Chapter 15

Delight of Believers in the Holy, Institutions of Divine Worship. The Grounds and Reasons thereof. The Evidence of being Spiritually-Minded thereby, &c.

THat all true Believers whose Minds are Spiritually renewed have a singular Delight, in all the Institutions and Ordinances of Divine Worship is fully evident both in the Examples of the Saints in the Scripture, and their own Experience, which they will never forego. For this has been the greatest Cause of their suffering Persecution; and Martydom it self in all Ages. of the Primitive Christians under the Power of the Pagan. Emperours, or the Witnesses for Christ under the Antichristian Apostacy, would, or could have omitted the Observance If them (according to the Advice and practice of the Gnosticks) they might have escaped the rage of their Adversaries. But they loved not their Lives, in comparison to that delight which they had in the Observance of the Commands of Christ, as to the Duties of Evangelical Worship. David gives us frequently an Instance hereof in himself, Psal. 42:1, 2, 3, 4. As the Hart pants after the Water-Brooks, so pants my Soul after you, O God. My Soul thirsts for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God. My tears have been my Meat day and night, while they continually say to me, Where is your God? When I remember these things, I pour out my Soul in me; for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the House of God; with the voice of Joy and Praise, with a multitude that kept Holy-Day. Psal. 63:1, 2, 3, 4, 5. O God, you are my God, early will I seek you, my Soul thirsts for you, my Flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty Land, where no Water is: To see your Power and your Glory, so as I have seen you in your Sanctuary. Because your Loving Kindness is better than Life: my Lips shall praise you. Thus will I bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your Name. My Soul shall be satisfyed as with Marrow and Fatness, and my Mouth shall praise you with joyful Lips. Psal. 84:1, 2, 3, 4. How amiable are your Tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My Soul longs, yea even faints for the Courts of the Lord: my Heart crys out for the Living God. Yea, the Sparrow has found an house, and the Swallow a Nest for her self, where she may lay her Young, even your Alters, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in your House: they will be still praising you. Selah.

But a greater than David is here. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, did upon all Occasions declare his Delight in, and Zeal for all the Ordinances of Divine Worship, which was then in force by Vertue of Divine Institution and Command For although he severely reproved and rejected, whatever men had added thereunto under the Pretence of a Supererogating Strictness or outward Order, laying it all under that dreadful Sentence; Every Plant which my Heavenly Father has not Planted shall be plucked up, and so cast into the Fire; yet as to what was of Divine Appoinment, his delight therein was singular, and exemplary to all his Disciples. With respect hereto was it said of him, that the Zeale of God's House had eaten him up, by reason of the Affliction which he had in his Spirit, to see the Worship of it neglected, polluted, and despised. This caused him to cleanse the Temple, the Seat of Divine Worship, from the Pollutors and Pollutions of it, not long before his Sufferings, in the Face and to the high provocation of all his Adversaries. So with earnest desire he longed for the Celebration of his last Passeover. Luk. 22.15. With desire have I desired to eat this Passeover with you before I suffer. And it is a sufficient Evidence of the Frame of Spirit and Practice of his Disciples afterwards. In reference to the Duties of Evangelical Worship by his Appointment; that the Apostle gives it as an assured Token of an unsound Condition, and that which tends to final cursed Apostacy, when any fall into a neglect of them, Heb. 10:25, 26, 27.

These things are manifest and unquestionable. But our present inquiry is only, what it is which Believers do so delight in, in the Ordinances and Institutions of Divine Gospel Worship, and what it is that ingags their Hearts and Minds into a diligent Observance of them; as also how, and wherein they do exercise their Love and Delight. And I say in general, that their Delight in all Ordinances of Divine Worship, as is evident in the Testimonies before produced, is in Christ himself, or God in Christ. This alone is that which they seek after, cleave to, and are satisfyed withall. They make use of the Streams, but only as means of Communication from the Spring. When men are really renewed in the Spirit of their Minds it is so. Their regard to Ordinances and Duties of divine Worship, is as they are appointed of God a Blessed means of Communion and Intercourse between himself in Christ, and their Souls. By them does Christ Communicate of his Love and Grace to us; in and by them do we act Faith and Love on him. It is the Treasure hid in the Field, which when a man has found, he purchass the whole Field; but it is that he may enjoy the Treasure which is hid therein, Mat. 13.14. This Field is the Gospel, and all the Ordinances of it. This men do purchase sometimes at a dear rate, even with the loss of all they enjoy. But yet if they obtain nothing but the Field, they will have little cause to rejoyce in their bargain. It is Christ the Treasure alone, that Pearl of Price that will eternally inrich the Soul. The Field is to be used only, as to find and dig up the Treasure that is in it. It is I say Christ alone that in the preaching of the Gospel, renewed Affections do cleave to as the Treasure. and to all other things, according as their Relation is to him, or they have a participation of him. Wherefore, in all Duties of Religion, in all Ordinances of Worship, their Inquiry is after him whom their Souls do love, Cant. 1.7.

But yet we must treat more particularly and distinctly of these things. Those whose Affections are Spiritually renewed, do love, adhere to, and delight in Ordinances of Divine Service, and Duties of Worship; on the grounds and reasons ensuing.

First. In general they do so, as they find Faith, and Love, and Delight in God through Christ, excited and acted in and by them. This is their first and immediate End in their Institution. It is a pernicious mistake to suppose that any external Duties of Worship, as hearing the Word, Prayer, or the Sacraments, are appointed for themselves, or accepted for themselves.

Such thoughts the Jews of Old had concerning their Sacrifices; namely, that they were appointed for their own Sakes, and were acceptable Service to God, meerly on their own Account. Wherefore, God to deliver them from this pernicious Mistake, affirms ofttimes, that he never appointed them at all; that is for any such End, Jer. 7:22, 23. Isa. 1:12, 13, 14, &c. And now under the Gospel; Sundry things destructive to the Souls of men, have proceeded from such a Supposition. Some hereon have always satisfyed and contented themselves with the external Observance of them, without desiring or endeavouring any holy communion with God in them, or by them. This constitutes the State and Condition mentioned, Rev. 3:1. And by following this tract, the generality of Christians do wander out of the Way; they cannot leave them, nor do know how to use them to their Advantage until they come wholly to that woful State, Isai. 29.13. And some to establish this Deceit, have taught that there is much more in the Outward Work of these Duties, than ever God put into them, and that they are sanctifyed meerly by Vertue of the Work wrought.

