The Best Acquaintance and Highest Honor of Christians, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. Exhorting thoſe that have acquaintance with God, to keep and maintain it.
MY next work is to exhort thoſe that have acquaintance with God, that they would be very careful to keep and maintain that acquaintance that they have with God. And to move to this, I hope I ſhall need do no more than tell you, that it is a very poſſible thing for you to loſe that acquaintance and familiarity which you have with God. Though it is true, Once the Lords, and ever the Lords; and, whom God loves once, he loves alwayes; and it is not poſſible for any that have ever been reconciled unto God, and brought into his favour by Jeſus Chriſt, totally and finally to fall out of his favour again; yet it is poſſible for you to loſe that ſweet intimacy, and familiarity, and intercourſe, and acquaintance that you had with God, which was both the fruit and evidence of the love of God, and of your being in favour with him, it is poſſible for you to loſe your acquaintance with God, ſo far as that you may look upon God as a ſtranger, and God may look upon you as a ſtranger, as one whom he takes no notice of, of whom he hath no acquaintance with; you may look upon God as an enemy, and God may look upon you as an enemy, ſo far may you loſe your acquaintance with God. This I muſt tell you.
And when I have told you this, I need tell you no more; for you that have indeed had this acquaintance with God, have I know found ſo much ſweetneſs in it, and do ſo prize and value it, that if you were put to your choice, whether you would part with the acquaintance of the deareſt friend you had, Father, or Mother, or Brother, or Siſter, or Husband, or Wife, or part with your acquaintance with God; nay, whether you would part with all you are worth, nay, with your very lives, or part with your acquaintance with God; I know you would part with all, rather than part with that. I look therefore, that upon the very hearing that there is but ſo much as a poſſibility for you to loſe it, you ſhould preſently ask me, What you ſhould do to retain it? I anſwer.
Firſt. Maintain in your hearts this high eſteem of your intimacy and acquaintance with God, prize it above any other of your enjoyments whatſoever. Seemeth it a ſmall matter in your eyes to be the Son-in-law of a King? 1 Sam. 13.23.ſaith David to Sauls ſervants: ſo ſay to thine own ſoul, Is it a ſmall matter to have acquaintance with God, to be the friend, the favourite of God, to have familiar acceſs to, and intercourſe with God? O prize it, and let God know thou doſt prize it as thou wouldſt prize heaven it ſelf.
Secondly. Maintain not a diſcouraging and diſtruſtful, but a vigilant and wakeful fear, of loſing this pretious injoyment. Optimus theſauri cuſtos timor eſt. Fear is the beſt keeper and preſerver of things that are dear and pretious, many a jewel is loſt through careleſsneſs and rechleſsneſs that might have been kept with fear and watchfulneſs.
Thirdly. Take heed of all ſuch things as may unſoder and diſſolve the acquaintance that is between God and you. As for inſtance.
Firſt. Take heed of falling into groſs and preſumptuous ſins; for do you not know in your ſouls, that every groſs ſin willingly committed, doth vex and grieve God? and do you not know, that if you vex and grieve God, he will be ſo far from continuing his friendſhip and acquaintance with you, that he will be turned to be your enemy? If I know that the doing of ſuch or ſuch a thing will vex a man that is my friend, and yet I will do it, vexed let him be, I will do it; this plainly ſhews I little value the mans friendſhip, and when he knows it, he will value mine as little, and ſo friendſhip and acquaintance will be interrupted and broken off between us: thou knoweſt as well as I can tell thee, that there is no ſin but it vexeth God, and there is nothing that vexeth God but ſin, and yet wilt thou ſin? wilt thou ſin, though thou knoweſt ſin is the only thing that vexeth God, yet wilt thou ſin? this is an argument thou valueſt friendſhip and acquaintance with God at a low rate. And if thou thus ſin and vex God, and ſlight his acquaintance, I tell thee, God will ſhake thee off from all acquaintance with him, and become thine enemy; nay, himſelf tells thee ſo. But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit, Iſa. 63.10therefore he was turned to be their enemy. Take heed therefore of vexing God by willing and known ſin.
Secondly. Take heed of being too familiar, and holding too much correſpondency and intimacy with wicked and ungodly men that are Gods enemies; we our ſelves will not take him for our friend, that is inward and intire with our profeſſed Adverſaries. Zabud was Solomons friend: Solomon had three ſpecial and known enemies.1 King. 11 Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam. Now if Zabud meant to hold in with Solomon, it had been no wiſdom in the world for him to fall into acquaintance with any of theſe three perſons, it had been enough to caſt him out of the favour of Solomon for ever: ſo here, if we fall into intimacy and acquaintance with Gods open profeſſed, branded enemies, what can we look for but that God ſhould caſhiere us his acquaintance, and ſay to us as he did to Jehoſhaphat, Shouldſt thou help the ungodly, 2 Chron. 19.2.and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath come upon thee from the Lord.
