Two Discourses, Sermon 1 (2 of 2)

Two Discourses · Sermon 1 (2 of 2)

p. 79And it is to be observ'd, that none are more irreconcilable Enemies to the true Power and Spirit of Godliness, than the Usurpers of this Prerogative of God, the Lord in just Judgment leaving them to the dotages of their own Minds, and the enmity of their Hearts against him, being Successors of the Pharisees in their Judicial Blindness, as well as their Usurpations of God's Authority.

p. 9844ly. In subjecting the Truths of God to the Trial of Reason, or trying God's oracles at the Tribunal of our shallow Reason. 'Tis a part of God's Soveraignty to be the Interpreter, as well as Maker of his own Laws, as it is a Right inherent in the Legislative Power among Men. So that it is an invasion of his Right to fasten a sense upon his declar'd Will, which doth not naturally flow from the words: for to put any interpretation according to our pleasure upon divine as well as humane Laws, contrary to the true intent, is a virtual Usurpation of this Power; because if Laws may be interpreted according to our humours, the Power of the Law would be more in the Interpreter than in the Legislator. And it is the worse when Men try the Word not by their Reasons, but by their Fancies and Humours, and put Allegories, the Brats of crazy or humorous Fancy, as the genuine meaning of the Word of God.

55ly. In judging future Events, as if we had been of God's Privy-Council p. 99when he first undertook any great Action in the World.

66thly. In censuring others state. 'Tis an intruding into God's Judicial Authority. Who hath made me a judge? Luk. 12.14.Luke 12:14was Christ's Plea. Who art thou that judgest another's state, as though thou wert Lord of the heart of thy Brother, and God had given over his jurisdiction over the heart to thee; as though he were to stand or fall to thy Censure?

22dly. Enmity to the Holiness of God.

This hating his Holiness, is a virtual depriving him of his Being: For if he did not infinitely hate evil, he would not be infinitely good, and consequently would not be God. God can never endure sin, no not to look upon it; and to cherish that, which is so contrary to his purity, is a denial of his Holiness. Hab. 1.13. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, thou canst not look on iniquity.

1First, In sinning under a pretence of Religion.

p. 100Many resolve upon some ways of wickedness, and then rake the Scripture to find out, at least Excuses and Evasions for it, if not a justification for their Crimes. This was the Devil's method to Christ, to bring Scripture for Self-murther. Saul resolves not to obey God, but would preserve the Spoils of the Amalekites, and then thinks to qualify all, with offering a few Sacrifices; as though God's Holiness would not hate Sin, that had a religious pretext.

Many that have wrung Estates from the tears of Widows, and heart-blood of Orphans, think to wipe off all their oppression by some charitable Legacies at their death.

'Tis abominable to make Charity, the transcript of God's goodness, a covert for Sin; and Religion, which is to bring us near to God, to patronize our Tyranny.

When men will speak wickedly, and talk deceitfully for God, Job 13.7.Job 13:7i. e. will sin for God's glory, and make the honour of his Service a stalking-Horse to the affront of his Holiness.

p. 10122dly. In charging Sin upon God.

Every man naturally is willing to find the inducement to sin in another, rather than in himself. This is an act of hatred, to bespot the Reputation of others by imputing our Crimes to them, and accusing them as the Authors or occasions of our Transgressions. 'Tis an act of fear, which is the companion of hatred; if men can make God a Sinner against his own Law, they blemish his Holiness, they think they are secure from the punishment they did dread.**Manton on James, p. 92. For we fear not man, who is faulty as well as our selves. When men have done all that they can to blot out a sense of a Deity, and see they cannot do it, they will raze out the reverence of it. And if we find a way to lay our Sins at God's door, when he chargeth them upon us, we think then to escape the rigor of his Justice, and that he cannot be unrighteous to punish us for those Crimes which he is guilty of as well as our selves. But it is a foolish consideration; for if we can fancy an unholy God, we have no reason to think him a p. 102righteous God. That you may see that this very thing which looks so horrible, runs in our blood, take notice of the two first Discourses God had with Man after his Fall, and they will both discover this.

When God examines Adam about his Transgression, he excuseth himself by laying it upon God, Gen. 3.12. The woman whom thou gavest me to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Hadst thou not given me the Woman, I had not been tempted; and had I not been tempted, I had not sinned: And this Sin was committed presently after the Woman was given me, as if thou hadst given me this Woman to be my immediate Tempter; and infus'd such a love in my heart to her, that it could not resist her Allurements. For he seems by the Speech to intimate, that God gave him the Woman on purpose to draw him into sin. The next is Cain; some think Cain here lays the fault upon God, Gen. 4.9. Am I my brother's keeper? as if he should have said, Art not thou the Keeper and Governor of the World, why didst not p. 103thou hinder me from killing my Brother?

David, a holy man, follows him in those steps, and charges a Sin of his own contrivance upon the Providence of God; when the news of Ʋriah's death was brought, he wipes his mouth, and saith, The sword devours one as well as another. He fastens that solely on the Divine Providence, which was his own wicked contrivance, 2 Sam. 11.25.

33dly. In hating the image of God's holiness in others.

The more holy any man is, and the more active in the severest Duties of Religion, the more is he the Object of the Scoffs of others; and not only barkt at by tipling Drunkards on the Ale-bench, but by formal and grave Judges on the Seat of Justice. David, though a King, whose Example might have been powerful to have brought them to an outward pretended love to holiness, was spoke against by them that sate in the Gate, and was the Song of the Drunkards, and that when he wept, and chastis'd his Soul with fasting, Psal. 69.10, 11, 12.

p. 104Hence nothing is so burthensome as the presence of a sober religious Person, because of that image of God's holiness shining in him, which strikes so full upon his Soul, and sets his heart on work in checking and griping reflections. Now Holiness being the glory of God,Exod. 15.11. Joh. 17.11.Exod 15:11John 17:11 the peculiar title of the Deity, and from him deriv'd upon the Soul, he that mocks this in a Person, derides God himself. He that hates the Picture of a Prince, hates the Prince also, and much more were he in his power. He that hates the Stream, hates the Fountain: He that hates the Beams, hates the Sun. The holiness of a Creature is but a beam from that infinite Sun, a stream from that eternal Fountain. If a mixed and imperfect holiness be more the subject of thy scoffs, than a great deal of sin, surely thou wouldest more roundly scoff at God himself, should he appear in the unblemished and unspotted holiness of his Nature, which infinitely shines in him: For thy hatred would be greater, because thy contrariety is so much more against the perfection of holiness, than where it is p. 105with a mixture. Where there is a hatred of the purity and perfection of any Creature, there is a greater reflection upon God, who is the Author of that Purity.

44thly. In having debasing notions of the holy nature of God.

We invert the Creation contrary to God's order in it; God made Man according to his own Image, and we make God according to ours. We fashion God like our selves, and fasten our own humours upon him, as the Lacedemonians were wont to dress their gods after the fashion of their Cities. Psal. 40.21.

Though men are enemies to the holy Majesty of God, yet they can please themselves well enough with him as represented by that Idea their corrupt minds have fram'd of him. We cannot comprehend God; if we could, we should be infinite, not finite; and because we cannot comprehend him, we set up in our fancies strange images of him, and so ungod God in our heart and affections.

p. 10611. This is an higher affront to God than we imagine.

Vulgi opinionis diis applicare prophanum est. Epicurus. De Deo malè sentirè quàm Deum esse negare pejus duco.

'Tis worse to degrade the Nature of God in our conceits, and to make him a vicious God, than if in our thoughts we did quite discard any such Being; for 'tis not so gross a Crime to deny his Being, as to fancy him otherwise than he is; such imaginations strip him of his Perfections, and make him a God of Clouts.

Plutarch saith, he should account himself less wrong'd by that man that should deny there ever was such a man as Plutarch, than that he should affirm, there was such a man indeed, but he was a cholerick Clown, a decrepit Fellow, a debauch'd Man, and an ignorant Fool.

This was the general Censure of the Heathen, That Superstition was far worse than Atheism, by how much the less evil it was to have no opinion of God, than such as is vile, wicked, derogatory p. 107to the pure and holy Nature of the Divine Majesty.

22. Carnal imaginations of God, as well as corporeal images, are Idolatry.

'Tis a question, which Idolatry is the greatest, to worship an Image of Wood or Stone, or to entertain monstrous imaginations of God. It provokes a man when we liken him to some inferior Creature, and call him a Dog, or Toad; 'tis not such an affront to a man to call him a Creature of such a low Rank and Classis, as to square and model the Perfections of the great God according to our limited Capacities. We do worse than the Heathen (of whom the Apostle proclaim'd) did in their Images, they likened the glory of God to such Creatures as were of the lowest form in the Creation. We liken God not to corruptible man, but to corrupt man, and worse yet, to the very corruptions of men, and worship a God dressed up according to our own foolish fancies; Rom. 1.23. And chang'd the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like p. 108to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

If all those several Conceptions and Ideas men have of God, were uncas'd, and discover'd, what a monstrous thing would God appear to be, according to the modes the imaginative Faculty frames them in?

55thly. In our unworthy and perfunctory addresses to God.

When men come into the presence of God with lusts wreaking in their hearts, and leap from sin to duty. God is so holy, that were our Services the most refin'd,Josh. 24.19.Josh 24:19 and as pure as those of the Angels, yet we could not serve him suitably to his holy Nature: Therefore we deny this holiness, when we come before him without due preparation, as if God did not deserve the purest thoughts in our applications to him; or as if a blemished and polluted Sacrifice were suitable enough to his Nature.

When we excite not those elevated frames of spirit, which are due to his greatness, and fulness, and think to put p. 109him off with cheap and spotted Services, we slight the holy Majesty of God, and are guilty of a higher Presumption than is fitting for us in our access to an Earthly Prince.

