Davids delight to Meditate on the Law of God because he found great sweetnesse in it f Psal 119. 163. How sweet saith he are thy words unto my taste Yea sweeter than hony to my mouth If we had Davids spiritual palate g Isa 58. 13. we should delight in the Lords Sabbath as he saith by his Prophet we should delight to hear his Word to come to his holy Table to meditate on his Law and to practise all holy duties to the honour and glory of his Name Also if we do set our selves to Meditate on the strength and power of his grace we shall finde that Faith will give us sufficient power against all our spiritual enemies hope will uphold our Faith in the promises of God when it is weak patience will make us bear our afflictions and tryalls with a willing minde holy zeal will make our Prayers effectual to prevail with God to grant what we desire or what is better for us and constancy will make us continue in well-doing unto the end that we may receive that recompence of reward which God of his infinite goodnesse hath promised As Faith is the Mother of all other spiritual graces so it will alwayes go along with every particular grace to make it the more effectual and powerful to help us in time of need Now we know the quicknesse of our spirituall taste by our delight in holy duties and in the Ordinances of God and we may know the strength of grace by the fruits and effects of it according to the nature of every particular grace also the truth of every grace that is in us will appear and that it is a fruit of Faith if the power of Faith goeth along with it How to increase Faith EVery man hath not alike measure of Faith he that iâ— weakest in Faith may be made stronger and he that is strong in Faith may yet have more for it is a spiritual and heavenly grace which will grow and increase if it be spiritually watered by the holy Ghost Christ did find a great Faith in the Woman of Canaan and in some others a Mat. 15. 28. O woman saith he to her great is thy faith but he did often reprove his Disciples for the weaknesse of their Faith and thus he said in particular unto Peter b Mat. 14. 31 O thou of little faith wherefoer didst thou doubt Peters doubting made him ready to sink as he walked upon the waters unto Christ and it did discover the weaknesse of his Faith and confidence in Christ as if he could not give him power to walk upon the waters as he did This is the condition of many of Gods dear servants that when they see perills and dangers ready to fall upon them and no means either to escape them or to be delivered from them then fears and doubtings will rise in their mindes to discover the weaknesse of their Faith and to make them distrust the providence of God to doubt of his Fatherly care of them and of his Almighty Power to save them For sometimes their Faith may be so weak that it cannot mount above their humane capacity they cannot see the wisdom and power of God to be far above the reach of their reason and understanding When God seeth such weaknesse in our Faith he will tenderly visite us and will give us hope by some manifest signes to strengthen our faith against all our fears and doubtings Though our faith be weak yet if it be true it is saving it is growing and it is lasting Faith is saving because it doth unite us unto Christ with an unseparable union who is the rock of our salvation and by whom onely we must be saved c Act. 4. 11 12. Christ is that stone which was set at nought of the builders which is becâ—me the head of the corner Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Also we may grow in faith First d 1 Pet. 2. 2. if we desire the sincere milk of the Word as new born babes desire the milk of the breast that we may thereby grow in the knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ If the word of God be purely Preached without the mixture of erroneous doctrine it is the seed of grace which God soweth in our hearts by his Ministers and he will water it with his Spirit to make it increase and fructifie that we may grow in grace until we come to a full stature in Christ if we do hear iâ— with sanctified hearts and pure affections Secondly we may greatly increase our faith in Christ if we do spiritually feed upon his body and blood when we come to the Lords Table which is the true food of our souls and the heavenly nourishment of that spirituall life which we have in Christ by Faith and the oftner we do thus feed at the Lords Table the more we cherish this spiritual life and the more we increase our Faith and make all other saving graces the stronger in us Thirdly prayer is a speciall meanes for the increase of our Faith for we have the beginnings of Faith from God the increase of it also and the stablishment of it is from God and we must beg it of him by our Prayers and supplications or else we cannot obtain it Thus said the Apostles unto Christ e Lu. 17. 5. Lord increase our Faith Also thus said the Father of the dumb childe unto Christ f Mar. 9. 24 Lord I believe help thou my unbelief God is ready to hear the Prayers of his servants but specially when they make such petitions as he is willing to grant which are such as do make most for his own glory and nothing can advance the glory of God more than when they crave the increase of their Faith without which they can glorifie God in no services which they perform unto him for without faith it is impossible to please God and so consequently to honour him in any holy duty which he commandeth Fourthly Faith will grow and increase by our dayly Meditation on the Truth of Gods Word how faithfully he hath performed all his Promises how ready and how able he is still to perform them if we can rest and depend upon them by Faith If we consider that God is immutable and omnipotent in his own Essence that he is Truth it self that he will not alter whatsoever he hath decreed in his secret Counsel and that he will perform all that he hath promised in his Word it will greatly strengthen our Faith and uphold our trust and confidence in God when any difficulties or dangers presse hard upon us which otherwise would shake the foundation of our faith Fifthly the dayly experience which we have of the power of God and of his goodnesse to us in all conditions of life whether we be in prosperity or in adversity in health or in
