denying the Lord and his justice and his holiness all which blasphemies are hereby committed and God summoned to the creatures bar and we condemn him of injustice LORD heal us of these our iniquities and reform our complaints that we may have none but filial complaints to thy self as our Blessed Lord Jesus who said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And whatever we suffer to say with Jeremy in his expostulation Lord thou art Righteous yet let me reason with thee Why doth the ungodly prosper And in all extremity of afflictions retain this thought of God that he is righteous and good And let our complaints of the instruments of our afflictions be mixed with prayers for them as Stephens were And let us strive to bring up our wills to God's will and to submit all to thee saying as our Saviour did Lord if it be possible let this cup pass from me Nevertheless not my will but thy will be done And that thou mayest remove thy afflicting hand and thy Rod and thy servants sins and punishments may be removed let us first amend our lives and forsake our sins Search and try our waies to find out the sins we lie under For thou hast said If thy people which are in Captivity shall bethink themselves and turn unto thee thou wilt help them but if when thou hearknest thou hearest no man speak righteously or to say what have I done how canst thou repent of the punishment when we repent not of our sins Let us therefore remember from whence we are fallen and let us turne again to the Lord and forsake our wicked waies lest thou sayest to us as to Israel thou sayedst 10 Judg. 10. You have forsaken me go and cry unto the Gods that ye have served And having tried our waies and forsaken our wickedness let us in humble holy fervent prayer lift up our hearts with our hands to our God in the Heavens Saying we have transgressed and rebelled but thou hast pardoned Thus Davi'd Princes took counsel against him but he gave himself to prayer and thus the Marriners in the storm to Jonas awake thou sluggard and call upon the name of thy God And then our God will save us as he did the Israelites in Babylon under Ahasuerus when commissions were out to slay them And his hand is not shortned to us neither hath he forgotten to be gracious to them who confess their sins with their aggravations as the Prophet doth we have transgressed and rebelled And justify God as Ezra Thou hast punished us less then our iniquities have deserved Made upon hearing of a Sermon to the same effect LORD whatever duties I perform unto thee let me do them from the principle of love and not of custom or necessity to silence the natural or awakened conscience since thou acceptest the will more than the gift as thou didst the poor widows two mites and it is this that perfumes our Sacrifices and it is thiâ— that thy word calls the fulfilling the law And all that thou hast required of us is contained in thiâ— as it is writen what doth the Lord require of thee but that thou love the Lord thy God and my Son give me thy heart O Lord God take this poor worthless heart too good for the World and those brutish pleasures which we so willingly give it to and eagerly and earnestly affect but not any way good enough for thee who by thy bounty and beneficence to us every day dost oblige us more than all we have or can doe will requite but the world can do no such things for us and if beauty excellency worth wisdom kindness beneficence parentage free love pardon or any other motive whatsoever would prevail to win and allure us in thee it is I will therefore resolve to devote my affections to thee and ever to begin my meditation in the morning when I awake with the sweet remembrance of thy undeserved kindness to me When we were cast out in our blood in the open field in the day of our nativity when no Eye pitied us to wash us swaddle us salt us bath us and bind us up then thou passedst by and castedst thy eye of love upon us and didst all these things for us and nourishedst us and broughst us up and then the time of love was and thou madest us beautiful and comely in thy own righteousness and marriedst us to thy self and bestowedst upon us thy self And all that is thine And all that are thine And all this didst thou to us as a stranger passing by and unconcerned for what had our perishing been to thee but thou as the good Samartan didst freely pity us nay while we were thy enimies thou didst all this for us shall not all this love move us nor is this all Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what the Lord hath prepared for them that love him If we consider the particular benefits we have received from the hand of God and how highly we valued them and earnestly sought them before we had them and the great evils we have been deliverd from and how much we feared them and how restless we were in the fear till we were delivered from them we shall admire thy goodness and love thee with admiration And if we consider thy excellency we may love and admire the perfection and beauty of thee and thine infinite wisdome and power in all thy works in the Heavens in the earth and in the ocean in the Sun Moon Stars the Seasons of the year the living creatures and in the smallest of them O Lord since we cannot but see all loveliness excellency and desirableness in thee let our first and last meditations begin and end the the day with thee eager to take the first opportunity of approaching thy throne and as loath to leave the sweet contemplation of thy exelencies and goodness O Lord God almighty thy holy word teacheth us That except we eat thy Sons body and