shall be conquerors over them through Christ Jesus And let me not be offended at the Cross of Christ knowing that the Gospel is offer'd upon the termes of self-denial and taking up our Cross and knowing that thou dost comfort thy Servants in all afflictions and that as their afflictions do abound their consolations do much more abound but rather let us count it all joy when we fall into these temptations knowing they work in us patience experience hope and repentance So David before he was afflicted he went astray but by his afflictions learned thy Judgments and he said 't is good for me that I have been afflicted And my afflictions seem not greater than his when he cried out Thy hand is heavy upon me day and night my moisture is like the drought in summer All the day long am I afflicted and chastned every morning I am dried up and my heart is like the melting wax my heart panteth my strength faileth me and the light of my eyes is gone from me my lovers and my friends stand afar off and no man cares for my soul But Lord I will make my prayers unto thee in an acceptable time and call upon thee in the time of my trouble Lord how long shall mine enemies triumph over me Lord when wilt thou comfort me Lord as others have found thee full of compassion and mercy so let me find Think upon thy compassions which have been ever of old Remember not against me mine iniquitys but do away my sins for thy names sake Meditation I don't enough apprehend my proneness to every sin and lust but think my self free from sin and from the danger of falling because I feel it not stirring for the present whereas the reason why it is so is only because various diversions take up my thoughts otherways and keep out those so that they are but only laid asleep as it were and are easily awaked by any temptation if the Lord don't strengthen me and the least opportunity lets them loose upon me so that I am not able to resist them Lord let me watch against all those sins that I find my nature inclined to and against such as I find no inclination to but an utter aversation from because my nature is wholly corrupted and it is the power of God only that keeps me from all sorts of sins and temptations therefore let me fear every temptation and sin and watch against them and pray that I enter not into any temptation for if I once but enter into the temptation I am sure to fall if I have no better support than my own strength though the temptation be but weak my strength is weaker Lord do thou either give me more strength or temptation less let me never enter the lists with this enemy but se defendendo flying him as far as I can let me not desire to know what sin or lust is but let me love the ignorance of it Lord when I confess my sins which I have comitted against so many means of grace thy mercies Judgments promises Threatnings the testimonies of my own conscience of thy holy Spirit and the testimonies of the wicked also I must needs acknowledg thy justice in all my punishments and thy long suffering in this that thou dost not confound me nor quite cast me off as thou didst Saul but punishedst me less than I deserve And I admire thy goodness in this that in the midst of thy wrath thou rememberest mercy and hast delivered me when in my affliction I sought thee herein I rejoice and I beseech thee Lord make me contented to be restrain'd from sin by sorrow Lord thou art my God and my Lord therefore let me acknowledg thee in all my ways wait upon thee serve and obey thee and let me not live as if I were without a God nor according to my own lusts denying the Lord that bought me as those do who make their belly their God or Idolize the unrighteous Mammon and vanities of the world neither let me question thy power in the want of means Thou art my Saviour and my deliverer my Buckler the Horn of my Salvation and my refuge my Stony Rock and my Castle therefore let me have grace to fly unto thee in my time of trouble to trust in thee in thy power and in thy goodness for my refuge and defence and stay my self upon thee and commit my way unto thee as unto a faithful Creator make my Prayers continually unto thee Thou art to thy Servants their hope and strength and present help in trouble therefore let not the surprise of any trouble dismay me as if I were hopeless or helpless thou art the Defender of all them that put their trust in thee mighty to save God all-sufficient therefore let me walk with thee and be perfect O thou who art the Rock of ages the helper of the poor and fatherless helpless and destitute The Fountain of living water Let me always run unto thy fountain for true comfort not to broaken Cisterns Let not the baseness of my nature or my sins dismay me for thou knowest whereof we are made but let me look up to Christ as the Israelites being stung did to the brazen Serpent and be healed Let me taste of the Tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God live even the body and blood Jesus Christ as oft a I eat of this Tree of life in the blessed communion assure me that I am healed of all my passed sins Thou Lord art life and truth I will therefore be guided by thee believe in thee and be dead to the World and all creatures and live unto thee and upon thee In Christ let us have life even the new life of the life of faith and not of sense That the old man may dye daily That Christ may live in us as the head liveth in the members and we in him by faith in the promises of eternal life through him As Abraham did in the Land of promise though he had not as yet received the earthly promise neither did he set his heart upon it nor seek it or suffer himself to be hindred by it in the persuit of his future felicity Thou to a believer art all that is desirable in all conditions whatsoever whom have I in Heaven but thee And whom in earth that I can desire in comparison of thee Thy goodness is infinite and though our sins be never so great yet thy thoughts exceeding our thoughts so far as the Heaven is higher than the earth we may have Hope in thy mercy because it endureth for ever and is over all thy works The Lord will never leave nor forsake those that trust in him though he suffered Daniel to be cast into the Lions Den. The three children into the firye furnace the sword to be put to Isaacs throat yet then he delivered them for the Lord knoweth how to deliver his Lot was delivered though Sodom was burned and so was Noah
become the Sons of God even to as many as believed in his Name John 1.12 But he that eats not his Body and drinks not his Blood hath no fellowship in him he that doth eat and drink them hath Eternal Life The receiving then of him and believing in his Name being the qualification that makes us the Sons of God and his Brethren and that Text excluding all from that priviledge that do not eat and drink his Body and Blood sheweth that by receiving him and believing in his Name they eat him not by diminishing him by their Teeth or digesting him in their Stomach but by drawing Life from his Death by Faith and strengthning and maintaining that new Life which it hath from Christ by believing his Body to be crucified and his Blood shed for them and by the Bread and Wine is given to them And if we should understand this eating of Attrition or diminishing with the Teeth and the Drinking of taking by the Mouth into the Stomach by drops and digesting there then God should suffer his Holy One to see corruption For although we should suppose it did not corrupt in our body so long as we live yet when these vile bodies turns to Earth and rottenness then all that is in them must corrupt And the Text that excludes all that eat not his Body and drinks not his Blood would exclude all Believers from Adam until this Sacrament was Instituted by our blessed Saviour But if this eating and drinking be believing then Abraham and the rest of the faithful might eat and drink him as well as they saw his day For all of them eat the same Spiritual meat and drink the same Spiritual drink and receive their Eternal Life and Salvation from the same Jesus Christ And if we do by this eating find our penitent Souls to revive and live a new Immortal and Eternal Life from the belief of his Death and Passion for us his Body Crucified and his Blood spilt for us to give us Life then we eat his body and shall live for ever And thus the faithful people of God by eating the Passeover under the Law did eat Christ the true Passeover by eating that which was the Type of him whom it represented fide non ore at it is said all eat the same Spiritual Bread Of the Eucharist Meditation I feel a hunger in my Soul which neither Manna nor all the World can satisfie though I have all the necessaries and conveniences of Life yet I hunger and thirst as for Rivers of Water in a dry place Isa 32. Do thou then O blessed Saviour give me of the Water of Life out of thy Fountain The living Water and Blood that cometh from that Fountain of Living Water thy side upon the Cross which still is open to the House of Judah and Jerusalem and seals unto us all the promises upon which we live thou hast Instituted this Bread and Wine to represent thy Holy and blessed Body and Blood shed and broken upon the Cross and thereby givest them to the Soul that thirsteth for Eternal Life in thee Isa 32.4 Though my weakness of Faith should be such that I am not able to discern whether virtually or really they become such or whether they be consubstantiated transubstantiated or new-substantiated in their Natures by the blessing and the Faith of the Receiver or neither yet thus far thou hast enlightned me to know that all the promises are Yea and Amen in thee that thou hast Eternal Life and givest it and that by these Elements which signifie and exhibit thy Body and Blood to be eaten and drank by Faith Spiritually and for thy Body and Blood I eat and drink them but as separable for I fear least I should through unbelief receive but only the Bread and Wine and not thy Body and Blood which give Eternal Life which every one that hath that eateth thy Body and drinketh thy Blood and if an unbeliever or an unprepared impenitent person the worst of thy enemies he that betrayed thee or any other creature could but eat and drink of them they also would thereby have Eternal Life But thou alone hast power to give it to whom thou pleasest To thee therefore I address my Prayer when the Priest reacheth to me the Bread and Wine that thou wouldest reach to me thy sacrificed Body and Blood that was shed upon the Cross and make these Natural Elements to become those Eternal Aliments to me not by Faith in them but by Faith in thee who hast made them to signifie those and represent them which though I cannot discern by my senses I pray that I may by my Faith in thy Word which makes them operate as thy Body and Blood to me through thy benediction though materially I discern them not and give me thy holy Spirit that I may discern them Spiritually and eat panem Dominum if by looking up to thee we are saved what other thing can I understand this Mystery to be than looking up to thee on the Cross and shedding thy precious Blood for my sins which thou communicatest to us Of Holiness Meditations Mot. Holiness to the Lord shall be writ upon the Bells of the Horses Med. All the graces are so linked together like a golden chaine that they cannot be without each other This is a collective word and containes in it piety charity and humility and all that the first and second table of the law of God containes all the duty of man towards God his neighbour and himself It is the fruit of faith out of which Root this grace springs The necessity of this grace is laid down in this expression that without it no man shall see God the same is implied Psal 63.3 I have sought thee in holiness that I might behold thy glory The precepts are many that command us to get it in general and in the particular branches of it every commandment and precept in the Scripture are to this end Not any one minute of a Christian life nor any one action be it natural action of the body or civil gesture or behaviour but it must have holiness imprinted on it for in the Temple the candlesticks and the snuffers were of pure Gold and Christ came to perfect it and advance it therefore ' tls prophesied of his Kingdom that under it holines to the Lord shall be written upon the Bels of the Horses which inscription was on Arons miter The rights and ceremonies of purification under the law typified as much Although it be said that faith hath this and all other graces for its fruits yet there is a time when a child of God may not percieve in himself much nay scarce any life of Holiness Humility Patience Zeal Meekness Charity or other graces as in the Winter the herbs and Plants shew no life at all usually they are excited again by some extraordinary providence of God either in afflicting us or delivering us from some danger or affliction or by
