Souldiers to follow their Captain We are to pledg him in this Cup. He was tempted therefore we shall be tempted Partly and chiefly because now he is more likely to pity us It is said Heb. 2. 18. Wherefore he is able to succour those that are tempted Jesus Christ hath felt the weight and trouble of Temptations therefore sure he will pity us if we lie under Griefs and Dangers as a Man that hath been Shipwrack'd himself is the more likely to pity others in their distress when they have lost all One that knows Evils by guess and imagination knows them only at a distance and doth not know how evil they are but he that knows them by Experience he knows them at hand and by such a smart sense as must needs leave a deep stroke and impression upon the Soul So Jesus Christ that hath had an experimental Knowledg that knows the Heart of a tempted Man can more feelingly succour those that are tempted his Heart becomes tender by Experience he knows the Danger and Troubles we are subject unto therefore be not dismayed And partly too because by suffering this Evil in his own Person he hath pull'd out the Sting of Temptation Christ sanctified every Condition that he passed through his being poor hath pull'd out the Sting of Poverty It is the more comportable now to a godly poor Man one that hath an Interest in Christ his dying hath pull'd out the Sting of Death so that what is to him a Prison Isa. 53. 8. He shall be taken from Prison and from Iudgment is to us a Bed of ease Isa. 57. 2. They shall râ—st in their Beds so his being tempted hath unstung Temptations and hath made them not so grievous And partly too as he hath directed us how to stand out and with what kind of Weapons to foil Satan Christ that is a Pattern of doing and suffering is also a Pattern of resisting He that left us an Example of doing the Will of God and by suffering with Meekness and when he was reviled reviled not again So in resisting Temptations hath he left us an Example hath taught us how to grapple with the Devil and in what manner to repress his Temptation therefore we should not be altogether dismay'd 4. Consider the Comforts of the Tempted Abundantly hath God provided for his Servants in their Conflicts 1. Jesus Christ our General the Captain of our Salvation in whose Quarrel we are engaged hath overcome all our Enemies we are interested in his Victory Iohn 16. 33. In the World ye shall have tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the World We may have many pressing and searching Troubles but the Sting of them is gone Non pugna sublata est sed Victoria Christ hath not taken away the Combat we must fight but the Victory is sure He hath overcome the World This is our Comfort when we are full of Faintings and Fears that all things are vanquished and overcome by Christ that though they terrify us yet they shall not hurt us Though Christ will not exempt us from Battel yet we have to do with the Devil the World and Death which are all vanquished Enemies 2. He hath a tender sense and a knowledg of our Estate Christ saith to Peter Satan hath a desire to have you that he may sift you as Wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not Luke 22. 32. Christ's Love and Mercy is never more at work for his People than when they are most assaulted by Satan then is he interceding for them John 13. 1. Iesus having loved his own which were in the World he loved them unto the end When Christ was about to go to Heaven he thought my own are to be left in the World they are exposed to great Temptation and that set his heart a-work as if he had said Poor Creatures they are undone if I help them not So Zech. 3. 1 2. And he shewed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him And the Lord said unto Satan The Lord rebuke thee O Satan even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee Is not this a Brand pluckt out of the Fire And he shewed me our whole Case and Danger it is clearly known to Christ. He knows how Satan molests and troubles you in your approaches to God how he seeks to divert your Thoughts to weaken your Confidence We have a Friend and Advocate that puts forth the strength of his Mediation and Intercession and is zealous and affectionate for the welfare of his People The Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee 3. He is engaged in the Battel and fights with us by renewing the strength of his own Grace Phil. 4. 13. I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me He gives relief and help according to the nature of the Conflict If there be Duty to be done Burden to be born or Battel to be fought Christ is giving in supply As the Olive Trees Zech. 4. 11 12. were always dropping into the Lamps so is he dropping in strength and Grace into the Heart Psal. 16. 8. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved When a Man hath an able Second he doth with the more courage go to the Conflict God is on our right Hand he is our Second his Grace comes into the Combat and then the Field cannot be lost If we would exercise Faith in God we might be the more confident 4. He will reward us when we have done Hold fast to the end and I 'le give thee a Crown of Life a Garland of Immortality that shall never wither If you will but hold out continue to fight the good Fight of Faith there will a time of triumph come He that 's now a Souldier shall be a Conqueror when the Crown of Righteousness shall be put upon his Head 2 Tim. 4. 8. And mark that Rom. 16. 20. And the God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly 'T is troublesome to be in the World but shortly God shall bruise Satan Mark he doth not only say God shall tread Satan but tread him under your feet triumph over him As Ioshua call'd upon his Companions come set your feet upon the Necks of these Kings when they were hid in the Cave so the God of Peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly Then your Comfort will be greater the more Dangers you have gone through As Travellers when they are come to their Inn and to their Home they sweetly remember the Trouble and Danger of the Road So when we are come to Heaven these Temptations will increase our rejoicing and our triumph in God 5. Even before the Battel a Believer may be sure of Victory In other Fights the Event is uncertain Non aequè glorietur accinctus ac discinctus Let not him that girdeth on