drink his blood we have no life in us And that whoso eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood hath eternal life Joh. 6.53 54. Give us worthily to receive this Sacrament that we may have eternal life Give us to come to it with grace in our heart that our graces may be increased and strengthened as by the food of our souls as the body is by the food of the body which is not betterd by food if it be not living no more can our souls be if we be dead in trespasses and sins and as the body turns the most wholsom nourishment to its hurt to diseases if the stomach be full of ill humours so our souls shall be worse as Judas was for these holy Sacraments if we come not to them prepared with repentance Therefore as the Lord was pleased to wash his Disciples feet before he gave them the Sacrament of his body and blood that they might be clean and fit for
become the Sons of God even to as many as believed in his Name John 1.12 But he that eats not his Body and drinks not his Blood hath no fellowship in him he that doth eat and drink them hath Eternal Life The receiving then of him and believing in his Name being the qualification that makes us the Sons of God and his Brethren and that Text excluding all from that priviledge that do not eat and drink his Body and Blood sheweth that by receiving him and believing in his Name they eat him not by diminishing him by their Teeth or digesting him in their Stomach but by drawing Life from his Death by Faith and strengthning and maintaining that new Life which it hath from Christ by believing his Body to be crucified and his Blood shed for them and by the Bread and Wine is given to them And if we should understand this eating of Attrition or diminishing with the Teeth and the Drinking of taking by the Mouth into the Stomach by drops and digesting there then God should suffer his Holy One to see corruption For although we should suppose it did not corrupt in our body so long as we live yet when these vile bodies turns to Earth and rottenness then all that is in them must corrupt And the Text that excludes all that eat not his Body and drinks not his Blood would exclude all Believers from Adam until this Sacrament was Instituted by our blessed Saviour But if this eating and drinking be believing then Abraham and the rest of the faithful might eat and drink him as well as they saw his day For all of them eat the same Spiritual meat and drink the same Spiritual drink and receive their Eternal Life and Salvation from the same Jesus Christ And if we do by this eating find our penitent Souls to revive and live a new Immortal and Eternal Life from the belief of his Death and Passion for us his Body Crucified and his Blood spilt for us to give us Life then we eat his body and shall live for ever And thus the faithful people of God by eating the Passeover under the Law did eat Christ the true Passeover by eating that which was the Type of him whom it represented fide non ore at it is said all eat the same Spiritual Bread Of the Eucharist Meditation I feel a hunger in my Soul which neither Manna nor all the World can satisfie though I have all the necessaries and conveniences of Life yet I hunger and thirst as for Rivers of Water in a dry place Isa 32. Do thou then O blessed Saviour give me of the Water of Life out of thy Fountain The living Water and Blood that cometh from that Fountain of Living Water thy side upon the Cross which still is open to the House of Judah and Jerusalem and seals unto us all the promises upon which we live thou hast Instituted this Bread and Wine to represent thy Holy and blessed Body and Blood shed and broken upon the Cross and thereby givest them to the Soul that thirsteth for Eternal Life in thee Isa 32.4 Though my weakness of Faith should be such that I am not able to discern whether virtually or really they become such or whether they be consubstantiated transubstantiated or new-substantiated in their Natures by the blessing and the Faith of the Receiver or neither yet thus far thou hast enlightned me to know that all the promises are Yea and Amen in thee that thou hast Eternal Life and givest it and that by these Elements which signifie and exhibit thy Body and Blood to be eaten and drank by Faith Spiritually and for thy Body and Blood I eat and drink them but as separable for I fear least I should through unbelief receive but only the Bread and Wine and not thy Body and Blood which give Eternal Life which every one that hath that eateth thy Body and drinketh thy Blood and if an unbeliever or an unprepared impenitent person the worst of thy enemies he that betrayed thee or any other creature could but eat and drink of them they also would thereby have Eternal Life But thou alone hast power to give it to whom thou pleasest To thee therefore I address my Prayer when the Priest reacheth to me the Bread and Wine that thou wouldest reach to me thy sacrificed Body and Blood that was shed upon the Cross and make these Natural Elements to become those Eternal Aliments to me not by Faith in them but by Faith in thee who hast made them to signifie those and represent them which though I cannot discern by my senses I pray that I may by my Faith in thy Word which makes them operate as thy Body and Blood to me through thy benediction though materially I discern them not and give me thy holy Spirit that I may discern them Spiritually and eat panem Dominum if by looking up to thee we are saved what other thing can I understand this Mystery to be than looking up to thee on the Cross and shedding thy precious Blood for my sins which thou