Chapter 8. Spiritual Thoughts Of God.
CHAPTER 8. SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS OF GOD.
Spiritual thoughts of God himself — The opposition to them and neglect of them, with their causes and the way of their prevalence
— Predominant corruptions expelling due thoughts of God, how to be discovered, etc. — Thoughts of God, of what nature, and what they are to be accompanied with, etc.
II. I HAVE spoken very briefly to the first particular instance of the heavenly things that we are to fix our thoughts upon, namely, the person of Christ; and I have done it upon the reason mentioned before; namely, that I intend to write a peculiar treatise on that subject, or an inquiry as to how we may behold the glory of Christ in this life, and how we will do so unto eternity. What I have reserved for the last place, about who are spiritually minded as to the exercise of their thoughts, is that which is the absolute foundation and spring of all spiritual things; namely, God himself. He is the fountain from which all these things proceed, and the ocean in which they issue; he is their center and circumference, in which they all begin, meet, and end. So the apostle issues his profound discourse about the counsels of the divine will and mysteries of the gospel, Rom 11.36, "Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever."
All things arise from His power, and are disposed by his wisdom into a tendency to his glory: "Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things." Rom 11.36 Under that consideration alone, they are to be the objects of our spiritual meditation — namely, as they come from him and tend to him. All other things are finite and limited, but they begin and end in that which is immense and infinite. Thus God is "all in all." He therefore is, or ought to be, the only supreme, absolute object of our thoughts and desires; other things are from and for him alone. When our thoughts do not either immediately and directly, or mediately and by just consequence, tend toward and end in him, they are not spiritual, 1Pet 1.21. 53
To make way for directions as to how to exercise our thoughts on God himself, something must be premised concerning a sinful defect in this, with its causes:
First, it is the great character of a man presumptuously and atrociously wicked that "God is not in all his thoughts," Psa 10.4; that
is, he is in none of them. And there are many degrees of this lack of thoughts about God, for all wicked men are not equally so forgetful of him:
1. Some are under the power of atheistic thoughts. They deny or question, or do not avowedly acknowledge the very being of God.
This is the height of what the enmity of the carnal mind can rise to.
To acknowledge God, and yet refuse to be subject to his law or will, one would think is as bad, if not worse, than denying the being of God; but it is not so. That is a rebellion against his authority; this a hatred for the only Fountain of all goodness, truth, and being — because they cannot own it unless they also acknowledge Him to be infinitely righteous, holy, and powerful, which would destroy all their desires and security. Such may be the person in Psalm 14; for the words may be read, "All his thoughts are that there is no God." Yet the context describes him as one who despises His providence rather than denies His being. But there are those whom the same psalmist brands elsewhere as fools, though they themselves seem to suppose that wisdom was born and will die with them, Psa 14.1, 53:1. 54
It may be that no age since the flood more abounded with open atheism, among those who pretended to the use and improvement of reason, than that in which we live. Among the ancient civilized heathen, we hear time and again of a person branded as an atheist, and yet we are not certain whether it was done justly or not. But in all the nations of Europe in our day, their cities, courts, towns, fields, and armies, abound with persons who, if any credit may be given to what they say or do, don't believe there is a God. And the reason for this may be briefly inquired into.
Now this is no other, in general, but that men have reduced and atrophied 55 the light and power of Christian religion. It is the fullest revelation of God that he ever made; it is the last he will ever make in this world. If this is despised, if men rebel against the light of it, if they break the cords of it, and are senseless of its power, then nothing can preserve them from the highest atheism that the nature of man is capable of. It is in vain to expect relief or preservation from inferior means, when the highest and most noble means are rejected.
Reason or the light of nature gives evidences of the being of God, and arguments are still well pleaded from those evidences to the
confusion of atheists. They were sufficient to retain men in an acknowledgment of the divine power and Godhead, who had no other, no higher evidences of them. But where men have had the benefit of divine revelation, been educated in the principles of Christian religion, had some knowledge and made some profession of them, and then through the love of sin and hatred of everything that is truly good, have rejected all convictions from them concerning the being, power, and rule of God, they will not be held to a confession of them by any considerations the light of nature can suggest.
