do not only read of a glorified eye, but they have something of it, or like it in this world : " The pure in heart do here see God,'* Mat. V. 8. The saints have not only a witness without them in the word that there is a state of glory prepared for believers, but they have a witness in themselves. These are not the testimonies of crazed brains, but of the wisest and most serious of men ; not a few, but a multitude of them; not conjecturally delivered, but upon taste, feeling, and trial. O blessed be God for such sensible con- firmations, such sweet prelibations !
Infer. % But, oh ! what is heaven ? And what that state of glory reserved for the saints ? Doth a glimpse of God's presence in a duty, go down to the heart and reins ? O how unutterable then must that be which is seen and felt above, where God comes as near to man as can be ! Rev. xxii. 3, 4. " The throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him ; and they shall see his face."" And 1 Thess. iv. 17. " And so we shall be ever with the Lord."
0 what is that ! " Ever with the Lord?'' Christians, what you feel and taste here by faith, is part of heaven's glory ; but yet heaven will be an unspeakable surprizal to you, when you come thither for all thaf* " It doth not yet appear what we shall be," 1 John iii. 1, 2.
Infer. 3. See hence the necessity of casting these very bodies into a new mold by their resurrection from the dead, according to that,
1 Cor. XV. 41. " It is sown in weaknesss but raised in power." How else could it be a co-partner with soul in the ineffable joys of that pre- sence above ?
The state of this mortality cannot bear the fulness of that joy. Hold, Lord, stay thy hand, said a choice Christian once, thy crea- ture is but a clay vessel, and can hold no more. If a transient glimpse of God here, be felt in the very reins, if it so Avork upon the very body by sympathy with the soul, O what vigorous spiritual bo- dies, doth the state of glory require ! and such shall they be ; Phil, iii. 12. " Like unto Christ's glorious body."
Infer. 4. Is God so near to his people above all others in the world? How good is it to be near to them that are so near to God ? O, it would do a man's heart good to be near that person who hath lately had God near to his soul ! Well might David say, Psalm xvi. 3. " All my delight is in the saints, and in the excellent of the earth." And again, Psal. cxix. 63. " I am a companion of all such as fear thee." O this is the beauty of Christian fellowship, this is the glory of that society ! not the communication of their gifts, but the savour of God on their spirits. If any thing be alluring in this world, this is ; 1 John i. 3. " That ye may have fellowship with us ; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Christ Jesus." It is said, Zech. viii. 23. of the Jews, the time shall come, when there shall be such a presence of God among that people, that " ten men out of all languages shall take hold of the skirts of him that is a Jew,
39- SACRAMENTAL MEDITATIONS.
saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
Christians, if there were more of God upon you, and in you, others would not be tempted to leave your society, and fall in with the men of the world ; they would say, we will go with you, for God is with you.
Infer. 5. If God be so near to the lieart and reins of his people in their duties, O how assiduous should they be in their duties ? " It is good for me to draw uigh to God,'' Psalm Ixxii. 28. Good indeed ; the world cannot reward the expence of time at this rate, with all its glory ; James iv, 8. " Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you : thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness ; those that remember thee in thy ways," Isa. Ixiv. 5.
ObJ. It would be an encouragement indeed. If I might thus meet God in the way of duty ; but that is but seldom I can so meet God there, in sensible powerful outlets of his grace and love ! I am most dead and cold there : I feel not communion with God going down to my heart and reins.
Sol. First, You draw nigh to God ; but is it in truth, or in mere formality God is only nigh to such as call upon him in truth. Psalm cxlv. 18.
Secondlij, If your hearts be sincere, yet are they not sluggish .? Do you stir up yourselves to take hold of God ? Many there be that do not; Isa. Ixiv. 7. and Cant. v. 3, 5.
Thirdly, Have you not grieved the Spirit of God, and caused him to withdraw from you. O remember what pride and vanity hath been in you, after former manifestations ; Ephes. iv. 40.
Fourthly, Nevertheless wait for God in his ways ; his coming ■upon our souls is oftentimes, yea, mostly a surprizal to us; Cant. \i. 12. " Or ever I was aware, my soul made me as the chariots of AmmJ.nadib."'
Infer. (). What steady Christians should all real Christians be.? For lo, what a seal and witness hath religion in the breast of every sincere professor of it ? True Christians do not only hear by report, or learn by books, the reality of it ; but feel by experience, and have a sensible proof of it in their very hearts and reins ; their reins instruct them, as it is Psal. xvi. 7. They learn by spiritual sense and feehng, than which nothing can give greater confirmation in the ways of God.
There are two sorts of knowledge among men ; one traditional, the other experimental : this last the apostle calls a " knowing in ourselves;"' Heb. x. 34. and opposes it to that traditional knowledge which may be said to be without ourselves, because borrowed from other men.
Now this experience we have of the power of religion in our souls, is that only which fixes a man's spirit in the ways of godliness. It made the Hebrews take joyfully the spoiling of their goods ; no ar- guments or temptations can wrest truth out of the hand of experienccj
SACRAlStENTAL MEDTTATONS. 393
Non est disputandum de gustu. For want of this, many professors turn aside from truth in the hour of trial. O brethren ! labour to feel the influences of religion upon your very hearts and reins ! this will settle you better than all the arguments in the world can do ; by this, the ways of God are more endeared to men, than by any other way in the world. When your hearts have once felt it, you will never forsake it.
I pid then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present
A HIS chapter is the very anatomy of a Christian's heart, and gives an account of the most secret frames, and inward workings of it, both as to graces and corruptions : and this verse is a compen- dium of both : for the words are a mournful complaint, uttered with a deep sense of an inward pressure, by reason of sin ; wherein we are to consider three things :
1. The person complaining.
2. The matter of complaint.
S. The discovery of that matter.