But all the Duties of the Second Commandment as are all Instituted Ordinances of Worship, are but means to express and exercise those of the First, as Faith, Love, Fear, Trust and Delight in God. The end of them all is that through them, and by them, we may act those Graces on God in Christ, Where this is not attended to, when the Souls of Men do not apply themselves to this Exercise of Grace in them, let them be never so Solemn as to their Outward Performance, be attended to with Diligence, be performed with earnestness and delight, they are neither acceptable to God, nor beneficial to themselves, Isai. 1.11. This therefore is the first general Spring of the Love of Believers, of them whose Affections are Spiritually renewed, to the Ordinances of Divine Worship, and their delight in them. They have Experience that in and by them, their Faith and Love are excited to a gracious Exercise of themselves on God in Christ. And when they find it otherwise with them, they can have no rest in their Souls. For this end are they ordained, sanctifyed and blessed of God, and therefore, are effectual means of it, when their Efficacy is not defeated by Unbelief.

And those who have no Experience hereof in their attendance to them, do as has been said, fall into pernitious Extreams. Some continue their Observance with little regard to God, in Cursed Formality. So they make them a means of their ruine by Countenancing of them in their Security.

Others utterly reject them, at least the most Solemn of them, and therein both the Wisdom, and Grace and Authority of God by whom they are appointed. Because through the Power of their own Unbelief they find nothing in them.

This being the immediate end of all Divine Institutions, this being the only way whereby we may give Glory to God in their Observance, which is their ultimate End in this World; & this being the Design in general of Believers in that Obedience they yield to the Lord Christ in their diligent Observation of them; We may consider how, in what way, and by what means those whose Affections are Spiritually renewed, do and ought to apply their Minds and Souls to their Observance. And we may consider herein: first, What they do design; and then what they endeavor to be found in the Exercise and Practice of, in their use and Enjoyment.

First. They come to them with this Desire, Design, and Expectation, namely, to be enabled, directed and excited by them, to the Exercise of Divine Faith and Love. VVhen it is not so with any, where there is not this Design, they do in various degrees take the Name of God in vain, in their Observance. These are Approximationes Dei, The ways of drawing nigh to God as they are every where called in Scripture. To suppose that a drawing nigh to God may consist meerly in the Outward Performance of Duty. VVhatever be its Solemnity, is to reject all due Reverence of him. Forasmuch, saith the Lord, as this People draw near me with their Mouth, and with their Lips do honor me, but have removed their Hearts far from me, therefore I will proceed against them, Isaiah 29:13. The Mouth and Lips are put by a Synechdoche, for all the means of outward worship and honor. These men may use, diligently attend to, whil'st their Hearts are far from God, that is, when they do not draw nigh to him by Faith and Love. But all this VVorship is rejected of God with the highest Tokens of his displeasure and Indignation against it.

First. Our Souls then have no way of approach to God in Duties of VVorship, but by Faith; no way of adherance or cleaving to him, but by Love; no way of abiding in him, but by Fear, Reverence, and Delight. When ever these are not in Excercise, Outward Duties of Worship are so far from being a means of such an Approach to him, as that they set us at a greater Distance from him, than we were before, at least are utterly useless and fruitless to us. So indeed they are to the most who come to them, they know not why, and behave themselves under them, they care not how: Nor is there any evil in the Hearts and ways of Men whereof God complains more in his Word, as that which is accompanied with the highest Contempt of him. And because these Ordinances of Divine Worship are means which the VVisdom and Grace of God has appointed to this end, namely, the Exercise and Increase of Divine Faith and Love, and therefore does Sanctify and Bless them thereunto. I do not believe that they have any Delight in the Exercise of these Graces, nor do design growth in them, by whom these great means of them are despised or neglected.

And although I have seen those Vallies of public Worship forsaken, either on Pretences of higher Attainments in Faith, Light and Love, than to stand in need of them any more, or on a Foolish Opinion, that they cease upon the Dispensation of the Spirit, which is given to us to make them useful and effectual, or on some Provocations that have been given to some Men, or which they have taken to themselves, which they have thought they could revenge by a neglect of Public Administrations, or through Slavish Peace and Negligence in times of Difficulty, as is the manner of some, who forsake the Assemblies of the Saints, Heb. 16:25. Yet, I never saw but it issued in a great decay, if not in an utter loss of all exercise of Faith and Love, and sometimes in open Profaneness. For such Persons Contemn, the way and means which God in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness has appointed for their Exercise and Increase; and this shall not prosper. VVe may therefore do well to consider, that the principal way whereby we may Sanctify the Name of God, in all Duties of his VVorship, and obtain the Benefit of them to our own Souls; is by a Conscientious Approach to them with an holy Desire and Design to be found in the Exercise of Faith and Love on God in Christ, and to be helped and guided therein by them.

To be under an Efficacious Influence from this Design, is the best Preparation for any Duty. So David expresss his Delight in the VVorship of God. How amiable are your Tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My Soul longs; yea, even faints for the Courts of the Lord: my Heart and my Flesh crys out for the Living God, Psal. 84:1, 2. He longed for the Tabernacle, and the Courts of it, but it was the Enjoyment of God himself, the Living God that he desired and sought after. This was that which made him so servent in his Desires after those Ordinances of God. So he expresss it, Psal. 63:2. To see your Power and your Glory, so as I have seen you in the Sanctuary. David had had great Communion with, and Delight in God by Faith and Love in the Solemn Duties of his VVorship. And this was that which inflam'd him with Desires after renewed Opportunities to the same End.

