sentenc'd to that place of torments and by vertue of thy merit my nature was sanctified my vvill changed But if it were so as indeed it cannot be that I must choose one of these two either to be happy that thy just will should be frustrated or damned that it might be executed and fullfil'd I proclaime and pronounce to the praise of thy Justice that it were better for me to be damned that so thy will o God may be in me ratified But o eternall goodness I know am perswaded that thou willest not my death because thou therefore vvould'st have thy Son die upon the Cross that I might not dye an eternall death which is a perpetuall banishment from thee the fountaine of all bliss Wherefore I beseech thee deare Father by the merits of the bitter death of thy Son preserve me from the bands of eternall death Behold the wounds behold that blood that precious blood which was shed for me and by which thy Iustice was satisfied who would'st not spare thy Son that I thy poore servant might be redeem'd from destruction O King immortall and of eternall glory do with me novv what thou pleasest and so sanctifie my vvill that it may yeeld it selfe to be govern'd by thee in all things The Issues of thy will shall be sweet and pleasant to me Whatsoever thou willest most gladly will I doe Psal 106. My heart is ready O God my heart is ready Such servants the great Lord of heaven does love who observe their Masters nod with so vigilant an eye that the will of their Lord is their Law and rule by which their lives and Actions are regulated who likewise can with cheer fullness say It is the Lord let him do what he pleases There is nothing better then to feare God nothing sweeter then to take heed to the Commandements of the Lord. Eccl. 23. God delights in those servants who observe his precepts and keepe his commands with all care and diligence Who are ready at his beck to obey and bow when he would have them bend who likewise though most afflicted can in one day cheerefully even a thousand and more times cry and say with heart and voyce God's will be done and let him doe whatsoever he pleases Thus whatsoever these good men will God wills the same for they most constantly and reselutely will not that which they know God wills not but hate and abhorre it By this meanes such holy minded men obtaine what ever they desire because they desire nothing else but this that they may conforme themselves wholly and onely to Gods good will and pleasure They know how true that is which St. Hierome once said when he writ to Paula concerning the death of Blaesilla God is good and all that a good God doth must needs be good Neither doe men who are well minded who have good and holy wills account any thing evill which comes from a good God Are they in health They give thanks for this to their maker Are they rich even in this they acknowledge the vvill of their Lord and praise their loving Father Are they bereav'd of their deare friends by death They lament and bewaile their loss but because they know this to be the good pleasure of their Lord they sustaine and suffer it with a joyfull mind and are contented Is their onely son taken from them This is hard but to be endured because he is taken away by that God from whom he was sent or rather lent Does poverty which is a sore burden lye hard upon them or sickness which is heavier then that does contumely or contempt afflict their patient soules doe whole troopes of Injuries provoke their spirits for all this and in these great extremities they suffer no other speeches to fall from their Tongues but this What the Lord hath pleased so hath he done and it is well done God be praised God be Blessed for it With such sanctified and reformed wills ever subjected to Gods the righteous are settled and staied as it were with an Anchor in the mid'st of many Tempests Stormes and Changes which shake the minds of those that are not built upon Christ who is a strong foundation But the godly relying upon Christ his all sufficient merits and throwing themselves upon God by an entire subjection to his vvord by suffering vvhat he vvills and doing vvhat he commands standing in this holy posture of their soules they expect their last houre the houre of their change and think every misfortune and calamity short and little that shall be seconded vvith an happy state and condition which shall be eternall and never have end SYMBOLVM XI Voluntatis in bonum propensio Inclinaui cor meum ad faciendas justificationes tuas in aeternum propter retributionem Psal 118. Embleme XII Moderation of our passions Thy desire shall be subiect to thine husband and hee shall rule over thee Genesis 3.16 The twelfth signe IS The moderation of our affections set out by a vvell-tuned Lute The vvord or motto annexed to it GEN. 3.16 Thy desire shall be subjest to thine Husband and he shall rule over thee i.e. The sensitive appetite shall be subject to the command of Reason THey that be Christs have crucified their flesh with the vices and lusts thereof Gal. â— So sayes St. Paul Elegantly Saint Bern. commenting upon Christs words inviting us to come unto him He that will come after me let him deny himselfe It is sayes hee as if Christ had said He that desires to enjoy mee let him despise himselfe and he that would do my will must learn to forsake and break his owne We may be wearied in the fight but after victory we shall be crown'd And this is the way to gaine life to die daily to our selves and to mortifie our affections where and in whom they live there