our lives will be much the harder Time is not gained but lost which we spend without some fruits of grace and godliness which indeed is the true gain of time and therefore we should seek unto God while he may be found c Isa 55. 6. we should call upon him while he is neer otherwise though we seek him he will not be found and though we call upon him he will not answer nor be intreated Thus saith the Apostle d 2 Cor. 6. 2 now is the time acceptable now is the day of salvation But we have just cause to bewail our condition for the corruption of our nature doth so weaken us and the power of our spiritual enemies doth so prevail against us that we cannot break through such strong opposition as they make to hinder this holy work of grace in us I he devil doth cunningly disswade us from it the world doth strongly allure us to follow still the vanities of it and our own flesh doth dayly intice us to carnal pleasures and delights so that we can finde no time to make our peace with God or to improve the means of grace to his glory and to our own comfort Though we do sometimes strive against our sins yet we cannot overcome them or if one sinne be subdued another is ready to rise up against us also though we cannot actually commit a sin yet we may commit it in our sinful desires to it in a sinful remembrance of it in consenting to it or in suffering it to be done when by our place and authority we might hinder it We have also just cause to bemoan our selves for though we do labour for grace and do use all means for it to the best of our power and yet we cannot attain unto it Though it be thus with us yet we must still continue our best endeavours to oppose all the enemies of our salvation and we must still use the means of grace and wait upon God until he shall please to work grace in us by his Spirit also we must pray unto him with a faithful heart that by the omnipotent power of his grace e and by the rod of his strength which is the Word and Sprit he would make us able to overcome our corruptions by seasoning our hearts with grace to subdue the power of our sins by repentance to improve our time to the glory of God and also to break through the snares of the devil the world and the flesh Then God will so bless us in our pious indeavours that we shall prevail against all opposition and adversary power not by our own strength but by the might and power of Jesus Christ our gracious Redeemer f 2 Cor. 12. 9. whose grace and favour is sufficient for us and whose strength is made perfect in our weaknesse under whose banner we fight these spiritual battels for the honour of his great name Of Christ our Redeemer IF it be so that Christ is our Redeemer and hath wrought our redemption with his own blood and hath purchased for us a new Covenant and an everlasting inheritance in heaven as formerly in part hath been shewed also if we have all our strength and power from him against our spiritual enemies without whom we cannot stand against them nor break through the bands of death to injoy that heavenly inheritance which he hath prepared for us we must then know who Christ is what is the nature of his Person what is his power and strength and how he was qualified for this great work that we may have a sure ground to confide in him and to rest upon him as our Redeemer and onely Saviour Also we must know how he hath satisfied the justice of God for our sinnes how he hath conquered death hell and the devil and what price he hath paid for our ransom for without this heavenly knowledge and faith to apply it to our selves vve can dravv no comfort to our souls from Christ neither can vve have any good assurance that vve are freed from the curse of the Lavv that the justice of God is satisfied for our sins that sin hath no condemning power over us that the sting of death is taken away and that we are reconciled again unto the favour of God God hath revealed these deep mysteries to us in his holy Word that the meditations of our hearts may be enlarged upon them for our instruction and edification and for the comfort of our souls as God shall give light to our understandings by his blessed Spirit But as the Prophet saith a Is 53. 8. Who can declare his generation which was from eternity for Christ our Redeemer is the onely begotten Son of God b Joh. 1. 18. who is in the bosom of the Father and was promised and expected since the beginning of the world And when the fulnesse of time was come that God had appointed for his incarnation c John 1. 14 the Word was made flesh for d Heb. 2. 16 he took on him the seed of Abraham and personally united to his Divine nature a true humane body e Luc. 1. 31 32. of the seed of the Virgin Mary f Mat. 26. 38 which was indued with a reasonable soul and the holy Ghost did so sanctifie her wombe that he was born without sin either original or actual And though the humane nature of Christ was taken into his Deity whereby this union was never to be dissolved yet either nature had their whole properties and operations remaining still unconfounded and therefore he was true God and true man g Heb. 2. 17 like unto us in all things h Heb. 4. 15. sin onely excepted and those two natures made but one person in Christ i Mat. 28. 18 to whom God the Father hath given all power in heaven and in earth so that he commandeth and over-ruleth al created power whatsoever God did also give him three honourable offices that he might be every way fit to be our eternal Mediatour between God and us for God ordained him to be a Prophet to teach and instruct us to be a Priest to make intercession for us and to offer such a sacrifice to God for our sins as he would accept and to be a King to rule and govern his Church and also to rule in our hearts by his Spirit Christ being thus qualified hath fulfilled for us and in our nature whatsoever the Law did require of us and his righteousness is imputed to us by faith for our justification that no guilt of sinne might cleave to us in the sight of God When Christ did execute that part of his priestly office which was the offering up of his body a sacrifice for us no heart can conceive and no tongue can express the bitter torments which he suffered both in his soul and in his body to satisfie the justice of God for our sinnes and to purchase our freedome and redemptition out of the captivity