There are therefore, among others, three reasons why there are more atheists among those who live where the Christian religion is professed, and the power of it rejected, than there are among any other sort of men, even among the heathens themselves:
(1.) God has designed to magnify above all, His word and His name — that is, above all other ways of revealing himself to the children of men, Psa 138.2. Therefore, where this is rejected and despised, he will not honor reason or the light of nature, such that they will preserve the minds of men from any evil whatever. Reason will not have the same power and efficacy on the minds of men who reject the light and power of divine revelation by the word, as it has or may have on those whose best guide it is, who never enjoyed the light of the gospel. And therefore oftentimes honesty is more common among civilized heathens and Mohammedans than among degenerate Christians; and for the same reason, the children of professors are sometimes irrecoverably profligate. It may be said,
"Many are recovered to God by afflictions, who have despised the word." But it is otherwise. Never were any converted to God by afflictions, who had rejected the word. Men may be recalled to the light of the word by afflictions, but none are directly turned to God by them. A good shepherd, when a sheep wanders from the flock and will not hear his call, sends out his dog which stops and nips the sheep; at this, he looks about him, and hearing the call of the shepherd, returns again to the flock, Job 33.19-25.56 But with this sort, it is the way of God that when the principal means of revealing himself, and in which He most glorifies his wisdom and goodness, are despised by the person, God will not only dull the efficacy of inferior means, but judicially harden the hearts and blind the eyes
of men, so that such means will be of no use to them. See Isa 6.9,10; Act 13.40,41; Rom 1.21,28; 2The 2.11,12.
(2.) The contempt for gospel light and Christian religion, because they are supernatural (which is the beginning of transgression for all the atheists among us), begets and leaves in the mind such a depraved, corrupt habit — such a conglomeration of all the evils that the hatred of the goodness, wisdom, and grace of God can produce — that it must be wholly inclined to the worst of evils. Just as all our original vicious (vice-ridden) inclinations succeeded immediately upon our rejection and loss of the image of God. The best things, once corrupted, yield the worst savor; just as manna stunk and bred worms. The knowledge of the gospel being rejected, stinking worms take the place of it in the mind, which grow into vipers and scorpions. Every degree of apostasy from gospel truth brings in a proportionate degree of inclination to wickedness in the hearts and minds of men, 2Pet 2.21;57 and total apostasy inclines them to all the evils they are capable of in this world. Whereas multitudes, from their darkness, unbelief, temptation, love of sin, pride, and contempt of God, fall away from all subjection of soul and conscience to the gospel — either notionally or practically, deriding or despising all supernatural revelations — these are a thousand times more disposed to downright atheism, than persons who never had the light or benefit of such revelations. Take heed of decays! Whatever ground the gospel loses in our minds, sin possesses it for itself and for its own ends.
Let no one say it is otherwise with them. Men grow cold and negligent in the duties of gospel worship, both public and private; this is to reject gospel light. Let them say and pretend what they please, that it is well with them in other things, in their minds and conversations; but indeed, it is not so. Sin will, sin does, one way or another, increase in them proportionate to these decays; and it will sooner or later reveal itself doing so. If they are not utterly hardened, they may greatly discover it, either inwardly in their peace, or outwardly in their lives.
(3.) Where men are resolved not to see, and the greater the light is that shines about them, the faster they must close their eyes. All atheism springs from a resolution not to see things invisible and eternal. Love of sin, a resolved continuance in the practice of it, the
effectual power of vicious inclinations in opposition to all that is good, make it the interest of such men that there be no God to call them to account. For a supreme, unavoidable judge, an eternal rewarder of good and evil, is inseparable from the first notion of a Divine Being. Therefore, whereas the most glorious light and uncontrollable evidence of these things shines forth in the Scripture, men who abide by their interest to love and live in sin, must close their eyes with all the skills and powers they have, or else it will pierce their minds to their torment. They do this by downright atheism, which alone pretends to give them security against the light of divine revelation — as against all other convictions in which they might take shelter from their fears, under lesser degrees of it.
Therefore, it is not to the disparagement, but to the honor of the gospel, that so many avow themselves to be atheists, in those places in which the truth of it is known and professed. For none can have the least inclination or temptation to it unless they have first rejected the gospel, which immediately exposes them to the worst of evils.
Nor are there any means for the recovery of such persons. The opposition that has been made to atheism, with arguments for the divine being and existence of God — taken from reason and natural light, in this and other ages — has been of good use to cast contempt on the pretenses of evil men to justify themselves in their folly. But I greatly doubt that they have changed the minds of any.
