know cannot void the Covenant which hee is bound to make and having made to keep but his Covenant doth exceedingly aggravate his ignorance 2 Some make many faire promises of obedience but it is on the Rack and in the furnace or as Schollers under the Rod. O if I might but recover this sicknesse or be eased of this affliction I would then be a new man and redeeme my mis-spent time And yet many of these like Pharaoh when they have any respite find out wayes to shift and elude their owne promises and like melted metall taken out of the furnace returne againe unto their former hardnesse So a good Divine observes of the people of this Land in the time of the great sweate in King Edwards dayes I wish we could find even so much in these dayes of calamitie which wee are fallen into as long as the heat of the plague lasted there was crying out peccavâ— Mercie good Lord mercy mercy Then Lords and Ladies and people of the best sort cried out to the Ministers for Gods sake tell us what shal we do to avoid the wrath of God Take these bags pay so much to such an one whom I deceived so much restore unto another whom in bargaining I over-reached give so much to the poore so much to pious uses c. But after the sicknesse was over they were just the same men as they were before Thus in time of trouble men are apt to make many prayers and Covenants to cry unto God Arise and save us Ier. 2.27 Deliver us this time Judg. 10.15 they iâ—quire early after God and flatter him with their lips and own him as their God and Rock of salvation and presently start aside like a deceitfull bowâ— As Austin notes that in times of calamitie the very Heathen would flock unto the Christian Churches to bee safe amongst them And when the Lord sent Lyons amongst the Samaritanes then they sent to inquire after the manner of his worship 2 King 17.25 26. Thus many mens Covenants are founded onely in Terrours of conscience They throw out their sins as a Merchant at Sea his rich commodities in a Tempest but in a calme wish for them againe Neither doe they throw away the property over them but onely the dangerous pâ—ssession of them This is not a full chearfull and voluntary action but onely a languid and inconstant velleitie Contrary to that largenesse of heart and sixed disposition which Christs own people bring unto his service as David and the Nobles of Israel offered willingly and with joy unto the Lord. 1 Chron. 29.17 3 Since a Covenant presupposeth a power in him that maketh it both over his own will and over the matter thing or Action which he promiseth so far as to be enabled to make the promise And since we of our selves have neither will nor deed no sufficiencie either to think or to perform Rom. 7.18 2 Cor. 3.5 Phil. 2.12 Wee hence learne in all the Covenants which we make not to do it in any confidence of our own strength or upon any selfe dependance on our own hearts which are false and deceitfull and may after a confident undertaking use us as Peters used him But still to have our eyes on the aid and help of Gods grace to use our Covenants as means the better to stir up Gods graces in us and our prayers unto him for further supplies of it As David I will keep thy statutes but then doe not thou forsake me Psal. 119.8 Our promises of duty must ever be supported by Gods promises of grace when we have undertaken to serve him we must remember to pray as Hezekiah did Lord I am weak do thou undertake for me Isa. 38.14 Our good works cannot come out of us till God do first of all work them in us Isa. 26.12 He must performe his promises of grace to us before we can ours of service unto him Nothing of ours can go to heaven except we first received it from heaven We are able to do nothing but in and by Christ which strengtheneth us Joh. 15.5 Phil. 4.13 So that every religious Covenant which we make hath indeed a double obligation in it An obligation to the duty promised that we may stir up our selves to performe it and an obligation unto prayer and recourse to God that he would furnish us with grace to performe it As hee that hath bound himselfe to pay a debt and hath no money of his own to do it is constrained to betake himselfe unto supplications that he may procure the money of some other friend Lastly the finall cause of a Covenant is to induce an Obligation where was none before or else to double and strengthen it where one was before to be Vinculum conservandae fidei a bond to preserve truth and fidelity Being subject unto many temptations and having backsliding and revolting hearts apt if they be not kept up to service to draw back from it therefore we use our selves as men do cowardly Souldiers set them there where they must