We worship him not according to the excellent Holiness of his Nature, when we have foolish imaginations creep upon us in the very act of Duty, which makes our Services erroneous, and misguided. When we bring our worldly, carnal, debauch'd thoughts into his presence, worse than the Dogs or dirty Slaves we would blush to be attended by in our Visits of a Great Man. When our hearts are turned from God in any Duty; while we are speaking with our Creator, to be in our hearts conversing with our sordid Sensualities; 'tis as if we should be raking in a Dunghill when we are talking with a King. We do here but defame his Holiness while we pretend to honour it; and prophane his Name, while we are praying Hallow'd be thy Name. It would argue more Modesty, though less Sincerity, to say to our Lusts as Abraham to his Servant, Tarry here, till I go to sacrifice.

p. 11066thly. In defacing the Image of God in our own souls.

God in the first draught of Man, conformed him to his own Image; because we find that in Regeneration this Image is renew'd, Eph. 4.24. The new man, which after God, foreign, is created in righteousness and true holiness.

He did not take Angels for his Pattern in his first polishing the Soul, but himself. In defacing this Image therefore we cast dirt upon the Holiness of God, which was his Pattern in the framing of us: And rather chuse to be conform'd to Satan, who is God's great Enemy, and to have God's Image wip'd out of us, and the Devil's pictur'd in us. Therefore natural men, that are guilty of gross sins, are called Devils, Joh. 6.70. 'Tis spoken of Judas: Christ gave it to Peter too, Matth. 16.23. And if he give this Title to one of the worst of men, and one of the best of men, it will be no wrong to give it to all men. Men wallow in sin, which is directly contrary to that illustrious Image which God did imprint upon them; and perform p. 111those actions which are odious to God and his Righteousness, and suitable to their Corruption.

Men glory in that which is their shame; Phil. 3.19.Phil 3:19and account that their Ornament which is the greatest Blot upon their Nature, which if it were upon God would make him cease to be God.

3dly. Enmity to the Wisdom of God.

Presumptuous sins are called a Reproach of God; Numb. 15.30. The soul that doth ought presumptuously, the same reproaches the Lord. All Reproaches are either for Natural, Moral, or Intellectual Defects: All Reproaches of God must be either for Wickedness, or Weakness; if for Wickedness, his Holiness is deni'd; if for Weakness, his Wisdom is blemished.

1. In slighting the Laws of God.

Since God hath no defect in his Understanding, his Will must be the best and wisest, and therefore his Laws highly rational, as being the Orders of the wisest Agent. As God's Understanding apprehends all things in their p. 112true reason, so his Will enjoins nothing but what is highly good, and makes for the happiness of his Creature; the true means of whose happiness he understands better than Men or Angels can do.

All Laws, though they are enforced by Sovereignty, yet they are, or ought to be, in the composing of them, founded upon Reason, and are indeed Applications of the Law of Nature upon this or that particular Emergency. The Laws of God then, who is summa ratio, are purely founded upon the truest reason, though every one of them may not be so clear to us: Therefore they that make alteration in his Precepts, either dogmatically or practically, controul his Wisdom, and charge him with Folly. When men will observe one part of his Law, and not another; pick and chuse where they please, hence it is that Sinners are called Fools in Scripture. 'Tis certainly inexcusable Folly, to contradict undeniable and infallible Wisdom. If Infinite Prudence hath framed the Law, why is not every part of it observed? If it were not made with p. 113the best Wisdom, why is any thing of it observed?

He that receives the Promises of God, and the Testimony of Christ,Joh. 3.33.John 3:33 sets to his seal, That God is true. It must thence undeniably follow, that he that refuseth obedience to his Law, sets to his Seal, That God is foolish.

Men live as though the Commands of God were made in Sport, not by Counsel. If God took Counsel in the making man, there is as much need of Counsel in the right ordering him.

If the defacing his Image by any Sin is a defaming his Wisdom in the Creation, the breaking his Law is a disgracing his Wisdom in the Administration. Were they not rational, God would not enjoin them; and if they are rational, we are enemies to Infinite Wisdom by not complying with them.

22dly. In defacing the wise workmanship of God.

Every sin is a defacing our own souls; which as they are the prime Creatures in the sensible World, had greater Characters of God's Wisdom p. 114in the Fabrick of them. But this Image of God is ruin'd and broken by Sin.

Though the spoiling of it be a scorn of his Holiness, it's also an affront to his Wisdom; because though his Power was the cause of the production of so fair a Being, yet his Wisdom was the guide of his Power, as well as his Holiness the Exemplar whereby he wrought it. If a man had a curious Clock or Watch, which had cost him many years pains, and the strength of his skill to frame; for a man after he had seen and considered it, to cut, slash, and break all, would argue a contempt of the Workman's skill. God hath shown Infinite Art in the Creation of man, but sin unbeautifies man, and bereaves him of his Excellency.

33dly. Censuring his ways.

What is our impatience at any passages of his Providence, but a censuring his dealing with us as unjust or unwise; as if we would presume to instruct him better in the management of human Affairs. 'Tis to take upon us to be God's p. 115Judges, to cite him to our Tribunal to give an account of his administration of things. 'Tis a reviling him because he doth manage things according to his own Will, and not according to ours: 'Tis a striving with God, and a summoning him to the Bar of our Reason, Isa. 45.9, 10. Wo to him that strives with his Maker: Shall the clay say to him that fashion'd it, What makest thou? To quarrel with him, and examine him about his works, why he made them thus, and not thus; 'Tis a reproaching of God, a contending with him, to instruct him. Job 40.2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproves God, let him answer it. A Reproof argues a Superiority in Authority, Knowledge, or Goodness. 'Tis a playing Absalom's game; Oh that I were King in Israel, I would do this and that man Justice: So that it is a virtual wishing, Oh that I were King of the World, the Governor of all Creatures, things should be dispos'd more wisely, and more justly.

p. 11644thly. Prescribing Rules and Methods to God.

We presume to be God's Tutors, and would sway him according to the dictates of our Wisdom; When we would have a Mercy in this Method which God designs to convey through another Channel; When we would have him take his measures from our humours: This was the ground of Jonah's Argument with God, Jonah 3.10. Jonah 4.1. It displeased Jonah exceedingly; and he was very angry.

When we make Vows to flatter God into a compliance with our designs; when we pray imperiously for any thing without a due Submission to God's Will; as if we were his Counsellors, and he were bound to follow our humours. Thus would the most glorious of Virgins and Mothers prescribe to Christ a Rule for his miraculous action, Luke 2.48. His Mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? So John 2.3, 4.

The Jews who nail'd him to the Cross, offer'd to believe on him, if he p. 117would submit to their terms, and gratify their curiosity in descending from the Cross they had fixed him to. Are not most men Jews in this, to prescribe terms to God, upon the grant whereof he shall have our service of believing in him. As if a Child should appoint Rules for his Father, or a crazy headed Patient to his Physician; would it not be an injury to their prudence and skill? This presumptuous humour is a hellish offence. Abraham asserts the way of God's appointment by Moses and the Prophets, to be the best way for bringing men to Repentance and Salvation, but the Rich man prefers his own Judgment, and would have him send one from the dead to preach to them. Luke 16.27, 28, 29, 30. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the Prophets; and he said, Nay, father Abraham.

We deal often thus with God, as though we were his Counsellors, not his Subjects.

44thly. Enmity to the Sufficiency of God.

The preferring any sin before God, is a denial of the fulness of Content to p. 118be had in the enjoyment of God; as though God were inferior to a base Lust, and that a vile Pleasure had a better relish than the Communications of God to the Soul. For when God describes what pleasure and peace there is in his ways, what fulness of joy in his Presence; what is the refusal of it but equivalent to this language of the sinner; No, I will believe no such thing; there is more happiness to be had in Sin than in God? and so he values a Vapour, an empty Bubble, more than Infinite Fulness. The greater is the Scorn of God's Sufficiency, by how much the more ignoble, brutish, and contemptible the Pleasure is we prefer before him.

11st. In secret thoughts of meriting by any Religious Act.

As though God could be indebted to us, and obliged by us. As though our Devotions could bring a blessedness to God more than he essentially hath; when indeed our goodness extends not to him, Psal. 16.2. Our Services of God are rather services to our selves, and bring a happiness to us, not to God. p. 119This secret opinion of Merit (though disputed against the Papists, yet) is natural to man; and this secret self-pleasing, when we have performed any duty, and upon that account expect some fair compensation from God, as having been profitable to him.

God intimates this, Psal. 50.11, 12. The wild beasts of the field are mine; if I were hungry I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. He implies, that they wrong'd his Infinite Fulness, by thinking that he stood in need of their Sacrifices and Services, and that he was beholden to them for their Adoration of him. All Merit implies a moral or natural Insufficiency in the Person of whom we merit, and our doing something for him, which he could not, or at least so well do for himself. 'Tis implied in our murmuring at God's dealing with us in a course of cross Providences, wherein men think they have deserv'd better at the hands of God by their service, than to be so. cast aside and degraded by him. In our Prosperity we are apt to have secret thoughts that our Enjoyments were the p. 120Debts God owed us, rather than Gifts freely bestow'd upon us. Hence it is that men are more unwilling to part with their Righteousness than with their Sins, and are apt to challenge Salvation as a Due, rather than beg it as an Act of Grace.

22dly. Trying all ways of helping our selves, before we come to God.

Having hopes to find That in Creatures, which is only to be found in an All-sufficient God.

When we rather seek an Alms from the World than God, as though there were some hidden Excellency in the World, which over-topp'd the Excellency of God. When we would rather drink of Cisterns than of the Fountain; as though the Waters in the Cistern were fresher and sweeter than those in the Spring.

Hence it is that upon any Emergency we set our own Reason on work, before we crave the Assistance of God's Power; and scarce seek him, till we have modell'd the whole Contrivance in our own Brains, and resolv'd upon p. 121the methods of performance; as though there were not a fulness of reason in God to guide us in our Resolves, as well as power to breathe success upon them, Prov. 20.25. After vows to make enquiry, after Resolutions to beg direction in our business.

Sometimes men seek out unlawful ways for their delivery, as though there were more sufficiency of help in Sin, than in God.

Did we believe, and love the Sufficiency of God, that is able to supply our wants, we should not upon every strait be turn'd from him, and beg help at the door of Creatures.