reason is dead And therefore holy David prai'd thus unto the Lord. Psal 119. Open mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy law As if he should have said I know o Lord that in thy law are hid and conteined great and sublime mysteries but I am a poore sinfull man cumbred and pressed vvith the burthen of my flesh subject to divers affections and lusts neither am I Ignorant how great is their power and strength they molest my thoughts and blind my understanding Doe thou therefore of thy goodness open my eyes and dispell the mist of error which is spread in my foule by meanes of my affections Concerning these raging passions Seneca sayes not amiss Ep. 85. et 116. It is far more easy to stop their beginnings then to master or rule their violence for as the body that is cast down headlong from an high Tovver has no command of it selfe nor power to resist or stay its selfe before it falls to the ground even so the mind if it has thrown itselfe upon any base passion if it hath yeelded it selfe captive to any untamed
come to these reverend and holy mysteries and that the seldomer we come we shall tast and find a greater sweetnesse in them At other times hee proposes to us the example of others who seldome communicate and yet are thought good Christians Againe sometimes hee stires up his Instruments to vex and disquiet us with opprobrious speeches that so he may prevent and hinder â—s sometime he presseth our thoughts with the lumber of worldly businesse or troubles our heads with vaine and wandring thoughts and afflicts our hearts with the anguishes and terrors of a guilty Conscience if all these will not doe then he stirres up in us strife and hatred against our friends and Neighbours by all which meanes he detaines our soules from all love and affections to Goâ— and holy duties and makes our prepararion to the Sacrament hard and difficult and full of paine and vexation Some he deceives thus hee perswades out of a pretence or shew of Religion to deferre that which they know ought not to be omitted Thus this Grand Impostor being of a Serpentine nature winds and turnes himseife into divers shapes and trickes sets upon us with his cunning wilds and delusions And hence it is that delay followes upon delay and one good purpose and resolution upon the neck of another whilst wee deferre from day to day from weeke to weeke nay from yeare to yeare to come to Christ in this heavenly Supper nay which argues our wickednesse and sinfull corruption we seldome come to this banquet but when we are driven and forc'd to it by the Lawes compultion We find Recorded Luk 14. that a certaine man made a great Supper and bad many Verse 16 and sent at supper-time his Servant to say to them that were bidden Come for all things now are ready And they all with one mind began to make excuse One said hee had bought a farme another Oxen a third reply'd that he had maried a Wife No man is at leisure when he is to come to Christ who is lively represented in the supper of the Eucharist To pretend the care of Wife and Family is an excuse that carries with it some plausibility yet indeed it is attenced with great folly shall we not for one houre lay aside all worldly thoughts and distempering cares the care of our Farmes Oxen and Wives and what else is deare and precious to us that so we may the better imploy our selves in the study and performance of those things which concerne the eternall good and welfare of our soules If wee were call'd to plow or to some such toylesome worke there would be some reason for it if wee should choose rather to sleepe then digge but being invited to sit down at a feast with Christ where wee have none other food but his owne body and blood to withdraw our selves from this banquet to shunne this Feast is certainely a signe of an impudent madnesse If wee did fly from an angry God wee should shew that we descend from Adams race and lineage Gen. 3. but to flye from an appeased and mercifull God from a God that invites us with all love and sweetnesse to his Table adornd vvith heavenly dainties to turne from so good a God is the property not of men but beasts But that our excuses may not vvant their varnish and colours vve do not palliate and cover our faulty Idlenesse vvith filthy and illegall pretences vve pretend not our Thefts nor the foulenesse of our Adulteries to be the cause of our abstaining from this heavenly Feast but our excuse is fram'd and built upon colourable and honest things For it is no sinne to marry nor to take care for ones Family to buy Cattle and purchase Land is a point of good Husbandry But I pray tell mee what good will all these things doe thee what profit wilt thou reape by them if in cleaving to these thou loosest God thy chiefest good and endangerest thy salvation Wee must take care when we pamper the body that we starve not the soule and he that purchases a Farme or buyes a field with the losse of heaven is a worse foole then he was of whom we read in the Gospell who cared more for a full Barne then hee did for God When wee are Invited to dine or sup with some great man we lay aside all businesse for that time and whilest wee converse with God the King of Heaven and Lord of the Angells at this supper of the holy Eucharist Farmes and Oxen and Wife are to be neglected all businesse and worldly cares are to bee silenc'd and suppressed yet we often times proceed to that impudent bouldnesse that we feare not to say wee cannot come we should speake more truly in saying wee will not