No man is under the power of atheistic thoughts, or can be for long, unless he is ensnared in them by his desire to live securely and uncontrollably in sin. Such persons know it is in their interest that there be no God; and they are willing to take shelter under the bold expressions and reasonings of those who, by the same means, have hardened and blinded their minds in such foolish thoughts. But the most rational arguments for the being of the Deity will never prove an effectual cure for a predominant love of, and habitual course in sin, in those who have resisted and rejected the means and motives to that end, declared in divine revelation. Unless the love of sin is cured in the heart, thoughts in the acknowledgment of God will not be fixed in the mind.
2. There are those of whom also it may be said that "God is not in all their thoughts," though they acknowledge his essence and being; for they are not practically influenced in anything by the notions they have of Him. Such is the person about whom this is affirmed, in Psa
10.4. He is one who, through pride and profligacy, hardened in sin, does not regard God in the rule of the world, verses 4,5,11,13. The world is filled with such men these days, as they are described in Tit
1.16, "They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and reprobate for every good work."
They think, live, and act in all things, as if there were no God, or at least as if they never thought of him with fear and reverence. And for the most part, we need not look far for evidences of their disregard of God — the "pride of their countenances testifies against them," Psa
10.4; and if they are followed further, cursed oaths, licentiousness lives, and hatred of all that is good, will confirm and evidence the same. Such as these may own God in words; they may be afraid of him in dangers, and outwardly attend to His worship; but they don't think of God at all in a due manner — "he is not in all their thoughts."
3. There are still lesser degrees of this disregard of God and forgetfulness of him. Some are so filled with thoughts of the world and the occasions of life, that it is impossible for them to think of God as they should. For just as the love of God and the love of the world, in prevalent degrees, are inconsistent (for if a man loves this world, how does the love of God dwell in him?), so thoughts of God and of the world, in like degree, are inconsistent. This is the state of many who would yet be esteemed spiritually minded; they are continually conversant in their minds about earthly things. Some things impose themselves on them under the notion of duty; they belong to their callings, and so "they must be attended to." Some are suggested to their minds from daily occasions and occurrences.
Common converse in the world engages men in no other thoughts than worldly ones. Love and desire for earthly things, for their enjoyment and increase, exhaust the vigor of their spirits all day long. In the midst of a multitude of thoughts arising from these and like occasions — while their hearts and heads reek with the steam of them — many fall immediately to the performance of holy duties in their seasons. And those times must suffice for any thoughts of God.
But notwithstanding such duties, through the lack of a due preparation for them, through the fullness of their minds and affections with other things, and through a neglect of exercising grace in them, it may be said, comparatively, that "God is not in all their thoughts."
I pray God that this, at least as to some degrees of it, is not the condition of many among us. I'm not speaking now of men who visibly and openly live in sin, who are profane in their principles, and profligate in their lives. The prayers of such persons are an abomination to the Lord; nor do they ever have thoughts of him which He accepts. But I speak of those who are sober in their lives, industrious in their callings, and not openly negligent about the outward duties of religion. Such men are apt to approve of themselves, and others also speak well of them, for these things are in themselves commendable and praiseworthy. But if they are traced home, it will be found for many of them, that "God is not in all their thoughts" as he ought to be. Their earthly conversation, their vain communication, with their foolish designs, all manifest that the vigor of their spirits and the most intense contrivances of their minds, are engaged in things below. Some leftover, transient, unmanaged thoughts are sometimes cast away on God; which He despises.
4. Where persons do cherish secret predominant lusts in their hearts and lives, God is not in their thoughts as he ought to be. He may be, he often is, much in the words of such persons. But he is not, and cannot be in their thoughts in a due manner. And no doubt there are such persons. Time and again we hear of one or another whose secret lusts break out into discovery. They flatter themselves for a season; but God oftentimes so orders things in his holy providence, that their iniquity shall be found to be hateful. Some hateful lust reveals itself to be predominant in them: one is drunken, another unclean, a third is an oppressor. There were ever such men found among professors of the gospel, even in the best of times. One among the apostles was a traitor, "a devil." Among the first professors of Christianity, there were those "whose god was their belly, whose end was destruction, who minded earthly things," Phi 3.18,19.
