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TO THE
CHRISTIAN READER.
MAN in this world,
especially since his defection from God, standing at a
distance from his happiness in respect of full
possession, it is not the least part of his bliss to be
happy in expectation. Happiness being by all men
desirable, the desire of it is naturally engrafted in
every man; and is the centre of all the searchings of his
heart and turnings of his life. But the most of men, like
the men of Sodom, grope and find not the right door, Gen.
xix. 11. Only to a true Christian, by a supernatural
light, is discovered both the right object, and the right
way to felicity. Upon this discovery, finding himself,
while he is here, a stranger to his happiness, he desires
to take leave of this sublunary condition, that he may
enjoy him who is 'the desire of all nations,' Hag. ii.
7
Now although God cast
common blessings promiscuously upon good and bad; yet he
holds his best favours at a distance, as parents do
cherries or apples from their children, to whet their
appetites the more after them. And indeed the best
perfection of a Christian in his military [that is,
'militant.' —ed.] condition, is, in desire and
expectation; and it is enough to him that; for that he
hath God's acceptation, who knowing whereof we are made,
and how unable to hold weight in the 'balance of the
sanctuary,' Dan v.27, takes his best gold with grains of
allowance.
The soul of man is like a
cipher, which is valued by that which is set before it.
If it weary itself in the desire of earthly things, like
the silk-worm, it finisheth its work with its own
destruction. But if on things above, when this earthly
tabernacle is turned to ashes, there shall result a
glorious phoenix for immortality.
There are no characters
better distinguishing a Christian, than those that are
inward (hypocrisy like sale-work, may make a fair show
outward; an hypocrite may perform external works, but
cannot dissemble inward affections), and amongst them,
none better discovers his temper, than the beating of the
pulse of his desires, which this worthy author (who
departed not without being much desired [that is,
'longed after.' —ed.] and no less lamented) hath
most livelily set forth in the ensuing treatise; which a
Christian, holding as a glass before him, may discern
whether he have life or no by these breathings.
For the object here
propounded, what more desirable than the chief good? For
the place, where can it be more desired, than in his
house, where his presence is manifested? What better end
to be in that house, than to behold God in the 'beauty of
holiness?' Ps. xxix. 2. What term of happiness better
than 'for ever'? This was the desire of the holy prophet
David, and that it may be thy desire, is the desire
of
Thy Christian friend,
H. I.*
* These initials are in all probability these of
John Mill, reversed, intentionally or by a misprint.
A
BREATHING AFTER GOD.
________________________________
One thing have I desired of
the Lord, that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the
beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
—Ps. XXVII. 4.
THIS psalm is
partly a prophecy. It was made after some great
deliverance out of some great trouble. The blessed
prophet David, having experience of God's goodness
suitable to the trouble he was in, in the first part of
this excellent psalm he shews—
I. His comfort;
and, II. His courage; and, III. His
care.
I. His comfort.
It was altogether in the Lord, whom he sets
out in all the beauties and excellency of speech he can.
He propounds the Lord to him in borrowed terms. 'The Lord
is my light and my salvation, the strength of my life,'
Ps. xxvii. 1. So he fetcheth comfort from God, the spring
of comfort, 'the Father of all comfort,' 2 Cor. i. 4. He
labours to present God to him in the sweetest manner that
may be. He opposeth him to every difficulty and distress.
In darkness, he is 'my light;' in danger, he is 'my
salvation;' in weakness, he is 'my strength;' in all my
afflictions and straits, he is the 'strength of my life.'
Here is the art of faith in all perplexities whatsoever,
to be able to set somewhat in God against every malady in
ourselves. And this is not simply set out, but likewise
with a holy insultation. [that is, 'defiance.'
—ed.] 'The Lord is my light and salvation; whom
shall I fear?' Ps. xxvii. 1. It is a question proceeding
from a holy insultation, and daring of all other things.
'The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be
afraid?' That is one branch of his comfort.
The second branch and
ground of his comfort is, 2. The goodness of God in
the ruin and destruction of his enemies. 'When the
wicked, even mine enemies and foes, came upon me to eat
up my flesh, they stumbled and fell,' Ps. xxvii. 2. He
describes his enemies by their malice, and by their
ruin.
[1.] His enemies
were cruel enemies, blood-suckers, eaters of flesh. We
call them cannibals. As indeed men that have not grace,
if they have greatness, and be opposed, their greatness
is inaccessible; one man is a devil to another. The
Scripture calls them 'wolves, that leave nothing till
morning,' Zeph. iii. 3. As the great fishes eat up the
little ones, so great men they make no more conscience of
eating up other men, than of eating bread; they make no
more bones of overthrowing men and undoing them, than of
eating bread. 'They eat up my people as they eat bread,'
Ps. xxvii. 2.
[2.] But
notwithstanding their cruelty, they were overthrown.
Saith David, 'when my foes came upon me to eat up my
flesh, they stumbled and fell.' For, indeed, God's
children, when they are delivered, it is usually with the
confusion of their enemies. God doth two things at once,
because the special grievance of God's children it is
from inward and outward enemies. He seldom or never
delivers them but with the confusion of their enemies. So
ho sets down his own comfort in the Lord, by the
confusion of his enemies. This will be most apparent at
the day of judgment, when Satan, and all .that are led by
his spirit, all the malignant church, shall be sent to
their own place, and the church shall be for ever free
from all kind of enemies. When the church is most free,
then the enemies of the church are nearest to
destruction; like a pair of balances, when they are up at
the one end, they are down at the other. So when it is up
with the church, down go the enemies. So here are the two
branches of his comfort.
II. Now his courage
for the time to come, that is, in the third verse.
'Though an host encamp against me, my heart shall not
fear.' He puts the case of the greatest danger that can
be. Though an host of men should encompass me, 'my heart
shall not fear; though war rise against me, in this I
will be confident.' Here is great courage for the time to
come. Experience breeds hope and confidence. David
was not so courageous a man of himself; but upon
experience of God's former comfort and assistance, his
faith brake as fire out of the smoke, or as the sun out
of a cloud. Though I was in such and such perplexities,
yet for the time to come I have such confidence and
experience of God's goodness, that I will not fear. He
that seeth God by a spirit of faith in his greatness and
power, he sees all other things below as nothing.
Therefore he saith here, he cares not for the time to
come for any opposition; no, not of an army. 'If God be
with us, who can be against us?' Rom. viii. 31. He saw
God in his power; and then, looking from God to the
creature, alas! who was he? As Micah, when he had seen
God sitting upon his throne; what was Ahab to him, when
he had seen God once? So when the prophet David had seen
God once, then 'though an host encamp against me, I will
not fear,' &c. Thus you have his comfort in the
double branch of it; his courage, also, and his
confidence for the time to come.
III. What is his
care? That is the next. I will not analyse the
psalm farther than the text. After his comfort in the
Lord, and in the confusion of his enemies, and his
courage for the time to come, he sets down his care, 'One
thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek
after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the
days of my life,' dc. This was his care. He had so sweet
experience of the goodness and power of God, being light,
and salvation and strength to him in confounding his
enemies, that he studied with himself how to be thankful
to God; and this he thought fittest in the open great
congregation, in the church of God, among many others.
Therefore he saith, 'One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that will I seek after still, that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.'
Now, in the words of the
text that I have read, there is contained the holy
prophet's care and desire, set down first in general,
'One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that I will
seek after.'
And then a specification of
that desire he specifies. What is that one thing he
desired? That 'I may dwell in the house of the Lord,'
with the circumstance of time, 'all the days of my
life.'
Now, after the desire in
general, set out here by the object in general, the
transcendent object, 'One thing have I desired of the
Lord,' and like-wise by the frequency and fervency of the
desire, 'I will seek after it still.' I have desired it,
and I will not cease. So my desire, it shall not be a
flash soon kindled, and soon put out. No; but 'one thing
have I desired of the Lord, and that I will seek still.'
I will not be quiet till my desire be accomplished. There
is the general desire, and the degrees of it.
The particular is, 'that I
may dwell in the house of the Lord.'
Then the grounds and ends
of the particular desire of dwelling in the 'house of the
Lord,' because it is 'the house of God.' There is a
strong argument to move him to dwell in the house of God.
It is good dwelling where God dwells, where his angels
dwell, and where his Spirit dwells, 'in the house of the
Lord.' There is one argument that moved him, 'I desire to
dwell there,' because it is the house of God, which is
set out by the extent of time, that 'I may dwell in the
house of God all the days of my life,' till I be housed
in heaven, where I shall need none of these ordinances
that I stand in need of in this world. 'I desire to dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.'
Then the second end is, 'To
behold the beauty of God.' That was one end of his
desire, to dwell in the house of God; not to feed his
eyes with speculations and goodly sights (as indeed there
were in the tabernacle goodly things to be seen). No; he
had a more spiritual sight than that. He saw the inward
spiritual beauty of those spiritual things. The other
were but outward things, as the apostle calls them. I
desire to dwell in the house of the Lord, 'to behold the
beauty of the Lord,' the inward beauty of the Lord
especially.
And then the third end of
his desire is, 'that I may inquire in his temple.' He
desired to dwell in the house of God, because it was the
house of God, and to see the beauty of God, the sweet,
alluring beauty of God, that appeared in his ordinances;
and then his desire was to dwell in the house of God,
that he might inquire more and more of the meaning of God
still, because there is an unfathomed bottom, and an
endless depth of excellency in divine things, that the
more we know, the more we may, and the more we seek, the
more we may seek. They are beyond our capacity; they do
not only satisfy, but transcend it. Therefore, he desires
still further and 1~irther to wade deeper into these
things, 'to inquire in God's temple.' Thus ye see the
state of the verse. There is a general desire propounded.
'One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I
seek after.'
And then the desire
specified, 'to dwell in the house of the Lord, and to see
the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.'
These be the three ends.
'One thing have I desired of the Lord,' &c.
To speak first of this
desire generally propounded, 'One thing have I desired,'
&c.
And then of the increase of
it, in that he saith, 'I will seek after it still.' He
desired it, and he would seek more and more after it.
In the desire,
consider—
First, the object,
'one thing.'
And then the desire
or seeking itself.
First, the object,
'one thing.'
Quest. Was there
but one thing for holy David to make the object of his
desire? Was there but one thing needful? Alas! this poor
life of ours, it is a life of necessities. How many
things are needful for our bodies? How many things are
needful for the decency of our condition? How many things
need we for our souls? It is a life of necessities. How,
then, doth he say, 'One thing have I desired?'
Ans. Yes. His
meaning is, comparatively, I seek for other things in
their order and rank, and as they may stand with the
main; but, indeed, one thing principally. All the rest
will follow. 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all
the rest will he cast on you,' Mat. vi. 33. The best way
to have all other things, is to seek one thing in the
first place. Therefore, in heavenly wisdom he saith, I
desire unum unice; one thing after an entire
manner. That I desire more than all things else.
Hence we may see
that,
There is a
difference of degrees of things. God hath
established in the world degrees of things. There are
some good and some ill by his per-mission; and of good,
there are some that are greater goods, and some less.
There are spiritual goods, and outward goods; and of
spiritual good, there are some that are means leading to
that which is spiritually good, and some that are
spiritual good things in their own essence and nature.
The leading preparing things are the means of salvation,
the word, and sacraments, and being in the visible
church. The true spiritual good, the good that we get by
these things, faith and love, and spiritual inward
strength. Now that there is degrees of things, the
prophet here insinuates when he saith, 'One thing have I
desired;' that is, of all these variety of things, he
desired the best, that includes all in it. God, to
exercise the wisdom that he hath given to man, hath
planted a difference in the creatures, and hath given a
faculty to man to make a right choice in those
differences; and then man makes a right choice when he
chooseth as God chooseth. Now, God makes choice of
spiritual things to be the best things, and them he gives
to his best friends. He knows they will make us good, and
supply all outward wants whatsoever, and sanctify all
estates and conditions to us, and they are eternal,
suitable to the spiritual nature of our souls. God knows
this very well. Therefore, God hath set spiritual things,
as the one only thing; and so the soul, when it is made
spiritual, and hath the image of God upon it, it chooseth
as God chooseth.
'One thing have I desired.'
Quest. But here
it may be asked, why doth he say, 'one thing?' He desired
not only to live near the tabernacle, but to hear and
see, to have the word read, and he desired thereupon
grace, and then nearer communion with God by grace, to
have more communion here, and fuller communion in heaven.
Here is more than one thing.
Ans. I answer, it
is all one. As a chain that hath many links, yet it is
but one chain; so all these are but one. 'I desire one
thing.' What is that? To live in the church of God, to
enjoy the ordinances of God, and they will draw on faith
and fear, &c. The Spirit accompanying the
ordinances, it will be a spirit of faith, and repentance,
and grace; and by those graces of faith, and the rest
that accompany the ordinances, I shall have nearer
communion with God here, and eternal and everlasting
communion with God in heaven; and all these are but one,
because they are all links of one chain. Therefore, when
he saith, 'One thing have I desired,' he means that one
thing that will draw on all other.
That is the scope of a
gracious heart, when it attends upon the means of
salvation, and lives in the church; not to hear that it
may hear, and there an end, and to read that it may read,
to perform it as a task, and all is done; but to have the
work of the Spirit together with it, to have the ministry
of the Spirit in the gospel, and the Spirit to increase
faith, and faith to increase all other graces, and so by
grace to grow into nearer communion with God in Christ.
That is the scope of every good hearer. Therefore, he
speaks to purpose when he saith, 'One thing have I
desired.'
But to speak a little more
of the object, why doth he say, 'One thing?'
First, it is from the
nature of God. We must have the whole bent and sway
of our souls to him. He will have no halting. The devil
is content with half, if we will sin, because then he is
sure of all; but God will have the whole heart. 'My son,
give me thy whole heart,' Prov. xxiii. 26; and 'Thou
shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul,' Luke x. 27. The bent and sway of the soul must be
that way; for it is the nature of excellent things,
except we desire them in the chief place, they take state
upon them. [that is: 'are offended.' —ed.]