the sanctifying graces of his holy Spirit may season our hearts and affections to walk before him in holinesse and purenesse of living all our dayes Wherefore now our afflictions and troubles which are part of this curse are sanctified to us and made salubrious and wholesome for our good and the evill of punishment which we suffer is taken away by the merit of his sufferings and the nature of them is changed into fatherly chastisements to correct us for our sins that we may walk more obediently before God or else they are to try the truth of our graces for the honour of God that gave them Fourthly this is another great Advantage and Gain that we have by Christ which unregenerate men cannot finde that he hath also freed us from the dominion of sin for though sin will dwell with us so long as we live in the flesh yet the strength and power of sin is weakened and killed by the vertue and power of that grace which Christ hath given us by his death The best of Gods servants do often complain how the unregenerate part in them doth sometimes prevail against the Spirit which makes them groan under the burden of their corruptions as holy David and others have done Paul also found this to be true for thus he saith e Rom. 7. 18 19. I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I finde not for the good that I would I do not but the evill which I would not that I do And he had no power but onely from Christ to be freed from this dominion of sin and therefore he cryeth out saying f Rom 7. 24 25. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord for he found this Benefit and Gain by Christ for saith he g Phil. 1. 21. To me to live is Christ and to dye is gain or else we may read it thus For Christ is to me both in life and in death advantage This is not the gain which natural men look for they seek after the gain of riches the gain of honours and the gain of worldly preferments they look not after spiritual gain they do not esteem of vertue and godliness piety towards God is out of request with them though it be the true gain and most to be desired Fifthly that we may get this spirituall gain of Godlinesse which is the advantage onely of a true Believer Christ doth wash us in the Laver of his righteousnesse and therefore he bestowes all sanctifying and saving graces upon us to purifie us from the silth and pollutions of our sins For Christ doth unite us unto himself by Faith whereby we are cloathed with his righteousnesse and have all the benefits that come by the merite of his blood then faith drawes in with it all other sanctifying graces to make us compleat and perfect in Christ to beautifie and adorn our souls that we may lead a vertuous and pious life in the right way of true holiness h 1 Pet. 2. 2 Christ doth also give us an holy desire to the sincere milk of the word that thereby we may grow in i 2 Pet. 3. 18. grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we are brought into the favour of God k Rom. 3. 24 by whose grace love we are freely justified through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ l Eph. 2. 8. by whose free grace also we are saved through faith in Christ Saving grace was one of the special gifts that Christ gave after his Ascension according to this of Paul m Eph. 4. 7. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ n Heb. 13 9. Wherefore if our hearts are stablished w th grace we shal not be carried about with diverse and strange doctrines but we shall stand firm in the Faith and in the truth of our Profession and our hearts will be purged from dead works Sixthly we have this great Advantage by Christ above all other men o Gal. 4. 5 6 7. that by him we receive the adoption of sons and thereby we injoy all the Priviledges that belong to sons for God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying Abba Father and we are made heirs of God through Christ Wherefore p Heb. 4. 16. in him we may come boldly unto the throne of grace by Prayer that we may obtain mercy and finde grace to help in time of need For God will have a fatherly care of us to protect us in all dangers to provide whatsoever is good for us and to comfort us in all our sorrowes and distresses q Psal 9. 9. Isa 25. 4. Thus was God a refuge and a shield of defence to David and to other holy men in their troubles and afflictions If his rod of correction be upon us it will be in love r Heb. 12. 6. as a father chasteneth his son that he may receive us as his sons and though we feel his visitation sharp Å¿ Lam. 3. 31 yet he will not cast us off for ever for t Eph. 4 30. we are sealed unto the day of Redemption u Heb. 6. 12. that we may through faith and patience inherit the promises u 1 Pet. 1 4. as heirs to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us Lastly Christ hath sealed the Covenant of grace to us with his own blood whereby we are freed from the strict keeping of the legal Covenant of Works and Christ will perfect with his own righteousnesse whatsoever is wanting in us to the fulfilling of the Law if we endeavour the best we can with an upright heart to do the will of God and then God in mercy will accept of our imperfect obedience for his sake This new Covenant which Christ hath procured for us will admit of the obedience of Christ for us and also of our true repentance for our sins which the legal Covenant would not because it required perfect and personal obedience to every tittle of the Law both in thought in word and in deed By vertue of this new Covenant x Jer. 31. 33 34. God is our God and he will forgive all our iniquities and will remember our sins no more upon condition that we believe in Christ y Heb. 12. 24. who is the Mediator of this Covenant and that with our faith we joyn piety and new obedience Christ hath also given us his Sacraments whereby this Covenant is sealed to us if we do worthily partake of them but of this Covenant and also of the Sacraments I have written more fully in another Treatise Now Meditate with an holy devotion upon all these Advantages which every