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
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
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
God and his thoughts which are to us-ward calls him unwise who doth not consider it and him that doth not regard it a fool But he that is wise he saith he will ponder them and shall understand c. intimating that without such pondering he cannot understand his principal concerns How then can the Law of God convert a soul if it be not meditated of by that soul or how can the Testimonies of God make wise the simple if they be not studied and learned How can they rejoyce the heart and comfort us in trouble and afford us hope unless the heart rejoyce in the meditation of them How could they be a light to our feet and lanthorn to our paths How can we be guided by them unless we thus keep them in our minds They can have no desire after the sincere milk of the word who have not tasted it by holy meditation nor can they grow thereby unless they thus feed upon it How can the good seed of God's word take root in our hearts and bring forth fruit in our lives if the cares of this world or deceitfulness of Riches hinder us from considering and meditating upon it so as to fasten it in our hearts and fix it upon our understandings and affections He that desires to draw near to God or to walk with him must do this duty He that desires to be taught of God and hear the voice behind him saying this is the way he must be conversant in this He that doth not this must either be a luke-warm Christian or an Hypocrite or no Christian for an Hypocrite may discourse and talk of the things of Religion Mortification Renovation and Regeneration Repentance Conversion of forsaking the world and taking off his affections from the things below and setting them on things above but he doth little think of those things which be powerful to take off his affections from the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life and to fix them on God and on the beauty of holiness but the Regenerate man that finds corruption in his heart will be restless in his thoughts when he finds some corruption ready to break out and lead him captive to sin until he hath found out some thing in the word of God that hath efficacy and power by his endeavour and the Assistance of God's Grace to conquer every thought inclination and imagination of his corrupt nature As if peradventure a slanderous tongue hath provoked him with such slanders as he most abhors and he finds himself too prone to return the like viz. Railing for Railing Cursing for Cursing He thereupon retires himself and either by his own memory calls to mind the behaviour of the Saints of God and the holy commands of him that hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light out of sin to sanctification and holiness And what he commands us to do that he hath called us to not to serve sin or live any longer therein but that we should walk as Christ walked and as he was Reviled and Reviled not again but submitted to him that judgeth righteously so he endeavours also and praies to God that he may conform himself or else he betakes himself for the help of his memory to the written word and will search what holy Job did in the like case being falsly accused by his Friends and there finding that the Holy man answered those false accusations thus My witness is in Heaven my Record is on high This directs him and inables him to conquer his passion and he rejoiceth that he hath found such a powerful Scripture and he endeavours to improve it by meditation that he may be able alwaies to make use of it upon the like occasion And God so much blesseth his people and directs and guides them in this business that he often helps them when at a loss and directs them by accident to hear such a Sermon or read such a place as most properly agrees with their meditation and present occasion whereby they receive satisfaction and will never leave the meditation of it till they conceive them selves able to conquer the like temptation So if they be encountered with the love of the world and find themselves hardly beset with the bate of covetousness or with the lusts of the flesh they intend with all their might those arguments which are prevalent with the Saints of God to take them off this sensual love to the heavenly love to love God and his Grace and spiritual gifts and injoyments and Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour and Redeemer who shed his precious blood for us and in deeds and words of the highest expressions hath manifested his love to us courting us to love him again with such significant and full expressions of his love as no tongue could ever express unless they use his very expressions which he useth in the Canticles to endear thee wherein he both advanceth the commendation of the several parts of the body of his Beloved and of the whole saith Thou art all fair my Love And he also promiseth to give her his loves Who so shall diligently consider of these he will easily break out into that expression of his love to Christ which the Spouse maketh viz. Thy Love is better than Wine and ver 4. The King