A New Canaan Full of Most Pleasant Gardens, Treatise (3 of 3)

A New Canaan Full of Most Pleasant Gardens · Treatise (3 of 3)

p. 101I come now to the Application of this Grand Observation. And,

1. To begin with a Ʋse of Communication. Then why do many of us so little care or labour for this great delight? You will say, Who doth? I answer, Nay, who almost doth not? For as the Apostle said once, Wheras there is among you envying, and strife, and division, are ye not carnall, and walke as men? 1 Cor. 3.3. So whereas some are for women, others for wine, others for sports, others for p. 102new invented and strange apparell, others for strange meat, and for the belly, others for all manner of lasciviousness, which they act even with greediness, others for the world, and the profits, riches, revenues and emoluments of it, taking therein so much complacency, as that of them may be said, what David spake (Ps. 16.2.) of Saints, that in them, that is, such low, base things, is all their delight; are ye not carnall and walk, and live as men, little caring, or labouring for this exceeding great delight? But, why, my Brethen, Why? Is it not,

1. Because you are ignorant of so great a good, as this great delight is, and the things therein contained, and thereby apprehended, as hath been ostended. The God of this world having blinded your eyes, like a Raven which striketh out the poor sheeps eyes, that she may not see the way to escape his tyrrannie. Knowledge enough, some of you have in many things else, I know, but in this I dare say, you have so little, especially experimental Knowledge, as that what Christ once spake to Nicodemus, may be fitly applyed, and spoken to many an old hearer among us, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? John. 3.10. So art thou a minister, a professour, a hearer so long, and knowest not these things, namely the things which have been but now spoken of, this exceeding p. 103great Delight, and therefore makest so little use of it.

2. Is it not because many of you have a conceit, there is a far greater delight to be taken in the things forementioned, than in Christ? Christ being unseen, and those other things which you take such pleasure in, seen, yea, felt some of them, which causeth this conceit; but I would have you know that you are meerly consened, and deceived. For, how can the delight of such things be possibly greater than this exceeding great delight, which I here preach up, sith the delectables, which this great Delight apprehendeth, are incorruptible, as I told you already, and undeceiving; but the delectables which your Delight apprehendeth, both corruptible and deceivable altogether, 1 Pet. 1.18. Mat. 13.22. For Ioe, your delight for the present maketh a goodly, fair, gorgeous shew; but when it cometh to handling it is nothing but a feather, when it, to true light, is nothing but a shadow; when it cometh to weight, nothing but smoak; when it cometh to opening it is nothing but an image of plaister-work full of old rags, and patches within.

3. Is it not because of the worlds strong and and powerful enticements (Prov. 3.1.) allurements, and ill Counsels, which are stronger than our good, and prove too hard for you, and will deceive you at last; as you may see in Demas, p. 1042 Tim. 4.10. Beloved, the world hath a thousand cunning fishers, to lay before you pleasant baits, but all furnished with dangerous hookes within; it hath infinite strumpets of Babylon to offer you drink in golden Cups, full of sensual delights, but all mingled with most deadly poyson; it hath in every door an aluring Jael to intice you in to the milk of sinful pleasures; but all have their hammers and nailes in their hands to murder you, when they have lulled you asleep; and you are so simple as to yield to her rather than to us; to affect her lies, rather, wherein her strength lyes, than truth and reality for your eternall safety; to elect her delights rather, though it be to your Destruction, than this great Delight, which we stand for, though it be for your eternall salvation. On folly! O madness!

4. Is it not because you are so unwilling to take paines, for the greatest and truest gaines, and so consequently for this great Delight, which by no means can be had & obtained, unless it be with all our might; for is not operation, at least in part, the cause of its consecution; so that famous **Aristot. 2. Ethie. cap. 2.Writer, Delight is a connatural operation, without let. O sirs, you are loath to be doing, as some are, for this great, and glorious Delight; you love your ease, your beds, your boards, your p. 105lazy life too well, and that, together with these other Causes of your not caring for this great Delight, is, or will at last be your undoing; nay, hath it not spoiled you already? For, oh what a deal of sweetest content, and soul-ravishing pleasures, you lo se and forgo, letting go this great Delight! there being no sense, nor reason for it at all, why Christ should cast away his sweetest love, upon such as cast away him; should bestow his heavenly solaces upon them which bestow so much needless time, upon pride & vanity, dressing themselves before their Glasses; should give himself to them, who give themselves to nothing but sensuall delights, which they pursue with all their might; should poure out those high, and heavenly things, which this great delight apprehendeth, upon such as poure in so muchstrong drink, with such unsatiableness, which he detesteth; and inebriate themselves with so much sinful pleasure as this vile, vaine world affordeth. No, No, he will not, he will not: He knoweth better what to do with those precious things, than to throw them away upon you, who do so dote upon those pernicious things; and therefore, Why will ye do so?

2. Let this serve for our Excitation, to labour for this delight, and to take it because it is so exceeding great; where give me leave to leave with you Directions of two sorts.

p. 1061. Directions shewing what meanes we must use to get it.

2. Directions shewing how you and I must take it.

For the first sort.

1. If any of you were not yet espoused to Christ, you must labour to be, that with this spouse, whose words these are, you may then be able so to take it as she did. There is no doubt then to be made of it; For what spouse is there, which (having a Bridegroom alive which she dearly loves) is not delighted in him, and with him. Hence new married people, especially, have their great Delights; so have men and women newly desponsated to Christ, theirs in Christ, Christ being graciously pleased to give his loves to them, who so newly have given their troth to him; as you may see what joy, and delight those newborn babes, and newly married Christians had, 1 Pet. 1.8.

Question. Thou wilt say, But will Christ have me, if I would have him?

Answ. He will. O that you could make that good! What if I bring his own written word for it? Let me see it. Read what is here written Hos. 2.19. I will betroth thee unto me for ever. Will you now believe me? I am almost perswaded to it: but there are two things which do mightily discourage me: which be they?

Answ. 1. Because I doubt whether he mean me, when he saith, I will betroth thee. Answ. If p. 107thou canst but believe, he meaneth thee also; for the promises were made to Abraham and his seed, not seeds, but seed, which is Christ, Gal. 3.16. Now to Abraham and his seed, were the promises made: He saith not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one; and thy seed, which is Christ: And so consequently to all such as believe in Christ; for they and Christ are all one; and they also are Abrahams children by faith, Gal. 3.7.

2. Nay, that very word Thee, maketh exceedingly for thee; for what was that people which the Lord spake to, when he said, I will betroth thee? Reflect upon Hosea. 1.2. and Hos. 2.2. and you will find it to be a people addicted to whoredoms, & adulteries, which it had perpetrated and committed; yet, I will betroth thee, saith the Lord; whereupon it followeth, that if the Lord could find it in his heart to love such a people, and marry it, he may love and marry thee also, nay, will, if thou canst believe him, though thou hast been a lewd man, or woman, a very harlot, an odious drunkard, a covetous wretch, a person ingulphed in sinful delights, suffocated in sensual pleasures. See farther what is written, Ezek. 16.6, 8. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thine own blood. Mark, the same thing is spoken twice, that we may take speciall notice of it, and believe God in it; yea, I said unto thee; Note, again it is repeated, I p. 108said unto thee; For else, who would believe it, if the Lord had not said it; therefore he doubles it, when thou wast in thy blood; this is now spoken the 3d time, & yet no vain repetion, but a most serious affirmation, that by such a three-fold cord, which is not casily broken, the most free God, might be as it were tied, and bound to stand to what he hath spoken; and what was it, think ye? Oh, it was, that honey-sweet word LIVE. Oh saith the poore trembling, sinful, wrathful, adulterous, covetous soul of man, I shall surely dye. No, saith God, thou shalt live: and why Lord? to that the Lord answers, vers. 8. And when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, thy time was the time of love; as if he should say, and that which moved, and made me to say LIVE was LOVE. O sweet love, Canst thou love then such a poor wretch as I am? say thou that hearest me this day, and madest but now a Question of it; I see thou canst, nay I see thou sayest that thou wilt, and therefore why should not I believe thee? O I Believe, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief, Mark. 9.24.