Secondly. This Design is not general, unactive, useless and sloathful. But such Persons diligently endeavor in the use of these Ordinances, and attendance to them, to be found in the Exercise of these Graces. They have not only an Antecedent Design to be so, but a diligent actual Endeavor after it, not suffering their Minds by any thing to be diverted from the pursuit of that Design, Ecc. 5.1. Whatever is not quickned and enlivened hereby; they esteem utterly lost. Neither Outward Administrations, nor Order will give them Satisfaction when these things are wanting in themselves. Without the Internal Actings of the Life of Faith, external Administrations of Ordinances of Worship, are but dead things. Nor, can any Believer obtain real Satisfaction in them, or Refreshment by them, without an Inward Experience of Faith and Love in them, and by them. And it is that, which if we are wise, we shall continually attend to the Consideration of. A watchful Christian will be careful lest he loose any one Duty, by taking up the Carcase of it. And the danger of so doing, is not small. Our Affections are renewed but in part. And as they are still liable to be diverted, and seduced from Spirituality in Duty, even by things earthly and carnal, through the Corruption that remains in them; So there is a Disposition abiding in them, to be pleased with those external things in Religious Duties, which others, as we have showed before, who are no way graciously renewed do satisfy themselves withal. The Grace and Oratory of the Speaker in preaching of the Word; especially in these days wherein the Foppery of fine Language, even in Sacred things, is so much extolled; the Order and Circumstances of other Duties, with Inclination and Love to a Party, are apt to insinuate themselves with great Complacency into our Affections, so far as they are unrenewed. And these things discover the true Grounds whence it is that the Ordinances of Divine VVorship are so useless, as they are to many who seem to attend to them with Diligence. They may be referred to these three Heads.

(1) They do not come to them, as the means appointed of God for the Exercise of Faith and Love to Christ, so as to make it their Design in their Approaches to them, without which, all that is spoken of Advantage in and by other Duties, is utterly lost.

(2) They do not in and under them labor to stir up Faith and Love to their due Exercise.

(3) They suffer their Minds to be diverted from the Exercise of these Graces, partly by occasional Temptations, partly by attendance to what is Outward only in the Ordinances themselves.

Spiritual Affections find no place of Rest in any of these things; such Proposals of God in Christ, of his VVill, and their own Duty, as may draw out their Faith, Love, Godly Fear and Delight into their due Exercise, is that which they inquire after, and acquiesce in.

Two things alone does Faith regard in all Duties of Worship as to the Outward Administration of it. The one absolutely, the other comparatively; both with respect to the End mentioned, or the Exercise, Growth, and Encrease of Grace in us. The first is, that they may be of Divine Appointment. Where their Original and Observance is resolved into Divine Authority, there and there alone will they have a Divine Efficacy. In all these things, Faith has regard to nothing but Divine Precepts and Promises. Whatever has regard to any thing else, is not Faith, but Fancy. And therefore these uncommanded Duties in Religion, which so abound in the Papal Church, as that if not the whole, yet all the principal Parts of their Worship consist in them, are such as in whose Discharge it is impossible Faith should be in a due Exercise. That which it has comparative respect to, is the Spiritual Gifts of them to whom the Administration of the Ordinances of the Gospel, in the public Worship of the Church is committed. With respect to them, Believers may have more Delight and Satisfaction in the Ministry of one than of another, as was touched before. But this is not because one is more learned than another, or more Elegant than another, has more ability of Speech than another, or fervency in utterance than another, is more fervent or earnest in his Delivery; but because they find the Gifts of one more suited, and more Effectual to stir up Faith and Love to an holy Exercise in their Minds and Hearts, then what they find in some others. Hence they have a peculiar value for, and delight in the Ministry of such Persons, especially when they can enjoy it in due Order, and without the Offence of others. And Ministers that are wise, will in Holy Administrations neglect all other tings, and attend to this alone, how they may be helpful to the Faith, and Love, and Joy of Believers, so far as they are the Object of their Ministry.

This is the first reason and ground whereon Affections Spiritually-Renewed, cleave to Ordinances of Divine Worship, with Delight and Satisfaction; namely, because they are the means appointed and Blessed of God, for the Exercise and Increase of Faith and Love, with an Experience of their Efficacy to that End.

Secondly, The Second is, Because they are the means of the Communication of a Sense of Divine Love, and Supplies of Divine Grace to the Souls of them that do believe. So far as our Affections are renewed, this is the most principal attractive to cleave to them with Delight and Complacency.

They are, as was observed before, the ways of our approaching to God. Now we do not draw nigh to God, as himself speaks, as a dry Hearth, or a barren Wilderness, where no Refreshment is to be obtained. To make a Pretence of Coming to God, and not with Expectation of receiving good and great things from him, is to despise God himself, to overthrow the nature of the Duty, and deprive our own Souls of all Benefit thereby. And want hereof, is that which renders the worship of the most, useless and fruitless to themselves. VVe are always to come to God, as to an Eternal Spring of Goodness, Grace, and Mercy, of all that our Souls do stand in need of, of all we can desire in order to our Everlasting Blessedness, and all these things, as to Believers, may be reduced to the two Heads before mentioned.

First, They come for a Communication of a Sense of his Love in Jesus Christ. Hence does all our Peace, Consolation, and Joy, all our Encouragement to do, and suffer according to the VVill of God, all our Supportments under our Sufferings, solely depend; In these things do our Souls live; and without them we are of all Men the most miserable.

It is the Holy Spirit who is the immediate efficient Cause of all these things in us. He sheds abroad the Love of God in our Hearts, Rom. 5:5. He witnesss our Adoption to us, Chapter 8:15, 16. And thereby an Intrest in the Love of the Father, in God as he is Love. But the Outward Way and means whereby he communicates these things to us, and effects them in us, is by the Dispensation of the Gospel, or the Preaching of it ordinarily. He does the same work also in Prayer, oftentimes in other Holy Administrations. For this end, for a Participation of this Grace, of these Mercies, do Believers come to God by them. They use them as means to draw Water from the Wells of Salvation, and to receive in that Spiritual Sense of Divine Love, which God by them will communicate.