hath brought me into his Chambers we will be glad and rejoice in thee and will find great satisfaction and delight in the name of him as in a sweet perfume Thy name is as ointment poured forth therefore the Virgins Love thee And with the Spouse cannot but seek him though she suffer injuries from rude persons when she enquires after him still she persists Tell me where thou feeds for the inlightned converted soul knoweth that it must not love the world neither the pleasures nor profits and if it doth the love of the Father is not in it nor the love of Jesus Christ for this love expels all other he that drinks of this water thirsts no more And when the heavenly Spouse hath sought her Beloved and besought him for the kisses of his mouth and is enamoured of his beauty and is satisfied with his beauty only and remembers his loves more than wine and delights to hear his name and is sick of love he will not fail then to bring her into his banquetting-house and defend her with his love as with a banner and stay her with flaggons and comfort her with Apples and also he will bring her into his chambers and unvail his beauties to her and give her his loves And now she may well despise all other Rivals of her love like the Eagle that catcheth not Flies or like him who hath drunk the sweet waters of the fountain he will not presently drink in a muddy puddle or seek to quench his thirst in broken Cisterns which hold no water And so for other temptations and perils which the soul findeth it self to lye under through the
priviledges which Jesus Christ hath purchased for us Give us more assurance of the pardon of our sins and our reconciliation to God and the joy thereof Give us the peace of conscience and the Peace of God which passeth all understanding Give us the Joy which is in the Holy Ghost which we enjoy in holy duties Let us taste and rellish these sweet enjoyments with more satisfaction and joy that the excesses of our souls may be in these enjoyments and we may keep them in our mouths and hide them under our tongues as we do sweet morsels And let the enjoyment of these carry us through all difficulties Give us more confidence in our accesses to the Throne of Grace and a belief that thou art more ready to give than we to ask for thy fulness is more full than our emptiness is wanting Thy fatherly care to provide for us is more faithful and careful to do it than we to seek it though we are resolved to be alwaies begging and craving because we know we shall alwaies be wanting in this life and we will not lose our desires and thy bountiful gifts for want of asking The cause which moved thee to make such gracious invitations to us and such great and precious promises of grace and mercy was only in thy self for thou invitest the thirsty to buy Wine and Wilk without mony or price What then is there that we can buy it with that is neither mony nor price it can be nothing but to exchange our thirst for the thing which we thirst for to relieve it to open our mouths Therefore as the cause which moved thee to make these invitations and promises was in thy self Lord seek in thy self the cause which may move thee to perform them The qualifications of thirst want and need we have and shall have as long as we have any life But if we be dead in trespasses and sins quicken thou us because thou only canst do it by thy holy Spirit In the assurance of thy free mercy then whereof thou by thy free promises hast convinced us and by the performance of the chiefest of them hast fully satisfied us inable us to assure our souls of thy readiness and willingness to hear and help us through the merits of Christ Jesus and in assurance thereof to come boldly and with confidence to the Throne of Grace And give us sure evidence of our interest in all other priviledges That our joy may be full assure us that our place of defence is the munition of Rocks That bread be given us and our water shall be sure Bless us and make us a blessing Let showers of blessings come down upon thy people Give us to lay hold of Christ for only Wisdom our only sufficient Righteousness our Sanctification and Redemption Tread Satan under our feet that we may bruise his head as often as he goeth about to sting our heel Destroy his works Let the Spirit of the Lord set up his standard against him And let not Antichrist any more deceive the Nations but destroy thou him and the Whore which is drunk with the blood of Saints Succour those that are tempted Be with thy people in the fiery Tryal that is to come upon all the world to try them as thou wast with Joseph in the prison Lord let not our sins stand as a cloud to hinder these our prayers from ascending to thee or cause thee to turn away thine ear For though they are so many that we scarce know how to confess them yet thou hast pardoned as great sinners as we when they turned unto thee and it is usual with thee to seek thy lost sheep and to receive thy returning Prodigals Lord thy free promises and importunate invitations by thy self and thy Son give us this boldness of access to thee for thereby we are assured that thou art more desirous to give than we to receive Hear us therefore through the