living stones in that building whereof he is the corner stone our Hope is but a fancy if we be dead and slugish 1 Pet. 1.7 It is called a lively Hope and our life a living by faith Consider the burning Zeal of the antient Servants of God Psal 119. My soul breaketh out for the fervent desire that it hath always to thy commandments My soul is a thirst for God Psal 42. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks so longeth my soul after thee O God Psal 16.3 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth after thee And Psal 119. Do I not hate them that hate thee and am I not vexed with them that rise up against thee yea I hate them with a perfect hatred as though they were my enimies So Righteous Lot was vexed with the unclean conversation of the wicked others loved not their lives unto death The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force Jacobs wrestling with God prevailed It is one of the characters of those that are Redeemed as it is said in the Epist of St. That he may purchase to himself a peculiar people Zealous of good works Strive to enter in at the strait gate Many lets we find Be not weary of well doing But the further we run in this race the fresher we are and like bodies tending to their center Velocius in fine quam in principio So the Righteous bring forth more fruit in their latter end When Christians shew their fervour of Spirit in the service of God it is but a scandal to religion to say they are young converts The hypocrite desireth no more but what may be sufficient to serve his turne but the true Christian desires to grow in grace and to abound in the work of the Lord and is grieved that his graces are not perfect By this we imitate Christ for it is said of him The Zeal of Gods house hath eaten him up It was his love to God which caused such Zeal so Davids love made his eyes gush out with water to behold sin Our Blessed Saviour wrought out our salvation by agonies And we are commanded to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling And all the duties of religion are wrought with Agonies striving and Zeal First our faith is to be strived for Philip. 1.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then in prayer we are to strive as it is said Striving togetheir in prayer And this is that circumstance that makes it prevail The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much The whole Stadium of the Christian life is to be run that motion is the most violent in nature The whole life of a Christian is a continual fighting of a battle wherein we put forth all our strength That gives no time for Diversions and but very little for necessary refreshings with food and sleep All our service we do to God must be with a fervent Spirit If this fire goeth out our services are dull flat and liveless For where there is life there is heat the maxim holds as well in things of Grace as in things of Nature therefore if thou wouldest not offer a sacrifice without a heart so oughtest thou to beware of dulness and coldness in Duties and Graces So if thou wouldest not have thy Spiritual Enemies to get any advantage against thee thou must be watchful And that thou maist fight against them and subdue and conquer thy corruptions thou must put forth all thy strength and all little enough when we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickednesses in High places And although we do thus fight and put forth all our power and watch against these enemies that they get no advantage and redeem the time from our worldly business diversions and recreations Yet we shall find our selves so hardly beset at all times and too easie to be overcome unless we look to Jesus Christ the Authour and Finisher of our Faith for his succour through whose assistance we become more than Conquerours who is both able and willing to succour his that are tempted This looking to Christ is to set him before us to imitate and call upon him in time of Temptation with fervent Prayer as before is mentioned and to wait upon him for strength as the eyes of a Maid are unto the hands of her Mistriss so our eyes wait upon thee until thou have mercy upon us And so doing we shall find that he is our strength and present help in trouble and know how his strength is perfected in weakness He that saith he is not able of himself to overcome his Spiritual enemies therefore will not put forth all his power and use all these means he is content to be led Captive by them What is it will make thee earnest and servent Consider What it is that lyes at the stake what thou strivest to save and searest to lose Is it a small and light matter or is it a thing of more value to thee than the whole World Thy Immortal Soul and the Eternal welfare thereof This thou strivest for Who doth not strive and struggle to save his Life when in danger much more then must we strive for the saving of our Eternal Life What perils and labours do Men undergo by Land and Sea to get a livelihood for their bodies though they know not how short a time they may live to enjoy it and frequently lose their precious lives in the acquisition of the sustenance of their Lives But how few venture so far for the Eternal sustenance of their Soul or labour so hard or undergo such difficulties to solace or save their immortal Soul How readily doth the Sea-beaten Merchant tossed with the Winds and Waves of the Raging Sea throw hastily over-board all his precious substance gotten with great labour and peril of Life to save his short uncertain Life And wisely too But much more wise is he that throweth away his perishing goods his life and all to save his Immortal Soul and his Eternal Life and well-being He that is the only wise hath told us that we must sell all to purchase Heaven that we must cut off our right hand and pull out our right Eye if they offend us that he that will not forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children and life it self for him is not worthy of him he that will save his Life shall lose it Lord God we will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways delight in thy Statutes rejoyce in the way of thy Testimonies and take counsel of them But quicken thou us according to thy Word Ps 119.14 15 16 25. that we may not faint nor be weary Be wise then O my Soul for thy great interest thy main chance to save that with the expence and loss of thy perishing momentary concerns and to bestow thy pains and industry upon this And
of this free pardon therefore not I. All that will come may all that did look up to the Brazen Serpent were healed I thus being burdened with the weight of my sins and weary of them and fainting under them languishing for want of comfort and easement find this invitation from him that is ready to relieve me and all men freely without any merit of mine Beseech him to take away this my burthen to give me a new heart and to heal my soul That he would give me redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of my sins Ephe. 1.2 And seal it to my conscience that he hath borne my iniquities and hath taken them away and cast them into the bottom of the Sea that he would give me this balme of Gillead his precious blood to cleanse me from all my sins and to heal my wounded conscience and by his word to heal my corrupt nature I come unto him for faith in him which I have not of my self it is the gift of God Ephe. 2.8 I come and beg his Spirit to quicken me with a new life Ephe. 2.1 You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins That he would take away the Spirit of bondage and give me the Spirit of Adoption that I may call him Father and obey him cheerfully from the principle of love which will make my services accepted and prove my repentance true which will not The hanging down of my head Jugum Christi Meditations of Faith THE excellency of this grace is such that it makes all other things excellent and without it it is impossible to please God without it charity is no charity piety and charity and all other graces and vertues are no graces without faith it is the salt of all holy services which makes them acceptable sacrifices to God It is excellent in its original It is the gift of God It is so also in its fruit which is holiness and its final end is equally excellent viz. Salvation There is no degree of it so little but is of infinite vertue it makes us overcome all difficulties in doing and suffering the good will and pleasure of Almighty God The first degree of faith is to believe that God is The 2d degree to believe that he is a rewarder of them that deligently seek him but this doth not save for St. Paul had this belief when he persecuted the Church But to believe in Gods promises of salvation through Christ Jesus is saving faith as it is said by our Blessed Saviour Ye believe in God believe also in me This is saving faith and this is the principal act of faith because Jesus Christ is the principal object of faith and every act of grace is a branch of this grace hope charity patience humility unless they are acted and set on work by faith in Christ viz. In obedience to God believing his acceptance of our works through his Son they are nothing more than the moral vertues This grace is that which gives most glory to God because it believes things that are invisible to sense and reason assuredly as if they were visible It is called the evidence of things not seen knowing that Gods bare word is the greatest assurance therefore the Scripture saith of Abraham That he believed and gave glory to God and he staggered not though the promise was against reason and sense in regard of the age of himself and his wife Sarah And though Gods command of Sacrifising his Son Isaac seemed to be repugnant and contrary to his promise yet he believed stedfastly in the truth of God though it seemed repugnant so God put his faith to it to try it and he denied his sense and reason to believe God and to obey him It consists not in one act but it is a habit and for that reason the life of a believer is call'd the life of faith Agreeable to which it is said of the life of Abraham That he lived in the land of promise as in a strange Country looking for a City which had foundations whose builder and maker is God And this he did during his life so that he never had the sight of that he believed but lived upon the promise only and upon God This life of faith is a mortifying and self-denying life for Abraham lived in the land of promise as a stranger not as a home dweller freely and boldly enjoying it as his own But using the world as if he used it not not living upon the world nor by sense though the promise was of worldly things St. Paul testifieth of himself that he lived this life Gal. 2.20 Not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I live I live by the faith of the Son of God For faith working by love by the Spirit of Christ unites us to Christ in all union as our Root our Head our Brother our Beloved then it perswades us of the alsufficiency of God which supports the soul wherefore God made it the inducement to Abraham why he should walk before him in perfection and whatever is wanting in the creature faith thus acted makes it up in God as is said Psal 90.12 Lord thou hast been our dwelling place through all generations And 2 Cor. 6.10 As having nothing yet possessing all things Because God is the delight of the soul Psal 1. Job 27.10 But it is said of the hypocrite Will he alwaies call upon the Lord will he delight himself in him No he will not for he loves not This St. Paul professeth that he practised saying To me to live is Christ to dye is gain He lived upon Christ and he in him Not only in the Apostles esteem was Christ all to him But Christ testifieth of himself Joh. 6.34 The bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life to the world Therefore might Job esteem it more than his necessary food if he be the eternal food of the soul which gives it a new eternal life and maintains it satisfying and strengthening the principles of this life and reparing the decaies of it There is nothing needful or comfortable which gracious soules have not enjoyed in God and Christ David Psal 5. Lord thou art my light and my salvation whom then shall I fear thou art the strength of my life of whom then shall I be affraid Psal 119.57 Thou art my portion O Lord I have said that I will keep thy word If God be sufficient for himself he is sufficient for us All is yours and ye are Christs all the things in the world can afford little comfort to the rational soul they can alitle divert it from its grief but are so far from yeilding true satisfaction that the more it drinks the more it thirsts but he that drinks of the water of life shall never thirst more He that eates of the true bread which came down from Heaven shall be satisfied in all his desires and appetites more than they whose Corne Wine