Some may take advantage of this acknowledgment that there are such evils among those who are called professors of Christ. And it must be confessed that great scandal is given by this to the world,
putting both those who give it, and those to whom it is given, under a most dreadful woe. But we must bear the reproach of it as they did of old, and commit the outcome of all things to the watchful care of God. However, it is good in such a season to be jealous over ourselves and others, to "exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin," Heb 3.13. See chapter 12.13-17. And because those with whom it is this way cannot be spiritually minded, and there remain some difficulties as to the predominance of a secret lust or sin, I will consider it somewhat more distinctly:
(1.) We must distinguish between a time of temptation in some, and the ordinary state of mind and affections in others. There may be a season in which God — in his holy wise ordering of all things towards us, for his own glory, in his holy blessed ends — may permit a lust or corruption to break loose in the heart. He allows it to strive, tempt, suggest, and agitate to the great trouble and disquietude of the mind and conscience. Nor can it be denied that, falling in conjunction with some vigorous temptation, it may proceed so far as to surprise the person in whom it is found, into actual sin, to his own defilement and shock. In this case, no man can say, "I am tempted by God;" for "God tempts no man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed." Jas 1.13,14 Yet temptations, of whatever sort they are, so far as they are afflictive, corrective, or penal, they are ordered and disposed by God himself — there is no evil of that nature, and He has not done it. And where he would have the power of any corruption to be afflictive in any instance, two things may safely be ascribed to Him:
[1.] He withholds the supplies of that grace by which it might be effectually mortified and subdued. He can provide a sufficiency of efficacious grace to repel any temptation, to subdue any or all our lusts and sins; for he can and does work in us to will and to do according to his pleasure. Phi 2.13 Ordinarily he does so in those who believe — so that, although their lusts may rebel and war, they cannot defile or prevail. But he is not obliged to the continual supplies of this actual prevailing grace. When it may have a tendency to his holy ends, he may and does withhold it. When, it may be, a proud soul is to be humbled, a careless soul is to be
awakened, an unthankful soul is to be convinced and rebuked, a backsliding soul is to be recovered, a froward, selfish, passionate soul is to be broken and humbled, He can leave them for a season to the sore exercise of a prevalent corruption. Under his holy guidance, it will contribute greatly to his blessed ends. It was so in the temptation of Paul, 2Cor 12.7-9 (his thorn).
If a man, through disorder and excesses, is contracting many habitual distempers of body, which gradually and insensibly tend to his death, it may be an advantage to be thrown into a violent fever, which immediately threatens to take his life. For by this, he will be thoroughly awakened to consider his danger. He will not only labor to be freed from his fever, but also for the future, to watch against those disorders and excesses which throw him into that condition. Sometimes a loose, careless soul, who walks in a secure, formal profession, contracts many spiritual diseases which tend to his death and ruin. No arguments or considerations can prevail to awaken him to "shake himself out of the dust," Isa 52.2 and turn to a more diligent and humble walking before God. In this state, perhaps, through the permission of God, he is surprised
(ambushed) into some open, actual sin. Upon this, through the vigorous actings of an enlightened conscience, and the stirrings of any sparks of grace which still remain, he is shocked and terrified, and stirs himself to seek deliverance.
[2.] God may and does in his providence administer objects and occasions for men's lusts, for their trial. He will place them in such relations, in such circumstances, as will be apt to provoke their affections, passions, desires, and inclinations, for those objects that are suited to them.
In this state, any lust will quickly get such power in the mind and affections, as to manage continual solicitations to sin. It will not only dispose the affections towards it, but multiply thoughts about it, and darken the mind as to those considerations which ought to prevail to its mortification. In this condition, it is hard to conceive how God could be in the thoughts of man in a due manner.
However, this state is very different from the habitual prevalence of any secret sin or corruption in the ordinary course of men's walking in the world; and therefore I do not directly intend it.
If anyone inquires how we may know the difference between the occasional prevalence of any lust or corruption in conjunction with a temptation, and the power of sin in any instance that is habitually and constantly complied with, or indulged in the mind,
I answer — 1st. It is no great matter whether we are able to distinguish between them or not; for the end for which God permits any corruption to be such a snare and temptation, such a thorn and brier, is to awaken the souls of men from their security, and to humble them for their pride and negligence. The more severe their apprehensions concerning it, the more effectual it will be to this end and purpose. It may be good that the soul apprehend more of what is sinful in it as a corruption, than of what is afflictive in it as a temptation. For if it is conceived as a predominant lust, and if there is any spark of grace remaining in the soul, it will not rest until it is subdued in some measure. It will also immediately put the soul on a diligent search of itself, which will issue in deep self-abasement, which is the principal end designed.
