. 79. p. 306, 307.
Where note, 1. That by a stated day, he can mean no
other than the Lord*s-day, as the consent of all other his-
tory will prove. 2. That this is much like the testimonies
of Justin and Tertullian (and supposing what they say of
the use of reading the Scripture, and instructing the church)
it sheweth that their chief work on that day, was^ the prais-
ing of God for our redemption by Christ, and the celebra-
tion of the Lord's-supper ; and the disciplinary exercises of
covenanters thereto belonging. 3. That they had at that
time, where Pliny was, two meetings that day, that is, they
went home, and came again to their feast of love, in the
evening. (Which, no doubt, was varied, as several timeSi
and places, and occasions required ; sometimes departing
and coming again, and sometimes staying together all day.)
4. That this epistle of Pliny was written in Trajan's days,
and it is supposed in his second yesjr : and Trajan was em-
peror in the year that St. John die apostle died, if not a
year before ; so that it is the church's custom in the end of
the apostles' days, which Pliny here writeth of. 5. That
he had the fullest testimony of what he wrote, it being the
consent of the Christians whom he, as judge, examined ;
even of the timorous that denied their religion, as well as
of the rest. And many of them upon his prohibition for-
bore these meetings. 6. And the number of them he telleth
Trajan in city and country was great, of persons of all de-
grees and ranks.
So that when, I.Christian History, 2. And Heathen,
acquaint us with the matter of fact, that the day was kept
in the apostle's time ; 3. Yea, when no heretics or sects of
Christians are found contradicting it, but the churches then
and after universally practised it without any controversy ;
what fuller historical evidence can there be ? And to say,
that, 1. The apostles would not have reproved this, if it
had not been their own doing : 2. Or that it could be done,
and they not know it : 3. And that all Christians who ac-
knowledged their authority, would have consented in such
a practice superstitiously before their faces, and against
tlieir wills, and no testimony be left us of one faithful church
OF THE LORD's-DAY. 401
or Christian that contradicted it, and stack to the apostoli-
cal authority, even where the churches received their writ-
ings, and publicly read them ; all this is such^ as is not by
sober Christians to be believed.
But the great objection will be, ' That other things were
then taken for apostolical traditions, anjd were customs of
the universal church, as well as this ; which things we now
renounce as superstitious.'
Answ. Though I answered this briefly before, I now give
you this fuller answer: Lit is but few things that come
under this charge, viz. the unction, white garment, with
the taste of milk and honey at baptism, adoration towards
the.East^ and that standing ; and not kneeling on the Lord's-
days, and the ^anniversary observation of Easter and Whit-
suntide: and the last is but the keeping of one or two
Lord*Srdays in the year with some note of distinction from
ihe rest, so far as there was any agreement in it. 2. That
these are not usually by the ancients called apostolical tra-
ditions, but customs of the universal church : 3. That when
they are called traditions from the apostles, it is not with an
assertion that the apostles instituted them, but that they
are supposed to be from their times, because their original
is not known. 4. That the ancients join not the Lord's-day
with these, but take the Lord*s-day for an apostolical insti-
tution written in Scripture, though the universal practice of
all churches more fully deliver the certain history of it : but
the . rest they take for unwritten customs, as distinct from
Scripture ordinances. (As Epiphanius justly sheweth.) 5.
That most Christians are agreed, that if these latter could be
proved apostolical institutions for the church universal, it
would be our duty to use them, though they were not in
Scripture. So that we reject them only for want of such
proof ; but the proof of the Lord's-day's separation being
far better (by concurrence of Scripture and all ancient hisr
tory), itfolloweth not that we must doubt of that which
hatli full; and certain proof, because we mpst doubt of that
which wants it. 6« And if it were necessary that they stood
.or .fell, together (as it is not), it were necessary that we did
receive. those three or four ceremonies, for the sake of the
Lord's-day, which hath so great evidence, rather than that
we cast; off the Lord'fi-day, because of these ceremonies.
VOL. Xlll. D D
40i THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
Not only because there is more good in the Lord's-day
than there is evil to be any way suspected by. a doubter in
these ceremonies ; but especially because the eyidence fixr
the day is so greats that if the said ceremonies had but the
same, they were undoubtedly of Diyine authority or institu-
tion. In a word, I have shewed you somewhat of the evi*
dence for the Lord's^day ; do you shew me the like for thco^
and then I will prove that both must be received; but if
you cannot, do not pretend a parity. 7, And the same
churches laying by the customs aforesaid, or most of them,
did shew that they took them not indeed for apostolical in-
stitutions« as they did the Lord' s-day, which they continued
to observe ; not as a ceremony, but as a necessary thing.
8. And the ancient churches did believe^ that eyea in the
apostles' days some things were used as indifferent, which
were mutable, and not laws, but temporary customs. ' And
some things were necessary, settled by law for perpetuity.
Of the former kind they thought were, the greeting one
another with an holy kiss, the women's prayii^ covered
with a veil, (of which the apostle saith, that it was^ then and
there so decent, that the contrary would have been unseem-
ly, and the churches of God had no such custom, by whicb
he answereth the contentions), yet in other countri^a, where
custom altereth the signification, it may be otherwise : also
that a man wear not long hair; and that they have a love-
feast on the Lord*s»day, (which yet Paul seemelh to begin
to alter in his rebuke of the abusers of it. 1 Cor. 1 1). And
if these ancient churches thought tjie milk and honey',^ and
the white garment, and the station and adoration Easiiwards,
to be also such like indifferent mutable customs, ^» it is ap-
parent they did, this is nothing at all to in;validate our
proof, that the Lord's-day was used (and consequently ap-
pointed) in the days of the apostles.
Object. ' At least it will prove it mutable as they were/
Answ. No such matter : because the very nature of such
ciscumstances, having no stated necessity or uneasiness,
sheweth them to be mutable. But the reason of the Lord's-
day's use is perpetual ; and it i^ founded partly iu the law of
nature, which telleth us that some stated days should be
set apart for holy things; and partly in the positive pui of
the fourth commandment ; which telleth us, thai ' once
OF TH£ L0RD'S-<DAY. 403
Ood determined of one day in se^en/ yea, afvd this ttpon tbi?
ground of his awn cessation of his creatioii-'work, that man
on that day might observe a holy rest in the worshipping ot
the great Creator, which is a reason not belonging to the
Jews only, but to the whole world. Yea, and that reason
(whatever Dr. Heyhn says to the contrary, from the mere
srilenee of the ibrmer history in Genesis) doth seem plainly
to intimate that this is but the repetition of that law of the
Sabbath which was given to Adam; for why should Ood
begin two thousand years after to give men a Sabbath upon
the reason of his rest from the creation of it, if he had never
eatled man to that commemoration before.
And it is certain that the Sabbath was observed at the
fietUing of manna before the giving of the law ; and let any
considering Ohristian judge between Dr. Heylin and us in
thi& : 1. Whether the not falling of manna, on the rest of
God after the creation, was like to be the original reason of
the Sabbath. 2. And whether, if it had be^ the^ first, it
would not have been said, *' Remember to keep holy the
Sabbath-day ;" for on six days manna felU and not on the
seventh, rather than ** for in six days God created heaven
and earth, 8cc. and rested the seventh day." And it is
caasally added, *' Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath^
day, and hallowed it.** Nay, consider whether this annexed
reason intimate not, that the day on this ground being hal-
lowed before, therefore it was that €rod sent not down the
manna on that day, and that he prohibited the people from
seeking it.
And he that consideretb the brevity of the history in
Qenesis, will think he is very bold, that obtrudeth on the
world his negative argument : ' The Sabbath is not there
mentioned ; therefore it was not then kept.*
And if it was a positive law given to Adam on the rea-
son of the creation-rest, it was then such a positive, as must
be next to a law of nature, and was given to all mankind in
Adam, and Adam must needs be obliged to deliver it down
to the world.
So that though the Mosaicallaw (even as given in stone)
be ceased, yea, and Adam's positives too, formally as such ;
yet this is sure, that once God himself determined by a
law, that one stated day in seven, was the fittest proportion
of time to be separated to holy worship. XnA \t \1 >w^^ %^
404 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
once, yea^ to all the world from the creation^ it is so still :
because there is still th^ same reason {(ft it ; and we are
bound to judge God's determination of the proportion, to
be wiser than any that we can make. And so by parity of
reason consequentially even those abrogated laws do thus
far bind us still ; not so far as abrogated ; but because the
record and reason of them, is still a signification of the due
proportion of time, and consequently of our duty«
Now the Lord's-day, supposing one weekly day to be due;
and being but that day determined of, and this upon the
reason of the resurrection, and for the commemoration of
our redemption, and that by such inspired and authorised
persons, it folio weth clearly, that this is no such mutable
ceremony, as a love- feast, or the kiss of love, or the veil*, or
the washing of feet, or the anointing of the sick, which were
mostly occasional actions and customs taken up upon rea-
sons proper to those times and places.
Object. ' But by the reason aforesaid, you will prove the
continuance of the Seventh-day Sabbath ; as grounded on
the creation-rest.'
Answ. This is anon to be answered in another place. I
only prove that it continued, till a successive dispensatioDi
and God's own change did put an end to it; but no longer.
Object. * But to commemorate the creation, and praise
the Creator, is a moral work, and therefore ceaseth not.'
Answ. True, but that it be done on the seventh day, is
that which ceaseth. For the same work is transferred to the
Lord's-day ; and the Creator and Redeemer to be honoured
together in our commemoration. For the Son is the only
way to the Father ; who hath restored us to peace with our
Creator; and as no man cometh to the Father but by the
Son, and as we must not now worship God, as a Creator and
Father never offended, but as a Creator and Father recon-
ciled by Christ, so is it the appointment of Christ by the
Holy Ghost, that we commemorate the work of creation
now, as repaired and restored by the work of redemption, on
the Lord's-day, which is now separated to these works.
That the Sabbath was appointed to Adam, Wallaeus on
the Fourth Commandment, cap. 3.; andRivetdissert.de sab.
c. 1. have most copiously proved. And. Clem. Alexandr.
Strom. 1. 6. out of Homer, Hesiod, Callimachus and others,
proveth that the heathens knew of it.
OF THE LORD's-OAY. 405
We may therefore sum up the prerogatives of the LordV
day, as Leo did, (Ep. 81. cap. 1.) ' On this day the world
begai^; on this day by Christ's resurrection, death did receive
death, and life its beginning; on this day the apostles take
the trumpet of the Gospel to be preached to all nations f on
this day the Holy Ohost came from the Lord to the apostles.
See.' See more in Athanas. de Sab. et Circ. and August.
Serro. 154. de Tempore. Therefore saith Isychius in Levit.
1. 2. c. 9. * The church setteth apart the Lord's-day for holy
assemblies.' And in the times of heathenish persecution,
when men were asked, whether they were Christians, and
kept the Lord*s-days; they answered that they were, and
kept the Lord*s-day ; which Christians must not omit : as
you may see Act. Martyr, apud. Baron, an. 303. n. 37 — 39.
They would die rather than not keep the holy assemblies on
the Lord's-days : For, saith Ignatius, ' After the Sabbath^
every lover of Christ celebrateth the Lord's-day, consecrated
to (or by) the Lord'd resurrection, the queen and chief of all
days' (as is aforecited). For saith Austin, ' The Lord's
resurrection hath promised us an eternal day, and conse-
crated to us the Lord'si-day, which is called the Lord's-day,
and properly belongeth to the Lord,' Serm. 15. de Verb.
Apost. And saith Hilary, Proleg. in Psalm, • Though the
name and observance of a Sabbath was placed to the seventh
day, yet is it the. eighth day, which is also the first, on which
we rejoice with the perfect festivity of the Sabbath.'
Of the full keeping of the whole day, and of the several
exercises in which it was spent, and of the more numerous
testimonies of antiquity hereupon. Dr. Young in his " Dies
Dominica" hath said so much, with so much evidence and
judgment, that I purposely omit abundance of such testi-
monies, because I will not do that which he hath already
done ; the learned reader may there find unanswerable proof
.of the matter of fact, that the Lord's-day was kept in the
apostles' days, and ever since, as by their appointment; and
for the unlearned reader, I fear lest I have too much inter-
rupted him with citations already. I only tell him the con-
clusion, that, if Scripture-history interpreted and seconded
by fullest practice and history of all the churches of Christy
and by the consent of heathens and heretics, and not con-
tradicted by any sect in the world, be to be believed, the^
403 THE DIVIKB APPOINTMENT
we must say, that tha Lord's*day was commonly kept by the
Christiatis in and from the apoetles' times*
Prop* 11. ^ This evid^ice of the church'a aniversal con-
stant usage, is a full and sufficient proof of the matter of
fact, that it was a day set apart by the aposlles for holy
worship, especially in the public cbnroh-^assemblics/
1, It is a fuU proof, that such assemblies were held on
that day above others, as a separated day. For if it was the
usage in anno 100, (in which the apostle John died,) it must
needs be the usage in the year 99, in which he wrote his
Revelations, where be calletb it the Lord's-day : For all the
churches could not silently agree on a sudden to take up a
new day, without debate and public notice, which could not
be concealed. And if it was the universal usage in the dajv
of Ignatius or Justin Martyr, it was so also in the days of
St. John (and so before). For the churches were then so&r
dispersed over the world, that it would have taken vp much
time to have had councils and meetings or any other means
for agreement on such things.
And it is utterly improbable that there would have been
no dissenters; for, 1. Did no Christians in the world so
near to the apostles' days make any scruple of ^nperstitioa,
or of such an addition to Divine institutions ? 2. Was there
no country, nor no persons whose interest would not better
suit with another day, or an uncertain day, or at least their
opinions ? when we find it now so hard a matter to bring
men in one country, to be all of one opinion. 3. And there
was then no magistrates to force them to such an union ; and
therefore it must be voluntary. 4. And they had in the
second age such pastors a^ the apostles themselves had
ordained, and as had conversed with them, and been trained
up by them, and knew their mind, and cannot soberly be
thought likely to consent all on a sudden to such a new in**
stitution, without and contrary to the apostles' sense and .
practice. 6. Yea, they had jet ministers that had that ex-
traordinary spirit which was given by the laying on of the
apostles' hands : For if the aged apostles ordained young
men, it is to be supposed that most of those young men
(such as Timothy), overlived them. 6. Yea, and the ordi-
nary Christians in those times had those extraordinary gifts
by the laying on of the aipo^tlea* hands, as appeareth evi-
OP THE lordVday. 407
dendy in the esse of Samaria, ( AoU viii,) and of the Conn-
diianSf (1 Cor. xii. and xiv,) and of the Qalatians. (Oal. iii.
1*-^) And it is not to be snspected thai all these inspired
ttinistera and people would consent to a superstitious inno-
fatioB, without and against the apostles' minds.
2. niefefore this history is a full proof, that these things
were done by the consent and appointment of the apostles.
'¥oT, L As is said, the inspired persons and churches could
lol 80 suddenly be brought to forsake them universally in
saeh a case. 2. The churches had all so high an esteem of
Uie apostles, that they took their authority for the highest,
and tb^r judgment for infallible, and therefore received their
vritingB as canonical and Divine. 3. The churches pro-
faiflod to observe the Lord's-day as an apostolical ordinance,
and they cannot be all supposed to have conspired in a lie,
y«a« to have belied the Holy Ghost. 4. The apostles them-
selves would have controlled this course, if it had not been
by their own appointment. For I have proved that the usage
was in their own days. And they were not so careless of
the preservation of Christ's ordinances and churches, as to
let such things be done, without contradiction ; when it is
known how Paul strove to resist and retrench all the cor-
mptions of church*order in the churches to which he wrote.
If the apostles silently connived at such corruptions, how
could we rest on their authority ? Especially the apostle John
ia an. 99, would rather have written against it as the super-
stition of usurpers (as he checked Diotrephes for contempt
of him), than have said that he was in the Spirit on the
Lord's-day when he saw Christ, and received his revelation
and message to the churches. 6. And if the churches had
taken up this practice universally without the apostles^ it is
utterly improbable that no church writer would have com-
mitted to memory either that one church that begun the cus-
tom, or the council or means used for a sudden confederacy
therein. If it had begun with some one church, it would
have been long before the rest would have been brought to
an agreeing consent. It was many hundred years before they
all agreed of the time of Easter ; and it was not till the middle
of Chrysostom's time (for he saith it was but ten years ago,
when he wrote it) that they agreed of the time of Christ's
nativity.
But if it had been done by confederacy at oxvc^,\\\^ \wqJC\qw,
406 THE DlVlNfi APPOINTM£NT
the council called about it, the debates, andthe diasehterij
and resistances would all have been matter of fact, so
notable, as would have found a place in some author or
church-history ; whereas there is not a syllable of any such
thing ; either of council, letter, messenger, debate, resistr
ance, &c. Therefore it is evident, that the thing was. done
by the; apostles.
Prop. 12. ' They that will deny the validity of this his-
torical evidence, do by consequence betray the Christian
faith, or give away or deny the necessary means of proving
the truth of it, and of many great particulars of religion/
I suppose that in my book, called, " The Reasons of
the Christian Religion," 1 have proved that Christianity is
proved true, by the SPIRIT, as the great witness of Christ,
and of the Christian verity ; but I have proved withal, the
necessity and certainty of historical means, to bring the
matters of fact to our notice, as sense itself did bring them
to the notice of the first receivers. For instance :
1. Without such historical evidence and certainty, we
cannot be certain what books of Scripture are truly canoni-
cal and of Divine authority, and what not. This Protes-
tants gi-ant to Papists in the controversy of tradition. Though
the canon be itself complete, and tradition is no supplement
to make up the Scriptures, as if they were, ' in suo genere,'
imperfect ;^yet it is commonly granted that our fathers' and
teachers' tradition is the hand to deliver us this perfect rule,
and to tell us what parts make up the canon.
If any say that the books do prove themselves to be
canonical or Divine, I answer, 1. Whatman alive could tell
without historical proof that the Canticles, or Esther, are
canonical? yea, or Ecclesiastes, or the Proverbs, and not
the books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus ?
2. How can any man know that the Scripture-histories
are canonical ? The suitableness of them to a holy soul, will
do much to confirm one that is already holy, of the truth of
the doctrines. But if the Spirit within us assure us imme-
diately of the truth of the history, it must be by inspiration
and revelation, which no Christians have, that ever I was
yet acquainted with. For instance, that the books of Chro-
nicles are canonical, or the book of Esther, or the books of
the Kings, or Samuel, or Judges. And how much doth the
doctrine of Christianity Append ou xXv^Vv^Va^x^ 'V k% vi^ ^Xva
OF TUfi lord's-day. ^ 400
creation, of the Israelites' bondage and deliveranoe, and the
giving of the law, and Moses' miracles, and of chronology,
and Christ's genealogy; and of the iiistory of Christ's own
nativity, miracles and life ; and the history of the apostles
afterwards ? To say, that the very history so far proveth its
own truth, as that without subsequent history we can be snte
of it, and must be, is to reduce all Christ's church of right
believei-s into a narrow room ; when I never knew the man
(as far as I could perceive) did know the history to be Divine
by its proper evidence, without tradition, and subsequent
history.
3. And how can any man know the ceremonial law to be
Divine, by its proper evidence alone ? Who is he that read*
eth over Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, that will say that
without knowing by history that this is a Divine record, he
Qonld have certainly perceived by the book itself, that all
these were indeed Divine institutions or laws ?
4. And how can any mere positive institutions of the
New Testament be known ' proprio lumine,' by their own
evidence to be Divine ? As the institution of sacraments,
officers, orders, &c. What is there in them that can infalli-
bly prove it to us ?
5. And how can any prophecies be known by their own
evidence to be Divine (till they are fulfilled, and that shall
prove it)?
I know that the whole frame together of the Christian re-
ligion hath its sufficient evidence, but we must not be guilty
of a peevish rejecting it. The moral part hath its witness with-
in us, in that state of holiness which it imprintethonthe soul;
and the rest are witnessed to, or proved partly by that and
partly by miracles, and those and the records by historical
evidence. But when God hath made many things necessary
to the full evidence, and wranglers through partiality and
contention against each other, will some throw away one
part, and some another, they will all prove destroyers of the
faith (as all dividers be). If the Papist will say, it is tiradi-
tion, and not inherent evidence ; or if others will say, that it
is inherent evidence alone, and not history or tradition, where
God hath made both needful hereunto, both will be found
injurious to the faith.
II. Without this historical evidence, vi^*«c«limvo\. y^^n^
410 THB DIVINU APPOINTMBN^T
that any of the books of Soripture are not maimed or de-
praved. That they oome to our hands as the apostles and
evangelists wrote them, uncorrupted. It is certain by his-
tory, that many heretics did deprave and corrupt them> and
would have obtruded those copies or corruptions oa the
chdrches* And how we shall certainly prove that they did
not prevail, or that their copies are false, and ours are true, 1
know not without the help of history. Mahomet and hi«
followers (more numerous than the Christians) pretend that
Mahomet's name was in the Gospel of John as the Paraclete
or Comforter promised by Christ, and that the Christians
have blotted it out, emd altered the writings of the Gospel.
And how shall we disprove them but by historical evidence?
As the Arians and Sooinians pretend that we have added,
1 John V. 7, for the Trinity, so others say of other texts ;
and how shall we confute Uiem without historical evidence?
III. Therefore we cannot make good the authority of any
one single verse or text of Scripture which we shall allegCi
without historical evidence. Because we are not certain of i
I
that particular text, (or words,) whether it have been altered,
or added, or corrupted, by the fraud of heretics, or the par*
tiality of some Christians, or the oversight of scribes | for
if a custom of setting apart one day weekly, even the first,
for public worship, might creep into all the churches in the
world, and no man know how, nor when ; much more might
one, or a few corrupt copies, become the exemplar of those
that follow. For, what day all the churches meet, men,
women, and children know ; learned and unlearned know ;
the orthodox and heretics know ; and they so know, as that
they cannot choose but know. But the alterations of a text,
may be unknown to all save the learned, and the observing,
diligent part of the learned only, and those that they tell it
to. And besides Origen (called a heretic) and Jerome, alas !
how few of the fathers vr'ete able and diligent examiners of
such things ? Therefore in the case of various readings
(such as Ludovicus Capellus treats of in his '* Critica Sacra,*^
contradicted in many things by bishop Usher and others,)P
who are those divines that have hitherto appealed either tc^
the Spirit, or to the proper light ofthe words, for a decision'^
Who is it that doth not presently fly to historical evidence "^
And what that cannot deletxxkvue, we all confess to be uncei^
OF TH£ LORD's-DAY. 41 1
iaiiu And if copies and history had delivered to ii6 as vari-
ous readings of every text, as they have done of some^ every
text woold have remained uncertain to ub»
Let none say^ that this leaveth the Christian religion or
the Scriptures uncertain : 1. Christian rdigion, that is, the
material parts of the Scripture^ on which our salvation lieth,
hath tsfuch fiiUer evidence, than each particular text or
canonical book hath ; and we need not regard the perverse
zeal for the Scriptures of those men that would make all our
Christianity as uncertain, as the authority of a particular
text or book is. And dierefore God in mercy hath so ordered
it, that a thousand textd may be uncertain to us, or not
understood (no not by any or many divines,) and yet the
Christian fieiith be not at all shaken, or ever the more uncer-
tain for this : When as he that understandeth not, or believeth
not every essential article of the faith, is no Christian. 2.
And those books and texts of Scripture, are fully certain by
the subservient help of history and usage, which would be
uncertain without them. Therefore it is the act of an enemy
of the Scriptures, to cast away and dispute against that his-
tory which is necessary to our knowledge of its certainty,
and afterwards to plead, that they who take in those neces-
sary helps, do make it uncertain : even as if they should go
about to prove that all writings are uncertain, and therefore
that they make Christ's doctrine uncertain, who rest upon
the credit of writings, that is, the Sacred Scriptures.
IV. Without historical notice, how should we know that
these books were written by any of the same men that bear
their names ; as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter,
8co« Especially when the heretics did put forth the Gospel
4)f Thomas, Nicodemus, the Itinerary of Peter, and many
hooks under venerable names ? Or, when the name of the
author is not notified to all Christians certainly, either by
Ae Spirit within us, or by the matter? And though our
salvation depend not on the notice of the penman^ yet it is
of great moment in the matter of faith.
¥• And how should we be certain that no other sacred
b(K)ks are lost, the knowledge of which would tell us of that
which these contain not, and would help us to the better
understanding of these ? I know that a ' priori' we may
argue from God's goodness, that he w\\\ not ^o ?oY«.;5>k^ X^-s*
412 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
church ; as a Jew might haye done before Christ's inoama*
tion, that the Gospel should be written, because it is best
for the world or church. But when we consider how much
of the world and church, God hath forsaken, since the crea-
tion, and how dark we ate in such prognostics, and how little
we know what the church's sins may provoke God to^ we
should be less confident of such reasonings».than we are of
historical evidence, which tells us ' de facto,* what God hath
done. So much of the use of the history, as to the cause of
the Scriptures themselves.
Next you may observe that the denial of the certainty of
human history, and usage, doth disadvantage Christianity
in many great particular concernments. As, I. Without it
we should not fully know whether ' de facto' the church and
ministry died, or almost died with the apostles ? And
whether there have been any true churches since then, till
our own days ? Christ's promise indeed tells us much ; but
if we hjad no history, of the performance of it we should be
ready to doubt that it .might be yet unperformed ; as far as
the promise to Adam, (Gen. iii. 15,) and to Abraham, C' In
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed/') were
till the coming of Christ. Nor could we easily confute the
jEloman or any heretical usurpation, which would pretend
possession since the apostles' days, and that all that are
since gone to heaven, have gone thither by their way, and
not by ours.
11. Nor could we much better tell ' de facto,' whether
baptism have been administered in the form appointed by
Christ, ** In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost?" Indeed we may well and truly argue a ' priori/
Christ commanded it, ergo the apostles obeyed him : But,
1. That argument would hold good as to none or few but the
apostles : And, 2. It would as to them be, though true, yet
much more dark than now it is; because, 1. We read that
Peter disobeyed his command, in . Gal. ii. And, 2. That
after he had commanded them to preach the Gospel to every
creature, and all the world, Peter scrupled still going to the
Gentiles. (Acts x.) And, 3. That when he said to them,
" Pray thus. Our Father," &c. yet we never read that they
after used that form of words; so when he said to them.
Baptize in the name of 1\\^ Father," &c. yet the Scrip-
##
OF THE LORD's-DAY. 413
ture never mentioneth that they or any other person, ever
used that form of words. But yet usage and history assureth
us that they did.
III. Nor have we any fuller Scripture^proof, that the
apostles used to require of those that were to be baptized
any more than a general profession of the substance of the
Christian faith, in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost ; or of the ancient use of the Christian creed, either
in the words now used, or any of the same importance.
From whence many would infer, that any one is to be bap-
tized, who will but say that, ** I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God/* with the eunuch, (Acts viii. 37,) or that
Christ is come in the flesh. (1 John iv. 2, 3.)
But historical evidence assureth us, that it was usual in
those times, to require of men a more explicit understand-
ing profession of the Christian faith before they were ad-
mitted to baptism ; and that they had a summary or symbol,
fitted to that use, commonly called the Apostles' Creed ; at
least as to the constant tenor of the matter, though some
words might be left to the speaker's will, and some little
subordinate articles may be since added. And that it was
long after usual to keep men in the state of catechised per-
sons, till they understood that creed. And it is in itself
exceeding probable, that though among the intelligent Jews,
who had long expected the Messiah, the apostles did bap-
tize thousands in a day ; (Acts ii ;) yet where the miraculous
communication of the Spirit did not antecede (as it did Acts
X,) they would make poor heathens who had been bred in
ignorance, to understand what they did first, and would re-
quire of them an understanding profession of their belief in
God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; which could not
possibly contain much less than the * Symbolum fidei,' the
apostles' creed.
IV. Nor have we any Scripture-proof, (except by inferring
obedience from the precept) that ever the Lord's-prayer was
us^d in words, after Christ commanded or delivered it:
whence some infer, that it should not be so used. But church
history putteth that past doubt. Other such instances I
pretermit.
I think now that I have fully proved to sober, considerate
Christians, that the matter of fact (that the Lord's- day was
414 THE DIVINR APPOINTMENT
a]^inted by the apostles pecuHavly for chtirck wotaUp) it
certain to us by historical evidence, added to the his*'
torical intimations in Scripture, as a full exposition and
confirmatiosi of it : and that this is a proof, that no Christian
can deny without insofferable injury to the Scriptufes and
the Cbristiaa cause.
CHAPTER VI.
Prop. 5. This Act of the Apostles* appoitUing the tAntTs-day
for Christian Worship, was done by the special Inspiration or
Guidance of the Holy Ghost.
This is proved, 1. Because it is one of those acta or works
of their olBce, for which the Holy Ghost was promised
them.
2. Because that such-like or smaller things a^re by them
ascribed to the Holy Ghost, (Acts xv. 28,) " It seemed good
to the Holy Ghost and us,** when they did but declare an
antecedent duty, and decide a controversy thereabont. See
also. Acts iv. 8 ; v. 3 ; vi. 3 ; vii. 65 ; xiii. 2. 4 ; xvi. 6, 7 ;
XX. 23. 28; xxi. 11 ; 2 Tim. i. 14; Jud. xx; Acts xi. 12. 28 :
xix. 21 ; XX. 22 ; 1 Cor. v. 3, 4 ; xir. 2. 16, 16; and yii. 40.
When Paul doth but counsel to a single life, he ascribeth it
to the Spirit of God.
3. And if any will presume to say, that men properly en-
dued with the Spirit, for the works of their commission,
did notwithstanding do such great things as this, without
the conduct of that Spirit, they may by the same way of
proceeding pretend it to be as uncertain, of every particular
book and chapter in the New Testament, whether or no
they wrote it by the Spirit : For if it be a sound inference
^They had the promise and gift of the Spirit, that they
might infallibly leave in writing to the churches, the doe^
trines and precepts of Christ : ergo, whatever they have left
in writing to the churches, as the doctrine and precepts of
Christ, is infallibly done by the guidance of that Spirit.*
Then it will be as good an inference ' They had the promise
and gift of the Spirit, that they might infallibly settle
church-orders for all the churches universally : ergo. What-
OP THE lord's day. 415
ever ohurch*orders they settled for all the churches univer-
sally, they settled them by the iafallible guidance of that
Spirit/
But thia few Christiaas will deny, except some Papists,
who would bring down apostolical constitutions to a lower
rank and rate, that the Pope and General Council may be
capable of laying claim to the like themselves ; and so may
make as many more laws for the church as they please, and
pretend such an authority for it as the apostles did for
theirs. By which pretence many would make too little
distinction between God's laws given by his Spirit, and the
laws af a pope and popish council, and call them all but
' The laws of the church/ Whereas there is no universal
head of the church but Christ, who hath reserved universal
legislation to himself alone, to be performed by himself
personally, and by his advocate, the Holy Ghost, in his au-*
thorised and infallibly inspired apostles, who were the pro^
mulgators and recorders of them; all following pastors,
being but (as the Jewish priests were to Moses and the pro-
phets) the preservers, the expositors, and the appliers of
the law.
CHAPTER VII.
QuBST. 2. Whether the Seventh-day-Sabbath should be still
kept by Christians, as of Divine Obligation? Neg.
I SHALL here premise. That as some superstition is less dan-
gerous than profaneness (though it be troublesome, and
have ill consequents), so the error of them who keep both
days, as of Divine appointment, is much less dangerous
than theirs that keep none : yea, and less dangerous, I
think, than theirs who reject the Lord's-day, and keep the
seventh day only. Because these latter are guilty of two
sins, the rejecting of the right day, and the keeping of the
wrong ; but the other are guilty but of one, the keeping of
the wrong day. Besides, that if it were not done, witli a
superstitious conceit (that it is God's law) in some cases a
day may be voluntarily set apart for holy duties, as days of
thanksgiving and humiliation now are.
But yet, though the rejecting of the Lord's-day be the
416 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
greater fault (and I have no uncharitable censures of them
that through weakness keep both days)» I mus|; conclcide it
as the truth, that We are not obliged to the observation of
the Saturday, or Seventh-day as a Sabbath, or separated day
of holy worship.
Arg. I. That day's observations which we are not obliged
to, either by the law of nature, the positive law given to
Adam, the positive law given to Noah, the law of Moses, or
the law of Christ incarnate, we are not obliged to by. any
law of God (as distinct from human laws) ; but such is the
observation of the Seventh-day-^Sabbath ; therefore jve are
not obliged to the observation of it by any law of God.
The minor I must prove by parts (for I tliink node will
deny the sufficient enumeration in the minor).
And, 1. That the law of nature bindeth us not to tbe
Seventh day, or any one day of the seven more than other,
appeareth, I. In the nature and reason of the thing; there
is nothinor in nature to evidence it to us to be God's will.
2. By every Christian's experience : no man findeth himself
convinced of any such thing by mere nature. 3. By all the
world's experience: no man can say that a man. of that
opinion can bring any cogent evidence or argument from
nature alone to convince another, that the Seventh day must
be the Sabbath. Nor is it any where received as a law of
nature, but only as a tradition among some few heathens,
and as a law positive by the Jews, and some few Christians.
I am not solicitous to prosecute this argument any further ;
because I can consent that all they take the Seventh day for
the Sabbath, who can prove it to be so by mere natural evi-
dence, which will not be done.
11. That the positive law made to Adam (before or after
the fall), or to Noah, bindeth not us to keep the Seventh
day as a Sabbath, is proved.
1. Because we are under a more perfect subsequent law ;
which being in force, the former more imperfect ceaseth.
As the force of the promise of the incarnation of Christ is
ceased by his incarnation, and so is the precept which
bound men to believe that he should ' de future' be incar-
nate ; and the law of sacrificing (which Abel doubtless re-
ceived from Adam, though one of late would make it to be
but mil worship); so also is the Sabbath-day, as giving
place to the day in wVivch out ted^mijtion is primarily com-
OP THE lord's-day. 417
memoi^atecl, as the imperfect is done away when that which
is more perfect cometh.
2. Because that the law of Christ containeth an express
i*evocation of the Seventh-day Sabbath, as shall be shewn
anon.
3. Because God never required two days in the seven to
be kept as holy ; therefore the first day being proved to be
of Divine institution, the cessation of the seventh is thereby
proved : for to keep two days" is contrary to the command
which they themselves do build upon, which obligeth us to
sanctify a Sabbath, and labour six days.
4. And when it is not probable that most or many in-
fidels are bound to Adam's day, for want of notice (at least) ;
for no law can bind without promulgation (though I now
pass by the question, how far a promulgation of a positive
law to our first parents may be said to bind their posterity,
that have no intermediate notice). It seemeth less probable
that Christians should be bound by it, who have a more
perfect law promulgated to them.
5. Nor is it probable that Christ and his apostles, and
all the following pastors of the churches, would have passed
by this positive law to Adam without any mention of it, if
our universal obligation had been thence to be collected.
Nay, I never yet heard a Sabbatarian plead this law, any
otherwise than as supposed to be implied or exemplified
in the fourth commandment.
III. And that the fouth commandment of Moses's law
bindeth us not to the Seventh-day Sabbajth is proved.
1. Because that Moses*s law never bound any to it but
the Jews, and those proselytes that made themselves in-
habitants of their land, or voluntarily subjected themselves
to their policy. For Moses was ruler of none but the Jews,
^or a legislator or deputed officer from God to any other
Nation. The decalogue was but part of the Jewish law, if
Vou consider it not as it is written in nature, but in tables
of stone : and the Jewish law was given as a law to no other
{people but to them. It was a national law, as they were a
peculiar people and holy nation. So that even in Moses's
*^ays it bound no other nations of the worlds Therefore it
Xieeded not any abrogation to the Gentiles, but a declara-
tion that it did not bind them.
VOL. xiii, fi E
418 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
2. The whole law of Moses, foimiJly as 8ueb» U ceiiaad
or abrogated by Christ. I say, A9 such ; beciMiae, matoi
rially, %h^ samq things that lure in that law, may hfi the mat-
ter of the law of nature, and of the law of Christ : of whieb
more anon. That the whole law of Moses as such is abnv
gated, is most clearly provedi 1* By the frequent argnings
of Paul, who ever speaketh of that law as ceased^ without
e3(cepting any part ; and Christ saith# Luke %vi. 16 : The
law afid the prophets were until John^ that is» were the
chief doctrine of the churph till thep. '* The law was given
by Moses, but grace ftnd truth cometh by Jesua Christ.''
(John i. 17.) No Jew wouM have understood thia» if the
word law had not contained the decalogue. ' 80 John vii.
19. 23 ; Apts xv« 5. 24. It was the whole law of Moses,
as such, which by circuo^cision they would have bound men
to* (Gal. v. 3.) The Gentiles are ^aid to ** sin without law,**
even when they broke the law of nature, meaning, without
the law of Mos^s. (Rom. ii. 12> 14 — 16.) In all these fol-
lowing places it is not par( but the whole law of Moses,
which Paul excludeth (which I ever acknowledged to the
Antinomians, though they take me for their too great adver^
sary). Rom. iii. 19—21. 27, 28- 31 ; iv. 13—16; v. 13,20;
vii. 4—8. 16 ; ix. 4. 31, 32 ; x. 6 : Gal. ii. 16. 19. 21 ; iii. 2.
10—13. 19. 21. 24 ; iv. 21 ; v. 3, 4. H. 23 i vi. 13 : Bph. ii-
15: Phil. iii. 6. 9: Heb. vii. 11, 12. 19; ix. 19; x. 28:
1 Cor. ix. 21.
2. More particularly there are eK>me texts which express
the cessation of the decalogue as it was in Moses's law.
*' Not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart
But if the ministration of death written and engraven in
stones was glorious^ so that the children of Israel coujki not
stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance, which was to be done away (or is done a,way).''
(2 Cor. iii. 7.) They that say the glory, and npt the lawi
is here said to be done away, speak against the plain scope
Qf the^ text; for the glory of Moses's face, apd the glorious
ma^ner of deliverance ceased in a few days, which ia not
the cessatioi^ here intended, but as Dr. Hammond speaketb
it, ' That glory aQd that law so glqriously delivered* is
done away.' And this the eleventh verse more fully express-
eth, ** For if that which is dqne away was glorious (or, by
glory), much more ihat viYv\d[v teiftaAxi^XJsv Vs^ ^^^a^ws^ ^r» in
OF THE LOUDVdAY. 419
glory),^ so that as it is not onlj the glory, but the glorious
liaw, Qospel, or Testament which is said to remain^ so it is
not only the glory, but the law which was delirered by
gloiry, which is expressly said to be done away 2 and this is
Uie law which was written in stone. Nothing but partial
violence can evade the force of this text.