God takes state upon him in this case. He will not have
us serve him and Mammon, Mat. vi. 24. He will not have
the heart divided.
Second. Then again, it
is from the nature of the soul. Therefore, he
saith, 'One thing.' It is the nature of the soul, when it
is upon many things, it can do nothing well. Therefore,
that I may be religious to purpose, 'One thing have I
desired.' A stream cut into many channels runs weakly,
and is unfit to carry anything. Babylon was so taken.
They cut the river into many channels, and then he that
took it easily passed over them. (a) When the soul is
divided into many channels, to many things, that it looks
after this thing and that thing, and that with expense
and intention of care and endeavour, alas! where is the
desire of one thing necessary all the while? For the soul
cannot go with that strength as it should, except it mind
one thing. The soul of man is a finite thing. Therefore,
except it gather its strength, as a stream, that riseth
of many particular lesser rivers, which makes it run
stronger; so the soul it cannot desire one thing as it
should, except it bring all other petty streams to it,
and make that the main desire, to be saved in another
world, and to have communion and fellowship with God in
Christ Jesus, by the Spirit of grace in this world, in
the use of the means. Unless this be the main care, the
soul takes no good when it is so much set on other
things.
Then, thirdly, he
sets down this 'one thing,' to 'dwell in the house of
God,' to grow in grace there 'as a cedar,' to be a 'tree
planted there,' from the very nature of grace,
which is to unite things to the main. The Spirit of
grace sets before the eye of the soul heavenly spiritual
things in their greatness and excellency; and the Spirit
of grace, seeing there are many useful things in this
world, it hath an uniting, knitting, subordinating power,
to rank all things so as they may agree to and help the
main. Grace confines the soul to one thing. Man, after
his fall, 'sought out many inventions,' Eccles. vii. 29,
saith the wise man. He was not content with his condition
when he stood, but 'he sought out many inventions.' When
man falls to the creature, he knows not where to stay. No
creature can afford a stay and rest for the soul long.
The soul is never quiet till it come to God again, and
that is the one thing the soul desireth. The soul being
sanctified by the Spirit of God, it subordinates all
things to this one thing. David desired many things
besides this one thing, but not in that degree, but as
they might stand with the desire of this one thing
necessary. Grace subordinates and ranks all things so as
that the best things have the preeminence. Therefore, he
might well say, 'one thing,' from the disposition that
grace hath to rank all things to one. It is a promise in
the covenant of grace. Saith God, 'I will give you one
heart,' Jer. xxxii. 39. As soon as a man becomes a
Christian, he hath one heart.' His heart before was
divided. There was variety of objects it was set upon;
God had the least piece. The flesh had a piece, and this
delight and that delight had apiece; but saith God, 'I
will give you one heart,' that is, a heart uniting itself
in desire to the best things, and regulating all things,
so as all shall be but one, that a man shall 'use the
world as though he used it not,' so as it shall help to
the main. As I said, little streams they help the main
stream running into it, so grace hath a subordinating
power over all things in the world, as they may help the
main. 'One thing have I desired,' and I desire other
things, as they may help the main. Grace will teach us
that art. It hath a special art that way. So we see both
in regard of God, and in regard of the soul being finite,
and in respect of the wise disposing of grace that aims
at the main, and ranks all things as they may help the
main, he doth well say,' One thing have I desired.'
Use. This shews
the vanity and baseness of every worldly
man, that makes the main work and labour his
by-work, and the by-work his main work. That that is
the 'one thing necessary,' Luke x. 42, is set after all.
Indeed, without grace, this is so. The first work of
grace is to set the soul in order, to subdue base
affections, to sanctify the judgment; and when it hath
set the soul in tune and order, then it is fitted to set
a right price on things, to rank and order them as it
should. So much shall be sufficient to unfold the object
itself in general, 'One thing have I desired.'
Now I come to the affection
itself, set forth here by the degrees.
'One thing have I desired,
and that I will seek after.'
I have desired it, and
I will desire it still. Desires are the issues of the
heart. Thoughts and desires are the two primitive issues
of the heart, the births of the heart. Thoughts breed
desires. Thoughts in the mind or brain, the brain strikes
the heart presently. It goes from the understanding to
the will and affections. What we think of, that we
desire, if it be good. So thoughts and desires, they
immediately spring from the soul; and where they are in
any efficacy and strength, they stir up motion in the
outward man. The desires of the soul, being the inward
motion, they stir up outward motion, till there be an
attaining of the thing desired, and then there is rest.
Desire to the thing desired is like motus ad
quietem, as motion is to rest. When motion comes once
to rest, it is quiet. So desire, which is the inward
motion, it stirs up outward motion, till the thing
desired be accomplished, and then the soul rests in a
loving content, and enjoying of the thing desired.
Now this desire, it was a
spiritual desire. 'One thing have I desired of the Lord.'
Holy desires, they issue from choice. A holy, wise
desire, when it is not a mere notion, it ariseth from a
choice of a thing that is good; for desire is nothing but
the embracing and closing with a thing that is good. The
understanding must choose the good first, before the soul
embrace it. The will is but the carriage of the soul, the
furthering and promotion of the soul to the good things
discovered; so it supposeth a choice of good things.
And choice supposeth an
esteem of the things before we choose them; and that
supposeth a deliberate judging that works an esteem.. So
that it was no hasty, sudden thing this desire; but it
rose from the sanctified judgment of David, that bred a
holy esteem of these excellent things; the means of
salvation, having the Spirit of God accompanying of them,
containing such excellent comforts as they do. I say this
desire supposes a right judgment, and thence an esteem;
thence a choice upon all, choosing these things above all
other contentments and things in the world besides. For
at this time he wanted in his family the comfort of his
wife and house, &c. Tush, what do I regard these
things? If I could enjoy the sweet, and strong, and
comfortable presence of God in his ordinances, other
things I could bear well enough, the want of house, and
wife and children, the pleasures and contentments of my
country. Therefore, 'One thing have I desired.' It was a
desire out of a high esteem and choice of that one thing
he speaks of.
The point of doctrine that
I will observe in brief, because I hasten to the main
thing, is this,
That the
Spirit of God in the hearts of his children is
effectual in stirring up holy desires.
There is nothing that
characteriseth and sets a stamp upon a Christian so much
as desires. All other things may be counterfeit. Words
and actions may be counterfeit, but the desires and
affections cannot, because they are the immediate issues
and productions of the soul; they are that that comes
immediately from the soul, as fire cannot be counterfeit.
A man may ask his desires what he is? According to the
pulse of the desires, so is the temper of the man.
Desires are better than actions a great deal; for a man
may do a good action, that he doth not love, and he may
abstain from an ill action, that he hates not. But God is
a Spirit, and looks to the spirit especially. It is a
good character of a Christian, that his desire, for the
most part, is to good; the tenor and sway and bent of his
desire is to good. 'One thing have I desired.' The Spirit
of God is effectual in stirring up these desires.
Quest. But how
shall we know that these desires are the chief things to
distinguish an hypocrite from a true Christian, and
whether they be true or no?
Ans. To go no
farther than the text: desires are holy and
spiritual,
If they be about
holy and spiritual things. 'One thing have I
desired,' saith David. What was that? To be rich and
great in the world, and to be revenged on my enemies? No,
no; that is not the matter. I have many enemies; God will
take a course that they shall fall. That that I desire,
is to have nearer communion with God; I desire to enjoy
the ordinances of God. So his desire it was set on
spiritual objects, and that argued it was a holy
desire.
2. And then again, his
desire. It was a fervent desire, as he saith, 'One
thing have I desired, and that will I seek after.' It was
not a blaze or flash, that was soon in and soon out. It
was not a mere velleity, a kind of inefficacious desire.
Fervency shewed that his desire was sound. He would not
be quieted without the thing accomplished.
3. And then constancy,
when a man will not be taken off. There is not the
wickedest man in the world, but he hath good flashes,
good offers, and desires sometimes. 'Lord, have mercy
upon me,' &c. He hath good ejaculations sometimes.
Ay, but what is the bent and sway of his desires? This
was David's constant desire. As it was about spiritual,
and was a fervent and eager desire, that he would not be
quieted, so it was constant. That that is natural is
constant, and that that is supernaturally natural. That
that is natural in spiritual things, it is constant;
nature is constant. For how doth nature differ from art?
Artificial things are for a time. Teach a creature beyond
his nature, he will shew his naturals. So let an
hypocrite act a part, if it be not his nature, he will
soon turn to his naturals, and shew that he is an
hypocrite again. Constancy and perpetuity in good things,
a tenor of good desires, shew that the heart is good,
because it is constant.
4. And then again, this
desire here, of David, it was kindled from the love of
God, and not out of base ends. Holy desires are
kindled in the soul from the love of God; for what saith
he here? 'One thing have I desired.' What was that? 'To
dwell in the house of the Lord.' What to do? 'To behold
the beauty of God;' to see God in his excellency and
beauty and worthiness. All his desire was from this, that
his soul was enamoured with the beauty of God's house.
The love of God stirred up this blessed desire in the
prophet. Therefore, it was a holy and spiritual
desire.
5. Again, as they spring
from the love of God, so they tend to the honour of
God; for what comes from heaven, goes to heaven back
again. As waters that come from a spring, they go as high
as the place they come from; so holy desires, being
kindled from heaven from a spirit of love, they go to
heaven again. The love of God stirs them up, and he seeks
God's glory, and honour, and inward communion with God in
this. For a man out of a natural desire may desire holy
things sometimes, to be free from such or such a sin, and
to have such and such a grace, not out of a desire to
honour God; but if he had grace, he sees he might escape
troubles, he might be free from temporal judgments, and
he might ingratiate himself, and commend himself to this
or that person, whom he desires to benefit by. Therefore,
he desires as much grace as may help forward his
intentions in the world. He joins the world and God
together. Oh! no, these are not the desires that
distinguish a Christian from another man; but those that
spring from the love of God, that proceed inwardly from
the truth of the heart, and that the things themselves
please God, and that there is a loveliness in them, and
that they tend to the honour of God especially, and our
own good in a secondary place. This is a character of
good desires. Thus we see, though I should go no further
than the text, how we may distinguish holy and heavenly
desires from other desires. 'One thing have I desired,
and that will I seek,' &c.
Therefore, let us examine
what our desires are, what our bent is. Desires issue
from the will and affections, and they shew the frame of
the soul more than anything in the world. As the springs
in low places are discovered by the steams and vapours
that come out of the place, men gather that there is a
spring below, because of the assent of vapours; so the
vapouring out of these desires shew that there is a
spring of grace in the heart; they discover that there is
a spring within.
And let those that mourn in
Sion, that have some evidence (though they are not so
good as they would be), let them look to their hearts.
What is thy desire? What is the bent of thy soul? When a
man is once converted and turned, wherein is his tuning?
Especially, his mind and judgment and esteem of things
are altered. There is a change of mind, and withal the
desire and bent of the soul is altered; that if a man ask
him, and examine what the bent is of all the course of
his life, oh! that God might be glorified, that his
church and cause might prosper, that others might be
converted; this is the bent of his soul; not that he
might be great in the world, and ruin those that stand in
his way (this shews that a man is a rotten hypocrite).
The bent and sway of the soul shews what a man is.
Because I would not have
any deceived in the point, take one evidence and sign
more with you, and that shall be instead of all, and it
is out of the text too, ' One thing have I desired, and
that will I seek after,' not by prayer only, but in the
use of all means ; as, indeed, he was never quiet till he
was settled again in Sion, nor then neither till he had
gotten materials for the temple, and a place for God's
honour 'to dwell in,' Deut. xii. 11. If desires be not
the desires of the sluggard, there will be endeavour; as
we see in the desire of David here, 'One thing have I
desired, and that will I seek.' He used all means to
enjoy communion with God sweetly.
The sluggard lusts and hath
nothing. So there are many spiritual sluggards that lust
and have nothing, because they shew not their desire in
their endeavours. There will be endeavour where the
desire is true. For desire springs from the will, the
will being the appetite of the whole man, Voluntas
appetitus, &c. The understanding carries not, but
the will. When the will will have a thing, it carries
all the parts. Hereupon, when the desire is true,
it stirs up all the powers and faculties to do their
duty, to seek to attain the accomplishment and possession
of that that is desired.
Those, therefore, that
pretend they have good desires to God, and yet live
scandalously and negligently, and will take no pains with
their souls, alas it is the sluggard's desire, if they
take not pains to remove all lets and hindrances. For a
man may know the desire of a thing is good when he
labours to set the hindrances out of the way, if he can.
If the lets and hindrances be not impossible, he will
remove it, if he can. Therefore, those that pretend this
and that, 'There is a lion in the way,' Prov. xxvi. 13,
when they might remove it, if they would, there is no
true desire; for desire is with the removing of all
possible hindrances of the thing desired.
Quest. But to
resolve one question. How shall I know whether my desire
be strong enough and ripe enough or no to give me
comfort?
Ans. I answer, if
the desire of grace be above the desire of any earthly
thing; that a man may say with David, 'One thing have
I desired,' I desire to be free from sin, as a greater
blessing to my soul, than to be free from any calamity,
Oh! it is a good sign. And surely a man can never have
comfort of his desire till his desires be raised to that
pitch. For none ever shall come to heaven that do not
desire the things that tend to heaven, above all earthly
things; nor none shall ever escape hell that do not think
it worse and more terrible than all earthly miseries. God
brings no fools to heaven that cannot discern the
difference of things. Therefore, let us know, that our
desires are to little purpose if we have some desire to
be good, &c.; but we have a greater desire to be rich
and great in the world, to have such and such place. If
the desire of that be greater than to be gracious with
God, if we hate poverty, and disgrace, and want, and this
and that more than sin and hell, to which sin leads, it
is a sign that our judgments are rotten and corrupt, and
that our desire is no pure spiritual desire. For it is
not answerable to the thing desired; there is no
proportion. David saith here, 'One thing have I desired.'