33dly. In our Apostacies from God.

When after fair Pretences and devout Applications, we grow cold, and thrust him from us, it implies, that God hath not that fulness in him which we expected. Backsliding testifies, that there is not that sweetness, and satisfactoriness in God, which we expected upon our first approach to him. All apostacy is a denial of God; for it denies him either to be a fountain of all good, or p. 122else that he is not true to his Promises, but deceives us in our just expectations of good from him. It either speaks him evil, or deceitful; 'tis a greater affront to deny him after an experience of his sweetness, and assistance, than to deny him before any dealing with him, or trial of him. Now though all apostacy begins in a neglect, yet it quickly ripens into a hatred.

44thly. In joining some thing with God to make up our happiness.

Though men are willing to have the enjoyment of God, yet they are not content with him alone, but would have something else to eke him out; as though God, who accounts the enjoyment of himself the greatest blessedness, had not also in himself a sufficient blessedness for his Creatures, without the addition of any thing else.

The Young man in the Gospel went away sorrowful, because he could not enjoy God and the World both togegether, Matth. 19.21, 22.

If we would light up Candles in a clear day, when the Sun shines in its p. 123full brightness, what do we imply, but that the Sun hath not light enough in it self to make it day? And when we labour for other things with as much strength and eagerness, as we labour for the enjoyment of God, what is it, but to deny that there is enough in him without the concurrence of some other good?

55thly. Against the Omniscience of God.

Men hate God's Omniscience, and could willingly have him stript of this Eminency. For men naturally love not those that dive into their Purposes, and canvass their Thoughts; so neither can men love this Attribute of God, whereby he enters into the secret closets of their heart, and takes an exact measure of every wicked and subtile Contrivance.

The first Speech that Adam spake in Paradise after his Fall, infring'd God's Omniscience, Gen. 3.10. I heard thy voice in the garden, and I hid my, self. As if the Trees could shelter him from that Eye that saw the minutest part of the whole Earth.

p. 124The next Speech recorded of the second man, Cain, is to the same purpose; when God put the question to him, Where is thy brother? Gen. 4.9. I know not; thinking thereby to delude God's Omnisciency. He that practically denies God's Omnisciency, denies his Godhead: For a man may as well deny that there is a Sun, as deny that it shines, and disperseth its light and influence into every corner. See more of this in the Discourse of God's Omnipresence.

This appears,

11. When we commit sin upon the ground of secresy.

If all hearts, surely then all places are open to God's Eye; no private Bench for a Drunkard, or secret Stew for an Adulterer, but is obvious to him. Common Modesty before man, is not practised before God: Men are ashamed to have their actions seen by man's eye, but not by God's. Maxima debetur pueris reverentia. Filthy actions cannot endure the presence of a Child's eye, much less of man's. Shall the presence of a Child have more power over p. 125us than the presence of God; and mens observing, more than God's censuring Eye? Is not this a denial of him, when the Eye of God is of less force to restrain thee, than the eye of man; as if men only could see, and God were blind? All the sin thou committest before the eye of the holiest man in the world, cannot make him hate thee so much as God hates thee; because his Holiness is infinitely short of God's Holiness, and consequently his Hatred is infinitely short of God's

'Tis an aggravation of a man's sin, to be committed in the presence of God. Gen. 10.9. A mighty Hunter before the Lord. As it was of Haman's Offence, when he lay upon Esther's Bed, That he would force the Queen before the King's face. It seems to be David's conceit in his Sin, That God would not see him, both by Nathan's charge, 2 Sam. 2.19. Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? and by his own confession, Psal. 51.4. This evil have I done in thy sight. Every Penitent takes notice of the Wrong he doth to God's All-seeing p. 126Eye. It's a high provocation for a Servant to do ill when his Master's Eye is upon him, or a Thief to cut a Purse before the Judge's face. God observes all Wickedness; Wickedness under Lock and Key. If he doth register all thy Members in his Book, he will also register the sins of those Members, what use thou puttest them to, whether to his Service, or the Devil's Drudgery; whether thy Eye rove about in wanton Glances, or thy Tongue be let loose in prophane Language, or thy Ear open to ungodly Discourse, or thy Feet more swift to carry thee to an Alehouse than a Sermon.

It was once a Check a Young man gave to a Harlot, who had enticed him, and carried him from one Room to another for secresy; Oh, saith he, can none see us here? Can we be hid from God's Eye?

Yet sinners in their practice make their boast, as they, Job 22.14. in express words, Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he sees not, and he walks in the circuit of heaven: As though God's Eye could not pierce the thick Clouds; as p. 127though his Cares were confin'd only to Celestial things, and Earth were too low an Orb for his Eyes to roul about. If we think a word in the presence of a grave religious man may disgrace us, we are troubled in our minds; but we regard not an Injury done to God. We are more cast down, if a foolish action of ours comes to the knowledge of men, than to the knowledge of God.

22dly. When men give liberty to inward sins.

God doth often set forth himself by that expression, That he trieth the heart, and searcheth the reins. The heart hath man Valves and Ventricles, but God searches all the Valves, which cannot be espied and discerned but by a curious eye. God sees all the Contrivances of it.

The Reins are partly hid, most inward, surrounded with Fat. The most inward thoughts cannot be hid from God's piercing Eye, for all is open before him, like dissected Sacrifices when the Bowels are ript up, and all the Inwards discovered.

p. 128God is more within the Soul of a Creature, than any one hidden thought can be, and knows it before the heart that mints it hath a full discovery of it. What do the actings of Sin in our Fancies import, but as though God's eye could not pierce into the remoteness and darkness of our minds?

2 Kings 21.4.2 Kgs 21:4Manasseh is blam'd for setting up strange Altars in the House of God; much more may we for setting up strange Imaginations in the heart, which should belong to God.Rom. 2.16.Rom 2:16 This is to deny God's Judicial Prerogative; this is the Attribute which speaks him fit to be a Judge, and yet men can possess their hearts with this, That he is defective in this Attribute, and so make him uncapable of judging the World. Hypocrisy is a plain denial of this Omnisciency. When men have a Religious Lip, and a black Soul; an outside swept and garnished, and a Legion of Devils garison'd within. This derogates from God, as though his Eye were as easily deceived as mens, and an outward appearance limited God's Observation. Are we not more slight in the performance p. 129of private Devotions before God, than we are in our Attendances in publick in the sight of men.

33dly. When men give way to diversions in a Duty, it is a denial of God's Omniscience. Love is the cause of fixedness. The Angels have a pure affection to God, and therefore they have an uninterrupted attention in his Presence. If thou thinkest God doth not mind thee, why dost thou pray at all? If thou thinkest he doth mind thee, why dost thou not pray more fervently, fixedly, and hear more attentively? This attention doth consist in the frame of the Soul; for bodily Exercise is requir'd for our sakes, not for God's. Gesture and Speech are to quicken our affections. Christ hath given us a short Pattern of Prayer, and can our hearts be steady upon God in the repetition of it? Duties are Visits we pay to God; would it not be an Affront, if when we were to visit a Prince, we should send a noysom rotten Carkass in our stead? Do we not deal so with God, when we come without our heart, as though p. 130God were ignorant, and could be put off with any thing, the worst in our Flocks, as well as the best.

It wrongs the Majesty of God's Presence, that when he speaks to us, we will not give him so much Respect as to regard him; and when we speak to him, we do not regard our selves. What a vain thing is it, to be speaking to a Scullion when the King is in presence? Every careless diversion to a vain Object, is a denial of God's presence in the place.

'Tis a wrong to God's Excellency, that when we come to God for what we count sweet and desirable, we presently turn our backs, as though our address were an act of imprudence and folly; as much as to say, There is no sweetness in him, no beauty that we should desire him.

66thly. Enmity to the Mercy of God.

God is not wronged more in any Attribute by Devils and Men, than in his Mercy. Man would deprive God of the honour of his own Bowels; of the Objects of Mercy; when God's Mercy p. 131to others comes in competition with his Self-love and Credit. Jonas his Pride would null the Goodness of God. With what an unreasonable Passion doth he fly in the face of God, for reprieving the humbled Ninivites? he would rather have had his own Credit preserv'd in the destruction of them according to his Prediction, than God's tenderness magnified in their Preservation.

Some fancy a God made up altogether of Mercy, a Childish Mercy; as if his Mercy had nothing else to do, but to wrong all his other Perfections; to make him bely his Truth, extinguish his Justice, discard his Wisdom, and enslave his Power. This appears,

11. In the severe and jealous thoughts men have of God.

Men are apt to charge God with Tyranny, whereby they strip him of the Riches of his glorious Mercy. The Devil's design at first was to bely God to man, that he might have hard and contracted thoughts of God, to think him strait-handed towards his Creature. p. 132Therefore he is call'd a Liar from the beginning, Joh. 8.44.John 8:44in urging man to misbelieve his Creator to be an unjust, hard, and cruel Master, and that envied him Comforts necessary for him; which frightful thoughts of the Deity have haunted man ever since. If man in Creation was so ready to entertain Jealousies of God, man in Corruption, with the load of Guilt upon him, is much more prone.

The Heathens (by the Devil's instigation), as the Indians, have their Notions, That Mercy flows not naturally from God, but must be wrested by a multitude of Services; that he will do nothing without the Bribe of a Sacrifice; which they offer, lest he should hurt them. As if God only created men, to make sport with their misery: As if God had no other design in the Creation, than to load his Creatures with Chains, and govern that World by Tyranny, which he made by an Efflux of powerful Goodness. The Worship of many men is founded upon this conceit, whereby they are frighted into some actions of Adoration, not sweetly p. 133drawn. This representation of God doth debase the Soul, and fills it with that tyranical passion of Fear, which is alway accompanied with Hatred; for we hate what we fear. Thus the Devil accuseth God to troubled Consciences, persuading them that his Bowels are strait, that he hath no Mercy for them, that so he may drive them to despair. This he attain'd in Cain, who cries in despair, My punishment is greater than I can bear; i. e. my sin is greater than can be pardon'd, Gen. 4.13.