" Under it (the Levitical priesthood) the people received
the law— — And the priesthood being changed, there is made
of necessity a change also of the law. For there is verily
a disannulling of the commandment going before, for the
weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made
nothing perfect 5 but the bringing in of a better hope .
But so B^udi wasf Jesus made a surety of a better testa-
ment.'' (Heb. vii. 11, 12. 18. 22.) In all this it is plain that
it is the whole frame of the Mosaical law that is changed,
and the New Testament set up in its stead.
"Neither was the first dedicated without blood; for
when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people ac-
cording to the law," &c. (Heb. ix. 18, 19.) Here the law,
which is before said to be changed, is said to contain every
precept.
And Eph. ri. 15. *^ It is the law of commandments con-
tained in ordinances,*' which Christ abolished in his flesh ;
which cannot be exclusive of the chief part of that law.
Obfecf. * This is the doctrine of the Antinomians, that
the law is abrogated, even the moral law.'
Answ. It is the doctrine of the true Antinomians that
we are under no Divine law, neither of nature nor of
Christ ; but it is the doctrine of Paul and all Christians,
that the Jewish Mosaical law, as such, is abolished.
Object. ' But do not all divines say that the moral law is
of perpetual obligation?*
Answ. Yes; because it is God's law of nature, and also
the law of Christ.
Object. ' But do not most say that t^e decalogue written
in stone, is the moral law, and of perpetual obligation V »
Answ. Yes; for by the word moral they mean natural,
and so take moral, not in the targe sense as it signifieth a law
* de moribus,* as all laws are whatsoever, but in a narrower
sense, as signifying, that which by nature is of universal
and perpetual obligation. So that they mean not that it U
perpetual as it ia Moses^ai law, and writteiv m aloxv^^oxxasNi^ ,
420 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
but as it is moral, that is natural ; and they mean that ma-
terially the decalogue containeth the same law which is the
law of nature, and therefore is materially still in force : but
they still except certain points and circumstances in it, as the
prefatory reason, ** I am the Lord that brought thee out of
the land of Egypt," &c* And especially this of the Seventh-
day Sabbath.
Quest. 1. * How far then are we bound by the deca-
logue V
Answ. 1. As it is the law of nature: 2. As it is owned
by Christ, and made part of his law. Therefore no more of
it bindeth directly, than we can prove to be either the law
of nature, or the law of Christ. 3. As it was once a law of
God to the Jews, and was given them upon a reason. com-
mon to them with us, or all mankind, we must still judge
that it was once a Divine determination of what is most
meet, and an exposition of a law of nature, and therefore
consequentially, and as that which intimateth by what God
once commanded, what we should take for his will, and^is
most meet, it obligeth still. And so when the law of na-
ture forbiddeth incest, or too near marriages, and God once
told the Jews what degrees were to be accounted too near,
this being once a law to them directly, is a doctrine and
exposition of the law of nature still to us ; and so is conse-
quently a law, by parity of reason. And so we shall shew
anon that it is by the fourth commandment.
IV. The law of Christ bindeth us not to the observation
of the Seventh-day Sabbath. Proved.
1. Because it is proved that Christ abrogated Moses's
law, as such, and it is no where proved that he reassumed
this, as a part of his own law. For it is no part of the law
of nature (as is proved) which we confess now to be part of
his law.
Object. ' Christ saith, that he came not to destroy the
law and the prophets, but to fulfil them, and that a jot or
tittle shall not pass till all be fulfilled.'
Answ, ^' He is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth." (Rom. x. 4.) " The law was a
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ/' (Gal. iii* 24.) He hath
therefore fulfilled the law according to his word, by his in-
carnation, life, death, and resurrection* It is passed awaji
bat not unfulfilled ; and txiMiXYm^ \\.» \^ \icit destroying it.
OF THE LORD's-DAY. 421
The ends of it are all attained by him : 2. And though
having attained its end, it ceaseth formally, as Moses's
law; yet materially, all that is of natural obligation con-
tinueth under another form ; that is, as part of his perfect
law. Therefore as our childish knowledge is said, as know-
ledge, to be increased, and not done away, when we come
to maturity ; but as childish, to be done away ; so the
Mosaical Jewish law, as God's law in general, is perfected
by the cessation of the parts which were fitted to the state
of bondage, and by addition of more perfect parts (the na-
tural part of it is made a part of a better covenant or frame) :
but yet as Mosaical and imperfect, it is abolished.
Briefly this much sufficeth for the answer of all the alle-
gations, by which any would prove the continuation of
Moses's law, or any part of it formally as such. I only add,
That all Moses's law, even in the decalogue was political,
even God's law for the government of that particular theo-
cratical policy, as a political body. Therefore when the
kingdom or policy ceased, the law as political could not
continue.
2. It is proved that Christ by his Spirit in his apostles
did institute another day. And seeing the Spirit was given
them to bring his words to remembrance, and to enable
them to teach the churches all things whatsoever he com-
manded them, it is most probable that this was at first one
of Christ's own personal precepts*
3. And to put all out of doubt, that neither the law of
nature, nor any positive law, to Adam, Noah, or Moses, or
by Christ, doth oblige us to the Seventh-day Sabbath, it is
expressly repealed by the Holy Ghost, " Let no man there-
fore judge you in meats or in drink, or in respect of an
holy-day (or feast)» or of the new moon, or of the Sabbaths,
which are a shadow of things to come ; but the body is of
Christ." (Col. ii. 16.) I know many of late say, that by
Sabbath here, is not meant the weekly Sabbath, but only
other holy days, as monthly or jubilee rests: But, !• This
is to limit without any proof from the word of God. When
Crod speaks of Sabbaths in general, without exception,
^hat is man that he should put in exceptions without any
proof of authority from God ? By such boldness we may
pervert all his laws. Read Dr. Young upon this text% 2*
422 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
Yea^ when it was the weekly Sabbath, which then was prin-
cipally known by the name of a Sabbath, aboye all other
festivals whatsoever, it is yet greater boldness without proof
to exclude the principal part, from whence the rest did re-
ceive the name. 3. Besides the feasts and new moons be-
ing here named as distinct from the Sabbath, are like to in«
elude so much of the other separated days, as wilLleave it
still more unmeet to exclude the weekly Sabbath in the
explication of that word Sabbaths when so many feasts are
first distinguished : wp rai ' inquit Orotius, hie sunt Azyma,
dies omer, scenopegia, dies iXaoyis.
Object. ' But the Sabbath mentioned in the decfdogue
could not be included.' *
Answ. This is spoken without proof, and the contrary is
before proved.
Object, * By this you will make the Christian Sabbath
also to be excluded. Is not the Lord's-day a Sabbath?*
Amw* I am here to speak but of the name; of which I
say, that the common sense of the word Sabbath was, a
day so appointed to rest, as that the bodily rest of it, was a
primary part of its observation, to be kept for. itself; and
such the Jewish Sabbaths were. Though spiritual worship
was then also commanded, yet the corporal rest was more
expressly or frequently urged in the law, and this not only
subordinately as an advantage to the spiritual worship, but
for itself, as an immediate and most visible and notable part
of sabbatizing. Even as other ceremonies under the law
were commanded, not only as doctrinal types of things
spiritual, but as external acts of ceremonious operous obe-
dience suited to the Jews' minority, which is after called tbe
" yoke which they and their fathers were unable to bear.''
(Acts 1&.) Whereas the Lord's-day is appointed but ass
seasonable time subservient to the spiritual work of the
day ; and the bodily rest, not required as primary obedience
for itself, but only for the spiritual work sake : and there-
fore no bodily labour is Jiow unlawful^ but such as is a hin-
drance to the spiritual work of the day (or accidentally s
scandal and temptation to others), whereas the breach of
the outward rest of the Jews' Sabbath, was a sin directly of
itself, without hindrance of, or respect to the spiritual
iv^orsfaip. So that the first notion and sense of a Sabbath
OP THE lord's-day. 423
/
in those days being (in common use) a day of such cere-
monial corporal rest, as the Jewish Sa,bbath was, the Lord's-
day is never in Scripture called by that name ; but the pro-
per name is. The Lord^s-day. And the ancient churches
called it constantly by that name, and never called it the
Sabbath, but when they spttke analogically by allusion to
the Jews' Sabbath ; even as they called the holy table, the
altar, and the bread and wine, the sacrifice. Therefore it is
plain, that Paul is to be understood of all proper Sabbaths,
iind not of the Lord's-day, which was then, and long after,
distinguished from the Sabbaths.
And this ceremonial sabbatizing of the Jews, was so
strict, that the ceremoniousness made them the scorn of the
heathens, as appeareth by the derisions of Horat. lib. i. sat.
9 ; Persius, sat. 5 ; Juvenal, sat. 6 ; Martial, lib. iv., and
others : whereas they derided not the Christians for the
ceremonious rest, but for their worship on that day. The
Lord's-day being not called a Sabbath in the old sense,
then only in use, but distinguished from the Sabbath, can-
not be meant by the apostle in his exclusion of the Sabbath.
Object, * But the apostles then met in the synagogue
with the Jews on the Sabbaths; therefore it is not those
days that he meaneth here.' (Col. ii. 16.)
Ansa). L You might as well say. That therefore he is not
for the cessation of the Jewish manner of worship, or com-
munion with them in it, because he met with them.
2. And yoti may as well say, that he was for the con-
tinuance of circumcii^ioil and purification, because he puri-
fied himself and circumcised Timothy.
3. Or that he was for the continuance of their other
feasts, in which also he refused not to join with them.
4. But Paul did not keep their Sabbaths formally as
-Sabbaths, but only took the advantage of their assemblies,
to teach, them and convince them ; and to keep an interest
in theovf atid not scandalize thetu by ^n unseasonable viola-
tion fttifd contradiction.
& And you must npte also, that the text saith not, ' Ob-
serve not Sabbath-days,' but " Let no man judge you j" that
Vii let iKme take it for your i^in, that you observe them not ;
»dt do you receive any s,uch doctrine of the necessity of
keeping the law of Moses. The case seemeth like tlv^t c^^
•'tbiiigrtf strangled and blood," which wete to Aae ?o\\iC)\\:ifc
424 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
among the Jews while they were offensive, and the use of
them hindered their conversion.
Object. * But the ancient Christians did observe both days.'
Answ. 1. In the first ages they did as the apostles did ;
that is, 1. They observed no day strictly, as a Sabbath in
the notion then in use. 2. They, observed the Lord'srday,
as a day set apart by the Holy Ghost for Christian worship.
3. They so far observed the Jews' Sabbath materially^ as to
avoid their scandal, and to take opportunity to win them.
2. But those that lived far from all Jews, and those that
lived after the law, was sufficiently taken down, did keep
but one day, even the Lord*s-day as separated to holy uses :
except some Christians, who differed from the rest, as the
followers of Papias did in the Millenary point.
3. And note that even these dissenters, did still make
no question of keeping the Lord's-day, which sheweth that
it was on foot from the times of the apostles. So Ignatius
(whoever it was, and whenever he wrote) saith that * After
the Sabbath we keep the Lord's-day.' ' And Pseudo Cle-
mens, Can. 33, saith, ' Servants work five days, but on the
Sabbath and Lord's-day, they keep holy day in the church,
for the doctrine (or learning) of godliness.*
The text of Gal. iv. 10. is of the same sense with Col. ii.
16. against the Jews' Sabbath, and therefore needeth no
other defence.
And I would have you consider, whether as Christ's re-
surrection was the foundation of the Lord's-day, so Christ's
lying dead and buried in a grave on the Seventh -day Sab-
bath, was not a fundamental abrogation of it: I say, not the
actual and plenary abrogation ; for it was the command of
Christ by his word," Spirit, or both, to the apostles before
proved, which fully made the change : But as the resurrec-
tion was the ground of the new day, so his burial seemeth
to intimate, that the day with all the Jewish law, which it
was the symbolical profession of, lay dead and buried with
him. Sure I am that he saith, "when the Bridegroom is
taken from them, then shall they fast and mourn ; but he
was most notably taken from them, when he lay dead ia
the grave : and if they must fast and mourn that day, they
could not keep it as a Sabbath, which was a day of joy.
Therefore as by death he overcame him that had the power
of death, (Heb. ii. \4,^ axvd ^^\v^ ivai\fedi v^sY^V^xA-^^vtvn^of
OF TH£ LORD's-DAY. 425
ordinances to his cross ; so he buried the Sabbath in* his
grave, by lying buried on that day.
And therefore the Western churches, who had fewer
Jews among them, did fast on the Sabbath-day, to shew
the change that Christ's burial intimated: though the
Eastern churches did not, lest they should offend the Jews.
And that the ancient Christians were not for sabbatiz-
ing on the Seventh day, is visible in the writings of most,
save the Eastern ones before mentioned. Tertull. Cont.
Marcion. lib. i. cap* 20, and Chrysost. Theodoret, Primasius,
&c. on Gal. iv. expound that text, as that by days is meant
the Jewish Sabbath,* and by months, the new moons, &c.
Cyprian 69. Epist. ad Hidum saith, that the Eighth day
is to Christians, what the Sabbath was to the Jews, and
called the Sabbath, the Image of the Lord's*day. Athana-
sius de Sab. et Circumcis. is full and plain on it. See Ter*
tullian Advers. Judae. cap. 4 ; Ambros. in Eph. 2 ; August.
Ep. 118; Chrysost. in Gal. 1; andHom. 12. ad pop. Hilary,
before cited ; Prolog, in Psalm ; Origen Horn. 23. in Num ;
Item Tertull. de Idol. cap. 14 ; Epiphan. lib. i. Num. 30 ;
noting the Nazarsei and Ebioneei heretics, that they kept
the Jews' Sabbath. In a word, the Council of Loadicsea
doth anathematize them that did Judaize by forbearing
their labours on the Sabbath or Seventh day. And as Sozo*
men tells us. That at Alexandria and Rome they used no
assemblies on the Sabbath, so where they did, in most
churches they communicated not. in the sacrament.
Yea, that Ignatius himself (true or false), who saith as
aforecited, * After the Sabbath let every lover of Christ
celebrate the Lord's-day,' doth yet in the same epistle (ad
Magnes.) before say, * Old things are passed away, behold
all things are made new : for if we live after the Jewish law,
and the circumcision of the flesh, we deny that we have re-
ceived grace Let us not therefore keep the Sabbath (or
sabbatize) Jewishly, as delighting in idleness (or rest from
labour). For he that will not labour, let him not eat. In
the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread.* I confess
I take the cited texts to have been added since the body
of the epistle was written ; but though the writer savour of
the Eastern custom, yet he sheweth they did not sabbatize
on the account of the fourth commandment, or ^\ii^^c»%^^
continuation of the Jewish Sabba\\v, a» ^ S^i^c^>^>^v^AQ^^
426 THli: OIVIMB APPOINTMENT
bodily labour was dtrictly forbidden in the fourth cool-
mandment.
Dionysiua Alexandr. hath an epistle to Basilides, a
bishop^ on the question. When the Sabbath*-fast mMt efid^
and the observation of the Lord's-day begin. (Biblioth Patr.
Gr»c. Lat« voL i. p. 306.) In which he is against tbete
that end their fast too soon* And plainly intimateth that the
Seventh day was to be kept, but as a preparatory fast (being.
the day that Christ lay in the graTe)^ and not as a Sabbath,
or as the Lord's-^day.
I cite not any of these, as a human authority to be Mft
against the authority of the fourth commandment ; but ati
the certain history of the change of the day which the apos-
tles made.
Quest. * How far then is the fourth cdmmandment moral?
You seem to subvert the old foundation^ which most othen
build the LordVday upon*
Aniw* Let us not entangle ourselves with the ambigui-
ties of the word morale which most properly signifieth ethi-
cal, as distinct from physical, &c. By moral here is meant
that which is (on what ground soever) of perpetual or con-
tinual obligation : and so it is all one as to ask how far it is
still obligatory or in force ; to which I answer,
L It is a part of the law of nature, that God be solemnly
worshipped, in families and in holy assemblies.
2. It is a part of the law of nature, that where greater
things do not forbid it, a stated time be appointed for his
service, and that it be not left at randum to every man's wilL
3. It is of the law of nature, that where greater matters
do not hinder it, this day be one and the same in the same
countries ; yea, if it may be, through the world.-
4«r It is of the law of nature, that this day be not so r&rely
as to hinder the ends of the day, nor yet so frequently as to
deprive us of opportunity for our necessary corporal labour*
6. It is of the law of nature, that the holy duties of this
day be not hindered by any corporal work, or fleshly pie
sure, or any unnecessary thing which contradieteth th^^
holy ends of the day.
6. It is of the law of nature, that rulers, and in speciaL=^
masters of families, do take care that their inferiors thn
observe it.
•In all these points t\ie toutlVi c.omm^dik<^m%tA.\3j^\tk.^ but
OP THE LORD'8-DaY. 437
trattseript of the law of nature, which wi3 can yet prore
from the nature or the reason of the thing, the matter of it
continueth (not as Jewish, but) as natural*
7. Besides all this, when no man of himself could tell,
whether one day in six, or seven, or eight, were his duty to
observe, God hath come in, and, L By doctrine or history
told us, that he '* made the world in six days, and rested the
seventh." 2. By law; and hath commanded one day in
seven to the Jews ; by which he hath made known conse-
quently to all men, that one day in seven is the fittest pro-
portion of time. And the case being thus determined by
God, by a law to others, doth consequently become a law to
us, because it is the determination of Divine Wisdom ; un-
less it were done upon some reasons in which their condition
differeth from ours. And thus the doctrine and reasons of
an abrogated law, continuing, may induce on us an obliga-
tion to duty. And in this sense the fourth commandment
may be said still to bind us to one day in seven.
But in two points the obligation (even as to the matter)
ceaseth : L We are not bound to the Seventh day, because
God our Redeemer, who is the Lord of the Sabbath„ hath
made a change. 2. We are not bound to a Sabbath in the
old notion, that is, to a day of ceremonial rest for itself re^-^
quilled ; but to a day to be spent in evangelical worship.
And though I am not of their mind who liay, that the
Seventh day is not commanded in the fourth commandment,
but a Sabbath-day only ; yet, I think that it is evident in
the words, that tiie ' Ratio Sabbati,' and the ' Ratio diei
septimi' are distinguishable : and that the Sabbath, as a
Sabbath, is first in the precept, and the particular day is
there but secondarily, and so mutably ; as if God had said^
* I will have a particular day set apart for a holy rest, and
for my worship ; and that day shall be one in seven, and the
^erenth also on which I rested from my wooeks/
And thus I have said as much aa i think needful to sa-
^fy the considerate about the day : Again pro£tosing„ 1«
That I believe that he is in the right that maketh conscience
of the Lord's-day only. 2. But yet 1 will not. break charity
^ith any brother, that shall in tenderness- of conscience
lieep both days ; especially in times of profaneness, when
few will be brought to the true observation of one. 3. BiiJt
I think him that keepeth the Seventh da^ oiiV^ , ^^ '^^'^r
428 THE OIVINE APPOINTMENT
lecteth the Lord's-day, to sin against very evident ligfit,
with many aggravations. 4. But I think him that keepeth
no day (whether professedly, or practising contrary to his
profession ; whether on pretence of avoiding superstition,
or on pretence of keeping every day as a Sabbath) to be &r
the worst of all. I shall now add somewhat to some ap-
pendant questions.
CHAPTER VIII.
Of the Beginning of the Day.
Quest. 1. * When doth the Lord's-day begin?*
Answ. 1. If we can tell when any day beginneth, we may
know when that beginneth. If we cannot, the necessity of
our ignorance, will shorten the trouble of our scruples by
excusing us.
2. Because the Lord's-day is not to be kepi as a Jewish
Sabbath ceremoniously, but the time &nd the rest are here
commanded subserviently for the work sake, therefore we
have not so much reason to be scrupulous about the hours
of beginning and ending, as the Jews had about their Sab-
bath.
3. I think he that judgeth of the beginning and lending
of the day according to the common estimation of the country
where he liveth, will best answer the ends of the institution.
For he will keep still the same proportion of time ; and so
much as is ordinarily allowed on other days for work, he will
^pehd this day in holy works ; and so much in rest as is used
to be spent in rest on other days ; (which may ordinarily
satisfy a well informed conscience.) And if any extraordinary
occasions (as journeying or the like,) require him to doubt
of any hours of the night, whether they be part of the Lord's-
day or not; 1. It will be but his sleeping-time, and not his-
worshipping-time, which he will be in doubt of: And, 2«-
He will avoid all scandal and tempting others to break th
day, if he measure the day by*, the common estimate
Whereas, if the country where he liveth do esteem the da;
to begin at sunsetting, and he suppose it to begin at mid-
night, he may be scandalous by doing that which in th<
common opinion is a vvoValioti o? V)ftfc d^ac^ . \^ \ MJaa^aj^i
OF THE lord's-day. 429
that this short kind of solution, were not the fittest to afford
just quietness to the minds of sober Christians in this point,
I would take the pains to scan the controversy about the true
beginning of days : but lest it more puzzle and perplex, than
edify or resolve and quiet the conscience, I save myself and
the reade^* that trouble*
CHAPTER IX.
Qmst. 2. ' How should the Lord's-day be kept or used V
Answ. The practical directions I have given in another
treatise. I shall-now give you but these generals.
I. The day being separated, or set apart for holy wor-
ship, must accordingly be spent therein. To sanctify it, is
to spend it in holy exercises : how else should it be used
as a holy day ? " I was in the Spirit on the Lord's-day ," saith
St. John, Rev. i. 10.
II. The principal work of the day is, the communion of
Christians in the public exercise of God's worship. It is
principally to be spent in holy assemblies. And this is the
use that the Scripture expressly mentioneth, Acts xx. 7, and
intimateth, 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2 ; and as most expositors think,
John xxi, when the disciples were gathered together with the
door shut,, for fear of the Jews. And all church-history
assureth us« thai in these holy assemblies principally, the
day was spent by the ancient Christians. They spent almost
all the day together.
III. It is not only to be spent in holy exercises, but also
in such special holy exercises as are suitable to the purposes
of the day. That is, it is a day of commemorating the whole
work of our redemption ; but especially the resurrection of
Christ. Therefore it is a day of thanksgiving and praise ;
and the special services of it must be laudatory and joyful
exercises. •
IV. But yet because it is sinners that are called to this
work, who are not yet fully delivered from their sin arid
misery, these praises must be mixed with penitent confes-
sions, and with earnest petitions, and with diligent learning
the will of God.
More particularly, the public exercises of the da.^ %x^«
1. Humble and penitent confessions of sto. %. T!\i^ Swififc^
430 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
ful and fervent prayers of the church. 3. The reading/preach-
ing and hearing of the word of God. 4. The commnnion of
the church in the Lord's -supper. 6. The laudatory exhor-
tations which attend it ; and the singing and speaking of the
praises of out Creator, and Redeemer, and Sanctifier; with
joyful thanksgiving for his wonderful benefits. 6. The sea-
sonable exercise of holy discipline on particular persons^
for comforting the weak, reforming the scandalous, casting
out the obstinately impenitent, and absolving and receiving
the penitent. 7. The pastor's blessing the people in the
name of the Lord, 8. And as an appurtenance in due sea-
son, oblations or contributions for holy and charitable uses,
even for the church and poor, which yet may be put off to
oth^* days, when it is more convenient so to do*
Quest* * But who is it that must be present in all these
exercises I'
Amw. Where there is no church yet called, the whole
day>may be spent in preaching to, and teaching the unceni-
verted infidels : but where there is a church, and no other
persons mixed, the whole exercise of the day must be such
as are fitted to the state of the church. But where there is
a church and other persons (infidels and impenitent ones)
with them, the day must be spent proportionably in exer-
cises suitable to the good of both ; yet so that chuFch-ex-
ereises should be the principal work of the day. And the
ancient laudable practice of the churches was, to preach to
the infidel auditors and catechumens in the morning, on
such subjects as were most suitable to them, and then to
dismiss them, and retain the faithful (or baptized) only ;
and to teach them all the commands of Christ ; to stir them
up to the joyful commemoration of Christ and his resurrec-
tion, and to sing God's praises, and celebrate the Lord's-
supper with the eucharistical acknowledgments and joy.
And they never kept a Lord's-day in the church, without
the Lord's-supper ; in which the bare administration of the
signs was not their whole work ; but all their thanksgiving
and praising exercises, were principally then used, and con*
nexed to the Lord*s-supper : which the liturgies yet extent
do at large express.
And I know no reason but thus it should be still ; or at
least b«t that thi^ course should be the oidinary celebration
00 Ibe day. -
OF THE LORdVdAT. 4^ I
Quest. * But seeing the Sabbath was instituted in the
beginning to commemorate the work of the creation, must
that be laid by now, because of our commemoration of the
work of our redemption V
Answ. No: Our Redeeikier's work is to restore us to
the acknowledgment and love of our Creator. And the
commemoration of our redemption fitteth us to a holy ac-
knowledgment of the Almighty Creator in his works : these
therefore are still to go together ; according to their several
proper places ; even as the Son is the way to the Father,
and we must never separate them in the exercise of our
£aith, obedience, or love. A Christian is a sanctified philo-
sopher : and no man knoweth or acknowledgeth God's works
of creation or providence aright, in their true sense, but he
that seeth God the Creator and Redeemer, the Beginning,
the Governor and the End of all. Other philosophers are^
but as diose children, that play with the book and the let-
ters, but understand not the matter contained in it ; or like
one that teacheth boys ' nitide literas piogere,' to write a
curious hand, while he understands not what he writetb.
Objects * But to spend so much of the day in public as
you speak of, will tire out the minister by speaking so long :
few men are able to endure it.'
Awm. How did the Christians in the primitive churches?
They met in the morning, and often (as far as I can gather)
parted not till night, and when they did go home between
the woriung and evening service, it was but for a little timew
Obf€Ct. ^ Then they made it a fast and not a festival.*
Answ> It was not die use th^& to eat dinners in those hot
countries ; much less three meals a-day, as we do^ now.
Aod they accounted it a sufficient feasting, to eat once^ at
supper; which they did at the first altogether at their
churchnneeting, with the sacrament ; but afterward finding
the inconvenience of that, they feasted at home, and used
oi^ly the sacrament in the church: which change was not
made without the allowance of the apostles ; Paul saying,
'* Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye
the church of God?" (1 Cor. xi. 22.)
I further answer, that the work of the day being done
according to the primitive use, it will be no excessive labour
to the ministers, because, in the celebration of the liOrdV
supper, he is not still in one continued speech, but ha^ Ifte
432 ' THE DIVIDE LIFE.
intermissiou of action, and useth shorter speeches, which
do not so much spend him. And the people bear a con^-
siderable part, to wit, in God's praises, which were spoken
then in their laudatory tone, and are now uttered by their
singing of psalms (which should not be the least part of the
work). And though their manner of singing was not like
ours, in rhymes and tunes melodiously, (as neither were the
Hebrew, Greek, or Latin poems so sung ;) but as most think,
more like to our cathedral singing, or saying ; yet it fol-
loweth not that this is the best way for us, seeing use hath
made our tunes and metre, and way of singing, more meet
for the ends to which we use them, that is, for the cheerful
consent of all the church ; neither should any think that it
is a human, unlawful invention, and a sinful change, to turn
the old way of singing (used in Scripture-times and long
after) into ours ; for the old way of singing was not a Di-
vine institution, but a use ; and several countries had their
severid uses herein : and God commandeth us but to praise
him, and sing psalms, but doth not tell us what metre or
tunes we shall use, or manner of singing, but leaveth this to
the use and convenience of every country : and if our way
and tunes be to us by custom more convenient than those
of other nations in Scripture-times, we have no reason to
forsake them, and return to the old (though yet the old way
is not to be judged a thing forbidden). And we see that
custom hath so far prevailed with us, that many thousand
religious people, do cheerfully sing psalms in the church in
our tunes and way, who cannot endure to sing in the cathe-
dral, or the ancient Scripture or primitive way, nor to use
60 much as the laudatory responses.
3. And I further answer, That every churcu should have
more ministers than one, as the ancient churches had, be-
sides their readers ; and then one may in speaking ease an-
other.
4. But lastly I answer. That these circumstances being
alterable according to the state of countries and conveni-
ences, I do not discommend the custom of our country,
and of most Christian churMles in our times, in making an
intermission, and going home t6 dinner, as being fittest to
our condition. And then there remaineth the less force in
the objection, as to the weakness of the ministers or the
people.
OF THE LOKD's-t>AY. 433
I forbear to say more of the public church-performanceSy
having described them all in a small book called ** Univer-
sal: Concord/' and having exemplified all except preachings
in our " Reformed Liturgy" given in to the bishops at the
Savoy.
Only here I will answer them who object much that * the
ancient churches spent not the whole day in exercises of re-
ligion, nor forbad other exercises out of the time of public
worship, because we read of little other observation of it by
them> but what was done by them in the public assemblies.'
Amw.l. We find that they took it to be a sanctified or
separated day ; and they never distinguish, and say, that
part of the day only was separated and sanctified to such
uses. If they did, which part is the sanctified part of the
day? What hours were they which they thought thus se*
parated ? But there is no such distinction or limitation
in the writings of the ancient doctors. 2. What need you
find much mention what they did out of the time of public
worship, when they spent all the day frequently at first, and
almost all the day in after-times (with sm^U intermission)
in public worship ? Do you stay but as long at church as
they did, even almost from morning till night, and then you
wrll find but little time to dance or play in. But yet 3.
There want not testimonies that they thought it unlawful to
spend any part of the day in unnecessary diversions from
holy things, as Dr. Young hath shewed.
III. So much of the day as can be spared from public
church-worship (and diversions of necessity) should be next
spent most in holy family-exercises. And in those unhappy
places where the public worship is slenderly and negligently
performed (on^some small part only of the day), or not at all,
or not so as it is lawful to join in it, (as in idolatrous wor-
ship, &c.) there family worship must take up the most of
the day : and in better places, it must take up so much as
the public worship spareth.
And. here the sum of holy exercises in families is this,
(which having elsewhere directed you in, I must bu| briefly
name:)
L To see that the family rise as early on this day as on
others, and make it not a day of sleep and idleness. And
not to suffer them to violate, profane or neglect the day by
any of the sins hereafter named.
VOL, Xtil. F F
434 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
2. To call them together before they go to the aolemn
assembly 9 and to pmy with them and praise Grod,uid if there
be time, to read the Scripture, and tell them what they haye
to do in public.
3. To see that dinner, and other common employments^
make no longer an intermission than is needful; and to ad-
vise them that at their meat and necessary business, they
shew by their holy speeches, that their minds do not forget
the day, and the employments of it.
4. To sing God*s praises with theni^ if there be time^aad
bring them again together to the church-assembly.
5. When they return, either to take some account of them
what they have learned, ,or call them together to pray for a
blessing on what they have heard, and to sing praises to
God, and to urge the things which they haye heard. Upon
them.
6. At supper to behave themselves soberly and piously :
and after supper to shut up the day in prayer and praise ;
and either then or before, either to examine or exhort infe-
riors, according as the case of the persons and families shall
require (for in some families it will be best on the same day
to take an account oftheir profitting, and to catechisei them :
and in other families that have leisure, other days may be
more convenient for catechising and examinations), that the
greater works of the Lord's- day may not be shortened*
IV. So much of the day as can be spared from public
and family worship, must be spent in secret, holy duties :
such as are, 1. Secret prayer. 2. Reading of the Scrip-
tures and good books. 3. Holy meditation. 4. And the
secret conference of bosom friends. Qf which I further add,
1. That where public or family- worship cannot be had
(as in impious places), there secret duties must be the chief,
and make up the defect of others. And it is a great hap-
piness of good Christians who have willing minds, that they
have such secret substitutes and supplies ; that they have
bibles, and so many good books to read ; that they have a
friend to talk with, of holy things ; but much more that they
have a God to go to, and a heaven to meditate on, besides
so many sacred verities.
2. That my judgment is, that in those places where the
public worship taketh up almost all the day, it is no sin to
attend upon it to tVie utmo^i^ ?iTLd to omit all family and se-
OP THB lord's-day. 436
cret exercises, as canaot be done without omission of the
public. And that where the public exercises allow but a.
little time at home, the family-duty should take up all that
little time, except what some shorter, secret prayers or me-
ditations may have, which will not hinder family-duties.
And that it is a sinful disorder to do otherwise : because the
Lord's-day is principally set apart for public worship ; and
the more private or secret, is as it were included in the pub-
lic. Your families are at church with you ; the same
prayers which you would put up in secret, you may (usually)
put up in public, and in families : and it is a turning God's
worship into ceremony and superstition, to think that you
must necessarily put up the same prayers in a closet, which
you put up in the family or church, when you have not time
for both. (Though when you haye time, secret prayer hath
its proper advantages, which are not to be neglected.) And
alsa, what secret or family duty you have not time for on
tbut day, you may do on another day, when you cannot come
to church-assemblies. And therefore it is an error to think
that the day must be divided in equal proportions, between
public, family, and secret duties : though yet I think it not
amiss that some convenient time for family and secret duti^-
be left on that day ; 4>ut not so much as is spent in public,
ttor nothing near it.
If any shall now object, 'I do not believe that we are
bound to all this ado, nor so to tire out ourselves in reli-
gious exercises. Where is all this ado commanded us V
I answer, 1. I have proved to you that in nature and
scripture set together, as great a proportion of time as this
for holy exercises is required.
2» But O ! what a carnal heart doth this .objection sig-
nify ! What, do you count your love to God, and the com-
memoration of his love in Christ, a toil ? What if God had
only given you leave to lay by your worldly business, and
idle talk and childish play, for one day's time, and to learn
how to be like Christ and angels, and how to make sure of
a heavenly glory, should you not gladly have accepted it
as an unspeakable benefit ? O ! what hearts have these
wretched men, that must be constrained by fear to all that
is good, and holy, and spiritual ; and will have none of
God's greatest mercies, unless it be for fear of hell: (and
«they shall never have them indeed tiW tW^ ^^^^ \X\^xa\^
436 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
What hearts have those men, that had rather be in an ale-
house, or a playhouse, or asleep, than to be in heart with
'God ? That can find so much pleasure in jesting, and idle
talking, and foolery, that they can better endure it» than to
peruse a map of heaven, and to read and hear the sacred
oracles ! Who think it a toil to praise their Maker and
Redeemer, and a pleasure to game, and dance, and drink!
Who turn the glass upon the preacher, and grudge if he ex-
ceed his hour ; and can sit in a tavern or alehouse, or hold
on in any thing that is vain, many hours, and never com-
plain of weariness ! Do they not tell the world what
enemies they are to God, who love a pair of cards, or dice.
Or wanton dalliance, better than his word and worship?
Who think six days together little enough for their worldly
work and profit, and one day in seven too much to spend in
the thoughts of God and life eternal ? Who love the dung
of this present world, so much better than all the joys
above, as that they are weary to hear of heaven above an
hour at a time, and long to be wallowing in the dirt again ?
Is it not made by the Holy Ghost, a mark not oidy of wicked
men, but of men notoriously wicked, to be " lovers of plea-
sures more than of God T 2 Tim. iii. 4.
O sinner, that in these workings of the wickedness and
malignity of your hearts, you would at last but know, your-
selves! Is it not the ** carnal mind that is thus at eninity
with God, and neither is nor can be subject to his law ?"
(Rom. viii. 6 — 80 Which will you take to be your friend,
him that loveth your company, or him that is w«ary of it,
and is glad when be hath done with you, and is got away ?
What would you think of wife, or child, or friend, if they
should reason as you do, and say. What law doth bind me
to so many hours in the house, or company, or service of my
husband, my father, or my friend ? You do not use, if you
have a feast, or a cup of wine before you, to ask. Where
doth God command me to eat or drink it? You can do
this without a command. If you hear but of a gainful mar-
ket ; you ask not. Where doth God make it my duty to go
to it? If one would give you money or land, you would
scarcely ask. How prove you that I am bound to take it?
You would be glad of leave, without commands. If the king
should say to you. Ask what you will, and I will give it you,
you would not say. Where am [ bound of God to ask ? And
OF THE LORD'S-DAY. 437
when God saith^ Ask and it shall be given you, you say.
How prove you that I am bound to ask? You can sing ri-
bald songs, and dance without a command ; you can feast,
and play, and prate, and sleep, and loiter in idleness without
a command ; but you cannot learn how to be saved, nor
praise your Redeemer without a command. A thief can
steal, a fornicator can play the brute, a drunkard can be
drunk, an oppressor can make himself hateful to the op-
pressed, not, only without law, but against it ! But you can-
not rejoice in God, nor live one day together in his love and
service, without a law, no nor with it neither. For because
you had rather ilot love him, it is certain that you do not
love him : and because you had rather play than pray, and
serve the flesh than serve your Maker ; it is a certain sign
that you do not serve him, with any thing which he will ac-
cept as service. For while he hath not your hearts, he hath
nothing which he accepteth. Your knee and tongue only is
forced against your will, to that which you call serving him :
but your hearts or wills cannot be forced. When you had
rather be elsewhere, and say. When will the sermon and
prayer be done, that I may be at my work or play ! God
taketh it as if you were there where you had rather be.
I pi*ay you deal openly, and tell me, you that think a day
too long for God, and are weary of all holy work, what would
you be doing that while, if you had your choice ? Is it any
thing which you dare say is better? Dare you say, that
playing is better than praying, or a piper or dancing better
than praising God with psalms T Or that your sleep, or
games, or chat, or worldly business is better than the con-
templation of God and glory! And will those deceivers of
the people also say this, who teach them that it is a tedious,
uncommanded thing to serve God so long? I think they
dare not speak it out. If they dare, let them not grudge
that they must for ever be shut out of heaven, where there
will be nothing else but holiness. But if you dare not say
so, why will you be weary of well-doing, that you may do
ill ? Why are you not more weary of every thing than of
holiness, unless you think every thing better than holiness ?
Especially those men, 1, Whose judgment is for will-
worship, should not ask. Where is there a command, for any
good which they are willing of. But doth not this shew
that you had rather there were no command for it ? Be
436 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
judges yourselves. 2. And tfaey that are for making the
churches a gredi; deal more work tiban God hath joiade them,
(O what abundance hath Popery made, and what a multi-
tude of new religious particles !) methinks should act for
shame say that God hath tired them out, and made tbem too
much work already ? Do you cry out. What a weariness is
this one day, when you would add of your own sitch a mul-
titude of more days and more work ?
Yet though I talk of doing it willingly, if you had no
forcing law of God, but bai*e leave to receive ouch benefits,
my meaning is not that God hath left any such thing indif-
ferent, or made them only the matter of ^counsels and not
commands ; for he hath made it our duty to receive our own
benefits, and to do that which tendeth to our own good and
salvation. But if it had been so, that we had only leave tp
receive so great mercies without any other penalty for rdus^
ing, than the loss of them, it should be enough to men that
love themselves, and know what is for their goodv Much
more when commands concur.
