Professional Documents
Culture Documents
v:>Dl>^> :l
^^^
1>^^
.O) )J
BOOK-BINDER ;@E
iSU STATIONSR, 1
^*Sat! K <
151 VV ainut St , 1
L
Philadelphia. |
.^S^<r
=jC
<s^^QG^
LIBRARY OF THK
Theological Seminary.
PRINCETON, N. J.
^
BV 4501 .V56 1830
A DONATION
/^ ^/V, Ky
^ ilectibf
^ o^ ^ ^
o
<iC^
'L.l.^
C ?<
^
''-^c^"' ecu- T^Tsk
V-. ii:
CiC
S^^ u^''
x:
TTa
'^^^r:^***
rr
J:"'-t^<w;-*S.'^'
^SilLill
^^i<*Lj^C
.CXLL^v-^x^
-'<?<*-" \4.i ; I, ,^,^
^x<i^;
r"
<5^^K<^- <i:"o5''"^-i^
.<2- ,r
<'S
^
THE
ACTIVE CHRISTIAN'S
COMPANION:
Containing,
ALSO,
EDITED I
)^y^
BY THE REV. WILLIAM VINT.
IDLE:
PRINTED BY JOHN VINT, WESTGATE.
1830.
CONTENTS.
IMMANUEL.
Page
Memoirs of the Author iii
Preface .15
CHAP. I. The occasion of the words of the text ; the prin-
SAMUEL SHAW.
vol,. 11.
JWemoirjs
OF
THE AUTHOR.
day, with all his scholars, his family, and all his
more, being now past 74, yet I have read all your
book, and some parts of it more than once, with
great satisfaction and benefit. For in your medi-
tations of the love of God and the world, I am
neither afraid nor unwilling to confess it, and mak^
MEMOIRS OF THE AUTHOR, 9
strange, and yet most true, that the ox and ass, irra-
was called James the less, Mark xv. 40, whose mo-
ther was Mary, who was sister to the Virgin Mary
and so our blessed Saviour and James the son of
Alpheus were sisters' children, cousin-germans.
Now that James the son of Zebedee, and brother
of John, did not write that canonical epistle, will
be certain, if we consider, 1. That James, brother
of John, was slain by Herod Agrippa, Acts xii.
2, which was Anno Christi 44* or 45. And
2ndly, If it be considered, that the epistle of James
was not written till the year of Christ 63 : for so
Baronius, Simpson, and the best chronologers assure
us. They say, that epistle of James was not writ
till almost twenty years after James the brother of
John was slain by Herod : and therefore it is cer-
tain, he neither did nor could write it. I beg your
pardon for this tedious, and I fear impertinent,
scribble. My love and due respects remembered. I
shall pray for a blessing upon you and your studies
and your prayers are heartily desired by and for
Your affectionate friend and brother,
THOMAS LINCOLN.
Uuckdcn, March 16, 1681.
For my Reverend Friend, IVIr. SAi\r. Sham',
at his House at Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
* Jac. Usserius, Annal. pag. 868, Ed. 1608 ; Baron. Annal. torn. \.
13 MEMOIRS OF THE AUTHOll.
follows :
MEMOIRS OF THE AUTHOK. 13
not because they Hve not well, but because they can-
not think and believe as they do. And is this the
genuine product of true religion ? nothing less.
terest fiir and near? And are not all wicked men.
yea, and the devil himself so too ? The fairestand
most flourishing state of a church is nothing to
God, and so consequently not to a pious soul, in
comparison of those excellent divine beauties where-
with religion adorneth the world. But whereas the
greatest complaint, and the most dreadful charge
which the Protestants bring against the Papists, is
their inhumanity and most unchristian cruelty, ex-
ercised against all whom they can but make shift to
esteem heretics and they, on the other hand, allege,
;
It may much
possibly seem that I have toiled too
in these discoveries and perhaps my pains may
;
;'"'
the works of the devil and again, says the Apostle
Paul, " That he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of
good works." 2. It appears that this is the grand
design of God in the world, inasmuch as he doth
not deliver his faithful servants out of their afflic-
Thy servant,
SAMUEL SHAW.
\l
IMMANUEL.
CHAP. I.
" But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be
in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.'*
and
sion from the water to instruct her in the great
kingdom of heaven. O
excellent doctrines of the
the admirable zeal for God, and compassion for
souls, which dwelt in that divine breast and O !
found in those words, " I shall give him ;" the na-
ture of it is described by "a well of water;'' the
properties of it will be found in the phrase of
1MMA>;UEL. 5Y
;'"'
*' springing up the consequence of it, that the
man that is endoTA'ed with it "shall never thirst;"'*'
ledge, but indeed " every good gift cometli from the
Father of lights/' God doth from within give that
capacity, illumination of the faculty, ingenuity,
whereby we comprehend the mysteries of nature, as
well as of grace.