When any Soul is like to be snatcht out of Satan's hands, he makes it interpret those acts wherein God means favour, to be acts of Enmity.

So that the main work God hath to do after Conviction, is to persuade the Soul to have good thoughts of him. Hence doth arise that unwillingness in the Soul to come to God. How can we approach to him, of whom we have such narrow thoughts, and judge of according to our own revengeful humours? How can we do otherwise but hate him, when we represent him as one easily angry, hardly appeas'd, of p. 134a cruel nature; a Minos, a Rhadamanthus, or Phalary, rather than an Infinite Mirror of Sweetness and Love. If we do not think him so, why do we stand off from him? Hence ariseth our wrong constructions of Providence, and sinister interpretations of God's acts; when we attribute to God such ends as have no other foundation but our own foolish Fancy.

Thus Manoah interprets the Angel's coming, which was an act of God's kindness to him, to be an ill-meant Providence, Judg. 13.22.

Now as it is the quality of Love to think no evil, so it is the property of Hatred to think all evil. And as when a man hates Sin, he cannot endure any varnish of an Excuse to be put upon it, and cannot speak or think too bad of it; so when a man hates God, he cannot endure to have a good gloss put upon his actions.

22dly. Slighting his Mercy, and robbing him of the end of it.

The wilful breaking of a Prince's Laws, upon the observance whereof p. 135great Rewards are promised, is not only a despising his Sovereignty, but a slighting his Goodness, in the Rewards proffer'd to the Observers. Rebels that stand it out against Proclamations of Pardon, do what in them lies to deprive the Prince of any Objects to show his Clemency on. So obstinate Sinners against Mercy would as far as they are able, deprive God of any subject to magnify his Mercy on, especially when they do not only stand it out against so gracious Proffers of God, but draw in others to take up Arms against him: Every sin in this respect is a stealing the glory of this Attribute from God, in denying him that Tribute of Obedience which is due to him for it. Often this Enmity riseth higher; and whereas men should fear him, because he is ready to forgive, Psal. 130.4. they rather slight him, and presume to sin, because he hath mercy to pardon. And so make that which should cherish their Obedience, to be a Spur to their Rebellion; and encourage their future Offences by that Goodness which should excite a Fear and holy Awe of him in their p. 136Souls. Because God is gracious, men will be more vicious; hence they are said to despise his goodness, Rom. 2.4. And that Patience which should teach them Repentance, inflames their Hatred, and in this humour they turn Grace it self into Wantonness.Eccl. 8.11.Eccl 8:11

77thly. Enmity to the Justice of God.

When men wish there were no God, they wish this at least, that God were uncloath'd of those Perfections which are averse and dreadful to their guilty Consciences: Scarce a man but hath flattering Fancies, that God is not so terrible as he is represented.

This appears,

11. In not fearing it, but running under the lash of it. Sin is an act of Rebellion, and Rebels fear not the Justice, or else hope to overcome the Power of their Superior. Would not men be afraid to spit in the face of Heaven, did they really believe there was a God who was just and righteous, and would not let any sin go unpunished? The Prophet speaks of some that had wearied God p. 137with their Sins, and made him serve with their Iniquities, Isa. 43.24. as if God were bound to endure their evil Carriage against him with patience, and never to unsheath the Sword of his Justice.

How often are men upon this account said to have a rocky Heart, and iron Sinews, that will neither be broken, nor bent? Are not the Belshazzars of the World merry, though the hand-writing be upon the Wall against them.

Thus men commit sin with greediness, and are past feeling, Eph. 4.19. daring the Justice of God, and without any sense of revenge due to sin; and say, To morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. Nay, I dare aver, that if a man who had been scorcht in Hell, should again enjoy his wonted Pleasures, and have all the while a fresh remembrance of his late Torments, were not his Will chang'd by a powerful grace, he would stand it out as stiffly against God as ever, notwithstanding those terrible marks of Wrath, and be without a holy fear of that Justice which he had felt.

p. 13822dly. Sinning under the strokes of Justice.

Men will not turn to God that smites them, though they have hypocritical howlings upon their Beds under God's stroke, Hos. 7.13, 14. Isa. 9.13. They will roar under the stroke, but not submit to the Striker. 'Tis the Witch of Endor, or the God of Ekron shall have their Addresses, and not the God of Heaven.

33dly. In hoping easily to evade it.

There are sometimes secret thoughts, that a man is able to maintain himself against all the force God can use; which the Apostle implies, 1 Cor. 10.22. Are we stronger than he? Do we think to try it out at Arms length with God? Sin implies a mastering God's all-powerful Justice. Sometimes men will argue for Impiety from their present impunity; and because he keeps silence, think that he will not publish a condemning Sentence, Psal. 50.21. And because God forbears, think that he hath forgotten to punish, Psal. 10.11. God hath forgotten.

p. 139Sometimes we fancy God like to our selves, mutable with every Wind, as soon appeas'd as angry; either unable to resist the force of our Prayers, or easily enticed by our good words and praises of him, as though he were to be flatter'd out of his just Anger, his holy and righteous Nature, Psal 78.36. They flatter'd him with their mouth. As if he needed our Trifles, and Rattles, as Children do, to appease them. Or might be wrought upon as the poor Indians, to give the Gold of Heaven for a few Beads.

They fancy him a God of Wax, whom they can bend at their pleasure; either so weak, that he cannot, or of so soft a disposition, that he will not be reveng'd of Sin; and that a few sighs will blow away a storm of Wrath. Hence men invent ways of pleasing God after they have offended him; and think to expiate the sin of their Soul, by the offering their Substance, or presenting some melancholy Devotions, or inflicting some Self-chastisements. As if God were to be brib'd by the Blood of a Lamb, or Goat, or by some superstitious and formal p. 140Services, to change his provoked Justice into an easy Clemency.

88thly. Enmity to the truth of God.

Most men live upon trust for their knowledge, and know far more by the relation, and upon the credit of others, than upon certain demonstrations; as that there are such Places as China, Peru, Mexico. And why are men so backward in believing God, speaking in his Word? 'Tis clear hereby, that men have not so great an enmity against one another, as they have against God.

This appears,

11. In not believing his Threatnings.

Men believe not either the matter, or sudden execution of them. Our Faith is more operative upon Reports from Men, than Revelations from God. Men will believe Stories of Danger, so as to avoid the Places wherein they may be liable to it. Yet though God tells them what the issue of Sin will be, how certainly it will destroy them, they will walk on in their own way. Men look upon Hell as a painted Fire, upon the p. 141Threatnings as Scarecrows, without a Sting, and are not so much affected with them, as at the reading of a Tragedy. Would men be so stupid, as not to stir out of the fire, if they did really believe God were true? they are apt to fear others that threaten inferior punishments, and not to fear God who threatens everlasting Woe. But think to find mercy in the way of Sin, though God assures them to the contrary. How soon did the Israelites lose the sense of the Thunder, which terrified them when the Law was given? Like those Spunges that Thunder will pass through. Such are secure Persons through whom the thunder of God's Threatnings will pass, without doing any hurt.Isa. 66.2.Isa 66:2 A contrite heart trembles at the Word, because he acknowledges it to be true; whereas a proud heart is like an unmoved Rock, that is not daunted at God's Threatnings, as imagining them to be false. If a man doth at first believe them, yet if God delays the execution of them, he thinks they were in jest with him, and takes delays for denials, Luke 12.45. My Master delays his coming. This temper p. 142is call'd a belying of God, Jer. 5.12. 'Tis not he, this evil shall not come upon us.

22dly. His Promises.

Man is more prone to believe God's Promises, than Threatnings, because men are naturally credulous of that which makes for their interest; therefore God made the Jews to say Amen to the Curses, Deut. 27.26. Not to the Blessings, Deut. 28. because they were ready to slight Threatnings, and snatch at Promises. But yet even his words of Grace are not credited by men; hence it is, that they are not allur'd by his gracious Proffers, which would work upon men, if they really believ'd that God intended as he spake. All the unbelief in the World gives God the lie; the greatest indignity among the Sons of Men, 1 Joh. 5.10. He that believes not God, hath made him a liar. We believe the Promises of a Man, that is a lie, as the Psalmist speaks, and hath deceiv'd us; and rely upon a vain Creature that fails, rather than upon the true and living God. Like the foolish Indians, part with the Gold of God's Promises p. 143for Glass and Ribbons, brittle and gaudy things. Present things do more affect us, than future. It was the present World Demas lov'd more than a future Crown, 2 Tim. 4.10. Sensible Trifles are esteemed more valuable than invisible and eternal Excellency. Men look upon Heaven as a Poet's Elizium, a Dream and Fancy, and the promise of Christ's coming to be the greatest falshood, 2 Pet. 3, 4. Where is the promise of his coming? 'Tis an undervaluing God's Veracity, to be led by Sense, a brutish Principle; rather than by God, who is Truth it self. Our following the Dictates of Natural Reason against Revelation, is not so derogatory, as the making Sense our Guide.

99thly. Enmity to his Providence.

By denying his Truth, we deny his Providence: For as the crediting the truth of one another, keeps up commerce in the World; so the Veracity of God on his part, and the Sincerity of Man, keep up an entercourse between God and the World. Some have thought God a sleepy God, as though he p. 144never cared how the World moved, so he might rest, Zeph. 1.12. Some thought it below God's Majesty to mind sublunary things, as though it were more unworthy for God to govern them, than it was to create them. This appears,

11. In ascribing his Works to second Causes.

When we look upon second Causes as the Authors of Benefits we enjoy, and attribute to them what is due to God, and ascribe them to blind Chance, or to the dexterity of our own Wit, and thither return our Thank-offerings, Hab. 1.16. They sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense to their drag. Deifying the Creature, the Instrument, without any, or a formal regard to the chief Actor. In Chastisements we look not upon Sin as the meritorious, or God as the efficient Cause. Thus Balaam spurr'd on his Ass, and never consider'd the Angel that stood in the way. Many regard Instruments, and never consider God, who doth all the Evil in the City; and thus rob God both of the honour of his Mercies, and the Obedience requir'd both by him and his Chastisements.

p. 14522dly. In the offence we take, and the resistance we make to his Providences if they cross our will.