Faith is that which fixes the heart upon things eternal and holdeth it as by an anchor when in the world there can be no fixation but because of the raribility of the objects thereof and the instability of the subject viz. The mind of the natural man all is fast and loose and nothing can be trusted in But faith trusteth in the Lord because it knows the faithfulness of his promises Isa 7.9 Except you believe you can not be established Faith is that which inables us to walk with God because it believeth in and trusteth to his alsufficiency bounty and goodness and dependeth upon them casting its care upon God so that it makes the conversation of a believer to be without covetousness Heb. 13.5 Because he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee This holy dependancy upon God David expresseth Psal 63. With the benefits he received thereby in these words My soul hangeth on thee thy right hand also shall uphold me They that seek the hurt of my soul they shall go under the earth but he would rejoyce in God Faith is that which gives the soul an interest in God and in Christ Jesus from whence flows all true comfort that the soul can desire and reciprocally it gives God an interest in us that we should be wholly his both soul and body living and dying As to the interest of God in us 't is said Psal 119.94 I am thine and in divers other Psalmes O save thy Servant and by the Apostle Whether we live therefore or dye we are the Lords David makes use of this interest of God in him as an argument for him to hear his prayers and deliver and succour him in his need but they seem more doubtful when they make use of Gods interest in them than when they make use of their interest in God for then they are high in their confidence and faith in God Psal 35. I trusted in thee for I said thou art my God And Psal 18. I will love thee O Lord my strength The Lord is my stony rock and my defence my Saviour my God and my might in whom I will trust my buckler the horne also of my salvation and my refuge 2. v. I will call upon the Lord which is worthy to be praised so shall I be safe from my enemies 3. v. The sorrows of death compassed me and the overflowings of ungodliness made me afraid 4. v. The paines of hell came about me the snares of death overtook me In my trouble I will call upon the Lord and complain unto my God so shall he hear my voice c. Psal 63. I will rejoyce in God my strength The assurance of our interest in God inables us to lay hold on every promise and every priviledg of the Servants of God and to challenge God upon his word with confidence as it is expressed in Psal 119.59 Remember thy word unto thy Servant wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust He looks upon his faith in the promise as that which obliged God to the performance and God looks upon it so too as it is said Psal 91.14 Because he hath set his love upon me I will deliver him c. Dan. 6. No hurt was found upon Daniel because he believed in God 2 Chron. 1.13 18. The children of Israel prevailed because they trusted and relied upon the Lord Psal 37.40 He shall deliver them from the ungodly because they put their trust in him Therefore our Blessed Saviour prayed for his Disciples faith that it might not fail when Satan desired to Winow them as wheat is Winnowed Could Satans fiery darts have been quenched and he baffled by this reply I believe as the Church believes as some pretend this had been easy for them to have said and so quitted themselves of all his winnowing or had they not so much faith as to say so or not so much cunning as they that teach us that but if it did not profit the Jews to say that they were Abrahams children and not bastards no more will it profit us to say we believe as the Church believe or as Abraham believed unless we do the works of Abraham and can shew our faith by our works for they are of the Devil that do his works And which of all the promises do they mean or which threatnings which precept or which commandment or word of the Gospel of eternal life and if they mean all these yet by referring to anothers belief they confess there own ignorance and imply that they are not able to give an accompt of their faith nor know what it is that they believe and how then can they believe for they cannot believe in him of whom they have not heard therefore their belief is a lye and they infidels but he to whom they make this answer must be supposed to know the belief of the Church and their pretended belief better than they and so it is because they are not permitted the reading of that Gospel whereof they pretend belief This saying of these deceivers came from the same Minerva as that saying of Claudius Caesar did and is the parallel of it speaking of a certain business he pronounced gravely as if he had read it in a book That he was of the same opinion with them who had offered true things The words in the Author are Secundum eos se sentire qui vera proposuissent Suetonius It followeth ibid. Propter quae usque eo eviluit ut passim ut propalam contemptui esset c. And I can see no reason why the asserters and upholders of this silly saying which they so magnify and affect should not fall into a parity of contempt for so doing But that sandy foundation of theirs That ignorance is the Mother of Devotion and 't is true of their devotion can bear no other superstructure than ignorance of the faith and ignorance of the Scripture nor can it otherwise be supported but life eternal consists in knowledg and Prov. 13.16 Every prudent man dealeth in knowledg But whenever subtilty craft is requisite there they use it and where ignorance is helpful to their designs there that is appiled I can compare them to nothing more fitly than to briars which take root and grow at both their ends and whereever they lay hold of the silly sheep they tear off the fleece But that faith which makes us the Sons of God and gives life eternal must be more knowing and be able to give an account of it self viz. To know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent according to the promises of illumination They shall all know c. And knowing him must receive him and believe in his name as in John 1.12 To as many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God to them that believe in his name The object of faith which is said to be the evidence of things not seen generally is God and the truth of
those corruptions of Nature called the old man those infirmities and weaknesses and indispositions to the new nature to grace and to the meanes of grace and for those graces those helpes and occasions and meanes of grace which the Saints and Servants of God under the law have prayed for and God promised to give them As for instance all those petitions of David in the Psalms shewing his own corruptions weaknesses failings sins and infirmities wandrings and strayings from Gods Commandments and praying for the Lords help against them we now under the Gospel if we flatter not our selves as some sects do we all at sometimes shall find by sad experience that we have need to pray so too And those that are most renewed and most conformable to the Image of God those search out most and know there own failings in grace and proneness to sin for it may be said of us All have sinned and are justified freely by his grace for if St. Paul counted not that he had atttained perfection but pressed forward neither may we imagine that those of this age who pretend to it have attained it for in many things we offend all Therefore in as much as those graces are to be in us which they sought and prayed for that they should be in them we also are to imitate their examples of praying for them and the improvement of them and against the contrary viz. the corruptions and sins which we find our natures liable to Every mans condition doth shew him what temptations he is most liable to and what graces he hath most need to pray for Those that will be rich the Apostle saith fall into temptation and a snare and divers noisome lusts they will be rich though therefore have need to pray against those temptations of pride anger disdain oppression contention strife wilfulness covetousness love of the World and all those lusts which accompany a plentiful fortune as gluttony drunkenness effeminateness the love of pleasure c. and that they may escape all those snares whereby the Soul is taken and held captive viz. those advantages which they have of sinning with impunity those helps which their wealth ministers and all the opportunities which wealth makes for them that by the help of Gods holy Spirit they may be able to take off their affections from things below that so they may set them on things above that they affect not mind nor nor converse with these things of the world which they have plentifully to enjoy That notwithstanding their abundance they may have their conversation in Heaven and mind only heavenly things and use the World as if they used it not buy as if they possessed not and be rich in good works and may be able to deny themselves and may be crucified to the World and buried with Christ in Baptism and rise again with him in newness of life that the life which we now live we may no more live it but Christ may live in us and the life which we live we may live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us A special help and incouragement it is to us if we can find out a promise of obtaining these graces which we thus pray for in time of need for having these precepts as here before mentioned it urgeth us to the practice of them as the Apostles profess they practised But the promise puts hope into us of obtaining the like graces if we seek them by Prayer Meditation and other means appointed by God to be used The promise then which we may urge and charge God with in our prayers may be this viz. The Sun shall not burn thee by day nor the Moon by night or that That all things shall work together for good to them that love God For these promises were therefore given to us that we should have boldness at the Throne of Grace The contrary condition of life Poverty hath likewise its temptations Therefore we find the wise Agur praying equally against it and riches shewing the temptations of both and the blessedness of the middle or mean estate Those that experience the extremity of poverty not having a place where to lay their head have many promises of a God alsufficient to trust unto and he will never leave nor forsake his Servants In like manner other conditions of life are accompanied with multiplicity of temptations Therefore the Scripture gives cautions and admonitions to all to warn them and arm them against them young and old Masters and Servants Parents and Children Husbands and Wives Kings and Subjects Priests and People and every mans daily experience tells him what temptations he lies under and his proneness of nature and inclination to them which when the Scripture in particular warns us against and instructs us how to avoid we know that we ought by Prayer to seek assistance and help from God because without his almighty help we are not able to overcome them For instance The Lord commanding to fly youthful lusts If we find our selves by natural inclination liable to those lusts we may as the Apostle St. Paul hath given us an example Beseech the Lord that this Messenger of Satan may depart from us and never cease to beseech him until we obtain an answer like to that which he obtained sufficiency of grace or else removal of the temptation and as often as it recurs we may pray with holy David Psal 119. Hold thou me up and I shall be safe And whilest we do continue praying and caling upon God why may not we be confident in it as the Apostle was That the Lord will deliver us from every evil work since the promise is to all that trust in him That he will stand by them and save them and deliver them Or if by nature we are inclined to covetousness David's prayer will stand us in stead Incline my heart to thy Testimonies and not to covetousness In like sort he fearing to be overtaken with that common sin of lying prayed to God to take from him the way of lying to grant him his Law and to teach him his statutes for he well knew that there was no remedy against sin but grace And the Law of God dwelling in his heart that he might run the way of God's Commandments without halting or looking back If we have been overtaken with this sin this prayer suits for our occasion for by praying to God to take from us the way of lying we intend we have more of it than we ought and so probably he intended or else how could it be taken from him And if we should be so unhappy as to be so overtaken with lust as he was If in the bitterness of our soul and sorrow of a broken heart washing our bed with our tears having no health in our flesh nor rest in our bones because of God's displeasure We pray as he did with humble confession of our sins and vileness to him to wash
ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity Nevertheless we must continue praying though the Lord seems inexorable for though he tarry long it may be that he only intends to exercise thy faith and patience and other graces And he will fulfil his promise for thy deliverance in his own time not thine The Rod of the wicked may rest a long time on the back of the Righteous but shall not alwaies With this direction too that thou observe when thou prayest against any affliction or calamity that thou chiefly prayest against the causes of them and those sins upon which God useth to threaten and denounce those calamities especially if thy conscience tell thee of any particular sin which might procure them And that thou submit to him who sends it with patience if his will be not to remove his hand confessing it to be his mercy that thou art not consumed and hear the Rod and him that appointed it And if by thy great afflictions thou beest deprived of all comfort and made the spectacle of all misery yet thou art to trust to thy amends at the last day Though worms consume thy flesh yet it may be comfort enough to support thee that thou know that thy Redeemer lives and thou shalt see him at the last day So Job By execution some go to Heaven as the Thief upon the Cross The promised Blessings and Enjoyments Benefits Deliverances and Immunities and earthly Comforts must not be taken or understood absolutely but subordinately and relatively viz. as may conduce and further the spiritual and eternal welfare of those who are heirs to them and have title to claim them therefore they must be sought with submission and modesty as we find Jacob praying but only for food and rayment and our Blessed Lord and Saviour when he prayed that the bitter cup of his sufferings might pass from him it was with submission Nevertheless not my will but thy will be done Because these prayers are the dictates of nature which the Saints and Servants of God do not use to inlarge but suppress albeit God oftentimes grants them with an overplus as when David asked life and God granted him long life viz. for ever Solomon wisdom and God gave him besides riches and honour And Jacob asked but food and rayment and the Lord increased him to two bands And Abraham a child and God granted him seed like the sand of the Sea But in these prayers too we do not find the dictates of Nature only but the dictates of the Spirit usually combining in the same petition For it is probable that Hanna did design the Glory of God in asking a child as the consecrating him to God gives reason to suppose although we read of another cause which was the contempts which she sufferd for her barrenness and her grief thereof conceived which drove her to seek to God for succour and praying vowed if God would give her a male Child then she would give him to the Lord all the days of his life which vow she performed If we also praying for ontward blessings vow and retribute to God our prayers are warranted and are spiritual Especially if we design the glory of God therewith Those who have received such prayers with an overplus are much more bound to consider what they shall retribute and if they they have vowed too let them perform lest they lose all again for their unworthiress and Ingratitude And with these cautions God doth sometims allow beggars to be chusers as 〈…〉 what sex her Child should be And so Lot got Zoar to be spared when God had appointed it to destruction The good Emperour Titus thought it an unbeseeming thing that any person should depart from his Princes presence sad therefore he granted all petitions then shall not his Prince be much more gracious To sue to God upon his own promise is an argument of faith much used by the faithful people of God as we find in many of the Psams And an argument wherein God delights as he doth in every work that is of faith And no man that ever prayed thus lost his labour I cannot affirm that they alwaies obtain the things of this life because they are not absolutely promised Though godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come and no good thing shall be wanting to those that live a godly life they that fear the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good Psal 34. Yet these worldly blessings are not absolutely good for every person in every condition therefore are not absolutely promsed But yet if we do seek these bodily comforts by use of means we ought to joyn prayer with the means else God will frustrate the means As we read 2 Chron. 16. he did when Asa sought to the Phsiycians to be healed and not to God But spiritual mercies and graces and the gifts of the Spirit are absolutely good and absolutely promised and every man may and must seek them evermore because they are commanded to have them and to seek them and they are promised to those that seek them and those who seek them not are threatned Those graces which we have we are not able to retain and keep of our selves the Church of Ephesus Apoc. 2.2 was labourious patient zealous against evil persons tryed the pretended Apostles and for the name of Christ Jesus laboured herein without fainting And yet for all that reproved in the next words Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love The like perils I suppose attend all the Sarvants of God Though some are of opinion that the Elect cannot fall away yet we see they do sall foully And therefore they shall do well to pray to God for supportation As David Psal 119. prayeth Hold thou me up and I shall be safe And he prayeth for all graces in particular but it cannot be supposed that he was destitute of all therefore it is certain that he prayed for many which he then had Probably because he was sensible of his weakness and danger of falling if God did not water him every morning and every moment as he hath promised to do or if God did not keep him watch over him strengthen him hold him up with his arm which the Lord hath promised to do Therefore we may be sure that we need it all And that he must be sought too to perform these gracious promises And the Lord will keep and encrease in us those graces which we have And deliever us and save us from those corruptions and lusts which we think we are free from otherwise we who seem both naturally and spiritually fortified against some sins may fall in the thing wherein we excel for so did Moses he spake unadvisedly with his lips though he was the meekest man upon the earth
denying the Lord and his justice and his holiness all which blasphemies are hereby committed and God summoned to the creatures bar and we condemn him of injustice LORD heal us of these our iniquities and reform our complaints that we may have none but filial complaints to thy self as our Blessed Lord Jesus who said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And whatever we suffer to say with Jeremy in his expostulation Lord thou art Righteous yet let me reason with thee Why doth the ungodly prosper And in all extremity of afflictions retain this thought of God that he is righteous and good And let our complaints of the instruments of our afflictions be mixed with prayers for them as Stephens were And let us strive to bring up our wills to God's will and to submit all to thee saying as our Saviour did Lord if it be possible let this cup pass from me Nevertheless not my will but thy will be done And that thou mayest remove thy afflicting hand and thy Rod and thy servants sins and punishments may be removed let us first amend our lives and forsake our sins Search and try our waies to find out the sins we lie under For thou hast said If thy people which are in Captivity shall bethink themselves and turn unto thee thou wilt help them but if when thou hearknest thou hearest no man speak righteously or to say what have I done how canst thou repent of the punishment when we repent not of our sins Let us therefore remember from whence we are fallen and let us turne again to the Lord and forsake our wicked waies lest thou sayest to us as to Israel thou sayedst 10 Judg. 10. You have forsaken me go and cry unto the Gods that ye have served And having tried our waies and forsaken our wickedness let us in humble holy fervent prayer lift up our hearts with our hands to our God in the Heavens Saying we have transgressed and rebelled but thou hast pardoned Thus Davi'd Princes took counsel against him but he gave himself to prayer and thus the Marriners in the storm to Jonas awake thou sluggard and call upon the name of thy God And then our God will save us as he did the Israelites in Babylon under Ahasuerus when commissions were out to slay them And his hand is not shortned to us neither hath he forgotten to be gracious to them who confess their sins with their aggravations as the Prophet doth we have transgressed and rebelled And justify God as Ezra Thou hast punished us less then our iniquities have deserved Made upon hearing of a Sermon to the same effect LORD whatever duties I perform unto thee let me do them from the principle of love and not of custom or necessity to silence the natural or awakened conscience since thou acceptest the will more than the gift as thou didst the poor widows two mites and it is this that perfumes our Sacrifices and it is thiâ— that thy word calls the fulfilling the law And all that thou hast required of us is contained in thiâ— as it is writen what doth the Lord require of thee but that thou love the Lord thy God and my Son give me thy heart O Lord God take this poor worthless heart too good for the World and those brutish pleasures which we so willingly give it to and eagerly and earnestly affect but not any way good enough for thee who by thy bounty and beneficence to us every day dost oblige us more than all we have or can doe will requite but the world can do no such things for us and if beauty excellency worth wisdom kindness beneficence parentage free love pardon or any other motive whatsoever would prevail to win and allure us in thee it is I will therefore resolve to devote my affections to thee and ever to begin my meditation in the morning when I awake with the sweet remembrance of thy undeserved kindness to me When we were cast out in our blood in the open field in the day of our nativity when no Eye pitied us to wash us swaddle us salt us bath us and bind us up then thou passedst by and castedst thy eye of love upon us and didst all these things for us and nourishedst us and broughst us up and then the time of love was and thou madest us beautiful and comely in thy own righteousness and marriedst us to thy self and bestowedst upon us thy self And all that is thine And all that are thine And all this didst thou to us as a stranger passing by and unconcerned for what had our perishing been to thee but thou as the good Samartan didst freely pity us nay while we were thy enimies thou didst all this for us shall not all this love move us nor is this all Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what the Lord hath prepared for them that love him If we consider the particular benefits we have received from the hand of God and how highly we valued them and earnestly sought them before we had them and the great evils we have been deliverd from and how much we feared them and how restless we were in the fear till we were delivered from them we shall admire thy goodness and love thee with admiration And if we consider thy excellency we may love and admire the perfection and beauty of thee and thine infinite wisdome and power in all thy works in the Heavens in the earth and in the ocean in the Sun Moon Stars the Seasons of the year the living creatures and in the smallest of them O Lord since we cannot but see all loveliness excellency and desirableness in thee let our first and last meditations begin and end the the day with thee eager to take the first opportunity of approaching thy throne and as loath to leave the sweet contemplation of thy exelencies and goodness O Lord God almighty thy holy word teacheth us That except we eat thy Sons body and drink his blood we have no life in us And that whoso eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood hath eternal life Joh. 6.53 54. Give us worthily to receive this Sacrament that we may have eternal life Give us to come to it with grace in our heart that our graces may be increased and strengthened as by the food of our souls as the body is by the food of the body which is not betterd by food if it be not living no more can our souls be if we be dead in trespasses and sins and as the body turns the most wholsom nourishment to its hurt to diseases if the stomach be full of ill humours so our souls shall be worse as Judas was for these holy Sacraments if we come not to them prepared with repentance Therefore as the Lord was pleased to wash his Disciples feet before he gave them the Sacrament of his body and blood that they might be clean and fit for