communicatest to us Of Holiness Meditations Mot. Holiness to the Lord shall be writ upon the Bells of the Horses Med. All the graces are so linked together like a golden chaine that they cannot be without each other This is a collective word and containes in it piety charity and humility and all that the first and second table of the law of God containes all the duty of man towards God his neighbour and himself It is the fruit of faith out of which Root this grace springs The necessity of this grace is laid down in this expression that without it no man shall see God the same is implied Psal 63.3 I have sought thee in holiness that I might behold thy glory The precepts are many that command us to get it in general and in the particular branches of it every commandment and precept in the Scripture are to this end Not any one minute of a Christian life nor any one action be it natural action of the body or civil gesture or behaviour but it must have holiness imprinted on it for in the Temple the candlesticks and the snuffers were of pure Gold and Christ came to perfect it and advance it therefore ' tls prophesied of his Kingdom that under it holines to the Lord shall be written upon the Bels of the Horses which inscription was on Arons miter The rights and ceremonies of purification under the law typified as much Although it be said that faith hath this and all other graces for its fruits yet there is a time when a child of God may not percieve in himself much nay scarce any life of Holiness Humility Patience Zeal Meekness Charity or other graces as in the Winter the herbs and Plants shew no life at all usually they are excited again by some extraordinary providence of God either in afflicting us or delivering us from some danger or affliction or by
errours misdoings and mistakes ignorances and follies as procure to Men shame fear grief guilt and the Wrath of God due to sin Though meritoriously Christ only can deliver us yet he hath injoyned these operations of his Spirit as the means to make us Subjects capable of his merit And though it be said that while we were sinners he died for us and he justifieth the ungodly yet he doth not justifie ungodliness but they are changed by the renewing of the Spirit in the new Birth in all their faculties namely in the Judgement Will and affections whereby they are first enlightned to understand the principles of Christ's Doctrine and do believe and do resolve to practise the same as it is commanded resigning and submitting our wills to his who hath made us and redeemed us all which operations of the Spirit do excite joy in the Soul of the Regenerate viz. first it rejoyceth in knowing the truth and the good will of God and every particular discovery thereof rejoyceth the Soul but chiefly it rejoyceth to find Grace in it self and a conformity to that will of God and every degree of Grace in it self and in others rejoyce it for we find the Apostles rejoycing in the Graces which they found in others but they grieve at sin stirring in themselves and others King Solomon was sufficiently accomplished for his design in the pursuit of finding out the thing that was profitable What would give rest What would afford satisfaction What delight he could find in any thing What improvement he could make of knowledge But he did not nor could attain thereby with all his labour and industry any thing but to find out the vanity of all things below and so to fill himself with vexation restlesness much grief and encrease of sorrow Eccles c. 1. If so then we must account him no wise Man who takes any worldly thing for his contentment satisfaction repose profit commodity joy or delight but he is truly wise who can both discern the madness vanity unprofitableness restlesness vexation nausiousness and trouble with which these worldly things fill vex and disquiet and dissatisfie vain Man and seeks his joy comfort pleasure fruition content satisfaction and happiness in things more certain more lasting more excellent more spiritual Thus far also Philosophy went and hath defined happiness to be the operation of the Soul according to perfect virtue in a life that is perfect And what those virtues are Natures light hath shewed the knowledge of God and the worshipping him accordingly they defined to be happiness and virtue for thither tend all moral virtues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But what Nature could not find out God hath revealed viz. The Gospel of our blessed Saviour which was first made known by Angels to the Shepherds and by this Gospel or good tydings we are taught That happiness is To know God and Christ This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Now if these operations of the Soul according to perfect virtue proceed from the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Saviour as they must if it be in the perfect life which is in Heaven then the Philosophers happiness is the same with a Christians for their graces proceed from this knowledge as it is said by David they that know thy Name will put their trust in thee they that know God to be All-sufficient will walk before him in perfection they that have tasted how gracious the Lord is and that he is a God hearing Prayer will come unto him this life is begun here from whence this certain conclusion may be drawn that there is happiness joy satisfaction and all sweetness of Life and enjoyment in the Soul that hath continual motions of Grace and none of sin or vanity quod quaerimus The Immense greatness of this Joy is not to be expressed Therefore the Apostle calls it Joy unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet. 1.8 but to prove the immensity of it we must consider the cause which is Infinite Eternal and Almighty such as the cause is the effect must needs be The assurance of God's love and favour in Christ Jesus for our Eternal happiness hereafter for our security and preservation here for our deliverance from all the evills of sin and the punishments due to it which coming into the Soul though but by a little glimpse ravisheth the Soul with infinite joy when God sheweth the light of his countenance and smiles if I may so express it or looks pleasant upon the Soul that thirsteth after him in this Land of barrenness It is satisfied When God owns thee by hearing thy Prayers and puts forth his Almighty Power at thy request for thy succour whereby thou knowest thou hast an Almighty power for thy assistance great is thy joy Especially because thou hast earnest thereby for the future that he will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that no time limits thy joy nor no degree of enioyment because the matter and cause is the infinite power and infinite goodness of God and the duration of it to Eternity and this enjoyment doth begin here when we know our interest that Christ is ours our Attonement our Passeover slain for us as a sacrifice for our sins our Reconciliation and Peace-maker our Redeemer who hath bought us Our Mediator our High Priest our King our Food our Bridegroom our Head our Life our Way our Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption the Hymenaeans of these holy Nuptials and the Song of the Lamb are everlasting When God doth assure us by his Spirit that we are reconciled to him through Christ and we are confident of his Almighty power and goodness ready always to succour us as his Children his Beloved his People his Portion and his Flock and that all things are his and whatever is his we have an interest in it as we have in him by reason of our Relation to him in Christ When we know Christ and God in him and are known by him and behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord and are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory being renewed after the Image of him that made us and when the Spirit of Grace and Glory rests upon us 1 Pet. 4.14 When the glorious Majesty of the Lord is upon us when we can serve him in the beauty of Holiness What do we want but to see him Face to Face whom now we see in a Glass And to have that in perfection which now is but in part and to have our vile bodies like his glorious body Of the Eating and Drinking the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist When our blessed Saviour plainly tells us that the words which he speaks are Spirit Why should I not understand a Spiritual meaning in those of this mystery namely a Spiritual eating of his body and drinking his Blood To as many as received him he gave Power and Priviledge to
shall be conquerors over them through Christ Jesus And let me not be offended at the Cross of Christ knowing that the Gospel is offer'd upon the termes of self-denial and taking up our Cross and knowing that thou dost comfort thy Servants in all afflictions and that as their afflictions do abound their consolations do much more abound but rather let us count it all joy when we fall into these temptations knowing they work in us patience experience hope and repentance So David before he was afflicted he went astray but by his afflictions learned thy Judgments and he said 't is good for me that I have been afflicted And my afflictions seem not greater than his when he cried out Thy hand is heavy upon me day and night my moisture is like the drought in summer All the day long am I afflicted and chastned every morning I am dried up and my heart is like the melting wax my heart panteth my strength faileth me and the light of my eyes is gone from me my lovers and my friends stand afar off and no man cares for my soul But Lord I will make my prayers unto thee in an acceptable time and call upon thee in the time of my trouble Lord how long shall mine enemies triumph over me Lord when wilt thou comfort me Lord as others have found thee full of compassion and mercy so let me find Think upon thy compassions which have been ever of old Remember not against me mine iniquitys but do away my sins for thy names sake Meditation I don't enough apprehend my proneness to every sin and lust but think my self free from sin and from the danger of falling because I feel it not stirring for the present whereas the reason why it is so is only because various diversions take up my thoughts otherways and keep out those so that they are but only laid asleep as it were and are easily awaked by any temptation if the Lord don't strengthen me and the least opportunity lets them loose upon me so that I am not able to resist them Lord let me watch against all those sins that I find my nature inclined to and against such as I find no inclination to but an utter aversation from because my nature is wholly corrupted and it is the power of God only that keeps me from all sorts of sins and temptations therefore let me fear every temptation and sin and watch against them and pray that I enter not into any temptation for if I once but enter into the temptation I am sure to fall if I have no better support than my own strength though the temptation be but weak my strength is weaker Lord do thou either give me more strength or temptation less let me never enter the lists with this enemy but se defendendo flying him as far as I can let me not desire to know what