Lord of Israel the kindnesse of thy youth the lose of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wildernesse in a land that was not sown Our first works and our last works are commonly our best works when we begin first to live the life of grace and when we are ready to die and are entring upon the life of glory how excellent is our marriage how savoury our words how heavenly our conversation Even so it is when we are delivered from any great danger when enlarged with any singular comforts how lively how zealous and how active are we Call to minde the fifth of November 1605. when we were delivered from that barbarous Gunpowder-treason how forward were we in making laws against Papists how severe in suppressing Jesuites how zealous in setling true Religion Iâ— Iâ— reported of the City of Berne when first delivered from Antichrist when that State cast off that Romane bondage and reformed Religion that they wrote the day of their Redemption upon pillars in letters of gold And it is observable that in all the ages of the Church God hath set out himself to his people by such names and titles as were most suitable to his present dispensations or such as were of the last edition And why so But that his late mercies might be the better considered and remembred Hence in the beginning he was called the most high God the possessour of heaven and earth who had made all by the word of his power Under those times Melchisedech blessed Abraham Blessed be Abraham saith he of the most high God possessor of heaven and earth And Abraham covenanted to take nothing from the King of Sodome and that under these terms I have lift up my hand unto the Lord the most high God possessor of heaven and earth that I will not take from a thread to a shoe-latchet and that I will not take any thing that is thine Afterwards when God entred into a covenant with Abraham and his seed he was called the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And under those titles God gave his charge to Moses when he sent him to bring his people out of the Land of Aegypt I am the God of thy Father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. After that he was called the God that brought them out of the Land of Aegypt out of the house of bondage Such was the preface to his law I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt out of the house of bondage And so it continued for many generations even until he brought them out of Babylon And then saith the Lord It shall be no more said The Lord liveth that brought them out of the land of Aegypt but The Lord liveth that brought the children of Israel out of the land of the North. And now under the Gospel he is known by this most excellent name The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And why so But because our redemption by Christ is the last and the great work he hath done for his Church and most fresh in our memories Whilest therefore mercies are fresh and work most upon the heart doe something in remembrance of Gods goodness and why not then write them downe in a Journall A small matter I should think whilest the heart is warm and well affected with the present sense of some singular pledge of Gods loving kindnesse may easily perswade to this duty 5. And finally love the Lord for his goodnesse If any thing under heaven will constrain us and help forward this duty love will Oh! love the Lord all ye his Saints saith the Psalmist And indeed none but Saints can love him He knocks at every dore and as it were pulls every man by the sleeve and saith Oh! love you the Lord Let the drunkard love his cups and the adulterer his harlots and the covetous person his bags but do you that are Saints love the Lord. For the Lord preserveth the faithfull and pletifully rewardeth the proud doer When one bucket goes downe the other will come up When Pharaoh is drowned Israel is saved When Haman is hanged Mordecai is advanced When proud doers are plagued the faithful are delivered Oh! love the Lord therefore And indeed love is all that God looks at in us and expects from us and where there is love there is no lack After so large a repetition of the great things God hath done for Israel What saith Moses to them doth God now require for all this but that you would love him And indeed love is complementumlegis the fulfilling of the Law Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing saith the Apostle but faith that worketh by love Faith and Love are like a pair of Compasses Faith like one point fastens upon Christ as the center and Love like the other goes the round in all the works of holinesse and righteousnesse Now certainly Love hath a good memory or would have a good memory What we slight we soon forget but what we love we endevour to lay up sure in our memories Vbi amâ—r ibi animus Where our love is our minde is Where our treasure is there will our heart be It was the eye that made the match That which which the eyesees not the heart desires not And as love came in by the eye so it delights by the same dore to look after that beloved object Such a soul that hath seen God in all things and therefore loves God above all things delights still to look after God in all his wayes that he may love him more and more Such a soul loves God as Jonathan loved David 1. Amore unionis with a love of union the soul of Jonathan was knit to David for he loved him as his own soul 2. He loved him amore complacentiae with a love of delight for it is said that Jonathan delighted much in David 3. He loved him amore benevolentiae with a love of good will for Jonathan said to David Whatsoever thy souldesireth I will even do it for thee Even so doth a gracious heart love God not onely with a love of union and a love of delight but with a love of good will too who saith to God as Paul at his conversion Lord what wilt thou have me to do Such an one is ready to suffer what ever may be inflicted on him and to do what ever may be required of him especially whatsoever may testifie how well he remembers God and his loving kindnesse to him CHAP. VIII Severall arguments propounded by which Christians may be provoked to keep such a Journall or Diary as hath been commended THat such Christians as have any abilities for the keeping of such a Journal or Diary as hath been commended to them may be encouraged thereunto I shal in the second place propound these foure arguments First it is
