unto the ends of the world For thus only could Nebuchadnezzar be brought to this knowledge Dan. 4.33 And thus by feeling that hand of God which they refuse to see let all thine enemies be forced to acknowledge thee And thou O blessed Jesus bruise them with a Rod of Iron and break them to pieces like a Potters vessel because they have said That thou shalt not rule over them General Rules It appeareth from this that it is not the worship which God requireth which is forced from them by compulsion with an unwilling mind as that of the Israelites in the wilderness Ps 78.34 When he slew them they sought him The Rules which will shew us how to worship God acceptably are 1. That we pray read meditate and perform the like services to God from this belief That we cannot spend our time in any worldly affair so well or so much for our Profit Joy Comfort Delight and Satisfaction as in this or that duty 2. That we give our Alms with this belief that it is the best way of improvement of our wealth and therefore do it freely to such as you can never expect any return from them but from God only 3. That upon these accounts we perform our services to God with all our might These three prove our cheerfulness and willingness 4. That we perform them constantly and early 5. That we perform them invisibly to man not expecting any reward from men nor a good word 6. That we pride not our selves in our services and dispise others with a stand off I am holier than thou but count our selves unprofitable servants and desire that our very best services be cleansed purified perfumed and accepted only through the merits and mediation of Christ Jesus and confess that we can offer him nothing but that which is his own for he gives both the will and the deed that is good and puts his Spirit into us and causeth us to walk in his statutes and confess also that we have need of Christ Jesus as our High Priest to bear the iniquities of our holy things 7. That in all our services which we perform we seek principally the glory of God Thus we see that most of the petitions of the Lord's Prayer are and by thus doing we give proof that we are God's children for they seek God's glory though it be with the spoliation of their own glory as David dancing before the Ark. And the glorious Angels worship and fall down before God casting their Crowns at his feet Apoc. 4.10 8. That we faint not in our mind nor be weary but work out our salvation with fear and trembling 9. That we prepare our selves for holy duties Of Prayer THIS being the first Duty which we learn in our tender age and the first in our daily practice whether it be because that the sense of our own needs and wants driveth us to seek our supplies and succours from the omnipotent being that we thus begin the day or from the nature of man which being yet undefiled with the corruptions of ill examples followes its own Instinct and inclination and is therefore easily taught this practice or else takes it in its minority or whether it be that all do teach their infants this part of divine worship first as most necessary or that they are best capable of So it is that this is the first in order of practice and eminent for its Vertue if it be rightly performed and of most frequent use It will be therefore proper enough to begin with a Regulation of my self in this particular Which that I may do I will consider 1. The manner and circumstances And 2. The matter of prayer And 3. motives to excite my self to it The various manners of prayer are to be found in the Psalms of David And in those prayers which we read in scripture made by our blessed Saviour the Saints however it will not a little avail thee O my soul so set down those particulars which shall come to thy thoughts as well concerning the inward manner as the outward The inward is particularly expressed in Eph. 6.18 praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit Watching c. In the Spirit must be the manner for though Watching fasting and all other outward manners be had if this be wanting only it is but a lame or blind Sacrifice Because as it is said Rom. 8.26 We know not what to pray for as we ought Though we have the first fruits of the Spirit ib. v. 34. But we have help for our infirmities from the assistance of the Spirit And it maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered v. 27. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God When thou art such in thy prayers to God and puttest up such petitions with intention sighing and groaning of Spirit and not extention of voice thou knowest by whose assistance it is and that thou art accepted therefore crave it of God And though thou findest disability in thy self or an indisposition because the flesh cannot keep pace with the Spirit thou wilt find the intercession of the Spirit in thy heatr unutterable be not therefore discouraged or dejected because thou canst not pray vocally for those prayers that are not expressed are as powerful with God as theirs that are well expressed when thou findest in thy self a desire to draw nigh to God do it though thou wantest words As the fire from Heaven consumed Elias Sacrifice so look up to Heaven and crave Gods assistance and thou mayest find such inlargement in the duty to put up effectual fervent prayers in the Spirit whereby thou mayst take Heaven by force our lifting up of our hearts to God moveth him to bow his ear to us And having such an Almighty Helper what need we to fear infirmities let us trust to our Succours The Spirits Asistance consists in these particulars It excites holy desires which are pleasing to God and sometimes dictates them verbally sometimes without words and expressions The Spirit of Grace causeth a Christian to beg for Spiritual blessings comforts and injoyments and to desire to long breath and pant after them uncessantly It causeth fervency of Spirit firing our affections with holy Zeal for Spiritual gifts and Graces injoyments and satisfactions helpes and improvements and keeps up those holy flames which it kindles So that it preserves us from looking back with Lots wife from drowsiness slightness in performing duties and from faintings tipified by Jacob wrestling with God it unites our hearts to God and helps us against discurrency of thoughts which naturally we are subject unto Unless we are carried on in the duty by an apprehension of Spiritual enjoyments It drives away fears and doubts which are subject to arise from guilt and supplieth us with a holy confidence and child-like desposition ingenuity and assurance and freely opens