His desire carried him amain to 'one thing necessary,'
above all other things whatsoever. Thus you see out of
the text, what are the distinguishing notes of true
desires from those that are false. I need name no more,
if we consider what hath been spoken.
Now for our comfort, if
we find these holy desires: Oh! let us take comfort in
ourselves: for 'God will fulfil the desires of them that
fear him,' Ps. xxxvii. 4. Holy desires, they are the
birth of God's Spirit, and th&e is not one of them
that shall be lost; for God regards those desires, 'My
groanings are not hid from thee,' Ps. xxxviii. 9; my
groanings in trouble, and desires of grace. There is not
the least thing stirred up in the soul by the Spirit of
God, but it prevails with God in some degree, answerable
to the degree of worth in it. Therefore, if we have holy
desires stirred up by God, God promotes those desires.
God will regard his own work, and to 'him that hath shall
be given,' Mat. xiii. 12. 'Lord, be merciful to thy
servants, that desire to fear thy name,' saith Nehemiah,
i. 11. It is a plea that we may bring to God, 'Lord, I
desire to please thee,' as it is, 'The desire of our
souls is to thy name, O Lord,' Isa. lxvi. 8. We fail
sometimes, that we cannot perform actions with that zeal
and earnestness as we should; but the desire and bent of
our soul is to thy name. A Christian may make it his plea
to God, —truly our desires are towards thy name, and
we have some suitable endeavours; and our desires are
more that way than to anything in the world. It is a good
plea, though we be much hindered and pulled back by our
corruptions. So much for that, the act upon this object,
'One thing have I desired.'
Of whom doth he desire it?
Of the Lord.
'One thing have I desired
of the Lord.'
It was not a blind desire
of the thing, but a desire directed to the right
object, to God, to fulfil it. Holy desires are such
as we are not ashamed of, but dare open them to God
himself in prayer, and desires to God. A Christian, what
he desires as a Christian, he prays for, and what he
prays for he desires; he is a hypocrite else. If a man
pray, as St Austin, in his confessions, that God would
free him from temptations, and yet is unwilling to have
those loving baits from him, he prays, but he doth not
desire. There are many that pray; they say in their
prayers, 'Lead us not into temptation,' Mat. vi. 13, and
yet they run into temptation; they feed their eyes, and
ears, and senses with vain things. You know what they are
well enough, their lives are nothing but a satisfying of
their lusts, and yet they pray, 'Lead us not in
temptation.' And there are many persons that desire that,
that they dare not pray for, they desire to be so bad.
But a Christian what he desires, he prays for. I desire
in earnest to be in the house of the Lord, I desire it of
the Lord, I put up my request to him; and what I pray to
him for, I earnestly desire indeed. Learn this in a word,
hence, that,
When we have holy
desires stirred up by God, turn them to prayers.
A prayer is more than a
desire. It is a desire put up to God. Lot us turn our
desires into prayers. That is the way to have them
speed.
'One thing have I desired
of the Lord.'
The reason why we should,
in all our desires, make our desires known to God, is to
keep our acquaintance continually with God. We have
continual use of desires of grace, and desires of
mortification of corruptions, and of freedom from this
and that evil that is upon us. As many desires as we
have, let them be so many prayers; turn our desires into
prayers to God, and so maintain our acquaintance with
God. And we shall never come from God without a blessing
and comfort. He never sends any out of his presence
empty, that come with a gracious heart, that know what
they desire. And it brings peace with it, when we make
our desires known to God by our prayer. It brings 'peace
that passeth understanding,' Philip. iv. Put case God
doth not hear our request, that he doth not grant what we
ask. 'The peace of God which passeth understanding, shall
keep your hearts and minds.' So that when we put up our
requests to God with thankfulness for what we have
received, the soul will find peace. Therefore I say, let
us turn all our desires into prayers, to maintain
perpetual communion and acquaintance with God. Oh! it is
a gainful and comfortable acquaintance.
It is an argument, and sign
of a good conscience, for a man to go oft to God with his
desires. It is a sign that he is not in a wicked course;
for then he dares not appeal to the presence of God. Sore
eyes cannot endure the light; and a galled conscience
cannot endure God's presence. Therefore it is good to
come oft into the presence of God. It shews that the
heart doth not regard iniquity. 'If I regard iniquity in
my heart, God will not hear my prayers.' Ps. lxvi. 18. It
is an argument of a good conscience to come oft into the
presence of God. But I will not enter into the common
place of prayer.
We see next his
earnestness, 'I have desired it of the Lord, and I
will seek after it.'
I will follow God still.
Here is his importunity in prayer, his fervency, his
uncessancy and perseverance, as the apostle exhorts, he
persevered in prayer, Eph. vi. 18. ' I will seek after
it.' In prayer, and in the use of all good means, I will
do what I can. So you see one qualification of prayer,
it must be with perseverance and importunity. God
loves importunate suitors. Though we cannot endure to be
troubled with such persons, yet God loves importunate
suitors, as we see in Luke xviii. 1-8, in the parable of
the widow. God there vouchsafes to compare himself to an
unrighteous judge, that 'cared neither for God nor man,'
yet the importunity of the widow moved him to regard her.
So the poor church of God, she is like a widow, with her
hair hanging about her. 'This is Zion, whom none
regardeth;' yet this widow, the poor church of God, and
every particular member of it, they are importunate with
the Judge of heaven and earth, with God; and will not he
more regard the importunity of his children whom he
loves, and delights in, that 'call upon him day and
night'? Ps. cii. 2, will not he regard their petitions,
when an unrighteous judge shall care for the importunity
of a poor widow? Thus you see the excellent fruit of
importunity in our blessed Saviour himself, and here in
David, 'I will seek after it,' I will have no nay.
Therefore we are exhorted in the Scriptures, not to keep
silence, to give God no rest. 'You that are the Lord's
remembrancers, keep not silence, give him no rest.' As
Jacob with the angel, wrestle with him, leave him not
till we have a blessing. As the woman of Canaan, let us
follow him still, and take no nay. Oh this is a blessed
violence, beloved, when we can set upon God, and will
have no nay, but renew suit upon suit, and desire on
desire, and never leave till our petitions be answered.
Can the hypocrite pray alway? Would you know a
comfort-able note to distinguish an hypocrite from a true
Christian? take it hence, will the hypocrite pray alway?
Sometimes he will pray; but if God answer him not
presently he gives over; but God's children pray always,
if the ground be good, if they see the excellency of the
thing, and the necessity, and withal join at the
aimiableness of it, that it may be gotten. When they see
the excellency, and the necessity and usefulness of the
thing, and the attainableness of it, and that it is
attainable in the use of means, they need no more, they
will never give over. That is the reason of that in the
petitions, 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth
as it is in heaven, Mat. vi. 10. But can we do the will
of God on earth as it is done in heaven? and doth God's
glorious kingdom of heaven come while we are here on
earth? No; it doth not, but the soul that is guided with
the spirit of prayer, it rests not in this or that
degree, but prays till it be in heaven, 'Thy kingdom
come.' I have grace now, but I desire glory. 'Thy will be
done.' I desire to do it as thy saints in heaven, though
I cannot do it; hut I desire, and I will not give God
rest, but pray, till all my prayers be answered in
heaven; and then I shall do the will of God as it is done
in heaven indeed. Thus we ought eagerly, and constantly
to persevere in our desires, till they be fully
satisfied, or else we are but hypocrites.
Let us make conscience, I
beseech you, of this duty more than we have done, and
never give God over for grace; for strength against our
corruptions; for his church ; for the prosperity of the
means of salvation ; for those things that we have ground
for; let us never give him over till we see he hath
answered our desires. And when he hath answered our
desires, let us go on still to desire more; for this life
is a life of desires. The life of accomplishment is
heaven. Then all our desires shall be accomplished, and
all promises performed, and not before then. This is a
life of desires, and we must be in a state of desires and
prayers still till we be in heaven.
Quest. What is
the reason that God doth not presently accomplish our
desires?
Ans. There be
diverse reasons. First of all he loves to
hear the desires of his servants, he loves
to be sued unto; because he knows it is for our good. It
is music that best pleaseth God's ears to hear a soul
come to him to request, especially spiritual things of
him, which he delights most to give, which he knows is
most useful and best for us. This pleaseth him so
marvellously, that he will not presently grant it, but
leads us along and along, that still he may hear more and
more from us.
2. And then to keep
us in a perpetual humble subjection and dependence
on him, he grants not all at once, but leads
us along, by yielding a little and a little, that so he
may keep us in a humble dependence.
3. And then to exercise
all our graces; for a spirit of prayer is a spirit of
exercise of all grace. We cannot pray, but we must
exercise faith, and love to God and his church; and a
sanctified judgment to esteem what are the best things to
be prayed for; and to exercise mortification. 'If I
regard sin, God will not regard my prayers,' Ps. lxvi.
18. A spirit of prayer is a spirit that puts all into
exercise; therefore God, to keep us in the exercise of
all grace, answers not at the first.
4. And then he would have
us to set a high price upon what we desire and seek
after. If we had it at the first, we should not set
so high an esteem and price of it.
5. And then, that we
might better use it when we have it. Then we use
things as we should do when we have gotten them with much
ado; when we have won them from God with great
importunity, then we keep and preserve them as we should.
These and the like reasons may be given, and you may
easily conceive them yourselves. Therefore let us not he
offended with God's gracious dispensation if he answer
not our desires presently, but pray still; and if we have
the spirit of prayer continued to us, that spirit of
prayer is better than the thing we beg a great deal.
Ofttimes God answers us in a better kind, when he gives
us a spirit of prayer; for increasing a spirit of prayer
in us, he increaseth all graces in us. What is it we
would have? this or that particular grace. But when God
gives us a spirit of prayer, he answers us better than in
the thing we ask, for there is all grace. He will answer
in one kind or other. But I will not be large in these
points. You see then what was the affection of the holy
prophet, to that one thing. 'One thing have I desired.'
And he did not only desire it, but turned his desire into
a prayer. He prayed to God; and he not only prayed once
or twice, but be seeks it still, till God vouchsafed to
grant it.
Obj. Well, but
that that he prayed for, he was assured of, and therefore
what need he pray for it? He had a promise, 'He shall
prepare a table before mine enemies, my cup doth
overflow,' Ps. xxiii. 5, 6. But what is that to this?
These be things of this life. Oh but, saith he, God will
be good to me in the things of another life, and all the
days of my life too. 'Doubtless the lovingkindness of the
Lord shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall
dwell in the house of the Lord.' He takes in trust his
dwelling in the house of God; and that the lovingkindness
of God should follow him all the days of his life, he was
assured of it, and yet here he seeks it and prays for
it.
Ans. I note it,
to shew that the assurance of the thing takes not away
the earnestness of prayer. Daniel was assured (Dan. ix.
4, seq.) that God would deliver the Jews out of
Babylon. He had read Jeremiah's prophecies, he knew the
time was accomplished; yet we see what an earnest prayer
he makes there. Christ knew that God heard him in all his
desires, that he should have all good from God, being his
only Son, yet he prayed whole nights sometimes, and a
whole chapter, John xvii., is an excellent prayer of his.
So that the assurance of the thing takes not away prayer
to God; nay, it stablisheth it, for God so makes good his
promises for the time to come, as that he makes them good
this way, he will be sought to by prayer. And I may know
hence that he will make good his promises for the time to
come to me, if I have a spirit of prayer for them; if I
pray for perseverance to the end, that God would
vouchsafe me grace to live in the church, and to grow up
as a cedar. God surely means to grant this, because he
hath given me holy and gracious desires, which he would
not have given me, but that he means to give the thing.
For this is an encouragement to pray, when I know I shall
not lose my labour. I pray, because I have a promise to
have it, and I know the promise runs upon this. 'But I
will be sought unto of the house of Judah for this,'
Ezek. lxxvi. 37. For if we have it, and have not sought
it by prayer, for the most part we cannot have a
comfortable use of it, unless we have things as the fruit
of our prayers. Though there be not a particular prayer
for every particular thing we have of God, yet unless it
be the fruit of the general prayer, that we put up dally,
we cannot have comfort in it; if God give it by a general
providence, as he fills 'the bellies of the wicked with
good things,' Ps. xvii. 14. But if we will have things
for our good in particular, we must receive them as the
fruit of our prayers from God. You see hers he seeks, and
desires that that he had a promise to have,' One thing
have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek.'
'That I may dwell in the
house of the Lord.'
It was generally propounded
before. 'One thing have I desired, and that will I seek
after,' with all my might. And what is that? The
specification of it is this: 'That I may dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever.'
His desire is, not only to
be in God's house, but to dwell in it, to abide; and not
for a little while, but to dwell, and to dwell 'all the
days of my life.' The house of God then was the
tabernacle, the sanctuary. The temple was not yet built.
He desired to be near the tabernacle, to dwell in the
sanctuary, the place of God's worship. In the tabernacle,
which in those times was the house of God, there was the
ark and the mercy-seat, types of many glorious things in
the New Testament; the holy of holies, &c. And he
desired to dwell in the tabernacle, to be near the ark,
the house of God. Why? Because God manifested his
presence there, more than in other places. The ark hath
God's name in diverse places of Scripture; because God
gave his answers in the ark, in the propitiatory, or
mercy-seat. They came there to know his meaning, what he
would have; he gave his answer there. He is said to dwell
between the cherubins. There were two cherubins upon the
mercy-seat, and God is said to dwell between the
cherubins, Exod. xxxv. 22; that is, there he was present
to give answers to the high priest, when he came to ask.
David knew this well enough, that God had vouchsafed a
more special presence in the tabernacle, than in all the
places of the world, and therefore, saith he, 'I desire
to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life.'