that we may know God doth all that he governeth all humane Affairs that we may live upon his Allowance and take our daily Bread from his hands and that we may see we hold all these Things from our great Landlord therefore we pray unto him We are Robbers and Thieves if we use the Creature without his Leave God is the great Owner of the World who gives us our daily Bread and all our Supplies therefore he will have it asked that we may acknowledg our dependance 2. It is most for our Profit Partly that our Faith should be exercised in pleading God's Promise for there we put the Promise in Suit Faith is begotten in the Word but it is exercised in Prayer therefore it is called the Prayer of Faith In the Word we take Christ from God in Prayer we present Christ to God That Prayer which is effectual it is an Exercise of Faith Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed And as it concerns our Faith so also our Love which is both acted and increased in Prayer It is acted for it is Delight in God which makes us so often converse with him Thus the Hypocrite Iob 27. 10. Will he always call upon the Lord Will he delight himself in the Almighty They that love God cannot be long from him they that delight in God will be often unbosoming themselves to him It doth also increase our Love for by Answers of Prayer we have new Fuel to keep in this holy Fire in our Bosoms We pray and then he gives direct Answers Psal. 116. 1. I love the Lord because he hath heard my Voice and my Supplication So our Hope is exercised in waiting for the Blessing pray'd for Psal. 5. 3. O Lord in the Morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up That looking up is the Work of Hope when we are looking and waiting to see what comes in from pleading Promises It is much too for our Peace of Conscience for it easeth us of our Burthens It is the Vent of the Soul like the opening of a Vein in a Fever When our Hearts swell with Cares and we have a Burthen upon us and know not what to do we may ease our selves with God Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every Thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your Requests be made known to God And the Peace of God shall keep your Hearts O blessed Frame that can be troubled at nothing here in this World where there are so many Businesses Encounters Temptations What 's the way to get this Calmness of Heart Be much in opening your Hearts to God let your Requests be made known to God Look as in an Earthquake when the Wind is imprisoned in the Bowels of the Earth the Earth heaves and shakes and quakes until there be a Vent and the Wind be got out then all is quiet So we have many Tossings and Turmoilings in our Minds till we open and unbosom our selves to God and then all is quiet Also it prepareth us for the Improvement of Mercies when we have them out of the hands of God by Prayer For this Child I prayed said Hannah and I will lend him unto the Lord. 1 Sam. 1. 27 28. Those Mercies we expresly pray'd for we are more throughly obliged to improve for God What is won with Prayer is worn with Thankfulness APPLICATION VSE 1. To caution us against many Abuses in Prayer which may be disproved and taxed either formally or by just Consequence I shall instance in five 1. An idle and foolish Loquacity when Men take a liberty to prattle any thing in God's hearing and do not consider the Weight and Importance of Prayer and what a Sin it is to be hasty to utter any thing before God Eccles. 5. 2. It is a great Irreverence and Contempt of the Majesty of God when Men go hand over head about this Work and speak any thing that comes into their mind As Men take themselves to be despised when others speak unseemly in their presence Surely it is a lessening and a despising of God when we pour out raw tumultuous undigested Thoughts and never think of what we are to speak when we come to God Psal. 45. 1. My Heart is inditing a good Matter The Word signifieth it boils or fryes a good Matter It is an Allusion to the Mincah or Meat-Offering which was to be boil'd or fry'd in a Pan before it was to be presented to the Lord that they might not bring a Dough-bak'd Sacrifice and Offering to the Lord. Such ignorant dull sensless Praying it is a blaspheming of God and a lessening of the Majesty of God 2. A frothy Eloquence and an affected Language in Prayer this directly comes under Reproof As if the Prayer were more grateful to God and he were moved by Words and Strains of Rhetorick and did accept Men for their Parts rather than Graces Fine Phrases and quaint Speeches alas they do not carry it with the Lord They are but an empty Babble in his Ears rather than an humble Exercise of Faith Hope Love and Child-like Affections and holy Desires after God If we would speak with God we must speak with our Hearts to him rather than with our Words This is a Sin of Curiosity as the other was of Neglect 'T is not Words but the Spirit and Life which God looks after Prayer it is not a Work of Oratory the Product of Memory Invention and Parts but a filial Affection that we may come to him as to a Father with a Child-like Confidence Therefore too much Care of verbal Eloquence in Prayer and tunable Expressions is a Sin of the same nature with Babling Tho Men should have the Wit to avoid impertinent Expressions and Repetitions yet when Prayer smells so much of the Man rather than of the Spirit of God alas 't is but like the unsavoury Belches of a rotten Breath in the Nostrils of God We should attend to Matter to the Things we have to communicate to God to our Necessities rather than to Words 3. Heartless speaking filling up the Time with Words when the Tongue out-runs the Heart when Men pour their Breath into the Air but their Hearts are dead and sleepy or their Hearts keep not time and pace with their Expressions We oftner pray with our Tongues than with our Minds and from our Memories than our Consciences and from our Consciences than our Affections and from our Affections as presently stirred than from our Hearts renewed bended and inclined towards God Be the Prayer long or short the Heart must keep pace with our Tongues As the Poet said Disticha longa facit his Disticks were tedious so it is tedious and irksom to God unless we make Supplication in the Spirit Eph. 6. 18. Remember God will not be mocked 4. When Men rest in outward Vehemency and loud Speech Saith Tertullian Quibus Arteriis opus est si pro streno