2dly. For the relief of those who may be perplexed in their minds about their state and condition, I say there is an apparent difference between these things. A lust or corruption arising or breaking into a violent temptation, is the continual burden, grief, and affliction of the soul in which it exists. And because the temptation which befalls such a person will give him no rest, for the most part, from its reiterated solicitations, so he will give the temptation no rest. He will continually conflict with it and contend against it. It fills his soul with shock, and with continual self-abhorrence, that any such seeds of filth and folly still remain in it. For those in whom any sin is ordinarily prevalent, it is otherwise. According to their light and renewed occasional convictions, they are troubled by it; they cannot help it, unless their consciences are utterly seared. But this trouble respects principally, if not solely, its guilt and effects. They don't know what may ensue upon giving in to it, in this world and another.
Beyond this, they like it well enough, and are not willing to part with it. It is this latter sort of person, of whom we speak at present.
(2.) We must distinguish between the perplexing solicitation of any lust, and the conquering predominance of it. The evil that is present with us will solicit and press for sin of its own accord, even where there is no such especial temptation as that spoken of before.
So is the case stated, and so are its nature and operations described, Rom 7, Gal 5.17.58 And sometimes an especial, particular lust may be so warmed and fomented by men's constitutions within, or be so exposed to provoking, exciting occasions without, as to bring perpetual trouble on the mind. Yet this may be true where no sin has the predominance that we inquire about. And the difference between the perplexing solicitation of any corruption unto sin, and the conquering prevalence of it, lies in this: that under the former, the thoughts, contrivances, and actings of the mind, are generally disposed and inclined to opposing it, and conflicting with it — how it may be obviated, defeated, and destroyed — how an absolute victory may be obtained against it. Indeed, death itself is sweet to such persons, under this notion: that it would deliver them from the perplexing power of their corruptions. So is the state of such a soul represented at large in Romans 7. In the other case, namely, of its predominance, it disposes the thoughts, for the most part, to make actual provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. Rom 13.14 It fills the mind with pleasing contemplations of its object, and puts it to contriving for its satisfaction. Indeed, part of the bitterness of death for such persons is that it will make an everlasting separation between them and the satisfaction they have received in their lusts.
To a worldly-minded man, his thoughts of it are bitter, because it will take him from all his enjoyments, his wealth, profits, and advantages. It is this way for the sensual person, as that which finally resolves all his pleasures.
(3.) There is a difference in the degrees of such a predominant corruption. In some it taints the affections, vitiates the thoughts, and works the will to acts of a secret complacency in sin; but it proceeds no further. The whole mind may be vitiated by it, and rendered vain, sensual, or worldly in the multitude of its thoughts, depending on the nature of the prevailing corruption. Yet here God puts bounds on the raging of some men's corruptions, and says to their proud ways, "Thus far shall you proceed, and no further." He either lays a restraint on their minds, that when lust has fully
conceived, it will not bring forth sin; or he sets a hedge before them in his providence, so that in their circumstances they will not be able to find their way to what perhaps they most earnestly desire.
It is a woeful life that such persons lead. They are continually tortured between their corruptions and convictions, or the love of sin and fear of its event. With others, it pursues a course to outward actual sins, which in some, are discovered in this world; in others they are not — for some men's sins go before them unto judgment, and some follow after. Some fall into sin upon surprisal, from a concurrence of temptation, with corruption and opportunities.
Some habituate themselves to a course in sin. Though in many it is not discovered, in some it is.
But among those who have received any spiritual light, and made a profession of religion, this seldom happens without the great displeasure of God. For when men have long given way to the prevalence of sin in their affections, inclinations, and thoughts, and God has set many a hedge before them, to set bounds for their inclinations and to shut up the womb of sin — sometimes by afflictions, sometimes by fears and dangers, sometimes by the word
— and yet the bent of their spirit is towards their sin, God takes away his hand of restraint, removes his hindrances, and gives them up to their own hearts' lusts, to do the things that are not convenient. All things then suit their desires, and they rush into actual sins and follies, setting their feet in the paths that go down to the chambers of death. The uncontrollable power of sin in such persons, and the greatness of God's displeasure against them, make their condition most deplorable.