so long as we persever in this bold Impudence can vve hope to purchase Gods favour or tast the sweet of his goodnesse Ah wretched soules miserable men that wee are hurtfull to none more then our selves vvee freeze with could and yet shun the fire sick vve are and contemne him that can cure us and the more need vve have of a Physition by so much the lesse vvee feele and are sensible of our malady and sicknesse Wee loath svveet Manna and hunt after stinking Onyons Exod. 16. God in times past commanded the Israelits to gather Manna every day but to rest on the Sabbath And vvee God be praised have our Manna far more precious then that of the Israelites We have the vvord and his Sacraments this Manna vvee may freely use so long as vvee have breath in our Nostrills before death surprise us and our soules be translated to enjoy an eternall Sabbath vvith God and his holy Angells But poore deceived Wretches vvee follow our first Fathers steppes Adam sayes Gerson would not when he might eat of the Tree of life justly therefore was he punished afterwards he could not when he would even so wee whilst wee may will not accept of mercies and herein we betray our proud and contumatious Arrogancy wee post and fly with all hast to rich mens Feasts but wee are hardly drawne and that seldome to the Table of Christ wee are not more drousie and lesse active in any one thing then in that which is the maine even our soules salvation In other matters wee shew an active agility in this only a senseles and dull stupidity which that God Almighty may correct and amend in us he sends us to the Ant an example of Industry and diligence Prov. 6. Go to the Ant thou stuggard Behould her wayes and be wise She by the very guidance and Instinct of Nature knowing that food is not to be got in Winter gathers her food in Harvest and prepares her meat in Summer Thus ought we to doe with more care and circumspection of thoughts out of a religious providence and prospection to our soules good should provide in the Summer of our flourishing youth in the Harvest of this life that vâ—â—t cum that
spirituall food which may bestead and comfort us in the Autumne of our old Age and in the could winter of Death Christ Commends unto us this Immortall food Jo. 6.51 where he sayes He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever This bread is his body crucified upon the Crosse He that feeds on this bread by the mouth of Faith applying to his soule for pardon of his sinnes the merit of his Saviours death and passion that man shall never see death shall escape damnation And they that are predestinated to Eternall life doe labour for this heavenly and soule quickning food more then the Glutton does for delicacyes whose Belly is his God Christ when hee gave us this vitall bread this precious morsell charging us to communicate oft when he said Doe this c. intended not it should be slighted with a prophane neglect Our ordinary food our daily repast keepes the body in life and strength which otherwise by meanes of our naturall heat would be impay'rd and presently consum'd No lesse but rather greater vertue is in this blessed Sacrament of Christs body and blood by meanes of it the life of our soule is preserved which otherwise would be wasted by that devouring heat of our impure lust and concupisence which rages in the best Therefore Innocentius his Counsell may here take place We must beware sayes he least by dâ—â—e ring too long to receive the blessed Sacrament the food of life we incurre the hazard of eternall Death St. Hilary gives us the same advice Let us feare seast being abstracted or separated from the body of Christ i e. never communicating with the faithfull in the holy Eucharist we be hereafter severd and banishd from God our Saviour we that never cease to sin should never cease to partake of the holy Communion But this is our malady this one thing is our chiefe let and impediment Rather then wee will cease to sin wee forbeare to come to the blessed Communion We had rather desert this heavenly Table then shake hands and bid adew to our petulant wickednesse wee are unwilling to be led sweetly as it were by the hand from our pollutions and impurity to an holy conversation and practise of piety Wee beleeved once the lying Serpent perswading us that we shall be Gods but we give no credence no beliefe to God assuring us that if we frequent this caelestiall banquet Wee shall be converted and changed into his divine nature through the Sanctification of his blessed Spirit Consider what Christ promiseth He that eateh my flesh and drinketh my blood Joh. 6.56 dwelleth in mee and J in him Wee heare Christ promising but we do not readily beleeve him Christ commands us to doe this in memory of his death and Passion upon the Crosse And no doubt his will is that we often do this We conceive that his praecept is equall and just but we contrary to what Christ intended will not perswade our selves that this Commemoration is often to be celebrated All the ancient holy Fathers advise us in their writings to come often to this feast Their Counsaile does not displease us but our Corrupt and vitious custome prevaile with us All the holy Martyrs and Confessors in the Primitive times have shind before us in their Godly example inviting us to the practise of those Saint-like and Religious duties The light of their piety shines in our eyes but we will not conforme our selves to them by a Godly imitation of their vertues But to discover farther the corrupt perversenesse