where he discovereth his Glory in the utmost Latitude It is notable in Scripture sometimes God is said to dwell in Light 1 Tim. 6. 16. And sometimes to make Darkness his dwelling place Psal. 18. 11. How doth he dwell in Light and how in Darkâ—ess Because of the glorious maniâ—estations which are above therefore it is said he dwells in Light and because of the weakness and incapacity of our apprehension therefore he is said to dwell in Darkness 2. To try our Faith and our Obedience that he might see whether we would live by Faith yea or no whether a Believer would love him and obey him tho he were invisible and withdrawn within the Curtain of Heaven You know when the Israelites saw the Glory of God then they cryed All that God hath commanded us we will do Deut. 5. 27. But as soon as that Manifestation ceased they were as bad as ever If all were liable to Sense there would be no trial of this World but God hath shut up himself that by this means the Faith of the Elect might be manifested for Faith is the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. Where there is no sight there is exercise for Faith And that our Love might be tried 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen ye love in whom tho now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory And this is that which discovereth the Faithless and disobedient World Job 22. 12 13 14. Is not God in the height of Heaven How doth God know Can he judg through the dark Cloud Thick Clouds are a Covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of Heaven 3. It is fit there should be a better place into which the Saints should be translated when the course of their Obedience is ended Eph. 1. 3. He hath blessed us with Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places The main of Christ's Purchase we have in Heavenly Places It is fit the place of Trial and place of Recompence should differ therefore the place of Trial that 's God's Foot-stool and the place of Recompence that 's God's Throne The World that 's a place of Trial it is a Common Inn for Sons and Bastards for the Elect and Reprobate a Receptacle of Man and Beast Here God will shew his Bounty unto all his Creatures But now in the place of his Residence he will show his Love to his People Therefore when we have been tried and exercised there is a place of Preferment for us Fourthly What Advantage have we in Prayer by considering God in Heaven Very much whether we consider God absolutely or with respect to a Mediator both ways we have an Advantage First If we consider the Father Son and Holy-Ghost who have their Residence in Heaven consider them without respect to a Mediator Why the looking up to God in Heaven 1. It sheweth us that Prayer is an act of the Heart and not of the Lips that it is not the sound of the Voice which can pierce the Heavens and enter into the Ears of the Lord of Hosts but Sighs and Groans of the Spirit Christians in Prayer God is near to us and yet far from us for we must look upon him as in Heaven and we upon Earth How then should we converse with God in Prayer Not by the Tongue only but by the Heart The Commerce and Communion of Spirits is not hindred by local Distance but God is with us and we with him when our Heart goeth up 2. It teacheth the great work of Prayer is to lift up the Heart to God To withdraw the Heart from all created things which we see and feel here below that we may converse with God in Heaven Psal. 123. 1. Vnto thee lift I up mine Eyes O thou that dwellest in the Heavens And Lam. 3. 41. Let us lift up our Heart with our Hands unto God in the Heavens Prayer doth not consist in a multitude and clatter of Words but in the getting up of the Heart to God that we may behave our selves as if we were alone with God in the midst of glorious Saints and Angels There 's a double Advantage which we have by this getting the Soul into Heaven in Prayer It 's a means to free us from Distractions and Doubts To free us from Distractions and other inter-current Thoughts Until we get our Hearts out of the World as if we were dead and shut up to all present things how easily is the Heart carried away with the Thoughts of earthly Concernments Until we can separate and purge our Spirits how do we interline our Prayers with many ridiculous Thoughts It is too usual for us to deal with God as an unskilful Person that will gather a Posy for his Friend and puts in as many or more stinking Weeds than he doth choice Flowers The Flesh interposeth and our carnal Hearts interline and interlace our Prayers with vain Thoughts and earthly Distractions When with our Censor we come to offer Incense to God we mingle Sulphur with our Incense Therefore we should labour all that we can to get the Heart above the World into the Presence of God and company of the Blessed that we may deal with him ad if we were by him in Heaven and were wholly swallowed up of his Glory Tho our Bodies are on Earth yet our Spirits should be with our Father in Heaven For want of practising this in Prayer these Distractions encrease upon us So for Doubts when we look to things below even the very manifestations of God to us upon Earth we have many Discouragements Dangers without and Difficulties within till we get above the Mists of the lower World we can see nothing of Clearness and Comfort but when we can get God and our Hearts together then we can see there is much in the Fountain tho nothing in the Stream and tho little on Earth yet we have a God in Heaven 3. This impresseth an Awe and Reverence if we look upon the Glory of God manifested in Heaven that Briâ—ht and Luminous Place This is urged by the Holy-Ghost Eccles. 5. 2. Thou art upon Earth and God is in Heaven therefore let thy Words be few Gen. 8. 27. Who am I that I should take upon me to speak unto the Lord who am but Dust and Ashes We are poor crawling Worms and therefore when we think of the Majesty of God it should impress an holy awe upon us Mean Persons will behave themselves with all Honour and Reverence when they supplicate to Men of Quâ—lity So should we to God who is so High and so much above us he is in Heaven It is a Diminution of his Greatness Mal. 1. 14. when we put off God with any thing and come slightly and carelesly into his Presence 4. It teacheth us that all our Prayers should carry a Correspondence with our great Aim What 's our great Aim To be with God in Heaven as remembring that 's the Center