loathsom vice of beastly intemperance but let me avoid them and not look upon the Wine when it moveth it self right and giveth a pleasant colour in the Cup or if it should be so that I have no inclination of my self to this or any other sin yet let me not therefore venture my self upon the temptation but let me fear sin always considering how foully Noah and Lot fell let me never be found standing or walking in the way of sinners nor sitting in their seat but let me be always found in the way of God And what is said of the adulterous Woman whoever toucheth her shall not be innocent let me fear the same in every temptation and avoid the least medling with it or approaches to it and as it is also said concerning the same avoid it pass not by it turn from it pass away so let my practice be in all other temptations And as it is said of Gluttony for remedy of it if thou beest a man given to thy appetite set a Knife to thy throat So in all other temptations let me lay violent hands upon the peccant member if my right eye offend me let me pluck it out Lord thou knowest that I am resolved not to sin to avoid the greatest suffering therefore teach me wisdom that I may prevent and guard my self against all provocations to sin that I may not draw upon my self a necessity of suffering MAKE us to accept Jesus Christ our Saviour upon his own terms as he offers himself to us in the Holy Gospel to be our King to rule us and reign over us our Prophet to teach and instruct us as well as to be our high Priest to attone and sacrifice for our sins Let us not think to have the priviledges of Christians without the duties Make it to be a greater pleasure to us to deny our selves in sins then ever it was to give our selves up to them that we may be meet to receive Heaven into which flesh and blood cannot enter Let the Holy Spirit inflame us always with that divine fervent affection to God that inspired the Spouse when she said or ever I was aware my Soul was like the Chariots of Aminadab O sweet Christ do thou put grace into our hearts by that sweet voice behind us saying this is the way walk you in it for thou only art our great Prophet and teacher who canst make us learn and our high Priest and mighty Saviour delivering us from our sins and making us as innocent by thy attonement as if we had never offended for those whom thou makest free they are free indeed if thou wilt not take away the being of sin in us in this life yet assist us with thy grace to subdue it deliver us out of the power of darkness and the Prince of darkness And what benefits thou hast purchased for us by thy death apply them to us by thy intercession deliver us from death and give us the Crown of life which thou hast promised to all them that love thee and since thou art desirous of our salvation and it is because we will not come unto thee that we have not life O Christ make us a willing people as thou hast promised for our salvation is wholly from thee But our damnation from our own wills and if we perish our blood is upon our own heads O sweet Christ our Prophet and teacher teach us by thy word and thy Spirit the things that belong to our peace Guide me by thy Spirit and then bring me to glory LORD what is there in us for which thou shouidest desire our love Lord in thee is every thing that is lovely therefore ought we to chuse thee for the object of our love But we seek that happiness in the World which we cannot find any where but in thee and having found nought but emptiness vanity and the loss of all our labour in the pursuance of content peace and happiness in the affaires and matters of the world let us at last betake our selves to seek it in thee and thy waies to learn of thee to take thy yoak upon us that we may find rest to our soules LORD what pretence can sinners have for which they cast off thy yoak and will not have thee to rule over them upon whose daily benefits they live when they rebel against their Princes and shake off their yoak it is either for their leud lives and wickedness that they judge them unworthy to rule therefore scorn to be subject unto them Or for their oppression that they are not able to bear their grievous burthens but what iniquity have sinners found in thee thou hast put the Question to them but they can find no answer LORD since thou hast shewed me that every Saint must live in the same holiness of life that thy Servants the Apostles attained and St. Paul said of himself that he was crucified with Christ yet he lived yet not he but Christ lived in him and he lived that life by the faith of Christ who gave himself for him give us thy grace in like manner to crucify our selves to the World and to live no more to it nor to our selves but to live by Christ in us so as we may be said not to live And if thou givest us to live the life of faith and not to the World and live to thee let us not impute this our well doing to our selves for of our selves we cannot think a good thought but to Christ who liveth in us who only can inable us thus to live In all our distresses let us pray to the Lord and use the meanes as when the Arabians Ammonites and Ashdodites conspired against Jerusalem 't is said Nehemiah 4.9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them day and night But let us not like King Asa seek to Physicians in our sickness and not to God LORD while I am supported by thy Spirit I shall be able to live blamelesly as Lot did in the midst of Sodom but the strongest of thy servants will fall as he afterwards did if thou withdraw the Assistance of thy Spirit and shall be as that Apostle who denied the Lord Jesus Christ whom before he sought for and resolved to dye for though he was the Rock Therefore let me never be confident lest thou leavest me as thou didst him And when I hear of others miscarriages let me be thankful to thee for holding me up and ascribe it to thee as the Angels in the Book of the Revelations are said to cast their Crowns at thy feet and let us learn not to judge uncharitably of those that are overcome by temptations LORD when we pray unto thee our prayers are so interrupted with worldly and sinful thoughts and the things we pray for being mostwhat temporal mercies and deliverances from bodily evils they are not such prayers as our own reason can think worthy thy acceptance But Lord though we offer thee
the lame and the blind if we have no better in our flock thou wilt accept it therefore I will not cease to pray unto thee though I cannot approve my own prayers for thus I come unto thee without money or price that thy gifts may be free O that I could account the corruption of my nature to be my misery as Saint Paul complaining of the law of his members warring against the law of his mind so that he could not do the good he would cries out Miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin And make me as sensible of the strength of it as this holy man was LORD if I fall into sin let me not be insensible of it as the adulterous woman who eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith I have done 〈◊〉 wickedness But like as David after he had sinned and the Prophet Nathan had told him God had done away his sin yet his grief and sorrow for having offended God gave him no rest so that he wept day and night So let my sins grieve me as oft as I remember them Meditation SINCE the Apostle Peter wherein he was confident of his strength above all others immediately fell I will ascribe my standing to God only and praise him who holds me up And pray with David Lord hold thou me up and I shall be safe And watch and take heed to my self and alwaies fear lest I fall since I know that I stand not by my own strength for corruption of nature is as strong in me as in others and the tempter the same to me as to them but the Spirit of God only makes the difference therefore I will praise God who upholds me and keeps my feet from falling for it is not I that live the life of faith but Christ that lives in me therefore with the Elders in the Revelations I will cast my Glory and Crown at his feet from whom I have received it And the consideration of this my weakness shall teach me charity towards those that are overcome with temptation that I may restore them in the spirit of meekness but not judge them lest I condemn my self as David did himself in the Parable of the yew Lamb And as Judah condemned himself in condemning Tamar And let me not flatter my self like the Scribes and Pharisees who said If we had been in our Fathers daies we would not have been partakers with them in killing the Prophets LORD establish thou me with thy free Spirit whereby I may stand in the hour of Temptation and run the ways of thy Commandments freely without rub or let without dulness and without danger of stumbling or falling that the Spirit may be willing though the flesh be weak And with Paul when he was full of the Spirit he was content not only to be bound but to die for Christ so may I also since thou lovest only the chearful giver And as it said 5 of Judges 9. Thy heart is towards the governours of the people that offered themselves willingly So make me alwaies to cast off readily and freely every tempter that goes about to seduce my affections from thee disdaining to harken to them LORD give me to avoid not only gross sins but also the smallest and first degrees of sins viz. To turn away my eyes from beholding vanity Not to look upon the wine when it moves it self right in the cup to make a covenant with my eyes not to look upon a maid gives me understanding in the way of God that I may know these small degrees of sin to be sins and the danger of them to avoid them and all other of the like nature Then I shall know that I have a New heart and that thou hast put thy Spirit into me which I desire to know above all things LORD let not my heart deceive me either making me think that I have more grace than in truth I have as Peters did him so as that he thought though all men denied thee yet he should not or by making me think I have not those corruptions that I have as Hasael 2 King 1.13 When the Prophet told him what cruelties he would commit upon the Israelites he answerd is thy Servant a Dog Yet did he commit the same but let me know my own weakness and vileness that I may not trust to my own strength in any temptation but let me rejoice in God my strength and know that thou art my strength and that thou only holdest me from falling and keepest my feet from slipping and orderest my goings and makest me to run the waies of thy Commandments And inclinest my heart to thy testimonies O hold thou me up and I shall be safe Keep thy Servant also from presumptuous sins and from the sins of infirmities and let me always know my own insufficiency weakness and corruptions and watch and pray against them not only against gross sins which the heathen and unbelievers detest as drunkeness swearing murther and adultery theft and the like but against every degree of sinfulness and every vain and lustful thought and idle word unseemly gesture which I can easily espy as motes in anothers eye while I hardly discern the beam in my own but do thou O Lord take away from me this blindness of heart with the effects and consequences thereof by causing the day star to arise in my heart LORD let my former experiences which I have had of thy goodness beget a confidence in me in all dangers as it did in David when he went to encounter Goliah He remembered the slaughter of the Lion and the Bear and concluded the Philistin should be like one of them And breakes out saying though 10000 men should set themselves against me round about yet will I not be afraid and though as many Devils also are against me let me not be afraid let me remember thy promise saying call upon me in the time of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shaltpraise me And let me not rely upon nor trust in the outward meanes the arm of flesh though I do make use of it as Nehemiah whenhe builded the walls of Jerusalem he set watches and they took their arms with their spades so wisdom teacheth but yet not to trust to the Sword or think that our bow shall help us for so did that Philistine Wherefore said David thou comest to me with thy sword thy spear but I come to thee in the name of my God Lord teach me the power of prayer especially mingl'd with faith And to consider that thou hast heard the wicked when they have sought thee as Ahab because he walked heavily and mourned thou wouldst not bring the evil in his daies And thou heardest Manasses and thy poor people that cry unto thee in their trouble thou deliverest out of their distress as exiles prisoners Marriners and sick persons when their soul fainteth in them and they cry unto thee being at their wits end And