Those who are in this state, of either sort, the first (worldly) or the latter (enlightened), are far from being spiritually minded, nor is
"God in all their thoughts" as he ought to be; for — First, They will not so think and meditate on God. Their delight is turned another way. Their affections, which are the spring of their thoughts, which feed them continually, cling to the things which are most adverse to Him. Love of sin has gotten to be the spring in them, and the whole stream of the thoughts which they choose and delight in are towards its pleasures. If any thoughts of God come in, as a faint tide does for a few minutes, and drive back the other
stream, they are quickly repelled and carried away with the strong current of those which proceed from their powerful inclinations.
Yet such persons may abide in the performance of outward holy duties, or attendance to them. Pride of their gifts, or satisfaction in them, may give them delight in their own performances, and somewhat in those of others whom they may be exceedingly pleased with, as expressly affirmed in Eze 33.31,32.59 But in these things, they have no immediate real thoughts of God, none that they delight in, none that they seek to stir up in themselves; and they reject those thoughts of God which impose themselves on them.
Secondly, As they will not, so they dare not, think of God. They will not, because of the power of their lusts; they dare not, because of their guilt. No sooner would they begin to think of Him in good earnest, than their sin would lose all its desirable forms and appearances, and represent itself in the horror of guilt alone. And in that condition, all the properties of the divine nature are suited to increase the dread and terror of the sinner. Adam heard God's voice before with delight and satisfaction; but upon hearing the same voice after he sinned, he hid himself and cried that he was afraid. There is a way for men to think of God with the guilt of sin upon them, which they intend to forsake; but there is none for any to think of Him with the guilt of sin which they resolve to continue in. Therefore, it may be said of these sorts of persons, that "God is not in all their thoughts," and thus they are far from being spiritually minded — for unless we have many thoughts of God, we cannot be so. Moreover, there are two things required for those thoughts which we have of God, to be evidence of our being spiritually minded:
[1.] That we take delight in them: Psa 30.4, "Sing to the LORD, O you saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." The remembrance of God delights and refreshes the hearts of his saints, and stirs them up to thankfulness:
1st. They rejoice in what God is in Himself. Whatever is good, amiable, or desirable; whatever is holy, just, and powerful; whatever is gracious, wise, and merciful — and all that is so — they see and apprehend in God. That God is what he is, is the matter of their chief joy. Whatever befalls them in this world, whatever troubles and disquietude they are exercised with, the
remembrance of God is a satisfactory refreshment for them. For in this they behold all that is good and excellent, the infinite center of all perfections. Wicked men would have God be anything but what he is; nothing that God is, really and truly, pleases them.
Therefore, they either frame false notions of him in their minds, as in Psa 50.21;60 or else they don't think of him at all, at least not as they should, unless sometimes they tremble at his anger and power. They suppose some benefit may be had by what He can do; but how there can be any delight in what He is, they don't know.
Indeed, all their trouble arises from this: that He is what he is. It would be a relief to them if they could abate any of his power, his holiness, his righteousness, his omnipresence; but his saints, as the psalmist says, "give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness." Psa 30.4
And when we can delight in the thoughts of what God is in himself, of his infinite excellencies and perfections, it gives us a threefold evidence of our being spiritually minded:
(1st.) It is such an evidence, that we have a gracious interest in those excellencies and perfections, and can say with rejoicing in our hearts, "This God," thus holy, thus powerful, thus just, good, and gracious, "is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide unto death." So the psalmist, considering his own frailty and apprehensions of death in the midst of his years, comforts and refreshes himself with thoughts of God's eternity and immutability, and with his interest in them, Psa 102.23-28. And God himself proposes to us his infinite immutability as the ground on which we may expect safety and deliverance, Mal
3.6.61 When we can thus think with delight of God, and of what he is, it is I say, an evidence that we have a gracious covenant interest even in what God is in himself; which none have but those who are spiritually minded.
(2dly.) It is an evidence, that the image of God has begun to be wrought in our own souls, and that we approve of and rejoice in it more than in all other things whatever. Whatever notions men may have of the divine goodness, holiness, righteousness, and purity, they are all but barren, meagre, and fruitless, unless there is a similitude and conformity to them wrought in their minds
and souls. Without this, they cannot rejoice in the thoughts and remembrance of the divine excellencies. That's why, when we can do so, when such meditations on God are sweet to us, it is evidence that we have some experience in ourselves of the excellency of the image of those perfections, and that we rejoice in them above all things in this world.