'House,' we take for the
persons that are in it, and persons that are ordered, or
else it is a confusion, and not a house. It is a company
of those that are voluntary. They come not by chance into
our house, those that are members of our society; but
there is an order. There is a governor in a house, and
some that are under government, and there is a voluntary
conjunction and combination. So the church is a voluntary
company of people that is orderly, some to teach, and
some to be instructed; and thereupon it is called a
house.
And it is called the house
of God, because he is present there, as a man delights to
be present in his house. It is the place where God will
be met withal. As a man will be found in his house, and
there he will have suitors come to him, where he reveals
his secrets. A man rests, he lies, and lodgeth in his
house. Where is a man so familiar as in his house? And
what other place hath he such care to protect and provide
for as his house? And he lays up his treasures, and his
jewels in his house. So God lays up all the treasures of
grace and comfort in the visible church. In the church he
is to be spoken with as a man is in his house. There he
gives us sweet meetings; there are mutual spiritual
kisses. 'Let him kiss me 'with the kisses of his mouth,'
Cant. i. 2. A man's house is his castle, as we say, that
he will protect and provide for. God will be sure to
protect and provide for his church. Therefore he calls
the church of God, that is, the tabernacle (that was the
church at that time), the house of God. If we apply it to
our times, that that answers the tabernacle now, is
particular visible churches under particular pastors,
where the means of salvation are set up. Particular
visible churches now are God's tabernacle (b). The church
of the Jews was a national church. There was but one
church, but one place, and one tabernacle; but now God
hath erected particular tabernacles. Every particular
church and congregation under one pastor, their meeting
is the church of God, a several church independent. Our
national church, that is, the Church of England, because
it is under a government civil, which is not dependent
upon any other foreign prince, it is a particular church
from other nations.
In that God calls the
church his house, it shews the special respect that he
hath to his church. God, though he be present everywhere,
yet he is present in another manner in his church. As for
instance, the soul is present in all the parts of the
body; but the soul, as far as it understands, is only in
the brain; as far as it is the fountain of life, it is in
the heart. It hath offices and functions in all the
parts; but in the special function, the rational function
of it, as it discourseth and reasoneth, it is in the
brain. So for our apprehension's sake, God is everywhere;
but as he sanctifies and pours out his blessings, and
opens, and manifests his secrets, so he is in his church
especially. God is everywhere, but he is in another way
in heaven than in other places. He is there gloriously.
So in earth he is everywhere, but he is in another manner
in the church (the heaven upon earthy, than in other
places. He is there as in his house to protect them, and
provide for them as his family; and there he abides by
his ordinances, and takes solace, and delight. God
delights himself in his church and children that attend
upon his ordinances. 'Where two or three are met
together, I will be in the midst of them,' Mat. xviii.
20. When God's people meet together in the church, God is
present among them. So you see in what respect the
tabernacle then, and particular churches now, which
answer it, are called the house of God.
Let us learn this for our
duty, as well as consider our comfort, in that the church
is the house of God, let us carry ourselves as we
should, decently, in the house of God. Those that are
to look to the house of God, they should purge out all
unclean corners, that God may delight to dwell in his
house still, that we give him no cause to depart out of
his house. 'That I may dwell in the house of the
Lord,' &c.
The act here is, that I
'may dwell in house of the Lord.' He did not desire to be
in it for a day or a little time, to salute it, and so
leave to it; but to 'dwell in the house of the Lord,' and
to dwell there for ever. You see here that Christians
have a constant love to the best things, a constant
desire to dwell in the house of God. You may think it a
strange desire of this holy man to dwell in the house of
God; but think then of the continuedness of his desire,
it was even to heaven itself; he desired 'to dwell in the
house of God for ever.'
For what end?
1. I desire to dwell in the
house of God, that I may dwell in the love of God, and
in the care of God to me in Christ for ever. I
do not desire to dwell in the house of God, as it is a
meeting, and there an end; but I desire to dwell in the
house of God, that I may dwell in the love and care of
God, and not only dwell in his care and love to me, and
his care and esteem of me; but,
2. That I may dwell in
my love to him, that I may 'abide in his love,' and
faith in him; that I may abide in Christ. It is not only
for a man to abide in the house of God, and go no
further than so, but to abide in the love of God; and in
our love, and care, and faith, and dependence upon him,
to make God our house, to live, and walk, and abide in,
'to dwell in God,' as St John saith, 1 John iv. 13; not
only in the house of God, but God himself. And the upshot
of all his desire, was to abide in heaven for ever. The
desires of God's people never rest till they come to
their proper centre, and there they are quiet. There is a
rest of all desires in heaven; as fire, it never rests
till it come to its element above, and heavy bodies rest
not till they come to the centre below. So holy desires,
that are the motion of the soul, they rest not till they
come to the centre, the place of rest. So we must
conceive of David's desire to dwell in the house of the
Lord, to dwell in the care, and love, and protection of
God for ever, to dwell in love, and faith, and
dependence, and in the whole stream of my soul for ever
while I live; and then abide in heaven, where there are
'pleasures for evermore,'see he saith in
another place, Ps. xvi. 11.
Therefore when we have any
thoughts and desires, while we are here below, of grace
and comfort, &c., let us extend, and stretch our
desires to the last, to heaven itself, where all desires
shall be accomplished, where all promises shall have
their fall performance. It is a poor thing only to desire
to live in the church militant, and there is an end. No;
here is the comfort of God's people, that in their
prayers and desires, and their endeavours suitable to
their prayers and desires, they all lead them to heaven;
and there they have their full accomplishment. They have
a constant desire to dwell in the house of God.
1. The reason is, because
the soul in this world is never fully satisfied with
the good things of God's house till it
be in heaven. This life is a life of
desires and longing; the church is but contracted to
Christ in this world; the marriage shall be consummate in
another world. Therefore the church desires still further
and further communion with Christ in his ordinances here,
and for ever in heaven.
2. And then there are
remainders of corruptions still, that dead and dull our
performances, and put us on to actions that grieve our
spirits and the Spirit of God; to this end, that we
may have a perpetual supply of the Spirit. We desire to
dwell in the house of the Lord, because there is
corruption in us still, till grace hath wrought it out
fully.
3. There is more and
more to be had still in the house of God. We
never come to be full. The soul it is wondrous capable,
being a spiritual essence. It is capable of more grace
and comfort than we can have in this world. Therefore we
pray, 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' A
Christian desires to dwell in the house of the Lord here,
till he come to dwell in heaven, till he be translated
from the temple here, to the temple in heaven. In Ephes.
iv. 11,seq., God hath ordained a ministry
to the edification of the church, not only to constitute
the church, as some think and say, that preaching must
constitute a church, and after praying must edify it. Oh!
let both go together. 'God gave gifts to men, to preach,
to edify the church more and more. So long as there is
use of building more and more, so long there is need of
the ministry. Therefore he desired to 'dwell in the house
of the Lord'
4. But the especial reason
why he desired it, was because he knew God was also
present in his own house, and there is no good thing
can be wanting where God is present. It is the
presence of God that makes all things sweet and
comfortable. What makes heaven to be heaven, but
because God is there? If the soul of a Christian
were among angels, angelical comforts would not be
desired, if God were not there. If there
were all the delights in the world, it would not care
for them, except God were present. Heaven were not heaven
without the presence of God. The presence of God in a
dungeon, in a lion's den, makes it a paradise, a place of
pleasure; the presence of God makes all conditions
comfortable. If there be not the presence of God, the
greatest comfort in the world is nothing. What makes the
church esteemed of by holy men? God is present there; and
wheresoever God is present, in the communion of saints,
especially in his ordinances, we should esteem them by
this, that God is present. What makes hell to be hell?
There is no presence of God there; no testimony of his
presence in hell; nothing but 'utter darkness.' What
makes the life of man comfortable? There is some presence
of God in everything. There is a presence of God in meat,
in drink, in friends, that a man may say, Oh, here is a
good God, here is some presence of God. There is not the
vilest reprobate in the world, but he hath some testimony
of God's presence. He tastes of God in somewhat or other;
though he see not God in it (but like a beast is drowned
in the use of the creature), yet God shows himself to him
in some comfort. But when God shall remove all his
presence from a man, that is hell itself. What is hell
but where there is no presence of God? When there is no
communion with the chief good, that the fountain of good
is removed, a man is in darkness, and horror, that is
hell, as we see in Dives, Luke xvi. 4, seq. It is
the presence of God that makes things comfortable. That
is heaven, to enjoy nearer and nearer communion with
God.
Therefore let us labour to
enjoy the presence of God in his ordinances, that we may
have a heaven upon earth, that we may desire still more
and more to delight in them, till we come to heaven,
where all desires shall be accomplished, and there shall
be no more desire. David knowing that God was present in
his church, he saith, 'Oh that I might dwell in the house
of God all the days of my life.'
See the constant
disposition of God's children hence. It is a torment to
carnal men to watch one hour with Christ. 'Could you not
watch with me one hour?' Mat. xxvi. 40, saith he to his
disciples. It is a torment to give God the hearing; to
sanctity the Lord's day. Alas! it cannot stand with their
carnal dispositions. But God's people long, and have a
longing desire. 'One thing have I desired, that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord.' Men that have not depth
of grace, they are like comets. They blare for a time;
but when they are not fed with vapours from below, there
is a dispartition not long after. But fixed stars are
always in the firmament; they never vary. So a true
Christian is as a fixed star, he is fixed in the
firmament, in his desire. 'One thing have I desired, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life;' and God seconds his desire, and saith amen to it;
as I shall have occasion to press after, in the use in
the latter part of the verse. 'That I may dwell in the
house of the Lord.'
'To behold the beauty
of the Lord.'
This was another ground
of the eager, constant, unsatisfied desire, 'To dwell in
the house of the Lord,' that he might 'ace the beauty of
the Lord,' or the delight, the sweetness of God. Beauty
is too particular a word to express the fulness of the
Holy Ghost, the pleasantness or the delight of God. Take
the word in a general sense, in your apprehensions. It
may be the object of all senses, inward and outward.
Delight is most transcendent for pleasantness; for indeed
God in his ordinances, is not only beauty to the eye of
the soul, but is ointment to the smell, and sweetness to
the taste, and all in all to all the powers of the soul.
God in Christ, therefore, he is delightful and sweet.
'That I may see the beauty of the Lord.'
In this clause here are
discovered these two things, the object and the act.
There are these two points.
That God is beautiful. And this is seen in his
ordinances, and in his church, especially, 'to see the
beauty' of God's house. And it is the happiness of a
Christian, and he esteems it so by the Spirit of God,
to see, and to be partaker of this beauty of God. Sight
is put for the more full enjoying, one sense put for
another, as indeed sight is taken for all the senses,
inward and outward. It is no benefit to us, though there
be beauty, if we have not eyes to see it, all is lost;
therefore he desired to dwell in the house of the Lord,
that he might 'see the beauty of the Lord.'
Now, concerning the beauty
of God, I will not speak of it at large, or singly of the
excellencies of God. The text aims especially at the
beauty of God, as discovered in his ordinances,
in his church. A man may speak gloriously, and
largely of the beauty of God, of his excellency. That his
wisdom is wondrous excellent, and beautiful, that is seen
in the ordering of things, and his power is wonderful
beautiful, and his mercy, &c. All this is true; but
what is all to us, though God be never so beautiful in
himself, if he be not beautiful to us in Christ, and in
his church? Therefore we will come to that that the holy
prophet here aims at, 'The beauty of the Lord;' that is,
God is especially beautiful in his church, in his
ordinances, and that was the ground of his desire.
Omne pulcrum est amabile, every beautiful
thing is an attractive of love. It is no wonder he
desired to dwell in the house of the Lord, because there
was the beauty of the Lord, and the most excellent beauty
of all.
The beauty of the Lord is
especially the amiable things of God, which is his mercy
and love, that makes all other things beautiful that is
in the church.
What makes his power sweet to his children? and his
justice, in confounding their enemies, and giving
rewards? and his wisdom sweet, in reconciling justice and
mercy together wisely in Christ? All that makes this so
lovely, is his grace and love, that set his wisdom on
work, to devise a way to reconcile justice and mercy by
Christ Emmanuel, God and man. So that that is most
beautiful in God is grace; as you have it, Exod. xxxiv.
6. When Moses desired to see the glory of God, how doth
God describe himself to Moses? 'Jehovah, Jehovah strong,
gracious, merciful, longsuffering, full of kindness.' So
that if we would see the glory of God, it appears most in
grace, and mercy, and lovingkindness, and such sweet
attributes. This makes all things in God amiable; for now
we can think of his justice, and not fear. It is fully
satisfied in Christ. We can think of his power with
comfort. It serves for our good to subdue all our
enemies. There is no attribute, though it be terrible in
itself, but it is sweet and amiable, because God looks
graciously on us in his beloved.
Now this grace and love and
mercy of God shines to us in the face of Christ as
beloved, as I have shewed out of that text, 2 Cor. iii.
18, 'We all behold the glory of God as in a glass (c),
that is, we behold the love of God in Jesus Christ, in
the mirror of the gospel. We must take God, not as
considered abstractively [that is, 'abstractly.'
— ed.] and simply, but God in Christ; for other
notions of God are terrible. God will not otherwise be
seen by the eye of the soul, nor otherwise known, than in
Christ. Now God in the Messiah is very delightful in his
house. This beauteous grace of God shines in the face of
Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. iv. 6. For God is so gracious and
merciful, as that his justice must be fully satisfied,
that is, only in Christ; that being satisfied, God in
Christ looks on us with a gracious look. So that God is
beautiful now in regard of his mercy and grace, as it is
revealed in Jesus Christ, as he looks upon us in the face
of his beloved Son. There are two objects of religious
worship. God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and Christ
Mediator. The beauty of both is wondrous in the church,
wondrous towards the church of God, and it is most
apparent in the ordinances of God in the church. Christ
is 'altogether lovely,' Cant. v.16. Christ in whom God is
a Father, and reconciled to us; and now we can sweetly
think of, 'He is altogether lovely, the chief of ten
thousand.' The church sets him out there particularly,
his head, his arms, his breasts, his eyes. 'His lips drop
myrrh,' Cant. v.18. She singles out every excellency of
Christ, and dwells upon it in her meditation, and sums up
all together, 'Christ is lovely.' What makes beauty but a
mixture of diverse colours? as we say, white and red mix
together sweetly. Now to see justice and mercy in Christ
so sweetly mixed, what an excellent beauty it makes! To
see the justice of God fully satisfied, that his mercy
might run amain to us now. Here is a sea indeed if we
should enter into it, to see the love of God, which is
the most beautiful and amiable grace of all; the love of
God in Christ, and the love of Christ towards us.