fight and shall not be able to run away or fall off from service III. This should serve to Humble us upon a twofold consideration 1 For the falsenesse and unstedfastnesse of our Hearts which want such Covenants to binde them and as it were fasten them to the Altar with cords as men put locks and fetters upon wilde horses whom otherwise no inclosure would shut in Our Hearts as Iacob said of Reuben Gen. 49.4 are unstable as waters Moist bodies as water is non continentur suis terminis doe not set bounds to themselves as solid and compacted bodies do but shed all abroad if left to themselves the way to keepe them united and together is to put them into a close vessell so the heart of man can set it self no bounds but fals all asunder and out of frame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostles expression is 1 Pet. 4.4 instar Aquae diffluentis Hebr. 2.1 if it be not fastned and bound together by such strong Resolutions Sometimes men either by the power of the word or by the sharpnesse of some affliction are quickned and enflamed unto pious purposes like green wood which blazeth while the bellowes are blowing and now they think they have their hearts sure and shall continue them in a good frame to morrow shall bee as this day But presently like an Instrument in change of weather they are out of tune again and like the Camelion presently change colour and as Chrysostome saith the Preacher of all workmen seldom findes his work as he left it Nothing but the grace of God doth ballance and establish the heart and holy Covenants are an ordinance or means which he hath pleased to sanctifie unto this purpose that by them as Instruments Grace as the principall cause might keep the Heart stedfast in duty If then Isaiah bewail the uncleannesse of his lips and Iob suspect the uncleannesse and wandering of his
in this place under severall considerations for we may consider it I. Ut materiam pacti as the matter of a Covenant or compact which we promise to render unto God in acknowledgment of his great mercy in answering the prayers which we put up unto him for pardon and grace It is observable that most of those Psalmes wherein David imploreth helpe from God are closed with thanksgiving unto him as Psal. 7.17.13 6.56 12 13 57 7 10 c. David thus by an holy craft insinuating into Gods favour and driving a trade between earth heaven receiving and returning importing one commodity transporting another letting God know that his mercies shall not be lost that as he bestows the comforts of them upon him so he would returne the praises of them unto heaven again Those CounCountries that have rich staple commodities to exchange and return unto others have usually th freest and fullest trafick and resort of trade made unto them Now there is no such rich return from earth to heaven as praises This is indeed the onely tribute we can pay unto God to value and to celebrate his goodnesse towards us As in the fluxe and refluxe of the sea the water that in the one comes from the sea unto the shore doth in the other but run back into it self again so praises are as it were the returne of mercies into themselves or into that bosom and fountain of Gods love from whence they flowed And therefore the richer any heart is in praises the more speedy copious are the returnes of mercy unto it God hath so ordered the creatures amongst themselves that there is a kinde of naturall confederacy and mutuall negotiation amongst them each one receiving and returning deriving unto others drawing from others what serves most for the conservation of them all and every thing by various interchanges and vicissitudes flowing backe into the originall from whence it came thereby teaching the souls of men to maintain the like spirituall commerce confederacie with heaven to have all the passages between them and it open and unobstructed that the mercies which they receive from thence may not be kept under and imprisoned in unthankfulnesse but may have a free way in daily praises to return to their fountain again Thus Noah after his deliverance from the flood built an Altar on which to sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving that aâ— his family by the Ark was preserved from perishing so the memory of so great a mercy might in like manner by the Altar be preserved too Gen. 8.20 So Abraham after a weary journey being comforted with Gods gracious appearing and manifestation of himself unto him built an Altar and called on the Name of the Lord Gen. 12.7 and after another journey out of Egypt was not forgetfull to returne unto that place againe Gen. 13.4 Gods presence drawing forth his praises as the returne of the Sun in a spring and summer causeth the earth to thrust forth her fruits and flowers that they may as it were meet do homage to the fountain of their beauty If Hezekiah may be delivered from death Isa. 38.20 If David from guilt Psal. 51.14 they promise to sing aloud of so great mercy and to take others into the consort I will teach transgressours thy way and we will sing upon the stringed instruments Guilt stops the mouth and makes it speechlesse Matth. 