Sometimes men will charge the Providence of God in times of Affliction, That he is unjust towards them, and inflicts Punishments when they deserve Rewards; therefore the Spirit of God gives it as the commendation of Job, that in all this, i. e. in those many Afflictions, he did not charge God foolishly, Job 1.22. a praise scarce to be given to any man in the World. We are apt to murmur, as if God were bound to take care of us, and act all for our good, and neglect the whole World besides; or as though it were fitter for him to govern according to our foolish Wills, than his own wise and righteous Will. Sometimes men will oppose the Designs of his Providence.

The Gadarenes are so startled at the loss of▪ their Swine,Mat. 8.31.Matt 8:31 that with a joint consent they desire Christ to depart from their Coasts, having no mind to entertain his Person or his Doctrine, p. 146when they should rather have been moved by his miraculous Power and his Preaching, to have enquired into the Gospel which he preached. When the carnal Interest of mens Grandeur is struck at, they will quarrel at the powerful ways of God, Acts 5.16, 17. The High Priests and Sadduces were fill'd with indignation at the Apostles Miracles, which had reason enough to convince them, had they not had too much malice to withstand them. Instead of submitting to the Rod, we rage against God, when he is correcting us; and like Chaff, flye in the face of him that fans us. Not like Children, submitting to a Father; but like Rebels, denying his Superiority over us.

33dly. In our misinterpretations of Providence.

Shimei misinterpreted the Providence of God, when David fled from Jerusalem upon his Son Absalom's Rebellion. Oh, saith he, now God will revenge the House of Saul, 2 Sam. 16.7, 8.

We will put interpretations upon God's Acts according to our Fancies, p. 147Humours and Wishes; therefore the Spirit of God takes particular notice, that Shimei was of the House of Saul, and therefore according to his own humour accounted this a punishment, for his outing the House of Saul from the Government. This is a high usurpation of God's Prerogative, who is the best Interpreter of his own Acts, as well as his Laws.

1010thly. Enmity to his Content and Pleasure.

1. In his Nature.

Such an enmity there is in Sin, that it strives to make a confusion in God himself, a war in his very Nature: For Sin put God to his infinite Wisdom to satisfy all the Perfections of his Nature. If he spar'd the Sinner, how could he be just? if he destroy'd him, how could he be merciful? What Wit of Men or Angels could contrive a way to compose those Attributes, and make Truth and Righteousness, Mercy and Justice, to kiss each other, and still those Jars which Sin endeavour'd to make betwen them?

p. 148If Justice should have its full due, what would become of the Creature? If Mercy should only act its part, what would become of the Righteousness of God's Nature? If the Creature should be damn'd by the Severity of Justice, Mercy might sit weeping for want of Objects, unless new ones were created. If Mercy should have its contentment in the impunity of the Sinner, Righteousness and Truth might bewail the want of a due Satisfaction. The heart of Mercy would be broken, if Sin were punished; and the cry of Justice would be perpetual, unless the Sinner fell under his own demerits. That surely is the greatest Enemy, that endeavours to set division in a man's own Family, and Nature.

22dly. In his Works.

Men endeavour to disappoint God of his Glory, the end of his Creation, and the tenderest Jewel he reserves for his own use, and will not impart to another. God created all things for himself, and Man by turning them to another use, evidenceth, that he would not let God have the pleasure of his own Works, or p. 149the Rent due to him for them. Sin made him repent that ever he put his hand to the framing that World, which after the Creation he had pronounced good;Gen 6.6, 7.Gen 6:6Gen 6:7 and made God be griev'd at his own Creatures, which with so much Wisdom he made, and so much delight acquiesced in. God requires no more of Man for all his Benefits, but a Service, and they deny him this, and endeavour to make him weary of his life, as if we studied how we could most vex and disquiet him, Ezek. 16.43. Thou hast fretted me in all those things.

God created the World to have a Service from his rational Creatures, and yet their Services naturally, as well as their Sins, are a trouble to him, and tire him, that he is ready to shake the World in pieces, Isa. 1.14. Your appointed feasts my soul hateth, I am weary to bear them, they are a trouble to me; so that he can have no ease but in the Acts of Vengeance, V. 24. Ah, I will ease me of my adversaries, and avenge me of my enemies.

God created the World, not for any need he had of it, but to communicate p. 150his own goodness, and made Man as a choice Vessel to receive it; but Man shrinks his Soul, that goodness cannot enter upon him, and so endeavours to frustrate God of this End. Can there be a greater contempt, than to deny God the satisfaction of his own Works?

Now to sum up all that hath been said. Suppose, if it were possible, that there were another God to judge, or an indifferent Person to judge between God and Men of this World, and had a Copy of all the Laws and Promises, Records of all God's dealings, would he not judge by the practice of Men, that God was some cruel Pharoah, that notwithstanding all his fair words and promises, minded nothing but the destruction of his Creature; and that Man had some high provocations from God, to act so against the Laws of Goodness, and Proposals of eminent Rewards? That God had no Excellency to make him desirable, but that he were the most despicable, contemptible, unworthy Being in the whole World. All the Actions and Practices of Men testify thus much, that he is a weak, impure, p. 151cruel, false, empty, shallow, inconsiderable Being, and one that hath no Authority over him; a Pattern not fit to be imitated, one that hath been injurious to him, &c. An indifferent Person, that had no knowledge of God, viewing his Laws, would have a high opinion of him; but again considering the Practices of his Creatures, he could not but think that some great provocation was offer'd by God to Men; that he was full of dissimulation; he could not otherwise think that there should be so general a defection from him.

But to declare this Enmity further, it will be evident, by considering what enmity there is against all that comes from him; both the Truths he reveals, and the Duties he enjoins.

11. Enmity against his Truths.

Hating Instruction is a part of Atheism, Psal. 50.17. Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. God complains in Hos. 8.12. that the most excellent things were accounted as a strange thing. God had given p. 152them the great things of his Law, and they esteemed them not.

11. In mens loathness to believe any Divine Truth; or to meditate upon it.

Men shun the thoughts of what they do not love; if we will not let Truth in, which is a Message from Heaven, it is a sign we care not for the Person from whom it comes.

11. 'Tis hard to believe Moral or Divine Truths.

Because they are against the interests of our Lusts, and would eject those Principles which have got so firm footing in our Minds and Affections, and would bring them into such a reform'd Course, which our Minds by ass'd by such Principles, do exceedingly hate: Whereas Natural or Mathematical Verities are readily credited, and kindly entertain'd, because they thwart not our Principles, as the others do.

The more divine and spiritual the Object is, the more unwilling we are to close with it: And by how much the nearer any notion of truth is to God, p. 153and the more clearly representing him, the more averse are we from it. And if men are enemies to that truth which doth most clearly discover God, and his mind, and cannot endure the thoughts of it, much less can they endure the thoughts of God himself. They are loth to entertain any thing that may disquiet them.

Christ describes this Humour, as it was in Noah's time, and as it will be towards the end of the World:Matth. 24.38, 39.Matt 24:38Matt 24:39 They were eating and drinking, as though the World were their own, and loth to think of a Deluge; and at the latter end men will as hardly believe the burning, as they did then the drowning of the World.

The Pharisees derided the soundest Doctrine, Luke 16.14. They derided him, subsannarunt; foreign, they blew their Noses at him in contempt, when he declaim'd against their Covetousness.

22dly. If the Word lays hold upon a man, he endeavours to shake it off, as a Man would a Serjeant, which comes to p. 154arrest him. Men like not to retain God in their knowledge, Rom. 1.28. If any Truth presseth in upon them, they turn it away, as Men do importunate Beggars; We have nothing for you; Do not trouble us, we have no Alms to bestow upon you: And the reason is, because Men having abortivated and deadned all those reliques and natural infusions of God in their Soul, any lively Truth and Apprehensions of him proves most unsavoury: As Wine and Strong waters, which have lost their natural Spirit, become most ungrateful and unpleasant to the Stomach; so those innate impressions of God which are so refreshing to a good Man, they do what they can to shake off or taint them, by mingling with them their own corrupt Notions; and when they cannot, they are fill'd with an irreligious rancour against God. Men keep the Truths that rise up in themselves for conviction and instruction, in unrighteousness, and quench the motions of the Blessed Spirit, killing them in the Womb. Have not Men often had secret Wishes, that the Scripture had never mention'd p. 155some Truths, or that they were blotted out of the Bible, because they face their Consciences, damp their Pleasures, and cool their boiling Lusts, which else they would with eagerness and delight pursue.

33ly. When Men cannot shake off a Truth, but it sticks fast in them, yet they have no pleasure in the consideration of it.

Which would be if there were a love to God: for Men love to read over the Letters which are sent by them to whom they have an affection, and stick them up, or peruse them afterwards at their leisure. And it was an unclean Beast that did not chew the Cud under the Law; so it is a corrupt Heart that doth not chew Truth by Meditation. Hence a natural Man is said not to know the Things of God; for while he is inclin'd to a sensual life, he can have no delight in spiritual things, for Sensuality hinders the Operations of his Soul about the choicest Objects.

Natural Men may indeed meditate on a Truth, but they do not delight in p. 156it; or if they do, it is only as it is Knowledge: for we delight in nothing that we desire, but upon the same account that we desire it. Now Natural Men desire to know God, and some Truths; not out of a sense of his Excellency, but from a natural thirst after Knowledge; so that they rejoice in the Act, not in the Object; not to quicken their Affections, as idle Boys strike fire; not to kindle any thing, but please themselves with the Sparks: Whereas a gracious Soul accounts not only his Meditation, or the Operation of his Soul about a thing to be sweet, but he hath a Spiritual Joy in the Object of that Meditation. Many have the Knowledge of God, who have no delight in it; as Owls and Batts have Eyes to perceive the Light, but by reason of the Weakness of their Sight have no delight in it to look cheerfully upon it; so neither can a Man by his natural or acquir'd Knowledge delight in God, or love to look upon him, because of his Corruption.

p. 15722ly. In their Opposition to it.