Christ was never more
lovely to his church than when he was most deformed for
his church; 'there was no form nor beauty in him,' Isa.
liii. 2, when he hung upon the cross. Oh there was a
beauty to a guilty soul, to see his surety enduring the
wrath of God, overcoming all his enemies, and nailing the
law to his cross. And that should endear Christ to us
above all things. He should be the dearer to us, the more
vile and base he was made for us, and he should be most
lovely in our eyes, when he was least lovely in his own,
and when he was deformed, when our sins were upon him. We
should consider those times especially. The world is most
offended at that, that a Christian most joys in. 'God
forbid that I should joy in anything but in the cross of
Christ,' Gal. vi. 14, saith St Paul; so we should joy in
and love that especially in Christ.
Now this love of God in
Christ, and this love of Christ, is expressed to us in
the Scriptures at large; it is published by the ministry,
sealed by the sacrament. It is too large an argument for
me to wade into. I need but only give you a touch and
taste of it.
Now, that that makes the
house of God so beautiful, then, is the love of
God, and the love of Christ shewed and
manifested, and the presence of God, of
Christ, and of the Holy Ghost in the church.
Take it for the persons; God the Father, as he hath
revealed himself a Father in Christ, he is among the
people of God in the church, and there is God the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, dispensing graces and comfort there.
It is the presence of the king that makes the court, and
it is the presence of God in the church that makes it so
glorious and so excellent as it is. 'Glorious things are
spoken of thee, thou city of God,' Ps. lxxxvii. 3.
The church likewise is
beautiful in regard of the angels, that are
alway attending in our assemblies, and see how we
carry ourselves. Here is not only the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost distributing grace and mercy, but likewise the
blessed angels, as pure instruments are in our
assemblies. Therefore in the curtains, in the hangings of
the ark, there were pictures of cherubins, to shew that
the angels attend about the church, especially the church
gathered together; for God more respects the church
gathered together than any several member. We are all
temples severally, but especially the church is the
temple when it is met together. Now by the cherubins in
the curtains of the tabernacle, was set forth the angels'
attendance upon the church. They are servants to do good
to the church; and they are fellow-students with us. They
study the mysteries of salvation, the beauty of God, the
wonderful transcendent love, and grace, and mercy of God
to his church, as it is in 1 Pet. i. 10, 11.. 'The angels
pry into the mysteries of salvation;' they are
students with us of those blessed mysteries. Something is
revealed to them, some grace and mercy to the church,
that they knew not before experimentally.
And it is beautiful
likewise in regard of the church itself. The
people of God themselves are beautiful; for order is
beautiful. Now it is an orderly thing to see many
together to submit themselves to the ordinance of God.
'The glory of a king is in the multitude of subjects,'
Prov. xiv. 28; and it is a glorious thing for God to have
many subjects meekly meeting together to attend his
pleasure. An army is a beautiful thing, because of the
order, and of the well disposed ranks that are within it.
In this regard the church is beautiful.
That which makes the house
of God beautiful more especially, is the means of
salvation: not only God's presence, but the means,
solemn and public prayer, the word and sacraments, and
likewise the government, that should be in purging the
church, —all make the church of God beautiful and
lovely. All the ordinances of God in the church of God
have a delight in them to spiritual senses.
1. As for the ordinance
of the word, it is wondrous delightful, 'sweeter than
the honeycomb,' Ps. xix. 10, especially the ordinance
unfolding the word, the word as it is preached, which is
the 'opening of the box.' A box of sweet ointment, if it
be not opened, it casts not a sweet savour all the house
over; but when the box is opened, the savour comes over
all the house. So the publishing of the word in the
ordinance, is the opening of the box, the lifting up of
the brazen serpent. If the serpent were [not]
lift up for the wounded person, he could not behold it.
Now [that] Christ is lift up in the ordinance,
every wounded soul may look to Christ. The preaching of
the word, is the lifting up of the banner of Christ's
love. As it is in the Canticles, Christ's love as a
banner draws all after him. When the beauty of Christ is
unfolded, it draws the wounded, hungry soul unto him. The
preaching of the word doth that that shews the sweet love
of God in Jesus Christ. This makes the ordinance of the
ministry so sweet. The ordinance of the ministry is that
that distributes the portion to every child of God. The
ministers of God are stewards, as it were, to distribute
comfort and reproof to whom it belongs. Now where there
is a convenient distributing of the portion to every one,
that makes the ordinance of God so beautiful, when the
waters of life are derived from the spring of the
Scripture to every particular man's use. The word, in the
application of it, is a sweet thing. For good things, the
nearer they are brought home, the more delightful they
are. This ordinance of preaching, it lays open the
'riches of Christ.' There may be a great deal of riches
wrapped up in a treasury, but this opens the treasury, as
St Paul saith, 'to lay open the unsearchable riches of
Christ,' Eph. iii. 8. The ministry of the word is
ordained to lay open the treasure to God's people, that
they may know what riches they have by Christ; and the
end of the ministry is to win the people's love to
Christ. Therefore they come between the bride and
bridegroom to procure the marriage; therefore they lay
open that that procures the contract here, and the
consummation in heaven; so to woo for Christ, and
'beseech them to be reconciled to God,' 2 Cor. v.20. This
is the end of the ministry. This makes the church of God
so beautiful, that it hath this ordinance in it, to bring
God, and Christ, and his people together: to contract
them together. There be rich mines in the Scripture, but
they must be digged up. The ministry serves to dig up
those mines. God hath therefore set apart this calling of
the ministry, to shew what belongs to God's people. Thus
you see in this respect, of the ordinance of the
ministry, God is beautiful in his house.
2. Then likewise for the
other ordinance, the sacrament, it is a sweet and
delightful thing. There is a wondrous beauty in the
sacrament; for therein we taste the love of God,
and the love of Christ. That they would condescend so
low, as to seal our faith with the sacrament, to help our
souls by our bodies, by outward things; to help our souls
by that that feeds our bodies, to teach us what feeds our
souls, namely, the death of Christ, as satisfying divine
justice,—the thinking and digesting of this is
wondrous comfortable, as any food is to the body, and
incomparably more sweet, considering our continual
necessity to relish that spiritual food, and our daily
sins and breaches, that enforce a daily necessity to
relish Christ. That God should appoint such means, that
he should in the sacrament feed us with his own body and
blood. He thought he could not manifest his love enough,
unless he had told us that he would give himself to us,
and make over himself wholly to us: You shall have me, my
body and blood; as in the sacrament we are as verily
partakers of the body and blood of Christ, as we are of
the bread and wine. Our souls have as much spiritual
growth by Christ, and his benefits, as our bodies have by
the outward elements. He feeds us with himself; he
esteems and prizeth our souls that are bought with his
blood, so that he thinks no food good enough but his own
body and blood. What a gracious sweet love is this! He is
both the inviter and the banquet, and all. He invites us
to himself.
3. There is a loveliness
likewise in all other ordinances that belong to
the church; as in the good order and government of the
church, in purging the church of offenders; the
discipline that is in the church, which is as the
snuffers in the sanctuary to purge the lights; so
that there should be a carting out of persons that
are openly scandalous. The lights should be purged, the
temple should be cleansed, scandals should be removed,
that God's house might be the more beautiful. They are
blemishes of God's house, open swearers and blasphemers.
Those that live in scandalous sins, they are spots in the
assembly, they are leaven, and this leaven should be
purged out; and where there is the vigour of this, there
is a great beauty of the church. Where these things are
looked to as they should be, they are the bonds, and
nerves, and sinews that knit and tie a church together.
It makes a church wondrous lovely, the neglect of which
makes the church as a garden overgrown. So you see how,
in respect of the ordinances of the word, and of the
sacrament, and this government that should be, that the
house of God is a beautiful place.
4. Then again, it is a
comfortable, a sweet and delightful thing, the praises
of God. It is a marvellous sweet thing, when all as
one man hear together, pray together, sing together
hymns, and spiritual songs, and praise God together, and
receive the sacrament together, all as one man,
—what a comely thing is this to a spiritual eye!
Every Christian hath a beauty severed in himself; but
when all meet together, this is more excellent. As we say
of the via lactea, or milky way in the
heavens (we call it so), it is nothing but a deal of
light from a company of little stars, that makes a
glorious lustre. So if there be a beauty in every poor
Christian, what a beauty is there when all meet together!
A beauty, nay, strength too; for the prayer and the
praise of such, they offer a holy violence to God, they
can obtain anything at his hands. We see burning glasses,
when there is a confluence, and meeting of divers beams
in one point, it strengthens the heat,and inflames a
thing; so when there are many sweet desires meet
together, many strong desires of spiritual things, they
bind God. There is not only beauty but strength in the
prayers of the church. They are in Christ's own esteem
comeliness. He loves to see his church, especially when
they are together. 'Let me see thy face, and hear thy
voice, thou that hidest thyself in the clefts of the
rock,' Cant. ii. 14. He marvellously desires to see his
children, and to hear them speak, especially when they
present themselves before him. Harmony is a sweet and
pleasant thing. The comparing of the state of the church
in former times with the present, is a harmonious thing.
David, he lived under the Old Testament, and yet he saw
under that the New, so we should see the Old in the New,
compare them together, to see shadows in substances,
types in truths. So that there is nothing in the church,
but it gives special delight.
5. God's beauty likewise
appears, his gracious, amiable, sweet beauty, in his
house, his church in regard of the evidences of his
love that he bears to his church, in protecting
it, and providing for it. 'They shall not need a
wall,' saith he in Zechariah, 'I will be a wall of
fire,' Zech. ii. 5. God hath a special care
of his congregation. 'God dwells in the congregation of
the righteous,' Ps. lxxxii. 1. He hath his dwelling, his
special residence there, where his name is called on.
This will appear more if we see all the sweet privileges
and comforts that are in the house of God. God is not
only beautiful in himself, but in regard of the
privileges that the church hath from him. For all our
beauty and excellency is borrowed. The church shines in
the beams and beauty of Christ. Now these privileges that
the church hath by Christ, to name a few. (1.) We
see in the golden chain of salvation, what
sweet, amiable love is in all those links; as what a
wondrous sweet love of God is it. (2.) To call men out
of the wilderness of the world,
out of the kingdom of Satan, to be his
children! A marvellous love to single us out of the rest
of mankind to be Christians, and being Christians,
to be professors of the truth, and being so, to be true
professors of the truth. What a wondrous love of God was
it to call us, and thereby to have the eternal purpose of
God opened to us. As when we are drawn to God by his
Spirit and by the ministry, then the good pleasure of
God, that was hid from eternity, is discovered to the
soul. Here is the amiable love of God.
(3.) And then in the
pardon, and forgiveness of sins, and justification
after—what a wondrous grace is that forgiveness
of sins, and adoption to be the sons and heirs of God,
'fellow-heirs with Jesus Christ,' Rom. viii. 17, and
thereupon to have angels our attendants. What beauty have
we in justification, to be clothed with the righteousness
of Christ; that perfect righteousness, that can answer
the justice of God much more Satan's cavils and the
troubles of our own consciences. That that satisfieth the
justice of God, being the righteousness of God-man, it
will satisfy conscience, and Satan's temptations. It is a
garment without spot. Satan can pick no hole in that
glorious garment, the righteousness of Christ. If we have
the wardrobe of Christ, we shall be beautiful in that we
have from Christ, we shall shine in his beams.
(4.) So go to
sanctification. How amiable is God in the
privilege of sanctification, to set his image upon us, to
make us new creatures, to be like his Son, that before
were like the devils, full of malice and base affections.
Now for God by his Spirit to frame a new temple for his
Spirit to dwell in, to set his stamp upon us, what a
wondrous beauty is this! The church of God is the house
where God frameth new creatures. There he sets a stamp
upon his creatures.
The graces that belong to
the church of God are wondrous delight. 'Wisdom makes a
man's face to shine,' Eccles. viii. 1; and there is no
wisdom out of the church. All is but darkness and folly.
So of all other graces whatsoever. Graces are the
anointing of the Spirit, the oil of the Spirit. They make
sweet and delightful, delightful to God, and to the
church, and to one another. They are anointed with the
oil of gladness and of grace. It ran first upon Christ's
head, upon Aaron's head, but then upon the skirts, the
meanest Christian.
And so the beginning of
glory here; for all is not kept for the life to come. For
God distils some drops of glory beforehand. We see the
beauty of God here, marvellously even in this world, in
regard of the beginning of glory. For upon justification,
and the beginning of holiness wrought in our nature by
the Spirit, we have inward peace of conscience, and joy
and comfort in all discomforts whatsoever. We have not
only the oil of grace, but the oil of comfort. Oh! the
comfort of the children of God, that are members of the
church, that are so in the church, that they are of the
church too, that are of the church visible, so as they
are of the church invisible. Oh! the comfort that belongs
to them, all the comfort in God's book. So you see the
wondrous sweet prerogatives and privileges we have in all
the passages of salvation in the house of God, and in God
reconciled in Jesus Christ.
Nay, God is so lovely to
those that are his, his church and people, he is so good
to Israel, that he makes everything good to them in the
issue. 'All things work for the best to them that love
God,' Rom. viii. 28, in the issue. He makes a covenant
between everything. So that all the endeavours of Satan
and his instruments, all their plottings, shall turn for
the good of the church. When they think to do most hurt,
they do most good; so sweet, and good, and gracious is
God.
