thou may'st call thine Iniquity Find out what it is and know that there thy main Work lyes In vain wilt thou strive in other duties till that which hinders be removed out of the way Fight neither against small nor great but against the King of Israel Where the Enemy most ordinarily makes his breach upon thee set the stronger Guard Let thy daily conflicts be here and observe diligently with what success 6. Walk on thy course in the Name and strength of the Lord Jesus Live by Faith Depend on Christ for the assistance of his mighty Spirit Forget not this for otherwise thou wilt go but lamely on These things premised I shall now give you the particular Directions 1. Directions for the Evening Every Evening before you sleep withdraw your selves from the World and having set your heatts as in the Presence of God Charge them before God to answer to these following Interrogatories 1. Concerning your Duties Q. 1. Did not God find me on my bed when he expected me on my knees 2. Was there not more of Custome and Fashion than of Conscience and Affection either in my Secret or Family Duties 3. Had I any sensible Communion with God in my duties 4. Have I not neglected or been careless and overly in reading the Word and Holy Meditation 2. Concerning your Sins Q. 1. Do I live in nothing that I know to be a sin 2. Have I kept me from MINE Iniquity What victory have I yet gotten over it 3. Am I a mourner for mine own and the sins of the Land 3. Concerning your Temptations Q. 1. Have I feared watched against and not run into temptation 2. What Temptations have I overcome this day 3. Have I had a care of my Company 4. Concerning your Heart Q. 1. Have I held mine heart in a serious spiritual gracious frame have my calls to Duty ever found me in a preparation to Duty 2. Hath the Lord been ever before mine eyes and Eternity upon mine heart 3. Have I been much in holy Ejaculations 4. Have I not given liberty to the workings of Pride Sinful anger Discontent or Impatience 5. Have I made conscience of evil thoughts 5. Concerning Conscience Q. 1. Hath my Conscience neither been blind nor dumb nor my heart deaf or headstrong against it 2. Have I done nothing against nor with a doubting Conscience 3. Have I neither defiled mine own nor wittingly scandalized my Brother's Conscience 6. Concerning your Tongue Q. 1. Have I bridled my Tongue 2. Have I spoken Evil of no man 3. Hath the Law of the Lord been in my mouth as I sate in mine House or went by the Way as I was lying down and rising up 7. Concerning your Talents Q. 1. Have I not wasted or vainly spent any part of my Estate hath neither my Pride had a share nor my Appetite more than its share 2. Have I not sent Christ away without an Alms when I had it by me 3. Have I redeemed my time from Needless Visiâ—s Idle Imaginations Fruâ—â—leâ—s Discourse and Unnecessary Sleep 4. Have I not lost an opportunity this day of doing or receiving good have I not neglected to exhort or reprove when occasion hath been given and if I have been reproved how have I born it 8. Concerning your Tables Q. 1. Did I not sit down with no higher ends than a Beast only to please my appetite Did I eat and drink to the Glory of God 2. Did I not eat or drink to excess 3. Did I not rise from the Tablewithout letting fall any thing of God there 4. Did I not mock God when I pretended to crave a Blessing or return Thanks 9. Concerning your Calling Q. 1. Have I been serving the Lord this day in my particular Calling 2. Have I not been Idle 3. Have I not over eagerly minded my earthly affairs 4. Have I defrauded no man wronged no man 5. Have I dropped never a Lye no broken promise in all my dealings 10. Concerning your Relations Q. Have I Faithfully discharged and done nothing against my duty to my Relations Have I behaved my self As a Christian Husband Wife Parent Child Master Servant 11. Concerning your carriage to those Within Q. Have I carried my self towards all Saints 1. Lovingly Delighting in them Bearing with them Covering their Infirmities 2. Peaceably not provoking them to Envy 3. Profitably provoking them to love and good works 12. Concerning your carriage to those Without Q. Have I carried my self to those without 1. Wisely that they have not been a snare to me nor I through my fault become a Prey unto them 2. Inoffensively Have I not been a stumbling-block to them 3. Courteously and compassionately that I might the better win upon them 3. Concerning Providences Q. 1. Have I diligently observed all the remarkable Providences of God towards me especially such as have come in as the Returns of Prayer 2. Have I been thankful for my daily Mercies 3. Have I born this dayes crosses 14. Concerning the use of your Liberty Q. Have I kept my self far enough within my bounds In Summe Q. 1. What have I done for God or my Soul this day have I not lost one day more 2. Have I led this day A Diligent Watchful Self-denying Life Directions for the Morning 1. If through necessity or carelesness you have omitted the reading and weighing these Questions in the Evening be sure to do it now 2. Ask thy self Waht Sins have I committed what Duties have I omitted Against which of these Rules have I offended the day foregoing And renew thy Repentance and double thy Watch. 