22.12 that it cannot answer for one of a thousand sins nor acknowledge one of a thousand mercies When Iacob begged Gods blessing on him in his journy he vowed a vow of obedience and thankfulnesse to the Lord seconding Gods promises of mercy with his promises of praise and answering all the parts thereof If God will be with me and keep me I will be his and he shall be mine If he single out me and my seed to set us up as marks for his Angels to descend unto with protection and mercy and will indeed give this Land to us and returne me unto my fathers house then this stone which I have set up for a pillar monument shall be Gods house for me and my seed to praise him in and accordingly we finde he built an Altar there and changed the name of that place calling it the House of God and God the God of Bethel And lastly if God indeed will not leave nor forsake me but will give so rich a land as this unto me I will surely return a homage back and of his own I will give the tenth unto him againe So punctuall is this holy man to restipulate for each distinct promise a distinct praise and to take the quality of his vows from the quality of Gods mercies Gen. 28. v. 20.22 compared with v. 13.15 Gen. 35.6.7.14 15. Lastly Ionah out of the belly of Hell cries unto God and voweth a vow unto him that he would sacrifice with the voice of thanksgiving and tell all ages that salvation is of the Lord Ionah 2.9 Thus we may consider praises as the matter of the Churches Covenant II. Ut fructum poenitentiae as a fruit of true repentance and deliverance from sin When sin is taken away when grace is obtained then indeed is a man in a right disposition to give praises unto God When we are brought out of a wildernesse into Canaan Deut 8.10 out of Babylon unto Sion Jer. 30.18.19 then saith the Prophet Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry c. When Israel had passed thorow the red Sea and saw the Egyptians dead on the shore the great type of our deliverance from sin death and Satan then they sing that triumphant Song Moses and the men singing the Song and Miriam and the women answering them and repeating over again the burden of the Song Sing to the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the Horse and his rider hath he thrown into the Sea Exod. 15.1.20.21 When a poore soule hath been with Ionah in the midst of the seas compassed with the floods closed in with the depths brought downe to the bottom of the mountaines wrapt about head and heart and all over with the weeds and locked up with the bars of sin and death when it hath felt the weight of a guilty conscience and been terrified with the fearful expectation of an approaching curse lying as it were at the pits brinke within the smoak of hell within the smell of that brimstone and scorchings of that unquenchable fire which is kindled for the divel and his angels and is then by a more bottomles unsearchable mercy brought unto dry land snatched as a brand out of the fire translated unto a glorious condition from a Law to a Gospel from a cuâ—se to a Crown from damnation to an inheritance from a slave to a Sonne then then onely never till then is that soul in a fit disposition to sing praises unto God when God hath forgiven all a mans iniquities and
healed all the diseases of his soul and redeemed his life from destruction or from hel as the Chaldee rendreth it and crowned him with loving kindnesse and tender mercies turning away his anger and revealing those mercies which are from everlasting in election unto everlasting in salvation removing his sins from him as far as the East is from the West then a man will call upon his soule over and over againe and summon every faculty within him invite every creature without him to blesse the Lord and to ingeminate praises unto his holy name Psal. 103.1.4.20.22 And as David there begins the Psalme with Blesse the Lord O my soul and ends it with blesse the Lord O my soul so the Apostle making mention of the like mercy of God unto him and of the exceeding abundant grace of Christ in setting forth him who was a blasphemer a persecutor and injurious as a patterne unto all that should beleeve on him unto eternall life begins this meditation with praises I thank Christ Iesus