2. Quest. But what is the second thing which doth discourage thee?

Ans. Because I fear, I shall not be true, and faithful to him; if I should go near so far, as to be in the mind to marry him, and that he will not therefore have me, because he knoweth so much by me, even as he knoweth what hath p. 109already been done, and discovered it self by me. I Answer, Oh let not this dismay thee, for I will betroth thee unto me for ever; Mark, for ever saith the Lord; to shew that he is not like a man who puts off his wife, if she prove unfaithful, and become an adulteress; No, no, he marrieth for ever, and he loveth for ever, John 13.2. and he abideth faithfull, he cannot deny himself, 2 Tim. 2.13. and though he know it, that we will prove unfaithful, yet will he not see it; for what saith even Balaam, though a false Prophet, He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel, Numb. 23.21. See also Jer. 31. And besides, when he betroths us to himself, he doth it in Righteousness, Hos. 2.19. that is, he bestoweth on us the **Jun. & Trem. in Loc.gifts of Righteousnes, that we may work righteousness, and not live in unrighteousness; whence it comes to pass, that though sin be in us, yet we be not in sin, that is, do not allow our selves in any known reigning sin, because we then know the Lord, when by marriage we are made one with the Lord, Hos. 2.20. and so consequently dare not continue in sin against the Knowledge of the Lord; and therefore, tell me now, O Dear soul, whether thou be not onelyonly almost, but even altogether perswaded to be married to the Lord? If thou be, then say so, as Rebeck a p. 110once, when she would go with Eleazar to Isaac, said, I will go, Gen. 24.58. so say thou, I will go, and go to be married forthwith to Jesus Christ, that heavenly Isaac, who hath sent his servant to me this day, to move this matter of marriage to me; Oh blessed be the day, whereon such a blessed motion was made, and blessed be the messenger, who was sent with such a message for me. O sweet Jesus, I am coming, I am coming to thee, though it be somewhat late and long first, to take thee by the hand of Faith, for my most loving, and ever-living Husband. O, my dear, take me, oh take me, and let me be thine, and become thou mine, that I may say with thy Spouse, which is thy Love and thy Dear, My beloved is mine, and I am his, Cant. 2.16. Is it done, O dear soul? I hope it is; if not, then O my God, do thou work both to will and to do in this, and in all other soules that hear or read these words, that thy Son may become their Saviour, their Lord, and their most loving Husband this day, and to all eternity, I humbly beseech thee.

I fear that I have been too long upon this subject, but there was reason for it, because it is the principal thing here to be done; as without which no good can be done to any purpose, to any, or by any of you, till this be done. All things else to be spoken hereafter about meanes to be used for the gaining of that great delight p. 111which you are to get, are but appendices to this. This is foundation matter, as tending to the gaining of faith, without which no flesh can be either saved, or truly delighted; and therefore I hope you will easily, and willingly pardon me; for the future I promise to be breifer.

2. Be grieved much. Strange! Are not these two, grief and delight contraries?

I answer, Yes. Yet may grief beget delight per accidens, that is, by accident, and that both as it is in acting, and as it is in remembring.

1. In acting, so it causes a remembring of the delectable and diligible good, about whose apprehension we are delighted.

2. In remembring, so it causes delight, in that we remember how we escaped, and were delivered; whence it is, that sometime we are said to weep for joy. Agreeable whereto is also that of blessed Austin, With **Aug. de Civitate Dei. l. 22. c. 11.joy and gladness we remembred sadness. For of sadness comes gladness, as you may see, Psal. 30.5. And what think ye of those holy Martyrs which so rejoyced in God, and were so delighted with God? Did not their great joy and delightfulness in God spring up from their foregoing heaviness, and from their grievous sufferings, which they underwent for God. Let us hear some of their triumphant passages. Master Sanders, that blessed Martyr, used these p. 112words before he died, I am merry, and I trust shall be merry maugre all the Devils in hell. And Master Aimund burnt in France, after his examination was so full of joy & comfort, as that he did tryumph with the Apostle, saying, Who shall separate me from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, &c. Rom. 8.35, 36, 37, 38, 39. Beloved how consonant is this to that in 1 Pet. 1.7, 8. Wherein you greatly rejoyce, though now, if need be, you are in heaviness. And therefore O blessed teats. O teares to be desired; For, from such tears spring joys, from joyes assurances, from assurances delights, even delights unutterable, incomparable, unparallelable. O sirs, set open therefore, set wide open your sluces, your eyes I mean, and let tivers of tears run down over your cheeks, that Christ may delight your hearts.

More Particularly.

1. I would have you grieve then especially, and first, when you go about that marriage, which I but now motioned to you, and mentioned among you, for then it is most seasonable, as you may see, Acts 2.37. according to Zech. 12.10. and when you do grieve at such a time, grieve and weep most of all for this, that Jesus Christ that dearest Saviour, hath been so much abased and abused, refused and rejected by you, in that you have so long stood it out against him, and would not have him, when he would have you and even woeth you, as a man woeth p. 113a woman, again and again, day by day, and Sabbath after Sabbath, to win your good will; and so consequently, for that you have so long wanted and been without so loving and precious an husband, who so loved you, as that he gave himself for you, Gal. 2.20. For this purpose is that notable saying, Zech. 12.10. They shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his onelyonly Son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. O sirs, do but hearken to me in this, and do this, and I assure you by the never-failing word of God, formerly alledged out of Psal. 30.1. that it will not be long, before faith will come, and Christ, by faith, will become your most dear and everlasting Husband, to oblect, and to delight, fill and feast your most heavy and sadded hearts for a season, with unspeakable consolation; according to that famous Scripture, Mal. 3.1. Behold, I will send my Messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; which is done, when we are brought to a due, and deep humiliation, and to weeping and mourning for Christ: and then, mark what comes after; The Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come, even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come.

2. I advise you, that after you are espoused to Christ, yet you grieve and mourn, as often as you may; like Sampsons weeping Spouse, which mourned and wept, and bedewed her cheeks p. 114with teares all the time, during which her wedding, and the dayes of feasting lasted, Judg. 14.17. So be you Christs weeping Spouses, mourning now for one thing, then for another, and more especially in praying, and meditating for sin, and for the want of Christ, and want of Grace, and want of Assurance, I mean the Assurance of Gods favour, pardon of sin, and your future felicity and salvation, which you expect to an endless duration; for then commonly (I for my part do find it so) cometh that joy which I mentioned when I spake of weeping for joy; as it is written, They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy, Psal. 124.6. O sweet weeping! Oh how Saints therefore do prize those precious things, which we call tears; I mean such tears! Oh how they look upon them as so many pearles in their eyes, and falling from their eyes! Oh that my head were full of them, even a fountain of them! mine eyes full of them, my cheeks full of them! Or thus, O that my head were waters (as Jeremy wished once, Jer. 9.1.) and mine eyes a fountain of teares, that I might weep day and night for my sins, and my wants, and my weakness, and my having so long lived in the tents of Meshech, without Christ, without this great delight, which cometh by Christ; but hereof more hereafter, for I am bent to press this mourning again and again, as occasions shall present themselves, because it is a chief thing.