3. Examine whether God were first and last in thy Thoughts Morning and Evening 4. Be careful to set thine Ends right for all the day An Advertisement If you want time to make daily enquiry upon every one of the forementioned Particulars they being so many set a mark upon or write out such of them as most especially concern your Case and let not them be forgotten Think not thy self excused from this course because 't is too long when if need be thou may'st thus make it shorter Better cut short than wholly give out For the help of the weaker I shall gather out these few of the chief Interrogatories which when they are straitned for time they may only use and to which they may add more as they have occasion and opportunity Q. 1. Was I serious and had I any sensible Communion with God this day in my Secret and Family Duties 2. Hath it been my care to keep mine heart in an holy Frame from Duty to Duty 3. Have I been much in holy Ejaculations 4. Have I not given liberty to the working of Pride sinful Anger Discontent or Impatience nor so much as to vain Thoughts 5. Have I not inordinately minded Earthly things 6. Have I kept me from Mine Iniquity and not liv'd in any known sin 7. Have I wronged no man in word nor deed 8. Have I been temperate and self-denying in the use of
doubtless he will not be wanting in what 's absolutely necessary Psal 23. 1 2 3. The Lord is my Shâ—pheard I shall not want and so on throughout the Psalm Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord for ever Here we have the Psalmists conclusion and it's foundation or his confidence and it's ground his foundation or ground is the Lord is my Shepheard his conclusion and confidence is I shall not want that is neither for Body nor Soul as appears by the following part of the Psalm If Davids Logick and his Faith too does not fail him the conclusion is firm let the Lord be his Shepheard and he shall not know Famine or want Gods relation to his people is their security for a sufficient provision in all times If the Lord be their Shepheard he must see them fed he must either find them those that shall or do it himself He must either find them Pastors or be their Pastor He must either provide them or be their Pasture If ordinary means fail he must find extraordinary if both fail he must be instead of means to them Here two things 1. That God stands engaged as the Shepheard of his people where ordinary means fail either to provide them extraordinary or to feed them more immediately from himself 2. That extraordinary means or no means when God brings his People to it will be better than their ordinary means 1. That God stands engaged as the Shepheard of his People where ordinary means fail either to provide them extraordinary or to feed them more immediately from himself Feed them he must or he cannot be faithful and if means fail he must supply that want one way or other Now God is faithful and will not see his Sheep to starve Isa 41. 17 18. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their Tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them I will open Rivers in high places and Fountains in the midst of the Vallies I will make the Wilderness a Poor of Water and the dry Land Springs of Water Oh what a good World is here for the poor Saints to live upon in hard times It is interpreted to have an immediate reference to the outward and yet a special respect also to the spiritual wants and distresses And it will appear if we compare it with the like expressions Chap. 44. 3. I will poure water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will poure my Spirit on thy Seed and my Blessing upon thine off-spring From the former Scriptures note 1. That the poor People of God may sometimes be as to the visible Soul-provisions but in a poor case Needy and hungry and thirsty their hearts fainting their tongues failing for thirst and their waters dryed up If they seek water and there be none 2. All the wants and straits of the Saints are before the Lord. I the Lord will hear Christians though those that should will not yet he that can will hear the cryes of your Souls all your faintings and pantings and longings for the water of life are before your eâ—es and come up into the eares of the Loâ—d of Sabbath 3. God hath more wayes than one to relieve the wants and refresh the bowels of his hungry ones He hath extraordinary means for