merits of thy Beloved Son our Eternal High Priest in whom only we hope to prevail with thee in whom thy Promises are Yea and Amen And accept us in him who hath purchased this Access for us in whom we trust that he now intercedeth for us whilst we are praying to thee And that he persumes and presents these our supplications at the Throne of Grace To whom with Thee and thy blessed Spirit of Grace be all honour praise and glory Eternally Amen Enter not into Judgment with us O Lord for our best services for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified A shorter Prayer for daily use LOrd draw nigh unto me now that I draw nigh unto thee for thy promise sake for thy mercy sake and for Christ Jesus sake And assist me with thy Spirit that I may pray unto thee in the Spirit and in Faith believing that thou art more ready to give than we to ask or receive thy graces and thy mercies Lord relieve me according to all my needs and according to thy infinite goodness and according to thy gracious promises and invitations Relieve my spiritual blindness with that eye-salve which thou hast invited the blind to come unto thee for Relieve my spiritual nakedness with that fine white linnen which thou hast invited the naked to seek of thee and cloath me with humility patience temperance chastity and charity and every grace Relieve my spiritual poverty with that fine gold which will enrich our souls to eternity and make me rich in good works Relieve my spiritual hunger and thirst with the bread of life and the water of life so that I may never hunger or thirst after any thing else And make me more hungry and thirsty for thee and thy grace and more sensible of my needs Lord I pray not for my self alone but for me and mine and all the Israel of the Lord. Let my seed be a seed unto thee and all that shall come of them to the end of the world Remember the entail of thy blessings to us and to our seed for a thousand generations Let the Kingdoms of the world become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Let holiness to the Lord be writ upon all our common things Make us all to know thee from the greatest to the least Let us need no more to teach one another saying Know the Lord. Let us all be taught of God and let us hear the sweet voice behind us saying This is the way walk ye in it when we turn to the right hand or to the left and make Jerusalem a praise Love us freely pardon us and heal us Subdue our iniquities and cast our sins into the bottom of the Sea that they may never rise up against us Give us new hearts Put thy Laws into our hearts and write them in our inward parts Be thou our God and make us thy people Put thy Spirit into us and cause us to walk in thy Statutes and to know thy Judgments and do them Cause us to love thee with
loathsom vice of beastly intemperance but let me avoid them and not look upon the Wine when it moveth it self right and giveth a pleasant colour in the Cup or if it should be so that I have no inclination of my self to this or any other sin yet let me not therefore venture my self upon the temptation but let me fear sin always considering how foully Noah and Lot fell let me never be found standing or walking in the way of sinners nor sitting in their seat but let me be always found in the way of God And what is said of the adulterous Woman whoever toucheth her shall not be innocent let me fear the same in every temptation and avoid the least medling with it or approaches to it and as it is also said concerning the same avoid it pass not by it turn from it pass away so let my practice be in all other temptations And as it is said of Gluttony for remedy of it if thou beest a man given to thy appetite set a Knife to thy throat So in all other temptations let me lay violent hands upon the peccant member if my right eye offend me let me pluck it out Lord thou knowest that I am resolved not to sin to avoid the greatest suffering therefore teach me wisdom that I may prevent and guard my self against all provocations to sin that I may not draw upon my self a necessity of suffering MAKE us to accept Jesus Christ our Saviour upon his own terms as he offers himself to us in the Holy Gospel to be our King to rule us and reign over us our Prophet to teach and instruct us as well as to be our high Priest to attone and sacrifice for our sins Let us not think to have the priviledges of Christians without the duties Make it to be a greater pleasure to us to deny our selves in sins then ever it was to give our selves up to them that we may be meet to receive Heaven into which flesh and blood cannot enter Let the Holy Spirit inflame us always with that divine fervent affection to God that inspired the Spouse when she said or ever I was aware my Soul was like the Chariots of Aminadab O sweet Christ do thou put grace into our hearts by that sweet voice behind us saying this is the way walk you in it for thou only art our great Prophet and teacher who canst make us learn and our high Priest and mighty Saviour delivering us from our sins and making us as innocent by thy attonement as if we had never offended for those whom thou makest free they are free indeed if thou wilt not