p. 1153. Love much. For is not **Aqu. 1.2. q. 32. a. 7.Love also a cause of delight? Beloved, if you will not believe me, believe Jacob, who loving Rachel with a love surpassing the love of ordinary lovers, so passed his many years, wherein he served Laban for her, labouring hard, not as a Son, but as a Servant to him, as that they seemed to him but a few dayes, for the love he had to her, Gen. 29.20. which plainly sheweth what a delight much love causeth, in that a whole year is as a day with him that loveth. Now if the love of, or to women be so great, and cause a delight so exceeding great, what a love then is that which passeth the love of women? I mean, that wherewith we love God, and what a delight must that needs be which that love produceth! O it must needs be admirable, incomparable, unmatchable. Beloved, Love is lovely, and Love is unitive; I mean Gods love chiefly, for it concatenates and links the lover with the beloved, men with God, the creature with the Creator, who is God blessed for ever. O blessed Love! and therefore, O what a delight! Oh what a content! Oh what **Gaudium enim amoris Comes esse dicitur, Gran. 2. cap. p. 495.joy! Oh what a complacency must needs thence-from arise, when God and the godly, Christ and Christians are p. 116so united, and come together! Oh it must needs be like the delight, which a bride takes, and meets with, when she meets with her beloved, and she and he come together. Come then my Beloved, and Love the Lord, all ye his Saints, and love him much, as those 1 Pet. 1.8. though they never saw him. Nay, come and love him with all your hearts, with all your soules, with all your might, Deut. 6.5. with all hearts sweetly, with all your souls wisely, with all your might strongly. For, Love is strong, when it is true, even as strong as death, Cant. 8.6. O sweet Love! how I love thee! Oh that I could alwayes live with thee, and by thee! Oh that I could do nothing else, or if I must not say so, little else but love! O love for delight; and oh the sweet life of Love, which we live whilest we love! O my Love, sweet Saviour, thou art he whom my soul so desires to love (Cant. 7.12.) O give me thy love, and then I will give thee my love, nay loves! O help me to give unto thee my love! O let thy Banner over me be love (Cant. 2.4.) that I may be able to say of thee, His Banner over me, such a time, was Love, Cant. 1.4. and let my manner of living with thee be love, even all love; that thou mayest say to me, O my Dove, Cant. 2.14. And, O love for Delights, Cant. 6.7.

4. Let Memory help ye; For that also will cause delight, because Delight comes by the p. 117presence of a delectable good, any manner of way taken, and apprehended. But a thing is present as well by Memory, as actually. We should have a Notable place for this, if the Hebrew would favour us in it, Psal. 37.3. Thus rendred in the vulgar Translation, I remembered thee, and was Delighted; whereas the English reads it thus, and was troubled. Well, I look upon this as a mighty help, and you will so look upon it too, when you shall have heard what I shall say; And therefore give me leave to speak on, and let me intreat you with all seriousness and soberness, carnestness and cagerness, to remember what is past. When you were in a greivous Conflict with Satan, and Christ helped you, and delivered you out of the mouth, of that roaring devouring Lion; as David his Fathers Lamb, 1 Sam. 17.34, 35. when you were in a Wilderness with David and his men, that is, in want, wanting the presence of your best beloved, and wanting the sight, and light of his Face, and wanting Assurance, even the assurance of his love, and of the pardon of sin, and of your everlasting bliss; and he came to you as Abigail to David, with bottles of wine, clusters of raisins, and cakes of figs, 1 Sam. 25.18, 19. to refresh him, and his wearied men therewith; that is, with his flagons of sweetest wine, spoken of Can. 2.5. with Cordials made, I will not say of figs and raisins, like hers, p. 118but of amber, and pearles, to wit, himself, who is that pearle of great price, Matth. 13.45, 46. And of his precious blood, which is like Ambergreese, nay better, and better than all her raisins, and figs, and bottles of wine; because they refreshed your very souls, when he spake to you, and said, Loe, here I am, to comfort your hearts; and loe my precious blood, to wash, and to cleanse your souls, 1 John 1. when you were in an agony, being tossed about your Election, whether ye be predestinated, or no, it may be all night; and about the forgiveness of your sinnes, as doubting whether God would forgive them; and he come the next Morning (as it was my case once, blessed be his holy Name for it, Now, and for ever, O for ever) and so spake to you, or to thee, that readest these words in particular, My son, be of good chear, thy sinnes be forgiven thee, Matth. 9.2. And, Loe, thy name is written in the book of life. When thou wast in a most servent heat, being set on fire, as it were, by the hot burning wrath of a sinrevenging. God; and he hiding his face from thee for a small moment (Isa. 54.7.) (which also was my most sad condition once, in so much as that I felt, methought, even a sensible burning heat in my very tongue) he came and spake to thee so comfortably, as that thou wast able to eccho forth the same words which we read in Isa. 12.1. O Lord, I will praise p. 119thee; though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me; and thou hast been a shadow from the heat, Isa. 25.4. When thou wast fallen into grievous sinnes and ensnarements, which took thy vail from thee, I mean thy love, which covers all, and wounded thee most grievously, as thou wast travelling towards the heavenly Jerusalem, which is blessed; from Jericho, this wicked world, I mean, which is accursed; like those theives which so used that poor man, which travelling from the earthly Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among them; he passing by thee, looked on thee, like that good Samaritane, Luk. 10.33. and had compassion thee, thou being left half dead, almost dead; and poured in wine and oile, that is, the sweet wine of his dearest love, Cant. 1.4. and the oile of gladness above thy fellowes, Psal. 45.7. saying, Loe my love, wherewith I have loved thee, from everlasting, and shall love thee to everlasting; a love surpassing all love; for that love it was which caused me to lay down my life for thee, Rom. 5.11. Gal. 2.20. And loe, my joy, O my joy, which I will give to no other, but onelyonly to such as I love. In short, let all Gods saints alwayes, or very often, remember that sweet time when God and they came first acquainted together; when together with him, his Father gave us all this; when all things to us, and in us, became new; p. 120when New was our acquaintance, when our acquaintance was with the Father, when the Father loved us for the sake of his Son, when his Son kissed us with the kisses of his love, when love woed us, love followed us, love filled us, becauscit was the time of love; oh this remembring this remembring, how it works, how it delights how it pleaseth! oh the glorious, oh the delicious effects which such a Remembrance produceth, when from such things such matter of sweetest Delight a gracious soul deduceth! O my soul, do thou therefore David-like, spouse-like, Saint-like, remember such things still, that thy Delight may be maintained, yea greatned still; And do thou, O my God, remember me also still, and make me to remember thee, and thy sweetest dispensations towards me still, I humbly pray thee; And let every soul that heares or reads these sayings of mine, say, as God once said in another case concerning Ephraim; I do earnestly remember him still, Jer. 31.20. So, I will earnestly remember him still; namely, God all-gracious, God all-merciful, full of all pity, full of compassion; and I will remember also his gracious dealings with me still. O Blessed souls, so say, and so do ye, and the God of all power be with you, and enable you for so doing; Amen, so be it.