So Christ, by his VVord, knocks at the Door of the Heart, if it be opened by Faith, he coms in and Supps with men, giving them a gracious Refreshment, by the Testimony of his own Love, and the Love of the Father, Rev. 3:20. Joh. 14:23. This Believers look for in, and this they do in various measures receive by the Ordinances of Divine VVorship. And although some through their Fears and Temptations, are not sensible hereof, yet do they secretly receive these blessed gracious Supplies whereby their Souls are held in Life, without which they would pine away and perish. So he deals with them, Cant. 4.5, 6. These are the Gardens and Galleries of Christ wherein he gives us of his Love, Cant. 7.12. Those who are humble and sincere, know how often their Souls have been refreshed in them, and how long sometimes the Impressions they have received of Divine Grace and Love have continued with them to their unspeakable Consolation. They remember what they have received in the Opening and Application of the exceeding great and pretious Promises, that are given to them, whereby they are gradually more and more made Partakers of the Divine Nature; how many a time they have received Light in Darkness, Refreshment under Despondencies, Relief in their Conflicts, with dangers and temptations, in and by them. For this Cause do Affections that are Spiritually renewed cleave to them. VVho can but love and delight in that which he has found by experience, to be the way and means of Communicating to him the most invaluable Mercy, the most inestimable Benefit, whereof in this Life he can be made partaker? He who has found an hidden Treasure, although he should at once take away the whole of it; yet will esteem the place where he found it. But if it be of that nature, that no more can be found or taken of it at once, but what is sufficient for the present Occasion, yet is so full and boundless, as that whenever he comes again to seek for it, he shall be sure to obtain present Supply, he will always value it, and constantly apply himself to it. And such is the Treasure of Grace and divine Love, that is in the Ordinances of divine VVorship.

If we are Strangers to these things, if we have never received Efficatious Intimations of Divine Love to our Souls, in and by the Duties of Divine Worship, we cannot love them and delight in them as we ought. VVhat do men come to hear the VVord of God for? What do they pray for? VVhat do they expect to receive from him? Do they come to God as the Eternal Fountain of Living Waters? as the God of all Grace, Peace, and Consolation? Or do they come to his VVorship without any Design as to a dry and empty show? Do they fight uncertainly with these things as men beating the Air? or do they think they bring something to God, but receive nothing from him? that the best of their Business is to please him in doing what he commands, but to receive any thing from him they expect not, nor do ever examine themselves whether they have done so or no? It is not for Persons who walk in such ways, ever to attain a due Delight in the Ordinances of Divine Worship.

Believers have other Designs herein, and among the rest, this in the First place, that they may be a fresh made Partakers of Refreshing Comforting Pledges of the Love of God in Christ; and thereby of their Adoption, of the Pardon of their Sins, and acceptance of their Persons. According as they meet with these things, in the Duties of Holy Worship, public, or private, so will they love, value, and adhere to them. Some Men are full of other Thoughts and Affections, so as that these things are not their principal Design or Desire, or are contented with that measure of them which they suppose themselves to have attained; or at least are not sensible of the need they stand in, to have fresh Communications of them made to their Souls; supposing that they can do well enough without a renewed Sense of Divine Love every Day; some are so Ignorant of what they ought to design, to look after, in the Duties of Gospel Worship, as that it is impossible they should have any real Design in them. Many of the better sort of Professors are too negligent in this matter. They do not long and pant in the Inward man, after renewed Pledges of the Love of God; They do not consider how much need they have of them, that they may be encouraged and strengthened to all other Duties of Obedience; they do not prepare their Minds for their Reception of them, nor come with Expectation of their Communication to them; they do not rightly fix their Faith on this Truth, namely, that these Holy Administrations and Duties, are appointed of God in the first place, as the ways and means of conveying his Love and a Sense of it to our Souls. From hence springs all that Luke-warmness, Coldness, and Indifference in and to the Duties of holy Worship, that are growing among us. For if Men have lost the Principal Design of Faith in them, and dis-esteem the chiefest Benefit which is to be obtained by them, whence should Zeal for them, delight in them, or diligence in attendance to them arise? Let not any please themselves under the Power of such decayes; they are Indications of their Inward Frame, and those infallible. Such Persons will grow cold, careless, and negligent, as to the Duties of public Worship, they will put themselves neither to Charge nor Trouble about them; every Occasion of Life diverts them, and finds ready Entertainment in their Minds; And when they do attend upon them, it is with great Indifference and Unconcernedness. Yet would they have it thought, that all is still well within, as ever it was; they have as good a respect to Religion as any. But these things openly discover an ulcerous Disease in the very Souls of Men, as evidently as if it were written on their Foreheads; what ever they pretend to the contrary, they are under the Power of woful Decayes from all due regard to Spiritual and Eternal Things. And I would avoid the Society of such Persons, as those who carry an infectious Disease about them, unless it were to help on their Cure.

But herein it is that Affections Spiritually renewed do manifest themselves. When we do delight in, and value the Duties of Gods Worship, because we find by Experience, that they are, and have been to us means of communicating a Sense and renewed Pledges of the Love of God in Christ, with all the Benefits and Priviledges which depend thereon; then are our Affections renewed in and by the Holy Ghost.

Secondly. They come for Supplies of Internal, Sanctifying, strengthning Grace. This is the second great Design of Believers in their Approaches to God in his VVorship. The want hereof as to Measures and Degrees they find in themselves, and are sensible of it. Yea, therein lyes the great Burden of the Souls of Believers in this VVorld. All that we do in the Life of God, may be referred to two Heads.

First, The Observance of all Duties of Obedience. And,

Secondly, The Conflict with, and Conquest over Temptations. About these things, are we continually exercised. Hence the great thing which we desire, labor for, and pant after, is Spiritual Strength and Ability for the Discharge of our selves in a due manner with respect to these things. This is that which every true Believer groans after in the inward Man, and which he preferrs infinitely above all Earthly Things. So he may have Grace sufficient in any competent measure for these ends, let what will befal him, he desirs no more in this VVorld. God in Christ is the only Fountain of all this Grace. There is not one Drachm of it to be obtained but from him alone. And as he does communicate it to us of his own Soveraign Goodness and Pleasure, so the ordinary way and means whereby he will do it, are the Duties of his Worship, Isaiah 40:28, 29, 30, 31. Hast you not known? Hast you not heard that the Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the Ends of the Earth faints not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his Understanding. He givs Power to the faint, and to them that have no Might he increass Strength. Even the Youths shall faint and be weary, and the Young Men shall utterly fail. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their Strength: they shall mount up with Wings as Eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk, and not faint.