Therefore we may conceive of the origin of reli-
;''
of glory you will, Christ in us the
or, if first-fruits
h3
78 IM MANUEL.
CHAP. II.
sio7iof
the 7ni7id though
no, notamount the sa7ne to
071ecstacy anything begotten and
7ior by 7naintai7ied
fa7icy, and the mere power of i7naginatio7i.
for sin, and self, and the world, to lodge and lie
down in. In a word, this offspring of heaven, this
King**s daughter, the pious soul, is "all glorious
within ;" yea, and outwardly too, " she is clothed
with wrought gold." Here faith v/ithin is more
precious than gold ; and her conversation is curi-
IMMANUEL. 85
bird into her own ark from whence she was departed
it settles the soul upon its proper centre, and
quenches its burning thirst after happiness. And
hence it is called water in scripture, as appears from
these expressions " The Lord thy
shall satisfy soul
in drought ;""
and " pour water upon him
I will that
is thirsty,and floods upon the dry ground C com-
pared with " Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any
man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."
Heligion is a taste of infinite goodness, which
quenches the souFs thirst after all other created and
finite good; even as that taste which honest Na-
soul itself.
k3
10.'? IMMANUEL.
CHAP. III.
him, it carries the soul out after him, and into con-
junction with him. In a word, the pious soul being
loosed from self-love, emptied of self-fulness, beaten
out of all self-satisfaction, and delivered from all self-
u 3
114 IMMANUEL.
lowed the rest. They will not part with all for
M :^
U6 IMMANUEL.
CHAP. IV
The active and vigorous nature of' true religion proved
by many scriptural phrases of the most porverful im-
portance more particularly explained in three things
1. In the soul's continual care and study to be
good 2. In its care to do good 3. In its powerful
and incessant longings after the most full enjoyment
of God.
n3
138 IMMANUEL.
""
not that I must be about my Father's business ?
O how happy would the pious soul count itself, if it
could but live and converse in the world, in the
same manner, and with the same devout, fervent,
exalted spirit, as Christ Jesus did, whose meat and
drink it was still to be doing the will, and advanc-
ing the glory of his Father ! But, alas ! the poor
soul finds itself ensnared and selfish
by passions,
affections from within, clogged with an unwieldy
body, and distracted with secular affairs from with-
out, that it cannot rise so nimbly, run so swiftly,
nor serve the infinite and glorious God so cheerfully,
nor liberally, as it would and therefore the poor
;
most employment;
excellent it is ready to envy
*
What have I done to thee ?" O but what a
mighty charm is there in divine love which when !
give him the whole world, and all the glory of it,
at rest ""
as in the sense of his dissimilitude to, and
distance from God, O that one would give me the
wings of an angel, that I might fly away towards
heaven
IMMAXUF.L. 151
CHAP. IV
An expostulation with Christians concerning their remiss
and sluggish temper an attempt convince them
to of'
of worldly men
2. The restless appetites of the body
vation
:''''
and indeed the Spirit of God doth every
where describe religion by the activity, industry,
vigour, and quietness of it, as I hinted in the very
beginning of this discourse, and could abundantly
confirm and explain, if there were need of it.
CHAP. VI.
VOL. 11. (i
170 IMMANUEL.
Q 6
174 IMMANUEL.
"
by the Apostle, the everlasting covenant." And
again, Jer. xxxii. 40, " I will make an everlasting
covenant with them f which covenant, and the ever-
lastingness of it, are fully explained in the following
mean time, that they may be kept " from the evil,"'
and that their faith, " fail not."'
me for ever
;'"'
and again, " they shall not depart
from me;" with many other places of like importance.
3. God is said, to dwell in the souls of his peo-
ple, in opposition to a way-faring man, "who turneth
in to tarry for a night." God indeed hath promised,
that it them that were not his
shall be said to
people, " Ye are the sons of the living God," Hos.
i. 10 ; but never on the contrary, hath he any where
threatened them that are the sons of the living God
that it shall at any time be said to them, " Ye are
not my people." True indeed, as to external pro-
fession, church-membership, mere covenant holiness,
and outward communion, God doth many times dis-
inherit and reject them that were so his people ;
but, as to true godliness, participation of the divine
image, internal and spiritual communion, we may
confidently say with the Apostle to the Corinthians,
" God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the
fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord ;" or,
with same Apostle to the Thessalonians,
the
" Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do
it." Do what ? why, that which he was speaking of
will any such thing. " God doth not give unto his
saints," saith Augustine, " only such help without
which they could not persevere if they would (which
was that v.hich he gave Adam ;) but he also work-
eth in them the v/ill : that because they shall not
persevere except they both can and will, his bounti*
184 IMMANUEL.
him, fall from his love and image, and take upon
him the image of the devil, as it was for Lazarus to
quit Abraham's bosom for the flames of hell : the
case seems to be the same, the former being the
most real heaven, and the latter the truest hell.