by those words which God spake to him viz. If thou do well shalt not thou be accepted From whence we are taught this Rule viz. That they who will offer their service or any thing to God may not offer any but the best Nor defer the time to serve him for that which we defer we are loath and unwilling to do or indifferent whether we do it or no that which we desire to do or do with good will and love we hasten fearing lest we should be prevented The more forward and early our services are the more acceptable to God and men for this persumes them Now is the accepted time He then that deferreth loseth the Accepted time 2 Cor. 6.2 And Psal 69.13 David urgeth it as an Argument why God should hear him and deliver him because he made his prayer in an accepted time therefore slip not the seasonable time though thou be indisposed He that is early in his service and constant too cannot possibly miss the accepted time when God will be found as he was found of Cornelius For these two are joyned together by David seek the Lord while he may be found seek his face evermore for by this we shall be sure not to miss Psal 116.1 The Saints first and only refuge is prayer and it is the last refuge of the wicked They who fear they shall be prevented of their usual time let them take the present It is a high point of Wisdom to know the fit time and place and the ignorance of it makes the misery of man great David practised what he taught and did not only seek early but late too Psal 141.2 he saith Let the lifting up of my hands be as an evening Sacrifice The morning and the evening Sacrifice were not to be omitted and he that doth omit them or either of them finds his mind less disposed for the duty and the injoyment and comfort of it which he useth to have when he performeth them without intermission for by the omission of one duty God seemeth to be withdrawn and gone further from us and not so ready to be found or to hear us by how much we have withdrawn from him and neglected and forsaken him We also find Isaac going out to meditate in the evening And Daniel persisted in his practice of praying three times a day notwithstanding the peril of his life David kept the same times as he saith Psal 55. At evening at morning and at noon day I will pray unto thee Love need cause frequent early visits those who are greatly beloved of God God beloved of them do pray often Weread of other circumstances as that of Daniels opening his windows and looking towards the temple but we are not restrained to this manner of ceremonies for those things are abolished by the substance the more we observe of these circumstance the more joy comfort and satisfaction we shall reap by the duty Take time enough for preparation for if thou straiten thy self thou mayest be diverted But we are commanded to pray alwaies with all manner of prayer that is as the occasion will permit or requires for there are various manners we cannot be alwaies upon our knees in publick prayers or in private nor must one duty justle out another All times and all places afford us opportunity and occasions of lifting up our hearts and hands to God in the Heavens which may be accepted sometimes as well as Sacrifice And as in heaven we shall never cease from praising God so while we live here we shall never cease from praying to him Psal 122. I give my self unto prayer Lastly this duty that it may be acceptable doth require preparation premeditation Psal 10.19 thou preparest their heart and thine care harkneth The next thing to be considered is the matter of prayer Which is Twofold viz. The Inducements to be used and the subject matter for which we pray Seldom is there any prayer without Inducements and motives perswasive with which we urge God and press him to grant us the things we desire The Lords prayer which is as brief as may be concludes with three Inducements viz. for thine is the Kingdom the power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen We find in the Psalms of David variety of those Sometimes he urgeth the promises of God Sometimes the Commandment of God some motives he fetcheth from the name of God some from his nature and being as from his Truth his Holiness his Goodness his Faithfulness his Mercy his Power his Justice his Righteousness his Almightiness He urgeth the pledges of Gods love already bestowed his loving kindness of old And his thankful acknowledgment of them Also he urgeth his Relation as Servant I am thy Servant O grant me understanding that I may know thy statutes Some he urgeth from his own Misery Need Necessity Trouble and Affliction Some from his Innocency uprightness simplicity sincerity c. Psal 59. Some from his holy desires Intents vows purposes and Resolutions and his service done for him His hope in God his Trust and affiance in him His love to him and his word He urgeth also that he makes his prayer in an accepted time Psal 69.13 Psal 119. Hear me O Lord and I will keep thy statutes Let my Soul live and it shall praise thee Let thine hand helpe me for I have chosen thy Commandments give me understanding according to thy word So that we see that it is a good motive when we ask any grace to shew how we have endeavoured and used the means to attain it as he doth purpose to use them In this Psalm throughout he shews how he studied Gods statutes meditated and delighted himself in them Psal 71. He urgeth his trust In the O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion This Motive he useth very often as though trusting did engage God not to fail him It followeth Be thou my strong hold whereunto I may alwaies resort For thou hast promised to help me In the two next verses he urgeth his love and desire of God as an Argument why he should deliver him from his ungodly enemies And this motive he useth often and he very often useth that of his promise In the 9 ver of this Psal he urgeth his trouble Mine enemies speak against me c. Go not from me O God my God hast thee to help me Look upon my affliction and misery and forgive me all my sin From my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind c. In the 12 13 16 19. and 20. verses he urgeth his Resolutions of trusting in God waiting upon him serving him and praising him ver 12. As for me I will patiently abide alwaies and praise thee more and more 13. My mouth shall daily speak of thy righteousness and thy salvation for I know no end thereof I will go forth in the strength of the Lord and make mention of thy Righteousness only
What perfection then can any man pretend to in any grace so great as not to need continual prayer to God to support him water and strengthen him with his grace and holy Spirit lest he fall David protests his delight was in Gods Commandments Psal 119. v. 39. And yet he there prayeth v. 35. Make me to go in the paths of thy Commandments Incline my heart to thy Testimonies In regard the people of God do esteem grace a thing infinitely desirable and sin infinitely detestable and formidable therefore they think they have not enough of any grace till they can do Gods will on earth as it is done in Heaven And think they are in danger of falling because they have seen great Saints sometimes to fall into dreadful sins Therefore pray to be kept from all sorts of sins Keep me from presumptuous sins said holy David and they think they can never fear them enough or fly them enough nor pray against them enough The wickedest of men will pray for remission of sins but they seldom pray for healing them and renewing their hearts that they may be inclined to Gods Commandments that they may be a holy people and that God would fulful his promises of grace in them to put his Spirit in them and to write his Laws in their inward parts It is cursory with common swarers upon their oaths to say immediately God forgive me and presently swear again This shews no repentance nor sorrow for sin nor desire of amendment it rather begs license to offend with impunity what other thing do those who make their daily confession to their