Order And Desire them in this Order Let the Shame be on me if thou lose by this Use If God preserve us not in Being we are then incapable of Doing and Receiving any good Being we therefore first pray for If God Pardon not our Sins our Being is a cursed one and worse than none at all For we cannot avoid his Wrath which is the Hell of Hell. Pardon therefore we pray for in the second place If God deliver us not from sinful Temptation's prevalence our Being and past Pardon are very sorry things For Sin after Pardon is worse Sin and 't will kindle a worse Wrath of God. And what then becomes of us Deliverance from it we therefore Pray for in the third place We content us not to Pray but for the two former We Pray for all these and in this natural Method that our dear Redeemer teaches 5. High and honourable Thoughts of God must 〈◊〉 in all that Pray unto Him. And must be expressed in the entrance of their Prayer The Preface of the Lord's Prayer so teacheth us Father signifies Creator Ruler Benefactor These words Art in Heaven do not speak God's place for He is every where and is Place it self They signifie God's eternally being of such Perfections as neare above our minds as the Heavens are above the Earth Our Father also speaks much Our doth express Him to be the whole Church and World's Father I and so Loveful a Father that He has boundâ—â—s Children every one to Love and Pray for all 6. Kingdom Power and Glory are the three steps by which our Minds rise in the Praise of God. Kingdom signifies his just Right to govern all things Power signifies his perfect Strength wherewith to do it Glory signifies his forth-shining Excellency which does and will for ever be in it The Excellency I mean of all his Perfections We do or should conceive of God as a Ruler most rightful and powerful and amiable or beautiful 7. Praise that is the highest of all Worship must not be sparingly used in Prayer The Preface and Conclusion of the Lord's Prayer are an Heaven if all of the Stars of Praise And no wonder for Greatness and Goodness are comprehensive of all God's Perfections Thanksgiving it self which is a Worship more noble than that which is more on the receiving hand it confiders but the Divine Goodness Yea and that it self but little more than as it derives and streams unto us But Praise considers and exalts God both as Great and as Good. In Himself and to us Good. Praising God can never be enough Prais'd or Practised by Us Psa 50. penult 8. Prayer is as necessarily to be Ended with Amen as to be Begun with Our Father My meaning is it must be concluded by all means with Desire Faith and Hope Amen signifies all Listlesness Vnbelief and Want of waiting and looking for Prayers returns do make Prayers as no Prayers Without the Heart's actual Amen after Prayer you interpretatively say Lord my mind 's already altered I now am indifferent whether Thou dost grant or deny me I believe Thou wilt Deny And I will not wait or look for thy Grant. Without an Amen with the mouth uttered some do suppose the Congregation injured 'T is certain where holy Amen's be not found Prayers be lost Commandment Truths twelve 1. The Object unto whom all supreme worship is to be paid is God Only To Him it must be paid by all Souls in all times with all strength And unto no other 'T is Treason to pay a penny Tribute to a rebellious Vsurper Or to worship with divine worship any tempting Creature If Jesus Christ were not God by Eternal nature I would not be Baptized into his name Or Pray unto Him any more than unto a Star. 2. 'T is as necessary that God be the Author as the Object of all religious worship We must give Him no worship but such as is prescribed by his Word His Worship must suit his blessed Nature and Will. And who can Know them but by his Word Idolatry is officious foolery Will-worship a like Phrenzy 3. 'T is not enough to worship the true God by the true Will of God for the Matter of it but the Manner also must be far from Prophane It must be with holy Reverence and humble Complacence and hearty Truth 4. 'T is not enough to worship the true God by the true Rule in the true and right Manner unless we also keep holy unto Him all such Time as He demands from us Such portions of every Day time and such of every Weeks time For the Lords-day against Judaizers read Mr. Ben Dr. Owen Mr. Baxter Holy Observance of the Lords day and of hourâ— of Worship on our own days is the Practiâ—â— and Pleasure of men sincere 5. Obedience to all the former Commands sufficeth not without Duty unto Men. Especially Superiors Principally Honor of Parents natural The which are our Governors in time before Kings On a deeper foundation than that of Contract even of very Nature To them are we most Obliged and by them most Loved Well is the 5th Command called the hinge of both Tables I am sure this being broke all are broke And would Children and Parents but do their Duties toward each other it would make a sweet change of our English familys But hereof elsewhere Parents and Rulers are God's Vicegerents over us and next unto God should be Honored by us Loaded with honor as the Hebrew word is 6. As of our Duty toward man preservation of just Honor is the first Preservation of his Life is the next Death