extraordinaâ—y caâ—es If they can find no common Rivers he will open or make new Rivers 〈◊〉 high places the dry places the very Rock wilâ— yield a River when God commands it 4. Gods extraordinary Provisions shall not be scantâ— and penurious but rich and plentifull 'T is not some drops or now and then a draught a little to stay the longing or barely enough to keep them alive he prepares them Rivers Fountains Pools Springs of water I will open Rivers in the high places Fountains in the Vallies c. Whereever they be cast in the high places in the Vallies in the Wilderness in the dry Lands whereever they be cast I will cause Provision enough to meet them though they have neither Bag nor Bottle nor any thing to carry with them they shall not want the River shall meet them Springs shall arise and break forth to them 5. They are not the wanting but the thirsting the seeking Souls whom God will supply When the poor and needy seek water and there is none Oh Christians how many poor are there that sit down by their poverty who if they starve yet will not beg their emptiness hath taken away their Appetites These are sad Souls 't is a sad sight to behold a company of hunger-bitten Souls sit weeping and sighing seeking after the Bread and Water of life and finding none but to see empty and yet not hungry fainting and yet not panting Souls to see Souls even dying away for want and yet not desiring or craving a supply this is a much soreâ— spectacle A starveling thirstless Soul is next to a Ghost Well if ever such Souls find who never seek water 't is more than God hath promised them 'T is they that seek water to whom God will open a River 6. What ever difficulty there be to furnish the hungry Sainâ—s with a sufficiency of Provision yet one way or other it shall be done I the Lord will hear I the God of Israel will not forsaken them Upon me be all their wants I am God and can I am their God the God of Israel and will provide for them They must and shall be provided for whatever course I be put to take I must not see them starve The Lord will not be wanting to them if his Word be not heard his Works shall speak if Preachers cannot Providence shall preach to them if their fâ—iends cannot their enemies their stripes their wounds their rods shall instruct them Thy Rod and thy Staffe comfort me If they have no other the Sun Moon and Stars the Fouls of the Air the Beasts of the Field shall be their Prophets and Apostles If all should fail yet the Spirit of the Lord shall not fail to be their Teacher and Comforter 2. Extraordinary means have more in them than ordinary and no means more than means 1. Extraordinary meâ—ns when ordinary cannot be had are sweeter and better feeding for the Saints then ordinary would be The lâ—ss of the Creature the more of God the less of common Providence the more of special Grace Water out of the Rock was more pretious than out of the River the Manna of the Wilderness was to them that understood it better than the Milk of Canaan Elijah never made better meals than what he got out of the Ravens mouth I have heard of Woman in great distress of Soul who received comfort when the Word was brought her by the mouth of a child which she had failed of receiving from the mouths of many excellent Ministers 2. No
means often prove better than means when I say no means I do not understand simply none means they shall have of one kind or other their understandings their memories their secret duties Prayer Meditation c. but by no means I understand nothing from without no Ordinances Friends Societies Books c. Gods feeding of a Soul more immediately is much sweeter then when he sends Provision by the hand of another the Samaritans hearing Christâ— Words from his own mouth was much more to them than the same words reported by the Woman Dulcius ex ipso fonte Water is the purer the nearer the Fountain the Bread that comes down from Heaven is better Bread than that which grows up out of the Earth though that be originally from Heaven also By how much the more immediately our comforts come from Heâ—ven by so much the more they have of Heaven in them If upon the failing of publick Communion it be made up so much the more in secret sure the Saints have no reason to complain And whether this be not so let the Prisons into which the Saints have been sometimes cast the Wilderness into which they have been sometimes banished let Elihu's Songs in the night Peters Pauls Silaghs Songs in the Prison in the Stocks stand forth and testifie If Prison joyes and exile comforts have not been often both fuller and sweeter to them than when they have rolled in Manna and lived in the fulness and freedom of all helps and means then not a few Christians have either mistaken or mis-reported their experiences To pretend to live above Ordinances whilest God