of our natures let us put case That as oft as A man received the Communion he were to receive withall a thousand Crownes If this condition were annexed to his duty there were no need of any Rhethoricall expressions to allure him those Arguments dressed in Gold would command his obedience by a sweet force and unresistable violence On these termes of conjuring we should rather want a staffe to keepe the rude multitude off then a goade to prick them on Oh the blindenesse of man we cannot see Gold but our affections are inflam'd with a love and desire of it because wee consider not that mine that rich treasure which is wrapped up and onteinedhidden in the blessed Sacrament therefore it is by us entertaind with neglect and vilified That vast masse of Gold in both Indies compard with this unvaluable Jewell is but dirt and mudde It is beyond the pitch of the sublimest understanding to set upon it a true value and estimation For by vertue of this holy Eucharist or Christs body and blood crucified represented to us in it our sins past of what nature or degree so ever are blotted out of Gods booke sins to come are prevented the strength of our imbred vitious corruptions is weakned our understanding is enlightned Our will and affections stirred up and incited to the desire and love of God and goodnesse our conscience is cleard being disburthened of its heavy load And by meanes of it we are furnished with spirituall Armature against the Devill It corroborates our Spirits that we faint not in adversity It sustaines and supports our natures that wee fall not in prosperity It confirmes us in the way of Godlinesse with constancy and patience Lastly by the holy Eucharist we receive a pledge of future glory and by it we get a rich purchase the contempt of death and desire of heaven the moderation of affections and loathing of our vices and a love of vertues the victory over our selves and perseverance in good workes But one may object I dare not come by reason of my great pollution my thoughts are vaine my heart is uncleane and not wâ—rmd with the love of God therefore I dare not come to the holy Communion This excuse is either bad or to no purpose for the more wicked thou art the lesse is thy accesse to it to bee deferr'd Art thou uncleane come first bewailing thy sins The â—ucharist is a pure and living fountaine it will wash away thy staines Art thou sick come for it is the only medicine and Antidote whereby the maladies and diseases of thy soule may be cured Art thou pinch'd with an holy hunger after righteousnesse Come for the Eucharist is the bread of Angells Is thy Soule benumm'd with a deadly chillnesse with a Lethargy of sin defer not to come for the Eucharist is such a fire such an heavenly flame that will warme thy spirit and enflame it with devotion Do thy spirituall Enemies the Divell or the Flesh molest and vex thee distrust not but come for here is an Armory out of which thou may'st fetch weapons to wound and subdue any of thy Ghostly Adversaries Art thou sad and consumd with wasting griefe Here is Wine that maketh glad the heart of man Desirest thou delicacies certainely there are not better then these which are exhibited in this banquet and cheares the heart of Kings Art thou in love with thy heavenly Country dost thou long after it in thy desires
never stopped nor staied 1 Sam 6.12 not turned aside to the right hand or to the left Now for the comfort of tender Christians who find in their lives many turnings and windings many slips failings sins of naturall infirmitie of suddain surreption and daily incursion as lustfull motions distrustfull thoughts a disorder in the Passions or the like against which they strive and bend the force of their best endeavours to subdue them but cannot by meanes of that Body of sin Rom. 6.6 that lump of flesh that principle of weakness which they cary about them for the comfort of such I must add this by way of a Corolarie or appendix to the former Treatise which pointeth at a Collective perfection scarce to be found in a Christian It is this Peccatum non damnat quod 〈◊〉 nen placet August That such frailties and Infirmities if they be bewailed daily in an humble confession to Christ if they be stroven against and by a constant use of the meanes as prayer and fasting be in part mastred though a compleat conquest over them be not atchieved they shall not seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Rom. 8.39 Who as St. Paul intimates Rom. 5.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. when we were weak died for us The Holy Ghost hereby assuring all such weak ones that such sins as these to which their weakness betraies them shal not damne them so long as they be resisted with a strict and constant opposition with all the vigour and activity of their soules so that they be neither allowed of nor contiâ—ued in by a daily practise It remaines in the last prace that I compleat what I in a manner promised in my preface that is for the better establishing the hearts of good Christians to discover more particularly then hath been done before the inward tokens and outward fruits of sanctification whereby they may attaine to an assured knowledge of their Election And then for a Conclusion subjoyne some qualifications which may by Gods helpe sustaine the drooping Spirits of those feeble Christians who either find not in themselves all the Signes that have been set downe in the preceding Treatise or are burthened with the troubles of an unquiet conscience which is