Son All comfort is divided amongst the creatures as by severall channels but united in God as the fountain The King of Bohemia as some have reported when he was beaten out of Prague and therefore almost out of all in that Kingdome was encouraged by some great Commanders about him that he had many Princes his friends and Allies that were potent and would readily assist him to which he made no answer but wrote the word DEVS in great letters implying thereby that all these must be found in God or they could do him no good whence some pickt out his meaning and found Denmark in D England in E Hungary in V and the Swedes in S. But I have read that Herod in a speech that he made in the head of his Army that was ready to joyn battle with the enemy the better to encourage his Souldiers had this passage Where justice is God is and where God is there is no want of men or fortitude God is a perfect good as well as a solid good Id bonum perfectum dicitur saith Lactantius euj nil accedere solidum cui nil decedere potest That is a perfect good to which nothing can 〈◊〉 added that a solid from which nothing can be spared Hence it is that God in wisdom and mercy plucks these stools from under us that we sit so securely upon that we may look up to him and finde that comfort in him that we lost in them When David's Captains and Commanders that so long had ftuck so close to him spake of stoning stoning him he comforted himselfe in his God When Habbakuk could finde no blossome in the fig-tree nor fruit in the vines when he could finde nothing in the fold nor in the field nor in the stall yet he would rejoyce in the Lord and joy in the God of his salvation because all might be found in a God When Micah looked upon the miserable face of the Time in which he lived wherein there was scarce a good man to be found nor a friend to be had the best was but as a bâ—yar and a mans enemies were those of his owne house so that neither the childe of a mans loyns nor the wife that lay in his bosome were to be trusted he resolves to look up to God Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation there I shall finde all comfort How happy is he then that hath the Lord for his God! He is one of St. Paul's rich men as having nothing yet possessing all things So that I shall conclude this passage with that of the Prophet Let not the wise man glory in his wisdome neither let the mighty man glory in his strength nor the rich man in his riches but let him that gloryeth glory in this that he knoweth me c. Not the wise man in his wisdome Satan is wiser then he and yet a Devill nor the strong man in his strength for the Horse is stronger then he and yet a Beast nor the rich man in his wealth the Earth is richer then he and yet he treads upon it every day but let him that gloryeth glory in this that he knoweth the Lord to be his God Happy is the people that is in such a case saith the Psalmist yea happy is that people that hath the Lord for their God That any of us have the cap and the knee from our inferiours is our priviledge but not our happiness that any of us have the uppermost seat in the Church or chiefest room at a feast is our honor but not our happinesse that any of us eat the fat and drink the sweet when others eat ashes as bread and mingle their drink with their tears is our comfort but not our happinesse but happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that soul that can say The Lord is my God Thirdly observe well the mediums the choyce wayes and means by which all good things are conveyed to us It is good to know how we come by what we have These three wayes take speciall notice of as most observable All good things come to us 1. By Christ savingly 2. By the promise certainly 3. By the creatures sensibly 1. Observe how all good things come in by Jesus Christ savingly God gives all good things to his through Jesus Christ If God spared not his owne Son but delivered him 〈◊〉 for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Peace with him and liberty and riches and honor with him are a good portion indeed All things are yours saith the Apostle to the Corinthians Paul and Apollos things present and things to coâ—e c. But how come they in Ye are Christs saith the Apostle and Christ is Gods All comes to us by Jesus Christ as all the corn in Aegypt came through Joseph's fingers so all comforts come to us by Jesus Christ who is our Mediatour who hath not onely by his blood purchased all things for us but sanctified all to us he turns our waters into wine and makes our bitter waters sweet Hence as all our duties are presented from us to God by Jesus Christ and therefore are accepted so all things are conveyed to us from God by Jesus Christ and so are sanctified Christ is not onely our Mediator but our Husband also and so we enjoy all good things with him and by him we have conjugal communion with him so that we may say as Hamor and Sechem said to their people the better to perswade them to be circumcised and to marry into Jacob's family Shall not all their cattle and substance and every beast of the field be ours So if we be married to Jesus Christ and become one with him shall not all be ours through him who is heir of all Not onely his wisdome to inlighten us and his power to uphold us but the world to supply us so that if this Husband of ours he honorable we cannot be mean if he be rich we cannot be poor and so a little with him is a great portion when the whole world without him is nothing Hence the Saints of God out of their love to Jesus Christ do use to set Jesus Christ above all his name also shall be above every name Princes in their Proclamations Charters and Grants set their names in the beginning on the top as James by the grace of God King of England c. Subjects do alwayes use to subscribe their names to their Wills Letters Leases in the bottome Both the Old Testament and the New wherein the Will of God is contained have the name of God set down in the beginning as In the beginning God created c. Gen. 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God Joh 1. 1. It is good to set Jesus Christ above all for he is the summa
yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things as sorrowing yet alwayes rejoycing I can take more content in my tears then they in their dayes of jollity Have they health peace liberty money I am more in comforts more singular in promises more abundant God deals with his and the world as Joseph dealt with his Brethren their sacks were all fill'd and their money put into their sacks But Benjamin shall have the silver cup which proved a pledge of love at the last All are bountifully feasted but Benjamin's messe is best God is good to all but his owne shal have something over and above riches and the God of riches honour liberty health and a good right to them with a gracious use of them which the world never had And not onely so but in that salvation wrought for mankinde by the death of Jesus Christ Gods owne people have something more then others according to that of the Apostle He is the Saviour of all men especially of them that believe He saves all that is from that inevitable ruine the sin of Adam had involved them in and making them salvable upon conditions of another covenant so that now salvation is not impossible as it was before Christ but may be offered to any man even the Jailor a boysterous bloody fellow upon condition of believing according to the tenor of that commission He that believeth shall be saved So that a speciall salvation is afforded to believers Christ was a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2. 6. but the Saviour onely of his body Eph. 5. 23. He redeemed all from present ruine but called and justified and glorified onely whom he knew before and had predestinated to be conformed to his Image He saves none thus but those for whom he prayed and he prayed not for the world 2. Such even in those outward enjoyments have something more singular then the world that little that a righteous man hath is better then the great revenues of the wicked their wealth is better their liberty better their honor better their peace better then other mens For they have these things mercy with them and a blessing upon them They have these things as by the same covenant so with the same love that they enjoy Jesus Christ and a little blessed is better then a world enjoyed It is said of Isaac that he sowed his ground and received an hundred sold and the Lord blessed him He waxed great and grew on till he became very great but the Lord was with him and blessed him Others have a bit and a whip a crust and knock rich and reprobate honorable and damned Abundance and go ye cursed at the last A little in mercy is abundance and abundance with blessing is Gods plenty And indeed he that can blesse a little can blast a great deal If Cain till the ground and sow his seed the earth is cursed to him it shall not bâ—ing sorth or yeeld to him her strength Hence the word in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both bounty and blessing and indeed that is truely bounty that is thus blessed Rom. 15. 29. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 2 Cor. 9. 5. 3. God ever gives to his owne satisfying mercies contenting goodnesse No man but a childe of God could ever truely say as Jacob did I have enough Joseph is alive My redeemer liveth There is much difference between the men of Gods hand that are the men of this world and the men of his heart and there is as great a difference betwixt the â—â—lâ—ing of the belly and the satisfying of the â—oul Thou fillest their bellies saith David speaking of the men that are his hand with 〈◊〉 â—id treasure but as for me I will behold thy 〈◊〉 in righteousnesse I shall be satisfied when I â—wake with thy likenesse These outward things to the world is but a belly-â—ull and how soon is the belly emptyed but they â—hat hunger and thirst after righteousnesse shall be satisfied God gives the world the worlds goods but not the Saints goodnesse He gives the world as sometimes he did to Israel their request but sends leannesse into the soul a fat purse and a fat heart a whole estate and a whole heart a fat body and a â—ean soul but he deals better with his own he fulfils the desires of them that fear him If he afflict them he sanctifies their afflictions or they are not satisfied If he give to them he gives them all things that concern life and godlinesse or they are not satisfied If he forgive them he forgives all their iniquities and remembers their sin no more or they are not satisfied Hence it is observable that the Saints of God in the Old Testament are ever mentioned in the Gospel with honor but their faults and failings never remembred Ye have heard of the patience of Job saith James so have we read something of his impatience but that is quite forgotten Ye have read of the Faith of Abraham of the Grief of Lot for the David the Wisdome of Solomon c. 〈◊〉 their sins are not remembred in the Gospel On the contrary those wicked ones whosâ— names are recorded in the Old Testament are never mentioned in the New Testament but with some blot as Cain who was of that wicked one Ismael the persecuter Esaâ— the profane Balaam the covetous Corah the Gainsayer c. But what saith the Lord of these In those dayes and at that time the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve 5. Take great heed that the want of some one thing do not rob you of the comfort of all the mercies that you enjoy besides For such is the perversnesse and waywardnesse of mans nature that though some have had more have more and look to enjoy more then they can either want or wish for yet they are more troubled with the sense of one want then they are comforted in or thankful for all they have This was not onely the fault of Aâ—ab whom not the royalties of the Kingdome nor the Cities he had built nor the Ivory house that he had made would content and comfort unlesse he might have Naboth's vineyard also which was denyed him Nor was this the fault of Haman alone who though he did what he listed and had what he pleased under the favour of his royall Master yet lost the comfort of all because 〈◊〉 would not bow What avails all saith he so long as I see Mordecai sitting in the Kings gate but it was the fault of good â—achel that was able to wrestle with God who though she had what a loving Husband could afford her yet would die of the â—ullens because she had no Son Yea even Abraham as some think failed in this who brake out