sin or lust is but let me love the ignorance of it Lord when I confess my sins which I have comitted against so many means of grace thy mercies Judgments promises Threatnings the testimonies of my own conscience of thy holy Spirit and the testimonies of the wicked also I must needs acknowledg thy justice in all my punishments and thy long suffering in this that thou dost not confound me nor quite cast me off as thou didst Saul but punishedst me less than I deserve And I admire thy goodness in this that in the midst of thy wrath thou rememberest mercy and hast delivered me when in my affliction I sought thee herein I rejoice and I beseech thee Lord make me contented to be restrain'd from sin by sorrow Lord thou art my God and my Lord therefore let me acknowledg thee in all my ways wait upon thee serve and obey thee and let me not live as if I were without a God nor according to my own lusts denying the Lord that bought me as those do who make their belly their God or Idolize the unrighteous Mammon and vanities of the world neither let me question thy power in the want of means Thou art my Saviour and my deliverer my Buckler the Horn of my Salvation and my refuge my Stony Rock and my Castle therefore let me have grace to fly unto thee in my time of trouble to trust in thee in thy power and in thy goodness for my refuge and defence and stay my self upon thee and commit my way unto thee as unto a faithful Creator make my Prayers continually unto thee Thou art to thy Servants their hope and strength and present help in trouble therefore let not the surprise of any trouble dismay me as if I were hopeless or helpless thou art the Defender of all them that put their trust in thee mighty to save God all-sufficient therefore let me walk with thee and be perfect O thou who art the Rock of ages the helper of the poor and fatherless helpless and destitute The Fountain of living water Let me always run unto thy fountain for true comfort not to broaken Cisterns Let not the baseness of my nature or my sins dismay me for thou knowest whereof we are made but let me look up to Christ as the Israelites being stung did to the brazen Serpent and be healed Let me taste of the Tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God live even the body and blood Jesus Christ as oft a I eat of this Tree of life in the blessed communion assure me that I am healed of all my passed sins Thou Lord art life and truth I will therefore be guided by thee believe in thee and be dead to the World and all creatures and live unto thee and upon thee In Christ let us have life even the new life of the life of faith and not of sense That the old man may dye daily That Christ may live in us as the head liveth in the members and we in him by faith in the promises of eternal life through him As Abraham did in the Land of promise though he had not as yet received the earthly promise neither did he set his heart upon it nor seek it or suffer himself to be hindred by it in the persuit of his future felicity Thou to a believer art all that is desirable in all conditions whatsoever whom have I in Heaven but thee And whom in earth that I can desire in comparison of thee Thy goodness is infinite and though our sins be never so great yet thy thoughts exceeding our thoughts so far as the Heaven is higher than the earth we may have Hope in thy mercy because it endureth for ever and is over all thy works The Lord will never leave nor forsake those that trust in him though he suffered Daniel to be cast into the Lions Den. The three children into the firye furnace the sword to be put to Isaacs throat yet then he delivered them for the Lord knoweth how to deliver his Lot was delivered though Sodom was burned and so was Noah
fore-skin of our heart taken away by mortification of all the senses and affections and is in all the parts of the body the eyes the hands the tongue the eares the pallate c. This analogical circumcision remaineth that of Moses law is taken away this is Spiritual and may be with blood too as is said You have not yet resisted unto blood striving against Sin That circumcision signified this mortification but this is the more difficult His reasons of his assertion of this are couched in these characters of Christians viz. Which rejoyce in Christ and have no confidence in the flesh As if he should argue that they that rejoyce in any thing but Christ and his merits and alsufficiency are not the heires of Salvation Nor they who have confidence in any fleshly thing as circumcision and outward performances and priviledges Nor those who put off God with outword bodily worship and do not worship him with their hearts and Spirits Spiritually as it is said they draw nigh with their lips but their heart is far from me these things they may do that are in the flesh but cannot please God because they do not justice and love mercy and walk humbly with God Holiness also of our own framing is not that which God accompts holiness that is to say voluntary Humility worshipping of Angels c. These the Apostle saith Have only a shew of Godliness They that trust in themselves and despise others as the Pharisees did that say they have works of supererogation Nor they that say stand off for I am holier then thou and think well of themselves that they are profitable are not Saints The centurion had a meaner opinion of him self when he said Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof So had John the Baptist when he said he was not worthy to loofe the lachet of his Saviours shooe And wise Agar when he said he had not the understanding of a man