to avoid despair concerning which sorrowing the Corinthian was warned This teacheth me not to overdo any ceremony of worship It teacheth not to run out of one error into another like Sabellius who out of Zeal against Arrius heresy confounded the Divine and Humane Natures It teacheth that knowledg is better than Zeal since that only makes Zeal good It teacheth us not to be unseasonable with our acts of Zeal and religious duties but to observe fit times so Abigal would not rebuke her husband when was drunk So Paul condescended to the Jewes for peace sake to have Timothy Circumcised There is a season to stand up against sin and out of season it is not to be done the works of our calling must be done in their time and the works of Religion in their time Knowledge must direct us to the meanes as well as to the end we must not do evil that good may come of it Though we cannot love God too much and consequently cannot have too much zeal to God yet the love and zeal to God may be expressed in such actions as may most disobey God and be disservice to him as this of the Jews and Pauls when out of zeal he persecuted the Church and that expressed by our Saviour Whoever shall kill you shall think he doth God good Service This zeal of the Jews is mentioned for their praise the qualification of it though not according to knowledge was their unhappiness many pretend zeal when they seek their own interest as Jehu did and those late Sectaries who ruined his Nation A Meditation upon hearing of a Sermon of Mr. J. B. and discussing it with my self Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor labour nor invention in the Grave whither thou goest for trifles and idleness no time Meditt That this is the time of doing our duty the next life the time for reward 2. The brevity of this Life which is given us to prepare for Eternity 3. That now or never we must do it we cannot re-call time that which is pass'd will never be more 2 Cor. 6.2 This is the accepted time this is the day of Salvation Life shall never be restored Job 13. If a Man dyeth shall he live again our ife is like the fighting of a Battle we must now loose or win the Battle And now we have offers of Grace and now if we refuse Christ we can never have him after our Life is ended the work we have omitted cannot be done and our Life is but short why then sit we as if we had no business why do we not awake and about our task Do we look to have Preachers sent after us in the other World to offer us that which we neglected and dispised in this World or do we trust to Orate pro animabus While thou hast opportunity to do all thy work that thy duty calls thee to do fail not of it for want of a willing mind First Delay it not till to morrow That which thou wouldst have forborn thou wouldst have excused for the whole It is nothing else but the wickedness of the Heart Infidelity and doubting that maketh us unresolute and wavering unstable dull slow of heart and indisposed Do it with thy might with vivacity chearfully willingly strenuously and speedily as Phineas executed Gods command against the Adulterers And for his reward God gave to him and to his seed after him the everlasting Covenant of Peace and the Priesthood It is a point of Vertue Meekness and Charity to reprove them but gently but those which are done to God must be reproved sharply though it be to our nearest and dearest Relations let not the flesh draw thee back This implyes that we should do it with forecast care and preparation That we should not do it slothfully but with vigour and diligence hide not thy hand in thy bosom the slothful the simple and the ungodly are Brothers in all his purposes saith St. James Therefore walk closely with God as one that is well resolved not with weariness and lookings back A curse is pronounced on him that doth the Work of God negligently Be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Pars multa natat modo recta capessens Interdum pravis obnoxia Hor. Cautions explicatory Not to oppose good conduct and mature deliberation because nothing requires Wisdom so much as the things of God therefore it must be joyned with that might vigour and diligence here required The treasures of Wisdom that dwell in Christ must be communicated to his Members 2. The things of the World must be done with a fear of overdoing them and in a manner as if we did them not not with equal zeal and care with the things of God not like Martha 3. It is not a little vexatious violence that is required but we must labour to get over the difficulties that disturb the Soul Temptations of Covetousness Ambition the golden Ball in the way the cares of the World c. 4. To labour in those things which God calls to do not what flesh ingages to do but the works of our outward callings are here intended also as Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread 2 Thess 3.10 He that will not work let him not eat success is the reward of diligence And the promise is to the diligent they meet with many unexpected opportunities It should stir up Parents and Masters of Families to be serious in their Family duties to waken them from their insensibility drowsiness and sloth Let them reprove sin with indignation Let not one word come from them jestingly of God nor any vain wanton or unsavoury discourse but as it is Deut. 11.6 7 8. You must speak of the Word of God as you lie down and as you rise up It must be your discourse and table talk such as by good education or estate are advanced above others And all Persons in Authority are admonished to be diligent in their duties 1 Thess 5. let us not sleep as others but watch It should stir up them that are rich to give liberally and willingly With-hold not good from them to whom it is due To do good and to communicate forget not for it is a pleasing sacrifice to God It reproves lukewarmness the Laodiceans sin Consider how odious that is to God because thou art neither hot nor cold I will spew thee out of my Mouth 'T is not enough that thou art not against the ways of God for the unprofitable Servant was cast into outward darkness the barren fig-tree whose time of Fruit was not come was cursed The unwise Virgins who slept and suffered their Lamps to go out were shut out from coming in to the Bridegroom Consider the Curse upon them that do the work of God negligently A negligent Servant is hateful to God and
body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be manifest in our bodys with which agreeth that Rom. 8. Nevertheless afterwards they yeild the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby Wouldst thou have the life of Jesus manifest in thy body or Jesus Christ to live in thy soul then be content with Afflictions sickness and paines continually or wouldst thou have an hyperbole on hyperbole of glory then embrace the Cross which worketh it for us and love God afflicting thee Wouldst thou have eternity of Blessedness hereafter then be content to be fitted and prepared for the injoyment of it by a moments misery if thou desirest these ends use those meanes Med. 6. The Lord hath said it in his word that the voice of joy and thanksgiving is in the dwelling of the righteous heaviness may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning He saith he creates Israel a rejoycing Trust thou then in the Lord O my soul that thy grief shall not always last That the Rod of the wicked shall not always rest on thy back That he hath not forgotten to be gracious to thee Thou hast found by thine own experience the truth of these gracious dealings of God and mayst break out into praises of his goodness with the words of the Prophet Isaiah 25. O Lord thou art my God I will exalt thee I will praise thy name for thou hast done wonderful things thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth v. 4. Thou hast been a strength to the poor a strength to the needy in his destress a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall Therefore according to thy loving kindness of old now O Lord in the midst of thy wrath remember mercy Med. 7. What Son is there whom his Father chastneth not let me see the love of a Father in thy chastisements that it is the cup which my Father giveth that it is thy loving correction as David calls it Psal That it is but when need reguires That it is less than I deserve that it is that I should not perish with the World That thou dost not afflict nor grieve me willingly but as unwillingly as a Father his Son in whom he delighteth 't is affliction to himself That thou layest no more upon me than thou wilt enable me to bear That in all my afflictions Christ suffers with me and he that touches me touches also the Apple of his eye that when the Lord afflicts me with one hand he supports me with the other That he corrects me not in wrath That fury is not in him That his wrath endureth but a moment That he will save the afflicted people Psal 18.27 That it is an undoubted evidence to me of my Adoption and filiation And that it shall work in my soul Patience Humility meekness and all other peaceable fruit of righteousness in this life and an unspeakable weight of eternal glory hereafter That as a Father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth me If this I be assured of I shall count afflictions matter of joy and rejoycing for as I desire the ends grace and glory I must embrace the means that God useth to subdue my iniquities and to teach me obedience and make me better and account it loving correction Med. 8. If I would attain the end I must be contented with the trouble and difficulty of the means Heaven is purchased at no less a rate than All for it Whatever is dear unto thee as thy right eye in this thou must deny thy self Hast thou tryed and found the difficulty of mortification forsaking of the world and self-denial and of thy self thou art not able to attain to them to conquer thy passions viz. thy anger by an invincible patience thy revenge and malice by doing good for evil and by submission to him who hath said Vengeance is mine or else thy covetous mind of possessing much and trusting to the multitude of thy riches or else the lusts of thy flesh and youth pride or vain-glory love of pleasure and ease and indulging thy self What thou findest thou art not able of thy self to do those acts of mortification thou hast prayed to God to inable thee to do viz. that these messengers of Satan that buffet thee may depart from thee The Lord by his visitations and afflictions takes away the strength of thy corruptions weakens them and brings them under and so doth that for thee which thou wert not able to do thy self thou hast cause to say with holy David Psal 119. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn the judgments of thy mouth whereas before I was afflicted I went astray Then thou hast cause to rejoyce also as the Apostle St. James bids the Brother of a high degree rejoyce when he is brought low It may be thou hadst need of subduing and keeping under thy body and instead thereof hast been rather inclined to pamper it feeding to the full and hast waxed fat and kicked The Lord out of his mercy to thee hath sent afflictions to purge thee and heale thee and to keep under thy body that thou shouldst subdue thy corruption and lusts which are ready to break out do what thou canst by mortification self denial fasting abstinance and prayer which dutys thou hast been unwilling to undergo or at least in such sort and measure as the Gospel requireth Thou must not only be conntent to use and undergo the means but if thou wilt have grace and glory thou must pray for the means also and desire it Thou knowest that visitations and loving corrections are those means which thy heavenly Father is forced to use to reclaim those that go astray and to improve those that are weak Thou knowest many of thy graces are weak and want improvement thou prayest to him to fulfil his promises of helping and strengthening his that are weak if so thou must pray for these means which he hath appointed and take up thy Cross that thou mayest be able to follow thy Saviour Med. 9. Thou knowest the Discipline which God useth to his prodigal and undutiful children If they forsake his waies he visits their iniquities with rods and their sins with scourges though he doth not utterly take his loving kindness from them We read not of any of the Saints of God who went unpunished for their sins Job cryed out that God made him possess the sins of his youth David's sins took such hold upon him that he was not able to look up he was even consumed by means of Gods heavy hand there was no health in his flesh nor rest in his bones by reason of his sin Psal 38.3 Then he confessed his wickedness and was sorry for his sins and they were ever in his sight when the rod was upon him v. 17 18. Though we also believe our selves to be the Garden