incident to the best and dearest of Gods Saints The Casuists prescribe unto us 2. Two wayes to attaine to the knowledge of our Election wayes whereby we may come to the knowledge of our Election That our names are written in the Book of the living The First is by taking flight from Earth by ascending as it were into Heaven there to prie into Gods Cabinet to peep into his Closet and to enquire into the deep and hidden Counsell of God this way is dangerous and not to be attempted Deut. 29.29 it being besides the difficulty and danger of it forbidden by the Word This Position was delivered by the Doctors in our Vniversity at the death of that Famous and learned Man Dr. Whaly The Second Is by descending into our selves in a privy search of our owne hearts and so to climb up as it were by degrees and steps to Gods eternall Counsell concerning the welfare of our Soules This second way alone is to be practised and it teacheth us by certaine signes and infallible testimonyes in our selves to collect or gather what is God's eternall purpose concerning our Persons our Soules and Bodies Those testimonies which we call for their infallibility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are of two sorts The first is The Testimony of Gods Spirit The Second The Testimony of our spirits of both which we read at once Rom. 8.15 The same spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the Sons of God The Testimony of the spirit is effected in us by an application of the promises of the Gospell in the forme of a practicall Syllogisme thus Whosoever beleeveth in Christ shall be saved Ioh. 6.47 Now when the Spirit shall as J may so speak break into the dark roomes of the soule with light and discoveries opening the eye of a mans understanding so as to perceive and know that there is no other way to Heaven but by Christ and by stirring up the will and affections so as to make an assumption with freedome of Spirit without hesitation or doubting and to say I beleeve I renounce my selfe all my delight and comfort my joy and confidence is in Christ my stay and trust is in his all-sufficient merits from hence will result a blessed Conclusion Therefore shall be saved and I am the Child of God To say thus is the Testimony of the Spirit per modum causalitatis by way of causality to use the Scholemens phrase because it proceeds no from flesh and blood Mat. 16.17 from the strength of our owne Will but from the operation of the Holy Ghost stirring us up to beleeve to embrace the promises and to cry Abba Faâ—her as St. Paul there speakes St. Bernard hath an excellent passage to this purpose which runs thus in English Rom. 8.15 Bern. Ep 107. Who is just but he that being loved of God returnes love to him againe which is not done but by the spirit of God revealing by Faith unto man the eternall purpose of God that concernes future salvation Which Revelation is nothing else but the infusion of spirituall grace c. He meanes the Grace of Faith as he expressed himselfe before which is understood by that mark in the forehead of the hundred forty and foure thousand which stood with the Lamb in Mount Sion Rev. 14.1 and it is the only or chiefe marke of Election And as I take it Christ is therefore said in one sence to be the saithfull witness Rev. 1. Rev. 1 5. because by his spirit he stirres us up to beleeve which is accompanied with that inward experimentall Joy and inexpressible Peace of Conscience by the which he in a manner witnesses to that is assures our soules that we are his and shall infallibly one day if we persevere in the Faith partake of his happinesse The Second Testimony of our Election is the Testimony of our Spirit of the heart and Conscience purified and sanctified in the blood of Christ And it leads us to an assurance of Gods eternall love and to a certainty of our salvation two wayes as we are taught by Masters in these great Mysteries First By inward tokens in it selfe which are so many earnests of the spirit of Christ Secondly By outward fruits which break forth in our lives and Actions The former are speciall Graces of God in the Spirit or soule of man whereby he may be assured of his Adoption that he is God's Son These tokens are of two sorts The one respecting our sins The other Gods mercy in Christ who is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2 2â— The first are in respect of our sinnes Past 3. markes of Election
imperfect First How our Obedience must be qualified It must not be performed with limitations and restrictions to some few of Gods Commandements but unto them all without Exception Herod heard John Baptist willingly and did many things gladly yet rejected and made light of the * Thoâ— shalt not committ â—dultery seventh Commandement Mar. 6.20 many such Herods are there amongst us But they must know that the badge or mark of sound obedience is it's Vniversality it stretches it selfe to all Gods Commandements Ps 119. v. 6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandements As he that amends repents and he that obeys beleeves so he that saith he beleeves or gives assent to the Infallible truth of God's word yet being bewitched with any sinful Custome enticed by any Commodity or hailed by any pleasure gives himselfe scope and liberty to live in the breach of any one of Gods Commandements be it secret or open as constant neglect of the duties of Religion in private usuall swearing or Lying secret thoughts and practises of Vncleaness unsatiable desires of earthly greatness and abundance