Priests and Friers of such sins which they have committed and intend to commit again upon the first opportunity and never think of repentance or amendment to pray for it themselves or to desire others to pray for them prophane Esan shall rise up in judgment against them But do thou pray to be deliver'd from thy offences Psal 39.9 That God would create in thee a clean heart and establish thee with his Spirit Psal 51. And that God would open thine eyes that thou mayest see the wonderful things of his Law and that he would teach thee his Statutes and make thee to go in the paths of his Commandments and the like and then thou wilt be sure of pardon and sanctifying grace Psal 119. and peace of conscience and that thou hast fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son 1 Joh. 1.3 And thy joy shall be full v. 4. ib. Because thou abidest in him walking as he walked though not so perfect We must also pray for these graces with a full purpose and resolution of endeavouring our selves to the utmost in the use of the means for attaining them otherwise our Prayers are but only said as Children are taught to say a Prayer It is but lip labour to draw nigh to God with our lips when our hearts are far from him And those who pray for any grace which God hath promised and resolve not to use their own endeavours for the attaining it do not pray in faith because they separate the Commandments from the promises For he that hath promised to give them to us hath also commanded us to get them and to labour for them to strive for them to sell all for them And yet to continue instant in Prayer for them too that he would bless our endeavours and give us the desired grace for Jesus Christs sake in and by whom only thou canst hope to prevail We must also be sensible of our own need which we have of these graces which we seek or else we shall not be servent in Prayer For instance if thou prayest to God to fulfil that promise that he will tread Satan under thy seet thou must be sensible of this that he doth in some temptations get some ground of thee more or less for which thou art grieved and countest it thy unhappiness It may be thou perceivest thy self to have been more angry than became a patient man or that thou hast spoke more than thou didst perfectly know of thine own knowledg or else hast through the bad example or importunity of thy company drunk one Cup too much or hast had uncharitable thoughts or been tempted to any sin Thou art therefore grieved that Satan hath found any thing in thee to work upon and dost desire so much strength as to shake him off resolutely and readily at thy will and pleasure as Joseph shook off his Mistress if God will be pleased to grant it according to this promise and many more to the same estect Thou must also be sensible of the great advantage and benefit which the grace desired will bring If thus thou canst pray thou mayest be sure to speed whatever promised grace thou desirest whatever degree of grace any Saint of God hath had thou mayest have it for asking if thou ask in faith The patience of Job the chastity of Joseph the zeal of David the Justice of Lot the righteousness of Noah the meekness of Moses the faith of Abraham and Peter the charity of St. John the temperance of the three Children and love of God whereby they gave their bodies to be burned for him c. For God hath promised that the weak shall be as the house of David and the house of David as God It is not my scope to enumerate all those promises of grace which God hath made it is every mans great concern to know them and crave them of God as their portion which Jesus Christ hath purchased with his blood for them and to live upon them and lay hold on them Those general promises which God hath made to his Church and People if thou canst not clearly entitle thy self in particular thou mayest notwithstanding pray in the behalf of the Church and shalt not fear to speed Those promises which tend to the ruine of the enemies of the Church and God's enemies are every mans concern to pray for and though he be weak in faith that he can hardly lay hold of them yet if he pray for them that God may be glorified he doth well and may assure himself that he shall succeed because he seeks it for God's glory For the promises of destroying sin and Satan and his works and treading him under foot is God's own interest as well as ours And God is more ready to do it than we to ask it therefore we can never doubt of the granting of these petitions Now most of the promises of the New Covenant which are to express what God will do for his people are of this nature either what God will do against their enemies or for them And being they were freely made they may we hope be freely performed if we seek them These are briefly contained in the four last petitions of the Lord's Prayer and if we can find faith to believe that we shall receive these we shall easily find faith to believe that God will do the
the dulness and indisposition of my soul to this religious and most necessary duty of a Christian and desirous by all means to shake it off for a better disposition I held it expedient to consider of some Motives which may awaken me out of this spiritual Lethargy These I fetch from four heads or Topicks viz. A Jucundo Ab Vtili A Necessario and A Facili The four Angels of this Quadrature are to seek him as a Beloved as a Portion as a God as a Father To prove the pleasurableness of it are these places Isa 12.3 With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation Joh. 16.24 Ask that you may receive that your Joy may be full and many of the Psalms and the Book of the Canticles throughout proves this From whence we may infer That the more we use this duty the more joy comfort and satisfaction we enjoy I will make them joyful in the house of Prayer He that with a sincere heart hath made tryal in the time of his sadness can testifie the truth of these promises by his own experience And the Scripture testifieth of Hannah That when she had prayed her countenance was no more sad To know God in all his Attributes is comfortable to his servants but of all to know him in this That he is a God hearing Prayer and hath heard thine is most soveraign for the warming and strengthening of thy faith and all other graces and quickening thee in holy duties One prayer heard is the earnest of hearing another and consequently of helping thee in all thy needs This is intimated in those expressions Eccles 9.7 Go thy way cat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart for the Lord hath accepted thy work For if these services be God's delight no reason that they should be our burthen or a melancholly task This cannot be no man was ever made sad by this duty but the melancholly are made cheerful by it alwaies and transported with joy And if they be accepted by him with delight then we know that they shall not go unrewarded The suits of a Lover to its Beloved how readily are they embraced and answered Such is relation between God and his Saints We know also how acceptable and delightful the service of a child is to his Father though it be but weak and small yet it is sweet pleasant and delightful and doth more endear them to one another and when children are wronged whom else should they fly unto for