our Lord and ends it with praises unto the King eternall immortall invisible the onely wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen 1 Tim. 1.12.17 It is impossible that soule should be truly thankfull unto God which hath no apprehensions of him but as an enemie ready to call in or at the least to curse all those outward benefits which in that little interim and respite of time between the curse pronounced in the Law and executed in death he vouchsafeth to bestow And impenitent sinners can have no true notion of God but such And therefore all the verball thanks which such men seem to render unto God for blessings are but like the musick at a Funerall or the Trumpet before a Judge which gives no comfortable sound to the mourning wife or to the guilty prisoner III. Vt medium Impetrandi As an Argument and motive to prevail with God in prayer For the Church here Praies for pardon for grace for healing not onely with an eye to its own benefit but unto Gods honour Lord when thou hast heard and answered us then we shall glorifie thee Psa. 50.15 I shall praise thee saith David for then hast heard me and art become my salvation Psal. 118.21 It is true if God condemne us he will therein shew forth his owne glory 2 Thes. 1.9 as he did upon Pharaoh Rom 9.17 In which sence the strong and terrible ones are said to glorifie him Isay. 25.3 Because his power in their destruction is made the more conspicuous But we should not therein concurre unto the glorifying of him The grave cannot praise him they that goe downe into the pit cannot celebrate his name Ps. 30.9 88 10 11. The living the living they shall praise thee Isa. 38.19 This is a frequent argument with David whereby to prevail for mercy because else God would lose the praise which by this meanes he should render to his name Psal. 6.4.5.118.17 c. God indeede is All-sufficient to himself and no goodnes of ours can extend unto him Iob 22.2 35 7. Yet as Parents delight to use the labour of their children in things which are no way beneficiall unto themselves so God is pleased to use us as instruments for setting forth his glory though his glory stand in no neede of us though we cannot adde one Cubit thereunto He hath made all men in usuâ— profundarum cogitationum suarum unto the uses of his unsearchable Councells He hath made all things for himselfe yea even the wicked for the day of evill Prov. 16.4 Yet he is pleased to esteeme some men meete for uses which others are not 2 Tim. 2.21 and to set apart some for himselfe and for those uses Psal. 4.3 Isay. 43.21 God by his wisedome ordereth and draweth the blind and brute motions of the worst creatures unto his own honour as the huntsman doth the rage of the dog to his pleasure or the Marriner the blowing of the winde unto his voyage or the Artist the heate of the fire unto his worke or the Phisician the bloudthirstinesse of the Leech unto a cure But godly men are fitted to bring actually glory unto him to glorify him doingly 1 Cor. 10 3â— 31. Ephe. 1.11 12. And this is that which God chiefly takes pleasure in Our Saviour bids his disciples cast their net into the Sea and when they had drawn their net he bids them bring of the fish which they had then caught and yet we finde that there was a fire of coales and fish laid thereon and bread provided on the land before Iohn 21.6 9 10. Thereby teaching us that he did not use their industrie for any neede that he had of it but because he would honour them so far as to let them honour him with their obedience And therefore even then when God tells his people that he needed not their services yet he calls upon them for thanksgiving Psal. 50.9 14. This then is a strong argument to be used in praier for pardon for grace for any spirituall mercie Lord if I perish I shall not praise thee I shall not be meete for my Masters uses Thy glory will onely be forced out of me with blowes like fire out of a flint or water out of a rock But thou delightest to see thy poore Servants operate towards thy glory to see them not forced by power but by love to shew forth thy praises And this we shall never doe till sinne be pardoned God can bring light out of light as the light of the Starres out of the light of the Sun and he can bring light out of darkenes as he did at first but in the one case there is a meetnes for such an use in the other not Now we are not meete Subjects for God to reap honor from till sinne be pardoned till grace be conferred Then we shall give him the praise of his mercy in pittying such grievous sinners and the praise of his power and wisedome in healing such mortall diseases and the praise of his glorious and free grace in sending Salvation to