as we have a Cause to present to God There the High-Priest he entred with the Blood of Beasts but we enter by the Blood of the Son of God O what a great Privilege is this that we have a Father in Heaven In this respect the Holy Place is now open to us Tho we have not a personal Access till Death yet by the Blood of Jesus we may come with Boldness presenting our selves before the Lord with all our Wants and Desires The great Distance between Heaven and Earth shall not hinder our Communion with God if we have a Friend above Therefore it is very comfortable now to say Our Father which art in Heaven that is our gracious and reconciled Father in and by Christ. APPLICATION If we have a Father in Heaven let us look up to Heaven often 1. If we have a Father in Heaven and a Saviour at his right-hand to do all things that are needful for us let us look upon the aspectable Heavens with an Eye of Sense with our bodily Eyes It is good to contemplate the Glory of the heavenly Bodies or the Outside of that Court which God hath provided for the Saints It is not an idle Speculation I press you to The Saints of God have thought it to be worthy of their Morning and Evening-Thought It is notable David doth in two Psalms especially contmeplate Heaven 〈◊〉 seems to be a Nightly the other a 〈◊〉 Meditation The Night-Meditation you have Psal. 8. 3. When I consider thy Heavens the Work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained David was got abroad in a Moon-shining Night looks up and had his Heart affected But now the 19th Psalm that seems to be a Morning-Mediation he speakds of the Sun coming out like a Bridegroom from his Chamber in the East and displaying his Beams and Heat and Influences to the World and then saith he v. 1. The Heavens declare the Glory of God Morning and Evening or when ever you go abroad to see the Beauty of the outward Heavens say I have a Father there a Christ there this is the Pavement of that Palace which God hath provided for the Saints Christians it is a sweet Meditation when you can say He that made all Things is there It will be a delightful profitable thing sometimes with an Eye of Sense to take a view of our Father's Palace as much as we can see of it here below 2. Let me especially press you to this with an Eye of Faith to look within the Vail and when ever you come to pray to see God in Heaven and Christ at his Right-hand The great Work of Faith is to see him that is invisible and the great Duty of Prayer is to get a Sight of God in Heaven and Christ at his right-hand What Stephen did miraculously or in an Extasy we must do graciously in Prayer Now it is said of Stephen Acts 7. 56. Behold I see the Heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right-hand of God There is a great deal of Difference about Stephen's Sight How the Heavens could be opened for they are solid Bodies and cannot be divided fluent Air and so come together again How he could see the Glory of God with his corporal Senses which is invisible How he could see Christ at such a Distance the Eye not being able to reach so far Some think it to be a meer intellectual Vision or a Vision of Faith that is he did so firmly believe and had the Comfort of it in his Heart as if he had seen it with his Eyes So they think Stephen saw the Glory of God and Christ at his right-hand as Abraham saw Christ's Day and rejoiced that is he saw it by Faith Some think it to be a Prophetical Vision by seeing those things objected to his Fancy by imaginary Species as Isaiah saw God in a Vision Isa. 6. and as Paul's Rapture Some think it a Symbolical Vision that he saw these thing represented by some corporeal Images as Iohn saw the Holy-Ghost descending in the form of a Dove Some think his bodily Eyes did pierce the Clouds and got a sight of the Glory of Christ. Whatever it be there must be such a Sight in Prayer something answerable to this in a spiritual way this must ever be done Psal. 5. 3. I will pray saith the Psalmist and look up There is a looking up required in all Prayer a seeing the invisible God by Faith If you would have God look down upon you from his holy Habitâ—tion you must look up with an Eye of Faith and converse with God in Heaven Psal. 63. 4. I will lift up my Hands in thy Name If you would have God look upon you with an Eye of Compassion you must look up and see Christ at his right-hand by an Eye of Faith 3. Let us love our Father love God in Christ and love the Place for his sake where his Residence is 1. Love God in Christ. Psal. 73. 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee When God hath been so gracious to you Christians if I had no other Argument to press you to love god but that he which is in Heaven offereth to be your Father in Christ Jesus it might suffice because it is a great Condescension that the God of Heaven will look upon poor boken-hearted Creatures that he whose Throne is in Heaven would look upon him that is of a trembling Spirit Isa. 66 2. That the high and lofty One that dwelleth in the high and holy Place will look to him that is of a contrite Heart Isa. 57. 