CHAPTER X.
How the Lordh'day should not be spent: or tphat is unlawful
on it.
As to the resolving this question also, I would wish for no
greater advantage on him that I dispute with, but that be be
a man that loveth God and holiness, audknoweth somewhat
of the' difference between things temporal and things eter-
nal ; and knoweth what is for the good of his soul, and pre-
ferreth it before his body ; and hath an appetite to relish the
delights of wisdom, and of things most excellent and divine.
And that he be one that knoweth his own necessities, and
repenteth of his former loss of time ; and iiveth in a daily
preparation for death; that is, that he be a real Christian;
and then by all this it will appear, how the Lord's-day must
not be spent; or what things are unlawful to be done
thereon.
I. Undoubtedly it must not be spent in wickedness; in
gluttony or drunkenness, chambering or wantonness, strife
or envying, or any of those works of the flesh, which are at
OF TH£ I.OKD'8-DAV. 439
all times sinful. An evil work is most unsuitable to a holy
day : and yet, alas, what day hath more rioting and excess
of meat, and drink, and wantonness, and ^sloth, and lust,
than it?
II. It ought not to be spent in our worldly businesses*
which are the labours allowed us on the six days ; unless
necessity or paercy make them at any time become such du-
ties of the law of nature, as positives must for that time
give place to. For how is it a day separated to holy em-
ployments, if we spend it in the common business of the
world ? It is the great advantage that we have by such a
separated day, that we may wholly cast off our minds from
this world, and set them on the world to come, and exercise
them in holy communion with God and his church, without
the interruptions and distractions of any earthly cogitations.
A divided mind doth never perform any holy work with that
integrity and life, as the nature of it requireth. Heavenly
contemplations are never well managed with the intermix-
ture of diverting, worldly thoughts : so great a work as to
converse in heaven, to be wrapped up in the admirations of
the Divine perfections, to kindle a fervent love to God, by
the contemplation of his love and goodness, to triumph over
sin and Satan with our triumphing, glorified Head, to com-
memorate his resurrection, and the whole work of our re-
demption with a lively, working faith, doth require the whole
heart, and will not consist with alien thoughts, and the di-
version of fleshly employments or delights. Nay, had we
no higher work to do than to search our hearts, and lament
our sins, and beg for mercy, and learn God's word, and treat
with our Redeemer about the saving of our souls, and to
prepare for death and judgment, surely it should challenge
all our faculties, and tell us that voluntary diversions do too
much savour of impiety and contempt. It is the great mercy
of God that we have leave to lay by these clogs and impe-
diments of the soul, and to seek his face with greater free-
dom than the incumbrances of our week-day labours will
allow us. No slave can be so glad of a Sabbath's ease from
his sorest toil and basest drudgery, as a believer should be
to be released from his earthly thoughts and business, that
he may freely, entirely, and delightfully converse with God,^
III. The Lord*s-day must not be spent in tempting, di-
verting, unnecessary recreations, or pleasures of the flesh.
440 THE DIVINK APPOINTMENT
1. For these are as great an impediment to the holy em^
ployment of the soul^ as worldly labours, if not much more.
It is easier for a man to be exercised in heavenly meditations
at the plough or cart, or other such labours of his place and
calling, than at bowls, or hunting, or cards, or dice, or stage-
plays, or races, or dancing, or bear-baitings, or cock-fights,
or any such sensual sports. I need no proof of this to any
man that hath himself any experience of the holy employe
ments of a believing soul, or that ever knew what it was to
spend one day of the Lord aright ; and no proof will suffice
them that have no experience, because they know not effec-
tually what it is that they talk of.
2. We find that even on other days, the worst men are
most addicted to these sports, and are the greatest pleaders
for them, and that the more they use them, the worse they
grow ; yea, that the times of using them are frequently the
times of the eruption of many heinous sins. I have lived
in my youth in many places where sometimes shows or un-
couth spectacles have been their sports at certain seasons
of the year, and sometimes morrice-dancings, and sometimes
stage-plays, and sometimes wakes and revels ; and all men
observed that these were the times of the most flagitious
crimes; and that there was then more drunkenness, more
fighting, more horrid oaths and curses uttered, than in ma-
ny weeks at other times. Then it was that the enraged sen-
sualists did act the part of furious devils, in scorning and
reviling all that were more sober and better than themselves,
and railing at those that minded God and their everlasting
state, as precisians, puritans, and hypocrites ; then it was
that they were ready in their fury, if they durst, to assault
the very persons and houses of them that would not do as
they did. Whatever is done in such crowds and tumults, is
done with the impetuosity of rage and passion, and with the
greatest audacity, and the violation of all laws and regula-
ting restraints. As many waters make a furious stream,
and great fires where much fuel is conjunct do disdain res-
traint and quickly devour all before them, so is it with the
raging folly of youth, when voluptuous persons once get to-
gether, and their lusts take fire, and they fall into a torrent
of profuse sensuality. Yea, those that at other times are
sober, and when they come home do seem of another mind,
yet do as the rest when tVve^ ?L\e ^xcvoTv^\!ftfem,^Tv^^^^xsLas
OF THE LORDVdAY. 441
bad and furious as they. As we see among the Londdn ap-
prentices on the day called Good-tides Tuesday, or May-day,
when they once get out together and are in motion, they
seem all alike, and those that are most sober and timorous
alone, in the rout are heightened to the audacity of the rest'i
and as in an army the sight of the multitude, and the noise
of drums and guns, put valour into the fearful, and they will
go on with others, that else would run away from a propor-
tionable single combat and danger ; and as boys at school
that fear to offend singly, yet fear not to bar out their mas-
ter in a combination when all concur ; so all seem wicked
in a crowd and rout of wicked persons ; and sensuality and
licentiousness is not the smallest part of the wickedness.
O how unfit is youth in such a crowd to think of God, or
eternity, or death; or to hear the sober warnings of the
preacher, in comparison of what the same persons be, when
they are at church, and congregated purposely to hear God's
word ! Go among them and try them then, with any grave
and wholesome counsel : ask them whether they are peni-
tent converts, and whether they are prepared for another
world. Try what answer they will give you, and whether
they will not deride you more than at another time. I would
those that write and plead for this, under the name of harm-
less recreationSfViovXA go amongst them sometimes with sober
counsel, and learn to be wise by their own experience, that
their errors might not be of such pernicious consequence to
men's souls as they have been. Reason itself hath no place or
audience in the noise of youthful, furious lusts. They will laugh
at reason as well as at Scripture ; and scorn sobriety as well
(though not so much) as holiness. If even in the meetings
of grave persons it have ever been observed that individual
persons are apt to be carried by the stream, and otherwise
than their talk importeth at other times when they are sin-
gle, what wonder if it be so in evil with unbridled youth ?
If you say that 'the law forbiddeth routs and riots, and
it \» no such unruly places that we defend :'
Amw. Disclaim not the name only while you defend the
thing. Be not like them that say. We persuade men to vo-
luntary untruths, but not to lying ; to break their vows and
oaths in lawful matters, but not to perjury ; to kill those
that anger them, but not to murder ; to take other rneiv'^
goods by force, but not to robbery, 8ic. A^ie xvoV ^^^"Si.
442 THE DIVINE APPOIVTJifCENT
and revels, and morrice-dances^ and dancing-assemblieg, ami
spectacles^ stage-plays, and the like, such a concourse as I
am speaking of? Do you Jimit dancers ^nd players to $^y
numbers ? I speak not of the laws ; I am too much u^ac-
]i][uainted with them. If they say, that above four meeting
to dance or drink on the LordVday shall be accounted a con-
venticle or unlawful fMS^sembly, it is more than I ever heard
of. But I am speaking of the common practice of tjbe coun-
try, and of those that ordinarily defend it, and labour to
bring both godly ministers and sober people under the scorn
of foolish preciseness and superstition, because they would
hinder the sin and ruin of the people. If you will allow them
to assemble for their dancings, shows, jand. sports, you Mrill
encoumge them to break the laws both of God and man,
though you pretend never so much care that they be ob-
served. You may as well allow them to be drunk) and when
you have done, forbid them to break Qod's laws and the
king's in their drunkenness. There are few in such sport-
ful assemblies that are not drunk with concupiscence, and
whose reason is not drowned in voluptuous and vain ima?
ginations. XiCt. those divines (if I may so call the .advo-
cates of sensuality and sin) which are otherwise minded,
give us leave to oppose against all their cavils, and the false
names of harmless recreations ^ but, 1. Our own experience,
who in our youth have always found such sports and revel-
ling assemblies to be corrupters of our minds, and tempta-
tions to evils, and quenchers of holy motions, and enemies
of (ill that is good. 2. The experience of the visibly cor-
rupted, undone sensual youth that are round about us, in all
countries where we have lived. 3. And the judgment of
Solomon,, (who saith as much for pleasure as any sacred
wiiter ;) " It is better to go to the house of mourning than
to the house of feasting ; for that is the end of all men, and
the living will lay it to his heart : Sorrow is better than
toiUghter, for by the sadness of the countenance the hefurt is
made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourn-
ing, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth;'' (I pray
you do not say I rail at you by the reciting of these words,
nor that I diminish the honour of the reverend advocates
for wakes and Lord's-day sports and dancings.) '* It is better
to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear Xhe
OF THK LaRPV]X4Y. , 443
^^^g of foals ; for as the sound of thorns under a pot, so is
the laughter of fools/' (Eccles. vii. 2— 6»)
.3. Moreover, these sports, and. pleasures, and riotiags,
are worse than ploughing and labouring on the JLiord's«<b^y,
because (as they are more adverse to spiHtual and heavenly
joys, so) they do less good to recompeiise^burt. A carpen-
ter, a 9kason, a ploughman, &c. may do some good by his
unlawful, unseasonable labour, some. one may be tihe better
for it : but dancing, and sports, and gaming, do . no good,
but hurt. They corrupt Uie^ fancy ; they imprint upon the
thinking faculty^ so strong an inelinaiion to run out after
such things; and upon the appetite so strong a list and
longing for them, that carnality is much increased by them ;
mortification hindered ; concupiscence gratified ; the flesh
prevaileth ; the Spirit is quenched ; and the soul made as
unfit for heavenly things, as a schoolboy is for bis book,
whose heart is set upon his play ; yea, abundance more; as
nature by corruption is more averse to spiritual things, than
to the things of art or nature.
4. These dancings, and pktys, and wakes, and other
oporto, are a strong .temptation also to them that are not of
the riotous' societies, but have convictions on <their hearts
that they should have greater and better things in their
mind. : Without accusing others, I may say Umt I know
this by .sad experience. I cannot forget, when my con-
sdLence> was against their courses, and called me to better
things,^ how hardly when I was young, I passed by the danCf-
ing, and the playing congregations, and especially when in
the passage I must bear their scorn. And I was one year a
schoolmaster, and found how hard it was for the poor child-
ren to avoid such snares, even when they were sure to be
whipped the next day for their pleasures.
.6« And thpse riots and plays are injurious to the pious
and sober persons who dislike them* For it is they that
diall l>e made the rabble's scorn, and the drunbard's «ong ;
besides that the noise ofttimes annoyeth them wben tt^y
should, be calmly serving God. And they are hindered from
governing and instructing their families, while their child-
ren and servants are thus tempted to be gone, and their
hearts are all the while in the playing-place. Never did a
hungry dog more grudge at his restraint from, meat, th&w
444 THE I>IVIN£ APPOINTMENT
children and young servants usually grudge to be catechised
or kept to holy exercises, when they hear the pipe, or the
noise of the licentious multitude in the streets. I cannot
forget that in my youth in those late times, when we lost
the labours of some of our conformable godly teachers for
not reading publicly the Book of Sports and Dancing on the
Lord's-days, one of my fathier's own tenants was the town-
piper, hired by the year (for many years together), and the
place of the dancing-assembly was not an hundred yards
from our door, and we could not on the LordVday either t
read a chapter, or pray, or sing a psalm, or cfttechise, or in-
struct a servant, but with the noise of the pipe and tabor,
and the shoutings in the street, continually in our ears;
and even among a tractable people, we were the common
« scorn of all the rabble in the streets, and called Puritans,
Precisians, and Hypocrites, because we rather chose to read
the Scriptures than to do as they did ; (though there was
no savour of Nonconformity in our family.) And when the
people by the book were allowed to play and dance out of
public service-time, they could so hardly break o£P their
sports, that many a time the reader was fain to stay till the
piper and players would give over ; and sometimes the mor-
rice-dancers would, come into the church in all the linen and
scarfs, and antic-dresses, with morrice-bells jingling at their
legs. And as soon as common-prayer was read, did haste out
presently to their play again. Was this a heavenly conversa-
tion ? Was this a help to holiness and devotion ; or to the
mortification of fleshly lusts ? Was this the way to train up
youth in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? And were
such assemblies like to the primitive churches ; or such fa-
milies governed christianly and in the fear of God? O Lord,
set wise and holy pastors over thy poor flocks, that have learn-
ed themselves the doctrine which they preach, and who love,
(or at least abhor not) the service and imitation of a, cruci-
fied Christ, and the practice of that religion which they
themselves profess.
Object* * But poor labouring peoplb must have some re-
creation, and they caimot through their poverty have leisure
any other day.'
Answ. 1. A sad argument to be used by them that by
racking of rents do keep them in poverty. They that can-
OF THE lord's-day. 445
not live without all those superfluitiesy which requireth
many hundred pounds a year to maintain them^ must for
this gratifying pride and fleshly lusts, set such bargains to
their poor tenants, as that they confess they cannot live,
without taking the Lord's-day to recreate them from the
toil and weariness of their excessive labours : and will not
God judge such self-condemning oppressions as these are ?
2. But is this an argument fit for the mount of a minis-
ter or any Christian^ who knoweth how much the soul is
more worth than the body f and eternity more valuable than
the pleasures of this little time ? If poverty deny the peo-
ple liberty to play on the week-days^ doth it not as
much deny them liberty to pray, and to read the Scriptures,
and to learn their catechisms, .and the word of Ood ? Surely
it better beseemeth any man that believeth another life, a
heaven and a hell, to say, poor labourers have so little time
to learn, to meditate, to read, to pray, on the week-days,
that if they do not follow it close upon the Lord's-day, they
are like to perish in their ignorance ; {'* For if the Gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost," 2 Cor. iv. 30 which do
you think it better to leave undone, if one of them must be
left ^undone? Whether the learning of God's word, or the
pleasures and recreations of the flesh?
3* Is it their bodies or their minds that need recreation ?
When the body is tired with toilsome labour, it is ease^
rather than toilsome dancings or plays, that are fit to re-
create it. Or else God will be charged with mistake in the
reasons of the ancient Sabbath. But if it be the mind
that needeth recreation, why should not the learning of
heavenly truth, and the joyful commemoration of our re-
demption, and the foresight of heaven, and the praises of
God, be more delightful than the noise of thorns under a
pot ; even than the laughter and sport of fools, or than the
dancings and games that now you plead for ? But the truth
is, it is not the minds of poor labouring men, that are over-
worked and tired on the week«daySj but it is their bodies ;
and therefore there is no recreation so suitable to them as the
ease of the body, and the holy and joyful exercise of the
mind, upon their Creator, their Redeemer, and their ever-
lasting rest.
' 4. But if you will needs have days of temptation and
sinful sports and pleasures for them, \et \^\i^\o\di% ^^Xa
44tf THE DIVINiti APPOINTMENT
their tenants as much rent, as one day's vacancy from
labour in a month or a fortnight will amount to^ or let the
cormmoA Saints'-days, which of the two are move at man'a
disposal, be made their sporting*days, and rob not their
souls of that one weekly-day, which Ood had separated for
his worship.
Object, * But there are students, and lawyers^ and minis-
ters, aifid gentlemen, whose labour is most that of the brain,
and not the ploughman's bodilty toil ; and these have need
of bodily recreation.'
Answ, And there are few of these so poor but tliey caa
take their bodily recreation on the week-days : and many
of them need as much the whole Lord's-day for their soil's
edification as any others ; and no one that knoweth himself
will say that he needs it not» If any men need remission
of studies, and bodily exercise, it is ministers themselves;
And is it themselves that they plead for sports and dancing
for? Would they be companions for the vain in suchlike
vanities ?
Object. ' But the mind of man is not able to endure a
constant intention and elevation of devotion all the day
long without recreation and intermission ; and putting men
upon more than they can do, will but hinder them ; when a
little recreation will make them more fresh and fervent when
(hey return to God.'
Answ. O whait an advantage is it to know by experience
what one talkeih of! and what an inconvenience to talk of
holiness and heavenliness by hearsay only! 1. To poor
people that have but one day in seven, that one day should
not seem too long. 2. If it be from a carnal enmity to God
and spiritual things, shortness and seldomness will be no
cure. But they have need rather to be provoked to dili-
p^ence till they are cured, than to be indulged in that averse-
ness and sloth, which till it is cured will prevail, when you
have done your best against it. 3. But if it be a weariness
of the flesh, as the disciples, when they slept while Christ
was praying, or a weariness through such imperfection of
grace and remnant of carnality, which the sincere are liable
to, then giving way to it will increase it, and resisting it is
the way to overcome it; 4. How many necessary intermis-
sions are there, which confute this pretence of weakness ?
Some time is taken up Viv Atft%%\Tv%\ ^xkA^^me with poor ser-
OF THE LORD's-DAY. 44?
vants in waiting on their masters and mistresses, and pre-
paring meat and drink ; some in going to church and com-
ing home ; some in eating, usually more than once ; some
in preparing again for sleep; besides what cattle and
by- occasions will require. And is the remainder of one
day in a week, yet too much for the business which we
are created, preserved, and redeemed for, and on which
our endless life dependeth? O that we knew what the love
of God is ! and what it is to regard our souls according to
their worth ! Would not a soul that loveth God rather say,
Alas! how short is the Lord's-day! How quickly is it
gone ! How many interruptions hinder my delight f Shall
I think a week short enough for my worldly labour, and one
day (thus parcelled) too long to seek the face of God ? I see
blind worldlings and sensualists can be longer unwearied at
market, in their shops and fields, especially when their gain
comes in ; and at cards and dice, and bowling, and idle
prating, Stc. And shall I be weary so soon of the most no-
ble and necessary work, and of the sweetest pleasures upon
earth ?
A hypocrite that draweth near to God but with the lips,
while his heart is far from him, as he never truly seeketh
God, so he never truly findeth him, and hath none of the
true spiritual delights of holiness, nor ever feeleth the de-
lights of exercising his love to God by the help of faith, in
the hopes of heaven: and therefore no wonder if he be
weary of such unprofitable, sapless and unpleasant work, as
his dead formalities and affections are. But it is not so
with the sincere experienced Christian, who serving God in
spirit and in truth, hath true and spiritual recreation, plea-
sure and benefit in and by his service. And therefore we
see that the holy experienced believers are still averse to
these sensual diversions, and do not think the Lord's-day
or his service too long. And, O Christian ! what a happy
advantage in such controversies have you, in your holy sin-
cerity and sweet experience !
5. But yet I am not such a stranger to a man, to myself
or others, as to deny that our naughty hearts are inclined to
be weary of well-doing ; but mark what a cure God in wis-
dom and mercy hath provided for us ; as it is but one day in
seven which is thus to be wholly employed with God, and
as much of this day is taken up with lYie VjoOlVVj w^c^'ei^\>c«s^
448 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
aforesaid ; so for the rest^ God appointeth us variety of ez^
ercises, that when we are weary of one, another may be our
recreation. When we have heard^ we mi^st pray ; and when
we have prayed, we must hear again: we must read, we
must sing and speak God's praises ; we must celebrate the
memorial of Christ's death in the sacrament ; we must me-
ditate ; we must confer, we must instruct our families: and
we have variety of subjects for each of these. As a student
that is weary hath a variety of books and studies to recreate
his mind ; so hath every Christian variety of holy employ-
ment on the Lord's-day. And all of it excellent, profitable,
and delightful !
Christian, believe not that minister or man whatever he
be, that telleth thee that Christ's yoke is heavy, or that his
commandments are grievous. Hath he done so much to de-
liver us from the straight yoke, the heavy burden, and the
grievous commandments? And now shall we accuse him of
bringing us under a toilsome task ? Is it a toil to love or
count your money ? to love and look upon your com a&d
cattle? to love and converse with your friend? to feast
your body on the pleasantest food ? If not, why should it
be a toil4o any but a wicked heart, to spend a day in loving
God, and hearing the messages of his love to us, and in the
foresight and foretastes of everlasting love ?
Caviller, come but unto Christ, and cast off the weari-
m
some, toilsome burden of thy sin, and Satan's drudgery, and
take Christ's yoke and burden on thee, and learn of him,
and try then whether his ways and work be grievous. Come
and spend but a day in loving God, as thou dost in talking
of him, and try whether love, and the holiest love, be a
wearisome work. But if thou wilt make a religion of all
shell and no kernel, all carcase and no life, like that which
the Jansenists charge the Jesuits with, that say, * We are
bound to love God but once in four or five years, or once in
all our lives,' no wonder if thou be weary of such a religion.
But I will tell them that are the teachers of the people,
an honester way to cure the people's weariness, than to
send them to a piper or to a play to cure it. Preach with
such life and awakening seriousness, preach with such
grateful, holy eloquence, and with such easy method, and
with such variety of wholesome matter, that the people may
never be weary of you. Pow\ o\xV. VXv^ xdciewt^al of the love
OF THE lord's-day. 449
aad benefits of God ; open so to them the privileges of
faith, and the joys of hope, that they may never be angry.
How . oft have I heard the peopk say of such as these,
' I could hear him all day and never be weary !' They are
troubled . at the shortness of such sermons, and wish they
had been, longer. Pray with that heavenly life and fervour
as may wrap up the souls of those that join with you, and
try then whether they will be weaiy. Praise God with that
joyful alacrity which beseemeth one that is ready to pass
into glory, and tfy whether this will not cure the people's
weariness.
Misunderstand me not. I am now speaking to none
but guilty hypocrites, and not to any faithful, holy minis-
ters. And to such I say, when you have done nothing but
coldly read over the public prayers, or as coldly and crudely
added yourown, and tired the hearers, with a dry, a sapless,
lifeless, unexperienced discourse, and then send them as a
wearied people, to dancing and sports for a needless recrea-
tion; is this like the work of a pastor of souls ? When you
have cried down other men's praying and preaching, and
tell the people that the praying and preaching which you
recommend to them as better, will not digest well, without
a dance or recreation after it, to expel the people's weari-
ness ; is not this to disgrace your own prayers and preach-
ing whiph you before commended to them ? And when you
have done, if after this you speak against others for their
long praying, and for so much preaching and hearing, as if
they never had enough, is not this to commend what you
discommend ? and to tell the people that those men's pray-
ing and preaching whom you revile, is such as doth not
weary their auditors ; when yours is such as will tire men,
if it be long, or if they be not recreated after it with a piper,
afidler, or a dance? O that the Ithacian bishops of the
world, and all the clergy of their mind, would at least hear
Hooker in the preface to his " Ecclesiastical Polity," how
little their cause is beholden to such patrons, and how well
it might spare them !
For my own part, as my flesh is weak, so my heart is
too bad, too backward to these divine and heavenly works !
und yet I never have time to spare. God knoweth that it is
tny daily groans^ • How great is the wotk, '^fe^i* ^xA "Wyw
VOL. XIII. G G
450 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
sweet ! and how short is the day, the week, the jeBit I How
quickly is it night ! How fast do weeks and years roll away i*
And shall any man that is called a minister of Christ, per-
suade poor labourers and servants who have but one day for
retirement from the world, to converse with Qod widioot
distraction, that this one day is too long, and liuut tlieir
work mpst be eased by carnal sports ? Nay, ^hall a man
that would be called a minister or a Christian, peiBaade
men against all the experience of the worid, that the diver-
sions and interruptions of a dance or Mi(y-game, or ^ raoi^
or a comedy, will dispose their minds to return to God with
more heavenly alacrity and purity than before, or than va*
riety of holy exercises will do? Or rather, are we^^con-
strained to say (though it displease) that hypocrites are all
for imaginary and hypocritical religion ; and that whether
he be at church or at home, in praying, or in drinking, and
sensuality, and voluptuousness ; a worldling is every whoe
a worldling still, and an hypocrite is an hypoci^te i^lill ; and
it is not his book or pulpit that maketh him another man.
And that as the man is, such will be his wosk. ^ Operari
sequitur esse.' And that the Jesuits are not the only men
in the woi'ld that would make a religion to suit m^a lusts,
and would serve Satan and the ilesh, in the livery of Christ
But I fear I hav^ been too long on this objectiooi*
IV. The Lord -s-day must not be spent in idleness ; not
in unnecessary sleep, or in vain walking, or long dressings,
or too long feastings, or any thing unnecessary which di-
verteth our souls from their sacred seasonable work. It is
not a Jewish ceremonious Sabbath of bodily re^t which we
are to keep ; but it is a day of holy and spiritual works ; of
the needfuUest work in all the worl4 ; to do that which is
ten thousand times more necessary and excellent, than all
our labours and provisions for the flesh. And if nO; man
hath time to spare on the week-day, but he tiiat kfiovretb
not aright what it is to be a Christian, or a man, or wiy
God maintaineth and upholdeth him in the world; what
shall we think of them that can find time to spare on the
LordVday^ and can walk and idle away the moat precious
of all their time? If it be folly to cast away your silver, it
is not wisdom to cast away your gold. O that God woul4
bul open men's eyes, U> aee viW. \^ V^^fore them, and how 1
OF T»E LOUD 8-lJAY. 4AI
near to eternity they standi and awaken men's sleepy, sen-
sual souls, to live as men that do not dteam of another
world, but unfeignedly believe it ; and then a little reason-
ing would soFv^ turn to convince them, that the Loird's-day
should be spent in the duties of serious holiness, and not in
idleness, or unnecessary works, or sports.
Objett. 'But by all this you seem to cast a great re*
preach on Calvin, Beza, and most of the great divines of
the foreign efaorehes, who have not been so strict for the
abservation of the Lord's-day/
Amw. Let these things be observed by the impartial
reader : L It cannot be proved to be most of them, that
were so faulty herein as the objection intimateth. 2. Many
of them have written much for the holy spending of the
day in spiritual exercises. 3. And you must remember that
diey came newly out of popery, and had seen the Lord's-
day, and a superabundance of other human holy days im-
posed on the churches to be ceremonioi]»ly observed, and
they did not all of them, so clearly as they ought, discern
the difference between the Lord's-day and those holy days,
or church-festivals, and so^ did too promiscuously conjoin
them in their reproofs of the burdens imposed on the church.
And it being the Papists' ceremOniousness, and their multi-
tude of festivals that stood altogether in their eye, it tempted
them to too undidtinguishing and inaccurate a reformation.
4. And for Calvin you must know that he spent every day
so like to a Lord's-day, in hard study, and prayer, and nu-
merous writings^ and public preaching, or lecturing and
disputings, either every day in the week, or very near it,
scarce allowing himself time for his one only spare meal a
day, that he might the more easier be tempted, to make the
less difference in his judgment between the Lord's-day' and
the other days, than he should have done, and to plead for
more recreation on that day for others, than he took on any
day himself. 5. And then his followers having also many
of the same temptations, were apt to tread in his stept^,
through the deserved estimation of his worth and judgment,
and lest they should seem to be of different minds. But as
England hath been the happiest in this piece of reforma-
tion, so all men are inexcusable that encourage idleness,
sensuality, or neglect of the important dutiea of tYv^ divj*
492 THE DIVINE ikriPPOINTMENT
CHAPTER XI.
What Things sJiould not- be scrupled as unlawful on the
Lord^S'day.
As I have told you the LordVday is not a Sabbath in the
Jewish sense, or a day of ceremonial rest, but a day of wor-
shipping our Creator and Redeemer with thankful comme-
morations and with holy joy, &c. And a day of yacancy
from such earthly things as maybe any hindrance to this
holy work ; so now I must resolve the question first in ike
general, that nothing lawful at another time, is unlawful on
this day, which hath not the nature of an impediment to tKe
holy duties of. the day ; unless it be accidentally oh the ac-
count of scandal or ill example unto others, or disobeying
the laws of magistrates, or crossing the concord; of the
churches, or such like. Therefore hence I deduce these
particular resolutions following.
I. It is not unlawful to be at such bodily or mental la-
bours as is needful to the spiritual duties of the day. If
the '' priests in the temple (saith Christ) did break the Sab-
bath and were blameless," (that is, not the command of
God to them for keeping the Sabbath, but the external rest
of the Sabbath, which was commanded to others, with an
exception to their case,) we may well say that it is no sin
for a minister now to spend his strength in laborious preach-
ing and praying; or for the people to travel as far as is
needful, to the church-assemblies : Nor do we need to tie
ourselves to a Sabbath-day's journey, (that is, according to
the scribes, 2000 cubits, which is 3000 feet, and ' quinque
stadia) :' It is lawful to go many miles when it is necessary
to the work of the day,
II. It is not unlawful to be at the labour of dressing
ourselves somewhat more ornately or comely than on ano-
ther day. Because it is suitable to the rejoicing of a festi-
val. But to waste time needlessly in curiosity, and proud
attiring, to the hindrance of greater things, is detestable*
IIL It is not unlawful to dress meat, even in some fuller
and better manner than on other days ; because it is a fes-
tival, or day of tliaukag,\\\\\^» And it is a vain self-contra-
diction of some men, wVvo 1\v\tvV \>[v^v^xv^>(\\^\ ^%,>j ^K^^«3C!!i.v
OF THE lord\s-day. 453
^ giving is not well kept, if there be not two feasting meals at
least, and yet think it unlawful to dress one on the Lord 's-
day : but yet to make it a day of gluttony, or to waste more
of the day in eating or dressing meat than is agreeable to
the spiritual work of the day, which is our end ; or to make
ourselves sleepy by fulness ; or to use our servants like
beasts, to provide for our bellies, with the neglect of their
own souls ; or to pamper the flesh to the satisfaction and
irritation of its lusts ; all this is to be detested.
IV. It is not unlawful to do the necessary works of
mercy to ourselves or others, to man or beast ; those which
most be done, and cannot be delayed without more hurt
than the doing of them will procure (for that is the de-
scription of a necessary work). As to eat and drink and
clothe ourselves, and our children ; to carry meat to the
poor that are in present necessity ; to give or take physic ;
and to go for advice to the physician or surgeon : to travel
upon a business of importance and necessity ; to quench a
fire; or prop a house that is about to fall; to march or
fight in a necessary case of war; to sail or labour at sea in
cases of necessity ; to boat men over a river, that go to
chttrch ; to pursue a robber, or defend him that is assaulted ;
to pull a man out of fire or water; to dress a man's sores,
or give physic to the sick ; to pull an ox or horse or other
c^attle out of a pit or water ; to drive or lead them to water,
and to give them meat ; to save cattle, corn or hay, from
the sudden inundations of the sea, or of rivers, or from
floods ; to drive cattle or swine out of the grounds where
they break in to spoil; such necessary actions are not un-
lawful, but a duty; it being a moral or natural precept,
which Christ twice bid the ceremonious Pharisees learn,
•' I will have mercy an^ not sacrifice."
And it is not only works of necessity to a man's life, that
are here meant by necessary works ; but such also as are ne-
cessary to a smaller and lower end or use.
And yet it is not ajl such necessity neither, that will
allow us to do the thing. Otherwise a tradesman or plough-
man might say that his labour is necessary to the getting or
savitig of this or that small commodity ; I shall be a loser if
I do not work. And on the other side, if it were only a
necessity for life, limbs, or livelihood that wovAd b\\ov* \i^
labour^ then it iFouid be unlawful to dress meat, atvd to dtvs^
454 TH£ DIVINE APPOINTMENT
cattle out of the corn, and laaay suoh thmgs before-ioeii-
tioDed ; and then it would be lawful to gire meail only to oxen
or horses of great price* and liot to heB«» ducks, geese, dogs
and other animals of little value.
Therefore there is a great deal of prudeni; disetettoii
neoesfiary to the avoiding of extremes. God baUi not
e&nmerated all the particulars which are allowed or forlnd-
den in their generals. What then shall we do? Shall we
violate the outward rest of the day for the worth of a gioat
or two-pence, (as the feeding of hens or such-like may be?)
Or shall we suffer the loss of many pounds rather thaia slir
to s^ve them ? As for instance, is iil lawful to open, or turn,
or carry in corn or hay, which in all probability (though not
certainly) is like to be lost or very much spoiled, if it be ki
alone till the next day ? The corn or bay may be of Mmy
pounds value, when the feeding of awine, or hena^ may be
little : the corn or hay is like to be lost; when the swine, or
hens, or horses, or oxen, may easily recover the hui^er or
abstinence of a day ? What must be done in Quch cases «$
these ?
I answer, 1. It is necessary to know that whBre God
hath not made particular determinations, yet general laws '
do still oblige us.
2. And that Christian prudence is necessary to the right
discerning how far our actions fall under those general lavs
of God.
3. That he that will discern these things must be a man
that truly understandeth, valueth and loveth the true ends
and work of the LordVday, and not a man that batethit,
or careth not for it ; and a man that hath a right estimation
also of those outward things, which si^nd in question to be
meddled with. And he must be one that hath no supersti-
tious Jewish conceits of the external rest of the day : and
he must be one that looketh, not only to one thing or a few,
but to all things, how numerous soever, which the detenai-
nation of his case dependeth on. ^
4. And because very few are such, it is needful that those
few that are such, be casuists and advisers to the rest, and
that the more ignorant consult with them (especially if they
be their proper pastors) as they do with physicians and law-
yers for their health and their estates.
5. It must be known Uiat oCUimes the laws of the land do
OF TH£ L«ORJ>'8-DAY. 455
mtarpose ia Buoh cases; lyid if they do deternune ao strictly,
as to forbid that which eke would to some be lawful, they
must be obeyed ; because bad men oaunot be kept from
doing ill by excesses, unless some good men be hindered by
the saine laws from some things that are to them indifferent,
nay^ possibly, eligible, if there Were no such law.
6. And accordingly the oasd of scandal or temptation to
others, that will turn our example to their sin, must.be con-
sidered in our practice. Yea, it is not only things mefely
indifferent that we must deny our liberty in, to prevent an-
other's fall, but ofttimes that which would else be a duty
may become a sin, when it will scandalize another, or tempt
him to a far greater and more dangerous sin. As it may be
my duty to speak some word, or do some action, as most
useful and beneficial, when there is nothing against it ; and yet
if I may foresee that another will turn that speech or action
to his ruin^ to the hatred of piety^ or to take occasion from
it to exercise cruelty upon other Christians, &c. it may be-
come my heinous sin. So it must here be considered, who
will know of the action which you do ; and what use they
$ure like to make of it?
7. And a little public hurt must be more regarded^ than
more private benefit ; and the hurt of man*s soul cannot be
countervailed by your corporal commodities.
8. These things being premised, I suppose that the great
rule to guide you in such undetermined circumstances is
the interest of the end ; all things must be done to the glory
of Qod, and to edification* A truly impartial, prudent man
can discern by comparing all the circumstances, whether
his action (as if it wei e carrying endangered com) were
likely to do more good or harit. On one side you must put
in the balance the value of the thing to be saved ; your own
necessity of it ; the poor's necessity of it ; and Christ's
command, '' Gather up the fragmfents that nothing be lost :'*
On the other side, you must consider, how far it will hinder
your spiritual benefit and duty ; and how far the example
may be like to encourage such as will do such things with-
out just caaise ; and so try whidh is the way of God*s ho-
nour and your own and your neighbours good ; and that is
the way which you must take (as in the disciple's rubbing
the ears of corn. Sec.); for the rule is, that your labour is
then lawful and a duty, when in the judgment of a truly ju-
456 THK DIVINE APPOINTMENT
dicious person, it is like to do more good than hurt ; and it
is then sinful, when it is like to do more hurt than good.
Though all cannot discern this, yet (aa far as I know) this is
the true rule, to judge such actions. As for them thut suppose
our Lord's-day to be under the laws of rest with the Jewish
Sabbath, and so think that they have a readier way to decide
thes6 doubts, I will not contend with them, but I have told
you why I am. not of their mind.
V. From hence I further conclude, that whereas there
are such actions which bring some little benefit, but yet
are no apparent hindrances of any of the work of the
day, it seemeth to me too much ceremoniousness, and
too ungospeMike, to trouble our own or other men's coBh
sciences, by concluding such things to be unlawful. If one
have a word to speak of some considerable worldly business,
which may be forgotten if it be not presently spoken ; or if
I meet one with whom 1 must speak the next day about some
worldly business, and if I then wish him to come speak with
me, I must send a great way to him afterwards, I will not
say that it is a sin to speak such a word. I will first look
at a man's positive duties on the Lord's- day, how he hearetb,
and readeth, and prayeth, and spendeth his time, and ho^
he instructeth and helpeth his family ; and if he be diligent
in seeking God,(Heb. xi« 6,) and ply his heavenly business,
I shall be very backward to judge him for a word or action
about worldly things that falls in on the by, without any
hindrance to his spiritual work. And if another speak not
a word of any common thing, and yet do little in spiritual
things, for his own or other's edification, I shall think him a
great abuser or neglecter of the Lord's-day. A few words
about a common thing that falleth in the way, may be spoken
without any hindrance of any holy d,uty : but still we must
see that it be not a scandalous temptation to others. If I
see a man that unexpectedly findeth some uncomely h<de or
rent in hid clothes, either pin it up or sew it up, before he
goeth abroad, I will not blame him : but if he do it so as to
embolden another who useth needlessly to mend his clothes
on the Lord's-day, it will be a sin of scandal. If I see one
cut some indecent straggling hairs before he go forth, I will
uot blame him; but if he do it before one who will be en—
couraged by it to be barbered needlessly on that day, h^
will offend. Aud so'\u otVvei c^^^%.