succour Herein we enjoy God as a loving Father in Christ and he enjoyes us as children and caresses us This urgeth us to present these duties for we endeavour that our presents and services we do to men should yield them delight for thereby we expect acceptation of our persons and a grant of our suit And as a Father he obligeth us to it by his lading us with his daily benefits And bearing us in his arms as a man beareth his Son in all the way that we ge Deut. 1.31 All which he easily forgets who neglects this duty but he that duly performs it acknowledgeth God in all his waies And as the heavenly Hoast rejoyce to fall down and worship him that sits upon the Throne and the Lamb so the Saints militant by the offering of prayers and praises rejoyce before God The Motives ab Utili to prove the profitableness of it All temporal and eternal good that is or ever shall be is the profit which is proposed to be reaped by this Duty and on the contrary the avoiding of all temporal and eternal evil First It easeth us of a great deal of care Be careful in nothing but let your requests be made known unto God c. St. James c. 5. Is any man afflicted let him pray Luke 18. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation Joh. 16.23 Whatever you ask the Father in my Name he will give it you The Lord hath invited and perswaded us to this Duty by the greatest promises that we are capable of Rom. 10.13 Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved Jer. 33.3 Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Isa 30.19 At the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it he will answer thee Joh. 15.7 Ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you Matth. 21.22 And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing ye shall receive it Joh. 14.13 Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name I will do it Matth. 7.7 Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Job 22.7 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee Zech. 10. v. 1. Ask of the Lord Rain in the time of the latter Rain c. Matth. 6.6 Thy Father who seeth thee in secret shall reward thee openly Psal Thou shalt call upon me in time of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt praise me When we can hope for no help from men God will even then help those that call upon him These and many other promises hath God of his mercy and goodness made to thee to invite and incourage thee to the performance of this Duty for thine own good and profit of soul and body in things temporal and eternal and for the shunning and avoiding of all evils and inconveniencies fins and the punishments thereof and all that humane nature is liable to suffer or fear And by these the Utility of the due peformance of this Duty appeareth And all those who have made trial in sincerity will confess that it is good to draw nigh to God If we know that in him we live move and have our being that he is God that made us and preserves us and upholds all things by his power then to him we will seek for all things necessary for our life and happiness because we know that what we have or desire to have we must have it from him of his free gift And knowing that we brought nothing into the world we must acknowledge that all we have we have it from him Therefore if we desire the continuance and preservation of that we have or seek any other good we must seek it by humble prayer and supplication of his free mercy and goodness This the Light of Nature teacheth Those who seem to themselves to be rich and to have need of nothing like the Church of the Laodiceans Rev. 2. do but deceive themselves These miserable wretches cannot perceive or understand what need they have of praying They have the more need because they understand not their need If the Thief upon the Cross obtained Heaven with a prayer of six words who will not come to such a liberal giver If we consider of God in his relation to us as a Father and our selves as
is greater than the joy of worldly men in their abundance of corn wine and oyle the Prophet Habakkuks joy in the Lord in the want of necessaries of life Hab. 3. Proveth it for what worldly thing can bear up the mind in Adversities Jobs hope and assurance that with those very eyes he should see his redeemer made him suffer all things patiently but all Hamans greatness and happiness did not avail against a disrespect But worldly joy kills the joy in the Holy Ghost They that live in pleasure the Holy Apostle saith they are dead while they live when Afflictions have taken off our heart from the love of the world then wee seek more durable joy then is Gods time to give his Servants joy in the Holy Ghost the peace of conscience and pardon of their sins Though for a season they are in heaviness through manifold temptations they rejoyce in the hope of glory to be revealed As sorrowing they are though they always rejoyce as having nothing yet they possess all things in value Their sorrow is but in semblance their joy reall and in substance Their seeming sorrow for a season their rejoycing perpetual Well then might they take joyfully the spoiling of their goods and rejoyce that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ and prefer afflictions before the pleasure of sin I had utterly fainted but that I believe verily to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living Psal This anchor of hope kept up his fainting soul As Stephen being stoned then saw Heaven opened So doth faith give to the suffering Saints and Martyrs a prelibation of the joys of Heaven As it is resembled by the first fruits of Canaan which were brought to the Israelits in the barren wilderness 'T is usual with God to depress those which greatest afflictions whom he intends to exalt high And so those to whom he reveals himself most as St. Paul experienced This Apostle though afflicted had joy unspeakable and glorious and received abundance of glorious revelations Psal 23.4 David though he walked through the vally of the shadow of death would fear no evil for thou art with me said he this apprehension of Gods presence and almighty supportation will banish all fears but Psal 46.3 He was not so strong in faith as not to fear for he saith Though I am sometimes afraid yet put I my trust in the Lord. He recovers himself out of his fainting fits by the use of the means Twice in one Psalm we find him fainting and checking himself for it in these expressions Why art thou cast down O my soul and why so disquieted within me Then he raiseth himself up again to hope and trust in God by the experience he had had of Gods help and his interest in him as his God He is the help of my countenance and my God Therefore hope thou in God Bless God for this that he hath given us greater things than we are willing to lose and that he hath given us Christ whom we can not lose Let this comfort us consider if we are afraid of suffering here how should we be afraid of hell If we leave our present enjoyments for God it shall all be made up in Heaven God gives us good things that we may have somthing of value to leave for Christ Philip 1. They rejoyced and waxed confident by St. Pauls bonds Suffering adversity credits the Gospel and creadits thee who sufferest for Satan and his instruments are known to strike