5. Let operation or working also further you; For doth not it cause delectation to? O yes, insomuch p. 121as that by **Aristot. 2. Eth. cap. 12.some it is defined to be a connatural operation without letting; and the Reason why operation is said to be the cause of delectation, is, because delectables delight not, unless there be a Conjunction between them, and the thing, or person delighted; which may be either by knowledge, or by inspection; and unless they be had; but such a kind of having, is nothing else but using, and that is by working. Besides, do not we all find it so, and know by Experience what delight we take in our doings, works, and Actions? for Example; as Ministers, in our sermons which we have studied, as Craftsmen in our handy works, especially when the work done is well, and curiously done; so that without doubt, doing, and especially welldoing, will very much advance this great Delight, which here I go to preach up with all my might. Up then, and be doing, and that for Christ, because great will then be your Delight in Christ; for when we are doing, God is doing; when we are mighty in operation, he is mighty in Consolation.

Quest. You will say; what would you have us to do?

I Answ. Salvation-works; for so it is written, Work out your salvation, Phil. 2.12.

Quest. And what be those salvation-works?

p. 122Answ. 1. Believing and living by faith.

2. A maintaining of good works.

1. Believing and living by faith. For this is the work of God, that ye believe on him, whom he hath sent, saith Christ, when the people asked him, as you ask me, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? John 6.28, 29. And Heb. 2.4. The just shall live by faith. O sweet life! O life of lives! O life for delight! Beloved, that work is most pleasing, which above all other causes us to take Delight in the doing of it; the subject matter of it whereupon it works being most pleasant; and such a work is beleiving, for it maketh us see the fairest of all men (John 8.) it sheweth us the New Jerusalem adorned as a Bride for her Bridegroome, Rev. 21.2. bespangled with glittering Diamonds, paved with purest gold, beautified with glorious mansions, beatified with spacious dimensions, enriched with rarest and richest pearles, beshined with brightest light, which from every point is poured forth for the children of light. And is not all this most pleasant, delectable, amiable, and therefore able to ravish us with its rareness, to raise us with richness, to perswade us by its pleasantness, and to gain us by its greatness to believe, and to act by faith, and to live by faith, that we may live such a pleasant life, as the life of faith affordeth, and may be so delighted with the Lord, as well as you may be by virtue of those p. 123**Called, Delectationes Fidei. Jun. & Trem. in Psal. 37.Ps 37delights which are in faith, and come by believing in the Lord. O souls, believing is the principal work and thing here to be done, and without it no true delight can be taken in any work or thing. Let a man fare, like Dives, deliciously every day, let him feed, like the Israelites, upon Manna and Quailes; let him apparrel himself in cloth of gold; nay, let him go to a higher strain, let him strain himself much to pervolve and to read the sacred leaves of the Book of Life much; let him ply the Throne of Grace with praying much, yet if he believe not in Christ, what delight can he take in Christ? Christ being resolved to impart his mercy and merits to no man living unless he lay hold on him by believing, and live by his faith in his Name. Believe therefore, O believe, dear hearts, and live by believing, that is, live upon promises, live upon Christ, perswading your selves upon every occasion, that such, and such a promise, nay, every promise concerning you, God will make good unto you▪ and extract what virtue you can from Christ by a like perswasion, for a godly life, and for the gaining that great delight. And thou, O my soul, if others will not, do thou live this life; for then thou beginnest to live, when by faith, thou beginnest to live, not before, thou art p. 124as it were dead before; wherefore, O my dear soul, now this very day, begin to live such a life, if thou didst not before, it being a life like sugar, not only sweet in it self, but able also to sweeten all things else that appertain to life, centring and placing thy whole delight in the Lord of life. O my God, help this people, and help me also to live such a life. O Lord of life, put life therefore in this word of thine, and in them, and in me, that we may live to see, and to enjoy that great delight.

2. Maintaining good works, according to Tit. 3.8. Works being good will do a man a world of good, for they will exhillerate his mind, mind him of his proper place, place him in heaven, heaven his soul in delight, delight being the reward of him that serves the Lord with all his might. To it, therefore my brethren, to it, and having first believed in Christ, and then living by the faith of Christ, spend and impend your time in the service of God. Next, engross duties, be a Helluo, a swallower up of good things; and let the living God have the preheminence in all thy doings, doing more for him, than for any man living, especially upon the Sabbath day; let him be served all the day with a holy care, and affection, zeal and circumspection, diligence and dilection, and you shall surely delight your selves in the Lord, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. If thou turn away thy p. 125foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure upon my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, and honourable, and shalt honour him; not doing thine own wayes, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord, Isa. 58.13, 14.

6. In the next place, Make use of Admiration, which also **Aristot. 1. Rhet. cap. 11.causeth Delectation; because it is accompanied with a desire to learn some new thing, and with hope too, that we shall obtain what we do desire; and because men admire rare things, as you may see, Ps. 8.1. which also are delectable, and so consequently delight us: Because,

1. Of Desire.

2. Operation.

3. Newness. As you may see, Cant. 3.1. joyned with vers. 6.

Where note, That the rarer the Delectable is, the greater our Delight is. Stand admiring therefore, and greatly wondering at the great, the wonderful, and to be admired works of Christ if you would take great delight in Christ, for they are all rare; Here learn of David, Psal. 8.1. And as he then admired the Heavens and p. 126the hosts thereof, even those Syderial **Aquila est etiam Sydus, coeleste, in quo 4. stellae. Calepin, in aquila.Eagles, and glorious Luminaries, the Stars I mean, which shine so bright by night, so do you admire the same, looking upon them (as he did) in the night, when others sleep for your souls delight. For then a man may see the **The 7. Stars.Pleiades, **Ante genua tauri.Orion, **Juxta taurum quoque.Massaroth, or the Twelve Signes, and **Arcturus est stella in Signo Bootoe, post Caudam majoris ursae.Arcturus with his Sons, Job 38.31. and those other Luminaries which are in that spangled Skie. I for my part have taken great delight in it, when rising on purpose by night, I did thorow a Window, standing open towards Heaven, like Daniels towards Jerusalem, lift up mine eyes with Abraham, Gen. 15.5. and beheld the sparkling Diamonds, which are in that gay and glorious Canopy above, and there are severally to be distinguished by their Zones and Circles, under which they are, some moving, and some not; all minding me of my sweet and blessed Saviour, that Star of Jacob, Numb. 24.17. and of my future most blessed and longed for condition in glory, wherein those painful and rightpreaching Teachers, who have turned many unto righteousness, shall shine as the Stars for ever and for ever, p. 127Dan. 12.2. O admiration for delight! O delight for admiration! But oh vvhat a Sea of matter am I entered into! It is time for me therefore to take dovvn my Sailes vvhichwhich I have now expansed, and to dravv near to that shore of matter, which I more aim at, for the vvinning and saving of souls: Only, one thing more I vvill touch and teach here, before I let fall the Anchor of this my present prosecution of the thing in hand; having considered and admired the vvonderful vvorks of God above, let us come dovvn again, for our delight, and consider his vvorks belovv, especially that of man, the Master-piece of the vvhole Creation, belovv Heaven. Not to speak of the curious fabrick of his Body, vvhose Head stands up like a Tovver, Eyes sparkle like Stars, Cheeks resemble Roses, Oh vvhat a rare Soul hath he! Oh vvhat a Memory! What an Understanding! By his Understanding together vvith Gods assistance have been invented so many Rarities, Arts, Sciences; and especially that of Musick, vvhichwhich I desire to speak of a little more than all the rest, because it makes most for my present purpose, vvhichwhich is to put you upon delight, in being an Art for delight by reason of its **Whatsoever is harmonically composed, delights in harmony. Relig. Med. p. 155.harmony. I confesse it is of all Arts thought to be the meanest; and yet of six notes curiously p. 128varied, are made a hundred kinds of heavenly sounds, that ravish heavenly minds.

And with division of a choice device,

The hearers Soul out of his Eares entice.