OF THE LORD's-DAY. 457
VL By these same rules also we may judge of recrea-
tions on the Lord's-day. The recreations of the mind must
be the various holy employments of the day. No bodily
recreations are lawful which needlessly waste time, or hinder
our duty, or divert our minds from holy things, or are a snare
to others* Unless it be some weak persons whose health
requireth bodily motion, few persons need any other than
holy recreations on that day. I know, no one man that so
much needeth it as myself, who these twenty years cannot
. digest one day's meat, unless I walk, or run, or exercise my
body before it, till I am hot, or sweat; and therefore neces-
sity requireth me to walk or fast ; but I do it privately on
that day, lest I tempt others to sii^. But I will not censure
one whom I see walking at fit hours, when for ought I know
he may be taken up in some fruitful meditation. But if per-
sons will walk in the streets or fields in idleness, or for vain
delight, or discourse, as if the day were too long for them,
and they had no business to do for their souls, this is not
only a sin, but a very ill sign of one that is senseless of his
soul's necessity and his duty»
VIL To read history, philosophy, or common things, un-
necessarily on the Lord's-day, is a sinful diversion from the
more spiritual work of it ; and unsuitable to the appointed
uses of the day (much more romances, play-books, or idle
stories) : yea, or those parts of divinity itself, which are less
practical and useful to the raising of thankful and heavenly
affections. But yet sometimes such other matter may fall
in, at a sermon, or conference, or in meditation, which will
require a present satisfaction in some point of history, phi-
losophy, or controversial divinity, which may be subservi-
ently used to edification, without sin. Here therefore we
must judge prudently.
VIII. A thing that may be lawful singly in itself, unless
it be of great necessity's unlawful when he that serveth us
in it is drawn or encouraged to make a trade of it. As to
use a barber to cut your hair; or a tailor to mend your
clothes, or a cobler to mend your shoes. Because if you
may use him, so may others as well as you, and so he will
follow his calling on the Lord's* day. And yet I dare not say,
if when you are to travel to church, you find your shoes or
boots by breaking something, to make you vtvc"a.^^\^ ^\
gaing out, but you may get them mended ^tvNdX.eV'^ , V4\\et<5i
458 TH£ DiVIMB APPOINTMJBNT
it may be done wttfaout thift inconveiiiaace. And though
cooks and barbers should not be unnecessarily used in their
trade, yet it is not always unlawful^ but sometimes rery #eU.
Because a3 one servant in the kitchen may be used to dress
meat for all the family, so one baker or cook may serve many
families, and save ten times as many persons the labour Which
else they must be at ; and perhc^^is with easier aood quicker
dispatch than others. The trade of the apothecary^ surgeooi
and physician, is ordinarily used* but for necessity.
IX. There is no sufficient avoidanceNof such abuses, but
by careful foresight, and prevention, and preparation the
week before ; which therefore must be consoionably done.
CHAPTER XII.
Of what Importance the due Observation of the ttorJPi-day is.
Tab singular benefits of keepi^ the Lord's-day aright,
should make all that love God, or ho^liness, or th^ church,
or their own or other men's souls, take heed how they grow
into a neglect of it^: much more that they plead not for such
negligence or abuse.
I. The due observation of the Lord's^day is needful to
• keep up the solemn worship of Ood, and public owning and
honouring him in the world : if all men were left to themselves,
what tifme they should bestow m the worshipping of Qod, ike
greatest part would cast off all, and grow into atheism or
crtter profa^eness ; and the rest would grow into confu-
sion. And if all princes and rul^s, of churches in tiie
virorM were left to their own wills, ta appoint the people on
what days to meet, some kingdoms and churches would have
one day in eighty or nine, or ten, of twenty, and some only
now dud then an hour, and some one'day,and some another,
and some next to none at all. For there is no otte universal
nionareh on earth to make laws for them all (whatever the
pope or his nominal general councils may pretend to) : and
they would never all come to any reasonable agreement
volnntsffily among themselves. Therefore the Kght o^P nature
telleth us, that as a day is meet and needful to be stated ; so
it is meet that God hina^eK, iK^ true Universal Monarch,
srhould determine of il-,^^'^^^ ^c.c.w^\\v^ \ifc \«3^ ^^«sft.
OF THE lord's-dav. 458
And thie Ls the very hedge and defensatire of Qod's public
worship. When hd bath made a law that one whole day in
seven shall be spent in it, men are engaged to attend it.
O what a happy acknowledgment of Ood and our Crea-
tor and Redeemer is it, and an honouring of hie blessed tiatne,
when all the churches tbrougfaoiit all the wotld are at onoe
praising the same God, with the same prdses* and hearing
and learning the same Crospe), and professing the same faith,
and thankitilly commemorating the same benefits : the church
is then indeed, like an army with banners. And were it not
for this day's observation, alas ! how diffetent would the
case be ! And what grei^er thing cam man be bound to,
than thuis to keep up the soleom acknowledgment and wor-
ship of Ood and our Redeemer in the world ?
II. The due sanctiftcation of the Lord's^ay, doth tend
to make religion universal, as to countries and individual
persons, which else would be of narrower extent. When all
the world are under a divine obligation, to spend one day
every week in the exercises of religion, (and superiors see to
the performance of their subject's obedience to this law,) it
will make men to be in some sort religious whether they
will or not : though they cannot be truly religious against
their will, it will make them visibly religious. Yea» Ck>d^s
own law, if matins did nothing, would lay an awe on the coo-
sciences of mosty who believe that there is a God that made
that law. And the weekly assemblies keep up the know-
ledge and profession of the Christian feith, and keep God
and heaven in the people's remembrance^ and keep sin nti-
der constant rebukes and disgrace. And were it not for
this, heathenism, infideliy and profaneness would quickly
oversfMread the world. The Lord's-day keepeth up the
Christian religion in the world.
IIL The lamentable ignorance of the genei^idity in the
world, doth require the sirict and diligent observaticHi of
the whole Lord's-day. Children and servants, and ordinary
country people, yea and too mcmy of higher quality, ate so
exceeding ignorant of the things of God and their salvation,
that all the constant diligence that can be used with them,
in preaching, exhorting, catechising, Sec. will not overcome
it vfitik the most. The most diligent masters of families la-
ment it, how ignorant their families are wh«¥i tUe^ \veo;{^ ^tycv.^
the best they c^n* het those that \A«ad5<)\ dsrdxiwci^'a*^
460 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
sporting away much of the day, but do like men that do not
secretly scorn Christianity^ nor despise their servants' souls,
and let them but try what measure of knowledge the bare
hearing of common prayer; yea, and a sermon or two with
it, will beget in their servants, if the rest of the day be spent
in sports ; and let them judge according to experience. If
ever knowledge be propagated to such, and families made fit
to live like Christians, it is likest to be by the holy improve-
ment of this day, in the diligent teaching and Learning the
substance of religion, and in the sacred exercises thereof.
^ IV. The great carnality, worldliness and carelessness
- of the most, and their great averseness to the things of God,
doth require that they be . called and kept to a close and
diligent improvement of the Lord's-day. Whatever unex-
perienced or carnal persons may pretend, that such constant
duty so long together will make them worse and more averse,
reason, experience and Scripture all are against them. If
there be some backwardness at the first, it is not sports and
idleness that will cure it ; but resisting of the slothful hu-
mour, and keeping to the work. For there is that in reli-
f gion that tendeth to overcome men's averseness to religion ;
; and it must be overcome by religion, and not by playing or
i idleness, if ever it be overcome. It is want of knowledge
and experience of it, which maketh them loathe it, or be
weary of it : when they have tried it more, and know it
better, they will (if ever) be reconciled to it. Six days in a
week are a sufficient diversion. Apprentices, and pupils,
and schoolboys will hold on in learning, though they be
averse ; and you think not all the six days too much to hold
them to it. A schoolboy must learn daily eight hours in a
day ; and yet some Wretched men (yea, teachers) would per-
suade poor souls that must learn how to be saved or perish
for ever, that less than eight hours one day in seven, is too
much to be spent in the needfullest, excellentest and plea-
santest matters in all the world.
If you say that the sublimity or difficulty maketh it
wearisome ; I answer, that philosophers do much longer
hold on in harder speculations.
If you say divinity being unsuitable to carnal minds,
their sick stomachs must take no more than they can digest.
/ answer, 1. Cannot a carnal preacher for his gain, and
honour, and fancy, hold on a\\ ihe >je^x \\i v!ftfc ^\xsA^ %:R^w<i<
OF THE LORD's-DAY. 461
divinity, perhaps eight or ten hours every day in the week?
And may not ignorant people be brought one day to endure
to be taught as long? 2. That which you call digesting, is
but understanding, and believing, and receiving it : and one
truth tendeth to introduce another; and he that cannot learn
with an hour's labour, may learn more in two. 3. And it is
hearing and exercise that must cure their want of appetite.
Experience telleth us, that when people take the liberty of
plays, and sports, and idleness for a recreation, they come
back with much more want of love to holy exercises, than
they that continue longer at them. Gratifying sloth and
sensuality increaseth it, and increaseth an averseness to all
that is good ; for who are more averse than they that are
most voluptuous ? If ever people be made, seriously holy,
it is a due observation of the whole Lord's-day, that is like
to bring them to it (I mean, observing it in such learning
and seeking duties as they are capable of, till they can do
better). For when the mind long dwelleth on the truth, it
will sink in and work ; and many strokes will drive the nail
to the head.
Let the adversaries of this day and diligence but observe,
and if true experience tell not the world that more souls are
converted on the Lord's-days than all the other days besides,
and that religion best prospereth both as to the number and
the knowledge and serious holiness of the professors of it,
where the Lord's-day is carefully sanctified, rather than where
idleness and playing do^make intermission, then I will con-
fess that I am incapable of knowing any thing of this nature
by experience. But if it be so, fight not against the com-
mon light.
V. The poverty, servitude, and worldly necessity of the /
most, do require a strict observation of the whole Lord's-
day • Tenants and labourers, carters and carriers, and abun-
dance of tradesmen are so poor, that they can hardly spare
any proportion of time : much less all their children and
servants, whose subjection, with their parents and master's
poverty, restraineth them. Alas ! they are fain to rise early
and hasten to their work and scarce have leisure to eat
and sleep as nature requireth : and they are so toiled and
"HTvearied with hard labour, that if they have at night a quarter
of an hour to read a chapter and pray,t\iey c^w ^c,"ax^%\v^^
open their eyes from sleeping. What time \ia\Xv VSci^ xdl^\%-
462 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT
ter then tio cooie and teach them ? (if we had such ministerd
again as would be at the pains to do ift.) And ii^at time
have they to hear or learn ? You must teach then on the
LordVday, or scarcely at all. Almost all that Ihey mast
learn must be then learned.
I deny not bi»t in thoee former years, when the law for-
bad me not to f^reach the Oospel^ the people eame to me on
the week-day, house by bouse; and also that they learned
much in their shops while they were working* "Bm/i, 1. It
came to one family's turn but one hour, or Kttk moie^ in a
whole year (for about fourteen families a week so catechised
and instructed, did no sooner bring their coarse about). 2.
And oar people were mostly wearers, whose tabonr was not
like ploughmen's, masons', carpenters\ carriers', See. to take
up their thoughts ; but they would lay a book before them,
and ready or meditate, or discourse to edification whilst they
were working. But it is not the case of the multitude.
And let any sober man but consider, whether with
people so ignorant and averse as the most are, should he
be never so diligent on the Lord's-day, the six days inter-
mission be not a great cooling of their affection ; and a
great delayer of their growth in knowledge ; when fhey are
like by the week*s-end to forget all that they had learned on
the Lord's-day. What then would these poor people come
to, if the Lord'S'day itself must be also loitered or played
away?
VI. The tyranny of many masters maketb the LorcPs-
day a great mercy to the world : for if God had not made a
law for their rest and liberty, abundance of worldly, impi-
ous persons, would have allowed them little rest for their
bodies, and less opportunity for the good of their souls.
Therefore they have cause with great thankfulness to im-
prove the holy liberty which God hath given them, and not
cast it away on play or idleness.
VII. The full improvement of the Lord's-days doth tend
to breed and keep up an able, faithful ministry in the
churches (on which the preservation and glory of religion
mnch dependeth). When there is a necessity of full eccle-
siastical performances imposed on ministers, they are also
necessitated to prepare themselves with answerable abil»»
ties and fitness But vA^eu tio tcMc^t^ \i^ t^<\QLiTed of them,
but io read the Htwgy, or lo «a.^ %. AfttX. ^axAkArj ^\ift.t^^s£«R^^
OF THE lord's-day. 463
they that know no more is necessary (to their ends) are so
strongly teinpted to get ability and preparations for no
more, that few will overcome the temptation. And there-
fore the world knoweth that in Moscovy, Abassia, and for
the most part of the Greek and Armenian churches, as no-
thing or little move than reading is required, so little more
ability than to read is laboured after, and the ministers are
ordinarily so ignorant and weak, as is the scorn and decay
of the Christian religion,
VIII. Yea, it will strongly incline masters of fiunilies to
labour more for abilities, to instmet and catechise their
fsuEttiiies, and pvay with them, and guide them in the fear of
Qod, when they know that the whole day must be improved
to the spiritual good of their families. And so knowledge,
abilities, and family-holiness will increase: whereas those
that think themselves under no such obligations, what igno^
rant, profane, and ungodly families have they? Because,
for the most part, they are si^ch themselves.
IX. A multitude of gross sins will be prevented by die
due observance of the Lord's-day. Nothing more usual
than for the sports, riots, idleness, and sensuality of that
day, to be nurseries of oaths, curses, ribaldry, fornication,
gluttony, drunkenness, frays and bloodshed. And is not
God's service better work than these ?
X. Lastly, This holy order and prosperity of the churches,
and this knowledge and piety in individual subjects, will
become the safety, beauty, order, and felicity of kingdomsx
and all civil societies of men. For when the people are fit
but duly to use and sanctify the Lord's-day, they are fit to
use all things in a sanctified manner, and to be an honour
to their country, and an ease and comfort to their governors,
and a common blessing to all about them.
CHAPTER Xltl.
What other Church-Festivah or separated Days are Lawful?
I SHALL conclude this discourse with a brief answer of this
question*
I. lio sober Christian doubtetili, b^ iVv%X ^otck^ ^^^ixl ^S.
every day is to be spent in religloua cxetev^e \ ^\A 'OaaX
464 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT ^
-even our earthly business must be done with a spiritual in-
tent and mind. And that every day muHt be kept as like to
the Lord's-day, as our weakness, and our other duties,
which God hath laid upon us, will allow.
IL Few make any question but that whole days of hu-
miliation and thanksgiving may and must be kept upon
great and extraordinary occasions, of judgments or mercies.
And that many churches may agree in these. And I know
no just reason why the magistrate may not (with charity
and moderation to the weak) impose them, and command
such an agreement among his subjects.
III. Few doubt but the commemoration of great mercies
or judgments may be made anniversary, and of long con-
tinuance. As the Powder-plot-day (November 5.) is now
made among us, to preserve the memorial of that deliver-
ance. And why may it not be continued, whilst the great
sense of the benefit should be continued? And so the
Second of September is set apart for the anniversary hum-
bling remembrance of the firing of London. And so in
divers other cases.
ly . The great blessing of an apostolic ministry, and of
the stability of the martyrs in their sufferings for Christ,
being so rare and notable a mercy to the church, I confess
I know no reason why the churches of all succeeding ages
may not keep an | anniversary-day of thanksgiving to God
for Peter or Paul, or Stephen, as well as for the Powder-
plot deliverance. I know not where God hath forbidden it,
directly or indirectly. If his instituting the LordVday
were a virtual prohibition for man to separate any more, or
if the prohibition of adding to God's word were against it,
they would be against other days of humiliation and thanks-
giving, especially anniversary ; which we confess they are
not. If the reason be scandal, lest the men should have
the honour instead of God, I answer, 1. An honour is due
to apostles and martyrs in their places, in meet subordina-
tion to God. 2. Where the case of scandal is notorious, it
may become by that accident unlawful, and yet not be so in
other times and places.
V. The devil hath here been a great undoer by overdo-
ing : When he knew not how else to cast out the holy ob-
iservation of the Lord' s-da^, mVVi ift^lovis ^eoijle, he found
out the trick of devising »o taaxv^ dac^^eaJ^^di'Wcj-^^^^Vft
OF THE lord's-day. 465
set up by it, that the people might perceive that the obser-
vation of them all as holy, was never to be expected. And
so the Xord's-day was jumbled in the heap of holy-days,
and all turned into ceremony, by the Papists, and too many
other churches in the world. Which became Calvin's
temptation (as his own words make plain), to think too
meanly of the Lord's-day with the rest.
VI. In the lawful observation of days, it is most orderly
to do as the churches do which we live among and are
joined to.
VIL But if church-tyranny would overwhelm any place
with over-numerous days (or ceremonies) which are (singly
considered) lawful, we should do nothing needlessly to
countenance and encourage such usurpation.
VIII. Yet it is lawful to hear a sermon, which shall be
preached on a human holy-day, which is imposed by usur-
pation. Seeing such a moral duty may be done, and so
great a benefit received, without any approbation of the in-
convenient season.
IX. And when we think it unlawful to join in the post*
tive celebration of unlawful days (as the Mahometan Sab-
bath), yet it may become a duty for the civil peace and our
own safety, to obey the magistrate in forbearing open oppo-
sition or contempt, or working upon that day ? And so
Paul justifieth himself against the Jews' accusations, that
they " found him not in the temple disputing with any man,
nor raising up the people, nor in the synagogues, nor in the
city," (Acts xxiv. 12,) unless it be when we have a special
call, to reprove the error which we forbear complying with.
X. It is long ago decided by the Holy Ghost, (Rom.
xiv ; XV.) that we must not be contentious, contemptuous,
nor censorious against one another, about things of no
greater moment, than the Jewish days were, though some
observed them without just cause : because the kingdom of
God consisteth not in meats and drinks, and days, but in
'' righteousness, and peaceableness, and joy in the Holy
Ghost. And he that in these things serveth Christ, is ac-
ceptable to God (and received by him) and approved of
(wise) men, and should be received to communion with
themL.'V(Rom. xiv. 17, 18; xv. 7.) We must therefore
** follow after the things that make for peace, ^ud\J\\w^
t^herewitb one may edify another." (Rom. x\v. l^*'^
VOL, XIII, H H
466 THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT, &C.
XI. The controversy 9 Whether it be lawful to separate
ail anniversary-day for the commemoration of Christ's
nativity, circumcision, and such like things which were
equally existent in the apostles' days, and the reason for
observing them equal with following times, (and so the apos-
tles had the same reason to have appointed such days had
they thought it best, as we have) I acknowledge too hard
for me to determine : not being able to prove it lawful, I
cannot own and justify it; and not seeing a plain prohibi-
tion, I will not condemn it, nor be guilty of unpeaceable
opposing church-customs or authority in it, but behave my-
self as a peaceable doubter.
XII. But that earthly power may appoint a weekly-day,
in commemoration of any part of our redemption, besides
the Lord's-day, and so make another separated weekly
stated holy-day, I think plainly unlawful, because it is a
doing the same thing for one day, which God hath done al-
ready by another ; and so seemeth'to me, 1. An usurpation
of a power not given. And, 2. An accusation of Christ and
the Holy Ghost, as if he had not done his work sufficiently,
but man must come after and do it better.
But especially if such (or any day or ceremony) be by
an universal law imposed on the universal church, it is arro-
gant usurpation of the Divine authority ; there being no
vicarious head or monarch under Christ of all the world, or
all the church, nor any universal governor, who may use
such legislation, whether personal or collective.
The same I may say of any that would presume to abro-
gate the Lord's-day.
And so much shall suffice, in great haste, of this subject.
And to Thee, O most glorious and gracious Creator and
Redeemer, I humbly return my unfeigned thanks, for the
unspeakable mercies which I have received on thy day ; and
much more for so great a mercy to all thy churches and the
world : and craving the pardon (among the rest) of the sins
which I have committed on thy day, I beseech thee to con-
tinue this exceeding mercy to thy churches and to me ; and
restore me and other of thy servants,' to the privileges, and
•comforts of this day, which we have forfeited and lest ; and
let me serve thee in the life, and light, and love of thy Spirit,
in these thy holy days on earth, till I be prepared for, and
received to, the ever\aal\iig le^lmV^w^tX-^ ^^"^l* 6aft«a.
467
AN
FOR
FURTHER CONFIRMATION OF GOD'S OWN SEPARATION OF THE
LORD*S-DAY,
AND
DISPROVING THE CONTINUATION OF THE JEWISH SEVENTH
DAY-SABBATH.
CHAPTER I.
An Answer to certain Objections against the LorcTs-daj/,
Though they are answered before^ the reader must pardon
me, if upon the particular urgencies of some objectors, I again
make answer to these that follow.
Object. * Acts XX. 7. " The first day of the week ;*' (Gr.
one of the Sabbaths.) That the breaking of bread there was
common eating, compare the like Greek phrase, Acts xxyii.
35 ; ii« 42. See Isa. Iviii. However, it was but an example
of preaching, and breaking bread, upon a special occasion.'
Answ. 1. That 'Ev rii fiu^rdiiv (raj3/3ar«iiv signifieth on the
first day of the week, the generality of the ancients, both
Greek and Latin, agree, whose testimony about the sense of
a word, is the best dictionary and evidence that we can ex-
pect. And the same phrase used of the day of Christ's re-
sunection by the evangelists, proves it. Though I am sorry
to bear of one that denieth that also, and asserteth that
Christ rose on the second day morning, because else he
could not, as Jonah, be three days and nights buried. But
I am not so proud as to think myself capable of convincing
that man in such a matter of fact, who will not believe the
historical witness of the whole church of Christ, and ex-
pecteth to be believed against them all, at such a distance
in the end of the world.
2. There is no doubt but that KXamc toS ttpTox),\it^^^^^
468 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
of bread, was both a common and a sacred action : and the
phrase is to be interpreted by the context, to know when it
signifieth the common, and when the sacred. In Acts xxvii.
35, the context teacheth us to interpret it of common eat-
ing : but that it doth not so. Acts ii. 42. 46 ; or Acts xx. 7.
is plain to him that considereth, 1. That it was then usual
to communicate sacramentally in all their church-assemblies.
2. That these mentioned were church-assemblies; the
church being met purposely for sacred works. Yet it is to
be remembered, that the love-feasts did usually concur in
the beginning with the sacrament, and the name might be
used with respect to both.
3. That it was not a mere occasional meeting, is Q|ppa-
rent to the unprejudiced, 1. Because they stayed atTroas
sevien days, (ver. 6.) and in all the seven make no mention
of this exercise, but on the one only, which was the first,
2. Because as is said, it was not a family, or by-meeting,
but a church-meeting ; " The disciples came, or assembled
together." 3. Because it is said that they assembled for
this very end, " to break bread" cruvrr/fJiivtDv rdiv fmOrrnHv t5 Kki'
(jac 4. The great length of time which was spent in the holy
exercises: Besides the rest of the worship, and breaking of
bread, Paul preaching till midnight ; which intimateth that
such work took up the day. 5. Because it is mentioned as
a matter of custom: they did not assemble because Paul
called them to hear him only, as being to depart to-morrow;
but Paul assembled with them at the time of their assem-
bling to break bread; and ii seemeth that he deferred his
journey for that opportunity. 6. Because other texts, as
joined with this, and infallible church-history following, do
prove, past all doubt, that it was the constant custom of all
the churches so to do.
Object. ' 1 Cor. xvi. 1,2." The first day of the week, 8&c"
(Gr. one of the Sabbaths.) It is an ordinance to lay aside
for charitable uses ; but not one word about changing the
Sabbath.*
Atisw. The abolition of the Sabbath we prove not by
this text, but by others : all that we bring this for, is but to
shew in conjunction with others, as part of the sacred his-
tory, that the first day was the church's separated day.
And I pray mark the atieti^\\v o^ \Js\^ Y^oQ?,\\v^t the apostle
did ' give order that a\\ Oae cVvwd^v^^ ^^ QiA^Nisa^ ^&^^^
OF THE lohd's-day. 469
the : Corinthians, should deposit' their alms on one and
the same day, viz. on the first day. Was it not enough to
tie them to the contribution, but he must tie them all to one
set day to lay it by, or deposit it; if it had not been be-
cause the churches used to assemble on this day^ and not to
appear before God empty (as Dr. Hammond noteth on the
text)? Whoever heard else that God or man tied several
countries to one set day, for the private depositing of their
own monies aftervi^ard to be distributed? " With such sacri-
fices God is well pleased ;" and therefore it was ever ac-
counted by Christians a fit work for the sanctified day ; but
no other day was ever appointed peculiarly for the set time
of laying by men's gifts of charity.
Object. ' Rev. i. 10. " John was in the Spirit on the
Lord's-day." Compare Exbd. xx. 10, &c.; Isa. Iviii. 13,
8cc. ; Luke vi. 5 ; Mark ii. 28 ; Matt. xii. 8, 8cc. And if the
Scripture be the rule to judge, resolve whether that day be
not theLord's-day, and of which only, (as distinguished
from the other days of the week,) the Son of man is Lord/
Answ. We are not upon a controversy of title or pro-
perty, whether God be Lord of other days : for so na doubt
he is Lord of all, and therefore no more of one than another,
because his propriety in each one is absolute ; and it can
be no more in any. Thus also he is absolute Lord of all
things, all places, all persons, 8cc. And yet some things,
some places, some persons have been separated to his ser-
vice by a peculiar dedication and relation ; and thence have
been particularly called the Lord's. And the texts cited by
you out of the Old Testament prove that such was the
Seventh-day Sabbath then : but not that it is so now; or
was to be so for perpetuity.
And the words of the New Testament cited, " The Son
ofMan is Lord also, or even of the Sabbath-day," shews no
more than that it was in his. power : he giveth it as a reason
for his doing that which the Pharisees counted Sabbath-
breaking (by which he oftentimes offended them), and. not
as a reason of his establishing it. And it seemeth plainly
to mean, that being but a positive law, and a law of Moses,
he had power to change it, and dispense with it, as well as
with other positives and Mosaical laws. As it is said,
Ephes. i. 22, 23. " he hath made him \\ead o^et ^ Akivcv^
to the church ;'' not head to all things •, so \ie \s \aO\i c^n^x.
470 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
or of all days ; but all are not separated to his worship.'
As it is said^ John xrii. 2. '' As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as
thou hast given him :" so it may be said he hath power over
all days, that he may sanctify one to his peculiar service,
and use the rest in more commoh works.
But that which we bring this text for, is but to know
what day is notified to the world by this title of the Lord^s-
doi/, and consequently was then accounted his separated
peculiar day. Now the signification of words is known but
by use : they are not natural signs, but arbitrary: you know
not the sense of one word of Hebrew, Greek or Latin» but
by the history of their use, by dictionaries, authors or otiier
tradition. Now it is unquestionable to any man versed in
antiquity, that all the churches and authors, Oreek add
Latin, Syriac, iBthiopic, Persian, Arabic, that have been
known among us, and speak of such things, do unanimously
call the first day of the week by the name of the Lot^s*
day, as being so called from the beginning, even from the
apostles ; and all old expositors so interpret thislext. And
you may as well question what day the word Sabbath signi-
fied in the Old Testament almost, as what day the name of
the Lord's-day signified in the New ; or what sort of people
they were, that were called Christians first at Antioch, when
only one sort hath ever since been notified by that name ;
even the disciples of Christ. The Greek, with the Syriac
translation, the Arabic, the vulgar Latin, have all the Lord^s-
day : and the Ethiopic as equipollent, hath the Jirst day.
And Dr.Heylin (who would find something against it, if any
thing were to be found,) speaking of some of late that other-
wise expound it, is so ingenuous as to say, (part 2. cap. i.
p. 37.) ' Touching this we will not meddle ; let them that own
it look to it : the rather since St. John hath generally been
expounded in the other sense, by Aretas, and Andr. CsDsa-
riensis on the place, and by Beda, de rat. temp. c. 6^ and by
the suffrage of the church, the best expositor of the word of
God ; wherein this day hath constantly, since the time of
the apostles, been honoured with that name above other
days.' And I know no one man (nor many) that at six^
teen hundred years distance almost, is so worthy to be be«-
Jieved for the bare aens^ o? ^ n«o\'\, ^^ \X\a cow^tant use and
universal testimony of a\\ a.%^^?\om\!tvaX\l\m^>S\ti«^*
OF THE LORD'S-DAY. 471
As Christ is the Lord of all our suppers, yet all are not
called the Lord*s-supper ; so it is in this case.
I must needs conclude therefore, that if I should cast off
the evidence of this text, upon no greater reason than you
offer me, I think, I should resist the Holy Ghost, and use
violence against God's word, which I should obey.
Object, • There is no law in the Scripture to observe the^
first day, no promise made to the observers of it, no threat-
ening against the breakers of it, &c« shew it. And if no law,
no transgression, ** Sin is a transgression of the law." (Rom.
iv- 15.)
Answ. I have shewed you full proof of a law for it before.
Though it was not Christ's way to enact his laws in that
majestic commanding form as God did to Moses on the
Mount. But as he condescended to come in flesh, to be a
Teacher and Saviour, in the form of a servant, under the law
himself, to redeem those that were under it, so he maketh
his laws in a merciful, teaching-style. All that is revealed
by him as his will, appointing our duty, is his law. But that'
we observe the Lord*s-day, is revealed by him as his will,
making it our duty.
These are his laws requiring us to hear and obey his Spirit
in his apostles, ** As the Father hath sent me, so send I you :
and when he had said this he breathed on them, and said.
Receive ye the Holy Ghost," &c. (John xx. 21, 22.) " He
that heareth you, heareth me.'' (Luke x. 16.)
And this is his law requiring his apostles by that Spirit
to promulgate his laws, and make known his will. Go, dis-
ciple me all nations, baptizing them, 8lc. ''teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and,
lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (or
age); (Matt, xxviii. 19, 20;) with the other texts fore-cited.
And that the Spirit in the apostles hath settled the Lord^s-
day, as the separated day for holy assemblies and worship,
I have proved to you, both by the texts which you now
sought in vain to make void, and the unquestionable prac-
tice and history of the universal church, from that age until
this. And withal by other texts which you omit : which
(not alone, but) all set together make up the proof, because
it is historical evidence of a matter of fact, which we have
to seek after.
1. Christ's resurrection laid the touudaWow, o\ ij^^n^xXn^
472 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
cause ; as God's ceasing from his works did the Sabbath.
2. Christ's appearing to them assembled on that day» began
the actual separation. 3. The Holy Ghost coming down on
them» on that day, did more notably sanctify it. 4. /The
Holy Ghost as an infallible Spirit in them, did cause them
to make a public settlement of tliat day in all the churches,
which was the full and actual establishment. 6. This set-
tlement is fully proved ' de facto' in Scripture and infallible
history. 6. And that there are promises and threatenings, to
the obeyers and rejecters of Christ's commands, (whom the
Father commanded us to hear, and who is the great Prophet
of the church,) I hope you belieye. *' Happy are they who
do his commandments that they may have a right to the
tree of life," &c. (Rev. xx. 14.) " See that ye refuse not him
that speaketh ; for if they escaped not who refused him that
spake on earth, much more," &c. (Heb. xii. 26.) " It ishaB
come to pass that every soul that will not hear that Prophet,
shall be destroyed from among the people." (Acts lii. 23.)
" We are of God : He that heareth God, heareth us : He that
is not of God, heareth not us : Hereby know we the Spirit of
truth, and the spirit of error.
If besides this, you must have particular precepts, pro-
mises, threatenings, in the form which you imagine to be
fittest, you may, for want of those, deny many other Gospel-
laws, as well as this. Have you not much more for the se-
paration of the Lord's-day, than you have for infants' bap-
tism, for a Christian magistrate, for Christian's waging war,
for prohibited degrees as to marriage, &c.
I am persuaded the sober study of these points would
do much to convince the contrary minded^ 1. How much of
Christ's work, as to the settlement of church-orders, was
committed to the apostles to be done ; and how little he
publicly settled himself in person, before his resurrection.
2. How much the Gospel-administration excelleth that
of the law. And what eminent glory God designeth to him-
self by the work of man's redemption, and how much more
now he calleth man to read, and study, and know him in the
face of Jesus Christ, than in the creation ; and how largely
the change of the Covenant is proved in the Epistle to the
Hebrews.
3. What a change is made herein as to man's duty, since
the fall of man under lYve nvi^\X\ o^ V.W Ci\^"^\.<^\^ -vV^ \^ \\al
OF THE LORD's-DAY. 473
now his rest, but his terror, and a consuming fire, till recon-
ciled and adopting us in Christ; and since the earth is
cursed to us as a punishment for our sins.
4. How much of the certainty, and glory of the Chris-
tian faith, and of all our rest and consolation in it, is laid in
the Gospel on the RESURRECTION of our Lord, as be-
ginning a new world, or creation, as it were^ and as conquer-
ing and triumphing over death and Satan, and sealing the
promise, and bringing life and immortality to light, and
opening the kingdom of heaven to believers.
5. How much of Christ's legislation and administration
of his church-settlement and government was to be done by
the Holy Ghost ! and how glorious this office of the Holy
Ghost is, and of what grand importance to be understood :
Ashe was the promised paraclete, or advocate, or agent of
our glorified Lord, to do his work on earth in his bodily ab-
sence ; to whom the infallibility of the Scriptures, the seal-
ing operation of miracles, the sanctification of believers, and
forming them for glory in the image of God, is to be ascribed :
whom to blaspheme, is the unpardonable sin.
6. How dangerous a thing it is made by the Holy Ghost
to seek to set up Moses's law, (as the whole epistle to the
Galatians, besides most of the other epistles, testify,) as inti-
mating a denial of Christ, and a falling away from grace, and
a perverse setting up of that which Christ came to take down,,
as part of our own redemption. And how large and plain
Paul is upon this subject j and how the Spirit in all the
apostles did determine it. Acts xv. And how the Corinthi-
ans, Nicolaitans, Ebionites, Nazarceans, and many more of
the condemned heresies of that age, which troubled the
churches, and whom the apostles wrote against, went all that
way of mingling the Jewish law with the Gospel.
7. How plainly and expressly Paul numbereth Sabbaths
with the shadows that cease. Col. ii. 16, (to pass by other
texts,) and what violence men's own wits must use, in deny-
bg the evidence of so plain a text. Their reason, that he
saith not Sabbath but Sabbaths, is against themselves; the
plural number being most comprehensive, and other Sab-
baths receiving their name from this ; and the word Sabbath
always used in Scripture, for a rest which was partly cere-
monial. See what Dr. Young in his excellent " Dv^% Bo\£!\w**
474 APPENDIX FOR CONFIKMATION
saith of this text (thongli I know some say otherwise, to the
injury of their own cause).
8. How many years together the churches had been in
poBsessioo, and consequently in the undoubted knowledge,
of the trne establi^edday of holy worship, before a word of
the New Testament was written. And therefore that it was
not written to be the first enacting of this day or chaise ;
but for other uses.
9. And yet how much evidence of the fact there^ is in
Scripture itiielf, that really such a day was used for the ordi-
nary church-assemblies, as a peculiar, separated day ; even
by the common order of the apostles in the churches, as
1 Cor, zvi. 1, 2, speaks.
10. And how impossible it is that aU the churches in the
world should from Uieir beginning keep this as the separated
day, even by the apostles and from their times, if it had not
been so ordered by them indeed. And whether it be possi-
ble that in no age near the original hereof, no pastor, no
Christian, no heretic, no enemy would have detected the
fraud or common error, or once have written, that this day
was not separated or used by the apostles, or apostolical
■ churches ; no, nor any one (that I know of, that denied not
- the resurrection) ever to have scrupled or opposed the day.
1 1. Whether they that can rej ect such historical evidence
as this is, do not unwittingly cast away the Holy Scriptures,
what zeal soever they pretend to have for their honour and
perfection.
12. Whether they that can reject all this evidence, and
yet can find in the second commandment, the prohibition of
all forms of prayer, sermons, catechisms, and ell modal i»-
ventions of men, as images, if not idols, are withont partia-
lity, or do not walk em men, by very different measures, and
pattial conceptiDns. ■ ' ■
I would on my knees entreat some dear and worthy
friends, on their knees to ponder these twelve particulars.
But because by their passing by the text. Acta ii. 1,2.
I perceive they observe not that the Holy Ghost came down
on the Lord's-day ; let then consider that the passover was
on the SabbBli^kn|^igMMiai|^Hfan.it must needs
be jnst fiASj^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Htot be the day
OF THE LORD's-DAV. 475
And it 18 not a trifle, that the first sermoD to the people
was preached by Peter on thatday,and three thousand con-
verted by it, and baptized.
Dr. Heylin'e own words are these, (part 2. p. 13,) ' The
first particular passage which did occur in Holy Scripture
toaching the first day of the week, is that upon that day the
Holy Ghost did first come down on the apostles, and that on
tile same day St. Peter preached his first sermon to the Jews,
and baptized »ucb asbeUeved.there being added to thecburch
that day three thousand souls.' And to prove the day.he saith,
p. 14, ' The rule being this, that on what day soever the se-
cond of the Passover did fall, on that also fell the great
feast of Pentecost (as Scaliger de Emend. Temp. 1. 2.). Sb
that as often as the PaBsonr did fall on the Sabbath, as this
year it did, then Pentecost fell on the Sunday.'
The last part of our objections are from history ; and it
is said.
Object. 'Quest. Whether the observation of the first day
was Dot brought into this island by Antichrist, about 408
01 409 years ago t Roger Hoveden about 1202 (above 1200
years after Christ), mentioneth a council held in Scotland
for the initiation of first bringing in that which he calls the
Dominical-day : See this testimony mentioned by Binius in
his councils, aad somewhat enlarged by Matthew Paris, the
old impression fol. 192, 193, and the last edition foi. 200,201 ;
and howthekingof England and nobility would not then re-
ceive this alteration -I conceive that in the first centuries
Uie great controversy relating to this was about translating
the keeping the Passover, which they now call Easter, from
the fourteenth day of the first moon, && (under the colour
of honouring Christ,) to the first day of the week, as the
Dominical- day; which the popes first set themselves widi
great vehemency to introduce And as the pope obtained
his purpose for one day in the year, so by degrees in some
places, came one day in a week ; the first day to be observed,
~ seventh day, by one of the popes, turned from a fes-
- *"•* - "bilstsaany of the Eastern, and some of the
•lid tnU retain with all the observation of
Mtli together with the first-day, and
■ in the Batt and West kept only to
Cllfiatiui'a Sabbatlb, %u:.*
M^ dennUe an. fcdvei&^n ■\%^e'ifa^
476 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
by bis acquaintance witb history ! 1. Were any of the au-
thors I before cited either antichristian, or 1200 years after
Christ?
Ignatius^ if genuine was about anno 102; if not, as Da-
Iseiis thinks, then he was about 300.
The canons called the apostles/ and the constitutions
called the apostles/ very ancient
Justin Martyr wrote his Apol. anno 150, about fifty years
after St. John's death; where his testimony is as plain as
can be spoken. To which Pliny's, who wrote about 107, some
seven years after St. John's death, may be joined, that he may
be understood of the day.
Clemens Alexand. about ninety- four years after St. Joho,
anno 194.
* Tertullian who is most express, and full, and frequent,
about 198, that is, ninety-eighty years after St. John,
Origen about 206 began his teaching.
Cyprian about anno 250.