not that these Afflictions work for them a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory It knows not that they are sent to make them partakers of his Holiness nor seeth the munition of rocks about them they know not the supports that they have in their sufferings from Jesus Christ and the holy Ghost nor the joy proceeding from the exercising and improving their Faith Patience and other Graces nor the carresses and embraces between Christ and his Spouse and although they may read his Love-letters to her yet they do not understand the hope which she hath by the comfort of the Scriptures And though they see them meet at the Ordinances they know not how that God makes them joyful in the house of prayer Isa 56.7 Psal 69. How they are satified with the pleasure of Gods house How their souls are satisfied as with marrow and fatness when they praise God with joyful lips Psal 63. Or how they rejoyce in the Lord. And sing for joy nor that it is their priviledge that God hath given them his statutes and his laws Nor how it is a priviledge to suffer for Christ and not to be dismayed while they have God for their shield Prov. 30. And because they know not of their joys and comforts they like not their waies nor chuse their portion because they are led by their senses and this life is lived by faith and not by sight And the God of this world hath blinded their eyes that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ might not shine unto them Our Saviour tells his Apostles that they are the light of the world their successours who preach to us should shew us fully the sweets pleasantness comfort safety and profitableness of Religion and draw us with the cords of love as Christ leads his Spouse into the banqueting-house into the garden of Nuts and allures her with all manner of sollaces and courtships Cant. 7.13 At our gates are all manner of pleasent fruits new and old which I have laid up for thee O my Love so ought Pastors to inculcate these priviledges of Gods Children as Gods word doth 54. of Isaiah at large And our blessed Saviour in the 6. of St. Matth. where he sheweth Gods paternal care over men to ease them of care that they may intend the matters of their eternal salvation And largly inculcates Gods love to them and his own love Fides Exultans Meditations of that Incomparable Priviledg which Gods Children only can have The joy in the Holy Ghost Motto The voice of joy and thanksgiveing is in the dwellings of the righteous The holy Scripture is very full of proofs to make it out that they have this priviledg Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace c. 1 Thes 1.6 Having received the word in much affliction and with joy of the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 7.4 I am exceeding joyfull in all our afflictions I am filled with comfort Psal 5.11 Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce Let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them Let them also that love thy Name be joyful in thee Psal 97. v. 12. Rejoyce in the Lord O ye Righteous Acts. Repent and be baptised every one of you for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost And Psal 59. My joy shall be in the Lord. Our blessed Saviour testifieth the truth of this Assertion John 14.16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him because he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Comfort gives joy The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit Besides the Authorities cited and many more which might be cited It is evidenced by reason that the Saints have such a priviledge The first Reason to prove it may be this That the chief object of their desire is grace Psal 42. As the Hart panteth c. Psal 63. From whence I argue That the desire accomplished is sweet to the soul Prov. 13.19 And their desire shall be accomplished Prov. 20.24 The desire of the Righteous shall be granted Psal 145.19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him Now that the object which is chief in their desires is grace is proved by Psal 26.8 The desire of our souls is to thy Name And Psal 119.97 Oh how I love thy Law all the day long is my meditation therein Desire is the act Love the passion from which it proceeds Psal 1.2 His delight is in the Law of the Lord. Delight is the enjoyment of that which is loved and desired Fruition or enjoyment is joy So the holy Spouse accompts it Cant. 1.2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better then wine The Holy Gost doth and will work these desired graces in their souls and Christ will returne reciprocal love and carresses to his Spouse and the fulness of joy and will come in and sup with him that opens to him Revel 3.20 Then the soul injoyes her self when she sits under his shadow with delight Can. It is satisfied as with marrow and fatness Psal 63. Another Argument to prove it may be a Congruo It well became the goodness of so good and gracious a Soveraign when according to his Kingly office he put the yoak upon the necks of his Subjects to facilitate the yoak and sweeten the lives of his faithful Subjects in the greatest measure when his goodness was such that he laid down his life for them John 10.11 I am the good shepherd the goodshepherd layeth down his life for the Sheep He draws them to obedience by love the gratest that can be imagined he promiseth them rewards greater than could be conceived Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man what the Lord hath prepared for them that serve him And to facilitate their obedience gives them the holy Spirit to help their infirmities And sends him for a comforter to relieve and comfort them when they are afflicted oppressed or destitute of comfort in the world which he foresaw they would be therefore promised to send it and his Truth will not suffer him to fail so that when their afflictions do abound their consolations do much more abound And when their outward man doth decay their inward man is renewed day by day that makes amends for what their outward man suffers with the certainty of their hope begotten and strengthened in them by the Holy Ghost That our vile bodies shall one day be made like to his glorious body That when this earthly Tabernacle is dissolved we have a building not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens which hopes the Holy Ghost doth assure to us and thus gives us
joy unspeakable This priviledge and many other Christ Jesus hath purchased for and given to his people to oblige and endear them that they should be a willing people 2 Tim. 5.2 By whom we have access through faith unto this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Ephes 3.12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence to the Throne of grace Gal. 2. v. 20. The life which I now live I live by the faith in the Son of God He is the Author of our salvation and of all the priviledges we enjoy because to as many as receive him he gives the priviledge to become the Sons of God and that entiltes them to all priviledges Another Argument may be fetched a causis for as there are pleasures and comforts desires and enjoyments natural causing the joy natural so are there found pleasures comforts desires and enjoyments supernatural undependent separate and removed from the natural and had and injoyed meerly and only in the privation of those according to that of the Apostle when we have no comfort in the world then we have most in duty As having nothing yet possessing all things which joy is fully described by the Prophet Habakkuk c. 3. Though the Fig-tree should not blossom neither should fruits be in the Vines though the labour of the Olive should fail c. yet he would rejoyce in the Lord And it is promised by our blessed Lord and Saviour Joh. 10. My joy shall no man take from you Which the blessed Martyrs in the Epistle to the Hebrews found true when they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods and would not accept deliverance Christ calls it his joy partly because he is the Author of it and doth give it according as he promised and partly in opposition to the joys of the world which proceeds from worldly causes and because the world cannot take it away no more than it can give it for afflictions and persecutions cannot take it away therefore it is said Heb. 10. To you it is given to suffer that is with joy and patience and content for otherwise it were no gift Another argument to prove this priviledg is from the Identity of the principles of the new nature of the Regenerate man which is the Spirit These that are such are lead by the Spirit which is in them they live after the Spirit they are in the Spirit The Spirit of grace and of glory resteth upon them and being Spiritual they are delighted with and savour the things of the Spirit only Spiritus sanctus exhilerat sui participes he quickens and stirs up those graces that are in them and replenishes them with the dew of Heaven without which continual supply our graces would fail Zach. 4. The two Olive Trees emptied themselves by golden Pipes into the Lamps Mortification and Vivification and all graces are wrought in us by the Spirit John 4. The water that I shall give him shall be a well of water springing up to eternal life Rom. 8.22 If ye by the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live 1 Pet. 1.22 Since ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit being born again c. Both the Will and the Deed are from him helping our infirmities That which is their meat and drink which they hunger and thirst for and live upon their Pabulum Animarum must be so qualified as to refresh strengthen delight and comfort and so it doth This priviledge will be further made out by the effects thereof which the Heavenly soul doth injoy therefore it is proper to search out in what particulars the Holy Ghost doth rejoyce and make joyful the believing soul the particulars are contained under three heads First in their duties performed the Holy Spipit doth exhilerate the souls of the faithful people of God this head containeth both active and passive duties whereby they do exert and put forth their graces in doing and suffering the good will of God For duties well performed are their injoyments because they do find the assistance of the Holy Spirit inabling them in the performance of them when they find themselves insufficient and indisposed and this is matter of joy and comfort to them because they have performed by the Spirits assistance the work of prayer and praising God according to his will and they are confident that they shall enjoy that blessed priviledg which Christ hath purchased for them by his blood viz. confidence in their access to the Throne of Grace and assurance that they shall receive their petitions through the merit of his bloody passion and intercession And as every degree of sin if but a sinful or vain thought makes a child of God loath himself so every degree of holiness and every good thought yields him pleasure content and enjoyment Hereby they are encouraged and delighted to walk with God in holy Meditation and converversation So suffering with Christ also called by David loving correction is matter of joy If we suffer with him we know we shall also reign with him therefore they are willing to bear his reproach which they are enabled to do by the assistance of the Spirit in the time of their tryals he revives the spirit of the contrite ones Isa 57.15 A second head to which these particular acts may be referred is the sealing and ensuring the exceeding precious promises of the Gospel to them whereby they are enabled to live upon a promise by faith in him who made it and is able and willing to perform it to them that trust in him through the merits of Jesus Christ And they find themselves contented and willing to live upon the promise and to wait God's leisure for the time till it is accomplished and for the manner of the accomplishing thereof And these workings of the Spirit are all matter of joy and enjoyment to the soul to find them stirring in their hearts because they know it to be the Spirit By this they lay hold of the promises in the greatest latitude I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty No good thing will he withhold from them that live a godly life They shall want no manner of thing that is good Call upon me in the time of trouble and I shall deliver thee and thou shalt praise me Psal 50.15 He will not be afraid of evil tydings Psal 107. No plague shall come nigh his dwelling Isa 54.17 No weapon formed against thee shall prosper c. And that all things shall work for their good but chiefly they lay hold on the promises of grace These consolations are alwaies bestowed upon God's suffering Servants and are most proper and suitable to that condition In the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart thy comforts refresht me The holy Ghost working in our hearts shew us our