15. That he that is the Lord of Heaven and Earth will be our Father and own us and bless us A great Condescension on God's part and a great Dignity also is put upon us and how should our Hearts be affected with it Therefore though there be a great Distance between Heaven and Earth it should not lessen our Affections to God He is mindful of us visits us at every turn we are dear and tender to him therefore let the Lord be dear to you The Butler when he was exalted forgot Ioseph but Christ is not grown stately with his Advancement He doth not forget us O let not us forget God Let us manifest our Love by being often with him at the Throne of Grace with our Father which is in Heaven A Child is never well but when in the Mother's Lap or under the Father's Wing So should it be with us with an humble Affection coming into the presence of God and getting into the Bosom of our heavenly Father Never delight in any thing so much as conversing with him and serious Addresses to him in Prayer Again 2. Love the Place for his sake God is there and Christ is there We have cause to love the Place for our own sakes and in a short time if you continue patient in well-doing you will be with God It is not only God's Throne but it is your
the Covenant of Grace Christ hath taken a Token from us and left a Token with us He hath taken humane Flesh carried our Nature to Heaven that he might be mindful of us and hath left the Spirit with us Now there will be a longing looking and waiting for this Day of Solemn Espousals And as he is Lord so he is Jesus a Saviour With what melting Wishes doth the Captive long for a Saviour and Redeemer Now we look for a Saviour from Heaven Christ is a Saviour now but not a perfect Saviour to the uttermost never till then Therefore the Day of Judgment is called the Day of Redemption Eph. 4. 30. There is something left that every Coming of Christ might bring some Benefit something of Misery left upon us to the last Day Here we have Enemies within and without Within mighty Lusts and therefore his Coming is like a Refiner's Fire Mal. 3. 2. and Fullers Sope. His first and second Coming we find oft in the Old Testament put together His Coming is to present us holy without spot and blemish Eph. 5. 27. Our present State is but a Convalescency a Recovery out of Sickness by degrees there is some Fruit of Sin left upon the Body until the Day of the general Resurrection that we may have new Matter of glorifying God just as we are entring into Heaven Therefore that every Coming of Christ might bring us a new Benefit the Body is to die the old Adam is not quite abolished until God be All in All. And so for Enemies without us Here we dwell among wicked Men whose Sins are a Grievance to us and whose Injuries are a very great Molestation and Trouble We live here like Lot in Sodom His righteous Soul was vexed with their ungodly Deeds their filthy Conversation But then there will be a perfect Separation between the Sheep and the Goats Here we are exposed to many Persecutions here Antichrist is but consuming there he shall totally and utterly be abolished II. If we respect the Persons desiring this Coming there is something in them to move them to it There is 1. The Spirit of Christ. 2. Certain Graces which do necessarily issue themselves into this Work 3. Certain Experiences they have which put thâ—m upon this longing 1. There 's the Spirit of Christ The Spirit and the Bride saith Come Rev. 22. 17. The Holy-Ghost breedeth this Desire in the Church Nature saith It is good to be here but this is a Disposition above Nature the Spirit in the Bride The Flesh and corrupt Nature saith Depart but the Spirit saith Come The great Work of the Spirit is to bring us and Christ together he comes from the Father and the Son to bring us to the Father by the Son All he doth is to bring Christ and the Spouse together therefore he enkindleth in the Hearts of God's People a strong and earnest desire of his Coming 2. There are Graces planted in us Faith Hope Love Zeal Faith that is the ground of this Desire Christ saith he comes quickly and this provokes and draws up the Desire to believe Christ will be as good as his Word Iohn 14. 2 3. I go to my Father and will come again to receive you to my self Christ hath ever been plain-hearted with us he saith I come and the Church saith Amen in a way of Faith Even so come If Christ had gone away in discontent and with a Threatning in his Mouth that we should never have seen his Face more then we could have had but cold Hopes and faint Desires but he parted in Love and left a Promise with us The Church and the believing Soul saith I have his Word for it He hath ever been punctual hitherto and kept his Word to a tittle and hath said I will come again This upholdeth the Hearts of Believers during his Absence For they reason thus What need had Christ to flatter or deceive us or promise more than he will perform Would we flatter a Worm that we can easily crush He can strike us dead if we do not please him He hath been true in all things and we have ever found him plain-hearted Then there is Hope planted in the Saints Hope is Faith's Handmaid it looks for that which we believe Faith determines the Certainty of the Thing then Hope looks for it This Grace was made on purpose that we might reach out to Heaven and see if our Beloved be coming that we might expect our full and future Happiness God not only provides a glorious Estate for us but Grace to expect it he works this Hope in us that we might look after it 1 Pet. 1. 3. He hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope Then there is Love in the Saints to Christ. This is an Affection of Union it desires to be with the Party beloved he desireth to be with us and we with him Love awakeneth earnest Longings O come come why is his Chariot so long a coming As a loving Wife stands upon the Shore as ready to welcome her expected Husband So doth Love in the Saints they desire to be with Christ therefore they long for the Kingdom of God coming to themselves out of Love Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. And upon the same ground they desire the general Resurrection of the Church Especially is this inflamed with the thoughts of Christ's Love to us He hath removed his bodily Presence from us yet he cannot be satisfied until he and we meet again John 14. 