those that did not inquire after it and the praise of his patience in forbearing us so long and waiting that he might be gracious and the praise of his wonderfull providence in causing all things to worke together for our good and the praise of his justice by taking part with him against our own sinnes and joyning with his grace to revenge the bloud of Christ upon them A potsheard is good enough to hold fire but nothing but a sound and pure vessell is meete to put wine or any rich depositumn into IV. Vt principium operandi As a principle of Emendation of life and of new Obedience Lord take away iniquity and receive us into favour then will we be thankfull unto thee and that shall produce amendment of life Ashur shall not save us neither will we ride upon horses c. A thankefull apprehension of the
Gospell become Immanuels Land and he is King of all the Earth Psal. 47.7 King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 Gentiles come in to the light of his Church and Kings to the brightnesse of her rising and the Nation and Kingdome that will not serve her shall perish c. Esay 60.3.12 Now every Countrey is Canaan and every Christian Church the Israel of God and every regenerate person borne in Sion and every spirituall worshipper the Circumcision now Christ is crucified in Galaâ—ia and a Passeover eaten in Corinth and Mâ—nna fed on in Pergamus and an Altar set up in Egypt and Gentiles Sacrificed and stones made children unto Abraham and Temples unto God See Ioh. 4.21 Mal. 1.11 Zeph. 2.11 Gal. 6.16 Esay 44.5 Esay 14.1 Zach. 8.23 Rom. 2.29 Psal. 87.4 5. Phil. 3.3 Col. 2.11 Gal. 3.1 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Revel 2.17 Esay 19.19 21.23 Rom. 15.16 Luk. 3.8 Eph 2.11 In Christs former dispensation the Church was only Nationall amongst the Iewes but in his latter dispensation it is Oecumenicall and universall over all the world a spreading tree under the shadow of the branches whereof shall dwell the foule of every wing Ezek. 17.23 4. The Graces of the holy spirit wherewith the Church is annoynted are from him He is the Olive tree which emptieth the golden oyle out of himselfe Zach. 4. â—2 Of his fulnesse we all receive grace for grace Ioh. 1.16 with the same spirit are we anoynted animated by the same life regenerated to the same nature renewed unto the same image reserved unto the same inheritance dignified in some respect with the same Offices made Priests to offer spirituall Sacrifices and Kings to subdue spirituall enemies and Prophets to receive teaching from God and to have a duplicate of his law written in our hearts 2 Cor. 1.21 Ioh. 14.19 1 Cor. 15.48 49. Rom. 8.17 1 Pet. 2 5. Revâ—l 1.6 Ioh. 6.45 Ier. 31.33 5. The sweet perfume and scent or smell of Lebanon which ariseth out of holy duties the grace which droppeth from the lips of his people the spirituall incense which ariseth out of their prayers the sweet savour of the Gospell which spreadeth it selfe abroad in the ministry of his word and in the lives of his servants they have all their original in him and from his heavenly dew Of our selves without him as we are altogether stinking and unclean Psal. 14 3. Prov. 13.5 so we defile every holy thing which we meddle with Hag. 2 13 14. Prov. 28.9 Esay 1.11.15 insomuch that God is said as it were to stop his nose that he may not smell them Amos 5.21 they are all of them as they come from us gall and wormwood and bitter clusters Deut. 29.18.32 32. But when the spirit of Christ bloweth upon us and his grace is poured into our hearts and lips then the spices flow out Cant. 4.16 Then prayer goes up like incense and sweet odours Revel 5.8 then instead of corrupt rotten contagious communication our discourses tend to edifying and minister grace to the hearers Eph. 4.29 then the Savour of the knowledge of Christ manifested it selfe in the mouthes and lives of his servants in every place where they come 2 Cor. 12.4 6. The shadow and refreshment the refuge and shelter of the Church against storme and tempest against raine and heat against all trouble and persecution is from him alone He is the onely defence and covering that is over the Assemblies and glory of Sion Esay 4.5 The name of the Lord is a strong Tower unto which the righteous flye and are safe Prov. 18.10 So the Lord promiseth when his people should be exiles from his Temple and scattered out of their own land that hee would himselfe bee a little Sanctuary unto them in the Countreys where they should come Ezek. 11.16 He is a dwelling place unto his Church in all conditions Psal. 90.1.91.1 2 a strength to the needy a refuge from the storme a shaddow from the heat an hiding place from the winde a covert from