take away the being of sin in us in this life yet assist us with thy grace to subdue it deliver us out of the power of darkness and the Prince of darkness And what benefits thou hast purchased for us by thy death apply them to us by thy intercession deliver us from death and give us the Crown of life which thou hast promised to all them that love thee and since thou art desirous of our salvation and it is because we will not come unto thee that we have not life O Christ make us a willing people as thou hast promised for our salvation is wholly from thee But our damnation from our own wills and if we perish our blood is upon our own heads O sweet Christ our Prophet and teacher teach us by thy word and thy Spirit the things that belong to our peace Guide me by thy Spirit and then bring me to glory LORD what is there in us for which thou shouidest desire our love Lord in thee is every thing that is lovely therefore ought we to chuse thee for the object of our love But we seek that happiness in the World which we cannot find any where but in thee and having found nought but emptiness vanity and the loss of all our labour in the pursuance of content peace and happiness in the affaires and matters of the world let us at last betake our selves to seek it in thee and thy waies to learn of thee to take thy yoak upon us that we may find rest to our soules LORD what pretence can sinners have for which they cast off thy yoak and will not have thee to rule over them upon whose daily benefits they live when they rebel against their Princes and shake off their yoak it is either for their leud lives and wickedness that they judge them unworthy to rule therefore scorn to be subject unto them Or for their oppression that they are not able to bear their grievous burthens but what iniquity have sinners found in thee thou hast put the Question to them but they can find no answer LORD since thou hast shewed me that every Saint must live in the same holiness of life that thy Servants the Apostles attained and St. Paul said of himself that he was crucified with Christ yet he lived yet not he but Christ lived in him and he lived that life by the faith of Christ who gave himself for him give us thy grace in like manner to crucify our selves to the World and to live no more to it nor to our selves but to live by Christ in us so as we may be said not to live And if thou givest us to live the life of faith and not to the World and live to thee let us not impute this our well doing to our selves for of our selves we cannot think a good thought but to Christ who liveth in us who only can inable us thus to live In all our distresses let us pray to the Lord and use the meanes as when the Arabians Ammonites and Ashdodites conspired against Jerusalem 't is said Nehemiah 4.9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them day and night But let us not like King Asa seek to Physicians in our sickness and not to God LORD while I am supported by thy Spirit I shall be able to live blamelesly as Lot did in the midst of Sodom but the strongest of thy servants will fall as he afterwards did if thou withdraw the Assistance of thy Spirit and shall be as that Apostle who denied the Lord Jesus Christ whom before he sought for and resolved to dye for though he was the Rock Therefore let me never be confident lest thou leavest me as thou didst him And when I hear of others miscarriages let me be thankful to thee for holding me up and ascribe it to thee as the Angels in the Book of the Revelations are said to cast their Crowns at thy feet and let us learn not to judge uncharitably of those that are overcome by temptations LORD when we pray unto thee our prayers are so interrupted with worldly and sinful thoughts and the things we pray for being mostwhat temporal mercies and deliverances from bodily evils they are not such prayers as our own reason can think worthy thy acceptance But Lord though we offer thee
of this free pardon therefore not I. All that will come may all that did look up to the Brazen Serpent were healed I thus being burdened with the weight of my sins and weary of them and fainting under them languishing for want of comfort and easement find this invitation from him that is ready to relieve me and all men freely without any merit of mine Beseech him to take away this my burthen to give me a new heart and to heal my soul That he would give me redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of my sins Ephe. 1.2 And seal it to my conscience that he hath borne my iniquities and hath taken them away and cast them into the bottom of the Sea that he would give me this balme of Gillead his precious blood to cleanse me from all my sins and to heal my wounded conscience and by his word to heal my corrupt nature I come unto him for faith in him which I have not of my self it is the gift of God Ephe. 2.8 I come and beg his Spirit to quicken me with a new life Ephe. 2.1 You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins That he would take away the Spirit of bondage and give me the Spirit of Adoption that I may call him Father and obey him cheerfully from the principle of love which will make my