All Grace and Spiritual Strength is originally seated in the nature of God, verse 28. But what relief can that afford to us who are weak, feeble, fainting. He will act suitably to his nature, in the Communication of this Grace and Power, verse 29. But how shall we have an Interest in this Grace, in these Opperations: wait on him in the Ordinances of his Worship, verse 31. The Word as Preached, is the Food of our Souls whereby God administrs Growth and Strength to them, Joh. 17:17.— Pet. 2:23. Desire, says he the sincere Milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby. But what Encouragement have we thereunto, if so be, says he, you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. If in and by the Dispensation of this Word, you have had Experience of the Grace, the Goodness, the Kindness of God to your Souls, you cannot but desire it and delight in it. And otherwise, you will not do so. When men have fate some good while under the Dispensation of the VVord, and in the enjoyment of other Ordinances, without tasting in them and by them, that the Lord is gracious, they will grow weary of it and them. Wherefore, Prayer is the way of his Appointment for the Application of our Souls to him, to obtain a Participation of all needful Grace, which therefore he has proposed to us in the Promises of the Covenant, that we may know what to ask, and how to plead for it. In the Sacraments the same Promises are seal'd to us, and the Grace represented in them effectually exhibited. Meditation confirms our Souls in the Exercise of Faith about it, and is the especial Opening of the Heart to the Reception of it. By these means I say, does God communicate all Supplies of renewing, strengthening, and sanctifying Grace to us, that we may live to him in all Holy Obedience, and be able to get the Victory over our Temptations. Under this Apprehension do Believers approach to God in the Ordinances of his Worship. They come to them as the means of Gods Communication to their Souls. Hence they cleave to them with Delight, so far as their Affections are renewed. So the Spouse testifys of her self; I sate down under his Shadow with great Delight, Cant, 2.3. In these Ordinances is the protecting refreshing Presence of Christ. This she rested in with great Delight.

As they come to them with these Designs and Expectations, so they have Experience of the Spiritual Benefits and Advantages which they receive by them, which more and more engags them to them in their Affections and Delights. All these things, those who have a Change wrought in their Affections, but not a Spiritual Renovation, are Strangers to. They neither have the Design before mentioned in coming to them, nor the Experience of this Efficacy now proposed in their Attendance on them. But these Benefits are great; as for Instance, when Men find the worth and Effect of the Word Preached on their Souls in its enlightning, refreshing, strengthening, transforming Power; when they find their Hearts warmed, their Graces excited and strengthened, the Love of God improved, their Disponding Spirits under Trials and Temptations relieved, their whole Souls gradually more and more Conformed to Christ: when they find themselves by it extricated out of Snares, Doubts, Fears, Temptations, and brought to Satisfaction and Rest, they cannot but delight in the Dispensation of it, and rejoyce in it as the Food of their Souls. And it is a great Hinderance to the Encrease of Spiritual Life, and Obstruction to Fruitfulness, Thrnkfulness, and Consolation, when we are negligent in our Meditation about the Benefits that we receive by the Word, and the Advantages which we have thereby. For whil'st it is so with us, we can neither value the Grace of God, in granting us this Inestimable Priviledge, nor perform any Duty with respect to it, in a right manner. This renders it an especial Object of our Affections as Spiritually renewed. That Secret Love to, and Heavenly Delight in the Statutes and Testimonies of God, which David expresss, Psal 119. arose from the Spiritual Benefit and Advantage which he received by them, as he constantly declares. And the sole Reason on the other hand, why men grow so careless, negligent, and cold in their Attendance to the Preaching of the Word, is because they have no Experience of any Spiritual Benefit, or Advantage by it. They have been brought to it by one means or another, mostly by conviction of their Duty. Their Minds have been variously affected with it, to a Joy in the hearing of it, and readiness to sundry Duties Of Obedience. But after a while, when a sense of those Temporary Impressions is worn off, finding no real Spiritual Benefit by it, they loose all delight in it, and become very indifferent as to its Enjoyment. The Frame which such Persons at length arrive to is described, Mal. 1:13. and 3.14. And none can give any greater Evidence of the Decay of all manner of Grace in them, or of their being destitute of all Saving-Grace, than when they apostatize from some degree of Zeal for, and Delight in the Dispensation of the Word of God, with such a cursed Indifference, as many are overtaken withal. It cannot be otherwise. For seeing this is a way and means of the Exercise of all Grace, it will not be neglected, but where there is a Decay of all Grace; however Men may please themselves with other Pretences. And when they are thus ensnared, every foolish Prejudice, every Provocation, every wanton Opinion and Imagination will confirm them in, and increase their gradual Backsliding.

And as it is with Believers, as to the hearing of the Word in general, so it is as to the Degrees of Advantage which they find by it. VVhen Men have enjoyed the Dispensation of the Word in a peculiar manner, Spiritual and Effectual, if they can be content to forego it, for that which is more cold and lifeless, provided it possesss the same time, and outward Form with the other, it is no great Evidence that their Souls do prosper. It is therefore those alone, who having a sense of the Efficacy of the Word on their Souls and Consciences to all the holy Ends of it, who cleave to it with Spiritual Love and Delight. They continually remember what holy Impressions it has made on them, what Engagements it has brought their Souls into, what encouragements to Faith and Obedience it has furnished them withal, and long after renewed Sense of its Enjoyments. When we do not find in our selves this Foundation of Spiritual delight in the Dispensation of the Gospel, we can have no great Evidence that our Affections are renewed.

So also it is in the Duties of Prayer and Meditation. VVhen the Soul of a Believer has had Experience of the Communion which it has had with God in them, or either of them; of the Spiritual Refreshment which it has had from them, of the Benefits and Mercies which are obtained by them, in recovery from Temptations, Snares, Despondencies, in Victory over Sin and Sathan, in Spiritual Impressions, working it to an holy watchful Frame, which has abode with it in other VVayes and Occasions, with the like Advantages wherewith fervent and Effectual Prayer, and sincere Heavenly Meditation are accompanied, it cannot but have Love to them, and Delight in them; But if indeed we have no Experience of these things, if we find not these Advantages in and by these Duties; they cannot but be a Burden to us, nor do serve to any other End but to satisfy Convictions. He who had the benefit of a serene and wholsome Air, in a recovery from many Diseases and Distempers, with the Preservation of his Health so obtained, will love it and prize it, and so will he these Duties, who has been Partaker of any of these Saving Mercies and Priviledges wherewith they are accompanied. Some have been delivered from the worst of Temptations, and the nearest Approach of their Prevalency (as to destroy themselves) by a sudden Remembrance of the Frame of their Souls, and the Intimations of Gods Love, in such or such a Prayer, at such a time. Some have had the same Deliverance from Temptations to Sin, when they have been carried away under the Power of their Corruptions, and all Circumstances have concurr'd under the Apprehensions of it, a Sudden Thought of such a Prayer or Meditation with the Engagement they made of themselves therein to God, has caused all the weapons of Sin to fall out of its hands, and all the Beauties of its Allurements to disappear.