the Tempest a Chamber wherein to retire when indignation is kindled Esay 25.4.26.20.32.2 Every History of Gods power every Promise of his love every Observation and experience of his providence every comfort in his word the knowledge which we have of his name by faith and the knowledge which we have of it by experience are so many arguments to trust in him and so many hiding places to flie unto him against any trouble VVhat time I am affraid I will trust in thee Psa. 56.3 VVhy art thou cast down O my soule still trust in God Psal. 42.5 11. He hath delivered he doth deliver he will deliver 2 Cor. 1.10 Many times the children of God are reduced to such extremities that they have nothing to encourage themselves withall but their interest in him nothing to flye unto for hope but his Great name made known unto them by faith in his promises and by experience of his goodnesse power and providence This was Davids case at Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.6 and Israels at the red Sea Exod. 14.10 13. and Ionahs in the belly of the fish Ion. 2.4 7. and Pauls in the shipwrack Acts 27.20 25. God is never so much glorified by the faith of his servants as when they can hold up their trust in him against sight and sence and when reason saith thou art undone for all help sailes thee can answer in faith I am not undone for he said I will never faile thee nor forsake thee 7. The power which the Church hath to rise up above her pressures to outgrow her troubles to revive after lopping and harrowing to make use of affliction as a meanes to flourish againe all this is from him That in trouble we are not overwhelmed but can say with the Apostle As dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed as sorrowfull yet alwayes rejoycing as poore yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things like the corne wich dies and is quickned againe like the vine that is lopped and spreads againe all this is from him who is the Resurrection and the life Ioh. 11.25 who was that grain of wheat which dying and being cast into the ground did bring forth much fruit Ioh. 12.24 the branch which grew out of the rootes of Iesse when that goodly family was sunk so low as from David the King unto Ioseph the Carpenter Lastly as God is the Author of all these blessings unto his people so when he bestowes them he doth it in perfection the fruits which this dew produceth are the fruits of Lebanon the choycest and most excellent of any another If hee plant a Vineyard it shall be in a very fruitfull hill and with the choycest plants Esay 5.1 2. a noble Vine a right seed Ier. 2.21 When in any kinde of straights wee haue recourse to the Creature for supply either wee find it like our Saviours figg-tree without fruit or like our Prophets vine
poore and slender temptation how strangely did a creature of so high and noble a constitution exchange God himselfe for the fruit of a tree believe a Serpent before a Maker and was so miserably cheated as to suppose that by casting away Gods Image he should become the more like him Who could have thought that David a man after Gods owne heart with one miscarrying glance of his eye should have been plunged into such a gulfe of sinne and misery as he fell into that so spirituall and heavenly a soule should be so suddenly overcome with so sensuall a temptation that so mercifull and righteous a man should so greatly wrong a faithfull servant as he did Vriah and then make the innocent blood of him whom hee wronged a mantle to palliate and to cover the wrong and make use of his fidelity to convey the letters and instructions for his own ruine Who could have thought that Lot so soone after he had been delivered from fire and brimstone and vexed with the filthy conversation of the Sodomites should bee himselfe inflamed with unnaturall incestuous lust who could have suspected that Peter who had his name from a Rock should be so soone shaken like a Reed and after so solemn a protestation not to forsake Christ though all else should to bee driven with the voice of a Maide from his stedfastnesse and with oaths and curses be the first that denied him Surely every man in his best estate is altogether vanity Therefore it behoveth us to be alwayes humbled in the sight of our selves and to be jealous 1. Of our originall impotency unto the doing of any good unto the forbearing of any evill unto the repelling of any temptation by our owne power In his owne might shall no man be strong 1 Sam. 2.9 To bee a sinner and to be without strength are termes equivolent in the Apostle Rom. 5.6 8. Nay even where there is a will to doe good there is a defect of power to perform it Rom. 7.18 our strength