Athanasius, who wrote largely of it, about anno 330.
To what purpose should I mention again Ensebius,
Gregory Nazianzen, Nyssen, and all the rest. It was but
about anno 309 that Constantine began his reign, who made
laws for the Lord's-day ; which other Christian emperors
enlarged. But bow much earlier were all those synods which
Eusebius mentioned, which in the determination of Easter
owned the Lord*s-day ! And that of Nice -was but about
anno 327. The council of Laodicea, but about anno 314,
or 320.
The council of Eliberis about anno 307, Can. 21, saith,
' If any that live in the cities shall stay from the church
three Lord's-days, let him be so long suspended from the
sacrament, till he be sensible of his punishment.'
After this, how many councils and how many imperial
laws take care of the Lord's-days ? It is tedious to cite
them.
To these may be added, 1. The common agreement that
is/founded in the resurrection, and was from that time. 2.
The early contest for keeping Easter only on that day, which
you note, as being a day by all Christians received. 3. The
common detestation of fasting on that day. 4. And the
universal custom oi not .\LXiee\m^m ^A^ciT^tioiiL on that day :
which all shew that tlie d^^ ^^ ^^^ca-^'S ^\i^^^^^^*
OF THE lord's-day. 477
Athanasius saith, de Sab. et Circ. * Even as at the first
it was commanded that the Sabbath should be observed in
memory of the finishing of the world, so do we celebrate the
Lord's-day, as the commemoration of the beginning of. a new
creation/ And Hom. de Sem. ' The Lord transferred the
Sabbath to the Lord's-day.' Though Nannius question the
Hom. de semente, so do few others, and none that I know
of, question that de Sab. et Oirc.
Greg. Nyss. Orat. in s. Pasc. saith, * As God rested on
the Sabbath from all his works which he had done in the
creation, so did the only begotten Son of God rest in truth
from all his works, &c/
August. Epist. 119. 'The Lord's-day was declared to
Christians by the Lord's resurrection. From that time (or
thence) it began to have its festivity.'
Maximus Taurinensis, saith, Hom. 3. de Pentec. ' The
Lord's-day is therefore set apart, because on it our Saviour,
as the rising sun, discussing the infernal darkness, did shine
forth in his resurrection.'
And for fasting, Tertul. de Cor. Mil. c. 3. saith, ' We
account it unlawful to fast on the^Lord's-day.' And though
the Montanists fasted excessively, they excepted the Lord's-
day, Tertul. adv. Psych, c. 15.
Ignatius and the Apost. Const, et Can. are forecited of
this.
Austin saith, Ep. 86. ' It is a great scandal to fast on
the Lord's-day.' (Which the Manichees were accused of.)
The Concil. Gangr. Can. 18. saith, * If any on pretence
of abstinence fast on the Lord's-day, let him be Anathema.'
The Concil. Caasar August, c. 2. is against fasting on the
Lord's-day, either for the sake of any time (as Lent) or per-
suasion, or superstition whatsoever. So the Concil. Agath.
c. 12. Concil. Aurel. 4. c. 2. And the Concil. Carth. anno
398. Can. 64. ' Let him be taken for no Catholic who pur-
posely fasteth on the Lord's-day.'
And the prohibition of kneeling in adoration, I have
opened before, ex Concil. Nic. c. 20. Concil. Trul. Epiphan.
&c. To which I add Collect. Can. Johan Antioch. sub ti-
tttlo L. Tertul. de Cor. Mil. c. 3. (now cited) Hieronym. adv.
Lucifer, cap. 4. 'Per omnem Pentecosten nee de geniculis
adorare, et jejuniumsolveres, multaqueal\ac\]a'5fcxio\0&w^^
sunt, rationabilis sibi observatio VludicaVvt? (^^^. ^w5^
478 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
kneeled, (Acts xx.) in that time, vide Justell. ad Can. 20.
Cone Nic.) Question, ad Orthod. inter Juatin. opera qu.
1 1& p. 283. ' Die Domtnieo genua uon flectere sybolum est
fesurrectionis, &c.' Germanus Constantinop. in Theoria
Eccles. p. 149. Our not kneeling on the Lord's-day, aigni-
£eth our erection from our fall, by Christ's resurrection, &c
See also Basil de Spir. Sane c 27. Tom. 2. p. 112, 113. et
Balsamon thereon, p. 1032. et Zonar. in c. 20. Codc Nic.
p. 66. See Casp. Suicerus de hisce sacr. observ. c, 6*
2. Your historical observations are utterly mistaken.
The observation of the Lord's-day was in all Uie churches
past all controvery from the beginning, while the time of
Easter was in controversy, as I have proved. Why would
you not name those churches in East and West, (which I
never read or heard of,) yea, or that person, that was for the
Seventh day alone? I am confident because you could not
do it. Indeed all churches called the Seventh day alone by
the old name Sabbath, while they maintained the Sabbath to
be ceased ; but under the name of the LordVday^ the first
was solemnly observed.
3. In Hoveden and Mat. Paris, there is not a word of
what you say; so much do you miscite history. There is
indeed, anno 1201, (which as I remember is Hoveden's last,)
the story that many authors talk of and Heylin meittioneth,
of one that found a letter, pretended from heaven, upon the
altar, reproving the crying sins of the times, and especially
the profanation of the Lord's<-day, and requiring them to
keep it strictly for the time to come ; which was so fiur from
being the imitation of the Lord's-day, that it was about
1167 years after it. And how could men pretend such a
divine reproof for such a sin, if the day had not been re-
ceived before ? I pray read Heylin's history against us,
which will set you more right in the matter of fact. And
there is no mention of any such council as you talk of, for
initiation of the Lord's-day, nor any resistance of the kings,
or Scots. There is nothing of all this in Hoveden or Matth.
Paris.
4. But what if England had been ignorant of the Lord's-
day till then (which is utterly untrue), it foUoweth not that
they kept the Sabbath on the Seventh day -, Nor would a
{>arbarou8, remote corn^ of \]l\^ yrovld, prejudice the testi-
mony of all Christ'a chtxtc^Q^ "m t?*wj ^^*
OF THE lord's-day. 479
5. But that yoa may see how greatly you mistake the
case of England ; read but our eldest English historian^
Beda Hist. Eccles. as 1. 1. 26. he mentionethan old church
named St. Martin's, built in the Romans' time; and, cap. 33.
a church buiU by the ancient, faithful Romans (and by the
way, I think it most probable that the Roman soldiers first
brought Christianity into Britain); so he oft describeth the
worship as agreeable to other churches : And 1. 2. c* 2. he
begins his reproof of the Britains for not keeping Easter on
the due Lord's-day, but never reproveth them for not keep-
ing the Lord's-day itself. And though Britains tand Scots
had so little regard of the English bishops sent from Rome,
that they awhile refused so much as to eat with them, yea,
or to eat in the same inn, (cap. 4. L 2.) yet about the Lord's-
day there was no controversy. Lib. 3. cap. 4. he tells you
that the Scots' difference about Easter-day continued tiU
anno 716, for want of intelligence from other churches,
though Columbanus and his followers were very holy per-
sons. And (that you may see your error) he there tells you
that they did not keep Easter-day with the Jews on the
fourteenth day still, as some thought, but on the Lord's-
day ; but not in the right week : ' For, (saith he) they knew
(as being Christians) that the Lord's resurrection which was
on the first day of the week, was always to be celebrated on
the first day of the week ; but being barbarous and rustic,
they had not yet learned when that same first day of the
week» which is now called the Lord's-day, did come/
Here you see that it was past controversy with them that
the Lord's*day must be celebratc^d in memorial of Christ's
resurrection ; and the Scots keep not Easter on any other
week-^ay ; and they had not been like Christians, if they
bad not owned and kept the Lord's-day : only they had not
akiU enough in calculating the times, so as to know when
thefrue anniversary Lord's-day came about, but kept Easter
on ft wrong Lord's-day.
The same he saith again in the praise of Finan, lib. 3«
cap« 17. that though he kept not Easter at the due time,
' yit he did not, as some falsely think, keep it on any week-
day in the fourteeuth moon with the Jews ; but he always
kept ii on the Lord's-day, from the fourteenth moon to the
twentieth, because of the belief of the Loid*^ x^^xsLtt^oCvs^s^.^
wbidi the oburcb traly believed was ou t^cie ftxaX. A-vj o1 ^^
480 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
week for the hope of our resurrection, and which (they be-
lieved) will fall out on the same first day of the week, which
is now called the Lord's-day.*
So, cap. 25. the king and queen kept Easter on several
Lord's-days, and the difference made the stir: And Wilfrid
in his speech there saith the same, and the Scots kept Easter
only on the Lord's-day ; (by whom the king at that time was
<:hanged.)
And, lib. 3. cap. 26. Beda saith that fuda, (another holy
follower of the Scots,) being made bishop,
' On the Lord's-days the people flocked by crowds toge-
ther, either to the church, or to the monasteries, not to re-
fresh their bodies, but to learn the word of God ; and if any
priest happened to come into a village, presently the inha-
bitants, ' congregati in unum,' gathered together, took care
from him to seek the word of life.'
Cap. 2. lib. 4. Theodorus's consecration on the Lord's-
•day is mentioned*
Lib. 4. cap. 5. In the Synod at Herudford, the first ca-
non is, that all keep Easter on the Lord's-day next after th§
fourteenth moon of the first month.
Lib. 5. cap. 22. Ceolfridus sendeth an Epistle to the king
of the Picts, in which are these words, ' Postquam vero
Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus, Diemque nobis
Dominicam, quae apud antiques una vel prima Sabbati sive
Sabbatorum vocatur, gaudio suae resurrectionis fecit esse so-
lennem ; ita hanc nunc apostolica traditio festis Paschalibus
inseruit.' That is, ' But when Christ our Passover was sacri-
ficed for us, and by the joy of his resurrection made the
Lord's-daj'V which by the ancients was called one or the first
of the Sabbath^or Sabbaths, to be ar solemn day to us; so
now apostolical h^dition hath ingraffed it into the Paschal
festivals :' Where yJs^u see that the Lord's-day settled as so-
lemn by the resurrection, he taketh for uncontroverted^ biit
the graflSng it into the faster festivals, he ascribeth to apos-
tolical tradition, meaning St. Peter's.
And after in the same^ epistle, ' Qui tertia post immola-
tionem suae passionis die Vesurgens a mortuis, banc domini-
cam vocari, et in ea nos anbuatim Paschalia ejusdem resur-
rectionis voluit festa celebmre ;' that is, ' Christ rising from
t/ie dead, the third da^ a^V.^x \!sv^ ^-^c^tAs:.^ of his passion,
ivould have this catted lYie\l»ox«!^-dia^» ^\Av^w^$j.\sSk^^xi&
\
OF THE LORD'S-DAY. 481
on it to celebrate the Paschal feast of his resurrection/ The
like is after again in that epistle, with this addition, that,
* We hold that our resurrection will be on the Lord's-day/
By this epistle the king of the Picts was brought to con-
fomity in that day, and made laws for it : And cap. 23. the
Scots of Hy, who stood out so long, were brought to it by
the persuasion of Egbertus. Judge now of your historical
note of England.
But that you may see more of this, you may read Beda's
mind that lived in England, in other of his works. On
Acts XX. '* In una Sabbathi cum convenissemus ad frangen-
dum panem; id est, Die Dominico qui est primus a Sabbato,
cum ad mysteria celebranda congregati essemus ;' that is,
' On the Lord's*day, which is the first from the Sabbath,
when we were congregated to celebrate the mysteries/ — —
And he thinks it called the Lord's-day, because it is the re-
membrance of the Lord's resurrection, or ours.
And on Luke vi. fol. 78. he saith, * The observation of the
legal Sabbath, ought of itself to cease, and the natural liberty
of the Sabbath to be restored, which till Moses's time was
like other days. That as it is not circumcision, or the cere-
monies of th^ law that save the church, but the faith of
Abraham working by love, by which being uncircumcised
he was justified; so he calleth the second sabbath after the
first, no other but the spiritual Sabbath, in which, as on
other days, it is lawful to do any profitable work, for dis-
tinction friSm the Jewish Sabbath, in which it was not law-
ful to travel^ to gather wood, nor to do other needful things/
Pardon his error about that word; I only cite it for the his-
torical use.
And on Luke xxiv. 1. fol. 143. .' One of the Sabbaths, or
the first of the Sabbaths, is the first day after the Sabbath,
which the Christian custom hath called the Lbrd's-day, be-
cause of the Lord's resurrection.'
And ibid. fol. 143. * Whence ecclesiastical custom hath
obtained, that either in memory of Christ's resurrection, or
for hope of ours, we pray not with bended knees, but only
with faces declined towards the earth, on every Lord's-day,
and all the quadragesim®.'
And in Acts ii. 1. " The Holy Ghost sent the exam
VOL. XIII. I I
482
APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
pie of the ancient sign returning, did himself by his own
coming most manifestly consecrate the Loird's-day/
And on Col. ii. fol. 308. He sheweth that the Sabbath
was a shadow^ and Christ that made it was Lord of it^ and
ended it; and that to abstain from sin is now our Sabbath.
See him also on Rev. i. 10 ; Heb. iv. fol. 308 ; 2 Cor. ii. fol.
176. D.
And because he was a Scot, I will add Sedulius, who
lived 430. In Col. ii. fol. 91. 'The Sabbath being a sha-
dowy ceased when the body came, because the truth being
present, the image is needless/ And on Heb. iv. 9. * There
remaineth a rest, that is, the eternal rest which the Jewii^
Sabbath signified.'
^ee Philastrius HsBres. 8. Abundance more of this kind
I might cite, but for making the book tedious to those that
need it not. And so much for the history, to satisfy your
objections and mistakes.
CHAPTER II.
An Answer to more Arguments for the Seventh^day- Sabbath,
Reasons,
1. ' That the Lord Jesus
Christ is Jehovah, Zech. xi.
13 ; xii. 4 — 10': Gen. xix. 24;
Acts ii. 26 ; compared with
Psal. xvi. 8, 8cc. The Lord our
Righteousness.' (Jer.xxiii.6.)
2. ' That the world was
made by Jehovah Christ, John
i.3. 10; Heb. i. 2, 3. 10; Col.
i. 14—17; Eph.iii.9; Psal.
cii. 22. 24, 25; Heb. iii. 4;
Rom. xi. 36; 1 Cor. viii. 6;
Gen. ii. 4, &c.'
3.* TheSeventh-day-Sab-
bath was instituted by Jeho-
vah Christ, and kept by him,
(Gen. ii. 2 — 4.) whilst man
Answers,
1. This is no controversy a-
mong us, meaning of Christ's
divine nature ; and his per-
son in respect thereof.
2. Nor is this any contro-
versy, if meant of the second
person in the eternal trinity,
nor yet incarnate, nor in the
flesh anointed (Christ).
3. Though this have long
been doubted in the church,
some thinking it mentioned
but by anticipation, yet I de-
OF THE LORD 8-DAY.
483
was in innocency, before the ny it not, but believe that it
fall, (Gen. iii. 6.) and before was simctified and kept from
any types.* the beginning, because the
reason of the consecration
was from the beginning. But, 1. The second perspn is not
called Christ before the faiU nor without respect to his hu-
man nature* 2. It is uncertain whether it was before the
fall ; because we know not whether mem fell on the same
day in which he was created, which is the commonest opi-
nion, (though unproved). Whereupon Mr. G. Walker in his
Treatise of the Sabbath maintaineth, that the fall and pro-
mise went before the Sabbath, and so that God's rest had
respect to Christ promised, as the perfection of his works,
and that the Sabbath was first founded on Christ and the
promise. But because all this is unproved opinion, I in-
cline to the objectors, and the common sense.
4.^TheSeventh-day-Sab- 4. I am of the same opi-
bath was kept by Abraham, nion, but it is uncertain whe-
(Gen. xxvi. 6.) by the Is-
raelites, (Exod. V. 5.) The
law iTor the seventh day was
repeated.' (Exod. xvi.22,23.)
ther it was instituted actually
at first. Bat the rest, (Exod.
v. 6,) seemeth plainly to re-
fer to no Sabbath, but to the
people's neglect of their
tasksy w}iiie Moses kept them in hopes of deliverance, and
treated for them. And their tasks, with their desire to go
into the wilderness to sacrifice, maketh it probable that
Pharaoh never allowed them the Sabbath's rest.
5. * The decalogue was 5. All true, and uncontro-
spoken by Jehovah Christ, verted, with these supposi-
(Exod. XX. 1, See the As-
semblies' lesser catechism on
the preamble to the com-
mands:) Because the Lord is
our God, Sec. Redeemer, &c.
therefore we are bound to
keep, &c. (Exod. xix. 3, com-
pared with Acts vii. 38 ; Isa.
lxiii.9; Exod. xix. 17.) The
decalogue written by his fin-
ger, (Exod. xxxi. 18.) On ta-
bles of stone, (Exod. xxxii.
tions : 1. That the Father, as
well as the Scm, gave the de-
calogue : 2. That the second
person was not yet incarnate,
(Christ). 3. That the law was
given by the ministration of
angels, who it is like, are
called the voice and finger of
God. 4. That God our Re-
deemer did variously go-
vern his kingdom, by his law
and covenant \w v^xxow^ ^4a-
484 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
16^ 16. 19; xxxiv. 2. 28.) lions: Of which more anon,
and kept by all the prophets.'
6. ' The decalogue was 6. Here begineth our fun-
confirmed by Jehovah^Christ, damental difference: I shall
(Matt. V. 17 — 19; Luke xvi. first tell you what we take
17 ; Matt, xxviii. 20 ; John for the truth, and then con-
xiv. 26 ; XV. 14 ; Rom.iii. 31 ; sider of what you allege a-
vii. 12 ; James ii. 8. 12.) New gainst it.
covenant. (Heb. viii. 10; 1 1. We hold that every law
John iii. 22. 24 ; 1 John v. 3 ; is the law of some one ; some
2 John V. 6 ; Rev. xii. 17 ; xiv. law-maker or sovereign pow-
12; xxii. 14. 18; compared er: and therefore Christ be*
with Mai. iv. 4.)' ing now the head over all
things to the church, (Eph.
i. 22, 23,) whatever law is now in being to the church, must
needs be the law of Christ.
2. We hold that Christ's redeemed kingdom hath been
governed by him, with variety of administrations, by various
editions of his law or covenant : That, I. Universally to
mankind, viz. 1. Before his incarnation : which was ; First,
to Adam, and secondly, to Noah, and to mankind in them
both : 2. After his incarnation. II. Particularly to the
seed of Abraham, even the Jews as a particular political
society ; chosen out of the world (not as the only people or
x^hurch of God on earth, but) for peculiar extraordinary mer-
cies, as a peculiar people.
3. We believe that each of these administrations was
fittest for its proper time and subject, according to the
manifold wisdom of God: but yet the alterations were
many and great, and all tendedi towards perfection: so
that the last edition of the covenant by Christ incarnate
and his Holy Spirit, much excelled all that went before, in
the kingdom of the Mediator. And all these changes were
made by God-Redeemer himself.
4. As it was the work of the Redeemer to beliie repairer
of nature, and the recoverer of man to God ; so in all the
several administrations, the great laws of nature containing
man's duty to God, resulting from, and manifested in oar
nature as related to God, and the ' natura rerum' or the
works of God, was still made the chief part of the Re-
deemer's law : so that this law of nature, whose sum is the
OP THE lord's-day. 485
love of God, and of his image, is ever the primitive, un-
changeable law; and the rest are secondary, subsiervieht
laws, either positive or remedying, or both ; and no tittle of
this shall ever cease, if nature cease not.
5. But yet there are temporary laws of nature, which
are above temporary things ; or wherie the nature of the
thing itself is mutable, from whence the natural duty doth
result. As it was a duty by the then law of nature itself ;
for Adam's sons and daughters to marry, increase and
multiply, being made a natural benediction, and the means
a natural duty. And yet now, it is incest against the law
of nature, for brother and sister to marry. So it was a na*
tural duty for Adam and Eve before the fall to love each
odier as innocent ; but not so when they ceased to be inno-
cei^t : For ' cessante materia, cessat obligation
64 So also some positive commands made to Adam in
innocence ceased on the fall, and sentence; (as to dress
that garden.) And some positives of the first administra-
tions of grace, did cease by the supervening of a more per-
fect administration. As die two symbolical or sacramental
trees in the garden, were no longer such to man, when he
was turned out ; so no positive ordinance of grace was any
longer in force, when God himself repealed it, by the intro-
duction of a more perfect administration.
7. Accordingly we hold, that a change is now made of
the sanctified day. Where note, 1. That we takeinot the
Seventh day (no, nor one day in seven, though that be no-
thing to our controversy,) to be a duty by the proper law of
nature, but by a positive law : 2. That the Seventh day is
never called a Sabbath till Moses's time, but only a sancti-
fied and blessed day ; the word Sabbath being ever taken
in Scripture for a day of ceremonial rest, as well as of spi-
ritual rest and worship. 3. That Christ himself hath con-
tinued a Seventh day, but changed the Seventh day to the
First ; not as a Sabbath, that is, a day of ceremonial rest,
foe he hath ended all Sabbaths, as shadows of things that
were to comie, even of rest which remained for the people of
God. (Heb. iv. 9 ; Col. ii. 16.) And this is it which is in-
cumbent upon us to prove, and I think I have fully proved
already. 4. That having proved the thing done (the posi-
tive, law of the Seventh day changed by iVve ^oVj G\v<^%\. V<^
486 APPJBNDIX FOK CONFIRMATION
the First day), it; concerneth us not much to give the reasons
of Ood's doings : But yet this reason may secondarily be
ebserf ed ^ That Qod having made the whole frame of na-
ture very good, did thereby make it the glass in which he
was to be seen by man, and the book which he would have
man chiefly study^ for the knowledge of his Maker and bis
will. But sin having introduced disorder, eonfusion^ and a
curse upon part of the creation for man's sake, God pur*
posed at once, both to notify to man, what he had done by
sin, in bringing disorder and a curse upon the creature, and
blotting the book of nature which he should have cbvefly
used, and also that it was his good pleasure to set up a
clearer glass, even Christ incarnate, in which man might see
his Maker's face, in representation suitable to our need ;
not now as smiling upon an innocent man, nor as frowning
on a guilty man, but as reconciled to redeemed man ; and
to write a book in which his will should be more plainly
read, than in the blotted book of nature : yea, in which he
that in the creature appeared most eminently in power,
might now appear most eminently in love, evad redeeming,
reconciling, adopting, justifying, saving love. So that,
though God did not change the day, till the person of the
incarnate Mediator, with his perfect last edition of the co-
venant, was exhibited and set up as this clearer glass and
book, yet then as the seasonable time of reformation (Heb.
ix. 10, 11.) he did it. To teach man that though still he
must honour God as the Creator, and know him in the
glass and book of the creature, yet that must be now but
his secondary study ; for he must primarily study God in
Christ ; where he is revealed in love, even most conspicuous,
wondrous love.
And how suitable this is to man after sin, and curse, and
wrath, may thus evidently appear.
1. We were so dead in sin, and utterly deprived of the
spiritual life, that the book of the creatures was not a
sufficient means of our reviving : but as we must have the
QUICKENING SPIRIT of Jesus the Mediator, so we must
have a suitable means for that Spirit to work by ; which
that the cursed, mortified creature is not, appeareth in the
experience of the case of heathens.
2. We were so daik, \yv ^m, ^'aA. the creature was not a
OF THE lord's-day, 487
sufficient meanB of our illumination : but a« we must have
the ILLUMINATING SPIRIT of Jesus, so we must have
a glass and a book that was suited to that illuminating work.
3. We arc so alienated from God, by enmity and malig-
nity, and loss of LOVE, tiiat as it must be the Spirit of
Jesus which must regenerate us unto LOVE, so it must be
a cleafer demonstration of LOVE than the creature maketh
VOL its cursed state, which must be the fit means for the Spi-
rit to work by in the restitution of our LOVE.
Where further note, 1. That LOVE is holiness and hap-
piness itself; and the operations of Divine love are his per-
fective operations, and so fit for the last perfective act. %
That man had many ways fallen from LOVE : as he had ac*
tually and habitually turned away his own heart from God ;
and as he had fallen under God's wrath, and so lost those
fullest emanations of God's love, which should cherish his
own love to God ; and as he had forfeited the assistance of
the Spirit which should repair it ; and as he was fallen in
love with the accursed creature, and lastly, as he was under
the curse or threatening himself, and the penalties begun ;
it being impossible to human nature, to love a God who we
think will damn us, and feel doth punish us in order there-
unto. So that nothing could be more to lapsed man, or
more perfective of the appearance and operations of God,
than this demonstration of reconciling saving love, in our
incarnate, crucified, raised, glorified, interceding Redeemer.
All which sheweth that God's removal of the sanctified
day from the seventh to the first day of the week, and bis
preferring the commemoration of redemption, and our use
of the glass and book of an incarnate Saviour before that of
the now accursed creature, is a work of the admirable wis*
dom of God, and exceeding suitable to the nature of the
things.
II. Now I come to consider of what you say against all
this. You cite the numbers of many chapters and verses
(contrary to your grand principles, these divisions being hu-
man inventions) ; in all which there is nothing about the
controversy in hand. The texts speak not of the decalogue
only, but of the law, and of God's commandments, and
of Christ's commandments. Now I must tell you before-
hand, that I will take no man's word fov \.\\e viox^ q?1 Q^^»
nor believe any thing that you say, God ^^e%\s.^Xlti» ^vOsvwiX
488 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
proof. Prove it, or it goeth for nothing with me. For as I
know that adding to God's word is cursed, (Rev. xxii. 18.)
as well as taking away ; so if I must once come to believe
that God saith this or that without proof, I shall never
know whom to believe ; for twenty men may tell me twenty
several tales, and say that God saith them all.
I expect your proof then of one of these two assertions,
(for which it is that you hold, no man can gather by your
own words, or citations). 1 . That all the law which was in
being at Christ's incarnation, was confirmed or continued
by him (which yet I do not imagine you to hold, becaase
all Paul's epistles, and especially the epistle to the Hebrews,
do so fully plead against it). 2. Or else that by the law in
all those texts is meant all the decalogue, and the deca-
logue alone.
The texts cited by you prove no more than what we
hold as confidently as you: viz. 1. That all the law of na-
ture, (where the matter or nature of the things continue) is
continued by Christ, and is his principal law. 2. That the de-
calogue, as to the matter of it, is continued as it is the law of
nature (which is almost all that is in it), but not as the Jewish
law given by Moses's hands to that political body. 3. That
the natural part of all the rest of Moses's law is continued
as well as the decalogue. 4. That all Moses's lnw, as well
as the decalogue, shall be fulfilled, and heaven and eardi
shall sooner pass away, than one jot^r tittle of it shall pass
till it be fulfilled. 5. That the elements, shadows, predic-
tions, preparations, 8cc. are all fulfilled by the coming of
Christ, and by a more perfect administration. For Christ
fulfilled all righteousness ; (Matt. iii. 16 ;) Sucaioavvtiv is some-
times but materially for Sucamfiara. 6. That a change may
be two ways made, 1. By destroying a thing. 2. By per-
fecting it. And that by the law in Matt. v. 17, 8cc. Christ
meaneth, the whole body of God's law then in force to the
Jews, considered as one frame, consisting of natutal and
positive parts. Of which he saith, that he came not Kara*
Xvffai Tov vofiov, to dissolve, pull in pieces or destroy the law,
as a licentious teacher, that would take off God's obliga-
tions, and leave the wills and lusts of men to a lawless
liberty (which was it that the Pharisees imputed to such as
re against the law) : but tVvat b^ c^me to bring in a greater
ctness, a righteousueaa i\ot ovii>j ^^c^^^va^ \^^\. A:kW>&
OF THE LORD's-DAt- 489
accusers^ (ver. 20,) but instead of destroying it, to perfect
the law itself, that is, to bring in a perfecter administration
and edition of the law. So that as generation turneth * semen
in suppositum/ and so doth do away the seed, not by de-
stroying it, but by changing it into a perfecter being; and
as Paul saith, (1 Cor. xiii. 16 — 18,) "When that which is
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
away : When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood
(or was affected) as a child, I thought (or reasoned) as a
child; but when I became a man, I put away childish
things, &c/^ not that the child or his knowledge is de-
stroyed, but perfected and changed into better; and yet
many acts of his childish reasonings may cease ; and as he
that would repair the temple to a greater glory, may take
away the brass, and put gold instead of it, and so not change
one pin of the temple by a destructive change, but by a per-
fective change, which (to the frame) is to edify and not de-
stroy ; even so Christ professeth that he came not to gratify
the lusts of men, nor to destroy the law in the smallest
point. But, 1. Himself to fulfil it in the very letter. And, 2.
To accomplish the shadows, predictions, and types, by
coming himself as the truth and end, which when they had
attained, they were fulfilled ; And, 3. By a more perfect
edition and spiritual administration, advancing the law to a
higher degree of excellency; by which not the law is said
to be put away, or destroyed, but the imperfections or weak-
nesses of it to be done away. Not but that all God's laws
are perfect as to the time and subject which they are fitted
to ; but not in comparison of the future time, and degrees
to be added. It is a better Testament that Christ bringeth
in ^ (Heb. vii. 22 ; viii.. 6 ;) established on better promises,
and procured by better sacrifice, and bringing a better hope,
(Heb. viii. 6 ; vii. 19,) and " better things that are provided
for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."
(Heb. xi. 40.) So that when Moses's law is considered as
such, in that imperfect state, it is essentially or formally all
done away ; but not materially, for it is done away but by
changing it into a better Testament and more perfect ad-
ministration, which retaineth all that is natural in it, and
addeth better positives suited to riper times.
So that the law as denoininated from the woblet w'^V.x^t^
part, as signifying the whole law or system o5 ip\^c.e^V.^>^^^'sv
490 APPENpiX FOR CONFIRMATION
in force, is not destroyed, but perfected : but the law, as
called Jewish, delivered by Moses, to that republic, as such,
though part of the said system, yet is the imperfect part, and
is taken down, and is now no law, though it be not destroyed,
but fulfilled, and turned into a more perfect testament and
administration.
Now that by the law and commandments I am not to
understand the decalogue only, in any of your cited texts, I
thus prove*
L From the notation of the name. The word law in its
usual proper sense, doth signify the whole, or other parts as
well as that; and not that one part only. Therefore I must
80 take it, till you prove that in any text it hath a limited
sense. Else I shall turn Ood's universal or indefinite terms
into particular, and pervert his word, by limiting by my own
invention where Ood hath not limited.
2. Because the common sense in which the Jews (against
whom Christ spake,) did take the word/a«£7, was not for the
decalogue only, but for the pentateuch, or all Moses's law.
And if Christ speak to them, he is to be supposed to speak
intelligibly, and therefore in their sense.
3. Because Christ in this very chapter. Matt. v. extend-
eth the sense further than the decalogue : as, verse 17, he
adjoins the prophets equally with the law, which he came
not to destroy. And thus he speaketh as the Jews, who
distributed the Old Testament into the law and prophets,
when by the law they meant the pentateuch. Now it is cer-
tain that all the prophecies that say. The Messiah is not yet
come, but shall come, and be incarnate, and that shew the
time and manner, &c. are not now true, ' de future/ as they
then spake ; and yet they are not destroyed but fulfilled,
and so cease as prophecies of things yet future. And so it
is with the positives of Moses.*s law. 2. Verse 18^ hesaith
universally, ' Till all be fulfilled,' and not the decalogue only.
3. Verse 19, he extendeth it to the least command. 4. Verse 20,
he extendeth it to all the Pharisees' righteousness, which
was righteousness indeed. 5. Verse 21, ' Whosoever shall
kill, shall be in danger of the judgment,' hath the political
penalty in it, above the bare sixth commandment. 6. Verse 31,
' Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a
writing of divorcement/ is wot th^ bare seventh command-
men t, but fetched from DeuU xy\N A, kxA ^v^\\i^V!fiM:.% V^
OF THE LORD's-DAY. 491
self expouniletb, ver. 17, 18. For when Christ had protested
against destroying an iota or tittle of the law« yet he changeth
this very law now cited by himself, bo far as it indulgeth
putting away ; so that it ia hence evident that he meaneth
not that he came not to make a perfective change, but that he
came not to indulge licentiousness and lust, by a destructive
change* (Luke xvi. 18 ; 1 Cor. viL 10 ; Matt. xix. 9.) So, 7.
Verse 33, " Thou shalt not forswear thyself," &c. 8. Verse 38,
" An eye for an eye," 8U5. is fetched from Exod. xxi. 24; Lev*
xxiv. 20 ; Deut. xix, 21 ; and not from the decalogue alone.
9. So, verse 43, is irmn Lev. xix. 18. and other places.
4. Because in all Paul's epistles, and commonly in all
the New Testament, the word law is ordinarily, if not always
taken more extensively than the decalogue : therefore to ex-
pound it for the decalogue only, is to contradict the con-
stant use of the S9ripture, under pretence of expounding the
Scripture.
If then by the law, be meant either the whole system of
God's laws, natural and positive, or all Moses's law, or the
pentateuch, then I may thus argue. It is most certain that
much of this law of Moses is ceased or abrogated. There-
fore it is certain, that it was none of Christ's meaning that
he would abrogate none of that law which he speaketh of, nor
change it for a better.
That all and every word of the decalogue is not of the
durable law of nature, I shall prove anon.
1. That by the word law the Scripture meaneth more
than the mere decalogue, these texts among others prove,
Exod. xiii. 9 ; xxiv^ 12 ; Deut. i. 6; iv. 8 ; xvii. 18, 19 ;
xxviii. 61 ; xxix. 29; xxxi. 9 ; 2 Kings xvii. 37 y xxiii. 24,
25; 2 Qhron. xxxi. 21 \ xxxiii. 18 ; xxxiv. 10; Ezra vii. 6;
xiv. 26; X.3; Neh. viii. 2. 7, 8. 13,14; x.29; xiii. 3; Mai.
ii. 1 — 9; iv. 4; Matt.xi. 13; xii. 5; xxvi.36.40; xxiii. 23^
Luke ii. 22. 27 ; John i. 17. 46 ; vii. Id. 23. 61 ; viii. 6 ; x.
34 ; xii. 34 ; xv. 26 ; Acts vi. 13 ; xiii. 16. 39 ; xv. 6. 24 ;
xxi. 20. 28 ; xxii. 3. 12 ; xxiii. 3. 29 ; xxviii. 23 ; Rom. ii.
12—14. 17, 18. 20. 23; iii. 19—21. 28. 31 ; iv. 13—16; v.
13 ; vii. 1 — 6, Sec. and so to the end of the New Testament,
which I need not further number.
7. * That the Seventh-day 7. 1. So Christ was cir-
Sabbath was kept by the cumcvsed, ^ud '^wcife^ vc^.^^
Lord Jehovah Christ during sy.uagog^\xe-'wot^\^»'wAV^^
492 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
his life, Mark i. 21 ; vi. 2 ; communion with the Jewish
Luke iv. 31; yi.6; i. 6; xiii. church, and priesthood, and
10; Matt.xii. 1.9; xiii. 1,2; observed all the law of Mo-
and constantly, Luke iv. 16, ses, never violating any part;
17. See Christ's counsel, for he was " made under the
which was to xome to pass law to ledeem them that were
above forty years after his under the law." (Gal. iv. 4, 5.)
death. Matt. xxiv. 20. Do you think that all this is
established for us ? 2. And
his counsel (Matt. xxiv. 20.) had respect to the Jews' misery
and not to their duty. He therefore foretelleth their destruc-
tion because they would reject him and his law, in a per-
verse zeal for Moses's law ; and therefore intimateth that
even Moses should condemn them, and their misery should
be increased by their zeal for their law ; for their city was
taken on the Sabbath-day, which increased their calamity,
who scrupled on that day to fight or fly. And can you
think Christ approved of that opinion, who had so oft before
condemned the like, about their over rigid sabbatizing ? Or
as Dr. Hammond thinks, it is more like to be spoken of a
Sabbath-year, when the war and famine would come toge-
ther. However it be, it only supposeth their adherence to
their law and Sabbath, but justifieth it not at all: though
yet the total and full abrogation of the Jewish law, was not
fully declared, till, at that time of the destruction of their
city and temple, their policy more fully ceased.
8. That after Jehovah ha<i 8. You again add to the
finished the work of redemp- word of Ood : It is not said
tioh, (John xix. 30,) his body that> he had finished the
rested in the grave, (Matt, work of redemption, but only
xxvii. 66,) and himself in " It is finished," which seem-
heaven, (Luke iii. 42, 43,) as eth to mean but that, 1. This
he rested when he ended the was the last act of his life, in
work of creation. (Gen. ii. which he was actively ta ful-
2, 4.) fil the law, and offer himself
a sacrifice for man : 2. And
in which all the law and prophets were fulfilled, which fore-
told this sacrifice. For that it is not meant of the whole
work of redemption as finished, when he spoke those words,
is evident, 1. Because after those words he was to die ;
2. Because his state in dealYi, ^iid \v\& Wtval, were part of
his humiliation, as k mpYv^di, \ Cox.-xn A\ ^Oa».^\\,l \
OF THE LORD S-DAY. 493
Rom. vi. 4 ; Col. ii. 12 ; Isa. liii. 9 ; 1 Cor. xv. 16 ; Acts ii.
24; lCor.xv.26; Phil.iii.lO; 2Tim.ulO; Heb. ii. 14, 15.
3. Because his resurrection was his victorious act, and a
part of the work of man's redemption; 4. And so is his in-
tercession. For redemption is larger than humiliation or
sacrifice for sin« As, Exod. vi. 6; Luke xxiv. 21 ; Rom. iii.
24; viii.23 ; 1 Cor. i. 30; Eph. i. 14; Luke xxi. 28. It is
the resurrection by which we are made righteous^ and re-
ceive our hope of life, and victory over death and Satan.
(Rom. i. 4; Phil. iii. 10, 11; 1 Peter i. 3 ; iii. 21 ; Rom.
iv. 25.)
2. The clean contrary therefore to your collection is true :
viz. That Ood did indeed end the work of his creation on
the sixth day, and rested in it, as finished on the seventh.