takes away time of Repentance and Earthly mercies all Look how near you come unjustly to Kill a man so near you come to the Devil's first service From the beginning he was a Murderer And so near come you to deprive him of all the good of this World and if he be not already Converted to throw him into Hell. If you do Murder a man you rob God the King and the Countrey of a Servant in this world 7. The third Kind of duty towards Man-kind is preservation of Chastity in our selves and others To defile is next to Kill one Obscene thoughts words and deeds be next unto Murderous ones Lascivious Goats and bloody Wolves be much like odious in God's eyes 8. The fourth part of our Duty towards man is preservation of his Estate To Contemn to Kill or to Defile is worse but to Rob and Injure in ever so little a matter is a Sin that God will not let go unrevenged Of how great infamy among men is the name of a Thief O that Thieves knew but God's thoughts of them 9. The fifth sort of duty to Man is preservation of them in their Causes and Suits of Law. By bearing true witness when called and abhorring all false All that tends to pervert publick Justice Lyars be Satan's Pictures 10. The sixth duty toward man is such Love of him as we bear unto our selves Such
distance from begrudging him any good as we are at from begrudging it to our selves The first Command is a Summary of all Duty unto God the second is a like Summary of all Duty unto Man. 11. The Children of Men ever since the Fall are averse from all the Wâ—â—â— God. Their Minds are unteachable Memories unfaithful Wills untractable Else what needed the New-Edition of the Ten Commands And why were they so delivered as we read Exod. 19.20 12. The Motives that God giveth and we ought to take and urge our hearts withal unto the Obedience of every of God's Laws are three The three contained in God's Preface unto the Ten Commandments Which are God's Soveraignty over us his Covenant with us his Redemption-grace and bounty unto us Wo unto our best Motions which these three do not move to Sacramental-Truths five 1. The Law of God for Sacraments is not Natural but Positive He required them not because their use is good antecedently No their Use is therefore only good because He requires them From whence it follows that tho' it be impossible not to Use the Sacraments but we must offend God because God has commanded them 't is very possible to use Sacraments and not please God. Because God has commanded them not for their own sakes but for certain Ends. Which Ends if we do not aim at and answer in our use of the Sacraments God has no pleasure and we no profit by our use of them 2. The End for which God hath ordain'd Sacraments is his Testifying his Mind and Will unto Us. And our Testifying back our Hearts toward Him. 'T is true God's Word is a Testimony of his Will a first a sweet and a sure Testimony But it has pleased Him to add a second sort of Testification of his Covenant-Will And by Visible Rites and Ceremonies of his own appointing to Testifie it farther As after their Word given Men use by Sign and Seal to testifie their Minds Likewise we at our first Conversion by our Hearts and Mouths testifie unto God our Wills henceforward for ever to be his But it pleaseth God to require our second and more publick solemn Testification thereof To wit in and by the use of those Rites and Ceremonies which he has prescribed Now if we aim not at both these Ends in the use of Sacraments and answer not these Ends we mock God and delude our selves in their use Other Ends of Sacraments there be I know but these are the chief and comprehensive of all 3. The Order of the two Sacraments of the Gospel New-Covenant is this Holy Baptism enters a Disciple of Christ makes him that was before Covenanted to become by Sign and Seal Covenanted with God. The Lord's Supper renews that Covenant betwixt God and a Baptized Disciple of Jesus Christ Both Baptism and the Lord's Supper do confirm the Covenant mutually upon God's part and upon ours and extensively as to all the Promises in the Covenant from God unto us and as to all the Demands in the Covenant from us unto God. 4. The Dignity and Vsefulness of the Holy Sacraments is surpassing In no Ordinances has God condescended so Low unto us as in these In none therefore has he so much honoured us as in these The Apostle reckons Sacraments as the prime of Church-Priviledges 1 Cor. 10. As for Vsefulness they are Towers of David builded for spiritual Armories (a) Of all the outward Means of Grace the most Mighty We cannot warrantably expect the Holy Spirit to make the Word a-near so helpful to us without the Sacraments as with them If ordinarily He should so do He would disparage them But to be sure He will never do that 5. The Way to improve the Holy Sacraments unto Holiness and Comfort is by a double Pleading of them By Pleading them with our own Souls upon God's behalf And this either when we would bring them out of a bad frame into a good or from a less holy unto a more holy frame for God. By then urging our hearts in such like words My Soul my Soul why against God or why so coldly for Him The Kingdom of Hell suffers violence Violent Sinners take it by Force And wilt not thou take the