affords them is a wickedness that some men have to repent of but where God denies them he doth he will provide a better subsistence without them Now lay all this together and then you will see that even this also this most grievous of Judgments the famine of the Word when ever it befalls shall work for good to those that love God Christians chear up your hearts whatever drought or dearth may fall upon the World you are provided for you shall have enough If the shoures fail without you have within you that which shall spring up to eternall life If your streams should be dryed up if your Pastures should be trodden down you have a God that will be both your Pastor and Pasture If the Riveâ— fail you the Rock shall supply you what you want in ordinary you may look to be made up in extraordinary means The drying up of the waters shall but drive you up to the Spring-head If ever the Stars fail you God shall but exchange Star-light for Sun-light while there 's light in the Sun you shall not walk in darkness See but to this make sure that this God is yours and he must find out a comfortable feeding for you if you can but say Davids first words after him the Lord is my Shepherd you may then with confidence say the whole Psalm after him I shall not want he will make me to lie down in green Pastures he will lead me by the still Waters though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evill thy Rod and thy Staff shall comfort me Thou shalt prepare me a Table in the presence of mine Enemies Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the House of the Lord for ever 2. There is another Objection that seems to have â—ore difficulty in it Suppose a Saint to fall into Distraction and thereby to be deprived utterly of the use of his Reason and so to live and die How can it be imagined that this can work for his good either in this World or the World to come Can any good arise out of an incapacity of any longer doing or receiving good or patiently suffering Evil Can either his Grace here or his Glory hereafter be increased or advanced by a man's being converted into a mere Bruit 1. There 's no doubt at all but this may make for the Churches good Is there nothing that others may learn out of such a sad Providence If others may reap good by my evil is it nothing to me May it not be said to be good for any particular Saint to bear the sorest Affliction by which the Church may have benefit He hath not much of a Saint to whom if it were afore-hand proposed whether for the benefit of the Church he would be content if God see it good to fall into such a calamity He hath little of a Saint that would deliberately refuse it Doubtless a sincere Christian who would count his usefulness to the good of the whole Body to be his good would say even concerning such a Message were it brought to him Good is the Word of the Lord And that which afore-hand he would judge to be good for him to submit to may it not be good for him to be under 2. It may also be more directly for his particular personal good For 1. It may do him the same good which Death will do for him Concerning which the Apostle says it is yours 1 Cor. 3. that is it is for your advantage It may take him from the evil to come from those Sorrows and that Trouble of Heart which God might fore-see falling upon him by any calamities coming either on the Church in general or himself or Family in particular which being deprived of his Reason and power to reflect on he cannot feel or in the least be afflicted by If you Reply But the Remedy is worse than the Disease To be useless and unserviceable is less eligible than to be sorrowful and afflicted Will any man chuse to fall into a Lethargie or Apoplexie because 't will secure him from the Torment of a Feaver If there be any weight in this Reply I shall adde a farther Answer which if I misjudge not will cut off all Râ—plyes 2. Who knows what Sins and Temptations he might have fallen into and fallen by had not the Lord by this means prevented it he might possibly have been a Back-slider have fallen into gross sin by which he might have been a Terrour to himself and a Scandal to the Gospel and is it not good for him that this is prevented Is not that Affliction 〈◊〉 Mercy which secures from such Iniquity Who can say it is not thus that the Lord foresaw he would have fallen into sin and for prevention brought him into this Affliction Who can say it is not thus If none can then this is no Objection If you Reply you say it may be this is the case and I may as well say it may be not there might be no such thing that God fore-saw as the Reason of this Providence 'T is but a Conjecture and an Uncertainty when you have made the most of it Be it so yet it will fully answer my end I am not now proving that all things work for good to the Saints that 's