But Christ was so far from ending his on the sixth, and rest-
ing in it on the seventh, that on that day, above all other, he
seemed conquered by men, and by him that had the power
of death, (Heb. ii. 14,) and was held as captive by the grave,
so that his disciples' hopes did seem dead with him, (Luke
xxiv. 21.) This state of death being not the least, if not
the lowest part of his humiliation : Whence came the
church's aiticle that he descended into Hades. 3. I did
more probably before prove from Christ's own words, com-
pared with his burial, a casting down of the Seventh^day
Sabbath, thus : That day on which the disciples are to fast,
is not to be kept as a Sabbath, (for that is a day of thanks-
giving.) But on the day of Christ's burial, the disciples were
to fast (that is, to walk heavily) : which appeareth from
Mark ii. 20. When the Bridegroom is taken from them, then
they shall fast. Now though this meant not to command
any one day for fasting, much less the whole time of his
bodily absence, yet both the sense of the words themselves,
and the interpretation of the event, tells us, that Iels there
was no day in which he was so sadly taken from them as
that Sabbath-day, which almost broke their hearts and
hopes {for the next day he was restored to them). So there
was no day in which they were so dejected, and unlike to
ihe celebraters of a Gospel-day of joy, or Sabbath. Do you
call the day of Satan's power and triumph, and of the disci-
ples' greatest fear and grief that ever befell them, the cele-
bration of a Sabbath rest? It had indeed somewhat l\k&^\\.
outward rest, but so as seemed plainly lo )a\u^ Vci\vv% ^c^n^
494 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
the seventh-day ceremonial Sabbath. And from the reasons
now pleaded it was, that the Western cbarches kept the
seyenth-day as a fast.
9. ' Whilst the Lord Jebo- 9. They did indeed keep
vah Christ rested, private the Jewish Sabbath, till
believers rested according to Christ's resurrection, and the
the <^Qmmandment/ (Luke coming down of the Holy
xxiii. 55, 56 ; Mark xv. 42 ; Ghost : And so they did the
xvi. 1, compared.) rest of the Jewish law. For
they yet knew not that it wa£
abrogated ; but must we do so too ? You may as well argue
from their keeping the Sabbath before Christ's death, as on
that day when he was dead. The change of the day was
made by degrees, by three several acts or means. 1« The
resurrection of Christ, was the founding act, which gave the
cause of changing it ; like God's finishing his works of
creation at first. 2. The ii^piration of the Holy Ghost in
the apostles doth teach them, and bring all things to their
remembrance which Christ commanded, and w€ls the autho-
rising meads of the change ; and the apostles' actual settle^
ment thereupon was the promulgation. 3. The gradual no-
tification by the preachers to the churches, and finally the
destruction of the Jewish polity, and temple, and priesthood,
were the fuller proclamation of it, and the way of bringmg
the change that was made by command into fuller execution.
10. • The Seventh. day 10. But withal, in this
, Sabbath was observed by the time they established the
apostles after the resurrect Lord's«day,assoonas(onthat
tion and ascension. Acts xiii. day) the Holy Ghost came
14— -16. 42.44 ; xvi. 13, 14, down upon them,
and constantly. Acts xvii. 2 ; 2. So all that while they
(the same Greek phrase with kept other parts of the Jewish
that, Luke xiv. 16, for Christ's law: They scrupled, yea re-
constantkeeping the Seventh- fused awhile, communion
day-Sabbath as before,) Acts with the Gentiles, as Acts x.
xviii. 1. 4,&c. shews. They so carried it to
the Jews, that Paul made it
his defence, that he '* had not ofiended any thing at all,
either against the laws of the Jews, or against the temple."
(Acts xxv. 8.) And when he circumcised Timothy, purified
himself, shaved his head, for his vow, 8cc. Do you think
'^iiat all these are duties to\>e\i«^^x^'\
OF THE lord's-day. 496
3. None of the texta cited by you do prove, that the
apostles kept the Sabbath at all as a Sabbath, that is, a day
on which it was their duty to rest; but only that they preached
on that day in the synagogues, and to the people; for when
should they preach, but when they were congregated, and
capable of hearing ? They took it for no sin to preach on
the Sabbath, no more than I would do to preach Christ on
Friday, which is their Sabbath, to the Turks, if they would
hear me. But sabbatizing according to the law, was some-
thing else than preaching.
4. And it is most evident that for a long time the Chris-.
ttaA Jews did still keep the law of Moses ; and that all that
the apostles did against it then, was, but 1. To declare that
Christ was the end of the law, and so to declare the keeping
of it to be unnecessary to salvation, but notunlawful, laying
by the opinion of necessity. 2. That the Gentile Christians
should not be brought to use it, because it was unnecessary |
for the apostles, (Acts xv,) do not forbid it to the Jews, but
only to the Gentiles (who were never under it). Therefore
the apostles who lived among the Jews no doubt did so far
comply with them to win them, as to keep the law exter-
nally, though not as a necessary thing, that is, not as a law
in force obliging them, but as a thing yet lawful, to further
the Qospel. And therefore no wonder if Peter went so far
as to withdraw from the Gentiles, when the Jews were pre-
sent ; when even Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, who
Bpeaketh so much more than all the rest against the law,
doih. yet as aforesaid circumcise Timothy, shave his head,
purify himself, &c. and as he became all things to all men,
8o to the Jews he became a Jew. But when the Jews' policy
and temple ceased, the change was executively yet fiirther
made, and the Jewish Christians themselves were weaned
from their kw. Tn the meantime Paul and John (Rev. ii. iii.)
do openly rebuke the Judaizing heretics, the Ebronites, and
Corinthians, and Nicolaitans, and shew the perniciousness
of their conceits.
11. • The Holy Spirit 11. Though it be not true
calls the seventh-day (and that the seventh is called the
no other day) the Sabbath, Sabbath; (Gen. ii;) and
throughout the Scriptures, though others deny the sn£S-
before and after the death, ciency of your enumeration^
resurrection and ascension yet 1 grant 'joxxt «L^^^t\Aow ^%
^.
496 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
of the Lord Jehovah Christ ; trae. Atid therefore am sa-
Gen. ii. 2 — 4; Exod. ^x. 10, tisfied that it is the seventh
&c. ; Acts xiii. 14 — 16. 42. day which is put down« when
44; xvi.13,14; xvii.2; xviii. Sabbatizing was put down;
I. 4.' and that it could be none but
the seventh- day which Pad
meant ; " Let no man judge you in meats, &c. and Sabbaths,
which were shadows of things to come ;" Col. ii. 16. For
the first-day is never called a Sabbath, as you truly say ;
therefore it was not put down with the Sabbath. See Dr.
Young's Dies Dom. on Col. ii. 16.
12. *The Seventh-day- 12. This is all granted.
Sabbath was profaned by the Sacrificing also was then pro-
church heretofore and re- faned and reformed, and pol-
formed ; Neh. x. 28, 29. 31. luted and destroyed by An-
xiii.16.17,18.22. See Belg. tiochus ; and yet we are not
Annot. on Dan. vii. 25, Scc^; still under. the obligation of
as prophesied who would sacrificing. We are not un-
change it.' der the law, but under grace.
CHAPTER III.
Whether the Seventh-day^ Sabbath be part of the Law of Na-
ture, or only a Positive Law %
It is but few that I have any controversy with on this point :
but yet one there is, who objecteth and argueth as followeth.
God hath put this into nature : (Exod. xx. 10 :) Thy
stranger. (Deut. v. 14.) The three first chapters of Romans ;
particularly chap. ii. 14, 15. 26, 27. iii. 9. 21. 1 Cor. xi.
14. Nature hath its teachings. The human nature in the
first Adam was m<;de and framed to the perfection of the ten
words ; some notions whereof are still retained, even in the
corrupt state of fallen man. (Oen. i. 26, 27. Eccles. vii.
29 ; Ephes. iv. 20 ; Col. iii. 10.) The law of the Seventh-
day-Sabbath was given before the ten words were proclaimed
at Sinai ; (Exod. xvi. 23 ;) even from the creation : (Oen.ii.
2, 3 :) given to Adam in respect of his human nature^ and in
him to all the world of human creatures. (Gen. i. 14; Psal.
civ. 19 ; Lev. x. 23 ; Numb, xxviii. 2. 9, 10.) It is the same
word in the original. ^e\.\.\m^^ of Divine appointment for
OF TlUi LORD*S-DAY. 497
solemn assembling, and for God's instituted service^ are di-
rected to, and pointed at, by those great lights which th^
Creator hath set up in the heavens. (Psal. xix. with Rom*
X. 4—8. 18—20 ; Deut. xxx. 10. 16 ; John i. 9.) Every man
hath a light and law of nature which he carrieth about him,
and is born and bred together with him. These seeds of
Ixuth and light, though they will not justify in the sight of
God, and bring a soul throughly and safely home to glory ;
(Rom. i. 20 ;) yet there are even since Adam's fall, these re-
lics and dark letters of this holy law of the ten words^ to
preserve the memory of our first created dignity, and for
some other ends, though those seeds are utterly corrupted
now. (Titus i. 16.) Natural reason will tell men, that seeing
all men in all nations do measure their time by weeks, and
their weeks by seven days, they should (besides what of.
their time^ they offer up as due to God every day) give one
whole day of every week to their Maker, who hath allowed
them so liberal a portion of time, wherein to provide for
themselves and their families. There being no other portion
of time that can so well provide for the necessities of fami-
lies, as six days of every week, and that is so well fitted to
all functions, callings and employments. And the light of
nature (when cleared up) will tell men, that all labour and
motion being in order to rest, and rest being the perfection
and end oflabour, into which labour, work and motion doth
pass, that therefore the seventh day, which is the last day in
every week, is the most fit and proper day for a religious
rest unto the Creator, for his worship. (Gen. ii. 1, &c. ;
Exod. XX. 9 ; Deut. v. 13, 14; Heb. iv. 1. 11 ; Exod. xxxi.
17; Rom. xiv. 13; Exod. xxiii. 12 ; xxxiv. 21.)
Answ. How far a day is of natural due, I have shewed
before. In all the words of this reason (which I set down as
I received them) there is much which is no matter of contro-
versy between us ; as that there is a light, and law of nature
(which few men doubt of, who are worthy to be called men) ;
and that by this law of nature God should be solemnly wor-
Bhipped, and that at a setter separated time. I hope the
reader will not expect that I weary him with examining the
tex:t8 which prove this, before it is denied. But the thing
denied by us is, that the Seventh-day -^Sabbath, as the seventh^
'is of natural obligation. The proofs which are brought fo\^
roL, XJII, K K
498 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
this I must examine : for indeed this is the very hinge of all
our controversies ; for if this be once proved, we shall easily
confess that it is not abrogated ; for Christ came not to abro*
gate any of the law of nature, though as 1 have said, such
particles of it may cease, whose matter ceaseth, by a change
in nature itself.
The first proof is Exod. xx. 10* The stranger. To which
I answer, Our question is not, whether the Sabbath was to
be rested on by strangers that are among the Jews, but^ whe«
ther it was part of the law of nature ? If it be intended that
' whatever such strangers were bound to, was of the law of
nature: but strangers were bound to keep the Sabbath.
Ergo.' I deny the major, which they offer not to prove.
And I do more than deny it : I disprove it by the instances
of Exod. xii. 19. Was eating leavened bread, forbidden by
the law of nature ? ** One law shall be to him that is home^p
born, and to the stranger that sojourneth among you.* (ver.
48, 49.) Circumcision was not of the law of nature. (Lev.
xvi. 29.) Resting from all work on the tenth day of the
seventh month, was not of the law of nature, though made
also the stranger's duty. So eating blood, and that which
dieth, or was torn. (Lev. xvii. 12. 15. So Lev. xxv. 6 ; Jf umb.
XV. 14 — 16. 26. 29 ; xix. 10; xxxv. 16 ; Deut. xxxi. 12;
Josh. viii. 33—26 ; xx. 9, &c.)
The next pretended proof is Rom. ii. ll^&c. ; where ^
there is not one syllable mentioning the decalogue as such,
but only in general, the law, so far as it was written in the
Gentiles' hearts. But where is it proved that the law or the
decalogue, are words of the same signification: or extent;
any more than the whole and a part are? Or where is it proved
that none of the rest of the law is written in nature, but the
decalogue only? Or else that every word in the decalogue
itself is part of the law of nature, (which is the question). I
shall prove the contrary anon : in the meantime the bare
numbering of chapters and verses is no proof*
3. It is next said, ' that Adam was made and framedito
the perfection of the ten words.' Amw, Adam was made in
the image of God, before the ten words were given in stone :
but so much of them as is the law of nature, and had matter
existent in Adam's days, no doubt, >was a law to him as well
as it is to us. But that is nothing to the question. Whether
all things in the ten wotda ^x^ o? tv^VaxxA cJcX\^^>C\wi1 .
OF THE LOUD's-DAY. 4&9
4. it is said, ^ That the law of the Seventh«Klay*Sabbath
was given before the ten words were proclaimed in Sinai.'
Answ. So was circumcision ; and so was sacrificing ; yea,
so was the law about the dressing of the garden of Eden, and
about the eating or not eating of the fruit thereof, even in
innocenoy; which yet were no parts of nature's law, but po-
sitives, which now cease.
6. It is said, ' That it was given to Adam in respect of
his human nature, and in him to all the world of human
creatures.'
Amw. So was the covenant of works, or innocency,
which yet is at an end. But what respect is it (to his Im-
man nature) that you mean ? If you suppose this position,
' Whatever law is given with respect to human nature, and
to all men, is of natural and perpetual obligation,' I deny it.
The law of sacrifices and oblations was given with respect
to human nature, that is, in order to its reparation, and it
was given to mankind, and yet not of natural, perpetual ob-
ligation. The law of distinguishing clean beasts from un-
clean, and the law against eating blood, were given to Noah,
and to all mankind, with respect to human nature, (Gen. viii.
20 ; ix. 4,) and yet not wholly of nature or perpetual obliga-
tion. All common laws have some respect to human nature.
But if your meaning be, that this law was given in and with
the nature of man himself, or that it is founded in, and pro-
bably by the very essentials of man's nature, or any thing
permanent, either in the nature of man, or the nature of the
world, I still deny it, and call for your proof. Positives may
have respect to human nature as obliged by them ; and yet
not be written in human nature, nor provable by any meye
natural evidence.
6. It is said, ' Set times of Divine appointment for so-
lettn assemblies, &c. are directed by the great lights, &c.'
(Psal. xix ; Rom. x, &c.) Answ. But the question is not of
set times in general (that some there be), but of this set
titn^, the Seventh day in particular. It will be long before
you can fetch any cogent evidence from the lights of heaven
for it. Nor do any of the texts cited mention any such
thing, or any thing that can tempt a man into such an opi-
nion. It must be the Divine appointment and institution
(which you mention) that must prove oui o\A\^^\i\oxv Vck ^
particular day, and not any nature wittiiu \i» ox vj\\Xvo\sX >as..
500 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
7. The only appearance of a proof is at the end, that
' time being measured by weeks, and the end of the weeks be-
ing fitted for rest, therefore nature points us to the last day/
Answ. But, 1. You do not at all prove, that nature
teaeheth all men to measure their time by weeks. 2. Nor
is your philosophy true, that all motion is in order to rest.
Indeed all labour is, that is, all the motion of any creature
which is out of its proper place, and moveth towards it.
But if you will call the action of active natures, such as our-
souls are, by the name of spiritual motion, or metaphysical
motion, as many do, then no doubt but cessation is as con-
trary to their nature, as corporal motion is to the nature of
a stone : and the rest, that is, the perfection, pleasure, and
felicity of spirits, eonsisteth in their greatest activity in
good ; " They rest not saying, Holy, Holy, &c." 3. You
transfer the case from a day of worship to a day of rest.
And so make your cause worse : because nature saith much
for one stated day of worship ; but not for one stated day
of rest from labour, further than the worship itself must have
a vacancy from other things. For reason can prove no ne-
cessity to human nature of resting a whole day, any more
than for a due proportion of rest unto labour every day.
The rest of one hour in seven, is as much as the rest of
one day in seven. Or if some more additional convenien-
ces may be found for days than hours, there being no con- '
venience without its inconvenience, this will but shew us,
that the law is well made when it is made, but not prove a
' priori' that there is or must be such an universal law. As
you can never prove, that nature teaches men the distribu-
tion of time by weeks, (1.) It being a thing of tradition, cus-
tom and consent. (2.) And no man naturally knoweth it, till
others tell him of it. (3.) And many nations do not so mea-
sure their time. (4.) And no man can bring a natural reason
to prove that it must be so, which they might do if it were
a law of natural reason ;) so also that every family, or
country at least, should not have leave to vary their days of
rest, according to diversity of riches and poverty, health
and sickness, youth and age, peace and war, and other such
cases, you cannot prove necessary by nature alone, though
you may prove it well done when it is done. 4. You cannot
prove the last day mote n^c^^^^X'^ for rest, than the first, or
any other. For thei^ ai^ tew coxsi-aXxv^^, \^\kfe\^ ^"w^^ ^\
OF THE LOiflD's-DAY. 501
some other necessities, have not constrained them some-
times to violate the Sabbath's rest ; which, when they have
done, it is as many days from the third day to the third, as
from the seventh to the seventh. 6. If time were naturally
measured by weeks, yet it foUo weth not, that rest must b6 so :
some countries are strong and can labour longer, and others
tender and weak, and can labour less. 6. And seeing that
the reason of a day for worshipping-assemblies is greater
and more noble than the reason of a day for bodily rest, na-
ture will rather tell us, that God should have the first day,
than the last ; ^ a Jove principium :' a God was to have the
first-bom, the first-fruits, &c. 7. If we might frame laws
for Divine worship by, such conceits of convenience, as this'
is G(f the last day in seven as fittest for rest, and call them
all the laws of nature, what a multitude of additions would
be made, and of how great diversity? whilst every man's
conceit went for reason, and reason for nature, and so we
should have as many laws of nature, as there are diversities
of conceits. And yet that there is such a thing as a law of
nature in which all reason should agree, we doubt not. But
having in vain expected your proof, that the Seventh-day
Sabbath is the law of nature, or of universal obligation, I
shall briefly prove the negative (that it is not).
1. That which is of natural obligation may be proved by
natural reason (that is, by reason arguing from the nature of
the thing) to be sr duty. Bat that the Seventh day must be
kept holy as a Sabbath, cannot be proved from the nature of
the thing. Therefore it is not of natural obligation. He
that will deny the minor, let him instance in his natural
proof.
2. That is not an universal law of nature^ which learned,
godly men, and the greatest number of these, yea, almost
all the world, know no such thing by, and confess they can-
not prove by nature. But such is the Seventh-day-Sab-
bath, — ^^&c. It is not I alone that know nothing of any such
law, nor am able by any natural evidence to prove it, but
iadso all the divines and other Christians- that I am or ever
Was acquainted with : nay, I never knew one man that could
say, that he either had such a law in his own nature, (unless
some one did take his conceit for a law,) nor that he could
shew such a law ' in natura rerum.' And it *\^ ^ ^\.x^w^(^\%n4
of nature, which is to be found in no one's natuxe, \i\sA.^<5.v
502 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
haps twenty men's, or very few in a whole age ; nor is dis-
cerned by all the rest of the world. If you say, that few
understand nature, or improve their reason : I answer^ 1.
If it be such a law of nature as is obliterated in almost all
mankind, it is a very great argument' that nature being
changed, th<e law is changed. How can that oblige which
cannot be known? 2. Are not we men as well as you?
Have not several ages had as great improvers of nature as
you ? If grace must be the improver, are there, or have
there been none as gracious ? If learning must be the im-
prover, have there been none as learned? If diligence or
impartiality must be the improvers of nature, have there not
been many as diligent, studious and impartial as your-
selves ? Let all rational men judge which of these is the
better argument, * I and twenty men more in the vVorld do
discern in nature an universal obligation on mankind to keep
the Seventh-day-Sabbath : therefore it is the lav^ of nature.'
Or, * The world of mankind, godly and ungodly, learned
and unlearned, discern no such natural obligation, except
you, and the few of your mind : therefore it is no law of
nature.'
3. That is not like to be an universal law of nature,
which no man since the creation can be proved to have
known and received, as such, by mere natural reason, with-
out tradition. But no man since the creation can be proved
to have known and received the Seventh-day-Sabbath by
mere natural reason, without tradition : therefore it is not
like to be an universal law of nature. " If you know any
man, name him and prove it ; for I never read or beard of
such a man.
4. If the text mention it only as a positive institution,
then it is not to be accounted a law of nature. But the
text mentioneth it only as a positive institution As is
plain. Gen ii. 3. " God blessed the Seventh-day, and sanc-
tified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work,
&.C." If it had been a law of nature, it had been made in
nature, and the making of nature would have been the
making of the law. But here are two reasons against that
in the text.
1. Blessing and sanctifying are positive acts of super-^
natural institution, sup^xaddiedL \.q VJaa v<Qtk« of nature -
they are not Divine creating acX^, W\.T>\NVDkfe \aA&t\l\a.m^*
OF THE LORD's-DAY. 603
2. That which is blessed and sanctified, " Because Qod
rested in it from all his works/' is not blessed and sancti«
fied merely by those works or that rest ; and if neither the
works of nature, nor the rest of Ood from those works did
sanctify it, then it is not of natural sanctification, and so
not of natural obligation.
5. If the very reason of the day be not of natural, but
of supernatural revelation, then the sanctification of the
day is not of natural but supernatural revelation and obliga-
tion. But the former is certain. For no man breathing ever
did or can prove by nature, without supernatural revelation,
that God made and finished his works in six days, and rested
the seventh. Aristotle had been like to have escaped his
opinion of the world's Eternity, if he could have found out
this by nature.
6. The distinction of weeks is not known by nature, to
be any necessary measure of our time ; therefore, much less
that the seventh day of the week must be a Sabbath. The
antecedent is sufficiently ptbved, in that no man can give a
cogent resuson for the necessity of such measure. And be**
cause it hath been unknown to a great part of the world.
The Peruvians, Mexicans, and many such others knew not
the measure of weeks. And Heylin noteth o^t of Jos. .Sca-
liger de Emend. Temp* lib. 3, and 4, and Rossii>us Antiq. and
Dion, that neither the Chaldees, the Persie^ns, Greeks, nor
Romans, did of old observe weeks ; and that the Romans
measured their time by eights, as the Jews did by sevens ;
Hist. Sab. part 1. chap. iv» p. 83, 84 ; and p. 78, he citeth
Dr. Bound's own words, p. 65. ed* 2. confessing the like,
citing Beroaldus for it, as to the Roman custom. Yea, he
asserteth, that till near the time of Dionys. Exig. anno
500, they divided not their time into weeks as now. In
which he must needs except the Christians, and conse-
quently, the ruling powers since Constantine. And if they
were so unsettled through the world in their measure by
months, as bishop Usher at large openeth in his Dissert, de
Macedonum et Asianorum anno ^plari, (see especially his
Epbemeris in the end, where all the days of each month are
ns^med without weeks,) the other will be no wonder.
, > I conclude therefore^ 1. That one day in seven, rather
than in six or eight, may by reason be disc^iiv^A. X.o \i^ \:*Qvvr
504 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
venient when God hath so instituted it : But cannot by nature
be known to be of natural universal obligation.
2. That this one day should be thie seventh, no Ught of
nature doth discover : Therefore Dr. Bound, Dr. Ames, and
the generality of 'the defenders of one day in seven against
the Anti-sabbatarians, do unanimously assert it to be of su-
pernatural institution, and not any part of the law of nature :
though stated days at a convenient distance is of the law of
nature.
CHAPTER IV.
Whether every Word in the Decalogue be of the Law of Nature,
and of perpetual Obligation ? And whether all that was of
the Law of Nature, was in the Decalogue f
But the great argument to prove it the law of nature is, be-
cause it was part of the ten words written in stone. To
which I say, that the decalogue is an excellent summary of
the generals of the law of nature, as to the ends for which it
was given ; but that,
L It hath more in it than the law of nature.
II. It hath less in it than the law of nature : And there-
fore was never intended for a mere or perfect transcript of
the law of nature : But for a perfect general summary of so
much of that law as God thought meet to give the Jews by
supernatural revelatiQn, containing the chief heads of na-
ture's law (lest they shpuld not be clear enough in nature
itself) with the addition oif something more.
1. That the decalogue Witten in stone hath more than
the law of nature, is proved T\By these instances ; 1. That
" God brought them out of tfce land of Egypt, and out
of the house of servants," and r]iat he is to be worshipped
in that relation, is none of the \^^ oi nature, universally so
called. }
2. That God is merciful (and Uherefore reconciled) to a
thousand generations of them th|&Hi that love him notwith-
standing man's natural ^state of si^ti and misery, and all men's
actual sin, this is of supernatural^ grace, and not the law of
?re nature.^ ^
OF THE LORD'S-DAY. 506
3. The great difference between the ways of justice and
mercy^ expressed by the third and fourth generation^ com-
pared to thousands, is more than the mere law of nature.
4. Those divines who take all Ood's positive institutions
of worship^ to be contained in the affirmative part of the
secoAd commandment^ must needs think that it containeth
more than the law of nature. (Though I say not as they;
but only that as a general law, it obligeth us to perform
them, when another law hath instituted them.)
5. To rest one day in seven, is more than the law of
nature.
6. To rest the seventh day rather than the sixth, or first,
is more than the law of nature.
7. The strictness of the rest, to do no manner of work, is
more than a law of nature. ^
8. That there be man-servants, and maid-servants, be-
sides natural inferiors, is not of the primitive or universal
law of nature.
9. The distinction of the Israelites from strangers within
their gates, was not by the law of nature.
10. That cattle should do no manner of work (as for a
dog to turn the spit in a wheel, or such like), is more than a
law of nature.
11. That Ood made heaven and earth in six days and
rested the seventh, is not of natural revelation.
12. That this was the reason wherefore God blessed the
Sabbath-day and hallowed it, is not of natural revelation.
13. Some will say that more relations than natural being
meant in the fifth commandment, maketh it more than a law
of nature.
14. That the land of Canaan is made their reward, is a
positive respecting the Israelites only.
16. That length of days in that land should be given by
promise, is an act of grace, and not of nature only.
16. That this promise of length of days in that Jand, is
made more to the honouring of superiors, than to the other
commanded duties, is more thantiatural.
II. I prove it also by the abrogation of the law written in «
stone, which I proved before ; if the decalogue had been
the only and perfect law of nature, it would not have been
so far done away, as the apostle saith it is Co? vjVv\eVv>a^^Q\€^*
X
3
506 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
IL AU the law of nature was not in the tables of stone.
Here I premise these suppositions.
L That a general law alone, obligeth not to all particu-
^ lars^ without a particular law ; e. g. If the second command
say, that. Thou shalt perform all God's instituted worship ;
or. Thou shalt worship me, as I appoint thee ; this bindeth
no man to baptism, the Lord's-supper, Sec. till another law
appoint them* Therefore there is not so much in the general |t
law alone, as in that and the particular also.
2. All that 18 presupposed in a particular law, is not part
of that law.
3. It is not so much to infer a duty indirectly and by far-
fetched consequences, as to conunand it directly.
Now I prove the assertion by instances. All these fol-
lowing are Natural duties, and commanded also in other
parts of Scripture, and yet are not in the law of Moses as
written in stone.
I. To believe that the soul is immortal. 2. To believe
that thc^e is a heaven, where we shall be perfectly blessed
in the knowledge, love, and fruition of God. 3. To believe
that there is a helU ,or life of future punishment for all the
impeoitent. 4. To love ourselves, with a just and necessary
love, as such. 5. To take the greatest care to save our souls,
above our bodies. 6. To tame and mortify all our fleshly
lusts, in order to our own salvation. 8« To forbear all out-
ward acts of gluttony, drunkenness, sloth, &c. as they tend
to our damnation* 9. To rejoice in persecution, because of
our great reward in heaven. 10. To pray constantly, and
fervently for heaven, as the means of our obtaining it.
Let none say that many of these same things are com-
manded in order to God, and our neighbour. For I grant
that the same material acts be so; as they are expressions of
love to God and man. But to do them in love to ourselves,
and for our own salvation, is another Jprinciple and end, not
contarary to, but necessarily conjunct with the former two ;
and indeed all the duties of self-love, as such, are passed by
(as supposed) in Moses's decalogue f because they are deeply
written in man's nature, and because the law was written as
political, for another use.
Object. * But these are all supposed in the first command
of loving God, and in t\ve aecow^\aXAft » TYvc^m ^VNait love thy
neighbour as thyself.'
OF THE LORD's^DAY. 607
Answ. 1. These last were not the words of the deca-
logue; but a part of the summary of all the law. 2. Both
tables indeed suppose the love of ourselves, but that which
is supposed, is not a part of them. .
Object* ' But it is the Socinians that say, the Old Testa-
ment speaketh of no reward or punishment but in this life.'
Answd True; but Camero ('da tripL fsdd.') and others
that rightly understood the matter^ affirm, that* 1. The law
of nature containeth future rewards and punishments in
another life. 2. And so doth the covenant of grace made
with Adam, and all mankind in him, and renewed to Noah,
Abraham, and the Israelites, which by Paul is caUed the
promise, as distinct from the law. 3. But the law of Moses,
in its own proper nature, as such, was only political, and
spake but of temporal rewards and punishments. 4* Though
yet all the faithful were bound to take the law and promise
together, and so to have respect both to temporal and eter<*
nal things. For the law itself connoted and supposed things
eternal, as our great concernment.
III. There is more of the law of nature in other parts of
Moses's law, conjunct with the decalogue, than is in the
decalogue alone.
I will stay np longer in the proof of this, than to cite
the places as you do, Exod. xxiii. 13. 32; xxii. 18. 20:
Lev. XX. 1.4.6; Deut. xiii; xvii : Exod. . xxiii. 24 ; Deut.
xii ; xxiii : Lev. xxiv ; xxiii. 3 : Exod. xii. 16 ; Deut. xxiii.
18 ; Exod. xxii. 28 ; xxiii. 20 ; xxi. 15. 17 : Lev. xix. 32 ;
Deut. xxi ; i ; xvi ; vi ; xi : Exod. xxi. 12, 13. 18. 20. 22,
&c. ; xxii. 2, 3 ; Lev. xiii. 14 ; xvii : Deut. xxi ; Exod. xxii.
19 ; Lev. xviii ; xix, 29 ; xx ; Deut. xxii ; Exod. xxi. 16.
21. 32. 35 ; xxii. 1. 4, to 17 ; Lev. xix. 30. 35 ; Deut. xxiv ;
xxix. 14 ; xxi ; xxv ; Exod. xxiii. 1-^9 ; Deut. xxiii ; xxiv ;
Lev. xix. 11. 15; Exod. xxii. 21, 22 ^ xxv ; xxvi; xxiii. 4;
Lev. xix. 14. 16» 18, &c^
By all this I shew you why, 1. I allow not of your mak-
ing the word law in the New Testament to signify the deca-
logue only, or taking them for equipollent terms. 2. Why
I take not the decalogue and the law of nature for equipol<-
lent terms^ or their matter to be of the same extent ; and
coBdequently why I take it for no proof that all things in
the decalogue are perpetual, because ^i\ di\i^% va \!cv^\^^
ofasLture are 8o,
508 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
CHAPTER V.
Whether the truest Antiquity be for the Seventh-day^Sabbath,
as kept by the Churches of Christ ?
' It is liere fuither objected that the Seventh<-day-Sabbath
hath the truest testimonies of antiquity ; that it is contro-
yertible when and how the Lord*s-day came in ; but the
antiquity of the Seventh-day-Sabbath is past controversy :
that the Eastern Christians long observed it, and Antichrist
in the West did turn it into a fast: that the empire of
Abassia keepeth it to this day.'
Answm There is enough said of this before, were it not
that some objectors causelessly look for more. I answer
therefore, 1. That it is true that the Sabbath is more ancient
than the Lord's-day ; and so is Moses more ancient than
Christ incarnate, and hrs law than the Gospel as delivered
by Christ and his apostles, and circumcision than baptism,
and the passover than the Lord's-supper ; and so every
man's conception, nativity, infancy, and ignorance, was be-
fore his maturity and knowledge. And what can you ga-
ther from all this ? Thus the Papists say that their way of
religion was in England before ours, and that the relics
of it in our monuments, (' Orate pro animabus,' 8cc.) is
their standing witness, which we cannot totally deface :
and it is true, if by our way they mean the reformation of
theirs, as such ; for the cure is ever after the disease :
though it is false, if they speak of our religion itself; which
was here before their errors, as health is before sickness.
But they should consider, that by this prerogative the hea-
thens excel us both : and that they may say, you have yet
many more monuments of our more ancient religion, which
you have not been able to obliterate. You still call your
week-days by our ancient names, Sunday, Monday, &c. Your
adoration towards the East was fetched from us, and so
were abundance of your customs ; which we hope may re-
cover the reputation of our religion.
2. I have shewed you already how, and why the Eastern
Christians kept the Sabbath : 1. They kept it not as a Sab-
bath, but only met on tViai A^^j ^& \J\e^ did on the fourtli
and sixth days, (Wedneada^^ ^wA'?\\di^^^^ ^^VcVeixyei^i^K^
OF THE LORD's-DAY. d09
England to this day. And for the most part they celebrated
not the Lord's-supper on that day. And they abhorred the
keeping it as a day of rest.
2. They met on that day for. all these reasons. 1. Be-
cause having been used in the beginning to meet every day
in the week (when they had all things common, and were to
shew the power of the evangelical doctrine to the height.
Acts ii. 44—46 ; iv. 33 — 35.) as they found cause to retrieve
their community, so did they meet seldomer, and yet not so •
seldom as once a week : and therefore as we now keep
other meetings for lectures and prayers, besides the Lord's-
day, so did they then on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Satur-
days. 2. Because the conversion of the Jews was a great
part of their work and hope ; and therefore to win them,
they would with Paul become Jews ; that is, not affect an
unnecessary distance, but come as near them as lawfully
they could. 3. Because converted Jews were no small part
of the Eastern churches ; who could not easily be brought
off from Jewish customs ; and the rest were unwilling to
offend them : being taught not to despise the weak that ob-
served meats and days. (Rom. xiv ; xv ; Gal. ii. 4.) Be-
cause the assemblies on the Seventh day were taken as fit
preparatories to the sanctifying of the Lord's-day, on which
account the church of England now appointed them. These
things one that is acquainted with church-history needeth
no proof of.
And they are sufficiently proved before, Ignatius's
words before-cited are full. And those of the Council of
Laodicea, Can. 29. are more full, who do at once appoint
meetings on the Seventh day, and yet anathematize them
that Judaize thereon, by bodily rest ; and would have men
labour on it, and prefer the Lord's-day before it.
Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho, doth
largely shew that circumcision and the Sabbath are ceased
by the coming of Christ, and his institutions, and are not
BOW to be used by Christians. And what writer have we
of full reputation and credibility more ancient than Justin,
from whom any testimony in this case might be sought?
Tertullian (one of the next) li.2. against Marcion, saith,
that ihe Sabbath was for that time, and present occasion,
or use, and not for perpetuity.
Athanaaius was one that was for meetvu^ oxi V)ckfc'Si^
510 APPENDIX FOR CONFlRBfATION
bath ; and yet writQth his book " de Sab. et Gircum." pur-
posely to prove that the Sabbath is ceased with circumci-
sion, as a shadow^ and that now the Lord's-day is the
sanctified day. A«d the like he hath most expressly in
Homil. de Semente, aa is cited before^ sayings that, * The
master being come, the usher was out of use ; and the sun
being risen, the lamps are darkened.'
Basil Epist. 74. writeth against ApoUinaris for holding
that after the resurrection, we should keep Sabbaths, and
Jttdaize; as if that were the perfection to which Christ
would restore men.
See Greg. Nazianz* Orat. 43. and Chryspst. Horn. 19. in
Matt. xii. against the use of the Sabbath. Cyril. Hieros.
cat. 4. and E|)iphan. against the Nazarsei, condemn them
for keeping the Sabbath and circumcision, though withal
they kept the Lord's-day. The same doth Epiphanius, lib.
1. Haer. 30. n. 2. and before him, Euseb* Hist, lib* 3. say of
the Ebionites. Augustine oft telleth us, that the observa^
tion or keeping of the Seventh-day-Sabbath is ceased, and
not to be done by Christians. (Qu. ex. N. Test. 69 ; Ad
Bonif. 1. 3 ; Contr. Faust. Manich. 1. 6. c. 4 ; De Genes, ad
lit. L 4. c. 13 ; de spir. et lit. c. 14 ; de util. Cred. c. 3.)
3. And as for the Abassians keeping the Sabbath : it is
true, they keep that day in some sort ; but it is as true^
that they use circumcision, and many other Jewish ceremo^
nies ; besides oft baptizings ; and that they profess not to
use these as the Jews do, but only as smcient customs, and
as Paul did while he complied with them, using the out-
ward action for other ends^ than Judaizers do. And the
rather because they think their emperors descended from
Solomon. 'But the Lord*«-day they keep on the same ac-
count as other Christians. And if this instance make any
thing for sabbatizing, it will make as much for eircumcisingi
and other Jewish rites^ but nothing against the sanctifying
of the Lord's-day.
4. And as for the matter of fasting on the Sabbktfa, the
churches greatly varied their customs. The Eastern churches
and Millan in the West, were against fasting on the Sab-
bath on two accounts: 1. Because, as is said, they would
not offend the Jews. Even as many peaceable noncou;^
formiats, who are agamat mauy '^^Iy ^^Y^ »ow established,
do yet forbear labouiViig axi^ o^^tivu^ VSclw ^q»i^ q\!l>&3l^'«^
OF THE LORD*S-DAY. 511
daya, because they will not give offence ; yea^ and go to
hear the sermons on those dstys^ though they keep them not
holy, as such days. 2. Because there were many sorts of
heretics in those times, who held that the world was made
by an evil God, and thence came evil and so they fasted on
the Seventh day on that reason ; which made the Christians
avoid it, lest they should symbolize with those heretics.
And therefore (the real or pretended) Ignatius speaketh so
severely against fasting on the Sabbath, as well as on the
LordVday. And so do the constitutions called the apos-
tles ; yea, and the canons called theirs. (Can. 65.)
But in the Western churches (as is aforesaid), both Jews
and heretics were niore distant, or less considerable for
numbers ; and therefore they fasted on the Seventh day,
and that the ratiler, lest they should se^m by ^abbatizing to
Judaize. Which was before Antichrist's appearing, unless
you think all the holy doctors before cited, and all 'the
Western churches, to be Antichristian.
Having gone thus far, I here add two more Scripture-ar-
guments to prove the abolition of the Jewish Sabbath. The
first is, because it is frequently made (as circumcision is) a
sign of the particular covenant between God and that nation,
as they were a political body^and peculiar people. There-
fore if their policy cease, and God's relation to them as a po-
litical body, and peculiar people, and so that political cove-
nant with them, then also the sign of the covenant and re-
lation ceaseth. And though the word ' for ever' is some-
times added, it is no other than is oft added also to the Jewish
law and ceremonies. %
2. From Acts xv : where the case^ iis determined by a
council of apostles, elders and brethren, yea, by the Holy
Ghost, (ver. 28.) It appeareth by vet. 24, that the thing as-
serted by the false teachers was * that the Gentiles must be
circumcised and keep the law; that is, of Moses, (ver* 1.)