renewing some holy duties which have been omitted or else by some judgment befallen to others we are warned and stirred up to do our first workes and to quicken the holy graces which are dying as by the return of the Sun in the spring-time the several Plants of the earth seem to revive and send forth their leaves and fruits again The causes of this deadness of faith holiness charity hope and other graces are various but may be found out and in some persons a wilful sin committed and unrepented of is the cause in some sloth in holy duties in others worldlyness in others pride some too much relying upon their own strength and opinion of the grace they have gotten already not endeavouring after a fuller measure every true Christian feels in himself some times these swoonings away of his graces and diligently endeavours to get more quickning by prayer to God for it and the use of Gods word and ordinances reflecting upon the first motives that excited and allured him to the pursuit of those dying graces and all such other motives as have since confirmed him in the liking of them and the rewards that he hath obtained from God for the service he hath done him and the hope of the eternal recompences The absolute necessity of it enforceth his awakned affections reflecting upon those texts which so absolutely press the necessity of it as Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live And v. 29. Whom he did foreknow them he also did predestinate to be comfortable to the image of his Son and in the Canticles ch The Spouse is said to be all fair That holiness is attainable is proved First because it is the main end of Christs passion and he cannot be frustrate of his ends Luke 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives 2d Because he hath redeemed us unto himself that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works That we should no more serve sin nor live the remainder of our days after the flesh But that we should be conformed to the image of him that made us For whom he foreknew he did predestinate that they should be conformed to the image of his Son Therefore our old man is dead and we are borne again of water and the Spirit whoso hath the hope of Heaven purifieth himself as God is pure the man after Gods own heart testifieth that he had an eye to all Gods commandments and Zachary and Elizabeth walked unblamably And that this is the end of our blessed Saviour in our redemption is made out by that which was the Type of the Isralites deliverance out of the Egyptian bondage Psal 105.42 And he brought forth his people with joy and his chosen with gladness and gave them the lands of the heathen and they took the labours of the people in possession 44. That they might keep his statutes and observe his laws But expresly Luke 17.1 That we might serve him without fear in holiness c. The whole design and scope of all the Scripture is our holiness and the restoring the image of God in us all the precepts command this and the promises encourage and invite us to this and the promises of grace are for making us thus the threats and cursings drive us to it the rewards and punishments tend only to shew us that God will be sanctified in us and that every transgression shall receive a due recompence of reward all the history of the Scripture proves it by examples of Gods wrath and vengeance upon the wicked and deliverances wrought wonderfully for them that feared and sought God with an upright hart Under one of these heads might be quoted every text in the Scripture The History of the Creation of the World which sheweth forth Gods infinite power and goodness working so great benefits for the use of mankind sheweth us our dependance on him and the duty we owe to him for our being and well being The fall of men and Angels shews our frailty without Gods supportation and the miserable condition that attends sin Gods dealings with the two Sons of Adam one he accepted for his sincerity in his worship the other he rejected because his heart was not upright the deluge that swept away all save only Noah the Preacher of righteonsness the rest that were ungodly were drowned the reason alledged because they had corrupted their waies And Noah only God had espied upright wherefore was Sodom and Gomorra destroied and Lot saved wherefore did God bless Abraham and all the nations of the earth in him wherefore was profane Esau deprived of the blessing and Jacob preferred before him what caused Sampson to lose his eyes wherefore were the murmuring Israeltes destroied in the Wilderness for what cause did the Philistians hold them in bondage why was the Kingdom taken from Saul and given to his neighbour that was more rightious than he how did God deal by him when he had sinned in the matter of Vriah and for numbring the people his successors that were good Kings how were they blessed the bad how did God deal with them in judgment when Israel sinned their enimies oppressed them when they returned and sought the Lord he saved them and delivered them when the sins of the Amalakites were grown to the hight he destroyed them and planted the Israelites in their Country and when the measure of their sins were full he distroyed them and brought upon them all the curses threatned against sinners All the Prophets were sent of no other errand but to press them to forsake sin and turn unto God all the evil they foretold was conditionally unless they would repent and forsake their sin The promise of the Messiah was to bring salvation unto his people he was to deliver them from all their iniquities to purify to himself a peculiar people that might offer a pure offering to bring into the right way such as went astray to bring the disobedient to the wisdom of the just his preching proveth the truth of these prophesies for Matth. 4.17 Jesus began to preach and say Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand And Matth. 5. The promises of giving the Holy Spirit to them that ask it And of writing his lawes in their inward parts of making them a willing people that all shall know God c. What other end have they but to make us holy John the Baptist the fore-runner of Christ taught repentance and good works he practised the same in abstinence humility and piety Our Blessed Lord and Saviours Doctrine was the perfection of holiness teaching charity to our enemies to sell all to buy this Pearl of exceeding value and in Matth. 5.22 Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in
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
crucified to us and we unto the world that is as well the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life which containes all that is in the world all which the faithful soul counts but dross and dung for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus whom as the Spouse in the Canticles she esteemes fairer than ten thousand And esteemes sin the most ugly vile eformed and abominable thing in the world pulling off its mask and vizard whereby it deceives the men of the world as it is said Rom. 7.10 Sin deceived me and thereby slew me The understanding thus inlightened ingageth all it can against sin as its enemy and sometimes by vigilancy it prevailes against all assaults of temptations whereby sin is quite excluded from entring and sometimes by flying the occasions of sin as Joseph fled from his Mistress and by the Spirit assistance we mortify the flesh God and Christ susporting Sometimes by prayer faith prevailes against the tempter the soul fearing its own weakness seeks for help of him who is able to succour and hath succoured it The last refuge which faith hath is repentance early and hearty sorrow for the sin committed as Peter when he had denied his Lord and Master immediately he went forth and wept bitterly By these means faith quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked The light of nature teacheth that the soul is borne to more noble things than to wait upon the pleasure of the senses But the supernatural life which the Apostle lived when he said I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Shews another inabling principle of life in the regenerate proceeding from that union which is betwixt Christ and his members because Christ and they are one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.10 Therefore he saith Not I because he is not the same man he was before that man is Crucified with Christ and buried with him he hath derived a new life from Christ as he expresseth I laboured more abundantly than all yet not I but Christ Christ is the spring of it the matter of it and end of it Consider the end of your conversation Jesus Christ and if Christ live in us we shall do think and speak as he did As all other graces of Gods children are sometimes weaker than they are at other times so is faith But thâ— decay of this grace is the cause of decay of many others and sometime the decay of others may cause a decay of this the Psal 51. Entituled a Psalme of David when Nathan the Prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba the Title and the Psalme it self shew what sins and what punishments he lay under and because his sins were the cause of the loss of Gods Spirit or of the danger of it and of the loss of the joy of his salvation viz. His assurance he confesseth his sins first and prays for pardon through the multitude of Gods tender mercys then prays for washing healing cleansing and renovation Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me It followes Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and support me with thy free Spirit This implieth that before he had it but now he had lost it and was deprived of it which was the cause of so great grief to him that he expresseth it to be the breaking of his bones Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce And the like doth every penitent broken soul feel in himself when he fears the loss of Gods holy Spirit and feels himself deprived of the joy of his salvation and this joy when it is restored is so great that it will make the broken bones rejoyce he apprehended the greatness of the joy now in the loss of it Psal I have roared for the very disquietness of my heart God deprives us of it for our sins that we may be the more careful to preserve it and fearful by sin to loose it or hazard it and to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling for though Gods lays not upon his children all that they deserve yet they shall not go unpunished Judgment shall begin at the house of God Jer. 22.24 Though Coniah the Son of Jehojakim King of Juda were the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence Now for as much as the motions workings of the holy Spirit in the faithful people of God by inlightning them in the understanding of heavenly truths bringing to mind and applying the word of God to their comfort inabling them to converse and walk with God in holy Meditation contemplation prayer and thanksgiving making melody in their hearts to the Lord delighting them and rejoycing them in the want of all things as the Prophet Habakkuk expresseth chap. 3. Though the Fig Tree should not blossom nor fruits be in the vines c. And making them to abound with inward joy when their afflictions do most abound slighting and contemning alike both worldly joy and sorrow for the joy which they have in the Lord these are the study imployment and business of a regenerate person wherein he desires to be alwaies exercised because he cannot find satisfaction nor delight in any thing else hence he may be more truly and properly said to live by faith and by the Spirit than to live the life natural as St. Paul argues he did when he saith I am crucified with Christ yet I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who hath loved me and given himself for me Therefore they are as it were out of their lives and void of all injoyment and comfort when they want the comforts and assistance of the Holy Spirit as Holy David did greatly resent the absence of it and fear lest it should be taken from him and that he should be cast away so do most of Gods people Isa 49.14 Sion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Though God had graven her in the palms of his hands When God hides his face and withdraws himself they are cast down as Psal I said in my prosperity I should never be cast down but thou hidest thy face and I was troubled This withdrawing of God was the very bitterest of our Saviours sufferings If this should be our condition let us not be weary of well doing but wait on the Lord for God hath said Isa 49. That he that waits on the Lord shall be like an Eagle And consider that Christ Jesus suffered the like and therefore hath a fellow feeling of our suffering that he might succour us who are tempted But if Christ doth not succour us our heart cannot indure our hands cannot be strong in the days that God shall thus deal with us as it is Ezek. 22. v. 14. But he hath bid us to call upon him