3. I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also And John 17. 24. And that you may be there with me to behold my Glory Christ is not satisfied in his glorious Estate until we be with him till he hath our Company and we be beatified with the sight of him Before his coming in the Flesh he delighted to be with the Saints before the World was Prov. 8. 31. And when the World was made before his Incarnation he took pleasure to come and appear in the fashion of a Man and converse with his People in humane Shape In the Days of his Flesh he delighted to spend his Time and busy himself among them that are faithful And when he was to go from us he did assure us of returning and cannot be quiet until we be with him So reciprocally and according to our measure doth Love work in us we cannot be without Christ therefore we long to be with him Then Zeal is planted in the Saints and a Tenderness for his Glory It is not their Interest only which makes them desire his Coming but that the King may sit upon the Throne that Christ may reign in the most perfect manner that the Day of Manifestation may come that all Mists and Clouds which are upon his Person may vanish The Saints that love the Glory of God as well as their own Salvation nay above their own Salvation are longing
wicked Wretch takes advantage against David and rails at him yet David forgives him when restored to his Crown He shall not die 2 Sam. 19. 23. Nay he sware to him So his Estate When a Debtor is not able to pay and yet submits So Paul bids Philemon to forgive the Wrongs of Onesimus Put it on my Score Philem. Vers. 18. that is for my sake forgive this Wrong 3. We must be ready to perform all Offices of Love to them Luke 6. 27. Love your Enemies do good to them which hate you Mark do not only forbear to execute your Wrath and Revenge upon them but do good to them yea tho they be Enemies upon a religious ground tho Religion be made a Party in the Quarrel and so engage us to the greater Fury when that which should bridle our Passions is the Fuel of them Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you Mat. 5. 44. Miriam when she had wronged Moses yet he falls a praying for her Numb 12. 13. that the Lord would forgive the Sin and heal her For the Reasons why those that would rightly pray to be forgiven of God must forgive others It should be so it will be so there is a Congruency and a Necessity 1. The Congruency it should be so It is fit that he that beggeth Mercy should shew Mercy it is exceedingly congruous For this is a general Rule That we should do as we would be done unto and therefore if we need Mercy from God we should shew Mercy to others and without it we can never pray in Faith He that doth not exercise Love can never pray in Faith why His own revengeful Disposition will still prejudice his Mind and make him conclude against the Audience of his Prayers for certainly we muse on others as we use our selves And that 's one reason of our Unbelief why we are so hardly brought to believe all that tender Mercy which is in God because 't is so irksom to us to forgive seven times a day we are apt to frame our Conclusions according to the Dispositions of our own Heart Can we think God will forgive when we our selves will not forgive A Man 's own Prayers will be confuted What is more equal than to do as we would be done unto And therefore it is but equal if he entreat Mercy for himself he should shew it unto others Look as the Centurion reasoned of God's Power from the Command that he had over his Souldiers Mat. 8. 9. I am a Man under Authority and I say to one Go and he goeth and to another Come and he cometh Those things we are accustomed to they are apt to run in our Minds when we come to think of God Now he that kept his Souldiers under Discipline that if he said Go they go he reasons thus of God Surely God hath Power to chase away Diseases So accordingly should we reason of God's Mercy according to the Mercy that we find in our selves Therefore it is very notable that when Christ had spoken of forgiving our Brethren not only seven times but seventy times seven the Disciples said unto the Lord Increase our Faith Luke 17. 5. How dotâ— this come in In the 4 th Verse Christ had spoken that they should forgive not only seven times but seventy times seven and they do not say Lord increase our Charity but our Faith implying that we cannot have such large thoughts of God when our own Hearts are so straitned by Revenge and our private Passions 2. In point of Necessity as it should be so so it will be so for God's Mercy will have an Influence upon us to make us merciful All God's Actions to us imprint their stamp in us his Election of us makes us to choose him and his ways his Love to us makes us love him again who hath loved us first so his forgiving of us makes us to forgive our Brethren There is an answerable Impression left upon the Soul to every act of God why for a true Believer is God's Image The new Man is created after God Eph. 4. 24. and therefore he acts as God Certainly if there be such a Disposition in our Heavenly Father it will be in us if we have an Interest in him Look as a Child hath Part for Part and Limb for Limb answerable to his Father tho not so big in Stature and Bulk so hath a Child of God which is created after God he hath all the Divine Perfections in some measure in his Soul And this Consideration is of more force because the New-Creature cannot be maimed and defective in every Part but is entire lacking nothing And therefore if God forgive others certainly the Godly will be inclinable to forgive too Vse 1. Here 's a ground of Tryal whether we are pardoned or no. Is our revengeful Disposition that is so natural and so pleasing to us mortified That 's one Trial or Evidence whether we are forgiven of God can we freely from the Heart forgive others Object But it may be objected against this Do you place so much in this property of forgiving others It doth not agree only to pardoned Sinners because we see some Carnal Men are of a weak and stupid Spirit not sensible of Injuries And on the other side many of God's Children find it hard to obtain to the perfect Oblivion of Injuries that is required of them Answ. As to the first part I answer We do not speak of this Disposition as proceeding from an easy Temper but as it proceedeth from Grace when in Conscience towards God and out of a Sense of his Love to us in Christ our Hearts being tendered and melted towards others to shew them such Mercy as we our selves have received from the Lord that 's the Evidence And again we do not press to judg by this Evidence single and alone but in Conjunction with others when they are humbly Penitent and confessing their Sins and turn to the Lord which is the great Evangelical Condition Job 33. 