at the fairest and best according to that saying placet in vulnus maxima cervix Sen. If afflictions are cause of joy to a believer as the scriptures make out as that of St. James c. 1. Count it all joy when you fall into temptations knowing that the trial of your faith worketh patience c. Then in respect of their spiritual good they ought to contemn temporal losses as this holy precept teacheth The example of the practice of this duty was in those blessed martyrs who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods not accepting deliverance from their persecuters The like example we find in St. Paul Gal. 1.14 He glories in his afflictions saying God forbid that I should glory in any thing save the Cross of Christ by whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world It may be rendered by which the world is crucified to me c. i. e. Though the contemplation of the Cross of Christ and his bitter sufferings did throughly motify the Apostle the contemplation of the same operation of it to him made him glory Or the afflictions which he suffered for Christ which wrought such a mortification in him made him therefore glory in them The like is put in practice by other Saints as it is Rom. 5.2 By whom also we have access by faith c. v. 3. And not onely so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience And patience experience and experience hope Besides these graces and many others which are wrought in the soul by afflictions The reward which is given to those who do so suffer may well make them seem light and also matter of rejoycing viz. That exceeding and eternal weight of glory They do not only yeild the peaceable fruits of righteousness which alone were sufficient to make our lives happy but by these is wrought our eternal happiness also as before is expressed They work for us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory This will prove the truth of Christs Doctrine Mat. 11. ult My yoak is easie and my burthen is light Which may be intended in this sense that all hardship and pains which humane nature can undergo is but light in comparison of sin or the punishment thereof or else that they are but light in respect of the reward here and hereafter or light in respect of the almighty suportation as it is in the Psal 119. v. Hold thou me up and I shall be safe And that of the Apostle Paul I can do all things though Christ that strengthens me for which supportation they may rely upon this promise I will never leave thee nor forsake thee And that I will be with the in the fire c. Another maine cause that makes light the burthen of Christ Cross or yoake is Love the Soul submits willingly to God because it sees in him all causes of love all exeellency of Power majesty glory are in him All perfection of beauty in him every excellent work from him His kindness love and beneficence to us above our merit Hope or expectation his paternal relation to us as his creatures and adopted children in Christ his pittying of us and pardoning our sins and not punishing us according to the fear of our guilty consciences his peculiar pitty to Humane Nature more than to fallen Angels the need we have of him and the benefit we expect from him on whom for all temporal and eternal good we depend
let me be strong and of good cheer and undaunted incouraging my self in the Lord let me not be so cowardly and fearful and base spirited as to lye down under afflictions Let me remember thy loving kindnesses of old that I may encourage my self with them Thou hast delivered me therefore let me trust that thou wilt still deliver me and therefore let me bless thy name when thou shalt take away from me remembring how freely thou gavest it to me LET the righteous be bold as a Lyon and daunt their enemies so that they may never rise up against them any more SINCE thou hast often given me clear and undoubted evidence of my Title to eternal life and hast shewed me that the way by which I must pass thither is through many tribulations make me willing to take the means with the end and to go to Heaven by that way as thou hast appointed to all Saints How can I imagin that thou hast exempted thy Servants from affliction when thou hast said the contrary and that Judgment must begin at the house of God and that through many tribulations they must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and I know by my own experience that it is good and beneficial to my soul that it should be so Therefore I do not only submit to them but chuse them as Moses did I chuse rather that Satan should prevail against me to impair my estate or to cast me into prison if thou wilt have it so as thou hast foretold thy Saints that some of them shall be Revel 2. For their probation That thereby I may be restrained from sin and made to walk humbly with my God and closely than that thou shouldst suffer me to fall into any sin that should wound my conscience ever after LORD If in our affliction we stand to thee we know thou wilt not leave us But will stand the by us and save us and break all the snares of ungodly to pieces therefore fear not worm Jacob. LORD cause the uncessant lies and slanders with which the world afflicts thy people that they serve to make their vertues more conspicuous because thy promise is to make their righteousness as clear as the light and their just dealing as the noon day therefore do thou assert their righteousness though for a while their enemies Eclipse them yet let their bright shining break out like the Sun out of a Cloud and dazel the eyes of their enemies and remember too thy promises to root out those false tongues which slander them and to stop the mouths of those that speak lies and since it is vileness that vilifies goodness and baseness debaseth honour let us contemne them and let us look to the weight of glory which they work for us The Soliloquy O my soul that thou couldst in this thy day see the things that belong to thy peace that thou couldst have grace to lay hold on this season of Prayer the time of thy affliction seasonable both to thee to Pray and to God to hear and to implore his mercy with strong crys and tears and give him no rest with thy Prayers who gives thee no rest with his Chastisments as his hand is heavy upon thee day and night so let thine eyes be ever looking unto him from whom thy salvation must come and let thy hands be ever lifted up to him and always be mindful of his promise and word wherein he hath caused thee to put their trust Saying call upon me in the time of trouble and I will deliver thee Let it be thy comfort in thy trouble to quicken thee in thy faintings that thy hope may not faile nor thy patience tire nor thy Prayers cease nor the holy fire of Zeal upon the Altar of thy heart go out That fire that came down from Heaven Divine love to him that made thee and redeemed thee and to his servants and all that bear his Image Let thy affections be set on things above and wait thou still on the Lord hold fast on him stay thy self on him though with Jonah thou shouldst be cast into the Sea or with the 3 children into the fiery furnace for his hand is not shortned that it cannot save now say Lord look upon my assliction and misery and forgive me all my sins Lord pitty and pardon and heal our souls let not thy wrath wax