Kingdom of Heaven by it Sinners be Patient Creatures they forsake Father and Mother take up their Cross and follow Satan and thorough many tribulations enter the Kingdom of Hell. Blush and bleed thou to think that thy Patience should be short of theirs and that thou shouldst not without regret enter the Kingdom of Heaven that 's better thro' Tribulations that be lesser than theirs Think think my Soul Thou art Baptiz'd the God of Heaven for thy Encouragement and Engagement has sign'd and seal'd his Covenant with thee Thou hast been at his Holy Table He has again and again sign'd and seal'd it Canst thou thou a sign'd seal'd Covenanter Distrust or Disobey Thou a frequently repeated Covenanter and an early one too O for shame stir up thy self and on with the Armour of God and follow the Captain of thy Salvation and fight not flourish against Flesh World and Devil according to thy Sacramental Engagement Shew that it is unto thee a Covenant of Salt not of Snow An Adamantine bond not a Rope of Sand c. Again we must also humbly Plead them with our heavenly Father upon our own behalf Under Oppression by any evil or Deprivation of any good we may and ought to plead them in Prayer before Him. 'T is often that Ministers do press Christians to plead the Promises I would that we all as often press'd them to plead the same as sign'd and seal'd God hath not a Promise but what is sign'd and seal'd in Baptism and in the Holy Supper And we plead them but imperfectly and at halves when we plead them not as sign'd and seal'd Go distressed Christian fill thy mouth with the arguments of the Covenant of Grace and plead thy Cause at the Throne of Grace to this purpose O thou that canst not Lye thou hast sworn unto me that in thy Gospel-way I shall have Grace Glory and have no good thing with-held from me Thou signedst and sealedst Promise hereof to me in my Baptism and so hast thou done again and again at thy Table I in thy Gospel-way have waited do wait and will to my last breath thro' thy grace wait O Lord canst thou chuse but perform what thou hast so so Promised so Sworn so Engag'd under Sign and Seal c This is the way to Mortifie Corruptions Repel Temptations Quicken Graces Revive Hopes Attain Joys unspeakable and full of Glory O that our best Pulpits were less silent and our best Pues less Ignorant of the practick use of Holy Sacraments Q 3. What is that Change wrought in a Man by God's Holy Word and Spirit before he can safely conclude himself to be passed from Death to Life BY one man sin entred into the World and Death by sin Rom. 5.12 Satan
evil of all kinds The Holy Scripture testifieth that it did so and that not obscurely in the very Text forecited Plainly in others Gen. 6.5 Rom. 8.7 Faln Man is by some compared to a disorder'd Clock that strikes false every minute and has not one true motion before the Maker mend it Now can a Holy God delight in a Creature thus Qualified One disposed to no real good but to all evil and that continually If God ever Recall such unto Himself He will new Create them Make them quite other Creatures Instruments moved with New Springs Trees of other Roots The Old Qualities must away and all be New. The Evil Treasure must be took out tho' it be bound up in the heart a Good must be Laid in and be a-like seated Holy Qualities must be Infused Accordingly we find every where in the Scripture God denouncing Wrath against all men of unrenewed Natures Not Renewed that is and Regenerated in the Qualities of the same for the Nature it self abideth still the same in Converted as in Unconverted men John 3.5 And on the other hand God's Reconciled Servants are named such as have Put off the Old Man. Crucified the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts Mortified their Members which are upon Earth with much like All which phrases express their Parting with their inward Roots of Sin their Dispositions and their Inclinations unto evil They are likewise said to Put on the New Man. To be born again from Heaven To be men of another Heart and Spirit and New Creatures c. That is to be now of Dispositions quite contrary unto what they were before Inclined now to things that Please God as before unto things Offending Him. Now to Duty as before unto Folly. Feeling excuseth Words It need not be said how hard the parting from Old Qualities is Things glued together use not to come asunder without tearing Until an Heart be Rent there is no coming apart from its Lust But the Necessity of the separation is open to every Eye For Gratia non perdit Naturam God's hatred of sin is his very Nature and even Gospel Grace cannot destroy his Eternal Nature It implies the greatest of contradictions that He who is Holiness it fell should Cease to hate men of settled aversion from it And bent unto Ungodliness And it were blackest Blasphemy for any to conceit that Christ came to save us in our sinful Qualities and not from them A Wise man would therefore know his Qualities before he made his Judgment of his Condition toward God. Determining that as the Qualities are that be predominant and reign in him so is the Judgment of God on him That this latter is Absolving or Condemning according as the former be Holy or the contrary It is true contrary