27. If any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not Then will he restore light to him When a Man is soundly touched with remorse and seeth the folly of his former Courses and asketh Pardon of God then is God gracious to him But this is that we say that this Disposition of Pardon in Conjunction with the great Evangelical Condition of Faith and Repentance it helpeth to make the Evidence more clear 2. As to the other part of the Objection which was this it will be a great weakening of the Confidence of God's Children who cannot get such a perfect Oblivion of Injuries they have received but find their Minds working too much this way I answer As long as we live in the World there will be Flesh and Spirit Corruption as well as Grace there will be an intermixture of the Operations of each Carnal Nature is prone to Revenge but Grace prevaileth and inclineth to a Pardon
better security to their worldly Interests than possibly thorow Christians could have Now to avoid both these the Apostle when he presseth Christians to all those Graces which are necessary he presseth them to Temperance and Patience 2 Pet. 1. 5 6. Add to Knowledg Temperance and to Temperance Patience Both these are Armor of Proof against worldly Temptations Temperance against the Delights and Patience against the Evils and Troubles of the World It was never yet so well with the World but that Christians those that are so in good earnest that mean to go to Heaven and keep a good Conscience will be assaulted on both sides 6. That there is no avoiding either of these Snares and Temptations as long as any Carnal Affection remaineth unmortified For until a Man be dead to worldly Comforts and hardned against worldly Sorrows he doth but lye naked and open to Satan 1 Tim. 6. 9. He that will be rich falls into Temptation and a Snare And what is said of Riches the same is true of Pleasure he that is vehemently addicted that way will soon come to put God out of the Throne and make his Belly and his Pleasure his God 2 Tim. 3. 4. Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God Any Lust that is cherished and indulged will betray us As for Honour John 5. 44. How can ye believe which receive Honour one of another and seek not the Honour that cometh from God only True Faith cannot be planted in that Heart that is not purified until there be a prevailing Interest established for Christ over all Carnal Affections Grace bears no sway in us and hath no power over us The ambition and love of respect from Men will necessarily make us unsound in the profession of Godliness Well then it stands us upon to allow and cherish no secret Sin but to observe what are the tender parts of our Hearts or which way our Corruptions lie where subjection to God is most apt to stick with us Psal. 119. 133. Order my Steps in thy Word and let not any Iniquity have dominion over me Though we seem to have a Zeal in other things yet if one Lust be indulged we shall soon swerve from our Duty True Obedience to God is inconsistent with the Dominion of any one Lust or corrupt Affection I say though a Man out of some slender and insufficient touch of Religion upon his Heart may go right for a while and do many things gladly yet that corruption which is indulged and under the power of which a Man lieth will at length draw him off from God and therefore no one Sin should have dominion over us When doth Sin reign or have dominion over us When we do not endeavour to mortify it and to cut off the Provisions that may feed that Lust. Chrysostom's Observation is The Apostle doth not say Let it not tyrannize over you but let it not reign over you that is when you suffer it to have a quiet Reign in your Hearts 7. The more we sin upon the meer impulsion of the Flesh and without an external Temptation the more hainous is our Offence for then the Heart is carried of its own accord to sin Ezek. 16. 33 34. They give Gifts to all Whores but thou givest thy Gifts to all thy Lovers and hirest them that they may come unto thee for thy Whoredoms And the contrary is in thee from other Women in thy Whoredoms whereas none followeth thee to commit Whoredoms and in that thou givest a Reward and no Reward is given unto thee therefore thou art contrary These are Expressions to set forth their Idolatry But that which is intended there is this That they were not desired or solicited but meerly carried to sin by their own proper Motion which exceedingly aggravateth Sin Why for then it is a sign the Heart is carried of its own accord by its own weight as a heavy Body is moved downward not by the impression of outward Force but by its own natural propension Now when do Men thus meerly sin upon the impulsions of the Flesh I 'le instance in three Cases 1. When the Temptation is so small and inconsiderable that it should not sway with any reasonable Man It is said in Amos 2. 6. They sold the Poor for a pair of Shoes And for a piece of Bread will that Man transgress Prov. 28. 