11. External.

In the first dawning of the Gospel, what Opposition did the Apostles meet with? What Persecutions were rais'd against them? How did the Carnal World, like Dogs, bark at the shining of the Moon? 'Tis as natural for Man to persecute the Truth, which is against the grain, as it is for them to breathe. When Socrates upon Natural Principles did confute the Heathen Idolatry, and asserted the Unity of God, the whole Cry of Athens, a learn'd University, is against him; and because he oppos'd the publick receiv'd Religion, he must die, Acts 13.45. Contradicting and Blaspheming are put together; Disputes against the Word many times ends in Blasphemies.

22. Internal.

God's Truths cast against a hard Heart, are like Balls thrown against a Stone-wall, which rebound the further from it; such a resistance there is in p. 158Man, to beat back all the Tenders of Grace. Where the Grace of God comes in any power, it doth accidentally stir up Sin in the Heart; as when the Sun shines upon a noisom Dunghil, it stinks the worse; not that the Sun communicates any filthiness or pollution to the Dunghil, but by accident in warming it, it makes the stench break forth. Sin, as a Garison in a City, is up in Arms upon any alarm from its Adversary. A Word of God against the great Diana of a man's Lust, sets the whole Soul in an uproar; Sin follows the steps of its Father the Devil, and endeavours to bruise the Heel of Truth, which would break the Head of Lust. Men hate the Truths of God, when they begin to search and tent their belov'd Corruptions. So Ahab, 1 Kings 22.8. I hate him, for he doth not prophecy good concerning me, but evil. John 3.19, 20. Lest their deeds should be reproved. As Apes are reported to break the Glass, because they would not see their own deformity. The Light of Speculation may be pleasant, but the Light of Conviction is grievous; The Light strikes p. 159too strongly upon their sore Eyes, and makes them smart.

33ly. If Men do entertain Truth, 'tis not for Truth's sake, but for some other by end.

Truth is scarcely receiv'd as Truth; there is more of Hypocrisy than Sincerity in the Pale of the Church: The Dowry makes it more desirable than the Beauty. Judas follows Christ for the Bag. Sometimes Men entertain Truth to satisfy their own Passions, rather than upon God's account. The Religion of many is not the Judgment of the Man, but the Passion of the Brute. Many rather entertain the Doctrine for the Person's sake, than the Person for the Doctrine, and believe any thing that comes from a Man they esteem and affect, as if his Lips were as Canonical as Scripture, 1 Thess. 2.13. You receiv'd it not as the Word of Men, but as it is in truth the Word of God. So that many times the very same Truth deliver'd by another, is disregarded; which when coming from the fancy and mouth of their own Idol, is cried p. 160up for an Oracle; whenas, alas! it was the Truth of God in the Ass's, as well as in the Angel's mouth. And thus they have the Word of God with respect of persons, and receive it not for the sake of the Fountain, but of the Channel; and though they entertain the Truth of God materially, yet not formally as his Truth, James 2.1 Have not the faith of Christ with respect of persons.

44ly. If Men do entertain Truth, 'tis with unsetled affections, and much mixture.

If Men let in some good Notions of God, they let in also much of Corruption and Error, like Spunges that can suck up the foulest Water, as well as the sweetest Wine; they have the unclean Beasts enter into the Ark of their Souls, as well as the clean. There is a great Levity in the Heart of Man. The Jews cry Hosanna to Christ one day, and Crucify him the next. They have their Heart open one day for Truth, and the next turn it out of doors. Those Truths which are easy to be p. 161understood, are hard to be impress'd: Our Affections will as soon lose them, as our Understandings embrace them. Some were willing to rejoice in John's Light, which gave a Lustre to their Minds, not in his Heat, which would have given Warmth to their Affections; for John was a burning and a shining Light, and they would rejoice in his Light, but not in his Heat, and in that too but for a season.

We begin in the Spirit, and end in the flesh. We go from God with affections, and quickly grow cold again. Our hearts are like Lute-strings, chang'd with every change of Weather, with every Temptation; and scarce one motion of God in a thousand can prevail upon us.

55thly. In a carnal Improvement of Truth.

Some endeavour to make Truth subservient to Lust, and like Spiders draw cursed Poyson out of the sweetest Flowers. As when men hear of God's willingness to pardon and receive repenting Sinners, they will argue from p. 162hence, for deferring their Repentance till they come to dye. So Psal. 94.7. God's Patience is made a Topick whence to argue against his Providence. Wicked men father their sins upon God's Word. A Lyar will find his Refuge in the Rewards God gave the Midwives that lied to Pharaoh, for the Preservation of the Israelites Children; and Rahab's lye for preserving the Spies: Though God rewarded their Fidelity, yet we read not that he approved their Sin. Some will venture into all kind of wicked Company, from Christ's Example, who conversed with Sinners; when Christ companied with Sinners, as a Physician with diseased Persons, to cure them, not to approve them; but these with persons not to communicate Holiness to them, but receive Infection from them. Thus, like the Devil, we have Scripture at our fingers ends to plead for our Lusts. As the Sea turns fresh Water into salt, so a carnal heart turns Divine things to carnal ends. As man subjects the Precepts of God to carnal interest, so they subject the Truths of God to carnal Fancies. Make a humorous p. 163and crazy Fancy the Interpreter of Divine Oracles, and not the Spirit speaking in the Word; this is to rifle Truth of its true mind and intent; as it's more to rob a man of his Reason, the essential constitutive part of man, than of his Estate.

22dly. Enmity against the Duties God doth enjoin, as well as against the Truths he doth reveal.

We are not willing to come to God in Duty; which strangeness took date from the beginning of our nature. We were estranged from the womb, Psal. 58.3.

I shall instance in Prayer, which is one of the greatest Duties, and is an immediate speaking to God. And in that Duty wherein there is the greatest intimacy with God, there is the greatest Aversion, and consequently an Enmity against God.

11. Ʋnwillingness to it.

Men cannot endure to give God a Visit; if they do, it is with such a dulness of spirit, as if they wished themselves out of his Company; which p. 164testifies that men care not for any Correspondence or Friendship between God and their Souls. Man having an Enmity to true Holiness, hath from thence an Enmity to Prayer, because Holiness must at least be pretended in Prayer, because in that Duty there is a real speaking to God, and a Communion with him, unto which Holiness is required. Now as wicked men hate the Truth of Holiness, because it is unsuitable to them, so they are not Friends to the pretence of it in that duty, because they must for some space be diverted from the thoughts of their beloved Lusts. I appeal to you, whether you are not more unwilling to practice Prayer in your Closets, than to join with others, as if it were a going to the Rack, and rather your Penance than Privilege. If men do come to God, it is a constrained Act, to satisfy Conscience; and such are rather servile, than Son-like Performances, and spring from bondage more than affection. If Conscience like a Taskmaster did not lash them to duty, they would never perform it. If we do come willingly, it p. 165is for our own ends, to have some deliverance from some trouble. Isa. 26.16. In trouble have they visited thee; they poured out a prayer when thy chastning was upon them. In trouble they will visit God; in prosperity he shall scarce hear of them. In affliction he finds them kneeling, and in prosperity he finds them kicking. They can pour out a Prayer in distress, and scarce drop a Prayer when they are delivered. This unwillingness to address to God, what slight and low thoughts doth it imply? 'Tis a wrong to his Providence, as tho we stood not in need of his assistance, but that we can do all our business our selves.

'Tis a wrong to his Excellency, as though there were no amiableness in him to make his company desirable. This Enmity is the greater, by how much God's Condescention is the greater to admit us into his presence. It was a part of the Devils hatred; they were loth to have Christ present with them. Matth. 8.29. What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Men excuse their neglect of private Prayer, by p. 166their want of opportunity; but indeed they want hearts. We may sooner step up to Heaven with a holy Ejaculation, than step over the Threshold about our business. We naturally desire acquaintance with the greatest Persons that may advance our Interest; but we are ready to bury our Interest, rather than be acquainted with God.

22dly. Slightness in the Duty.

We are loth to come into God's presence, and when we are come, we are loth to keep with him. When men do not their Duty heartily as to the Lord, they look not upon him as their Master, whose Work they ought to do, and whose Honour they ought to aim at.

11. In respect of time.

Our dullest and deadest time we think fittest for God: When sleep is ready to close our eyes, we think it a fit time to open our hearts. How few Morning Sacrifices hath God from men? They leap out of their Beds to their Pleasures or Worldly Employments, without asking Counsel at p. 167God's mouth. As men reserve the dregs of their life, their Old Age, to offer up their Souls to God; so they reserve the dregs of the day, their sleepy times, for the offering their Service to God.

22dly. In respect of frame.

We think any frame will serve God's turn; which certainly speaks our Enmity, and slight thoughts we have of him. Man naturally performs duty with an unholy heart, whereby it becomes an abomination to God; Prov. 28.9. He that turns away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer shall be an abomination.

God calls for our best Sacrifices, and we give him the worst, such which he hates. Amos 5.21. I hate, I despise your feast-days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. They were Duties which God commanded, but he hated them for their evil frames, or corrupt ends. God requires Works of Grace, and we present him not with so much as the Work of Nature, but the Work of Corruption. There is not that natural Vigor which we have in Worldly Business: p. 168You may often observe a liveliness in man as to that; but change the scene into a motion towards God, and how suddenly doth this Vigor shrink, and their hearts become sluggish, freeze with coldness.

Many times we pray as coldly as if we were loth that God should hear us, and take away that Lust which Conscience forceth us to pray against. How flitting are we in Divine Meditations, how sleepy in Spiritual Exercises? This proceeds from the aversion of the Soul, and its estrangedness from God. But in other Exercises we are active. The Soul doth not awaken it self, and stir up those Animal Spirits in Religious Duties, which it will in Bodily Recreations and Sports; whereby it is evident we prefer the latter before any Service to God. Since there is a fulness of Animal Spirits in us, why might they not be excited in Holy Duties, as well as in Corporal Operations, but that there is a Reluctancy in the Soul to exercise its Supremacy over them in this case?

p. 16933dly. Weariness in it.