Indeed, 'glorious things
are spoken,' Ps. lxxxvii. 3, of the people of God. Take
the church for a visible congregation, a mixed
congregation; glorious things are spoken of that. It is
the house of God. Take it as visible, 'the vessels of
honour and dishonour,' 2 Tim. ii. 20, and the field, the
'tares and the wheat,' Mat. xiii. 1, seq., it is
God's field. Though we take the church as visible, it
hath a glorious name for the good that is in it,
specially for the wheat. But take the church of God for
the company of his children that are gathered by the
means dwelling in the visible church, enjoying the
visible means: so they are the house and temple of
Christ, the 'temple of the Holy Ghost, the body of
Christ, the spouse of Christ.' They are God's delight,
they are spiritual kings and priests, &c. The most
glorious things that can be, all other excellencies in
the world, are but titular things, mere shadows of
things. There is some little reality, but it is nothing
in comparison, it is scarce worth the name of reality,
but Solomon calls them 'vanity of vanities.' In
comparison of the excellencies of the church all is
nothing. I might be large in these particulars. It is
enough to give you the generals of the delights and
excellencies of God's house, 'the beauty of the Lord.' We
see amiableness of God in Christ, in his ordinances, the
privileges that we have in the ordinances, graces, and
comforts. Indeed the church of God, beloved, is a
paradise. Since we were cast out of the first paradise,
this second paradise is the church of God, and the third
is heaven itself. This paradise, this church, it is the
seminary [that is, 'seed-plot' —ed.] of
young plants, that must be transplanted hence to heaven
in due time. In paradise there was the tree of life, Gen.
iii. 22; in the church, there is the tree of life,
Christ. In paradise there was waters, streams, the rivers
of paradise, Gen. ii. 10; so there 'is a river that makes
glad the city of God,' Ps. xlvi. 4, streams of grace and
comfort that run through the church of God.
In the church we are as
plants by the rivers of waters, that bring forth fruit in
due season, as it is in Ps. i. 8, seq. Speaking of
blessed men that live in the church, 'Blessed is the man
that meditates in the word day and night,' that attends
upon the ordinances. He is 'planted as a tree by the
waters' side,' his leaf is alway green. What food to that
food that is ministered to us in the word, and
sacraments—Christ himself to feed us to life
eternal! And what raiment to the raiment of
justification; for Christ to clothe these poor souls of
ours, poor, naked, beggarly souls! What riches to the
riches of God's graces and comforts! What strength to
that that is in the church, to overcome our own
corruptions and lusts! What beauty to the image of God
shining and stamped on his children! What company so
sweet, as those that we meet with in the earth, in good
exercises, and that we shall live ever with in heaven!
What company to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and
the angels, that we enjoy in the church! What discourse
so sweet, as that of God, hearing him speak in his word,
and us speaking to him by prayer, so that it is a
resemblance of heaven upon earth, the church of God!
Therefore we should be in
love with the beauty of God's temple and sanctuary. And
the rather because all things now in this age of the
church wherein we live are in a more glorious manner than
in David's time. David when he saw the beauty of God's
sanctuary, it was but in a shadow; and when he looked
upon the mercy-seat, then he did think of Christ, the
true propitiatory, the true mercy-seat. When he looked on
the high priest, he thought on Christ the true high
priest. When he thought of Canaan, it put him in mind of
heaven, whereof Canaan was a type. When he saw the
sacrifices, he thought of the true sacrifice for our
sins, Christ. When he thought of the oblations and
incense, he thought of the sacrifice of thankfulness.
When he thought of the passover, he thought of Christ the
true passover, whose blood is sprinkled on our souls,
that the destroying angel hath nothing to do with us. He
saw all in shadows; we see them naked. So our condition
is more glorious in this latter age of the church, than
it was in David's time. Therefore our desires should be
more stirred up; for instead of the shadow we have the
substance. Then the Spirit was but dropped, but the
Father hath poured out the Spirit since Christ's time.
Then the pale of the church was straitened, now it is
enlarged. Then there was but one church, the national
church of the Jews. Then the service of God was wondrous
burdensome, and chargeable, but it is not so now. So that
there be many differences. All things are more lightsome
and clear now than they were then. Therefore having many
things to commend the frequenting of the congregation
more than David had in his time, we should much more make
this one thing our desire 'to dwell in the house of the
Lord, all the days of our life, to behold the
beauty of the Lord.'
Quest. If this be
so, that there is such a beauty in the house of God, then
what shall we think of those that see no such beauty at
all, that see no such delight and contentment in the
house of God?
Ans. I
answer, it is a discovery to them, if they would think of
it, that they have no spiritual senses at all; as
St Austin saith of men that complain, that they do not
taste and relish these things. Surely, saith he, thou
wantest a spiritual palate to taste these things. What do
swine care for sweet marjoram or roses? They care more
for a dunghill or a puddle. What do your base filthy
swine in men's shape care for these things? They care
more for pleasures and such things, that they may spend
their lives as beasts. Now when we speak of the delights,
and dainties, and excellencies of God's house, we speak
to those that we wish, and we hope have spiritual senses
answerable to these things. Every creature delights in
its proper element. These things are the element of a
Christian. Beetles delight in dirt, and swine in mire,
the fish in the sea, man hath his element here, and
spiritual things are the element of a Christian, so far
as he is a Christian, and that is his ubi, the
place that he delights in. I speak to such. They can make
it good in some measure, that 'one day in the house of
God is better than a thousand elsewhere,' Ps. lxxxiv. 10,
that one hour in the unfolding the sweet mysteries of
salvation, it is worth twenty-four hours in other
employment; and they are so taken with the sweetness,
that they are content that God should take them out of
the world, in the unfolding of these sweet things. When
they hear the promises of salvation opened, though by a
poor weak man, yet when it is in the ministry, it so
ravisheth their hearts, that they are content to go to
heaven at the same time; it so convinceth them of the
excellency of religion. I speak to such of the beauty of
God.
Now David here, he desires
to behold God's beauty, to see or consider this
excellency of God in his church, for to true delight
these things must concur. There must be something sweet
in the thing itself. There must be a power in the soul to
apprehend it. There must be an affection in the soul to
that good thing. If the affection be flat, though there
be never so beautiful and sweet things, and a power to
apprehend them, if there be not affection, they are
nothing; and then, upon the affection, there must be
complacency and contentment in the thing when we have it.
All these things are in delight from that that is
beautiful and pleasant, David desired to see. He knew
there was a beauty in the presence of God in his
ordinances and gifts and graces; but he desired to see
and to contemplate these things, that the faculties and
powers of his soul might be answerable to the things,
that as they were excellent, so he might have a power in
his soul answerable. And then he had affections to carry
that power of his soul to the things, 'One thing have I
desired.' And then there was a complacency and delight in
the things, upon enjoining, [Qu. 'enjoying?' —
ed.] answerable, as we see how he expressed his
delight when he danced before the ark. We see what a
psalm he made when he did but purpose 'to build the
temple,' Ps. cxxxii. He had a wondrous joy. So answerable
to our delights is our joy and complacency in the thing
when we have it.
Now that he might have the
sweeter complacency, he desired to see the beauty and the
things in God's house. Of all senses, sight hath this
property above the rest (as it is more spiritual, more
refined, and more capable; a man may see many things at
once, it is a quick sense; so), it hath this privilege,
it stirs affections more than any sense, more than
hearing, that is a more dull sense. Things stir
affections more that are seen, than by that we hear. He
desired therefore to see the beauty of God's house, that
he might be enamoured. Of sight comes love.
David had spiritual eyes,
and he desired to feed his spiritual eyesight with the
best object that could be, for therein is the happiness
of man. Wherein stands a man's happiness? When there is a
concurrence of the most excellent object, with the most
excellent power and faculty of the soul, with delight and
content in it. Now he desired to see the beauty of God in
his house, that his soul might be ravished in the
excellency of the object, and that the highest powers of
his soul, his understanding, will, and affections might
be fully satisfied, that he might have full contentment.
Since the fall, all our happiness is out of ourselves, it
is derived from God in Christ; and it is taken out of the
promises of God in the word. For God will be seen in
Christ, and God and Christ will be seen in the glass of
the ordinances till we come to heaven, and there we shall
see 'face to face,' 1 Cor. xiii. 12. So that now all our
happiness is fetched by looking on the love of God, out
of ourselves, fetched out of the ordinances. David
desired to see the beauty of God. God's love is
diffusive. It spreads and communicates itself to his
church in the ordinances. Thus he, knowing, desired more
and more to communicate of this diffusive, abundant,
transcendent love of God.
Quest. But
how shall we come to have these desires that David had,
to see the beauty of God?
Ans. In a
word—we must have spiritual senses. The spiritual
life of a Christian is furnished with spiritual senses.
He hath a spiritual eye and a spiritual taste to relish
spiritual things, and a spiritual ear to judge of holy
things, and a spiritual feeling. As every life, so this
excellent life hath senses and motion suitable to it. Now
we should labour to have this spiritual life quickened in
us, that we may have a quick sight of heavenly things;
and a taste of heavenly things, that we may smell the
ointment of Christ. 'For the sweetness of thy ointments
the virgins run after thee,' Cant. i. 3. The soul hath
senses answerable to the body, let us desire God to
cleanse all our senses, and to reveal
himself in Christ more and more in the ordinances.
This St Paul calleth
the 'Spirit of revelation,' Eph. i. 17. Let us pray to
God that in his ordinances he would discover that amiable
love of his in Christ, to shine on us in the face of his
Son, in his ordinances; for the Spirit must help us to
see the beauty of God. When we have spiritual senses,
except the Spirit give us a spiritual light to see, we
cannot see. Therefore let us desire that God would give
us spiritual senses, to the spiritual light.
When God made the world,
light was the first creature. Why? That all the
excellency of the creature might be discerned by light.
If God had made never so many excellent creatures, if the
light had not discovered them, where had been his glory?
So there are many excellent, beautiful things in Christ,
wonderful grace and comfort; if these be discovered in
the word and we have no senses, and no light, if there be
not light in the understanding, God shall want his glory,
and we the comfort.
It is light that makes
things that are beautiful to be beautiful to us. A blind
man cannot judge of colours, nor a deaf man of sounds and
harmony. A man that hath lost his taste cannot judge of
sweetness, so that there must be senses, and the Spirit
of God must reveal these things unto us.
And likewise let us labour
more and more to see our own deformity, and
then we shall see Christ's beauty, the more
we desire to know our own vileness. Indeed the
Spirit of God carries these parallel one with another. He
discovers by the same light our own deformity and
necessity, and the beauty and excellency of God in Jesus
Christ. The one will set an edge on the other, and he
that will come to see the height and breadth, and depth
of God's love in Christ, must see the height, and
breadth, and depth of his own corruption, and our misery
by it out of Christ. And they are good thoughts for us,
every day to think of these two objects, the misery of
the condition of man out of Christ, and the excellency
now that we have in Jesus Christ; the amiableness of
Christ towards us, and our amiable condition in him. He
delights in us, as we delight in him. The consideration
of this, and of the loathsome, terrible, fearful
condition out of him, will keep us closer to Christ, and
make us value the ordinances more, that we may grow up in
faith and knowledge of Christ more and more, till we come
to a fulness in Christ.
And present to the eye of
our souls, God in Christ in the relations he hath taken
upon him, to be a Father in Christ. Let us make that
benefit of this beauty that is presented to us in the
gospel, especially when it is unfolded in the ministry,
because Satan hath a special policy to present God and
Christ otherwise to us. Especially in the time of
temptation, he presents God as a judge, sitting upon his
throne, and God as a 'consuming fire,' Heb. xii. 29. It
is true he is so out of Christ, but in him he hath taken
the relation of a father, and looketh on us sweetly in
the relation of sons. Christ must be considered in the
sweet relation of a Saviour, and the Holy Ghost in the
sweet relation of a comforter; and the word is all
written for our comfort, if we believe, and the
sacraments feed us to eternal life. Let us represent
these things beautifully to the soul, and this will
strengthen faith, and cherish affection, that Satan shall
not rob us of our comfort, nor say to us, what do you, ye
unclean persons, loathsome creatures, what do you come to
the sacrament, and come to the holy things of God? It is
true, if we mean to be so still, but as soon as ever the
desire of our souls is Ito come to God, and that there is
a divorce between us and our sins, and we desire to leave
them, let us have all the sweet conceits of God that
maybe. We see in Revelations, Laodicea was lukewarm, and
that is a hateful temper. 'Behold,' saith he, ' I stand
and knock, if any man open to me, I will come, and sup
with them,' Rev. iii. 20. A strange love, to come to them
that were in such a lukewarm estate. He was ready to cast
them out. His stomach was loaden with them. 'I stand at
the door and knock,' yet if any of you lukewarm
professors will open, I will come and sup with him, and
refresh him with the refreshings of God. So in Cant. v.,
when the church slighted Christ and offended him, yet he
woos his church. 'My locks are wet with the dew of the
night,' Cant. v.2. Oh! marvellous patience, that
notwithstanding her lukewarmness and neglect, yet Christ
gives not over! Let us not entertain hard conceits of God
in Christ, but labour to present them sweetly to our
meditations.
This is the wisdom of a
Christian, to have sights of faith, that is, to present
several things that faith may work on to strengthen
itself, as for faith to have a sight of God in Christ, a
gracious Father; and to have a spiritual sight of Christ
sending ambassadors wooing and beseeching us to be
reconciled; and a sight of the joys of heaven, that we
shall have full possession of after. Let us think of
them, and present them to our souls; and present to our
souls by meditation, the excellency, and royalty, and
prerogative of God's children, that they are the most
excellent people in the world. These sights that faith
helps itself by, are an excellent means to make us in
love with the beauty of God's house. But to answer two or
three objections briefly before I proceed to more
particulars.
Obj. Some
will object, what need we now in these glorious times of
the church stand upon the ordinances so much? Indeed in
darker times there was more need, &c.