Nay, so mighty, and strong is its operation, as that even evil spirits have been driven away, and men refreshed by its delectation, 1 Sam. 16.23. And **Alex. ab Alex. lib. 2. Genital. dier. cap. 17.Alexander ab Alexandro doth affirm, as that as he, and others of his company travelled through Apulia in the heat of summer, and heard Musicians playing upon divers instruments in every village, they enquired the Reason, and understood that they were such as cured the Tarantuli? whereupon he and the rest being desirous to see this Experement, dismount from their horses, and went into an house, where one was to be cured, whom they found, not onelyonly speechless, but also senseless in appearance; and yet nevertheless, after that the sweet instruments had played a while, he began first to move his hands, then his legs in measure, according to the stroaks of the musick, and at last rose; and when the Instruments ceased to sound, the sick man again swooned, and fell back in his old disease, and lay for dead; and when the Instruments sounded again, he forthwith p. 129rose as before, until at length, all the poyson wherewith he was infected, was dissipated and dissolved, and he returned to his sences, and recovered perfect health. To conclude this; there is such a proportionate sympathy between the mind and musick, such a secret familiarity, as one saith well, that all our affections are diversly moved, according to the divers kinds of **August. Confes. lib. 10. cap. 33.harmony; and therefore, oh what a man is man! Oh how rare are his parts, and how admirable is he! And if he be so, What a God is our God who hath made him so! and How admirable is his name in all the earth (Psal. 8.1.) who hath made such an admirable piece of a piece of earth! Oh the delight that this admiration causeth! Oh the sweetness that it yeeldeth! Oh the musick that it maketh both in the eares of him that made man, and in the cares of man who maketh it!

7. The last thing which will notably advance this great delight, is Extasie; whereby the soul of a Saint is even abstracted from terrestrial, and so attracted by the power and puissance of divine love; as that for the present, she is, as it were, gone to live in heaven (Phil. 3.20.) being grown into a familiar acquaintance with the God of Heaven.

p. 130Of this Extasie, the Seraphical Divines make three sorts. One,

1. Of Wonder.

2. Of Affection.

3. Of Action.

Action is added, because a man is not to live above himself by extasie and transportation, and under himself in conversation.

The First of these three is, in splendore, or brightness.

The Second, In calore, or heat and warmness.

The Third, In labore, or labour and painfulness.

In this Extasie the primitive Saints had such complacency for the most part, as that it was said then; Never was Saint but had Extasie. For they did **Legatur Theodor. de vitis Patrum. Inprimis, de Simeone Prisco.even labour, by a liquefaction of their soules into God, to espouse themselves to God so, as to put themselves out of the natural deportment of the body, and to live on divine Extasie, without living, as it were in the body: Nay, some so lived as that it was doubted whether they were living men dead, or dead men living; and therefore no wonder that their delight in God was so exceeding great. Saint Jerome calls God to witness to it, saying, Testor Deum, I call God to p. 131record, that after many weeks fasting, it seemed to me, that I was among the very Angels themselves: and what a delight that was, I leave to your consideration. O Souls, if then you would have great delights, nay, live in delights, then live much in extasie, and by ir grow into a far greater, and more familiar acquaintance with God, living more than ever yet ye did with him, to him, in him; being, as it were, severed from the body, sequestred from the world, and taken up into glory. But hereof I shall have other occasion to speak hereafter yet more, when I shall come to speak of Contemplation, and of our Conversation to be in Heaven. The God of Heaven bless that in the mean to ye, which hath been said of Extasie, that ye may be all for it, and great may be your delight which you may gain by it. Amen, So be it.

I now pass over to the Second sort of Directions, which will shew how you and I may, and must take this Great Delight in Christ, to wit;

1. Wholly.

2. Humbly.

3. Hastily.

4. Frequently.

p. 1325. Firmely.

1. Wholly. That is, you must,

1. Take Delight in all that is his, I mean, all his Attributes, and all his ways; For, all his ways are ways of pleasantness, Pro. 3.17. Even crosses, and afflictions, not exempted. We have a notable saying for it, 2 Cor. 12.10. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christs sake. And did not the holy Martyrs, who flourished, and suffered since Paul, say the same? so Fox. I will instance but in one, Simeon Laoeus, seeing one Sylvester, his Executioner coming towards him, said, Never saw I man in all my life, whose approach was better welcome to me than thine is; which so wrought upon Sylvester, that he left his office, and went to Geneva, being become an absolute Convert.

2. Take Delight in him after all manner of modes, as Namely;

1. Walking.

2. Talking.

3. Looking.

p. 1334. Sitting.

5. Sitting in heavenly places.

6. Sitting there for some time.

7. Tasting.

1. Walking; for there is great Delight to be taken in walking, especially if it be with a pleasant Companion, as here Christ is called pleasant, Cant. 1.16. Thou art pleasant also. And therefore, O Dear Saints, walk with the Head of Saints; and for that end walk into a Garden, as himself was wont to do, John 19.2. Or into the Field, as Isaac, Gen. 24. or, if rain hinder you, into a Chamber, and there walk with him, as a friend with his friend, and a Bride with her Bridegroom. Or thus, walk with him as Enoch, Gen. 5.22. Taking him by the hand, the hand, I mean, of faith; and saying to him as his dear spouse once, Come my Beloved, let us go forth into the field, &c. Cant. 7.11. Concerning which place, and kind of walking, you may see what I have written in a peculiar Treatise, called, Christ & his Saints spending their time together day and night: So that I shall say the less of it here; only this I will adde now: and having so intreated, and invited him to go with you, walk with him arme in arme, hand in hand, side by p. 134side, and that by faith, for by faith we walk, 2 Cor. 5.7. that is, believe verily that he will walk so with you, yea in you, because he hath promised it, 2 Cor. 6.16. Out of Isa. 52.11. And I will walk in them. Oh sweet walking! O walking for Delight! O walking to be admired! for, is there any such walking in the world like this? You would count it a great matter, and high honour, if any of you might be so much in favour with a great and mighty King, as to be admitted by him to walk with him; but what would that be to this! this beyond all comparison, goeth beyond it; for what an honour is this, for a poor nothing Creature, to walk with its Creator! a poor vile worm with its Makerla man with God! who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, Revel. 19.16. and yet such honour have (or may have) all his Saints. O Saints, that I may come with a new supply: walk then, O walk so with that highest Majesty whilest ye may: Nay, go and walk with him, as once Abraham did walk with those three men, or rather with the whole most sacred, & ever to be adored Trinity, appearing in the shape of three men, towards Sodom, Gen. 18.16. so do you walk with him: nay, as he with the same most glorious and ever-honoured Trinity, towards the heavenly Jerusalem; for thither I suppose ye are bent: Are not you, O my brethren? What a glorious and wonderfull walk p. 135was that, when Father Abraham so walked with the Father of Mercies; when a son of man, so walked with the Son of God; when flesh and blood, so walked with that holy Spirit! O do ye not wish that it had been your lot to have lived then, and that ye might have walked so with them! Well, though you could not be so happy as to walk like Abraham, and together with Abraham, in their company then, yet know for certain, that if ye will not be wanting to your selves, you may walk with them now, though not under the same or like Dispensation visibly, as with three men, yet invisibly as three glorious, and ever blessed Persons, you personating Father Abraham, and treading into his foot-steps, by believing. And therefore, up, and be going, oh going along with those, I will not say, Men, but persons, for heaven, O for heaven, and the blessing of God go with you. Amen.