We are not weary with that dulness, but in the Duty it self: Our deadness shows a disaffection, our weariness shows a greater: We are loth that God should have so much as a day's service from us, or any thing that looks like a service. How tired are we in the performance of Spiritual Duties, when in the vain triflings of time we have a perpetual motion? How will many force themselves to dance and revel a whole Night, when their hearts will flag and jade at the first entrance into a Religious Service. Some in the Prophet wished the Sabbath over, Mal. 1.13. Ye said also, Behold what a weariness it is. Attendance on him is a weariness; God had but a poor polluted Service from them, and they were weary of that little they gave him, they grudg'd him that. This unwieldiness in duty is a sign we receive little Satisfaction in God's company, and that there is a great unsuitableness between him and us. When our Joy begins when the Duty ends, it evidenceth that p. 170there was no affectionate motion to God, but a tir'd and yawning Service. Unwilling Servants stay not long at their Masters work, neither are cheerful in it. If we did love God, it would be with us as with the Needle towards the Loadstone, there would be a speedy motion, and a fixed Union. Saints in Heaven, whose Affections and Judgments are perfect, behold the Face of God Five or Six thousand Years together without weariness; but we naturally are neither willing to come, nor come to stay in his presence.

Obj. Natural men had best not pray, or meditate at all, if even their Prayers are acts of Enmity.

Ans. Their Prayers are not acts of Enmity, though the natural Enmity be discover'd in them. In the Male-performance of the Duty, there is a denial of his Holiness, but in the total Omission there is a denial of his Sovereignty, who commands it as a natural duty; or his Providence, who orders human Affairs; of his Holiness too, and p. 171Righteousness in his Law which enjoins it.

44thly. Neglect of expecting Answers.

Men naturally care not for having the Spiritual Mercy they pray for of course from God, though they are desirous of any Temporal; for the latter they will endeavour, but leave the other wholly upon God's hands, as if they were careless whether they had them or no. They care not whether their Letters come to God's hands or no, and therefore care not much for any returns from him: Whereas if we have any love to a person we send to, or value of a thing we send for, we should expect an Answer every Post.

The Creature in its Natural Instinct goes beyond such persons; for there is an foreign; Rom. 8.19. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation, &c. Every Creature is in a more waiting posture than a natural man. 'Tis a sign we do not own God for our Master, or our selves for his Servants, if we do not wait upon him till he shew mercy to us. Psal. p. 172123.2. As the eyes of servants look unto the hands of their master, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, till he have mercy on us. It implies that we think God will not hear, or cannot hear, or that we have no need of him, and can do well enough without him; or that Prayer is no effectual means to procure Blessings: If so, why dost thou pray at all? If it be otherwise, why dost thou not wait for an Answer? So that there is a disaffection in man to the Duty it self, and to God the Object of it; or to the Subject of it, the thing pray'd for. Whereas those that love God, and love the Spiritual Mercy they pray for, watch thereunto with Thanksgiving. Col. 4.2. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.

They watch for occasion of Praise. As we are to be in a praying posture, to desire a Blessing, so in a waiting posture to meet with it. But a natural man doth not love to be beholden to God if he can help it; and if he doth praise God after any common Mercy received, it may proceed from a natural Ingenuity, or present sense of the p. 173Mercy it self, not from any Affection to the Donor: But as for any Spiritual Mercy, as the stirrings of his Affections by any Truth, he is so far from praising God for them, that he is troubled at them, and quickly quencheth them.

55thly. Desertion of the Duty.

If God doth not answer us, naturally we cast off the Duty, and say with those in Job, Job 21.15. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray to him? They pray not out of Conscience of the Command, but merely for the Profit; and if God makes them wait for it, they will not wait his leisure, but sollicite him no longer. There are two things express'd; That God was not worthy of their Service; and, That the serving of him would not bring them in a good Revenue, or an advantage of that kind they expected. 'Tis Interest draws men on to Prayer; and when that is not advanc'd, they will beg no more; like some Beggars, if you give them not presently upon their asking, from blessing they turn to cursing: p. 174So do men secretly do that which Job's Wife advised him to do upon his Affliction, Job 2.9. Dost thou still retain thy integrity? Curse God, and dye. What a stir, and puling, and waiting, and caring is here? Cast off all service, be at Daggers-drawing with God. So Mal. 3.14. 'Tis vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, or that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of host. If they have not the benefits they beg, they think God unrighteous, and doth them wrong to withhold from them the favours they imagine they have deserv'd; and if they have not that recompence when they would, they leave off the serving God any more, as a vain and unprofitable thing. Whereas Love moves upon a sense of Duty, a Natural man that hath an aversion, moves upon a sense of Interest. Love is encouraged by Answer, but is not dissolv'd by Silence; but a Natural man would have God at his beck, and steers his course in duty by the outward profit, not by the inward pleasure.

p. 175This Enmity might further be evidenc'd by,

11. Our Enmity against Christ.

Many that are his own, receive him not, John 1.11. His own by Privileges, to whom he gives Ordinances, and spiritual meat from his Table; his own by Profession, who profess they have made a Covenant with him, and yet underhand keep up their ancient Agreement with Hell. Professions of Christ are no demonstrations of love to him. We may commend another for his parts and perfections, and yet have a secret grudge against him. All the pretended Love unrenewed men have to Christ, hath no better ground than the Turks love to Mahomet; for it hath no higher spring than Education; and had their Lot been to be born among them, they would have loved Mahomet with as warm a Devotion as now they pretend to love Christ; for they love him not formally, but they love that which they were brought up in the profession of, let it be what it will. This Enmity against Christ reflects upon God himself. Christ p. 176tells us often, He was sent by God: An Affront to an Ambassador, is an injury to the Majesty he represents.

Despising the Embassy of an Angel, is an act of Enmity against God; much more the despising the Embassy of his own Son.

This is evident in the practices of men.

11. 'Tis hard to convince men of the necessity of Christ. You see what little fruit Christ himself had by all his preaching among the Jews.

22dly. When men are convinc'd, they endeavour to stifle those Convictions. We are as untam'd and unruly Heifers, that will not endure the Yoke: They will break those Cords as if they were the most formidable evils, and shake them off from them, as if they were Vipers upon their hands.

33dly. When men cannot stifle their Convictions, yet they are loth to come to Christ. John 5.40. You will not come to me. They would bring something of p. 177their own to him, for they grudge him the Glory of being an entire Saviour; Or if they do come to Christ, it is for Ease, not for Holiness: for when their Troubles are ceas'd, they return to their Vomit.

44ly. If men do come, it is a restrain'd Act.

Men are therefore said to be drawn, and it is the mighty Power of God to bring them. Did not God overpower the Hearts of his People, but leave them to themselves, they would still stand it out in Rebellion against God.

22ly. Enmity to the Saints.

When the Devil found God above his reach, he sets himself against the Creatures that were design'd more peculiarly for his Service. Just after we read of Enmity to God in Adam, we read of Enmity to the Godly in Cain. The Italians, when they say un Christiano, commonly mean a Blockhead; and our common Speech, a silly Abraham imports no better: It will be so to the World's end. Despisers of those that are p. 178good, are rank'd with those that are Enemies to God, 2 Tim. 3.3. It ariseth from a hatred of Holiness it self. And it is Enmity to God; for he that would not suffer him to have a holy Servant, would not suffer him to have a holy Throne, a holy Scepter, a holy Crown, a holy Kingdom. If men hate the Children of Light, they do by consequence hate the Father of Lights. Mr. Cotton was convinc'd of his Enmity against God by his Enmity to the Servants of God.

There are several Causes of this Enmity.

11. Dissimilitude between God and a natural Man.

As Likeness in Nature and Inclinations is a Cause of Love, so Dissimilitude and Unsutableness is a Cause of Hatred. Distance of Manners breeds Alienation of Affection. This Dissimilitude depends also upon the Opposition between the Law, and the Nature of a Sinner, Rom. 7.14. The Law is spiritual, but I am carnal. Hence proceeds all that acting against it; for the Apostle saith p. 179v. 15, 16. I consent to the law, that it is good; but my Flesh, which hath a repugnancy to it, will not comply with it; the Spiritual Law and the Carnal Heart do quarrel with one and other.

Dissimilitude between God and a natural Man is the greatest,

11. In respect of Nature.

God is infinitely holy, Man corrupt and filthy. Darkness and Light, Heaven and Hell are directly contrary; so is Christ and Belial. Let Engagements be what they will, so long as Men are of different Spirits, they cannot agree. As in regenerate Men this dissimilitude works an abhorrency of themselves, as in Job; so in natural Men it engenders a disaffection to God.

22ly. In respect of Ends.

There are in God and Men different Ends. Man's End is to please himself, and satisfy the Desires of the Flesh; God's End is to vindicate his Law, and show himself the Righteous Governor of the World, which cannot be attained p. 180without a direct Contrariety to the corrupt End of Man.

The remedy then will be, to get a renew'd Nature, the Image of God new-form'd in the Soul.

22. Guilt.

Men fly from God out of shame; they consider the Debts they owe God are great; and naturally Debtors fly from their Creditors, for fear they should exact or demand any thing of them, Adam's Guilt was rather attended with a flight from him, than with an approach to him. Those Israelites that desir'd God no more to speak to them but by Moses, were afraid of his Presence too, when his Face shone with an heavenly Splendor. Terror is essential to Guilt, and Hatred to a perpetual Terror. Their Guilt made them fly from that Moses whom they knew to be their friend, when God had set a signal mark upon him. When Men cannot discharge their Judgments of the belief of a strict account, and dreadful Hell, and perpetual Immortality, their Hearts are pierc'd with their Sins like so many p. 181Darts. As they have a thousand Sins, so they have a thousand Stings; all pointed with God's Wrath, and return'd back with their own Hatred, though it is but the just fruit of their own doings. The frequency of iniquity contracts the more implacable Contrariety to God, and makes them as uncapable of any Union to God, as of Repose in themselves.