When others have been under the Power of such Dispondencies and Disconsolations, as that no present tenders of Relief can approach to them, they have been suddenly raised and refreshed by the Remembrance of the intimate Love and Kindness between Christ and their Souls, that has evidenced it self in former Duties. Multitudes in Feares, Distresses and Temptations, have found Relief to their Spirits, and Encouragement to their Faith in the Remembrance of the Returnes they have had to former Supplications in the like Distresses. These are Grounds of Spiritual Delight in these Duties.

Heartless, Lifeless, wordy Prayer, the Fruit of Convictions and Gifts, or of Custom and outward Occasions however multiplyed, and whatever Devotion they seem to be accompanied withal, will never ingage Spiritual Affections to them. When these things are absent, when the Soul has not Experience of them, Prayer is but a lifeless Form, a dead Carcase, which it would be a torment to a Soul Spiritually alive to be tied to. There may be a Season indeed, when God will seem to hide himself from Believers in their Prayers, so as they shall neither find that Life in themselves which they have done formerly, nor be sensible of any gracious Communications from him, but this is done only for a time, and principally to stir them up to that Fervency and Preseverance in Prayer, as may recover them into their former, or a better Estate than yet they have attained to. The like may be said concerning all other Duties of Religion, or Ordinances of Divine Worship.

Fourthly, Believers whose Affections are Spiritually renewed do delight greatly in the duties of Divine Worship, because they are the great instituted way whereby they may give Glory to God. This is the first and principal End of all Duties of Religion as they respect divine Appointment, namely, to ascribe and give to God the Glory that is his due. For in them all, Acknowledgement is made of all the glorious Excellencies of the divine Nature, our dependance on him, and relation to him. And this is that which in the first place, Believers design in all the Duties of divine Worship. And the Pattern set us by our Blessed Savior in the Prayer he taught his Disciples directs us thereunto. All the first Requests of it concern immediately the Glory of God, and the Advancement thereof. For therein also all the Blessedness and Safety of the Church is included. Those who fail in this design, do err in all that they do, they never tend to the mark proposed to them. But this is that which principally animates the Souls of them that believe in all their Duties; this their universal Relation to him, and Love in that Relation makes necessary. Wherefore that way and means whereby they may directly and solemnly ascribe and give Glory to God, is pretious and delightful to them. And such are all the duties of divine Worship. These are some of the things wherein the respect of Affections Spiritually renewed, to Ordinances and Duties of divine Worship, does differ from the Actings of Affections towards the same Object which are not so santifyed and renewed.

There are yet other things accompanied with the same Evidence of the difference between Affections Spiritually renewed, and those which have only a general Change wrought in them, by Convictions and some outward Occasions, which must in one or two Instances more be insisted on, with the Consideration of such Cases as derive from them. For my design herein, is not only to declare when our Minds are Spiritually renewed, but also what is the nature and operation of our Affections, whereby we are constituted and denominated, Spiritually-Minded, which is the Subject of our whole Inquiry. Herein then we shall proceed.

The work of the renovation of our affections. How it differs from any other impression on, or change worked in them, and how it can be identified as such. The first instance: the universality that accompanies spiritually renewed affections. The order in which our affections are exercised with respect to their objects.

What concerns us here is to examine what kind of work has been done on our affections — or in them — and how it differs from those changes that, whatever they do or accomplish, will never make us or our affections spiritual.

We must use our best diligence in this, because the main way that multitudes deceive themselves — convincing themselves that the saving grace of the Gospel has truly worked in them — is a change they notice in their affections, which can occur on many occasions without any spiritual renovation.

First, regarding the temporary and occasional impressions on the affections mentioned earlier — whether from the Word or from any other divine warning through afflictions or mercies — these are common to all kinds of people. There are some whose consciences are seared as with a hot iron, as 1 Timothy 4:2 describes, who have become past feeling — numb to all calls, warnings, and rebukes — and have given themselves over to sensuality, working all kinds of uncleanness with greediness, as Ephesians 4:19 says. Such people, having hardened themselves through a long course of sin and having been given over to a depraved mind and vile affections as a judgment of God, may receive no impressions on their affections whatsoever — nothing that moves them with any sense of spiritual and eternal things. They may be terrified by danger, sudden judgments, and other displays of God's wrath from heaven against ungodliness — but they are not drawn to take shelter in thoughts of spiritual things. Nothing but hell itself will awaken them to a right consideration of themselves and eternal things.

It is different with the general run of people who are not openly profligate and shameless in their sinning. Even though they remain in a natural condition and a course of sin — neglecting known duties — yet by one means or another, and most often through the preaching of the Word, their affections are stirred toward heavenly things.

Sometimes they are afraid; sometimes they have hopes and desires about spiritual matters. These stir them to make resolutions and some temporary efforts to change their lives, to abstain from sin, and to perform holy duties. But as the prophet complains, their goodness is like the morning cloud and like the early dew — it passes away. Yet through these experiences, many poor and ignorant souls deceive themselves and cry, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. They will sometimes express such feeling in their complaints about their long neglect of spiritual things that others may have good hopes for them — but when put to the test, it all comes to nothing.

For anyone with spiritual discernment, it is not difficult to tell the difference between these occasional impressions on the affections and the spiritual renovation we are examining. This one mark is enough: they are all temporary and fleeting. They remain for only a while, as our Savior says, and any occasion defeats all their effectiveness. They may be frequently renewed, but they never last. Some pass away immediately and are completely lost between the place where a person hears the Word and the moment they return home — and if they search for those impressions again, they are gone forever. Others last longer in the mind and produce some outward effects — but none of them will hold up under any real test or shock of temptation.