unjust increase of Riches by biting Vsury Bribery or other secret indirect courses A man that allowes himselfe in these or the like practises contrary to Gods will revealed in his sacred word in heart he is an Infidell though in name he be a Christian He hath an evill heart full of unbeliese as the Apostle speaks Heb. 3.12 that having embraced certaine Truths not prejudiciall to it selfe upon vaine and worldly considerations and to which it may assent without crossing it's desires and purposes in others slips the Collar and departs from the living God by a refusall to yeeld Obedience to the Truth of that Command which shall any way oppose his carnall affection Ia. 2.10 That of Saint James must be held by us for a maxime most true in the Schole of Divinity VVhosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet faileth in one point is guilty of all For he that acknowledges not God's soveraignty to be the same in every Commandement but breakes one willfully and customarily keeps none at all for Conscience sake out of an humble acknowledgement of Gods supreame Authority And if occasion or an opportunity should invite him to sin he would be as ready to transgress in the rest as in any one Wherefore God Heb. 4.12 who is a discerner of the Spirit judges him according to the disposition of his heart at whose doore sin lyes within lurking and readie if a strong temptation should knock to break forth into open act To conclude this first qualification of our new Obedience I say with a reverend and learned Divine Obedience to many Commandements is indeed before God no Obedience but a flat sin if 〈◊〉 man wittingly and willingly carry a purpose within to break any duty of the Law Againe He that repents of one sin heartily and seriously doth truly repent of all And he that lives but in one known sin without repentance repents of none indeed although he pretends never so much reformation of life Secondly 2 Qualification As this Obedience must be Vniversall in regard of the Object which is the whole law of God so also it must be in regard of time It must reach and extend it selfe to the whole course of a man's life after he has made his peace with God and washed his soule in the laver of Repentance Non confideratur in Christianis principium sed finis Saies an ancient Father God respects not so much the beginning as the end in Christians Many for want of constancy and perseverance are now in Hell who made a faire shew in the world and began to set footing in the race of Piety Such as the course of a man's life is such is the man Our failings in this or that particular do not prejudice our estate before God if so be we renew our Repentance daily and make not a trade of sin It is not our falling into sin but our lying in it will damne us There be those now in Heaven that have beene greater sinners then some of those that are in Hell The reason or ground of this difference is only Repentance Heaven is no place for unrepentant sinners No uncleane thing shall enter there VVithout aro Doggs c. Rev. 21.27.22.15 Thirdly 3. Qualification It is required in new Obedience that it be also Vniforme that it proceed from the whole man which is David's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Holocaust mentioned in that paenitentiall Psalme Ps 51. v. 19. And this Holocaust or whole Burnt-Offering we then offer up unto God when every faculty of the Soule and every member of the body are contributaries to set forth His praise and advance his glory When our understandings are seasoned with high thoughts of God when we exalt him in our apprehensions to the highest degree of Majesty and debasing our selves with that good Patriarke to the lowest that may be Gen. 18.27 even to Dust and Ashes we subject our wills to God's will by an humble resignation of our selves to his divine pleasure and in a chearfull readiness either to do or suffer whatsoever in his holy wisdome he shall think fit for us When our affections are chiefly set upon God when we only feare his displeasure as a good Child is afraid of displeasing his Father and tremble at the very thought of sin whereby we may lose his favour when upon this ground we are no less afraid of sin then of Hell and had rather be punished there without sin then sin here without punishment Gen. 39.9 and with chast Joseph stick rather at the sin then at the Judgement which is ever sins attendant as those who if there were no Hell would shun the offence whereby the smiles of a loving God might be turned into the frownes of an angry Lord In a word when we love God above all things and for the love of him can suffer the losse of all things here below in hope of enjoying him one day above where there are pleasurs for evermore And when we love whatsoever God loveth when his love is made the rule of ours so that we can love the poorest Saint on earth above the richest Dives when we behold God's Image stamped upon that poore Lazarus the Image of his Holiness an inclination to all good and a freedome from all wickedness If our soules be thus tempered if the faculties be so well tuned This is that reasonable service commended by St. Paul Rom. 12.1 then are they a sacrifice acceptable to God And when all the members of our Bodyes are attemperd to our soules so as each and every one of them serves God in that way and in a full discharge of that work and duty for which it was made and created When all the powers of our Soules and al the parts of our bodies shall thus comply in a reverent devotion