(3dly.) They are also delightful in that they manifest that we discern and judge that our eternal blessedness consists in the full manifestation and enjoyment of God in what he is, and of all his divine excellencies. For the most part, men take this for granted; but how it should be so, they don't know. Those whose hearts are here deeply affected with delight in them, understand it in some measure; they are able to believe that the manifestation and enjoyment of the divine excellencies will give eternal rest, satisfaction, and complacency to their souls. No wicked man can look upon it other than as a torment, to abide forever with "eternal holiness," Isa 33.14. And we ourselves can have no present prospect into the fullness of future glory, when
God will be all in all, except through the delight and satisfaction which we have here, in the contemplation of what God is in himself as the center of all divine perfections.
I would therefore, in an especial manner, press this unknown, this neglected duty on the minds of those of us who are visibly drawing near to eternity. The days are coming in which what
God is in himself (that is, as manifested and exhibited in Christ), shall alone be as we hope: the eternal blessedness and reward of our souls. Is it possible that anything could be more necessary for us, more useful to us, than to be exercised in such thoughts and contemplations? The benefits we may have by this are not to be reckoned; some of them may only be named. Such as —
[1st.] We shall have the best trial of how our hearts really stand affected towards God; for if upon examination we find ourselves not really delighting and rejoicing in God for what he is in himself, and that all perfections are eternally resident in him, then how does the love of God dwell in us? But if we can truly "rejoice at the remembrance of his holiness," in the thoughts of what he is, our hearts are upright with him.
[2dly.] This is what will effectually take our thoughts and affections off things here below. One spiritual view of the divine goodness, beauty, and holiness, will have more efficacy to raise the heart to a contempt of all earthly things, than any other evidences whatsoever.
[3dly.] It will increase the grace of being heavenly minded in us, on the grounds declared before.
[4thly.] It is the best, I almost said it is the only, preparation for the future full enjoyment of God. This will gradually lead us into His presence, take away all fears of death, increase our longing for eternal rest, and ever make us groan to be unclothed. Let us not, then, cease laboring with our hearts, until through grace we have a spiritually-sensible delight and joy in the remembrances and thoughts of what God is in himself.
2dly. In thoughts of God, his saints rejoice at the remembrance of what he is, and what he will be to them. In this they have regard to all the holy relations that he has taken on himself towards them, with all the effects of his covenant in Christ Jesus. To that purpose were some of the last words of David: 2Sam 23.5,
"Although my house is not so with God; yet he has made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire." In the prospect he had of all the distresses that were to befall his family, he triumphantly rejoiced in the everlasting covenant that God had made with him.
In these thoughts, His saints take delight; they are sweet to them, and full of refreshment: "Their meditations of him are sweet," and they are "glad in the LORD," Psa 104.34. Thus is it with those who are truly spiritually minded. They not only think much about God, but they take delight in these thoughts — they are sweet to them; and not only so, but they have no solid joy or delight except in their thoughts of God, which therefore they retreat to continually.
They do so especially on great occasions, which of themselves are apt to divert them from thoughts of God. Suppose a man has received a signal mercy, and he is exceedingly affected and delighted with the matter of it. The minds of some men on such occasions, are apt to be filled with thoughts of what they have received, and their affections are apt to be wholly taken up with it.
But the one who is spiritually minded will immediately retreat to thoughts of God, placing his delight and taking up his satisfaction in Him. And so, on the other side, great distresses, prevalent sorrows, strong pains, violent distempers, are apt of themselves to take up and exercise all the thoughts of men about them. But those who are spiritually minded will in them, and under them all, continually turn to thoughts of God, in which they find relief and refreshment against all that they feel or fear. In every state, their principal joy is in "the remembrance of his holiness."
[2.] That they be accompanied with godly fear and reverence.
These are required of us in all we have to do with God, Heb 12.28,29.62 Just as the Scripture doesn't more abound with precepts to any other duty, so the nature of God and our own, with the infinite distance between them, makes it indispensably necessary, even in the light of the natural conscience. Infinite greatness, infinite holiness, infinite power, all which God is, command the utmost reverential fear that our natures are capable of. The lack of this is the spring of innumerable evils — yes, of all that is evil. Hence are blasphemous abuses of the holy name of God in cursed oaths and execrations; hence His name is taken in vain in ordinary exclamations; hence is all formality in religion.