Thirdly. Take heed of dealing treacherouſly with God. That is it the Lord chargeth the people withal, by the Prophet Jeremiah; Surely, as a wife treacherouſly departeth from her husband: Jer. 3.20.or as the Original hath it, from her friend: ſo have you dealt treacherouſly with me, O houſe of Iſrael, ſaith the Lord. A Wife may have her failings, upon which the Husband poſſibly may frown and chide, and give her round language, but for all that he will be friends with her ſtill, and continue in habitation with her ſtill; but if once he come to perceive that ſhe deals treacherouſly with him, that ſhe imbraceth the boſom of a ſtranger, that ſhe loves another man better than ſhe loves him; this quite breaks in ſunder the knot of conjugal love and ſociety between them, this is an unpardonable ſin, and an iniquity to be puniſhed by the Judge, Job 31.11.as Job ſpeaks: So it is here, the friends and acquaintance of God may have their failings and miſcarriages, for which God may frown upon them, chide and rebuke them, but yet retain them in his favour ſtill: but if once he perceive that they deal treacherouſly with him, if once they come to prefer any thing in their love before himſelf, and his acquaintance, this will be a breach indeed between God and them. O therefore, as you prize acquaintance with God, take heed of the inordinate love of the world, and the things of the world. Remember what the Apoſtle James ſaith,James 4.4. Ye adulterers, and adultereſſes, know ye not that the friendſhip of the world is enmity with God? Whoſoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God. Take heed therefore of the world.
Fourthly. Take heed of too much abſence from God, and diſcontinuance of acquaintance, converſe, and familiarity with him. Some things there are that do diſſecare amicitiam, chop in ſunder friendſhip and acquaintance, as it were, at one ſtroke, and ſome things do diſſuere amicitiam, unrip and unſew it, and looſen it by little and little; great unkindneſſes, wrongs, and injuries, theſe cut the bands of love and friendſhip in ſunder; but long abſence of friends one from another, and diſcontinuance of converſe and familiarity, and letting fall the performance of friendly offices, viſits, colloquies, and the like; theſe looſen friendſhip by degrees, and cauſe it to languiſh and dye. Hence the Proverb of amicitia Academica, Univerſity-friendſhip, that holds only for a time. Scholars while they live together in the ſame Univerſity, often meeting, and walking, and talking together, they grow into great familiarity and acquaintance one with another; but afterwards being parted, and living at diſtance one from another, their friendſhip and acquaintance dyes, and is extinct: ſo it is here, abſence from God, diſuſe and diſcontinuance of communion with him, not frequenting Gods company, not often reſorting to him, and ſpeaking to him, will not only looſen, but loſe our acquaintance with him.
If therefore we would maintain our acquaintance with God, we muſt often and daily viſit him, frequent his houſe and Ordinances, be frequent in reading, hearing, praying; converſe with him by holy meditations, and ſoliloquies, invite him home to us, importune him to viſit our hearts with his Spirit: as we do by our other friends, we often viſit them, and invite them to viſit us, aſſuring them that our houſe, and any thing that we have, is at their ſervice: th…s muſt we deal with God, and this is the way to maintain communion and acquaintance with him.
Fifthly. Take heed of entertaining jealouſies and ſuſpitions of God, and of his love unto thee, or taking things unkindly at Gods hand. Many a man by taking up a groundleſs conceit that his friend is alienated from him, gives his friend juſt cauſe of alienation, and ſo loſeth his friend: I am ſure we often deal ſo with God; and I am perſwaded there is ſcarce any one thing whereby the true friends of God do more grieve him, and hinder their free and comfortable acquaintance with him, than by thinking that God, foreign is eaſily provoked, ſo eaſily, that for involuntary failings and infirmities, ſuch as are wandring thoughts, deadneſs of heart in prayer, and the like, (which God knows they cannot help if their lives lay upon it, and God knows they are as bitter to them as death it ſelf) and yet they do think, that for theſe God will fall quite out with them, and tantum non, caſt them down to hell; and by theſe hard thoughts they grieve God, they break the law of friendſhip, they diſcourage and diſhearten themſelves from converſe with God, and ſo their hearts are alienated and eſtranged from God, and then they (meaſuring God by themſelves, as if he were like one of us) think God is eſtranged from them, and fallen out with them, when indeed it is, they are fallen out with him. Therefore take heed of theſe thoughts of God.