Now the Seventh-day-Sabbath was part of that law (as sa-
crificing was, though it was a law before). But the Holy
Ghost determineth the case, " to lay on them no greater bur-
den than these necessary things," after named ; where the
Sabbath is none of them, and therefore hereby shut out.
The precepts given to Noah are named (of which the Sab-
bath waa not one.)
O^^/. ^By thia exposition you may aay V5[i«A. \5ftfc \«eK.^^
512 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
the decalogue is excluded : for idolatry, murder, SCrC. are not
here forbidden by name/ Answ. I have fully proved that
the decalogue as written in stone, and part of the law or co-
venant of Moses, is not at all in force, especially to the Gen-
tiles ; nor yet as part of the covenant (or promise) of works
made with Adam in innocency : for the form of the promis-
sory covenant of works ceased upon man's sin, and the pro-
mise of a Saviour ; and the form of the Mosaical law or co-
venant never reached to the Gentile nations, and is ceased
to the Jews : therefore the matter must cease as it constituted <
the same covenant, when the form ceased. And Paul saith
expressly that this law written in stone is done away. But,
1. The law of nature, as a mere law, never ceased. 2. And
Christ hath taken it into his covenant, as part of the matter
of it* So that it is wholly in force, though tioi as part of the
covenant of works, either Adamical or Mosaical. But the
Sabbath, as to the seventh day, was no part of the law of
nature, as is proved. And Paul expressly saith, that it was
a " shadow of things to come," and is therefore vanished
away. (Col. ii. 16.) Had it been part of the law of nature,
it had bound us as such, and as Christ's law : or had it been
one of the enumerated particulars. Acts xv, it had^bound
the neighbour Gentiles, ' pro tempore ' at least. But being
neither, that council dischargeth Christians from the obser*
vation of it, as far as I can understand the text.
POSTSCRIPT.
It is long since the foregoing Treatise was promised to a
person of honourable rank who was inclined to the Jewish
Sabbath ; but before it was finished or well begun, I had a
sight of a treatise on the same subjectj, by the late reverend
worthy servant of Christ, Mr. Hughes of Plymouth, which
inclined me to take my promised work as unnecessary. But
yet some reasons moved me to re-assume it. Near two
months after it went from me to the press, the said treatise
of Mr. Hughes first, and after another on the same subject
by Dr. J. Owen came abroad. Yet do I not reverse mine,
because many witneaaeam^xi^^'^ cA ^w\!oL\\73 ^jcAw^'^^^l^can
OP THE lordVday. 513
be no itijufy to a truth so serviceable to the cause of Chris-
tianity, and the prosperity of the church, and the good of
souls* Though if I were one that took the church's pros-
perity to consist in riches, grandeur, ease and domination,
or empire of papal pastors, rather than in the humble, holy,
heavenly, self-denying imitation of a crucified Christ, I would
have forborne a subject which is all for our preparation for
a heavenly Sabbatism, and carrieth men above the sensual
rest of fleshly men, and therefore is so much disrelished by
them; (Rom. viii. 6 — 8.) But supjposing it to be my duty
to do what I have done, I think meet to advise the reader,
' that when several men treat of the same subject, though they
speak the same things in the main, yet usually each of them
bringeth some considerable light, which is omitted by the
rest. And as the same Spirit sets them all on work, so all
together give fuller evidence to the truth, than any on6 of
them alone. Add I hope the concourse of these three trace-
tates doth prognosticate, that (though the devil hath so con-
trived the business for the profane, that like Papists, they
will hear and read none, but those that are not like to
change them; yet) God will awaken the sober and serious
believers of this age, to a more holy and fruitful improve-
ment of his day ; which will greatly tend to the increase of
real godliness, and consequently to the recovery of the dy-
ing hopes of this apostatizing and divided age.
But that which moveth me to write this Postscript, is to
acquaint thee, for the prevention of scandal by any seeming
differences in our writings, 1. That it cannot be expected,
that all who plead the same cause, should say just the same
thing for it, for matter and manner of argumentation.
2. That if I own the name of Sabbath less than some
others* and adhere more to the name of the Lord's-day, I do
not hereby oppose the use of the name of Sabbath ab.so •
lutely ; nor is ihsX in itself a controversy about the matter,
but the name, which though not contemptible, yet is of far
less moment than the thing.
3. That if I make not use of so many Old Testament texts
as some others, I do not thereby deny the usefulness of them,
nor call you off from the consideration of any argumenta-
tion- or evidence thence offered you.
VOL. XIII. L L
514 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION
4. That if I seem to be more for the oessation of Moses's
law« than some others, even of that part which was written
in stpne, yet no part of the law of nature is thereby denied
by me,>.any more than by any of them ; and they that are
angry with me, for writing so much against the Antinomians^
should not also be angry with me for going ho farther from
them, than the force of truth constraineth me.
5. That you must pardon me for my purposely avoiding
the namp. of the ' moral law ^ Mr. Cawdry and Mr. Palmer,
who have written most largely of the Sabbath, have told you
the reason. I love not such names, as are not fitted to the
nature of things, but are fitted to signify almost* what the ^
speaker pleaseth.
1 know no law which is not formally moral, as being
'. Regula actionum Moralium.' And men may if they willf
as well confine the signification of the word * law ' itself, as
of a ' moral law. ' Nor doth use itself sufficiently notify
the distinguishing signification of it. For one meaneth by
that name, all the law of nature as such. Another meanedi
only so much of the law of nature as is common to aU man-
kind. Another meaneth all positive laws of supernatural re-
velation, which are perpetual and universal, as well as the
law of nature. Therefore without finding fault with others,
it sufficeth me to distinguish laws by such names as plainly
signify the intended difference. And though by the law of
nature, I mean not formally the same thing that some others
do, I have sufficiently opened my sense and the reasons of
it, in my ** Reasons of the Christian Religion."
6. That they who say, that the Old Covenant, or the
covenant of works made by Moses with the Jews, is abro-
gated or ceased, and the decalogue as a part of, or belonging
to that covenant, do say the same thing that I do, when I
maintain that the decalogue and whole law, as Mosaical, is
ceased, but that all the natural part is by Christ assumed in<«
to his law, or covenant of grace. For it is the same thing
which is denominated the law (of Moses, or of Christ) from
the preceptive part, and a covenant from the terms, or sanc-
tion, especially the promissory part. Nor is there any part
of the law of Moaes, which was not a part of the Mosaical
covenant. And if the form cease which denominateth, the
being and denomination ceaseth, and all the parts, as parts
of that which ceasetli. S^o VJaaA. \^ V)wi cci^^\NasNX ^^ n^orks
OF THE LORD's-DAY. 51S
madeiwitki the. Jews cease, (which Camero calleth a third or
middle covenant, and several men do variously denominate,
but the Scripture calleth the old or former covenant, or tes-
tament or disposition,) then all the law, as part of that co-
venant ceaaeth. And that is as much as to say also that it.
ceaseth as merely Mosaical, or political to the Jews. And
then the argument is vain, * This or that word was written
in the tables of stone; therefore it is of perpetual obliga*
ti^n.' For as it was written in stone, it was Mosaical, and
is done away ; and under the new covenant all that is natu-?
ral and continued, shall by the Spirit be written upon the
heart ; whence sin at first did obliterate it.
7. That as the rest of God in the creation is described
by a cessation from his work, with a complacency in the
goodness of it : But Christ's rest is described more by vital
activity and operation, than by cessation from work, even
his triumphant resurrection, as the conquest of death, and
beginning of a new life. So I think the old Sabbath is more
described by such corporeal rest, or cessation from work,
which was partly ceremonial, or a signifying shadow, and
that the word Sabbath is never used in Scripture, but for
such a day of ceremonial rest (though including holy wor-
ship). But that the Lord's-day, and its due observation, is
more described by spiritual activity and operation^ in the
spiritual resurrection of the soul, and its new life to God ;
and that the bodily rest is no longer ceremonial and shadowy,
bttt fitted to the promoting and subserving of the spiritual
activity and complacency in God, and holy exercises of the
mind, as the body itself is to the service of the souL
8. That I am not ignorant that many of the English di-
vines long ago expounded Matt. xxiv. 20, of the Christian
Sabbath, and Col. ii. 16, as exclusive of the Jewish weekly
Sabbath : but so do not most expositors, for which I think
they give very good reasons, which I will not stand here to
repeat.
9. That I intend not a full and elaborate treatise of the
LordVday, but a brief explication of that method of proof
which I conceive most easy and convincing, and most fit for
the use of doubting Christians ; who are many of them lost
in doubts in the multitude and obscurity of arguments from
the Old Testament : When I think that the sipe^d^ ^wdi ^%.-
tiafactory dispatch of the controversy is best made \i^ ^^"iwv
516 APPENDIX FOR CONFIRMATION, 8cC.
proof of the institution of Christ by the Holy Ghost in the
apostles ; which I thought to have shewed in two or three
sheets^ but that the necessity of producing some evidence of
the fact, and answering other men's objections, drew it out
to greater length. And my method required me to say more
of the practice of antiquity, than some other men's. But
again, I must give notice diat Dr. T. Young's ** Dies Do-
minica" is the book which I agree with in the method and
middle way of determining this controversy, and which I
take to be the strongest written of it. And that I omit most
which he hath, as taking mine but as an appendix to his, and
desire him that will write against mine, to answer both to-
gether, or else I shall suppose his work to be undone.
END OF THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT OF THE LORD'S-DAY.
OF
KEDEMPTION OF TIME
* The usual vice of human nature, to be weary of good things,
when they grow old and common, and to call for novelties, is
especially discernible in men's esteem and use of books.
Abundance of old ones are left neglected to the worms and
dust, whilst new ones of a far less worth are most of the book-
sellers' trade and gain. It is not easy to give a reason of it>
but it is not to be denied, that this age hath few such writers
as the last, either controversial or practical* Even among the
Papists, there are now few such as Suarez, Vasquez, Valentia,
Victoria, Penottus, Ruiz, Alvarez, Bellarmine, &c. And
among us, too few such as Jewel, Whittaker, Reignolds,
Field, Usher, White, Challoner, Chillingworth, &c. which
the Papists understanding, would fain have the monuments
of these worthies forgotten ; and are calling for new answers
to the schisms that have been so long ago confuted ; to keep
those old unanswerable writings, from the people's hands.
And thus doth the envious enemy of holiness, by the prac-
tical writings of those holy men who are now with God. The
solid, grave and pious labours of Richard Rogers, Perkins,
Greenham, Deering, Dent, Smith, Dod, Hildersham, Dow-
name, Samuel Ward, Hall, Bolton, Dike, Stocke, Elton,
Taylor, Harris, Preston Sibbs, Ball, and many more such,
are by the most neglected, as if we were quite above their
parts ; but it were well if more injudicious or undigested writ-
ings possessed not their room. Though I may hereby censure
myself as much as others, I must needs say, that the reprint-
ing of many of our fathers' writings, might have saved the
labour of writing many later books, .to the g;i:<&^\.%x c,c>\»x»5^-
iity of the church.
518 REDEMPTION OF TIME.
' Among the rest, I well remember that even in my youth
(and since much more) the writings of Mr. Whately were
very savoury to me ; especially his " Sermon of Redeeming
Time."
' I must so far venture on the displeasure of the guilty,
as to say, that the doleful condition of two sorts of persons,
the SENSUAL GENTRY^ and the idle beggars, is it that bath
compelled me to this service*; but especially of the former
sort, who though slothful, may possibly be drawn to read so
small a book. What man that believeth a life hereafter, and
considereth the importance of our business upon earth, and
observeth how most persons, but especially our sensual gen-
try, live, can choose but wonder that ever reason can be so
far lost, and even self-love and the care of their own ever-
lasting state, so laid asleep, as men's great contempt of time
declareth ! Ladies and Gentlewomen, it is you whom I imtt
deeply pity and lametH: think not tiiat F am too bcdd with
you, God, who employeth us on such service; will beholder
with you than this comes to.^ And Ohrist was bold wi&
such as you, when he spake the historic or parable^ iof the
two rich men in Luke xii. and xvi. And when be told Bien
how hardly the rich should enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Afid James was bold with such when he wrote, chap. v.
"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and hov^I for your miseries
that shall come upon you : your riches are corrupted, and
your garments motbeaten : your gold and silver is cankered,
and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall
eat your flesh as it were fire, &c.*^--*-*Ye have lived in plea-
sure on earth, and been wanton ; ye 'have nourished yoar
hearts as in a day of slaughtcir.*'-i-*i*^And he was neither ig-
noble nor unlearned, but of honourable birth, and the orator
of an university who was so bold with the English gentry
(\vhen they say, they were much wiser and better than they
are now) as to bet^peak them thus : (Herbert's " Chureh-
porch.")
" Fly idleness I which yet thou canst not fly
By dressing, nlistressing and compliment ;
If those take up the day, the sun will cry
Against thee ; for his light was only lent :
God gave thy sou\ bt«ve v^vw^s \ ^ut not those feathers
Into a bed to sleep out ^\\\>\v^^^v3tv^\^.
»'
i
REDEMPTION OF TIME. 519
O England I full of sin, but most of sloth !
Spit out thy phlegm, and fill thy breast with glory.
Thy gentry bleats as if thy native cloth
Transfused a sleepiness into thy story.
Not that they all are so, but that the most
Are gone to grass, and in the pasture lost.
This loss springs chiefly from our education.
Some till their ground, but let weeds choke their son :
Some mark a partridge ; never their child's fashion:
Some shi^ them over, and the thing is done.
Study this art : make it thy great design :
And if God's image move thee not, let thine.
Some great estates provide ; but do not breed
A mast'ring mind ; so both are lost thereby.
Or else they breed them tender ; make them need
All that they leave : this is flat poverty.
For he that needs five hundred pounds to live.
Is full as poor as that needs but five."
* When I peruse the map of Sodom, in Ezek. xvi. 49, 50,
methinks I am in an infected city, where instead of ' LORD
HAVE MERCY ON US,' it is written on the GENTRY'S
doors • PRIDE, FULNESS OF BREAD, ABUNDANCE
OF IDLENESS, UNMERCJFULNESS AND ABOMI-
NATION.' " Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister
Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness
was in her, and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen
the hand of the poor and needy : and they were haughty, and
committed abomination before me." The title over the
leaves of these verses might be ' the character of the
SENSUAL GENTRY.'
' Mistake me not, I am so far from accusing all the rich
and lionourable, that I must say it is as a testimony against
the rest, that I know many such who spend their time as
fruitfully and diligently as the poor (though in another sort
of service) : And such might the rest have been if their
bodies had not got the mastery of their souls. It is not
your PRIDE or FULNESS of BREAD that I am now to
speak of, but your IDLENESS. Many of the old philoso-
phers thought that when sickness or age had made one un-
serviceable to the commonwealth, it was a shame to l\^e,%x\A.
a duty to make away themselves ; as being bwtwxv^to^V^ik^^
520 REDEMPTION OF TIME.
burdens to the world. Christians are not of their nriid,
because it is a mercy even under pain to have time of pre-
paration for another world, and because we may serve God
in patience, and heavenly desires, and hope, when we cannot
serve him by an active life : But Christians and heathens
will proclaim those persons to be the shame of nature^ who
wilfully make themselves unprofitable, and live in their
health, as if they were disabled by sickness ; and are con*
demned by their sensuality to a prison or a grave : So that
their epitaph may be written on their doors, * hebb libtb
SUCH A ONE,' rather than it can be said ' Here he Uvetb.'
O what a rock is a hardened heart! How can you choose but
tremble when you think how you spend your day& ? And
how all this time must be accounted for? That those that
have a death and judgment to prepare for, a heaven taget, a
hell to escape, and souls to save, can waste the day in careless
idleness, as if they had no business in the world, and yet
their consciences never tell them what they do, and how all
this must be reviewed !
' Compa]:e together the life of a Christian and of a fleshly
brute, and you will see the difference. Suppose then both
Ladies or Gentlewomen of the same rank : The one riseth as
is consistent with her health ; with thoughts of thankfulness
and love, her heart also awaketh, and riseth up to Hinx that
night and day preserveth her : She quickly dispatcheth the
dressing of the body, as intending no more but serviceable
warmth, and modest decency : and then she betaketh her-
self to her closet, where she poureth out her soul in confes-
sion, supplication, thanksgiving and praise to God, her Crea-
tor, Redeemer and Sanctifier: And as one that delighteth in
the law of the Lord, she reverently openeth the sacred Scrip-
ture, and readethover some partof it with some approved com-
mentary at hand, in which she may see the sense of that, which
of her self she could not understand: What is plain she taketh
in,digesteth and layeth up for practice ; and that which is too
hard for her, as a humble learner she waiteth in patience, till
by her teacher's help in time she can come to understand it
As she hath leisure, she readeth such holy books as inter-
pret and apply the Scriptures, to enlighten her mind, and
resolve her will, and quicken her affections, and direct her
practice. And as she liveth in an outward calling or course
of iabour, in whicli Viet bod^ ^^e* >n^ ^"eiXv^T: vDLVcA»\3aaY have
REDEMPTION OF TIME. 521
employment, she next addresseth herself to that ; she look-
eth>with prudence and carefulness to her family ! She taketh
care of her servants' labours, and their manners ; neither
suffering any to live in idleness, nor. yet so overlabouring
them, as to deny them some time to read the Scriptures, and
call upon God, and mind their souls : She endureth no pro-
fane despisers of piety, or vicious persons in her house :
She taketh fit seasons to speak to her servants such sober
words pf holy counsel, as tend to instruct and save their
souls. She causeth them to learn the principles. of religion
in some catechism, and to read such good books as are most
suitable to their capacity. In her affairs, she avoideth both
sordid parsimony, and wasteful prodigality ; and is thrifty
and sparing, not in covetousness, but that she may do the
more good to them that want. She indulgeth no excess or
riotousness in her house, though the vices of the times
should make it seem needful to her honour. If she want
recreation, or have leisure for more work, she steps out to
her poor tenants' and neighbours* houses, and seeth how
they live, and what they want, and.speaketh to them some
sober words of counsel about the state of their immortal
souls, and stirreth them up to. a holy life : She causeth the
souls of the poor to bless her, and is an example of piety to
all about her. But her special care and labour 'is in the
education of her children (if she have any :) she watcheth
over them, lest the company, and example, and language of
ungodly persons should infect them : she causeth them to
read the Scriptures, and other holy books, and to learn the
principle^ of religion, and teacheth them how to call upoa
God, and give him thanks for all his mercies; she acquaint*,
eth them with the sins of their depraved natures, and laljour-
eth to humble them in the sense thereof: she openeth to
them the doctrine of man's salvation by Christ, and the ner
cesisity of a new birth, and of a heavenly nature : she dis-
graceth all sin to them, especially the radical and master*,
sins; even ignorance, unbelief, selfishness, pride, sensuality
and. voluptuousness, the love of this world, and unholiness
of heart and life. She sweetly and seriously insinuateth into
them the love and liking of faith and holiness ; and fre«:
quently enlargeth her speech to them of the greatness, wis-
dom and goodness of God, and what he is to man, and how.
absolute!/ we owe him all the semce, obediveTkC*^ -^vAViH^
522 HEDEMPTION OF TIME.
that our faculties can possibly perfonn : she sweeteneth dieir
thoughts of Ood and godliness, by telling them what God
hath done for man, and what be will be to his own for ever:
and by acquainting them with the reasons of a holy life, and
the folly of ungodly men, and what a beastly thing it is to
be sensual, and to pamper and please this flesh, which mast
shortly turn to dust, and to neglect a soul which must live
for ever. She remembereth them oft that they must die, and
telleth them how great a change death makes, and how the
change of regeneration must prepare us for it : she openetb
to them the blessedness of holy souls, that shall be for ever
with the Lord, and the misery of the damned, who cast away
themselves, by the wilful neglect of the time of their visita-
,tion. In a word, it is her daily care and calling, to prepare
her children for the service of Qod, and to be blessings
to the world in their generation, and to be happy them-
selves for evermore : atul to destroy and prevent that sin and
wickedness, which would make them a plague and curse in
their generation. Her meals are not luxurious nor long, nor
her feastings unnecessary, to the wasting of estate or pre-
cious time ; but seasonable, frugal, charitable and pious,
intended to promote some greater good. She keepeth up
the constant performance of religious duties in her family ;
not mocking God with formal compliment ; but worship-
ping him in reverence and serious devotion, reading the holy
Scriptures, and seriously calling upon God, and singing to
him psalms of praise. If her mind need recreation, she
hath some profitable history, or other fruitful books to read^
and variety of good works, and a seasonable diversion to the.
affairs of her family, instead of cards and dice, and the
abused' fooleries of the sensual world : When she is alone^
her thoughts are fruitful to herself ; either examining her
heart and life, or looking seriously into eternity, or rejoicing
her soul in the remembrance of God's mercies, or in the
foresight of endless blessedness with him, or in stirring up
some of his graces in her soul. When she is with others,
her words are savoury, sober, seasonable ; as the oracles of
God for piety and truth, tending to edification, and to ad-
minister instruction and grace to the hearers, and rebuking
the idle talk, or filthy scurrility, or backbiting of any that
would corrupt the company and discourse. At evening she
ag-ain returneth to the mote %o\emxv.v<o\^v^^v\\%<A^^4,^ud
REDEMPTION OF TIME. 523
goeth to rest, as one that still waiteth when she is called to
rest with Christ, a^d is never totally unready for that call.
Thus doth she spend her days, and accordingly doth she end
them, being conveyed by angels iiito' tUe presence of her
Ix)rd, and leaving a precious memorial to the living ; the poor
lamenting the loss of her charity, and all about lamenting the
rendeovalof apattem of piety and righteott8ne8s,and loving ho«»'
linessthe better, for the perfume of such a heavenly and ami-
able an example^
'- On the other side, how different is the life of the sensual
ladies and gentlewomen ta whom I am now wrttiag. Whea
they have indulged their sloth in unnecessary sleep, till the
precious morning hours are paist, they arise with thoughts
as fruitless as their dreams: their talk and time, till almost
half the day is gone, is taken up only about their childish
trifling ornaments ; so long are they dressing themselves,
that by that time they can but say over; or join in a few
formal words, which go for prayer, it is dinner-time (for an
image of religion some of them must have, lest conscience
should torment them before the time). And when they have
sat out an hour dr two at dinner, in- gratifying their appe«
tttee, and in idle talk, they must spend the next h6ur in tdk,
which is as idle. A savoury word of the life to come, must
aot trouble them, nor interrupt their fleshly converse : per-
bapis they must next go to ceirds or dice, and it may be to a
pki]Ffaouse, or at least, on some unprofitable visitation, or
some worthiest^ visitors that come to them, must take up the
rest of the afternoon in frothy talk, Which all set together
oomes 1;o nothing, but vanisheth as smoke : and they choose
sikeh company, and sujch a course of life, as shall make all
this seeni unavoidable and unnecessary, and that it would
fun^themiuto contempt and great inconveniences if they did
otherwise^ If they look after their affairs, it is merely
tiirough oovetousness : but more usually they leave that care
tO'Otheirs,tbat they may do nothing that is good for soul or
body. They use their servants as they do their beasts, for
their service only ; and converse with them as if they had
no souls to save or lose : they teach them by their example
to speak vainly, and live sensually, and to forget the life' to
eome«' Their children they love but as the brutes do their *
young; they teach them how to bow and dwvc;^, ^vA. caxrj
themselves decently in the sight of men-, bw\.tveve\\?l5ci<^^'tV^
524 REDEMPTION OF TIME.
heal their souls of ignorance, unbelief and pride ; nor open
to them the matters of everlasting consequence : but rather
persuade them that serious holiness is but hypocrisy, and
the obedience of God's laws is a needless thing. They teach
them by their example to curse, and swear, and lie, and rail,
and to deride religion, or at least to neglect Qod, and life
eternal, and mind only the transitory vanities of this life:
they leave them to Satan, to wicked company and counsel,
and to their fleshly lusts and pride, and when they have done,
take care only to get them sufficient maintenance, to fe^d
this sensual fire while they livd. They train them up for the
service of sin and Satan, that at age they may have ignorance
and vice sufficient to make them the plagues and misery of
their country, and to engage them in enmity against that
Gospel and ministry which is against their lusts ; that re-
belling against Christ, they may have at last the reward of
rebels, instead of salvation. In a word, they do more against
their poor children's souls, than all their enemies in the
world; if more than the devil himself could do, at least, they
most effectually serve him, for their children's damnation.
Thus do they spend their days, and at night conclude them
as carelessly as they begun them : and at death (without a
true conversion) shall end them as miserably as they spent
them sinfully : And while they are pampering their flesh and
saying, ' I have enough, I will eat, drink, and be merry,' they
suddenly hear, " Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be re-
quired, and then whose shall all this be which thou posses-
est ?" (Luke xii. 19, 20.) And wlien they have a while been
clothed in purple and silks, and *' fared sumptuously every
day," they must hear at last, " Remember that thou in thy life
time Teceivedst thy good things, and Lazarus evil things :
but now hie is comforted, and thou art tormented.'\ And
when the time which they now despise is gone, O what
would they give for one other year or hour of such time, to
do the work which they now neglected ! (Luke xvi. 24— -26 ;
Matt. XXV. 8—12.)
. ' Is there not a great difference now between these two
sorts of persons, in the expense of time ? And is it any won-
der if there be a difference in their rewards ? In Matt. xxr.
30, it is not only ' cast the whoremonger, the drunkard, the
perjured, the persecutor •,' but, " cast the unprofitable ser-
REDEMPTION OF TIME. 525
vant into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnash-
ing of teeth/'
' Compare, I beseech you, the time which you spend, I.
In idleness. 2. In excessive sleep. 3. In adorning you.
4. In feasting and long meals. 6. In curiosity and pomp,
employing most of your servants' time in impertinencies, as
well as your own. 6. In excessive worldly cares. 7. In
vain company and idle talk. 8. In vain thoughts. 9. In
sensual recreations, in cards, dice, huntings, hawkings, plays,
romances, fruitless books, 8(c. I say, compare this time,
with the time which you spend in examining your hearts and
lives, and trying your title to eternal life, in bewailing sin,
and begging mercy of God, and returning thanks and praise
to your great Benefactor, in instructing your children and
servants, in visiting the sick, relieving the poor, exhorting
one another^ in meditating on eternity, and the way thereto,
in learning the word and will of Qod, and in the sanctified
labours of your outward calling. And let your consciences
tell you, which of these hath the larger share ? And whether
those things which should have none, and those which should
have little, have not almost all ? And whether God hath not
only the leavings of your flesh ?
' Gentlemen and Ladies, I envy not your pleasures : I
have myself a body with its proper appetites, which would
be gratified, as well as you? And I have not wanted oppor-
tunity to gratify it. If I thought that this were the most
manly life, and agreeable to reason, and that we had no greater
things to mind, I could thus play away my time as you do.
But it amazeth me to see the world's stupidity, that people
who are posting away into eternity, and Have so much to do
in a little time, and of such inconceivable importance, can
yet waste their days in sleeping, and dressing, and feasting,
and complimenting ; in pastime and plays, and idle talk, as
if they were all but a dream, and their wits were not so far
awakened as to know what it is to be a man. And to in-
crease our pity, when they have done, they ask, * What harm
is there in cards and dice, in stage-plays and romances ? Is
it not lawful to use such and such recreations?* Suppose
they were all unquestionably lawful, have you no greater
matter that while to do? Have you no more useful recrea^
tions, that will exercise your bodies aad miud% YRa\^ Y^<i^-
5&(j REDEMPTION OP TIME.
tably, or at least with less expense of time ? To a »edenr
tary person, recreation must be such as stirs the body.: to a
labc^fing person^ variety of goodybooliLS and pious zeroises ,
are fitter r^reatioQs than cards or dice. Is your recreation
but as the nxower's whetting of bis scythe ? no oftener, nor
longer, than is. necessary ta fit you for those labours. and du-
tieei^.whicb mu9t be the great aiKl daily business of jrour lives ?
If tibis be so» I.am not reprehending you : but I breech you
consider, have you not souls to regard^ as well as others?
Have you not a God to serve 2 and his word and will to
learn and do ? Have you not servants and children to in-
struct; and educate ? (And.O what a deal of labour dotb their
ignorance and obstinaey require !) Hietv^ you not d^ath and
judgment to prepare for ? Have you not an outvi^ard calling
to follow ? ^hough I say not that you must do the siune
labours as the poor, I say that you must labour, md be pro*
fitable to the commonwealth.) Have you not mwy good
works of charity. to do? And will you leave the nv>st of
this undone^ and waste your time in plays, and cards, and
feasts, and idleness, and then say, ' What harm is in all this,
and are they not lawful?* O that the Lord would open your
eyes, and shew you where you must be ere long, and tell you
what work you have here to do, that must be done, or you
are lost for ever ! And then you would easily tell yourselves
whether playing apd fooling away precious time be Jawfiil
for one in your condition ! If your servants leave most of
their work undone, and spend the day in carda ^nd stage-
plays, and feasting, and in merry chat, and then say, ' Ma-
dam, are not cards, and plays, and jesting lawful?'. Will yon
take it for a satisfactory answer ? And is it not worse that
you deal with God ?
' It is a most irrational and ungrateful error, to think, that
you may spend one hour's time the more in idleness, b^ecaus^
that you are ricb.i The reason were good, if labour werei for
nothing but to supply your own bodily necessities*. But do
you not believe that God is your Lord and Master ? and that
he giveth you not an hour s time in vain, butappointetb you
work for every hour? (except your necessary rest;) And
that your time and wealth are but his talents f And bethink
yourselves whether a servant may say, I will do less work
than my fellow-servauU^ bec^.\x%^ I have more wages? And
BEDEMPTION OF TIME. 527
whether you may do less for God» because he giveth you
more than others ? But of this I have said so much in my
preface to my book called *' The Crucifying of the World," '
that I shall now dismiss it.
' And what I have said especially to the rich, (who think
their loss of time no sin,) I must say also to all others, O
value time before it is gone ! Use it before it is taken from
you ! Dispatch tHe work that you Were made for. Repent
and turn to God unfeignedly. Prepare for death without de-*
lay. Time will not stay ; nor will it ever be recovered.
Were it not lest I should write a treatise instead of a preface,
I would especially press this on all these following sorts of
people. 1. Those that are young, who have yet the flower
of their time to usey that they cast it not away on childish
vanity or lusts. 2. Those that have lost much time already,
that they shew the sincerity of their repentance, by redeem-
' ing the rest, and lose no more. 3. Those that are yet igno-
rant, ungodly and unprepared for death, and the world to
come,'0 what need have these to make haste, and quickly
get into a safer state, before their time be at an end. 4.
Those that in sickness resolved and promised, if God would
recover them, to redeem their time. 5. The weak and aged,
whom nature and sickness do call upon to make haste. 6.
The poor and servants, whose opportunities for spiritual
means are scant, and therefore have need to take them when
they may ; especially on the Lord's-day. 7. Those that live
under excellent helps, and advantages for their souls ; which
if they neglect, they may never have again. 8. And those
that by office or power have especial opportunity to do good.
All these have a double obligation to value and redeem
their time.
* But because in my book called *' Now or Never,'* I have
already urged these to diligence, I shall only add this one
orequest, ta sportful youth, to sensual brutes, to the idle sort
of the gentry, to impenitent loiterers, to gamesters, and
to all that have time to spare, that they will soberly use
their reason in the answer of these following questions, be-
fore they proceed to waste the little time that is remaining,
as vai&ly as they have done the rest. And I earnestly be<*
seech them, and require them, as in the sight and hearing
of their Judge, that they deny me not so ftieudlsi ^\A\«^-
.%onab1e a suit
528 n^DEWPTION OF TIMM.
Quest, 1. Do you consider well the shortness -ai^d nncer*
tainty of your time ? You came but lately into the worlds
and it is but a very little while tilt you must leave it. The
glass is turned upon you ; and it is incessantly running. A
certain number of motions your pulse must beat, aYid beyond
that number it shall not be permitted to strike another stroke.
Whatever you are thinking, or saying, or doing, you are post-
ing on to your final state. And O how quickly will you be
there! Suppose you had seventy years to live, how soon
will they be gone I But you are not sure of another hour.
Look back on all your time that is past> and tell me whether
it made not haste ? And that which is to come will be as
hasty. Will not the tolling of the bell instruct you ? Will
not graves, and bones, and dust instruct you ? While many
are hourly crowding into another world, will conscience per«
mit you to be idle? Doth it not tell you what you have to
do, and call upon you to dispatch it ? Can you play away
your time, and idle it away, whilst the bell is tolling, whilst
the sick are groaning, whilst every jpulse and breath is telling
you, that you are hasting to your end ? Do you consider
what a wonder of providence it is, that all your humours,
parts and organs, that sa many arteries, nerves and veins,
should be kept in order one year to an end ¥ If you have
no pains of sickness to admonish you, do you not know what
a fragile thing is flesh ? which as the flower fadeth, doth hasr
ten to corruption and to dust? How short is your abode in
your present dwelling like to be, in comparison of your
abode in dust and darkness? And can you have while now
to waste so many hours in the adorning, the easing and the
pampering of such a lump of rottenness, and forget the part
that lives for ever? Must you stay on earth so short a time,
and have you any of this little time to spare ? Yea, so much
of it as you daily waste in idleness, play, and vain curiosity?
Quest. 2. Do you soberly consider, what work you have
for all your time ? And on how important a business you
come into the world ? Believe it, O man and woman, it is
to do all that ever must be done, to prepare for an everlast-
ing life ! Endless joy or misery is the certain reward, and
consequent of the spending of your present time! And 0
that God would open your eyes, to see how much you have
to do, in order to this eternal end ! You have ignorant minds
which must be insttucleA, ^tvdVxvo^X^^^'^K^^v^X^'^xVj^ud
REDEMPTION OF TIME. 52d
quickly got. Poor ministers of Christ can tell you that,
who with many years* labour can scarce bring one half a pa-
i:iBh to understand the very principles of the Christian reli-
gion. You have souls depraved by original sin, and turned
from God, and enslaved to the world and flesh ; and these
mast be renewed and regenerated. You must have a new and
holy nature, that you may have a new and holy life. How
many false opinions have you to be untaught ! How many
weighty lessons to learn ! How many pernicious customs
to be changed ! How many powerful corruptions to be mor-^
tified ! How many temptations to be overcome I How many
jgraces to be obtained ; and then to be exercised, and
strengthened, and preserved ! Is it easy to get a solid faith ;
a tender heart ; a faithful conscience ; a fervent desire and
love to God ; a quieting confidence and trust ; a well-guided
zeal, and preserving fear ; an absolute resignation, self-de«
nial and obedience ; a hatred of all sin, a love to holiness ;
a fitness and ability for every duty ; a love to our neighbour
as ourselves ; a true love to our enemies ; a contentedness
with our condition ; a readiness and joyful willingness to
die ; a certainty of the pardon of all our sins, and of our title
to eternal happiness ; a longing after the coming of Christ ;
a public spirit, wholly devoted to the common good ? Is it
nothing to dp all that which you have to do in meditation,
in self-examination, in prayer, in educating children, in
teaching and governing your families ; in all duties of your
other relations ; to superiors, to inferiors, to equals, to
neighbours, to enemies, to all P Is it nothing to order and
govern your hearts, your thoughts; your passions, your
tongues? Alas ! sirs, have you all this to do ; and yet can
you have while to slug, and game, and play, and fool away
your time ? If a poor man had but sixpence in bis purse to
bay bread for himself and for his family, and would give a
groat of it to see a puppet-play, and then dispute that pup-
pet-plays are lawful, how would you judge of his understand-
ing and his practice ? O how much worse is it in you (as
the case is more weighty), when you have but a little uncer-
tain time, to do so much, so great, so necessary work in, to
leave it almost all undone and throw away that time, on
cards, and plays, and sensuality, and idleness? I tell you
time is a most precious thing : more precious than gold« or
[ VOL. XI7I. MM.
=«!
530 REDEMPTION OF TIME.
jewels, or fine clothes : and he is incomparably more foolish
that throws away his time, than he that throws away bis
gold, or trampleth his clothes or ornaments in the dirt. This,
this is the foolish, pernicious prodigality.
' Quest. 3. Have you deeply considered, that everlasting
condition which all your time is given you to prepare for?
Doth it not awaken and amaze thy soul, to think what it ifl
to be for ever ; I say, Jhr ever, in joy or misery ? in heaven
or hell ? One of these will certainly and shortly be thy por-
tion, whatever unbelief may say against it? O what a heart
hath that stupified sinner, that can idle away Uiat little time,
which is allotted him to prepare for his everlasting state!
That knoweth he shall have but this hasty life to win or lose
eternal glory in, and can play it away as if he bad nothiDg
to do with it ; . and heaven or hell were indifferent to him,
or were but insignificant words !
' Quest. 4. What maketh you so loath to die, if time be
no more worth than to cast away unprofitably ?^ The worth
of time is for the work that is to be done in time. To a
man in a palsy, an apoplexy, a madness, that cannot make
use of it, it is little worth; if you were sick and like to die
this night, would you not pray that you might live a little
longer ? I beseech you cheat not ypur souls by wilful self-
deceit. Tell me, or tell your consciences. How would you
form such a prayer to God for your recovery if you were
now sick ? Would you say. Lord, give me a little more time
to play at cards and dice in ? Let me see a. few more masks
and plays ? Let me have a little time more to please my
flesh, in idleness, feastings, and the pleasures of worl<;ilines8
and pride? Did you ever find such a prayer in any prayer-
book ? Would you not rather say» Lord, vouchsafe me a lit-
tle more time to repent of all my loss of time, and to, redeem
it in preparation for eternal life, and to make my calling
and election sure ? And will you yet live so, contrary to
your prayers, to your conscience^ and to reason itself?
' Quest. 5. Is the work that you were ma,de for, hitherto
well done ? Are you regenerated and renewed to the hea-
venly nature? Are you strong and established in grace?
Have you made sure of pardon and salvation? Are yoor
hearts in heaven? and is your daily conversation there?
And are you ready with well-grounded hope and peace, to
welcoiAe death, and ^ipipe^t Vxv *yaid^tCkfcTv\.1 U all this were
KEDBMPTION OF TIMB* $31
done^ you had yet no excuse for idling away one day of
hour^ because there is still more work to do, as long as you
hare time to do it. (And if this were done, you wonld have
that within you, which would not suffer you to cast away
your time.) But for these men or women to b6 passing
away time in sloth or Tanity, who are utterly behindhand,
and have lost the most of their lives already, and are yet
unregenerated, and strangers to a new and heavenly life, and
are unpardoned, and in the power and guilt of sin, and un-
ready to die, and shall certainly be for ever lost, if they die
before diat grace renew them. I say again, for such as
these to be sporting away their time, is a practice which
folly justiiieth the holy Scriptures, when they call such per-*
sons fools, and such a« have no understanding, unless it be
to do evil, and successfully destroy themselves.