The Remedy then is, to labour for Justification by the Blood of Christ, which is only able to remove that Guilt which engenders our Hatred.

33ly. God's crossing the desires and interests of the Flesh.

Natural qualities encrease with the resistance of their Contraries; so doth Sin. The Duties God doth principally love, do most of all cross our Corruptions; and those are the Duties we hate most. Sodomites show most disaffection to Lot, when he opposeth them in the Prosecution of their Lusts with the Angels, Gen. 19.9. We will deal worse with thee than with them. Had God (as well as Micajah to Ahab) p. 182spoke good to natural Men in their own Esteem, and held them up in their Lust; his Truth would not be so much imprison'd in unrighteousness, but be highly ador'd with men's choicest Affections; but his commanding things according to his own holy Nature, brings into act that habitual Hatred which was before in the Heart. All Hatred doth arise from an opinion of destructiveness in the Object hated. Why do we loath a thing, but because we imagine it inconsistent with our Happiness and Wishes? And a Sinner being possess'd that his darling Sin is inconsistent with the Holiness of God's Law, hates God for being of a Nature so contrary to that which he loves. The disappointment our corrupt Principles find by any Truth of God, exasperates the Heart. The Jews expecting an Earthly Grandeur by the M ssiah, and that they should be made Lords paramount of the World, was the Cause that they were the more desperate Enemies to Christ when they found his design to be short of their Expectations, and that his Humility favour'd not their Pride, and his Meekness p. 183was not like to raise him from the Footstool of the Roman Empire to the Throne of the World.

The Remedy then is, To have a high Esteem of the Holiness and Wisdom of the Law of God, and the Advantages he aims at for our good in the enjoyning of it. To account it better than thousands of Gold and Silver. To look upon his Commands as not grievous, 1 John 5.3.

44ly. Love of Sin.

The greater the Love of Sin, the more must be our Hatred of God; because the more we love that which hath an Essential Enmity against God, the more we signify that it is our chief Good and Happiness, and consequently we must hate that which is most contrary to it, and would hinder our enjoyment of it: and therefore our hatred of God's Holiness grows up equally with our fondness of Sin.

When by frequent Acts the habitual Nature is strengthen'd, all the Powers of doing contrary is swallow'd up in that habit. Hence it is said, the carnal p. 184mind is enmity to God, i. e. the sensual mind, when Sensuality hath got the mastery of the mind, and planted sensual habits, there is Enmity to God; and it cannot be subject to the Law of God, because that habit wholly acts the mind. Men's Reasons side with the Precepts of God, and conclude them to be the way to felicity; but the Law of the Mind is too weak for the powerful and pleasing Charms of the Flesh, whereby they are drawn into an imaginary Paradise, but a real Captivity. The hating all the Dictates of God our Saviour is put upon this score. Light must be odious, when Darkness is lovely: God must needs be hated, when his Enemy is most caress'd. As the Love of God in the Godly is the Cause that they hate Sin, so the Love of Sin in the Wicked is the Cause that they hate God. Every Sin being an aversion from God in its own Nature, and a conversion to the Creature, according to the multiplying the Acts of Sin, this aversion from God, and conversion to the Creature, must needs be encreas'd; and by how much the more Love we have p. 185to the Creature, so much the more Love is taken from God.

The Remedy then is, To endeavour for as great a Hatred of Sin as thou hast of God; to look upon Sin as the greatest Evil in it self, the greatest disadvantage to thy Happiness.

55ly. Injury we do to God.

It is proper to Men Odisse quos laeserint; whereas the person injur'd might rather hate, yet the person injuring hath often the greatest disaffection. Joseph's Mistress first wrong'd him, and then hated him. Saul first injur'd David, and then persecuted him; as if David had been the Malefactor, and Saul the Innocent. Italians have a Proverb to this purpose; Chifa injuria ne pardonna mai. The Reason is, because they think the injur'd person must needs hate him; and Love is not an affection due to an Enemy. We have also suspicious thoughts of the person we have provok'd to be our Enemy. We wrong God, and then we hate him; measuring his Affections by humane Passions; and thinking, that because we have p. 186wrong'd him, he must needs lay aside all the Goodness and Patience of his own Nature, and watch the first Opportunity of Revenge. Every Sin and Act of it being Enmity to God, the more the habit of any Sin is encreas'd by frequent Acts, the more also is the habitual Enmity in the Heart increas'd: For as every Sin hath an immediate tendency to the supply of some Lust, so it hath a remote and principal tendency to the encrease of that Enmity. Cain first affronts God in his Omniscience and Providence, and then departs from his Presence; turns his back upon him, and becomes the head of the prophane part of the World, Gen. 4.16. The presence of the Lord, i. e. from all the Ordinances of God, and Communion with him in Worship.

The Remedy then is, To endeavour a Conformity to God's holy Will; to think with thy self every Morning, What shall I do this day to please God? what Duty doth he require of me? The more thou dost obey his Will, the more thou will love his Holiness.

p. 18766ly. Slavish fear of God.

Men are apt to fear a just Recompence for an injury done to another, that he will do him one ill turn for another; and Fear is the Mother of Hatred. God being Man's superior, and wrong'd by him, there follows necessarily a slavish Fear of him, and his Power; and such a Fear makes wrathful and imbitter'd Thoughts of God, while he considers God arm'd with an unconquerable and irresistible Power to punish him. 'Tis as natural for a man to hate that which he conceives to be against him, as for any Animal to hate that whose Acts it fears do tend to a dissolution of its Being. The Devils tremble, James 2.19. foreign; they have a great Horror, and their Enmity is as great as their Fear; nay, heightned by their Fear, because they have no hopes of pardon; they do their utmost to oppose God, and have Companions in Misery: 'Tis impossible a man should love God, while he is apprehended as an irreconcilable Adversary. The stronger the Impressions of Fear, the p. 188quicker the Inclinations to Hatred. But when the Evil fear'd begins to strike, it makes the Hatred shoot out in Vollies of Curses and Blasphemies, which is evident in the damn'd. God consider'd as a Judge, is the Object not of comforting, but terrifying Faith; No man can naturally love that Judge which he thinks will condemn him. A fear of God as an inexorable Judge, that we have highly wrong'd, will nourish an enmity against him.

The Remedy then is, Be much in Communion with God; strangeness is the Mother of Fear; we dread Men sometimes, because we know not their disposition. The Beasts themselves delight in the Company of Man, when being familiariz'd to him; they fancy his disposition, and taste his kindness to them, which when they were unacquainted with, they would fly from his Presence with the greatest speed. Study the reconciling-Love of God in the Gospel; Consider much the loveliness and amiableness of his Nature, his ardent Desire thou wouldest be his friend more than his enemy. A Cause p. 189of our hating God, is our ignorance of him; for if we did but know how good he is, how merciful to Man, and to us; if we would but leave our Sin, we could not possibly hate him.

77ly. Pride.

Self-denial is absolutely against the Pride of Reason; and this is the first Lesson God teacheth us. 'Tis the first Letter in the Alphabet of the Gospel of Peace, and therefore we are against him. Men lift up the Pride of Reason against the Truth of God, and the Pride of Heart against the Will of God. Hence it appears, that Self is the great Incendiary of the Soul against God. The Enmity of Tyre against God is charg'd upon this foot of account, Ezek. 28.2. Thy heart is lifted up in the midst of the sea; thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God. She would rather have her Wisdom admir'd by God, than God's Wisdom admir'd by her. The sharpest Enmities in the World are founded upon this Vice. This makes the greatest Combustions in Commonwealths. Men fear to be overtopp'd p. 190by one another. All other Vices desire Companions. A Drunkard loves his Good-fellows; he cares not to swill alone. An unclean person must have his Mate. Swearers hate those that come not up to their own pitch; but a proud Man would have none keep an equal pace with him: He cannot endure a Companion, but would have all others under his feet. Pride is naturally against God; and therefore Sin is often call'd a lifting up of the Heart against God, a hardening the Heart against him.

The Remedy then is, To endeavour after Humility. Study the Humility of God, who is more humble to us than we can be to him. Reflect more upon thy Vileness than thy Worth.

88ly. Love of the World.

The greater dearness of sensual pleasures, the further our divorce from God. The Love of the World is inconsistent with the Love of God, 1 John 2.15. If any man love the World, the love of the Father is not in him. It puts us under an impossibility while that Love p. 191remains, to entertain the Spirit of Truth, Joh. 14.17. The spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive. Whosoever will be a friend of the World, is an enemy to God. The Friendship of the World is enmity with God, Jam. 4.4. Ye adulterers, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Know you not: 'Tis an unquestionable Truth, your own Consciences cannot be strangers to it. Indulgence to Carnal interests and pleasures mounts up to a fierceness against God, Deut. 32.15. Jesurun waxed fat, and kick'd. The Wisdom of the Flesh is first earthly, then sensual, then devilish; When once the Mind is possess'd by an earthly and sensual Temper, it will not be long before it grows up to devilishness, and you know that can be no friend of God. What begins in Earthliness, Earthly Principles and Ends, and proceeds on to Sensuality, will end in Devilishness both principle and practice. Whosoever loves his own Pleasure and Voluptuousness, must needs hate whatsoever is contrary to it, and would destroy it: This is the great Root of Anger, revenge in Man, and our contempt of God.

p. 192The Remedy then is, To look upon the World with scorn, to think the Soul above it; and that the Contentments and Pleasures of the World are fitter for Beasts, and at best but Accommodations for thee as a Traveller, not a fit Pillow to repose thy Soul on. Despise the World, and the Devil hath scarce any bait and argument left to move thee to an estrangedness from, and an enmity against God.

Now if all the Saints that ever were should meet together in a Synod, to consult of the truth of this Proposition, That the heart of Man is enmity against God, they would all bear witness to it Nemine contradicente; and he that denies it, I may confidently affirm, did never seriously read the Scripture, or cast one practical glance upon his own heart.