hot against the people of thine inheritance whom thou hast redeemed Let not thy jealousy burn like fire for ever Lord remember thy loving kindness of old wherefore hast thou made all men for naught Lord all thy waves and storms are gone over me yet is my soul resolved not to go back from thee nor to behave her self frowardly in thy covenant nor to charge God foolishly still I will learn obedience by the things which I suffer still will I make my Prayer unto God and cease not but increase them and still will I make my confession before him still will I believe that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall see him with these eyes though wormes consume my flesh for I shall utterly faint unless I can still believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and unless I can with patience tarry the Lords leisure and still put my trust in the Lord although he should seem to make me as his enemy still will I bless God though he should take away all my comforts for I can enjoy none in the want of health or inward grief of Soul Though my troubles and griefs are never so many I have Gods word that he will deliver my soul out of all and he hath delivered me and therefore will deliver me afflictions shall not always rest upon the back of the righteous in measure he will debate with them the end of the righteous is peace Bless the Lord O my Soul if he hath spared thee nothing but thy life and confess it to be his mercy that thou art not consumed and that it is because his compassion fails not And though he visit thy iniquity with rods and thy sin with scourges yet it is his Fatherly mercy that he doth not utterly take his loving kindness from thee That he thus bringeth thee to the sight of thy sins and restraines thee from others Meditations on several Scriptures of Zeal Rom. 10.2 They have a Zeal of God but not according to knowledg Med. LORD Teach me to bound and moderate all my affections and duties which I perform to thee according to the rules which thy word hath laid down lest I mis-serve thee as the Jewes did and Saul before he was converted and instead of a reward procure a punishment Teach me to labour first to know thy will then to do it and not to overdo it as Peter who would not have his feet only washed but his head also Let knowledg proportion my Zeal to thy will This teacheth me in repenting for my sins not to sorrow above measure and so
let the Children of Life learn this Wisdom of the Children of the World for our most wise Authour of our Salvation hath taught them so to do Do thou fly sin as they fly poverty and shame seek understanding and the knowledge of God as the World seek Silver and search for her as they search for hid Treasures Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God Prov. 2.4 5. Let it not suffice thee to seek him by night in thy bed whom thy Soul desireth But rise and go about the City enquire for him of the Watchmen and of all that can probably make any discoveries of him charge them if they find him to manisest him to thee cry after knowledge lift up thy voice for anderstauding as well in thy private prayers to God as in thy eager pursuit after it in such places as it is to be found in Where thou sowest sparingly thou dost make expectation of reaping sparingly or else thou may'st be ashamed of thy sparing But a far more sordid and shameful thing it is to be sparing of thy cost and pains when thou sowest for Glory Immortality and Eternal Life and hast God and Jesus Christ engaged for thy satisfaction Thou needest not to fear to part with all thou hast to purchase this precious Pearl that is invaluable the Kingdom of Heaven and the Crown of Righteousness that never fadeth since there is no hazard of spoliation nor any of Anticipation or prevention or for uncertainty as St. Paul argues on his own behalf touching his running fighting and striving for all that use the same means must attain it certainly Be zealous against sin as he was that vexed his Soul with the unclean conversation of the wicked but beware of zeal for God against God such as Pauls was before his conversion If every vertuous action affordeth satisfaction to him that atchieveth it then the more strenuous he is in doing it the more perfect it will be and the more satisfaction it will yield Lord let this cure the Green-sickness of my Soul Meditat. Psal 34.4 I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me out of all my sear A preparatory Ejaculation Lord if Christ Jesus our head thy dear Son suffer with us then deliver us we beseech thee for Christ's sake for why should he be afflicted A Prayer In extremity of sickness and peril of Death O thou that art the Father of the fatherless the comfort of the comfortless the helper in all needs the healer of all sickness the succourer in all wants the ease in all pains the calm in all storms the composer of all perturbations the asswager of all grief the deliverer from all dangers the refuge from all fears stand by me now and save me as thou hast promised and let me see Heaven opened to receive me and the Angels ready to convey my Soul into Abraham's bosom And thou blessed Jesus who art mighty to save and hast finished the work of our Redemption alone and subdued all our enemies draw nigh to us in the time of our sickness when Man's help is vain when our bodily pains are so many and great in every part of our body that no part can relieve the other The mind being altogether unable to fix upon any inward solace whereby to sustain and bear up it self put forth thy Almighty power to succour me be my comforter and conquer death for me and keep away Satan and all his Temptations A Meditation upon peril of Death If Croesus when taken prisoner by Cyprus and sentenced to be burned upon the instant when he expected his execution was exceedingly rejoyced by calling to mind the wise sayings of Solon and was willing to die Shall not I much more rejoyce in death and be willing to change this unconstant transitory life for the joyes of Heaven when I call to mind the comfortable words of my Saviour and the never-fading joy which he hath assured me of in the world to come Med. 2. LORD I have had such a great delight in the sweet conversation of some of thy Saints and Servants departed this life that I have desired to be dissolved that I might be with them shall I not much more desire to be dissolved to be with Christ the Lord whose sweetness infinitely surpasseth the Sons of men Meditations in my sickness Med. 1. Dost thou pass the tedious nights of thy sickness in restlesness and Dolours Let it not greatly trouble thee if thou spendest those restless hours in holy Meditation for those Meditations are a sweet savour to God and service wherein he delighteth and God draweth nigh to thee to instruct and teach thee in his ways and thou drawest nigh to God to learn his righteous Judgements and to delight thy Soul in him And better it is that thou shouldest want thy rest than God to be without such services or thou without thy Spiritual comfort Med 2. As every step of our journy to Heaven is beset with Temptation so it is with tribulation of necessary consequence therefore expect it and not halcion days of tranquility the expectation of them will make them more easy to be born Med. 3. If thy temporal losses are the cause of inward and spiritual gaines and improvements to thee in thy graces and thou hast found them so formerly then are they still no cause of grief And do thou O Lord make thy Servant amends for the want of temporal comforts with the affluence of Spiritual Med. 4. If the time of sickness or Affliction be the time and season of the comforts of the comforts of the Holy Ghost and not prospetiry This is to be chosen and embraced rather than that Moses made this choice And thy allurements to the contrary cannot be compared to his which he dispised Med. 5. All Afflictions are either from God or for God if from God they are the chastisements of a merciful Father for our good if for God they are our glory Philip. 