2. Talking with him; for oh the Delight which also we may take, in and by talking! Talking with a dear Freind, whom we excessively love, doth even fill us with complacency; and so doth a spouses talking with her best Beloved, fill her. And is not Christ our friend? Oh yes. This is my freind, sayes his dear Love, Cant. 5.16. And is he not, if we be Saints, our best Beloved also? yes verily, for so he is called, Cant. 2.16. p. 136And therefore, look as friend talketh with friend, a Bride with her Beloved, so let us talk with him. You will say. What shall we talk? I Answer. Here I have much to say, but you are not able to bear it now; and therefore I will say no more but this, you may talk with him about any thing you need; but my advice here, and now is, that you will talk with him especially about his kisses, as his doar spouse, saying, Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth; F…r thy love is better than wine, Cant. 1.2. On these kisses! Oh these loves, they must needs delight us with their sweetness, and even extatize us with their heavenliness; they are so exceeding pleasant, and and so transcendently ravishing; for his very mouth, wherewith he kisses his, how sweet it is! His Mouth is most sweet, nay, sweetness it self, as the Hebrew hath it, saith his dear spouse, Can. 5.16. And therefore, if you would take delight in him, beg to be kissed by him. O Dear saints, what a sweet life might you live, if you would but be more for this Kissing, and for this love, and spend more of your time, in talking with him. Oh! you do not know what a Delight you do forgo; neglecting, and forb…aring to go to him more than you are wont by this kind of Talking, which also is praying. Beloved, I pray you, think on it what a happiness, and honour it is, for and to such poor worms as we are, that we can so by praying, and talking, go to case p. 137our hearts, and make them light, by a bold approach to that Unapproachable Light; can even poure out our petitions to that all-powerful Majesty; can make our Request known to him, who is stiled, in regard of some which are aliens and strangers to him, and know him not, The Ʋnknown God, Acts 17.23. Can draw near to the Throne of Grace for Grace, when we need it, to serve that all-gracious Deity; can walk and talk when we please, about pleasures to be had now and hereafter for evermore, with that ever blessed, & by our poor prayers much to be pleased Trinity; Can go also to apprehend as much as possibly, of that incomprehensible entity. And therefore, O sirs, as Abraham once talked with those 3 men, that is, as I told you, with the sacred Trinity in the shape of Men, as he walked with the same toward Sodom, Gen. 18.16. So do you talk with Christ, yea, with the whole most sacred Trinity, as you are walking with the same for heaven, saying, (For I said but now; that you may talk of any thing ye need) O Blessed Trinity, as Abraham thy servant, talking with thee, prayed, and interceded for Sodom, so do I now, pray for such and such (name them) and for my self also; O my God do not destroy the Just with the Ʋnjust; do not destroy that which thou hast made, by that which thou hast not made; Do not make us like Sodom and Gomorrha, in thy fiery indignation; Do not give us up like those p. 138filthy Cities, to fire and brimstone, therein to burn for ever; but rather, as Abraham brought thee, O ever-glorious Trinity, on in the way toward Sodom, so shew us the way to heaven, and bring us on in that we may not misse; For Oh how many by-wayes are there which lead amiss, and make many miss? and how many are there now that say, here is Christ, and there is Christ, Math. 24.23. This is the way, and that is the way, when no such matter? O Lord Jesus Christ, thou art the way, the way to the Father; O bring me into thy sacred self, and by thy self to heaven; O with what pleasantness might we thus talk with God, talk with Christ! talk so therefore, O Dear Saints, with Christ, that great may be your Delight in Christ.

3. Looking. For, O the delight which the eye takes in seeing, if it see a beautifull person, or thing! How Jacob was taken with the sight of Rachels beauty, Sichem with Dinahs, David with Bathsheba's, Potiphars wife with Josephs! and shall not we take Delight in Christs, and be taken with it, and him, when we see him, think ye? O yes; For, did not Abraham when he saw his day, John. 8.56. and vvas glad? And therefore look upon him, to take delight in him. We have divers Scriptures for it, as Cant. 3.6. Behold King Solomon, namely, Christ, the heavenly Solomon: and look upon me, saith Christ, Isa. 45.22. and looking upon Jesus, p. 139saith the Apostle, Heb. 12.2. Go forth therefore, O ye Daughters of Jerusalem, and behold Christ, look upon him, and behold his most admirable beauty, for He is fairer than all men, Psal. 45.2. Even as a Bride taketh an Extraordinary great Delight in looking upon her Beloved and sometimes, even therefore talketh with him, that she may look on him, and behold his beauty, if he be of a beautiful Countenance; so do you Bride-like, look in the face of Christ, your best beloved, to be delighted vvith Christ; and imagine, as you look tovvards him, as if you did see, besides the beauty of his Deity, his very eyes, vvhichwhich are like tvvo suns shining in their strength; or, like the eyes of doves by the Rivers of vvaters, vvashen and fitly set; his cheeks vvhichwhich are like Roses, vvhite, and ruddy, or a bed of spices, Cant. 3.13. his mouth, vvhichwhich is as svveet as honey, yea svveetness it self, Cant. 5.16. according to the Hebrew; his lips vvhichwhich are like lillies; his hands vvhichwhich are like Gold rings, set vvith the Berill; his legs which are like pillars of marble, set on sockets of fine Gold, Cant. 5.10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Concerning vvhichwhich most Ravishing Description of the Beauty of Christ, see vvhat I have vvritten at large, in my Treatise called, The Rose of Sharon, Pag. 16, 17.

You will say, Sir, you vvould have us thus to p. 140look upon Christ, and to behold his beauty, and to take extraordinary delight in it; but what if we do what we may, we either cannot see him, or can see no such beauty in him, as it is written, When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him, Isa. 53.2. What shall we do in such a case?

I answer, Four wayes.

1. The cause of it may be in your Eyes, for they may be held that you cannot see him, as those Disciples eyes were, Luke 24.16. Which if it be, you must pray Christ that your Eyes may be opened, as theirs were, by Christ, vers. 31.

2. The cause of it may be in himself. Some of the Jewish **Rabbi Josue, Ben Levi, in Thalmud. Tract. Sanhed. cap. helec.Rabbies have a conceit, and write that the Messias is come, but hideth himself for a time for our sins in the Sea, and other Desart places, which though it be false in their sence, yet may be found true in another. For Christ, the Messias of the world may, and sometimes doth hide himself behind our wall, Cant. 2.9. that is, the partition wall of **Bernard.sin, and that for our sinsul lives, and because he looketh to be importuned p. 141to shew himself, as in another case, he looketh to be sought unto, to give us new and tender hearts, Ezek. 36.27. Which if it be so, ye must cry to him as Moses, every one of you that put forth this case; Lord, shew me thy glory, Exod. 33.18. And, Lord, shew me thy face, and shew me the light of thy countenance, that therein I may delight my self, and rejoyce more than they, whose Corn, and Wine, and Oyl encreaseth, Psal. 4.7.

3. It may be, some of you have no Faith; For all men have not faith, saith the Apostle, 2 Thes. 3.2. Which if it be, no wonder that ye cannot see him; for by Faith we see him, as Abraham saw him and his day, before he was born, and rejoyced (John 8.56.) as I said before. So that you must make out for Faith in the manner aforesaid, crying especially to God for it, that by Faith you may see him, and rejoyce with faithful Abraham.

4. You may see him in his works, if you cannot see him otherwise, for he hath not left himself invisible to the weak-sighted among men, as you may see, Rom. 1. 19. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shewed it to them: For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made, even duplicate page p. 140duplicate page p. 141p. 142his eternal power and God-head. So that they are without excuse. Thus the glorious beauty and power of God and Christ, is to be seen in the Creation, for our great delectation.