True religion is that hcly fire which, being once
Ivindled in the soul from heaven, never goes out
IMMANULIL. 191
whereof the fire of the altar was but a faint and im-
perfect resemblance : it is as true in this respect of
good men, as it is of wicked men in another, "their
fire never goes out/''
VOL, II. s
194 IMMAXUEL.
CHAP. VII.
God and
the soul is at rest a double this in sense,
namely, as
so that it matched with
is perfectly its
Secondly, So
object as have joy and plea-
satisfied to
1 .
" There is a raging thirst in every soul of man
after some ultimate and satisfactory good."' The
God of nature hath implanted in every created na-
ture a secret but powerful tendency towards a centre,
the dictates of which, arising out of the very consti-
tution of it, it cannot disobey until it cease to be
such, and utterly apostatize from the state of its
creation. And the nobler any being is, the more
excellent is the object assigned to it, and the more
strong and potent, and uncontrollable are its raptures
and motions thereunto. Wherefore the soul of man
must needs also have its own proper centre, which
must be something superior to, and more excellent
than itself, able to fill up all its indigencies, to
match all its capacities, to master cravings, all its
'i i)
^IlO IMMAKUEL.
rapacious whether
; the same will ever be able to
afford it or not, it matters not. The animal life is
that voracious idol, not like Bel in the story, which
seems only to eat up, but which doth really devour
all the fat morsels, and sensual pleasures that are
sacrificed and yet it is not filled therewith.
unto it,
the wise and devout soul that hath her senses rightly
awakened, and exercised to discern between good
and evil O no, " I am sick of love,'' and sick of
:
are only fuel for the animal life, honour, ease vic-
tory, plenty, liberty, relations, recreations, all the
entertainments and delights in this lower life, yea,
and this very life itself. Earthly and heavenly
loves arc to each otlier as the two scales of a pair of
IM MANUEL. 2J25
CHAP. VIII.
VOL. Jl. z
254 IMMANUEL.
z ti
ON
1 John i. 3.
*' Our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son
Jesus Christ."
A
good man is not differenced from other men
by anything without him, any church privileges
which are common to hypocrites and sincere Chris-
tians ; any external visible performances, in which
the disciples of the Pharisees may be more abundant
and more specious than the disciples of Christ,
much less by any corporeal or temporal enjoyment
or ornament, strength, beauty, riches, descent, &c.
nor by any carnal relation, though it were to Abra-
ham, as the Jews boasted of their father Abraham,
but by something internal, substantial, by a relation
to God; the character of a good man must be drawn
from his correspondence to the chief good, and
the happiness of a soul must be judged of by its
relation to life, and love, and blessedness itself.
^GO COMMUNION WITH GOD.
one with us, than that which we eat and drink, be-
ing incorporated into us ; therefore is this spiritual
his works." And that is, when the soul doth an-
swer the several providences of God with suitable
and pertinent and dispositions. The pious
affections
soul doth not only eye and observe the hand of
God in all things that fall out, but doth comply with
those providences, and is moulded into that frame,
and put upon those duties, which such providences
do call for. Then doth the soul rightly hold com-
munion with God in his works, when it is humbled
under humbling providences, is refreshed, strength-
ened, and grows up under prosperous providences,
as they did. Acts ix. 31, who having rest given
them, were edified, comforted, multiplied, &c.
When the soul doth rightly comport with every pro-
vidence, and the will is moulded into the will of God,
then do we hold communion with him in his works.
This theme is large, because the works of God are
manifold, of creation, redemption, preservation,
works towards other men, and towards ourselves,
both towards our outward and inward man. A
pious soul hath communion with God in all these;
in the sense that I named even now, though per-
haps not equally in all, yet sincerely and truly.
By what hath been said, you understand that
right fellowship with God communion
is not a bare
of names. To have the name of God called upon
us, and to be called Christians, or the people of
God, or to name the name of God, to profess it, to
cry. Lord, Lord, doth not make any one really and
truly the better man, doth not make a soul rightly
COMMUNION WITH GOD. 2G9
VOL. II. 2 B
278 COMMUNION WITH GOD.
saith unto God, " Depart from me, I desire not the
knowledge of thy ways,'' with them in Job xxi. 1 4.