Ans. I will
not be large, but to answer in a word. The more
God dicovers himself and his excellent things here,
the more we should express our thankfulness in labouring
to grow in knowledge; for there is such a breadth in
them, that we can never have enough of them, and there is
such a daily exigence of spiritual things, of comforts
and graces, that are all conveyed in the use of means,
that a Christian cannot be without them; he can no more
be without the use of the ordinances than he can without
his daily food.
0bj. Oh! but what
need we be so eager and earnest after these things as
some are? Is not now and then enough?
Ans. Are we
better than David? See how earnest he was, Ps. lxxxiv.
and Ps. xlii. 'As the hart panteth after the rivers of
water, so my soul thirsteth after thee, O God,' Ps. xlii.
1, lxxiv. 2. For there is a presence of God in his
ordinances that other men are not sensible of. There is a
presence to their spirits that they feel that they
marvellously love, and are affected with. And if they
want the presence of God, as David here, they are
wondrously discouraged. As good Nehemiah, when he heard
it went not well with the church, he grew sad; and David,
we see how he takes it here when he was banished, as it
were, from the house and ordinances of God. But I will
not stand long upon these objections.
0bj. Some think they
may as well read at home good books and sermons, and not
come to the ordinances.
Ans. But
David loved the ordinances; he loved the place.
Might not he think of what he heard before? might not
he have help of the prophets? Oh! but there is a blessing
in the very meeting, 'Where two or three are met
together, I will be in the midst of them,' Mat. xviii.
20. And Christ walks in the midst ' of the golden
candlesticks,' Rev. i. 12. There is a more powerful,
gracious presence in the very assemblies of God's people.
Put case thou mayest do much good in private, with
contempt of the public ordinance; it is a cursed study.
Like manna that did stink when it was gathered out of
season. When it was gathered when it should not, it
putrefied. There is a curse upon that study, and upon
that knowledge that we get when we should attend upon the
public means. For it is not knowledge that will bring to
heaven, for the devil hath that, but it is knowledge
sanctified, seizing upon the affections. Now, what is it
that maketh us good? The Spirit working with the
ordinance; and will the Spirit work when we neglect the
ordinance? It is but a pretence. They spend their time
otherwise, it is to be feared not so well. But put the
case they should, there never comes good of it. It may
enrich them in knowledge to grow more devilish; but more
holy they cannot be, for holiness comes from the Spirit,
and the Spirit will work by his own ordinances. So much
for that, and of all other objections in regard of the
beauty of God.
I will not raise any
objections, but only answer those that commonly popish
spirits trouble some withal. I will answer, I say, some
of them briefly.
0bj. They trouble
us about our churches. Indeed, if your particular
churches were churches of God, if you could make that
good, then you might delight in them, but you are
heretics and schismatics; your churches are not good
churches. Thus they trouble good Christians that are of
the simpler sort; especially with this, where was your
church a hundred years ago? before Luther's time? (d)
Your church is an upstart, and your congregations are
nothing but a meeting of a company of heretics together.
[The commonplaces of the popish controversy. Consult
Faber's ' Difficulties of Romanism.' —ed.]
Ans. Beloved,
that that makes a church 'to be a catholic church, to
be a branch of the catholic church, which we believe
in the creed, it is the catholic faith. The faith
and truth that is the seed of the church, it is begotten
of the word of God. Wheresoever the word, the catholic
truth of God, is, there is the church, a branch of the
catholic church. Now our faith that we believe hath
consanguinity with the first churches; for what do we
believe, but it is fetched out of the Testament, and from
the primitive church? And indeed in their own confession,
if they would be modest, that might be extorted from
them, that we are more catholic, and our doctrine is more
catholic than theirs. Why? For that that agrees with the
ancient truth, 'and faith once given,' as St Jude saith,
ver. 3, it runs through all ages; and that wherein we
agree with them is more agreeable and catholic than that
they hold severed from us. It is more catholic in regard
of all times, before Christ, and in Christ's time, and in
the apostles' times; and that that the papists themselves
hold with us, is more catholic than that they hold
severed. Now wherein they differ from us, and we account
them heretics, they differ from the Scriptures, and from
the church six hundred years after Christ; and many of
them are of late standing. Therefore in those tenets of
ours we agree with the papists, and with the primitive
church. What do we hold but they hold? But they add
traditions that are pernicious. We hold the Scriptures.
They hold that, and traditions too. We hold two
sacraments. They add five more. We hold Christ to be the
Mediator. They make saints mediators too. Whatsoever we
hold they hold, but they add their own patcheries
[that is, 'patchwork,' = 'additions' —ed.]
to them. Therefore our doctrine is more catholic, because
we have the evidence of Scripture for all ours, and we
have them to justify ours; and wherein they differ from
us, they have neither Scripture nor antiquity; but they
are only a company, a mass of things of their own. But I
will not be much in this point. And then, say they, where
was your church before Luther's time, and two hundred
years ago? Where was it? Where their church was. Our
church was amongst them, in the midst of them. Witness
their fire and inquisition, and persecution! They found
out our church well enough.
But to make it a little
clearer. The church of God, take it in general for good
and bad in it, and for the means of salvation that they
had in some measure, it may be called a kind of visible
church, though very corruptly; and so considered, our
church, those that possessed our religion, was the best
of that church in the declining times of it. As in a lump
of gold that is not yet refined to bullion there is gold,
and a great deal of earth: take it in the whole, we say
it is gold; but when it is refined to bullion, we say it
is gold severed. Now our church in the midst of popery
was as gold in the midst of earth unrefined; that is,
there were [misprinted 'was.'—ed] many
Romish Churches, and ours was in the midst of them, the
temple in the midst of the court; that is, the true
church in the visible church. There were a great company
that held the tenets of the gospel, especially at the
hours of death, that denied popery. But then there were
some that were refined as bullion after, as the
Waldenses, that were a severed company of people, besides
other holy men and women that grew up by hearing somewhat
of Christ in their sermons, and somewhat in the
sacrament. They left out that that was bad, and took that
that was good. Besides the lump of gold, there was some
refined gold, when popery was in its perfection; and
those they termed Waldenses, and the like. There was
alway a company that held the truth against them. I am
sorry to mention these things, in a point tending more to
edification. Our churches therefore are refined churches,
that is, gold singled out of the dross of popery. They
are a corrupt, and our church a refined, a visible
congregation.
Now to cut off these
objections, to come nearer to ourselves, to make good our
particular congregations, and to shew that of necessity
we ought to frequent them, and to take heed of all
objections that the devil and the flesh may make to bring
us out of love with our particular congregations, know
therefore these three or four rules in a word.
First, that there
hath been a church from the beginning of the world,
where God hath been worshipped. Christ is a King, and
he must have a kingdom. To believe a catholic church is
an article of our faith, and there cannot be an act
without an object. I have faith, I believe a visible
church, therefore there must be a church. So that there
hath been a church from the beginning of the world. It is
an article of our faith.
Secondly, the
mark whereby this church is known is especially the
truth of God. That is the seed of the church, the
truth of God discovered by his word and ordinance. To
which is annexed the sacraments and ecclesiastical
government; but the former most necessary. And these
three were typified in the ark; for there was the law
signifying the word, and the pot of manna signifying the
sacrament, and the rod to show the discipline. Those
three were, as it were, types of the three marks of the
church. But especially the word. For that is the seed of
the new birth. wheresoever the word hath been published,
and there hath been an order of teachers, and people
submitting themselves, there is a church, though perhaps
there might be some weakness in other regards. A man is a
man though he want the ornaments of a man; and a city
without walls is a city. Put case there might be some
weakness in some things, yet as long as the vitals of the
church remain it is a church.
The third thing
that I observe, to clear this point, to hasten to things
of more edification, is this, abuse takes not
away the use. A neglectful use or abuse takes not
away the true use of things. Put case the Scripture be
abused many ways, that the sacraments have many
additions, that these things are not so pure ; yet it
takes not away the just use; for then we take away the
cause of things. Then the conclusion of all is this, that
of necessity, notwithstanding somewhat may be found fault
with in all visible churches, some errors there may be;
yet we ought to cleave to a visible church, because it
hath been alway, and we ought to know it by these marks.
If the word of God be taught there, then of necessity we
must cleave to it. 'God added to the church such as
should be saved,' Acts ii. 47, to the visible church.
Those that are saved must be saved in submission to the
visible church. But these things I list not [that is,
'choosd not.' —ed.] to be large in. This may
give satisfaction.
Use 1. If this be
so, that we ought to submit to the ordinance of God in
the visible church, to come into the ark as it were (the
visible church is called the ark), or else we must be
drowned and perish, what shall we think then of
those that are cast out of the church by
excommunication (but that is for their good)? But
their case is very ill, because they are cut off from the
house and beauty of God. Their case is miserable. But it
is worse with those that depart out of themselves, as
apostates, &c. Some are cast out, some are apostates
and go out. They fall away from the church of God to the
Romish strumpet, to Babylon; being dazzled with the pomp
of that church, not seeing the spiritual beauty of the
ordinances of God with us. What think we of those that
ought to join with visible congregations, that
excommunicate themselves willingly, such as schismatics,
and such profane separatists, that when they may, will
not; partly because they will not have their consciences
awaked, and partly because they will give liberty to the
flesh to other things at that time. Some are cast out,
and some go out, some excommunicate themselves. They are
of the disposition of the devils, that will not be
'tormented before their time,' Mat. viii. 29. They think
they shall hear somewhat that will awake their
conscience, and they are very unwilling to have
conscience awaked, but they will have all their torment
at once. All these are in a woeful condition. If the
gracious presence of God be in the church above all other
places in the world (as we see David desired 'to dwell in
the house of God, that he might see the beauty of God')
if there be a beauty in the divine ordinances, how
miserable are those that are cast out, or that go out!
that rent themselves from the church, or willingly
excommunicate themselves like wild creatures? They are
worse than Cain. He grieved when he was to depart the
presence of God. He fell into a desperate temper. They
are worse than he, that when they have the liberty of the
ordinances of God, they go on in a wild licentious
course, and neglect all means that God hath sanctified to
bring them to heaven.
Use 2. But to
come nearer, to make an use of trial, how shall we
know whether we have benefit by, and whether we be truly
in love with, the beauty of God's house or no, because
many come hither? As in Noah's ark there were beasts
that were clean and unclean, so there are many that come
to the visible congregations; they are in the church (as
excrements are in the body), but they are not of it.
To know therefore whether
we come to purpose, and heartily love the beauty of God
in his ordinances, and comforts and graces, as David did
here or no, we may know it easily, for sight, as I
said before, it works affection. We may know by
our affection whether we see the excellency of God or no
in his ordinances. There is no sense that stirs up
affection answerable to sight; the affection of love
especially.
How shall we know that
we love the ordinances of God?
That is an affection
that of all others is least to be concealed.
What we love we will boldly profess; we will joy and
delight in it if we have it. You see how David joyed in
the ordinance of God, how he danced before the ark. There
was no joy that he had comparable. He preferred it before
all other joy that he had whatsoever. It was a
transcendent joy. And what we love and delight in we
meditate much on. 'Oh how I love thy law I my meditation
is on it continually,' Ps. cxix. 97. Our minds will run
on it. Therefore we are exhorted to think of the word of
God, to have it before our eyes, to have it written
before us in our courses, that we may meditate upon it at
home and abroad. Moses he gave those helps. Where there
is love there in meditation. Those that love the good
things of God, their minds will be often on them.
Again, there will be
zeal for the holy things of God.
A man will not endure them to be disgraced, but he
will have a good word to speak in the defence of God's
ordinances, of holy things and religion. Those that
suffer religion to be betrayed in the company of base
carnal people, they have never seen the beauty of God's
house; [they] that have not a word to say. Those
that have seen God's beauty, and felt the comfort of the
delights of God's house, they are able to justfy it
against all opposers whatsoever, that there is good to be
taken and done there, by their own experience, by the
comfort they have felt. They will be able to tell others
what 'the Lord hath done for their souls,' Ps. lxvi. 16,
and in their souls, what graces they have been
strengthened in, what comfort they have felt. They can
discover this, and can justify all the ordinances of God
from their own experience. Do not we see daily
under the ordinance of God by weak men, the blind see,
the spiritually deaf hear, the spiritually dumb be able
to speak, to pray to God; the dead, those that are dead
in sin, they receive life. Do not all these justify the
excellency of God's ordinance, which gives spiritual
life, and spiritual senses? Those therefore that have
been dead in former time in sinful courses, and have
found the power of God's Spirit with his ordinances, they
are able to justify it. Those that are not able to
justify these things by some experience, they never felt
any good by them. By these and the like evidences, we may
try the truth of our affection, whether we have seen this
beauty or no to purpose.
Quest. If we find
that we have little comfort and strength by the word of
God, that we have not seen the beauty of it, what shall
we do, what course shall we take?
Ans. 1. Wait
still. Wait still at the pool for the angel's
stirring, John v. 4; for God at length will discover his
power by his Spirit; he will discover his goodness, if
not at the first, yet at length. Therefore let us use all
sanctified means. And know this for a rule, that God's
Spirit is an excellent worker. He will only work by his
own instruments.
2. And come to
the ordinances with a spirit of faith,
because they are God's ordinances. God will discover
himself in some excellency or other; he will discover
some comfort and grace, somewhat that is useful to our
souls to build us up to eternal life. Let us come with a
particular faith that he will do so. Faith must answer
God's promise. God hath promised, 'where two or three are
met together in his name, he will be in the midst of
them.' He hath made a promise to bless all his
ordinances. Therefore let our particular faith answer
God's ordinances. Lord, I go to thy house to hear thy
word, to receive thy sacrament in thy fear, in reverence
of thy majesty, and in a spirit of faith, I expect thee
to make good thy own ordinance. This brings a marvellous
efficacy with it. If we go with a particular faith, know
that God will be as good as his word. This course we must
take to see the beauty of the Lord.