' Quest. 6. Do you think if you neglect and lose your
tim<B, that ever you shall come again into this world, to
spend it better ? If you idle away this life, will God ever
give you another here? If you do not your work well,
shall you ever come again to mend it ? O no, sirs, there is
no hope of this. Act this part well, for as you do it, you
must speed for ever ; there is no coming back to correct
your errors. 1 have elsewhere told you, that it must be now
or neioer* And yet have you time to spare on vanity ?
' ' QmcsL 7. Do you mark what dying men say of time,
and how they value it ?- (unless they be blocks th^t are past
feeling.) How ordinarily, do good and bad then wish, that
they had spent time better, and cry out, O that it were to
spend again ! Then they are promising, O if it were to do
again, we would spend that time in heavenly lives, and fruit-
ful obedience, which we spent in curiosity, idleness, and
superfluous sensual delights ! Then they cry, O that God
would renew our time, and once more try us how we will
spend it! Alas! sirs, why should wise men so much differ
in health and sickness? Why should that time be vilified
now, which will seem so precious then ?
* Quest. 8. How think you the miserable souls in hell
would value time, if they were again sent hither^ and tried
with it again on the terms as we are? Would they feast it
away, and play it away, as you do now ; and then say. Are
not plays, and cards, and feastings lawful "l "ENet^ ^oOtvr^
hewhe too late. (Matt, xxv* 3. 8. ll^) "B^lVixt^ ^OMv<\saX.
632 REDEMPTION OF TIME.
iheir experience teacheth them, and let warning make you
wise'more seasonably, and at a cheaper rate.
* Quest.. 9. Do you believe that you must give an ac-
count of your time ? and that you must look back from
eternity on the time which you now spend? If you do,
what account will then be most comfortable to you ? Had
you not rather then find upon your accounts that all your
hours have been spent to the best advantage of your souls,
than that abundance of them have been cast away on fruit-
less toys ? Will you have more comfort than in the hours
which you spent in heart- searching, and heart-reforming,
and learning and practising the word of God, or in those
which you spent upon needless sports, curiosity, or idle-
ness ? .Do now as you would desire you had done.
' Qtiest. 10. How do you now wish that you had spent
the time which is already past? Had you not rather that it
had been spent in fruitful holiness, and good works, than in
idleness, and fleshly pleasures ? If not, you have not so
much as a shadow of repentance ; and therefore can have no
just conceit that you are forgiven ? If yea, then why will
you do that for the time to come, which you wish for the
time past that you had never done ? And hereby shew that
your repentance is hypocritical, and will not prove the par-
don of your sin ? For so far as any man truly repenteth, be
is resolved not to do th6 like, if it were to do again, under
the like temptations.
' Quest. 11. Do you know who attendeth you while you
are loitering away your time ? 1 have elsewhere told you,
that the patience and mercy of God is waiting on you ; that
Christ is offering you his grace, and the Holy Spirit moving
you to a wiser and a better course : that sun and moon, and
all the creatures here on earth, are offering you their ser-
vice ; besides ministers and all other helpers of your salva-
tion ; and must all these wait upon you while you serve the
flesh, and vilify your time, and live as for nothing ?
' Quest. 12. Do you consider what you lose in the loss of
time? That time which you are gaming or idling away, you
might have spent in entertaining grace, in heavenly con-
verse, in holy pleasures, in making your salvation sure.
And all this you lose in your loss of time; which all your
sports will never compensate,
' Quest. 13, la tVve deyW \d\^ NAiAfc -^qm "^\^\SN&'\ ^\^t
REDBMPTIONT OF TIMR. 533
and day be is seeking to devour yoa ; and will you, like
the silly bird, sit cbirping and singiqg in your wanton plea-
sures, wben tbe devil's gun is ready to give fire at you ? If
you saw but how busy he is about you, and for what, you
would be busier yourselves for your own preservation, and
less busy in doing nothing than you are.
* Quest. 14. Do you really take Christ, and his apostles
and saints, to be the fittest pattern for the spending of your
time? If you do not, why do you usurp the name of Chris-
tians ? Is he a Christian who would not live like a Christian ?
or that taketh not Christ for his master and example ? But
if you say. Yea ; I pray you then tell us how much time
Christ or any of his apostles did spend at cards, or dice, or
stage plays? how much in curiosity about dressing and
superfluous ornaments; about unnecessary pomp and court-
ship ? how much in sluggishness, idleness, and vain dis-
course? or how much in furnishing their bodies, their at-
tendants, their habitations with matter of splendour and
vainglory ? Did they waste so much of the day in nothings
and need-nots, as our slothful, sensual gentry do? or did
they not rather spend their time in holy living, and fervent
praying, and in doing all the good they could to the souls
and bodies of all about them? and in the labours of a law-
ful bodily employment ? Write after this copy, rather than
after that which is set by the sensual fools of the world, if
you make any account of God's acceptance! Do as the
saints did, if you will speed as they : or else for shame
never honour their names and memorials to your own con-
demnation ! If you will spend your time as the flesh and
the world teach you, rather than as Christ hath taught you,
you must look for your payment from the flesh and the
world. And why then in baptism did you renounce them
and vow to follow Christ? "Be not deceived, God is not
mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap ; for he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap
corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the
Spirit reap life everlasting." (Gal. vi. 7, 8.) Bethink you
what the reason was that the ancient fathers and churches,
80 much condemned tlie going to the spectacles of theatres ;
^d why the canons made it such a crime for a minister to
play at dice. (Read Dr. Jo. Reignolds, his Cloud qC W\V
nesses of aJJ sorts against Stage-plays.^
534 REDEMPTION OF TIME.
* Reader, if thou think this counsel or reprehensicMi too
precise or strict^ grant me but this reasonable jpequest,. and
I have my end. Live in the world but with a soul that, is
awake, that soberly considereth what haste time maketh ;
and how quickly thy glass will be run out; bow fast death
is coming, and how soon it will be with theel Whatm work
is it to get a carnal, unprepared soul to be renewed and
made holy^ and fitted for another world ! What a terrible
thing it will be to lie on a deathbed with a guilty con-
science, unready to die, and utterly uncertain whither thou
must next go, and where thou must abide for ever ! Foresee
but what use of thy present time will be most pleasing or
displeasing to thy though^ at last, and spend it now but as
thou wilt wish thou hadst spent it; and- value it, but as it
is valued by all when it is gone ; use it but as true reason
telleth thee will make most to. thy endless happiness, and as
is most agreeable to the endi) of thy creation and redemp-
tion; and as beseemeth that man who soberly and often
thinketh what it is to be either in heaven or hell for ever,
and to have no more but this present short, uncertain life,
to decide that question, ' which must be thy lot Y and to
make all the preparation that ever must be made for an end-
less life. I say, do but thus lay out thy time as reason
should command a reasonable creature, and I desire no
more. I have warned thee in the words of truth and faith-
fulness ; the Lord . give thee a heart to take this warning I
Thy compassionate Monitor,
R. BAXTER.
September 23, 1667. ^
THE END OF REDEJilPTION 6F J'lME.
MR. BAXTER'S PREFAOB
TO
MR. ALLEINE'S ARLAM.
IX) ALL THE IGNORANT, CARNAL, AND UNGODLY, WHO ARE
LOVERS OF PLEASURE MORE THAN GOD, AND SEEK THIS
WORLD MORE THAN THE LIFE EVERLASTING, AND
LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, AND NOT AFTER
THE SPIRIT.
He that hath an Ear to hear, let him hear,
MISERABLE SOUL !
There is that life, and light, and love, in every true be-
liver, but especially in every faithful minister of Christ,
which engageth them to long and labour for your salvation.
Life is communicative and active : it maketh us sensible that
faith is not a fantasy, nor true religion a stage-play, nor our
hopes of our eternal happiness a dream. And as we desire
nothing more for ourselves, than to have more of the holy '
life which we have, alas ! in so small a measure ; so what is
it that we should more desire for others? With the eye of
an infallible (though too weak) faith we see the heaven
which you neglect, and the blessed souls in glory with
Christ, whose companions you might be for ever : we see
the multitude of souls in hell, who came thither by the same
way that you are going in ; who are shut out of the glorious
presence of God, and are now among these devils that de-
ceived them, remembering that they had their good things
here ; (Luke xvi. 25 ;) and how they spent the day of their
visitation, and how light they once set by God, by Christ,
by heaven, by mercy, whilst mercy was an earnest solicitor
for their hearts. And with our bodily eyes w^ %^^ ^\.\^v^
same time abundance of poor sinners \vvVii% ^Jaoxxlxxa, ^%SS.
530 PREFACE TO ALLEINE's ALARM.
there were ao God, no Christ, no heaven, no hell, no judg-
ment, no, nor death, to be expected-; as if a man were
but a master-beast, to rule the rest, and feed upon them,
and perish with them. And if it were your own case, to see
what souls do in heaven and hell, and at once see how un-
believingly, carelessly, and senselessly, most men live on
earth, as i£ there were no such difference in another world,
would it not seem a pitiful sight to you ? If you had once
seen the five brethren of Dives on earth, eating, drinking,
laughing, and • merry ; clothed, and faring daily with the
best, and at the same time seen their brother's soul in hell,
begging in vain for a little ease, and wishing in vain that
one from the dead might go warn his brethren, that they
come not to the place of torment, would it not seem to you
a pitiful sight ? Would not pity have made you think, * Is
there no way to open these gentlemen's eyes ? No way to
acquaint them what is become of their brother, and where
Lazarus is, and whither they themselves are going ; no one
driveth or forceth them to hell, and will they go thither of
themselves? And is there no way to stop them, or keep
them back V Did you but see yourselves what we see by
faith, (believing Qod) and at once behold the saints in hea-
ven, the lost despairing souls in hell, and the senseless,
sensual sinners on earth, that yet will lay none of this to
heart, sure it would make you wonder at the stupidity of
mankind. Would you not say, O what a deceiver is the
devil, that can thus lead on souls to their own damnation !
O what a cheater is this transitory world, that can make
men so forget the world where they must live for ever ! O
what an enemy is this flesh, that thus draweth down men's
souls from God ! O what a besotting thing is sin, that
turneth a reasonable soul into worse than a beast! What a
bedlam is this wicked world, when thousands are so busily
labouring to undo themselves and others, and gratifying the
devil, against the God and Saviour who would give them
everlasting blqssed life !
And as we have such a sight as this by faith to make
us pity you^ so have we so much taste of the goodness of
God, the sweetness of his ways, and the happiness of be-
lievers, as must needs make us wish that you had but once
tried the same delights, which would turn the pleasures of
ein into detestation. GodVivo^^>3a.\Xv"aX.'«^ ^^%\t^ xiothing
PREFACfi TO ALLElNfi's ALARM* 537
more for ourselves than the perfection and eternity of this
holiness and happiness which we believe and taste. And
should we not desire the same for you?
And being thus moved with necessary pity, we ask of
God what he would have us to do for your salvation. And
he hath told us in Scripture, that the preaching of his Gos-
pel, to acquaint you plainly with the truth, and earnestly
and frequently entreat you to turn from the flesh and world,
to God by Jesus Christ, is the means with which his grace
is ready to concur for your salvation, when obstinate re-
sistance causeth the Holy Spirit to forsake the sinner, and
leave him to himself, to follow his own counsels, lusts,
and wills.
In this hope we undertook the sacred ministry, and gave
up ourselves to this great and most important work. In
the great sense of our unworthiness, but yet in the sense of
your souls' necessity, we were not such fools at our first
setting out, as not to know it must be a life of labour, self-
denial, and patience, and the devil would do his worst to
hinder us, and that all sorts of his instruments would be
ready to serve him against our labours, and against your
souls. Christ our Captain saved by patient conquest, and
so must we save ourselves and you : and so must you save
yourselves under Christ, if ever you be saved. It was no
strange thing to Paul that bonds and afflictions did every
where abide him ; nor did he account his life dear that he
might finish his course with joy, and the ministry com-
mitted to him by the Lord. (Acts xx. 23, 24.) It was no
strange thing to him to be forbidden to preach to the Gen-
tiles, that they might be saved, by such as were filling up
the measure of their sins, and were under God's utmost
wrath on earth. (1 Thess. ii. 15, 16.) Devils and Pharisees,
and most where they came, both high and low, were against
the apostles' preaching of the Gospel, and yet they would
not sacrilegiously and cruelly break their covenant with
Christ, and perfidiously desert the souls of men, even as
their Lord for the love of souls did call Peter Satan, that
would have tempted him to save his life and flesh, instead
of making it a sacrifice for our sins. (Matt. xvi. 33.)
What think you should move u^ to undertake a calling
so contrary to our fleshly ease and interest? Do v)^ \2l^v
538 PREFACE TO AULElNfi^S ALARM.
know the way of ease and honour, of wealth and pleasure^
as well as others ? And have not we flesh as well as others ?
Could we not be content that the cop of reproach, and
scorn, and slander, and poverty, and labours, might pass
from us, if it were not for the will of God and your ssdva-
tion ? Why should we love to be the lowest, and trodden
down by malignant pride, and counted as the filth of the
world, and the oflscouring of all things, and represented Jo
rulers whom we honour, as schismatics, disobedient, turbu-
lent, unruly, by every church usurper whom we refuse to
make a God of? Why give we not over this preaching of
the Gospel at the will of Satan, that is for the everlasting
suffering of your souls, under the pretence of making us
suffer? Is not all this that you may be converted and
saved ? If we be herein besides ourselves, it is for you.
Could the words of the ignorant or proud have persuaded
us that either your wants and dangers are so inconsiderable,
or your other supplies and helps sufficient, that our labours
had been unnecessary to you, God knoweth we should have
readily obeyed the i^tlencing sort of pastors, and have be-
taken us to some other land, where our service had been
more necessary. Let shame be the h3rpocrite's reward, who
taketh not the saving of souls, and the pleasing of God, for
a sufficient reward, without ecclesiastical' dignities, prefer-
ments, or worldly wealth.
I have told you our motives ; I have told you our busi-
ness, and the terms of our undertaking. It is God and you,
sinners, that next must tell us what our entertainment and
success shall be. Shall it still be neglect, and unthankful con-
tempt, and turning away your ears and heart, and saying,
we have somewhat else to mind ? Will you still be cheated
by this deceiving world ? and spend all your days in pam-
pering your appetites, and providing for your flesh, that must
lie rotting very shortly in a grave ? Were you made for no
better work than this ? May not we bring you to some sober
thoughts of your condition, not one hour seriously to think
whither you are going ? What ! not one awakened look into
the world where you must be for ever ? Nor one heart-rais-
ing thought of everlasting glory ? Not one heart-piercing
Uiought of all your Saviour's love, nor one tear for all your
aful Jives ! 0 God forbid I Let not dur labours be so de-
PREFACE TO aLlBINC's ALARM. 630
spised. Let aot your God, your Saviour, and your souls,
be set so light by. O let there be no profane person among
you like Esau, who for one morsel sold his birthright.
Poor sinners ! we talk not to you aaon a stage in cus-
tomary words, and because that talking thus was our trade.
We are in as good earnest with you as if we saw you all
murdering yourselves, and we are persuading you to save
yourselves. Can any man be in jest with you who believeth
God ? Who by faith foreseeth whither you are going, and
what you lose^ and where the game of sin will end ? It is little
better to jest with you now in a pulpit or in private, than to
stand jesting over your departing souls when at death you
are breathing out your last.
Alas ! with shame and grief we do confess, that we never
speak to you of these things ^s their truth and weight de-
serve : not with the skill and wisdom, the affection and fer-
vency, which beseemeth men engaged in the saving of poor
souls. But yet you may perceive that we are in good sad*
ness with you. (For God is so.) What else do we study
for, labour for, suffer for, live for? Why else do we so much
trouble ourselves, and trouble you with all this ado, and
anger them that would have made us silent ? For my own
part, I will make my free confession to you to my shame.
That I never grew cold, and dull, and pitiless to the souls
of others, till 1 first grew too cold and careless of my own
(unless when weakness or speculative studies cool me,
which I must confess they often do). W^ never cease pity-
ing you till we are growing too like_you, and so have need
of pity ourselves.
When, through the mercy of my Lord, the prospect of
the world of souls, which I am going to, hath any powerful
operation on myself, O then I could spend and be spent for
others. No words are too earnest, no labour too great, no
cost too dear ; the frowtis and wrath of malignant opposers
of the preaching of Christ's Gospel are nothing to me. But
when the world of spirits disappear, or my soul is clouded,
and receiveth not the vital, illuminating influences of hea-
ven, I grow cold, first to myself, then to others.
Come then, poor sinners, and help us, who are willing at
any rate to be your helpers. As we first crave God*s help,
so we next crave yours. Help us, for we cannot ^^^N^^^xi.
ngaiDst your wills, nor save you wiIYvovjlI "^ovjit c,oxx%^tA.«cA
540 PB£FAC£ TO ALLEINE's ALARM.
help ; God himself will not save you without you, and how
shall we know that the deril is against us» and will do his
worst to hinder us ; and so will all his ministers, by what
names or titles soever dignified or distinguished ? But aU
this is nothings if you will but take our parts youraelyes ; I
mean, if you will take Christ's part, and your own, and wiU
not be against yourselves. Men and devils cannot either
help or hinder us in saving you as you may do yourselves.
If Ood and you be for us, who should be against us ?
And will you help us ? Give over striving against God
and conscience ; give over fighting against Christ and his
Spirit. Take part no more with the world and the flesh,
which in your baptism you renounced. Set your hearts to
the message which we bring you. Allow it your manlike,
sober thoughts ; search the Scriptures, and see whether the
things we speak be so or no. We offer you nothing but
what we have resolvedly chosen ourselves, and that after the
most serious deliberation that we can make. We have
many a time looked round about us, to know what is the
happiness of man ; and had we found better for ourselves,
we had offered better to you. If the world would have
served our turns, it should have served yours also, and we
would not have troubled you with the talk of another world ;
but it will not, I am sure it will not serve your turns to
make you happy ; nor shall you long make that sorry, self-
deceiving shift with it as now you do.
But if you will not think of these things, if you will not
use the reason of men, alas, what can we do to save your
souls? O pity them. Lord, that they may pity themselves.
Have mercy on them, that they may have some more mercy
on themselves. Help them, that they may help themselves
and us. If you still refuse, will not your loss be more than
ours ? If we lose our labour (which to ourselves we shall
not), if we lose our hopes of your salvation, what is this to
your everlasting loss of salvation itself? And what is our
sufferings for your sakes, in comparison of your endless
sufferings ?
But O, this is it that breaketh our hearts, that we leave
you under more guilt than we found you ; and when we
have laid out life and labour to save you, the impenitent
souls must have their pains increased for their refusing of
these calls. And that it m\\\i^ t^^\V.q^ ^^\aV^v^\5\\uk
PREFACE TO ALLEINE's ALARM. 541
for ever how madly you refused our counsel, and what
pains, and cost, and patience, were used to have saved you,
and all in vain. It will be so. It must needs be so. Christ
saith, " It shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgment, than for the rejecters of his Gospel-calls.
The nature of the thing, and the nature of justice, certainly
tell you that it must be so.
O turn not our complaints to God against you ! Turn us
not from beseeching you to be reconciled to God, to tell
him you will not be reconciled. Force us not to say, that
we earnestly invited you to the heavenly feast, and you
would not com€. Force us not to hear this witness against
you. Lord, we could have borne all our labour and suffer-
ings for them much more easy, it they would but have
yielded to thy grace. But it was they themselves that
broke our hearts, that lost our labour, that made us preach
and entreat in vain : it was easier to preach without main-
tenance than without success. It was they that were worse
to us than all the persecutors in the world. How oft would
w€ have gathered them, but they would not, but are un-
gathered still? How many holy, faithful ministers have I
known these eleven years last past who have lived in pining
poverty and want, and hardly by charity got bread and
clothing, and yet if they could but have truly said, ' Lord,
the sermons which I preach privately, and in danger, have
won many souls to thee,' it would have made all their burden
easy. But I tell thee, senseless and impenitent sinner, thou
that deniest God in thy heart, and thou that deniest them
thy 'Conversion, which was the end of all their labours, hast
dealt much more cr^ly with them than they that denied
the Levites bread.
Poor sinners ! I know that I am speaking all this to
those that are dead in sin, but it is a death consisting with
a natural life ; which hath a capacity of spiritual life : or
else I would no more speak to you than to a stone. And I
know that you are blind in sin ; but it is a blindness con-
sisting with a reasonable faculty, which is capable of spiri-
tual illumination : or else I would no more persuade you
than I do a beast. And I know that you are in the fetters
of your own lusts ; your wills, your love, your hearts, are
turned away from God, and strongly bevritcU^d N«\\3ev ^3eL^
dreams and dalliances with the ftedci axid VJtkfc n^of^^^
542 PREFACE TO ALLttINB'3 ALARM.
Bat your wilU are not forced to this captivity. Surely
those wills may be changed by God's grace, when you
clearly see sufficient reasdn for to change them; else I
would as soon preach (were I capable) to devils and damned
souls. Your case is not yet desperate, O make it not des-
perate ! There is just the same hope of your salvation as
there is of your conversion and perseverance, and no more.
Without it there is no hope. And with it you are safe, and
have no cause to doubt and fear. Heaveti may be yet yofurs,if
you will. Nothing but your own wills, refusing Christ and
a holy life, can keep you out. And shall thou do it? Shall
hell be your own choice ? And will you, I say, will yoli not
be saved ?
O think better what you do ! God's terms are reason-
able : his word and ways are good and equal ; Christ's yoke
is easy, and his burden light, and his commandments are
not grievous to any, but so far as blindness and a bad and
backward heart doth make them so. You have no true rea-
son to be unwilling ; God and conscience shall one day tell
you and all the world,- that you have no reason for it. You
may as wisely pretend reason to cut your throats, to tor-
ment yourselves, as plead reason against a true conversion
unto God. Were I persuading you not to kill yourselves,
I would make no question but you would be persuaded.
And yet must I be hopeless when I persuade you from
everlasting misery, and not to prefer the world and flesh
before your Saviour and your God, and before a sure ever-
lasting joy ? God forbid:
Reader, I take it for a great mercy of God, that before my
head lieth down inthadust, and I go to give up my account
unto my Judge, I have this opportunity once more earnestly
to bespeak thee for thy own salvation. I beg it of thee as
one that must shortly be called away, and speak to thee no
more till we come unto our endless state, that thou wouldst
but sometimes retire into thyself, and use the reason of a
man, and look before thee whither thou art going, and look
behind thee how thou hast lived, and what thou hast been
doing in the world till now ; and look within thee, what a
case thy soul is in, and whether it be ready to enter upon
eternity ; and look above thee, what a heaven of glory thou
dost neglect, and what God thou hast to be thine everlasting
friend or enemy » as iIqlou cViooi^^^V* ^xvd^^^VX\^>\\vi^^\.% ^wsA
PREFACE TO ALLEINE's ALARM. 543
that thou art always in his sight* Yea, and look below thee»
and think where they are that died unconverted. And
when thou hast soberly thought of all these things, then do
as God and true reason shall direct thee. And is this an
unreasonable request? > I appeal to God, and to all wise
men, and to thine own conscience, when it shall be awaken-
ed. If I speak against thee, or if all this be not for thy:
good, or if it be not true and sure, then regard not what I
say. If I speak not that message which God hath com-
manded his ministers to speak, then let it be refused as con-
temptuously as thou wilt. But if I do but in Christ's name
and stead beseech thee to be reconciled to God, (2 Cor. y»
19, 20,) refuse it at thy peril. And if God's beseeching thee
shall not prevail against thy sloth, lust, thy appetite, against
the desires of the flesh, against the dust and shadows of the
world, remember it when with fruitless cries and horror thou
art beseeching him too late.
I know, poor sinner, that flesh is brutish, and lust and
appetite have no reason. But I know that thou hast reason
thyself, which was given thee to overrule them ; and that
he that will not be a man, cannot be a saint, nor a happy
man. I know that thou livest in a tempting and a wicked
world, where things or persons will be daily hindering thee.
But I know that this is no more to a man that by faith seeth
heaven and hell before him, than a grain of sand is to a
kingdom, or a blast of wind to one that is fighting or flying
for his life. (Luke xii. 4.) O man! that thou didst but
know the difference between that which the devil and sin
will give thee, if thou wilt sell thy soul and heaven, and that
which God hath promised and sworn to give thee, if thou
wilt heartily give up thyself to him. I know thou mayest
possibly fall into company (at least among some sots and
drunkards) that will tell thee, all this is but troublesome
preciseness, and making more ado than needs. But I know
withal what that man deserveth who will believe a fool before
his Maker. (For he can be no better than a miserable fool
that will contradict and revile the word of God, even the
word of grace, that would save men's souls.)
And, alas, it is possible thou mayest hear some of the
tribe of Levi (or rather of Cain,) deriding this serious god-
liness as mere hypocrisy, and fanaticism, and self-conceited-
ness : as if you must be no better lYi^n \Xv^ di^^'^^ ^wi^%^
544 PREFACE TO ALLEINS'S ALARM.
lest you be proud in thinking that you are better than they ;
that 18, you must go with them to hell, lest in hearen ye be
proud hypocrites for thinking yourselves happier than they.
It may be they will tell you, that this talk of conversion
is fitter for pagans and infidels to hear, than Christians and
Protestants ; because such men*s big looks or coat may
make the poison the more easily taken down. I will entreat
thee but as before God to answer these following questions,
or to get them answered, and then judge whether it be they
or we that would deceive thee : and whether as men use to
talk against learning that have none themselves, so such
men prate not against conversion, and the Spirit of God,
because they have no such thing themselves.
Quest. 1. I pray ask them whether it be a puritan or
fanatic opinion that men must die ? And what all the pomp,
and wealth, and pleasure of the world will signify to a de*
parting soul ? Ask them, whether they will live on earth for
ever, and their merry hours, and lordly looks, will have no end ?
And whether it be but the conceit of hypocrites and schisma-
tics that their carcase must be rotting in a darksome grave.
Qtiest. 2. Ask them whether a man have not an immortal
soul, and a longer life to live when this is ended ? (Luke xii.4U)
Quest. 3. Ask them whether reason require not every
man to think more seriously of the place or state where he
must be for ever, than of that where he must be for a little
while, and from whence he is posting day and night ? And
whether it be not wiser to l9.y up our treasure where we must
stay, than where we must not stay, but daily look to be
called away, and never more to be seen on earth? (Matt. vi.
19,20; 2 Cor. iv. 16—18; v. 1—3. 6—8.)
Quest. 4. Ask them whether God should not be loved
with all our heart, and soul, and might? (Matt. xxii. 27.) And
whether it be not the mark of an ungodly miscreant to be a
lover of pleasure more than Grod. (2 Tim. iii. 4.) And a
lover of this world above him ? (1 John ii. 15, 16.) And
whether we must not seek first God's kingdom, and his
righteousness, (Matt. vi. 33,) and labour most for the meat
that never perisheth. (John vi. 27.) And strive to enter in
at the straight gate. (Luke xiii. 24.) And give all dili-
gence to make our calling and election sure? (2 Peter i. 10.)
Quest. 5. Ask them whether without holiness any shall
see God ? (Heb. xii. U •, M^\X, \. %\ T\\x>s^*\v \\.\ And
PREFACE JO ALLEINe's ALARM. 645
whether the carnal mind is not enmity to God, and to be
carnally minded is not death, and to be spiritually minded
is life and peace ? And whether if you live after the flesh
you shall not die, and be condemned? And they shall live
and be saved that walk after the Spirit ? And whether any
man be Christ's that hath not his Spirit? (Rom. viii. 1. 6 — 10,
Quest. 6. Ask them whether any man have a, treasure in
heaven, whose heart is not there ? (Matt. vi. 21.) And whe-
ther this be not the difference between the wicked and the
godly, that the first do make their bellies their Gods, and
mind earthly things, and are enemies to the cross of Christ,
(though perhaps not his name :) and the latter have their
conversation in heaven, and being risen with Christ, do seek
and set their affections on things above, and not on things
that are on earth, to which they are as dead, aad their life
is hid (or out of sight) with Christ in God, till Christ appear,
and then they shall appear, (even openly to all the world,)
with him in glory? (Phil. iii. 18— 20 ; Col. iv. 1— 6.)
Quest. 7. Ask them whether it be credible or suitable to
God's word or working, that he that will not give them the
fruits of the earth without their labour, nor feed and clothe
them without themselves^ will yet bring them to heaven
without any caife, desire or labour of their own ? When he
hath bid him care not for the one, and called for their great-
est diligence for the other. (IVhitt. vi. 23. 26. 33 ; John vi. 27.)
Yea, ask them whether these be not the two first articles of
all faith and religion : 1. That God is : 2. That he is the re-
warder of them that diligently seek him? (Heb. xi. 6.)
Quest. 8. Ask them, yea, ask your eyes, your ears, your
daily experience in the world, whether all or most that call
themselves Christians, do in good scLdness thus live to God
in the Spirit, and mortify the flesh with its affections and
lusts, and seek first God's kingdom and righteousness, love
him above all, and lay up treasure and heart in heaven ; or
rather, whether most be not lovers of the world, and lovers
of pleasures more than God, and live not after the flesh,
and mind not most the things of the flesh ? I mention not
now the drunkards, the fleshpleasing gentlemen, that live
in pride, fulness, and idleness, and sport, and play away
their precious time, nor the filthy fornics^tor, nor the merci-
VOL. XIH. N N
546 PR£FAO£ TO ALLEINE's ALARM.
less oppressors, nor the malignant haters of a godly life,
nor the perjured and perfidious betrayers of men's souls and
of the Gospel, or of their country's good, nor such other
men of seared conscience whose misery none questioneth,
but such as are blind and miserable. It is not those only I
am speaking of, but the common, worldly, fleshly, and un-
godly ones.
Quest. 9. Ask them whether the name of a Christian will
save any of these ungodly persons ? And whether God will
like men the better for lying, and calling themselves Chris-
tians, when they are none indeed ? And whether they dare
preach to the people that a Christian drunkard, or a Chris-
tian fornicator, or oppressor, or a Christian worldling need-
eth no conversion.
Quest. 10. Ask them whether they sfiy not themselves
that hypocrisy is a great aggravation of all other sins?
And whether God hath not made the hypocrites and un-
believers to be the standards in hell? (Luke xxv. 51.) And
whether seeking to abuse God by a mock religion, do iftake
such false Christians better than poor heathens and infidels,
or much worse ? And whether he be not an hypocrite that
professeth to be a Christian, and a servant of God, when he
is none, nor will be ? And whether he that knoweth his
master's will, and doth it not, shall not have the sorest
stripes or punishment? (Luke x. 47.)
Quest. 11. Ask them whether in their baptism (which is
their christenings as a covenant,) they did not renounce the
flesh, the world and the devil, and vow and deliver up them-
selves to God their Father, their Saviour, and their Sanctifier ?
And whether all or most men perform this vow ? And whe-
ther a perjured covenant-breaker against God, is fitter for
salvation than one that never was baptized ?
Quest. 12. Ask them whether the holy nature of God,
be not so contrary to sin, as that it is blasphemy to say that
he will bring to heaven, and into the bosom of bis eternal
delights, any unholy, unrenewed soul? (1 Pet. i. 15^ 16.)
Quest. 13. Ask .them why it was that Christ came into
the world ? Whether it was not to save his people from
their sins; (Matt. i. 21 ;) and to destroy the works of the
devil ; (1 John iii. 8 ;) and to purify to himself a peculiar
people, zealous of goodwoiks \ (^Titu^ ii. 11 ;) and to bring
P|l£FAC£ TO ALLEINe's ALARM. 547
him home straying souls to God ; (Luke xv ;) and to be the
way to the Fadier ? (John xiii. 60 And whether Christ will
save that soul that is not converted by him, and saved from
his sins ? Or whether it be the dead image only of a cruci-
fied Jesus that is all their Saviour while they will have no
more of him?
Quest, 14, Ask them why they believe, and were baptized
into the Holy Ghost ? And whether a man can enter into
the kingdom of heaven that is not born of the Spirit as
well as of water ; (John iii. 3, 6, 6 ;) and that is not con-
verted, and begins not the world as it were anew, in a teach-
able, tractable newness of life, like a little child ? (Matt,
xviii. 3.) And whether it be not a certain truth, that if
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same is none of
his, (Rom. viii, 9.)
Quest. 15. A^k them why Christ gave the world so many
warnings of the damnableness of the Pharisees' hypocrisy,
if hypocritical Christians may be saved ? And what were
these Pharisees? They were the masters of the Jewish
church : the rabbies that must have high places, high titles,
and ceremonies, formal garments, and must be reverenced
of all. That gave God lip-service without the heart, and
made void his commands, and worshipped him in vain, teach-
ing for doctrines the commandments of men, and strictly
titheth the mint and cummin, while lovely mercy and justice
were past by ? Who worshipped God with an abundance of
ceremonies, and build the tombs, and garnish the sepulchres
of the saints^ while they killed and persecuted those that
did imitate them, and hated the living saints, and honoured
the dead. They were the bitterest enemies and murderers
of Christ on pretence that be was a blasphemer, and a sedi-
tious enemy to Caesar and the common peace, and one that
spake against the temple. They were the greatest enemies
of the apostles, and silencers of those that preached Christ's
Gospel, and persecuted them that called upon his name.
And had these no no need of conversion because they could
say, God is our Father, (when the devil was their father,
John viii. 44,) and they were Abraham's seed . And are not
hypocritical Christians, drunken Christians, fornicating
Christians, carnal, worldly, infidel Christians, (the contra-
diction is your own) persecuting Christians, false-named>
548 PREFACE TO ALLEINE'S ALARH.
hypocritical Christians ; as bad^ yea, worse, as they abuse a
more excellent profession? (Matt. xv. 7, 8 ; xxiii ; xxii. 18;
vi. 2, &c. ; Luke xii. 1.)
Quest. 16. Doth not the holy state of heaven require
holiness in all that shall possess it? Can an unholy soul
there see, and love, and praise, and delight, in God for ever,
and in the holy society and employment of the saints ? (Rev.
xxi. 27.) Is he not more like a Mahometan than a Christtan,
that looketh for a sensual and unholy heaven?
Quest. 17. What is the difference between the church and
the world ? Is not the church a holy society of regenerate
souls ? Yea, the church visible is only those that in baptism
vow holiness, and profess it. Look those hypocrites in the
face, and see whether they do not blush when they repeat in
the creed, ' I believe in the Holy Ghost. I believe in the
holy catholic church, and the communion of saints,' who
shall have the * forgiveness sins, and life everlasting/ Ask
them whether they mean holy adulterers, holy worldlings,
holy perjured persons? Ask them whether they mean a
communion of saints in a tavern, in a playhouse, in a gaming-
house, in a whorehouse, or a jesting, canting, stageplay
communion ? If the church be holy, be holy if you will be
of the church : if it be a communion of saints, make it not
a communion of swine, and make not saints and their com-
munion seem odious either for their infirmities, or their cross-
ness to your carnal interests or conceits.
Qtiest. 18. Ask them whether there be a heaven and a
hell or not? If not, why are they pretended Christfans?
If there be, will God send one man to heaven, and another
to hell, to so vast, so amazing a difference of states, if there
be no great difference between them here ? If holiness no
more differenced Christians from others, than hearing a ser-
mon, or saying over a prayer doth difference one from an in-
fidel, where were the justice of God in saving some, and
damning others ? And what were Christianity better than
the religion of Antonine, Plato, Socrates, Seneca, Cicero,
Plutarch, if not much worse ? Go into London streets^ and
when you have talked with living, prudent men ; then go to
the painter's-shop and see a comely picture ; and to the
looking-glass, and see the appearance of each passenger in
a glass ; and to the penvw\^-«\vo^^ ^wd ^et a wooden-head
PREPACB TO ALL£IN£'S ALARM. 649
with a perriwig upon the bulk, and you have seen something
like the difference of a holy soul, and of a dead and dressed
formal hypocrite. (Psal. xxiii. 27.)
Qtiest, 19. Ask them whether kings, and all men, make
not a great difference between man and man ; the loyal and
perfidious, the obedient and disobedient ? And whether they
difference not themselves between a friend and foe| one that
loveth them, and one that robbeth, beateth, or would kill
them ? And shall not the most holy God make more differ-
ence between the righteous and the wicked ? (Mal.iii. 17, 18.)
Quest. 20. But if they are dead in every point, save car-
nal interests, ask them why they are preachers or priests ?
And if conversion and holiness be a needless thing, what
life they themselves are of? And why the country must be
troubled with them, and pay them tithes, and give them re-
verence ? When these twenty questions are well answered,
conclude that you may be saved without conversion.
But if, poor soul, thou art fully convinced, and askest
what should I do to be converted ? The Lord make thee
willing, and save thee from hypocrisy, and I will quickly tell
thee in a few words.
. 1. Give not over sober thinking of these things till thy
heart be changed. (PsaU cxix, 69.)
2. Come to Christ, and take him for thy Saviour, thy
Teacher, thy King, and he will pardon all that is past, and
save thee. (Johni. 12; iii. 16; v. 40 ; 1 John v. 11, 12.)
3. Believe God's love, and the pardon of sin, and the
everlasting joys of heaven, that thou mayest feel that all
the pleasure of the world and flesh are dung in comparison
of the heavenly delight of faith, and hope, and holy love,
and peace of conscience, and sincere obedience.
4. Sin no more wilfully, but forbear that which thou
mayest forbear. (Isa* lv« 7.)
5. Away from temptations, occasion of sin and evil com-
pany, and be a companion of the humble, holy, heavenly and
sincere. (PsaL cxix. 115. 63.)
6. Wait on God's Spirit in the diligent, constant use of
his own means* Read, hear, meditate, pray ; pray hard for
that grace that must convert thee. Wait thus, and thou
shalt not wait in vain. (Psal. xxv; xxxvii. 34; lxix.6.)
Pity, O Lord, and persuade the souls ; let not Christ's
550 pk£faC£ to alleine's alarm.
blood, his doctrine, his example, his Spirit be lost unto them,
and they lost for ever. Let not heayen be as no beayen to
them, while they dream and dote on the shadow^ in this
•world. And O save this ]and from the greater destruction
than all our late plagues, and flames, and divisions, which
our sins and thy threatenings makes us fear. O Lord, in
thee have we trusted, let us never be confounded.
R, BAXTER.
END OF THE THIRTEENTH VOLUME.
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