These do really exempt themselves from the do-
minion of Christ, and do really, though not audibly,
say with them in the gospel, " We will not have
this man to reign over us.'' However men pretend,
and boast of their relation to, and acquaintance with
God, certainly all that live a mere sensual life, non-
conformists to the image of God, are truly said to
be strangers to him, and in a state of non-com-
munion with him, 1 John i. 6 2 Cor. vi. 14 ;
all wicked men lead a low life, and are bound under
chains of death and darkness : the righteous man is
eat, and drink, and work, and sleep, and enjoy sen-
sual pleasures, what doth he ? what enjoyeth he
more than the beasts that perish ? But the life of
the meanest soul, that hath true and spiritual com-
munion with God, is a life common to him with the
blessed angels, those sons of the morning, the flower
of the whole creation. That life which hath self
for its centre, must needs be a penurious, and indeed
a painful life : for how can the soul of man possibly
feed to the full upon such spare diet, such scant
fare as it home ? Nay, indeed, how can it
finds at
choose but be in pain and torture, whilst it stretch-
eth itself upon self-sufficiency, or creature fulness,
which is not at all commensurate to it ? But the
jsoul that rightly stretches and spends all its facul*
ties upon the infinite and blessed God, finds all its
and wait till they drop into his mouth ? No, no,
there is a raging thirst in the soul, which will not
suffer it to be at rest, but is still awakening and
provoking all the powers of the whole man, till they
arise and fetch in water to quench it. And there-
fore we read of men making haste to be rich, and
hastening after another god whicli eager and ardent
;
Who will show us any good .?" that is, any creature-
good, as the words following do explain it. All un-
regenerate souls are bound up in the creature, some
creature or other; and therefore the noblest of
them, whatever boasting they may make, are low and
ignoble ; main converse is but with their fel-
their
low-creatures, and indeed creatures much inferior to
themselves " Corn and wine,"' says the Psalmist
:
ANGELICAL LIFE,
BY SAMUEL SHAW.
THE
ANGELICAL LIFE.
equal to them.
I. Negatively.
1. " The glorified saints shall not be like the
angels in essence." The angelical essence, and the
rational soul are,and shall be different. Souls shall
remain souls still, keep their own essence the es- :
But that is not all : for their souls shall not any
longer desire, nor hanker after any created thing,
but, as the angels, shall be possessed of God, filled
with the fulness of God ; all their powers and fa-
culties are perfectly refined and spiritualized, ab-
stracted from all created things, eternally rejoicing
and delighting themselves in the contemplation and
participation of the supreme and infinite Good for :
again, " The lilies neither toil nor spin, and yet
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
these/' These blessed souls have no respect at all
to things terrene and created yet they are so filled
;
APPLICATION.
From the discovery of the future state of the
saints, I find myself furnished with reasons for,
1. Reproof against the carnal conceits that many
Christians have of heaven. Christians do I call
them ! nay, herein they seem rather Mahometans,
VOL. II. 2 E
314 ANGELICAL LIFE.
an and
evil unseemly temper, which is earthly-
mindedness, or minding of earthly things or if you ;
and holy God lives upon his own infinite and self-
and you shall need none, and yet have light enough
too. In a word, learn to live independent of them
whilst you have them, and you will be the better
able to live without them when they are removed.
5. I come now to the fifth and last use that I
I. Negatively.
1. " Live not upon self I speak not of living
unto self, but live not upon self, self-excellencies,
self-sufficiencies, any created accomplishments, which
(3.) And not only these, but even almost all men
are too apt to seek rest in duties and ordinances,
or, at least, to be pretty well satisfied with the work
done, whether they have conversed with God there
or not. Oh, if you love youi souls, seek your hap-
piness higher ! Conversing with divine ordinances,
I confess, is honourable and amiable, but it is too
low a life for an immortal soul.