3. And then, as I said
before, often let our thoughts be upon these
spiritual excellencies. Let us balance and weigh
things in our thoughts. Love comes from judgment, love
comes from an esteem of things, of the goodness of
things, and that comes from a right judgment. Let us
therefore labour to have a right judgment of things to be
as they are. Solomon was the wisest man, next to him that
was God-man, that ever was, and he knew what spiritual
things were, and what all other things in the world were,
and what verdict doth he give? This is the whole man, 'to
fear God and keep his commandments, Eccl. xii. 13. And
how doth he commend wisdom in Prov. viii. 1, seq.
All precious things are nothing in comparison of the
wisdom of God's word. But what saith he of other things?
He that had run through all things by experience, and
thought to extract the quintessence of all that the
creature could give, he saith they were but 'vanity and
vexation of spirit,' Eccl. i. 2; trust my experience.
Therefore let us be able to lay in the balance the good
that we get or may get by the blessed ordinances of God,
with other things whatsoever. Oh the beauty and
excellency of spiritual things, it is above all other
beauty whatsoever! Alas! what is outward beauty? it is
but a lump of well-coloured earth. What is gold, and all
the lustre of it? It is but earth refined. And what are
all honours and goodly delights that way? It is but a
puff of smoke, it is nothing; in one word, it is vanity,
and experience proves this every day. Oh! but the 'word
of the Lord endureth for ever,' 1 Pet. i. 25, that is,
tile comforts, and the privileges that we have by the
word of God, they endure for ever; and then more
especially the comfort of them when outward comforts fail
most, even upon our deathbed. When conscience is awakened
then, and hath presented to it the former life, and the
guilt of many sins, what will comfort a man then? his
goodly apparel, or his goodly feature, or his great place
and honour? (Perhaps these will increase his grief as
they have been instruments of sin.) Oh no; this will do
him good. Such a comfort I heard in such a sermon; such
good things I heard read, and such good things come to my
mind; such experience I have of God's Spirit working at
such and such a time; these will testify that God's
Spirit went with his ordinance to fasten somewhat on my
soul, and they will comfort when nothing else
will.
Let us oft compare all
other things with the beauty of God, and his ordinances,
as if all were nothing to them. Thus holy Moses, he saw a
beauty and a glory in the despised people of God that
made brick; he saw they were the people that God set his
delight on, and that the church of God was there. When he
saw that, he despised all the glory of Pharaoh's court,
and accounted the worst thing in religion, 'the reproach
and shame,' better than all the pleasures of sin, Heb.
xi. 23. Beloved, the bitterest things in the ordinance of
God are better than any worldly thing. What is the
bitterest thing in the ordinance of God? Reproofs! They
are as precious balm. If the ordinance of God meet with
our particular sins, and tell us, and discover to us what
an enemy it is, that it will be the bane of our souls if
we live in it, and it send us away to look to ourselves,
this will be as a precious balm; our souls will come to
be saved by it. And if for religion we suffer reproach
and shame, it will be as a crown, as holy Moses accounted
the reproach of Christ better than the treasures of
Egypt, Heb. xi. 26. If the worst and bitterest things in
God's ordinance be so sweet, what are the best things of
all? The comforts of religion. What is the peace of
conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost, and eternal glory
in heaven? What are the excellencies of religion, when
the shame and disgrace are to be preferred before all
other things whatsoever?
So blessed St Paul, he
weighed things after this fashion. He was an excellent
man, and had excellent privileges to glory in. Oh but,
saith he, I account all 'dung and dross' in comparison of
the excellent knowledge of Christ that he had, Phil. iii.
8. Our blessed Saviour, that was the most able of all to
judge, he would have all 'sold for the pearl,' that is,
for the field where the pearl is (e), to buy that, to get
the ordinances of God. He accounts him a wise man that
will sell all for that. And when Martha and Mary
entertained him, Mary sat at his feet to hear him expound
the truth of God; 'she chose the better part,' Luke x.
42, saith Christ. If we will believe him 'in whom all the
treasures of wisdom are,, in his judgment, 'Mary chose
the better part;' 'One thing is necessary,' saith he. He
justified David's choice, 'One thing have I desired;' and
saith Christ, 'One thing is necessary.' All things in
comparison of that are not necessary; they may well
enough he spared. Thus we see how we may come to love God
in his ordinances, and to see the 'beauty of holiness,'
the beauty of God in his sanctuary.
4. And because there are
two things needful to see a beauty, an object
revealed, and a sight, let us desire God to reveal
himself in his ordinances to us more and more, and
desire him to give us spiritual eyes more and more
to see him. Sometimes he hides himself in his
ordinances, that we cannot see the beauty of things. Let
us therefore desire him to reveal himself, to take away
that veil that is between us and holy things, and between
us and grace, and comfort, that he would take away that
spiritual veil, and reveal himself to us, and shine on us
in Christ, that he would manifest his love to us, and
give us spiritual eyes to see him.
Prayer is an excellent
means before we come; and when we are there, and oft in
attending on the ordinances, let us lift up our hearts to
God to reveal his truths to us.
There are many veils
between us and holy things. Let us desire God to take
them all away—of error, and ignorance, and
unbelief—and to shine so clearly to us by his
Spirit, that we may see him more clearly. And objects
have a special influence when they are clearly discerned.
Now a man may more clearly see and feel God at peace with
him by the Spirit, and clearly see and feel the comfort
of forgiveness of sins, and of any promise that is
unfolded; and it hath a marvellous influence upon the
affections, to comfort and to breed peace and joy. And
that is one sign that we profit by the ordinance of God,
when it is so with us; when we find an influence from the
things, upon our daily prayers, to work peace and
comfort, and spiritual strength against temptations and
corruptions. All in the ordinance is by the power of the
Spirit. Therefore we are to pray to God that be would
join his Holy Spirit, that he would reveal his secrets to
us, and with revelation work an influence into our souls,
that there may be a distilling of grace and comfort
through the ordinances to our souls. Prayer must
accompany the ordinances; because the ordinance of itself
is an empty thing unless the Spirit accompany it.
To stir us up a little to
this, more and more to see the beauty of God in his
ordinances, to see the glory of God, as the Scripture
speaks—indeed God is not only delightful and
beautiful, but glorious in his ordinances; and the ark is
called the 'glory of God,' Exod. xl. 34; and the
knowledge of God in Christ it is a glorious knowledge,
and the gospel is called a 'glorious gospel,' 1 Tim. i.
11—this will only [that is, 'this
only.' —ed.] make us truly glorious.
These things, they put a glory upon our souls. St
Paul calls it 'the glorious grace,' Eph. i. 6. What a
glorious thing is it when, by the ordinance of God, a
weak man shall have power against the strong devil,
against all the 'gates of hell,' Mat. xvi. 18; when a
poor creature, 'flesh and blood,' by some virtue
distilled through the ordinance by the Spirit of God,
shall have such a strong faith in the promise of
forgiveness of sins; such a faith in the promise that all
such [shall? —ed.] turn to his good; that
God is reconciled to him in Christ; that all the gates of
hell shall not prevail over a weak soul. And what a
glorious grace is it when, by the use and attendance upon
the ordinance of God, a poor soul shall have strength
over these corruptions and sins that others are slaves
to, and cannot get the victory over, that when they see
the spiritual beauty in God's ordinances, they grow out
of taste with all other things that others are besotted
with, that are of more excellent natural parts than they,
what a glory of grace is this! Therefore let us with all
fear and reverence attend upon the ordinances of God,
that God may be glorious in us by his Spirit, and
strengthen us against Satan and our beloved
corruptions.
2. And let us
know what our souls were made for. What are our
souls more for than to dwell in the meditation of the
beauty of God? What are our souls made for, but for
excellent things? and what is excellent but in God's
ordinances? Is the soul made to study debates and jars
between man and man in our particular callings? Is the
soul made to get a little wealth, that we shall leave
perhaps to an unthrifty generation after? Are our souls,
that are the most excellent things under heaven (the
world is not worth a soul; they are the price of the
blood of the Son of God; in his judgment the world is not
worth a soul), are they for these things? No. They are
for union and communion with God in his ordinances, to
grow in nearer communion with God by his Spirit, to have
more knowledge and affection, more love and joy and
delight in the best things daily. Our souls are for these
things that will make us gracious here, and glorious for
ever after in heaven.
It is a great deordination,
[that is, 'disordering,' = placing out of order.
—ed.] when we study and care only for earthly
things, and have slight conceits of those things that are
incomparably the best things, in the judgment of God and
of Christ himself, and of Solomon, and of all good
men.
3. And the rather let us be
stirred up to affect these things, lest God
depart from us. The glory of God departed out
[of] the temple before the destruction of
Jerusalem, Ezek. xi. 23; so the glory of God, that is, a
visible sign of his glory, it departs from a church; the
beauty and excellency of God departs when we esteem them
not. And if anything in the world make God to leave a
church, as he left the Jews, and as he may leave any
particular church (he will alway have a catholic church
in the world; but he is not tied to England or France, or
any country), if anything move him to this, it is because
there is not a prizing of the heavenly things we have; of
the blessed liberty we have to meet God in his
ordinances; that we have not a care to improve these
ordinances, to get grace and comfort against the evil
day. For however we esteem these things, God sets a high
price on them; and if we do not, God will deprive us of
them, or of the power and beauty of them. Therefore as we
desire God to continue his ordinances, and his blessing,
and power in his ordinances, let us improve them the best
way to get grace and comfort. He hath made a great
progress in religion, that hath gotten a high esteem and
a sanctified judgment of the best things. Though perhaps
he find himself dull and dead, and complain of it, yet
when God shines so far that be is able to approve, and to
justify the best things, that they touch his affections
so much, that the bent of his soul is that way, and he
cannot be long without them, and he finds much comfort by
them, though it be joined with much corruption, these
things argue a good temper and frame of soul.
And of all other
dispositions of soul, let us preserve that spiritual
disposition of soul, whereby our soul is fitted to the
things themselves. The things of God's Spirit are holy
and excellent, when there is such a taste and relish
wrought in the soul suitable to the things. There is a
happy combination then. We may know there is a powerful
work of the things upon the soul, for all grace wrought
by the things of God, we may know it when the soul hath a
suitable relish of them, and longs after them, and
delights in them, and improves them to the best; and such
a soul never wants evidence of a good Christian.
Ask a Christian what is the best evidence of salvation,
and that you belong to God? 'My sheep hear my voice,'
John x. 4, saith Christ, 'and as children new born,
desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby,' 1 Pet. ii. 2. A man may know he is a true child
of the church if he desire the sincere milk of the word,
to grow better and more holy and comfortable. If he
delight in the voice of God in the ministry, and so be
affected to the truth and ordinances of God, it is a
comfortable character of a good Christian. There are more
hidden evidences sometimes, but this for an ordinary
evidence is a good one and comfortable. David
marvellously comforted himself with this. 'Oh! how do I
love thy law,' Ps. cxix. 97. Oh! that we could say as he
did, 'Oh how do I love thy law, and love thy truth,' that
we could wonder at our own affections, that we could
delight in this beauty of God, as David saith here, 'One
thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek
after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the
days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord,'
&c.
FINIS.
NOTES.
(a) P.
217—'Babylon was so taken,'
&c. Consult Herodotus, 1.177, seq., with the
annotations and illustrations of Rawlinson, in
loc.; also Xenophon, Cyrop. vii. 5. For
very interesting explorations confirmatory of the fact
cf. Rich, 'Babylon and Persepolis;' Ainsworth,
'Researches in Assyria;' and Chesney, 'Exped. for Survey
of Euphrates.' It need hardly be stated that it was Cyrus
who took Babylon in the manner referred to by
Sibbes.
(b) P.
226.—' Particular visible
churches are now God's tabernacle.' In a tract by Philip
Nye, entitled 'The Lawfulness of the Oath of Supremacy,
and Power of the King in Ecclesiastical Affairs' (4to,
1688, p.41), the above and other context is quoted. On
the margin is placed 'Gospel Anointings,' which misled us
into inquiring after such a book (of which none had ever
heard) by Sibbes. Another tractate, by Bartlet, his
'Model of the Primitive Congregational Way' (4to, 1647),
explains the mistake of Nye. The following was evidently
his authority:'I shall produce only one more that was
famous for his Gospell-anointings [in italics,
the usual mode of expressing quotations], and little
thought by most men to have been of this judgment [in
the margin here, "see Dr Sibbs"]. And yet you shall
find in a little treatise of his (printed before these
troubles brake forth in England), called A
Breathing after God, that be speaks fully
to this purpose, his subject leading him to discover
himself herein, being, as I suppose, a little before his
death.' Bartlet then quotes the passages to which the
present note refers. The manner in which Nye was led into
his mistake is quite apparent on an examination of
Bartlet's tractate. Sibbes's name in the margin is
exactly opposite the words 'his Gospell Anointings,'
while the title of the book actually quoted does not
appear till several lines lower on the page.
(c) P.
230.—'As I have shewed out of
that text, 2 Cor. iii. 18,' &c. The sermons here
referred to comprise the second half of Sibbes's
'Excellency of the Gospel above the Law.' 18mo,
1689.
(d) P.
240.—' Where was your church
before Luther?' &c. There have been many polemical
answers to this taunting question. For thoroughness
none perhaps excels the old Scottish tractate by
Andrew Logie, 'Answer to the question, Where was your
religion before Luther?' Aberdeen, 1634, 4to.
(e) P.245.
—' The field where the pearl is.'
Either Sibbes uses pearl as = treasure, or here, and
elsewhere, he makes a slip. It is 'treasure,' not a
'pearl,' that is hidden in the
'field'—Mat. xiii.
44. G.
Author
Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) was
lecturer at Holy Trinity, Cambridge, 1610-1615, preacher
at Gray's Inn, London, from 1617, and Master of St.
Catherine's Hall, Cambridge, from 1626 until his death.
He was one of the most significant preachers of the
Puritan period.
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