services accepted and prove my repentance true which will not The hanging down of my head Jugum Christi Meditations of Faith THE excellency of this grace is such that it makes all other things excellent and without it it is impossible to please God without it charity is no charity piety and charity and all other graces and vertues are no graces without faith it is the salt of all holy services which makes them acceptable sacrifices to God It is excellent in its original It is the gift of God It is so also in its fruit which is holiness and its final end is equally excellent viz. Salvation There is no degree of it so little but is of infinite vertue it makes us overcome all difficulties in doing and suffering the good will and pleasure of Almighty God The first degree of faith is to believe that God is The 2d degree to believe that he is a rewarder of them that deligently seek him but this doth not save for St. Paul had this belief when he persecuted the Church But to believe in Gods promises of salvation through Christ Jesus is saving faith as it is said by our Blessed Saviour Ye believe in God believe also in me This is saving faith and this is the principal act of faith because Jesus Christ is the principal object of faith and every act of grace is a branch of this grace hope charity patience humility unless they are acted and set on work by faith in Christ viz. In obedience to God believing his acceptance of our works through his Son they are nothing more than the moral vertues This grace is that which gives most glory to God because it believes things that are invisible to sense and reason assuredly as if they were visible It is called the evidence of things not seen knowing that Gods bare word is the greatest assurance therefore the Scripture saith of Abraham That he believed and gave glory to God and he staggered not though the promise was against reason and sense in regard of the age of himself and his wife Sarah And though Gods command of Sacrifising his Son Isaac seemed to be repugnant and contrary to his promise yet he believed stedfastly in the truth of God though it seemed repugnant so God put his faith to it to try it and he denied his sense and reason to believe God and to obey him It consists not in one act but it is a habit and for that reason the life of a believer is call'd the life of faith Agreeable to which it is said of the life of Abraham That he lived in the land of promise as in a strange Country looking for a City which had foundations whose builder and maker is God And this he did during his life so that he never had the sight of that he believed but lived upon the promise only and upon God This life of faith is a mortifying and self-denying life for Abraham lived in the land of promise as a stranger not as a home dweller freely and boldly enjoying it as his own But using the world as if he used it not not living upon the world nor by sense though the promise was of worldly things St. Paul testifieth of himself that he lived this life Gal. 2.20 Not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I live I live by the faith of the Son of God For faith working by love by the Spirit of Christ unites us to Christ in all union as our Root our Head our Brother our Beloved then it perswades us of the alsufficiency of God which supports the soul wherefore God made it the inducement to Abraham why he should walk before him in perfection and whatever is wanting in the creature faith thus acted makes it up in God as is said Psal 90.12 Lord thou hast been our dwelling place through all generations And 2 Cor. 6.10 As having nothing yet possessing all things Because God is the delight of the soul Psal 1. Job 27.10 But it is said of the hypocrite Will he alwaies call upon the Lord will he delight himself in him No he will not for he loves not This St. Paul professeth that he practised saying To me to live is Christ to dye is gain He lived upon Christ and he in him Not only in the Apostles esteem was Christ all to him But Christ testifieth of himself Joh. 6.34 The bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life to the world Therefore might Job esteem it more than his necessary food if he be the eternal food of the soul which gives it a new eternal life and maintains it satisfying and strengthening the principles of this life and reparing the decaies of it There is nothing needful or comfortable which gracious soules have not enjoyed in God and Christ David Psal 5. Lord thou art my light and my salvation whom then shall I fear thou art the strength of my life of whom then shall I be affraid Psal 119.57 Thou art my portion O Lord I have said that I will keep thy word If God be sufficient for himself he is sufficient for us All is yours and ye are Christs all the things in the world can afford little comfort to the rational soul they can alitle divert it from its grief but are so far from yeilding true satisfaction that the more it drinks the more it thirsts but he that drinks of the water of life shall never thirst more He that eates of the true bread which came down from Heaven shall be satisfied in all his desires and appetites more than they whose Corne Wine