Therein our fingers feel, our Nostrils smel,

Our palates taste, his virtues that excel.

He sheweth him to our eyes, talks to our ears,

In the ordered Motion of the spangled Sphears.

Therein therefore go to see him, both day and night, for your souls delight.

4. Sitting. When we are weary of walking we sit sometimes for our delight, and so did the Spouse here for hers; do ye so likewise for yours. Much hath been said of this sitting, upon the former observation, and therefore I say the less of it now.

Question.

If you ask me, How you must sit?

Answ.

With, under, and in Christ.

1. With, according to that notable saying of the Apostle; and made us sit together, mark, together, p. 143and so with Christ, Ephes. 2.6.

2. Ʋnder him, for I sate under his shadow, saith the blessed Spouse in my Text.

3. In him. For, He made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ, mark, in Christ. O high honour! Oh delighting honour! O honour not to be paralleld! To sit with a King in his chair of gold is much, but nothing to this, this exceeds that. For a poor beggarly contemptible Creature, not only to walk with its Maker, but also to sit with him, nay, in him; O what a dignity is that! and yet such a dignity have souls espoused to Christ, that when they are weak and weary, they can even sit down in Christ, and there rest. Oblessed rest! Oh that you, Dear hearts, would so rest!

5. Sitting in heavenly places. This is added, Eph. 2.6. He made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ; mark, in heavenly places, for there is himself, and there let us be also. So the Apostle reasoneth, Col. 3.1. Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth, mark, sitteth, as I said but now, that we must fit. I have read of a certain **Jonston. Thaumatogr. p. 172. Thuan. l. 5. Hist.wonderful, pure, sparkling stone brought from the East-Indies to Henry the Second, p. 144King of France, that by no meanes it could be kept under ground, but it would break forth, and lift up it self, and seek to be in high, spacious, and most capacious places. Such a stone or like it, every one of us should be, so pure we should be, so we should sparkle, so shine, so break forth, not suffering our selves to be kept under, to be under-ground, to be for earth, for dirt, for clay, for the world, as overcome of the world; but rather seek after high places, high preferments, high advancements, that is, should labour to sit down in those spacious, capacious, and heavenly places above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. O Saints, this is sweet sitting indeed; can ye desire any better? Nay, Is there any better than this, in Christ, in heaven? O heaven, heaven, how doth my soul long to be in thee! O when shall it once be that I shall be fully in thee! When? Whilst I am in the body, I know, I cannot, but my soul may, being rapt up or fleeing up Flee thou hence therefore like a Dove, O my soul, and get thee into heaven (Psal. 56.6) and by the power of Contemplation, sit down in those heavenly places which are there for thy sweetest delectation: and as for those other precious souls which are here, let them also flee h…e; O let none stay behind! Oh let them all together with mine, be even rapt up, like Pauls, 2 Cor. 12. into heaven. This brings me to Raptures, p. 145whereby we come to sit in those places in Christ; for Rapture is the highest degree of Contemplation, which causeth in man towering thoughts, irradiateth his soul with high apprehensions, and elevates him to God, taking him out of himself, to live above himself; the soul being thus attracted by divine love, sweetly complieth, and slideth after those attracts; and then, Oh the delight it taketh in this rapture; the Will taking pleasure, to perceive the Understanding, which is the Souls King; taken into rapture with it self, and the Faculties both of Will and Understanding, enter communicating their ravishments. Wherefore I said, and say it again, be rapt up.

6. Sitting there for some considerable time, for so much the word sit implies, insomuch as that men are wont to say, when desired to sit, and they minded to be gone, that they wil not sit, lest they should tarry too long; besides, the longer we sit there, the greater will be our delight, even exceeding great, as the longer a Bride sits with her Beloved in a Garden for delight, the greater is her delight. For is not Heaven a Garden like that of Adonis, nay exceeding it infinitely, nay, a very Paradise for delights? and therefore as Peter once said to Christ, when being upon Mount Tabor, he was transfigured, and there appeared to him Moses and Elias talking with him, p. 146Lord, it is good for us to be here; If thou wilt, let us make three Tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. So let a Saint, who hath begun to sit down in those heavenly places, say to his soul, Soul it is good for us to be here indeed; let us build Tabernacles here, and abide here. O beloved, had ye lived in the dayes of Christ, had you been upon the holy mount with Christ, had you seen him shine so as he did, had you seen Moses also, and Elias with him talking with him, what a delight would it have been unto you to see such a glorious sight? and what a desire would you have had alwayes to have been there! Oh you would never have been weary of being there! Well, that is past, and Christ is to be seen so here upon earth no more, nor Moses, nor Elias; but in those heavenly places which I spake of, you may see as it were with an eye of Contemplation, both him and them, and that with unspeakable delectation, if you will but follow my counsel, so much tending to your super-abounding consolation: and should not you be heartily willing, vehemently willing, not only to be with Christ there, but also to **Itaque cum carnales homines vix mentem ad Deum elevare queant; hi eo devenerunt ut vix ab eo mentem divellere possint: Quod de beata clara Herpius memorat. Granat. Loc. Com. p. 493.continue with him there? O my brethren, let us all be like Eagles. p. 147Eagles will be there where the Carcass is, as our blessed Saviour tells us, Wheresoever the Carcass is, there will the Eagles be gathered together, Matth. 24.28. and so let us be there where Christ is. Again, Eagles will be there whilest any Carcase is there, and as long as that lasteth; so let us be in those heavenly places by our sitting there till we meet with some sweetness, and as long as our delight & that sweetness lasteth; when that failes, we may come down again and go about our other affaires, and so go up again, after that; being like Eagles also in that, who will be near the Sun, and on high most, and be seldom seen here below, unless it be for food; after which fed on and taken, they betake themselves to their wings, and up they flee again, Prov. 23.5.

7. Tasting; after the example of Christs blessed spouse in my Text, for so she saith, And his fruit was sweet to my Taste. But of this I shall speak ex professo, or professedly hereafter, when I shall slide into the Second part of my Text; at present, I will give you but a taste of this taste, before I let you go farther, lest ye faint by the way. Beloved, one crum of that bread of Angels, one drop of that water of life, one bit of that sweetest meat, which Saints and Angels are refreshed and delighted with, and which I shall sollicit you to be sollicitous of, and to taste of, is better than all the dainties, delicacies, sweet meats of p. 148the world, sweeter also than the honey and the honeycomb, as coming from such a Feast-maker, such a Fountain, such a tree, as Christ is, our best beloved. O Beloved, it is he whom his blessed Bride compareth to an Apple-tree, Cant. 2.3. As the Apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons; because of those sweetest Apples of divine Consolation, which grow upon, and fall from him, for our exhilaration It is he whom the Father hath sealed, & sent from heaven, to feed us poor Israelites, when we are ready to faint away in this barren Wilderness, the world I mean, as with Manna, that bread of Heaven; and he is that sweetest Lamb, which was slain from the beginning of the world, Revel. 13.8. that his precious blood being imbibed, and drunk in by faith, and its perswasion, might fill us with unutterable Delectation.