1.29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake Consider then that they work for us not against us and what they work for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 4.17 No Tongue can express the greatness of the eternal glory which they work for us nor any hyperbole upon hyperbole for being borne with love and child like submission they endear us more to God and kindle and inflame his love towards us Consider them in themselves they are but light and for a moment for before v. 8. He saith We are troubled on every side perplexed v. 9. Persecuted cast down yet neither distressed nor in dispare nor forsaken nor destroyed which words fully express both their heaviness and their lightness and concludes with their lightness And he makes a double end or final cause of these Afflictions grace and glory for in the next verse v. 10. He saith Always bearing about in our
God 2 Thes 2.12 which is his word we must believe the truth of his threatnings as well as the truth of his promises Jer. 32.19 This belief saved Noah and his family from the destruction of the deluge and this was commanded in him for a worthy act of faith and by this Lot escaped when Sodom was destroyed and his doubting wife made a perpetual monument or spectacle for her infidelity the chief and special object is Christ Act. 16.37 If we must leve Christ then is Christ the principle the cause efficient and final the matter and the forme of that life His example our pattern and his will ours to me to live is Christ is meant in some or in all these senses for faith verifies it in them all He is the end of our conversation because we can desire no more nor can we need any more if we have him he is the matter and forme of it because the natural life is drowned in this and is made spiritual as it is said If we have known Christ in the flesh yet henceforth know we him no more The holy soul doth not injoy its life if it doth not feel Christ living in it by his Spirit quickning its graces it crys O miserable man that I am c. As faith tells the instrument and meanes whereby we attain the greatest good so it is the Armour that defends us from the greatest evils therefore said the Apostle Ephe. 6.16 Above all take the shield of faith whereby ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked Whereby he commends faith above all the spiritual Armour shewing the cause of his commendation from the exceeding virtue of it that it inables them to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked the virtue of it is universal against the worst of evils if it be taken that is if it be used It must be used in the relying act and in the aplying act staying our selves upon the Lord Psal 37.5 Commit our way unto the Lord. The Applying act is when the soul can say his righteousnes is mine to justify me his blood which he shed upon the Cross an attonement for my sins his Spirit mine to quicken me The fiery darts which Satan shoots are first the guilt of sin then afflictions inward and out ward those who were stung by the fiery Serpents could not be cursed unless they looked up to the brazen Serpent Faith sees that the blood which Christ shed for sinners was shed for my sin that he had an eye unto me in his sufferings A 2 Way faith quenches the fiery darts of Satan by seeing that sin is condemned if so then it can have no power to condem the soul A 3 Way is to see afflictions to be a means of grace that they sanctify us and work for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory And to see God in the afflictions working for our good and keeping us from the hurt which men intended to us I will be with thee in the fire and in the water that the fire shall not burne thee nor the water hurt thee Isa 43.2 I will keep him secretly from the strife of tongues This made the suffering Martyrs more than conquerors through Christ that loved us and gave his life for us therefore they were wiling to suffer for him and lay down their lives for the testimony of the Gospel to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods and to think all too little for God for whom they suffered it therefore let us set before us our blessed Saviours suffering who endured for us such bitter paines mocking and contradiction of sinners lest we faint in our minds and are weary of the Cross of Christ Let us also set before us the examples of the Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and the examples of our own memory Our late King whose head was anointed with holy oyle yet his Majesty trampled upon with the greatest indignities and when the meanest of his subjects a common Souldier spit in his face used no reproof and he that was Gods vicegerent of the Crown was humbled to be Christs vicegerent of his Cross a rare and wonderful example of suffering patiently the good will and pleasure of God Our imitation of his virtues shall be a lasting monument of his Glory Aere ceu vacuo pendentia Mausolaea Mart. Holy David went far in this as when one abject fellow cursed him and threw durt at him he let him alone saying Who can tell whether God will requite good for his railing And God did not fail him because his faith did not faile though it was tried to the uttermost this faith carried him through all When the people talked of stoning him by this he encouraged himself in the Lord and was not dismaied and if it became the Captain of our salvation to be made perfect by sufferings why should it be thought strange if all that fight under the same banner be made perfect Soulders by the same discipline Oh that we could all follow him not only in drinking of the Cup which he drunk off viz. The bitter Cup of the Cross but also do it with the same charity to our enemies as he had when he prayed Father forgive them for they know not what they do whose steps the Proto Martyr St. Stephen also followed and for his reward he saw the Heavens opened and his Saviour standing at the right hand of God by this we are sure that the same Spirit is in us as was in Christ T was impossible for Job to have undergone so many of Satans fiery darts upon his estate his relations and bodily sufferings but that he believed that his redeemer lived and that he should see him with his eyes at the last day though wormes consumed his flesh And St. Paul having fought the good fight of faith had the like assurance as he testifieth henceforth is layed up for me a Crown of glory this inabled him to undergo the fight with victory and this took away the sting of death so that death it self was not formidable to him nor to the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs who willingly underwent it for a good conscience not accepting deliverance Those great temptations which Satan most relieth upon are those of sins guilt accusing the conscience and bloody persecutions though all manner of temptations as the vanities of the world the cares of the world the lusts of the flesh the pride of life are all of them by the arts of our Spiritual adversary so suited and managed according to several complexions that without this grace they are unresistable therefore the Scripture testifieth that this is the victory whereby we overcome the world and if morality could be sufficient to mortify our lusts and good education as some pretend how came it to pass that those moral Philosophers who writ so many things against lust covetousness and other vices were yet themselves overcome of them but through faith in Christ the world is