is not in our selves but in the Lord and in the power of his might and in the working of his Spirit in our inner man Eph. 6.10.3.19 Phil. 4.13 If but a good thought arise in our mind or a good desire and motion bee stirring in our heart or a good word drop from our lips we have great cause to take notice of the grace of God that offered it to us and wrought it in us and to admire how any of the fruit of Paradise could grow in so heathy a wildernesse 2. Of our naturall antipathy and reluctancy unto holy duties our aptnesse to draw back towards perdition to refuse and thrust away the offers and motions of grace our rebellion which ariseth from the law of the members against the law of the minde the continuall droppings of a corrupt heart upon any of the tender buds and sproutings of piety that are wrought within us our aptnesse to bee weary of the yoke and to shake off the burden of Christ from our shoulders Esay 43.22 our naturall levity and inconstancy of spirit in any holy resolutions continuing but as a morning dew which presently is dryed up beginning in the spirit and ending in the flesh having interchangeable fits of the one and the other like the Polypus now of one colour and anon of another now hot with zeale and anon cold with security now following Moses with Songs of Thanksgiving for Deliverance out of Egypt and quickly after thrusting Moses away and in heart returning unto Egypt againe Such a discomposednesse and naturall instability there is in the spirit of man that like strings in an instrument it is apt to be altered with every change of weather nay while you are playing on it you must ever and anon bee new turning it like water heated which is alwayes offering to reduce it selfe to its own coldnesse No longer Sun no longer light no longer Christ no longer grace If his back be at any time upon us our back will immediately be turned from him like those forgetfull Creatures in Seneca who even while they are eating if they happen to looke aside from their meat immediately lose the thoughts of it and goe about seeeking for more 3. Of the manifold decayes and abatements of the grace of God in us our aptnesse to leave our first Love Revel 2.4 How did Hezekiah fall into an impolitick vainglory in shewing all his Treasures unto the Ambassadors of a forraign Prince thereby kindling a desire in him to be master of so rich a Land as soone as God left him unto himselfe 2 King 20.12 13. How quickly without continuall husbandry will a Garden or Vineyard be wasted and overgrown with weeds How easily is a ship when it is at the very shore carried with a storme back into the Sea againe How quickly will a curious watch if it lie open gather dust into the wheeles and bee out of order Though therefore thou have found sweetnesse in Religion joy in the holy Spirit comfort yea heaven in good duties power against corruptions strength against temptations triumph over afflictons assurance of Gods favour vigour life and great enlargement of heart in the wayes of godlinesse yet for all this be not high-minded but feare Remember the flower that is wide open in the morning when the Sunne shines upon it may be shut up in the evening before night come If the Sunne had not stood still Ioshua had not taken vengeance on the enemy Iosh. 10.13 and if the Sunne of righteousnesse doe not constantly shine upon us and supply us wee shall not be able to pursue and carry on any victorious affections While God openeth his hand thou art filled but if he withdraw his face thou wilt be troubled againe Psal. 104.28 29. Therefore take heed of resting on thine owne wisdome or strength Thou mayest after all this grieve the Spirit of God and cause him to depart and hide himselfe from thee thou mayest fall from thy stedfastnesse and lose thy wonted comforts thou mayest have a dead wiâ—ter upon the face of thy conscience and be brought to such a sad and disconsolate condition as to conclude that God hath cast thee out of his sight that he hath forgotten to be gracious and hath shut up his loving kindnesse in displeasure to roare out for anguish of spirit as one whose bones are broken thy soule may draw nigh to the grave and thy life to the destroyers and thou mayest finde it a wofull and almost insuperable difficulty to recover thy life and thy strength again It was so with Iob Chap. 10.16 17. Chap. 13.26.27.28 Chap. 16.9 13. Chap. 30.15 31. It was so with David Psal. 51.8 Psal. 77.2 3 4. It was so with Heman Psal. 88. and diverse others See Iob 33.19.22 Psal. 1â—â— 3 11. Isa 54.6 11. Ion. 2.3 4. Therefore we should still remember in a calme to provide for a storme to stirre up the graces of God continually in our selves that