O sirs, Will you taste now, what is so provided for you; I say, Taste, for I promise and proffer you but a Taste. Fulness is reserved for Heaven, where we shall feed and be filled, eat our meat there ordained, and be satisfied; fare deliciously, without fear, without want; take as much as we will, and not mistake; fare well, drink well, do well, even abundantly, and not die. In the mean time, as sometime the Angel of the Lord said to Eliah, where he lay asleep under a juniper Tree, having brought him a Cake, baked on the Coales, and p. 149a cruse of water, Eat and drink, for the journey is too great for thee, 1 King. 19.6, 7. so let me, who have now brought such provision with me, say to you, who have layn asleep under your juniper Trees of sensual Delights and pleasures, or sate asleep, it may be, in your Pues, when the Word of Life was preached, published, and divulged, and asleep in your most sad, and uncomfortable Conditions; Arise and eat, arise and take, and taste, what is here provided, for you have a great journey yet to go, from Sodom to Sion, from Satan to God, from Darkness to Light, from one degree of grace to another, from one delight to another, from one mode to another, from Earth to Heaven, where now I leave you.

2. Humbly; you must take Delight in Christ. This I add and subjoyn, because I fear lest when you shall so talk, so walk, so sit with Christ, &c. you grow and be proud upon so great an honour; therefore I shall by this Directive, labour to keep you down. Beloved, how humble was Father Abraham, when he so talked and walked with the Father of Spirits, as I would have you do, saying, the same time, That he was but dust and ashes, Gen. 18.27. I pray you say so too, yea and think so too. Dust is but a little, little thing, so Ashes, and so must ye be, even little little in your own eyes, yea, nothing; for, such hath God chosen, even things which are not, poor, nothing p. 150Creatures, 1 Cor. 1.28. and such we must come to be, if we would take, as we ought, in Christ, that so much hitherto-pressed complacency.

3. Hastily. We have a Proverb in Latine, Qui eito dat, bis dat, He that gives quickly, gives twise; and so we may say likewise, he that doth a good thing quickly doth it twise, I adde and twise more easily than he who delayeth the doing of it. Even as when Iron is taken fire hot to be wrought upon, and wax when it is hot to be sealed upon, so I would not have ye to deferre the doing of this great and glorious work as ye were wont, but to take it in hand whilest the iron is hot, and the wax hot, that is, whilest your hearts, which are like both, are hot and warm, yea burn within you, as those Disciples hearts, Luke 24.32. And so may the more easily be wrought upon. O my Brethren, are not your hearts now burning, as it were? May not you say now, as those same Disciples, Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us? Luke 24.32. So, did not our hearts burn within us also whilest this man spake to us this day, so of those Ravishing delights which are to be taken in Christ, and opened the Scriptures, which spake of them unto us, as did Christ? And will not you take this great Advantage p. 151then, and work upon them now while you may, they being so capable of receiving the impresses of that holy, and soul-warming word of life, which, with so much life, I have endeavoured to preach to, and to press upon your precious souls! O souls, what say you? shall it be so? Will you do so? O let it be so for the Lords sake. I have read of one, that having tasted once the sweetness of a Sanctified imprisonment, he said, that if he had known the sweetness of a prison before, he would not have stayed out of it so long as he did, but have been in before that time. And so let every soul that hears or reads these words say, If I had known the sweetness of those delights, as now I know them, having heard so much of them, I would not have abstained from them so long as I did, but would have partaked of them, long before now: and so consequently, O my Brethren, to day, this day wherein you hear or read these things (Remember the day of the monethmonth, above all dayes of the year, Psal. 95.7.) harden not your hearts, as you have done; but enter, I will not say a Prison, but a Paradise of desirables, of delectables, of delicates unutterable, unmatchable, incomparable, that Paradise, I mean, which hitherto I have shewn you; and the Lord be with you.

4. Quietly. As when we commune with our p. 152own hearts, upon other great and weighty matters, which concern the salvation of our soules, we are to be still, Psal. 4.4. So, when we set our selves, to delight our selves in Christ, after a solemn manner, let us be still; that is, let nothing then trouble us, or hinder us, but let us be as free, as solitary, as retired, as possibly we can be, for quietness it self is delectable. And it is **Basil in Hexaem.reported of the Halcyon, that when she hatches her young ones, near the Seashore, God causes the winds & seas to be all quiet during that time, that she may be able to bring them forth, without being overwhelmed with the waves of the seas: Whence the Proverbe of Halcyon dayes, that is quiet dayes. And so it should be with us, when we go about this Notable work, of bringing forth this glorious work of delighting our selves in the Lord: The world, and worldly cares & affaires, must then be far away from us, that the same may not like windes and waves overwhelm us, and all perturbations of mind must be eliminated by us; and if they will not be gone, nor so leave us, and our own hearts hold with them, and become troublesome to us, we must check them for it, and bid them to be quiet, saying to them, as David to his, Why art thou so disquieted withinme? hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the help of my Countenance, and my God, Psal. 43.5.

p. 1535. Frequently. Even as God took delight in his Son daily, even from everlasting; as it is written, And I was daily his delight, Prov. 8.30. So do you also; let Christ his Son be your delight daily, from henceforth, yea, day and night; as Davids blessed man's delight is in the Law of the Lord, according to that notable description of him, His delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in his Law doth he meditate, both day and night, Psal. 1.2. And like David himself, who saith, Psal. 77.4. Thou keepest mine eyes (not enemies, as some would have it) waking. Just as watches are kept (or kept off) as **Ʋt Psalterium Arabicum ac Aethiopicum. foreign Richard. Cenomanus, in Loc. & Aquila. foreign.some note upon the place, according to the **Ʋt Psalterium Arabicum ac Aethiopicum. foreign Richard. Cenomanus, in Loc. & Aquila. foreign.Hebrew. I add; or as a Bride keeps her Beloved waking, so didst thou keep me waking, when others were sleeping; and so let Christ keep you waking, when others are slumbring upon their beds of ease, easing your selves upon the bed of delight by night. Thus frequently: The oftener, the better.

6. Firmly. Even as the same Son of God rejoyced alwayes before God, as it is written, And I was daily his delight, rejoycing alwayes before him. p. 154Mark, alwayes, Prov. 8.30. So do you rejoyce alwayes, and delight your selves alwayes before him, and in him; and not only upon a fit, or for a **As Isa. 58. it is said of Fasting.Isa 58day as happily now you may, being so much perswaded to it, but all your dayes. I have already said something of this, when I pressed you to sitting under, and with Christ with great delight for some considerable time, and therefore I will say the less concerning this now; but only thus much I will add. As Christ said once to his disciples of watching, And what I say to you, I say to all: watch, Mark 13.36. So, what I have said of sitting, I say of all the modes of delighting our selves in Christ, Be constant, be firm, be unmovable, 1 Cor. 15.58. Continue ye in my love, said the same Christ once, John 15.9. and so say I now, continue in that walking, and continue in that talking, and continue in that looking, and continue in that sitting, and continue in that tasting which I spake of, and as long as ye live, live so in delight, both day and night, and shrink not, for, No man having put his hand to the plow (this plow) and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God, Luke 9.62. nor is he fit for such delights as are to be taken in God. Wherefore, be you not like unto Lot's Wife, which went out of Sodom, as her Husband and Daughters did, but by the way looked back, and was turned into a Pillar p. 155of Salt, which was to be seen long after, even since Christ, as some **Tertul. in Sodom. Carm. mihi. pag. 646.write, and did in a most wonderfull manner menstrua pati: but rather being out of Sodom once, that is, out and off from your filthy, sinful, and sensual practises, keep out, and keep on for those heavenly delights which I speak of, and never leave till you come to Zoar, I mean heaven, where no filthy livers are admitted, but Saints only; by whom no reigning sin or uncleanness with such allowance, here was, or could be committed; no fire or brimstone to be seen, but fair sights only, and things to be much respected; no dangers at all, but only delicate fare to be expected: In a word, where pleasures are without displeasures for evermore. Unto which, God of his infinite goodness bring us all.

But here it will be needful for me to resolve Two Cases of Conscience.