It is the spiritual mind alone that can reconcile those things which are prescribed to us as our duty towards God. "To delight and rejoice in him always, to triumph in the remembrance of him, to draw near to him with boldness and confidence," are prescribed to us on the one hand; and on the other it is "that we fear and tremble before him, that we fear that great and dreadful name the LORD our God, that we have grace to serve him with reverence and godly fear, because he is a consuming fire." Carnal reason cannot comprehend consistency in these things — what it is afraid of, it cannot delight in; and what it delights in, it will not fear for long.
But the consideration of faith, concerning what God is in himself, and what He will be to us, gives these different graces their distinct operations, and a blessed reconciliation in our souls. That's why all our thoughts of God should be accompanied with a holy awe and reverence, from a due sense of His greatness, holiness, and power.
Two things will utterly vitiate all thoughts of God and render them useless to us — vain curiosity and carnal boldness.
1st. It is unimaginable how the subtle disquisitions and disputes of men about the nature, properties, and counsels of God, have been corrupted, rendered sapless and useless, by vain curiosity, and by striving for an artificial accuracy in the expression of men's apprehensions. When the wits and minds of men are engaged in such thoughts, "God is not in all their thoughts," even when all their thoughts concern Him. Once men have gotten into their metaphysical curiosities and logical niceties, in their contemplations about God and his divine properties, they bid farewell, for the most part, to all godly fear and reverence.
2dly. Others are so under the power of carnal boldness, that they think of God with no other respect than if they thought worms of the earth were like themselves. There is no holy awe upon their minds and souls in the mention of His name. By these things, our thoughts of God may be so vitiated, that the heart will not be affected with a reverence of Him, nor will any evidence be given that we are spiritually minded.
It is this holy reverence that is the means of bringing sanctifying virtue into our souls from God, upon our thoughts of him. None who thinks of God with a due reverence, will fail to be sensible of his advantage by it. Hereby we sanctify God in our access to him. And when we do so, he will sanctify and purify our hearts by those very thoughts in which we draw near to him.
We may have many sudden, occasional, transient thoughts of God, that are not introduced into our minds by a preceding reverential fear. But if they don't leave that fear on our hearts in proportion to their continuance with us, they are of no value, but will insensibly habituate us to a common, bold frame of spirit, which He despises.63
So it is in the case of thoughts of a contrary nature. Thoughts of sin, and of sinful objects, may arise in our minds from the remainders of corruption, or be occasioned by the temptations and suggestions of Satan. If these are immediately rejected and cast out of us, the soul is no more prejudiced by their entrance, than it is advantaged by their rejection, through the power of grace. But if they make frequent returns into the minds of men, or make any abode or continuance in their soliciting of the affections, they greatly defile the mind and conscience, disposing the person to further entertain them. So too, if
our occasional thoughts of God immediately leave us, and pass away without much affecting our minds, we will have little or no benefit by them. But if, by their frequent visits and some continuance with us, they dispose our souls to a holy reverence of God, then they are a blessed means of promoting our sanctification. Without this, I say, there may be thoughts of God that have no advantage to the soul.
There is implanted on our nature, such a sense of a divine Power and Presence, that upon all sudden occasions and surprisals, it will act according to that sense and apprehension. There is "vox naturae clamantis ad Dominum naturae," — a voice in nature itself, upon anything that is suddenly too hard for it, which cries out immediately to the God of nature. So it is with men; on such occasions, without any consideration, they are surprised into calling on the name of God and crying out to him. And it is from the same natural apprehension that wicked and profane persons will break forth on all occasions into cursed swearing by His name. So men in such ways have thoughts of God without either reverence or godly fear, without giving any glory to him, and for the most part, to their own disadvantage. Such are all thoughts of God that are not accompanied with holy fear and reverence.
There is scarcely any duty that should at present be more pressed on the consciences of men, than this of keeping up a constant holy reverence of God in all they have to do with him, both in private and public, in their inward thoughts and outward communication.
Formality has so prevailed on religion, and under the most effectual means of its suppression, that many manifest they have little or no reverence of God in the most solemn duties of his worship, and maybe less in their secret thoughts. Some ways that have been found to keep up a pretense and appearance of it, have been and are destructive to it.
But in this consists the very life of all religion. In the Old Testament, the fear of God is the usual expression for all the respect that is due to Him by our souls. And that is because where that is not in exercise, nothing is acceptable to him. Hence, the whole of our wisdom is said to consist in this (Psa 111.10). If it isn't in prevalent exercise in all we have to do with Him immediately, then all our duties are utterly lost as to the ends of His glory, and the spiritual advantage of our own souls.