and was more brutish then any So St. Paul when he said he was the meanest of the Apostles and not worthy to be calld an Apostle And David professeth the same humility Psal 131. saying Lord I am not high minded I have no proud looks c. And Psal He saith Lord I am a worme and no man The very scorne of men and the outcast of the people this comportment is that which becometh holiness and is acepted in the sight of God for he resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble and of Israel he saith when thou wert little in thine owne eyes then thou wert honourable and our blessed Lord and Saviour repressed the contention of the Apostles for the superiority by inculcating this grace But to seek honour from one another and to love the praise of men and salutation in the Market places the uppermost seats in the Synagogues preheminence precedency and be called Rabbi our blessed Lord and Saviour renders these for the charactars of those who would seem to be righteous and are not He plucks of the masks and vizards of these Actors of holiness and instances in their over Actings to prove that they do but personate what they are not they make broad their Phylacteries Tith mint Annis and Comin but neglect the waitysr matters of the law He shews what they are within in their harts and affections they washed but the out side of their cups their inward parts were foul still he compares their holiness to the painted Sepulcres they flourished it with giveing their almes publickly praying publickly fasting and disviguring their faces that they may be seen to fast and thus coming abroad among the people they crave veneration for this maske of holiness and they had their rewards which they sought Our Saviour tells them what course they should take to have a real goodness Math. 12.33 Either make the Tree good and his fruit good or make the Tree corrupt and his sruit corrupt v. 35. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good fruit c. That is a natural production And when the principle or cause is such the effects will be answerable â—o do worthy Acts and not to seek praise and honour for them is true worth for hereby it is manifest that he who doth so doth it for vertues sake for the love of worth and vertue meerly Therefore Bafil's expression seemeth to me to be unsound Fugiamus inanem gloriam duleem Spiritualium operum spoliatricem tincam Virtutum For how can it be called a Spiritutal work when it is done for vain glory and not by the Spirit and for the same reason such a work can not be called virtuous because the glory and not the virtue is counted sweet but nevertheless we may take such admonitious in good part But it appears that these Pharisees principles were not good because they had such base vain and vile ends whereby they neglected the weigher matters of the law and contented themselves with pairing off the external enormities that they might seem fair to men from whom they sought veneration and reverence for their professions sake affecting the honour and reward of virtue more than virtue it self But this evil leaven our saviour warned his Disciples of and in them as I conceive their successors He shews what principles a good man hath and practiseth works by for though none be good but God absolutely yet in some degrees they may be good as Joseph of Arimathea was called a good man And the good ground was he that received the word in an upright heart so that God judgeth of a man according to his state not according to some particular actions which may happen to be evil Such principles and such works makes a good man that these principles do bring forth is proved from the nature of them They are given to that end that they should bring forth for God seeing the heart weak and striving to bring forth such fruit he gives them such graces by the working of his Spirit in their hearts as may enble them Jer. 32.4 I will put my Spirit into their hearts This is active T is called the life the fountain of living waters the spirit of grace and the spirit of a sound mind because these graces are the motions and operations of the Spirit or the Spirit moving And Secondly because of the vigour and strength of these principles called the power of God and godliness 3. From their being The being that Grace hath in the Heart is in its operation so is its well-being therefore they are said to be ready to dye when they do not operate 4. For the Seat of it being possessed of the Heart which is the chief part over all and so gives Life to all 5. The heart is supposed to be the seat of the affections which being made good by such principles they produce fruit answerable The real goodness in the Heart must be exerted in the action and the work that is
Stimulus in carne the provocation or irritation in the Flesh buffeted him First he is sensible of his own weakness and useth violence upon himself and keeps under his body yet he did not trust in these means because he knew their insufficiency Therefore he seeks help and assistance from him that is All-sufficient and besought God against it that it might depart from him which God was not pleased to grant as appeareth because the Holy Man was subject to be transported with Pride because of the extraordinary priviledges and abundance of Revelations given unto him Yet he obtained that which was better for him Grace sufficient for when he was weak in himself he was then strong in Grace And that Stimulus suffered to remain to prick the bladder of his Pride and probably for the same reasons God may suffer many of us to undergo the like buffetings from our corruptions and yet support and sustain us in the encounter that we fall not If we be careful as the Apostle was to make use of the same means viz. subduing our body and prayer For we have all the same promises as these men had and the same means to obtain Grace and Life Eternal To know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent and he that hath but the hope of Eternal Life purifyeth himself even as he is pure and this purifying is by denying our selves taking up our Cross and following Christ which is the Act of Faith and the Life of Faith And by Faith too it is scarcely attainable with great difficulty as our Saviour himself tells us Luke 3. Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for narrow is the way And the righteous shall scarcely be saved c. And those who have both Faith whereby they are able to overcome the World by Gods assistance and the Spirit too to assist them yet these find that though the Spirit is willing the flesh is weak That is though thou subdue it never so much yet though it be subdued that it dare not much oppose yet it will still be unable to keep Pace with the motions of the Spirit Yet I fear too that it will never be so subdued but I shall be forced to bewail my self often with the words of the Apostle Romans 8. The Law is Spiritual but I am carnal but as he disowned himself in this person saying 't is no more I but sin that dwelleth in me So may every child of God whose will is as his was and useth the means that he did And so will God own them for that which is his Image in them By this the Apostle sheweth the enemy with whom he had fought the good fight and having fought it he assures himself that God will give him the Crown And having sowed the seed he expects to reap the same he sowed for he sowed to the Spirit and of the Spirit hoped to reap life everlasting which the Righteous Judge will give to all that love his appearance Rev. 22. Let him that is holy be holy still Meditation 5. The meanes which the soul useth to attaine its renovation and to preserve and persevere in it Are fervent prayer to God for it diligent reading meditation mortification and continual self denial Zeal of God an earnest thirst after a greater degree of grace from the sense of its own weakness and failing a forsaking the world its hopes and feares and worldly interests profits joys and greifes Faith hope and watchfulness against temptation to watch the mouth and the heart Patience in suffering wrongfully humility or to be little in his own eyes for God gives his greace to the humble To set God alwaies before us in his omniscience omnipotence infinitness of his holiness glory and goodness A timely and carely seeking it and entertaining it when it is offered to us without delaies else when we seek we may be rejected as in Prov. 1. Because when I called you answerd not c. Unweariedness in their race To have an eye to the recompence of reward and not to fear them that can only hurt the body but be in the fear of God all the day To abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes 5.22 Not only from known sins but from things that have but some complexion of evil for such is the purity of Gods nature that he hates every species or shew of evil And such perfection doth he require in his Servants as it is expressed by our Saviour Math. 5. Strait is the gate c. Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect A holy appetite to the word of God and communion with God in every ordinance as prayer praise the communion of the body and blood of Christ Jesus in the Lords supper Mat. 5. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied Psal 42.2 My soul is thirst for God yea even for the living God When shall I come to appear before the presence of God This sheweth how he practised Another meanes like unto this is that of St. Paul not to account that we have attained but to press forward Also it is appointed as a necessary means to attain this end by our Saviour himself that we learn of him and we are taught so to do by the holy Apostles That we should walke even as he walked 1 Joh. 2.6 Hereby we know that we have his nature his image his Spirit and union with him we ought then to imitate his humility whereby he became man and took upon him the form of a Servant in his meekness Isa 53.7 He was oppressed and afflicted but opened not his mouth He gave his back to the smiter and his cheeke to them that plucked off the hair and hid not his face from spitting So ought we to bear injuries with patience and not render evil for evil 3. In his willing and perfect obedience Psal 40. I delight to do thy will thy law is in my heart 4. In love Ephe. 5.7 Walk in love as Christ loved us Let husbands love their wives as Christ loved the Church 5. In perfect charity we must pray fer our enimies as he did 6. In diligence in religious duties he prayed all night he went constantly to the Synagogue on the Sabbath day 7. In our Reverence in holy Worship he fell on his face or kneeled yet he had the Spirit without measure 8. In his contempt of the world My Kingdom saith he is not of this world 9. In heavenly-mindedness his custom was to instruct of Heaven out of ordinary conferences as when the woman spake to him of water he spake of the water of life So must we have our conversation in Heaven 10. In his faithfulness in his function Heb. 3.2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him as Moses was faithful He was daily in the Temple and went about doing good and therefore in his last prayer said It is finished 11. In self-denial he said I seek not my own will but the