II. Affirmatively.
Let nothing satisfy you but God himself; take
up with no pleasure, no treasure, no portion, no
paradise, nay, no heaven, no happiness, below the
infinite, supreme, and self-sufficient Good. Let
your eye be upon him, and his all-filling fulness
let your desire be unto him, and to the remembrance
with the Son, by the Spirit, " O love the Lord, all
ye his saints " love him with all your soul, and
;"*"*
with all your strength ;"" " yea, and keep yourselves
always in the love of God persevere and increase ;
freedom ; they have paid for it, not with the fore-
skins of the Philistines, but with the lives of what
they so loved, there being no way to cure this evil
distemper, but cutting off the member infected with
it, the part that it fed upon. As a branch of this
head, let me add, Labour to live upon God in the
excellencies of other men ; value them, and all their
soul thirsteth for God, for the living God ;" " My
heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God,'*
2g 3
342 ANGELICAL LIFE.
and the same ship and cargo where one hath more
;
they are called, his fellows ; " God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above
thy fellows." And again, " If children, then heirs
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ."' Christ
states his people, gives them a right and title not
only to himself, but to those good things purchased
by him, yea, and the very glory he
now enjoys in
heaven " The glory which thou gavest me, have I
given them."*'
2h3
354 COMMUNION WITH CHRIST.
" And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song
of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well
on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they
do them not.'' The sweet modulation of the pro-
phets voice was like the skilful touch of a rare mu-
sical instrument, which in a natural way, moved
and excited their affections. Thus John"'s hearers
rejoiced in his ministry for a season. I confess this
is very apt to cast souls into a mistake of their con-
dition. They distinguish not between the influences
that come upon from without, from
their affections
extrinsic things, and those that are purely inward,
divine, and But then.
spiritual.
Secondly, To show you positively what communion
with God is. Here we must consider two things,
1. What things it presupposes in us.
Wherein the nature of it consists.
2.
that call upon him, unto all that call upon him in
truth ;*"
the latter clause restrains com-
all spiritual
VOL. II. 2 I
S6^ COMMUNION WITH CHRIST.
even blush
to lift up my face unto thee." Shame and blushing
are as excellent signs of communion with God as
the sweetest smiles.
COMMU^IOK WITH CHRIST. S63
love. O
what a rich trade do Christians drive this
way in their duties and exercises of graces ?
(4.) To mention no more in the duties of passive
obedience, Christians are enabled to exercise their
patience, meekness, and long-suffering for Christ,
in return for which, the Lord gives them the singu-
lar consolations of his Spirit, double returns of joy.
" The and of God resteth upon them.*"
Spirit of glory
The Lord strengthens them with passive fortitude,
with all might in the inner man, unto all long-suf-
fering ; but the reward of that long-suffering is joy-
fulness. This is the trade they carry on with heaven.
3. Beside communion with God in the contem-
plation of his attributes, and graces exercised in the
course of duties, there is another method of com-
munion with God in the way of his providences,
for therein also his people walk with him. To give
a taste of this, let us consider providence in a four-
fold aspectupon the people of God :
rest, O
my soul."" When we attain perfect communion
with God in heaven, we attain to perfect rest, and
and all the rest the spirit of man finds on earth, is
cellency of it
" One thingand
have
this speaks the ex-
I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after that I might dwell in
;
is in it
" The beloved of the Lord shall
dwell in safety by him.'"* You know the gracious
presence of God is your shield and safety ; and if
you have
will the Lord thus present with you in all
your fears, straits, and dangers, see that you keep
near to him in the duties of communion " For the :
and had you gained your designs you had gained but
trifles. This is the rich and profitable occupation
" Our conversation is in heaven." Our commerce
and trade lies that way, so that word signifies.
There be few Christians that have carried on this
soul-enriching trade any considerable time, but can
392 COMMUNION WITH CHRIST.
peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall
offend them." They have gotten purity by it:
" They do no iniquity that walk in thy ways." O
what rich returns are here nay, they get some-
!
I. Of information.
II. Of exhortation.
394 COMMUNION WITH CHltlST,
have seen, and our ears have heard, and our hands
have handled,'' &c. For God hath set these things
in some degree before your very eyes, and put the
first-fruits of them into your own hands. The sweet
relish of the joy of the Lord is upon the very palate
of your souls. To this spiritual sense of the be-
lieving Hebrews, the Apostle appealed, when he
said, " Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods,
knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a
better, and an enduring substance."" This knowing
in ourselves is more certain and sweet than all the
traditional reports we can get from the reports of
others
" Whom having not seen ye love whom, ;
" Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him.'" You
have heard glorious, and ravishing reports in the
gospel, of that blessed future state, things which the
angels desire to look into. You have felt, and
tasted joys unspeakable, and full of glory, in the
actings of your faith and love upon Christ yet ;
all that you have heard, and all that you have
much
times as
reel
as they can bear, for they
and stagger under the weight of them seemStay
"'
to
what say you, will you have two hells, one here,
and another hereafter ? No comfort in this world,
404 COMMUNiOK WITH CHRIST.
>1>3> 5^
> ),> )
>^^Siii
!) /Si
IT
',
I 'Ji