Yet I have something to say to those who have such impressions on their affections and receive warnings through them.

First, do not despise them, for God is in them. Even if He may not be working in them through saving grace, He may be working in them something preparatory to it. These are not ordinary human experiences — they are special divine warnings.

Second, work to retain them, or to keep their impression on your heart and conscience. You have gained nothing by losing so many of them already. And if you continue to neglect them, after a while you will receive them no more.

Third, do not read more into them than they actually are. Do not immediately conclude that your soul is in a good condition simply because you were moved while hearing the Word, or during a sickness, or in a time of danger. Many people conclude from this that all is now well with them and rest content in that thought — until they are fully swallowed up again in their former spiritual dullness.

Second, we should consider the difference between the habitual change of the affections described earlier and that renovation by grace which makes them spiritual. This is something we all need to examine carefully. Multitudes are deceived here, and it leads to their ruin. They base their present peace on — and build their hopes of eternal life upon — a kind of change in themselves that will not hold up under scrutiny. This difference must therefore be examined by the light of Scripture and the experience of true believers.

First, there is a double universality that accompanies the spiritual renovation of our affections.

The first is subjective — with respect to the affections themselves.

The second is objective — with respect to spiritual things.

First, sanctification extends to the whole spirit, soul, and body, as 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says. When we say that we are sanctified only in part, we do not mean that any part, power, or faculty of the soul is left entirely unsanctified — only that the work is not yet perfect in any of them. Sin may retain greater power in some one affection — such as anger, fear, or love — producing more frequent outbursts and effects there than in the others. Likewise, one affection may be more prominently sanctified in some people than in others, since a person's natural temperament and various outward circumstances may give certain affections an advantage toward sanctification. So some people find little difficulty in mortifying all other lusts and corruptions compared to the struggle they face with some one disordered affection or corruption. David may have had this in mind in Psalm 18:23. I have known people who shone remarkably in all other graces, and yet could barely avoid giving serious offense through the excess of their passions and how easily they were provoked. Yet they recognized that setting themselves to the sincere and vigorous mortification of that particular disorder was the strongest evidence of their sincerity in everything else. For the true test of self-denial lies in the things our natural inclinations pull toward most strongly. Nevertheless, as was said: where this work of renovation has taken place, every affection is sanctified and renewed — not one is left entirely in the service of sin and Satan. So even where sin works hard to claim certain affections for its own purposes — taking advantage of the weaknesses already mentioned — those affections are still enabled and made fit for acts of grace, and in their proper seasons they do in fact act accordingly. There is no affection of the mind — even one from which the soul and conscience has suffered the greatest damage, the very ground where the contest between sin and grace is most fiercely fought — that does not have its spiritual use and exercise when the mind is renewed.

Some people are so subject to anger and passion that it seems they are entirely under its power and control — yet they also know how to be angry and not sin, being righteously angry at sin in themselves and others. As 2 Corinthians 7:7 speaks of — what indignation, what righteous zeal. Indeed, God sometimes allows an unusually strong degree of corruption to remain in one affection, so that it may occasion the continual exercise of grace in the other affections. Yet all of them are sanctified in their degree — both the one that is supported and the one that does the supporting. Therefore, just as the remaining sin in believers is called the old man — which is to be crucified in all its members, because it clings to the whole person in all his powers and faculties — so the grace planted in our nature is called the new man, because nothing in us is untouched and unaffected by it. As nothing in our nature escaped the taint of sin, so nothing in our nature is excluded from the renovation that comes through grace. The person in whom any one affection remains completely unrenewed has not had a single affection graciously renewed in him. Let people beware how they indulge any depraved affection, for it will be an unavoidable mark against their sincerity. Do not think — do not even say, like Naaman — 'God be merciful to me in this one thing; in all other things I will be for Him.'

God requires the whole heart and will have it — or nothing. The chief work of a Christian is to make all his affections, in all their operations, serve the life of God, as Romans 6:17 teaches. And the person who is wise will keep a continual watch over those affections where he finds the greatest resistance to this. Every affection is originally sanctified according to the role it is meant to play in the life of holiness and obedience.

To be wholehearted for God, to follow Him fully, to cling to Him with purpose of heart, to have the heart renewed to love Him — all of this requires that all our affections be renewed and sanctified, without which none of it is possible. When this is not the case, there is a divided heart — a heart split in two — which God abhors: "Their heart is divided; now they will be found guilty," as Hosea 10:2 says.

It is the same with the other kind of change described earlier. Whatever may be worked on the affections when they are not spiritually renewed, that change — whatever its degree — is not universal; it does not affect the whole mind in all its powers and affections. Until a living and prevailing principle and habit of grace is planted in the soul, sin will not only cling at the root to all the faculties, powers, and affections — it will, under any change they may undergo, keep rule and dominion in some of them. This is what happened with the young man who came to the Lord Jesus Christ to ask what he must do to obtain eternal life, as in Mark 10:17-22.

So there are many who have been brought to moderation, sobriety, and self-control in other things, and yet the love of money remains in them in a dominant degree — which, as the apostle says, is a root of all kinds of evil. Others seem religious but cannot control their tongues when it comes to anger, envy, hatred, and the like — and so their religion is worthless.

Most people, in their various forms of religious profession, claim not only to be religious but even zealous — yet they set no limits on their affections for earthly pleasures and possessions. And some in former times who had most remarkably subdued their passions and affections in every other area became the greatest enemies and persecutors of the Gospel.

Some who appear to have undergone a tremendous change through superstitious devotion still walk in the spirit of Cain toward all the disciples of Christ — as is evident with the leading devotees in the Church of Rome — and in other settings we see some who go about calmly persecuting and working for the destruction of other Christians. Some will nurse one secret lust or another that they cannot help but know is destructive to their souls. Some love the praise of men, which will never allow them to be truly spiritually minded — as our Savior testifies of certain people, saying they could not believe because they loved human praise. This was the well-known failing of all the ancient philosophers. Many of them, through the principles of reason and through severe self-discipline, had brought their affections to a great degree of moderation regarding earthly things. Yet at the same time, they were all slaves to vanity and the praise of men — until the public observation of this fact, and the contradictions between their lives and their claims to virtue, caused them to lose that reputation as well among thoughtful and discerning people. And in general, if people who are not spiritually renewed were able to truly search themselves, they would find that some of their affections have undergone no change at all — that they remain a quiet dwelling place for sin, where it exercises its rule and dominion.