in the time of our trouble and promised that he will deliver us But how can they now pray when they want the assistance of the Spirit it may be answerd That God sometimes takes away the comfort of the holy Spirit and yet the other effects of it remain Isa 63.15 16. Look down from Heaven and behold from the habitation of thy holiness where is thy Zeal and thy strength and the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained Doubtless thou art our Father thou O Lord art our Redeemer c. Some incouragement the Church found for prayer and if it should be so with us that we cannot call God Father yet the duty of prayer is not to be neglected Luke 11.8 Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity he will c. Though we think our selves unworthy to call God Father like the prodigal Son which desired to be but as one of the hired Servants this humility is the way to obtain our requests Another way whereby we may come to him in prayer is to pray to him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus for Christ is not ashamed to call us his Bretheren therefore God will not be ashamed to be our Father And with fervent prayer let us use reading and meditating in the word of God 2 Pet. 1.10 Give all deligence to make your calling and electtion sure Assurance differs from security in this that Assurance fills the soul with admiration of the grace of God and his unspeakable love Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewed us that we should be called the Sons of God but security never urgeth the soul to thankfulness Another difference that assurance urgeth the soul to free obedience but security not when the soul knoweth that what ever her infirmities failings and wants are she shall receive of his fulness grace for grace When the Spirit beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Sons of God When we have received the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given unto us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 When the Heavenly Bridegroom brings his Spouse into his Banqueting House and his banner over her is love Cant. 2.4 He treats her with flagons and comforts her with apples then she is sick of love to him and then is the season when he will give her his loves his left-hand under her head and his right hand embracing her and as he charesses her so she doth the like to him as lovers vie with one another in love If she finds him without she promiseth to kiss him Chap. 8. And to lead him and bring him into her Mothers house and Chap. 3. She finds him and holds him and will not let him go until she brings him into the Chamber of her that conceived her Chap. 1.13 She calls him a bundle of myrrh and layes him all night between her breasts namely in her heart by love to him and she gives him the pledges of her love Thus the soul at times doth enjoy her beloved then she is sure of him and of his love But he knocks when she is in bed and she makes excuses for not rising to him though her bowels were moved for him as soone as he put in his hand at the door but her love was too slow and did not keep pace with his love for this unkindness he withdraws himself when she opens to him she called him and he gave her no answer she sought him and she could not find him but while she seeks him she is taken by the Watch stripped smitten and wounded and her vail taken from her So also may a true believer loose in part the knowledg and sense of his assurance which he hath sometimes enjoyed though they continue in the faith rooted and grounded therein so as they never waver nor fall away yet they may slumber so as to be awakened by the motions of the holy Spirit though possibly not so soon but that he may have withdrawne himself as it is there described in those words I sleep but my heart waketh The voice of my beloved that knocketh Open unto me my Sister my Love my Dove my undefiled But yet when her beloved hath withdrawn himself he doth leave behind him such a sweet perfume upon the handles of the locks as may inflame the well disposed soul to seek him with such eager and restless pursuit as to retrive her beloved again and then she will hold him fast and will not let him go until she hath brought him into the Chamber of her that conceived her that is shee will go to those ordinances and those opportunities of grace where she first tasted the prelibations of glory the first kisses of his mouth and pledges of his love and when she doth again tast them and these pledges of his love are again renewed and she again sits under his shadow with delight What other thing can I esteeme this but the injoy ment of Heaven in the first fruits for where Christ is there is Heaven he makes it so he gives all as is desirable here then must needs be assurance for the posture of fitting and the manner of the posture with delight both do imply it As also that other expression doth imply viz. Her bringing him into the Chambers of her that conceived her And that also ch 2. his left-hand was under me and his right-hand embraced me for if she be in the armes of Jesus her Saviour she can not be safer no not in Heaven And faith thus acted and acting liveth in and by her beloved and breaks out into these and like expressions with the heavenly spouse in the Canticles And makes her boast of God all the day And by him is able to do mighty acts and to suffer any thing for the love of him Meditations Art thou dejected O my soul in the apprehension of thy meanness or vileness as Jacob was when he seemed but as a worme look upon the goodness of God to such persons He doth not abhor thee Levit. 26.11 Nor despise thee Job 36.5 He will love thee freely Hose 14.4 And Deut. 7.13 He saith I will love thee And our Blessed Saviour Jo. 14.21.23 Saith He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him And Hos 2.19.20 God saith I will betroath thee unto me for even yea I will betroath thee unto me in righteousness and judgement and in loving kindness and in mercys and I will betroath thee unto me in faithfulness He will not forsake thee 1 Kings 6.13 He will be with thee and will not fail thee Deut. 31.8 Though thou fall thou shalt not be cast down utterly for the Lord upholdeth thee with his hand for the Lord loveth Judgment and forsaketh not his Saints but preserveth them for ever And Matth. 1.21 He shall save them from their sins Dost