Qualities may possess together the same Heart In low degrees they may and do In high degrees they cannot Grace and Lust are both of 'em in every the best Soul. But they can no more Reign together than Water can Boil and Freeze together * A Lust Reigns when 't is Yielded unto Sin and Satan be Conquered as long as they are sincerely and industriously Resisted Grace doth Reign in the Soul while 't is in like manner Warred and Fought for by the Soul Rom. 7. The Apostle speaks of himself as Regenerated I doubt not So that my Enquiry must be What are those Qualities that have the Throne in me That sway my Understanding my Affections and my Practick Powers The Sinful Qualities that bend all these unto evil are the Corruption of Nature and Original Sin. The Holy Ones that bend all these unto good are Grace and the very New Nature in us Whether of them do prevail in me is my great Question Commonly and I think justly we count four Properties of a Quality or Disposition 's Prevalency Namely its causing to act Readily and without much ado Pleasantly and without disgust Vniversally without exclusion of any proper Object And Constantly without intermissions Now if Original Sin carry me thus unto Actual Sin I am far from the Kingdom of God! If Grace thus carry me unto gracious actions the Kingdom of God is within me To be a little more particular Holy Qualities the Principal are three the Instrumental are eight The former are Evangelical Faith Hope and Love. The latter be Prudence Justice Temperance Courage Sincerity Humility Zeal and Constancy Methinks whether these or the contraries of these do as aforesaid act me should be of easie discovery Inward Feelings and outward Fruits one would think should not admit it into any doubt at all But I am aware Mixtures do obscure things And in whom are not Mixtures found Again Moles must not be expected to be as Visible as Mountains 'T is Greatness that makes conspicuous And where Grace's Victory is little which is next to none I must not wonder if it be as little discernable Nor dare I desire God to change the Nature of things for me Rather must I Labour to grow in Grace And that it may be more Visible blow up my spark to a flame Heaven and Hell are unexpressibly different states And I must believe that God will have them to be very differently Qualified Creatures whom He placeth in the one and other My Interest carries me i' th' first place to see I have the Principle and nextly that I have Proficience in Grace Without the Principle I have no Qualification for Heaven And without the Proficience I shall ever doubt the truth of my Principle A strict Eye unto both will I have before I conclude the name to Live to be my due C. 4. Of CONVERSATION A good Spirit brings into a good Covenant And according thereto infuseth good Qualities But doth He then leave them idle and dormant No He doth not All Being is for Action And the best Nature for the best Action Besides Man is a creature that cannot be out of Action Grace only carries him to act well Corruption to act ill but his very Nature 't is to act much Man Created did exercise his Powers and exert his holy Qualities most amiably no doubt Formed his behaviour towards God the Father the Son and the Spirit towards himself and the Angels above him and sublunary Creatures below him most congruously and harmoniously Faln Man's Conversation toward all is in the World seen what in the Bible 't is read What is said of his Thoughts which are his inward Converses may be said of his outward ones also They are evil only evil and continually Toward God Regardless toward Holy Angels and Spirits above as Mindless towards himself Idolatrous towards his Superiours Envious towards Inferiors Contemptuous towards Equals Jealous Renewed Man we read and we see it hath another Carriage toward all foresaid A Walk after the Spirit That is according to the will and motion of the Holy Spirit the worker of Grace and according to the gracious Quality and Nature of his in-working Hereof is a necessity
and Election For ought I see by the Word of God Dying men do change but their Places not their Company And what Company I do of choice hold upon Earth I must by the Judgment of God hold for ever Prophane men be open Sepulchres Hypocrites be painted ones If I here delight in Sepulchres and chuse to keep among the dead 't is certain I shall for ever with them be Buried Christ is a Tree of Lives Of the Life of Peace with God Holiness toward Him Hope from Him Glory with Him. Saints only have Life from Christ and be the only men that are truly Alive If the Spirit that acts me and Covenant that binds me and Qualities that possess me and Conversation that employs me do all of 'em bring me among the Living and I am their Companion in Graces-Kingdom surely I shall be the same in Glories-Kingdom too Wherefore before I shall conclude whither 't is I am going I will get me well assured what the Company is wherewith I go I will be fully answer'd these Questions Am I in evil Company as Lot in Sodom Vexed Is Lewd Company and Light unto me which Mesech and Kedar was to David Makes it me to cry Wo is me Have I no fellowship with God's Enemies but Reprove I them as called Do I make the very wide difference that