Second, there is an objective universality in spiritual things when it comes to the renovation of our affections — that is, spiritually renewed affections fix themselves on and cleave to all spiritual things in their proper places and for their proper ends. The reason for our attachment to any one of them is the same reason for our attachment to all of them: their relation to God in Christ. Therefore, when our affections are renewed, we make no selective choices among spiritual things — clinging to some while rejecting others as Naaman did — but rather we cleave equally to all of them in their proper places and degrees. And if through darkness and ignorance we do not recognize some of them as being from God — such as, for instance, the observance of the Lord's Day — this is of immense disadvantage to us. An equal respect to all of God's commands is required of us. Yet there are real distinctions among spiritual things, and therefore a person may and should value one more highly than another in terms of love and esteem — while still being sincere toward all of them.

First, God Himself — that is, as He is revealed in and through Christ — is in the first and highest place the proper and fitting object of our renewed affections. He is loved for Himself alone. This is the source, the center, and the chief object of our love. The person who does not love God for Himself — that is, for what He is in Himself, and for what He is and will be to us in Christ through Himself alone (considerations that are inseparable) — has no true affection for any spiritual thing whatsoever. Not a few deceive themselves here, or are deceived by others, which should make us all the more rigorous and diligent in examining ourselves. They suppose they love heaven and heavenly things and the duties of worship — a persuasion that may come over them on many grounds and occasions — but that will not hold up under real examination. Yet as for God Himself, they can give no evidence that they love Him: neither on the basis of the glorious excellencies of His nature, with their natural relationship to Him and dependence on Him, nor on the basis of His self-revelation in Christ and the exercise of His grace there. But whatever may be claimed, there is no genuine love for God that does not flow from these things as its proper foundation. Because everyone claims to love God — and takes offense at anyone who would think them so base as not to — even while living in open enmity and hatred toward Him, we must examine ourselves strictly as to the actual grounds for our claim. Do we truly see an excellence, a beauty, a desirableness in the glorious attributes of His nature — such that our souls are refreshed and satisfied by the thoughts of them through faith, and we look forward to the enjoyment of them as our blessedness — so that we genuinely rejoice at every reminder of His holiness? Is it our deep joy and satisfaction that God is what He is? Does our love flow from the glorious self-revelation He has made of all His holy excellencies in Christ, and from the communication of Himself to us in and through Him? If this is truly the case, then our love for God springs from the renovation of our affections, and He is gracious and generous to us. But if we say we love God yet truly cannot say why — or if our profession of love is rooted only in upbringing and the social expectation that it is the height of wickedness not to love Him — we will be at a loss when we are called to give account. This is the first object of our affections.

Second, in other spiritual things, renewed affections cleave to them in proportion to how much God is present in them. God alone is loved for Himself; all other things are loved for His sake, in the measure and degree of His presence in them. This alone gives them their value in renewed affections. For instance, God is present in Christ — in the human nature of the man Christ Jesus — in a way that is utterly unique, in one sense incomprehensible, unlike anything else of its kind. Therefore the Lord Christ, even as to His human nature, is the object of our love and affections in a way and to a degree that nothing else — spiritual or eternal — should be or ought to be, apart from God Himself. All other spiritual things become objects of our affections through the presence of God in them, and they take their nature and significance from the degree of that presence. They should accordingly be the objects of our affections in proportion to that degree. Evidence of God's presence in things and persons is the only thing that draws renewed affections to them.

Third, in those things that seem equal in terms of what of God is in them, our love may still go out more prominently to one than to another on certain special occasions and for particular reasons. Some particular truth, together with the grace communicated through it, may have been the means of our conversion to God, or of our special growth, or of our consolation in a time of distress — and it is impossible that the mind would not hold a special regard and appreciation for such truths and the grace given through them. The same applies to certain duties: we may have found such a lively interchange and communion with God in some of them that we take a particular delight in them.

But despite these differences, spiritually renewed affections do cleave to all spiritual things as such. The true reason for this is the same in every case — namely, God's presence in them — though renewed affections act toward them in various ways, one example of which I will give.

Our Savior divides spiritual things into those that are heavenly and those that are earthly — comparatively speaking — in John 3:12: "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"

The heavenly things are the deep and mysterious counsels of God's will. Renewed affections cling to these with holy admiration and contented submission, capturing the understanding in devotion to what it cannot fully comprehend. The apostle expresses this in Romans 11:33-36: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." What the mind cannot comprehend, the heart admires and adores — delighting in God and giving Him glory in all things.

The earthly things our Savior refers to in that passage are the work of God on the souls of people in their regeneration — a work carried out here on earth. Toward these things, the affections act with delight and great thankfulness. The experience of God's grace in and upon believers is sweet to their souls. One way or another, they cling to all of these things — they have no dominant aversion to any of them. They have regard for all of God's commands, delight in all His counsels, and love for Himself and all His ways.

Whatever other change may have been worked on the affections — if they are not spiritually renewed — this is not the case. For just as they do not truly cleave to any spiritual things for their own proper nature and the evidence of God's presence in them, there are always some spiritual things toward which those with unrenewed affections maintain an aversion and hostility. This condition may not immediately reveal itself, but it will show itself on any special test. This is what happened with the hearers of our Savior in John 6. A great impression was made on their affections by what He taught them about the bread of God that came down from heaven and gave life to the world — so much so that they cried out, "Lord, always give us this bread," as verse 34 records. But when the deeper meaning of it was explained, they disliked it and said, "This is a hard saying; who can accept it?" as verse 60 says — and they then fell away from both Him and His teaching, even though they had followed Him long enough to be counted among His disciples, as verse 66 shows.

I say, therefore, that whenever people's affections are not renewed — whatever other change may have been worked in them — just as they have no true delight in any spiritual things or truths for their own nature and sake, so there will always be certain points at which they maintain their natural hostility and aversion to them. This is the first difference between spiritually renewed affections and those in which some kind of change has been worked through other causes.