Sixthly. Take heed that Satan do not ſet in his foot between God and you; take heed you give no ear to what he will tell you concerning God, and the purpoſes and diſpenſations of God towards you. You know what the holy Ghoſt faith, A whiſperer ſeparateth chief friends. Pro. 16.28.There are no two friends in the world ſo great, but if either of them liſten and give way to whiſperers, or detractors, that ſeek to ſet ſtrife and variance between them, and believe every tale that they tell, bands of friendſhip will quickly be looſed, and they will be as great enemies as ever they were friends; we know that Satans great deſign is to ſet ſtrife between God and Man; he began this game in paradiſe, God and Man were perfect friends, till the Devil comes like a whiſperer and ſlanders God, and tells Eve that it was out of meer envy and ill will that God had forbidden her and her husband to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and ſhe believing this ſlander did eat, and ſo the league of friendſhip was broken between God and her: ſo deals the Devil ſtill, not indeed with thoſe whom he knows to be Gods enemies, he doth not trouble their heads much with the thoughts of God, but fills their heads with the thoughts of other matters; but where he knows, or but ſuſpects any to be the friends of God, or perceives them but to be ſeeking after reconciliation and acquaintance with God, O the ſtrange thoughts of God that he buzzeth into their minds! ſometimes he tells them that God hates them worſe than he hates a dog or a toad: that it is in vain for them to pray, or repent, or to do any thing, God hath rejected them, they are reprobate from all eternity; if God afflict them, he tells them, that now they may ſee and feel, if they will, that God is angry with them, and hates them, and theſe afflictions are but the fore-runners and beginnings of hell, and what they feel here is nothing to what they ſhall feel hereafter: of God ſpare them from affliction, he tells them, God doth this but to fat them againſt the day of ſlaughter, and that they may the ſooner fill up the meaſure of their ſin and be ripe for hell. And thus Satan ſlanders God in all his wayes, and that not to the wicked, and thoſe that are Gods enemies, but to thoſe that are his friends; and the believing of thoſe lyes and ſlanders of Satan againſt God, proves many times, the very bane and breakneck, as I may ſo ſay, of acquaintance with God. Therefore take heed of giving credit to the Devil and his ſuggeſtions, and whatever Satan tells you of God, believe it not, but believe the contrary to be true, becauſe that which Satan ſpeaks of God cannot but be falſe. Thus I have ſhewn you what the things are we muſt take heed of, if we would maintain our acquaintance with God. Which is the third direction.
Fourthly. If thou wouldſt maintain thy acquaintance with God, look that thy heart be ſincere and upright with him. No man would entertain into his boſom, as his entire friend, one that he knows doth but flatter and diſſemble with him, and in his heart doth not love him. You know what Jehu ſaid to Jonadab, 2 Kings 10.15.Is thine heart right as my heart is with thy heart? And when he ſaid, It is, then he bid him give him his hand, and he took him up to him into the charriot. God need not ask any of us that queſtion, Is thine heart right? for if it be not, he knows it well enough; and if it be not, he will never give us the hand of friendſhip, nor never take us up into the chariot of acquaintance with himſelf. To this therefore let us look that our hearts be right with God, that what profeſſion we make of our love, and of our deſires of acquaintance with him, may come from a good and honeſt heart.
Fifthly. If you would maintain and keep your acquaintance with God, then labour to increaſe your acquaintance with God, and to grow in it. For as grace, ſo the priviledges of grace are of that nature, that they cannot ſtand at a ſtay, but are like the Sun, alwayes either aſcending or deſcending, like the Sea, that is ever either ebbing or flowing, ſo theſe are ever either increaſing or decreaſing, either growing or decaying. If therefore you would not have your acquaintance with God decay and dye, have a care that it may increaſe and grow. And to that end labour to grow in thoſe things wherein acquaintance with God lyes; as namely, 1. In the knowledge of God, Hoſ. 6.3. 2. In converſe with God. 3. In conſidence in God. 4. In conformity unto God. Converſe with God will conform us unto God, and conformity unto God will confirm and increaſe our converſe with God.
Sixthly. Be willing to be ruled by God in all things, be punctual in obſerving his commands; exactly careful to pleaſe him well in all things. So in the verſe after the Text, Receive the Law from his mouth, Job 22.22.and lay up his words in thine heart. Let Gods word be a Law to thee, Joh. 14.21, 23.
Laſtly. Be much in converſe with thoſe that are the friends and acquaintance of God. Let them be thy companions, ſo they were Davids; Pſal. 119.63.I am a companion of all them that fear thee. Let them be thy delight, ſo they were Davids; To the Saints that are in the earth, Pſal. 16.3.and to the excellent in whom is all my delight. As conſorting our ſelves with the wicked, and ſuch as are Gods enemies, is the ready way to loſe our acquaintance with God; ſo on the contrary, conſorting with the Saints that are Gods friends, is the way to keep and hold our acquaintance with God.1 Joh. 1.3. That which we have ſeen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye alſo may have fellowſhip with us; and truly our fellowſhip is with the Father, and with his Son Jeſus Chriſt.