I ought between MEN and BRETHREN Do I fear to open the doors of my House and Heart to ill men lest the Prince of darkness enter in And to shut them against holy Brethren lest the Prince of Glory be shut out Am I glad when I see the Pure in heart that see God Do I salute each of them as David did Abigail Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me Blessed be thy converse and blessed be thou I say Every of them viz. Tho' about Mint and Cummin differently minded And tho' by their Lustre I am eclipsed c. Finally Do I Love them that Love God and Loath them that Loath Him even as I incline to have my friends Love those that Love me and the contrary And do these following words of God dwell in me richly and powerfully Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle Who shall dwell in thy Holy Hill He in whose Eyes a Vile person is contemned but he honoureth them that fear the Lord Psal 15.1 4. They that fear thee O Lord will be glad when they see me that is a Godly man Psal 119.74 He that walks with wise men shall be wise but a Companion of fools shall be destroyed or broken Prov. 13.20 Postscript THE Desires of some and supposed Needs of others invite me to place here this shorter Solution of the third Question The Change in us which sheweth Salvation to be come on us is twofold Intellectual and Practical Of our Understandings and of our Conversations We do not Omit that of the Affections but comprehend it in the other The Intellectual Change is then and not till then when four things are Learned and are also a Learning better by us 1. The Principles of the Doctrine of Christ The Doctrines which are the Foundations We have shewn them upon the second Question Who can think him savingly Built on Christ that knows not the very first Stones to be laid in that Spiritual Building 2. The Conclusions from the Principles foresaid The Doctrines that are for Upbuilding on Christ These also have been set forth with the fore-mentioned Building on is as necessary as the Laying of the Foundation is Neither is it savingly Laid where the Holy Spirit is not teaching and a Soul learning to Build up and Build on To wit that it may become a complete Temple for the Holy Spirit Ephes 4.12 13 15. 2 Pet. 2.4 5. 3. The Confirmations of the said Principles The Doctrines Proving and Strengthening them And Warranting our Foundation and Superstructure Securing 'em against Winds of Opposition 'T is as needful to cover and preserve what we build from the injuries of weather as it is to build Ephes 4.12 16. 4. The Applications of the mention'd Principles The Doctrines directing their Improvement unto Duties as well Relative as Personal What are Means worth but for the Ends of them What good do all Truths in our Minds if not improved unto all holy Services in our Lives Who would Build and Cover a House but for Use to themselves and their Friends Savingly the Spirit has not Built and Strengthned us in Christ if he has not taught us to make our Life a service to Him. And to make His Will not our own our Law and Rule Our Rule for behaviour toward God Our Selves Neighbours Friends Enemies Superiors Inferiors Equals The ignorant and the listless to know the first of these be Owls and Bats Those that be the like to know the second be Dwarfs yea Embryo's Souls regardless to know the third be Sand-builders and lie at the mercy of the Weather And the mindless of the fourth be barren Heaths All short of what they should be yea contrary to what they must be if ever they pass from Death to Life The Practical Change is then when four things can be said of a Man. 1. That he is Changed as far as Felix Agrippa and Herod That he is one that Trembles at God's Word Has an Inclination to be a very Christian Hears the Word preach'd gladly Otherwise he is not so much as a Washed Swine or Painted Sepulchre 2. That he is Changed farther and as a Stone into a Flame of Fire A Stone is Dark Cold and Inclines downward to its earthy Centre Fire is Bright Hot Active and that Upward To say a Man is thus Changed is to say that of Ignorant he is made Knowing Of Listless he is made Zealous for God in Christ Of Industrious for Earth he is made so for Heaven 3. That he is Changed into the Man of God by Saint Paul 's Character That is a man throughly furnished for every good work I mean every one from him required as a Church-Member e. gr For Reading and Hearing the Word profitably â—â— for Using of Baptism and the Lord's Supper so and for submitting unto Church-discipline so Not to say for Governing his Family holily c. which are imported By being furnished hereto I understand prepared with necessary Skill and Zeal 4. That he is Changed from a Demas into a Martyr That is that of a fearer of the Cross more than of the Loss of the immortal Crown he be made in resolution a Martyr And become resolved by God's grace to die any the worst death rather than commit any the least sin To be salted with fiery Tryals rather than with Hell's fire FINIS Books Printed and are to be sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chapel 1. OF Thoughtfulness for the Morrow with an Appendix concerning the Immoderate Desire of Fore-knowing things to come 2. The Redeemer's Tears wept over lost Souls in