21. When Pleasure and Profit is so inconsiderable as that it could not rationally make up a Temptation then Men sin meerly upon the Corruptions of their own Flesh. When the Devil hath to do with great Souls such as Christ was he propounds the Glory of all the World Mat. 4. O! but a lesser price will serve the turn with those that are deeply engaged already that are byassed with their own propension for instance a little ease and carnal satisfaction a slothful Humour is enough to take them off from the sweetness of Communion with God and the pleasure and contentment that they might enjoy with him in holy Exercises Look as in general it is a great aggravation of all Sin that for such paltry Trifles we turn the back upon God and his Grace all Sinners do so they part with all their Hopes by Christ for a Mess of Pottage for a little present Pleasure that 's prophaneness indeed Heb. 12. 16. So in particular things when the smallest Temptation seems to be strong enough to draw off our Hearts from our Duty to bring us to a Sin of Omission when it is needful to go and converse with God in secret a little ease and sloth hangs upon us and we cannot shake it off or when we are drawn to a Sin of Commission by an inconsiderable Matter by the smallest worldly Interest as can be mentioned for a piece of Bread and a pair of Shoes 2. When Men tempt themselves or provoke Satan to tempt them As those which make provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof Rom. 13. 14. that cater for their Lusts and contrive how to feed them and how to cherish those inordinate Affections in their Hearts that run into the Devil's Quarters that bespeak a Temptation or as it is Iames 5. 5. That nourish their Hearts as in a day of slaughter To nourish our Hearts is to feed our Lusts to put strength into the Enemy's Hand When a Commander sent to his Prince to know how he should keep such a rebellious Town in order He sent him this Answer That he should starve the Dog and strengthen the Clog that he should weaken the City and strengthen the Garison that was his meaning Truly what was his advice in that outward Case that 's the Duty of a Christian to weaken his Lusts and still to be strengthning Grace He should be increasing the better Part and putting the Spirit in heart by godly Exercises by treasuring up Promises getting Arguments and fresh Encouragements against Sin and by weakning the Flesh starving and cutting off Provisions for the Flesh. But on
exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. The second Point is this Doct. 2. That if we would not be overcome by the Evil of Temptations we should earnestly deal with God about them For so doth our Lord direct us here Lead us not into Temptation to come to God himself There are two Reasons I shall consider of in this Discourse First We cannot be tempted without the Will of God Secondly Nor resist without the Power of God Therefore we should deal with God earnestly in all our Temptations First We cannot be tempted without the Will of God That God hath a Providence in and about Temptations is clear from the Scripture Mat. 4. 1. Then was Iesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil The Holy Spirit had a hand in it as well as the Evil Spirit So 2 Sam. 24. 1. God moved David to number Israel and Judah But in 1 Chron. 21. 1. it is said And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel Satan he cannot tempt without leave from God As a Lion cannot stir out of his â—â—ge until the Keeper brings him out so the Devil this roaring Lion is held by the irresistible Chains of God's Providence and cannot stir until God brings him out Consider two things 1. To be led into Temptation is more than simply to be tempted God's permitting us to be tempted is not so much as God's leading us into Temptation for these are two distinct Phrases God may permit or suffer us to be tempted as a Lord or Soveraign which hath power over his own Creature for the trial and exercise of Grace and can absolutely dispose of it according to his own Will but he leads us into Temptation as a Iudg. And therefore this is one of the Comforts which Iob propounds to himself when Satan had a liberty to molest him Iob 9. 12. He taketh away who can hinder him who shall say unto him What dost thou The General of an Army may according to his discretion lead which Band he pleaseth and set them in the Forlorn-Hope in a place of the greatest Danger and appoint for Reserves which part of the Army he pleaseth So God may single out his Champions to Combat for his Glory and may leave others in a more quiet Posture according as he pleaseth Thus as a Soveraign Agent God may suffer to be tempted But now to lead into Temptation that 's another thing and implieth something of Punishment or as it is expressed Mat. 26. 41. Pray that ye enter not into Temptation We enter into it by our own voluntary motion as having forfeited his Protection But then God leads us in as a Iudg puts the Malefactor into the Executioners or Officers hands so doth God lead us into Temptation it 〈◊〉 judicial Act especially when left to perish under the weight of a Temptation 2. Consider God as a Judg he may lead us into Temptation two ways either he may act in way of Correction to manifect his fatherly Indignation or by way of strict Punishment And so in respect of his fatherly Correction God may give us up to a vexing or to an insnaring Temptation He may lead the Godly into Temptation that they may be molested and troubled and may lead the Wicked into Temptation that they may be seduced and led away for their eternal Ruin There 's a vexing Temptation God useth for the Correction of his own Children and thus Paul was buffeted by Satan lest he should be exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12. 7. The Shepherd sets his Dog upon the stray'd Sheep not to worry him but to lodg him and bring him back again into the Fold so doth God suffer his Children to be buffeted and exercised by Satan to their great trouble but for their good in the issue for he knoweth how to turn all these things for good Then there is an insnaring Temptation by which the Wicked are intangled in a way of Sin and so Satan as God's Executioner is said sometimes to blind the Eyes of Wicked Men lest the Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them 2 Cor. 4. 4. and sometimes to harden their Hearts John 12. 40. lest they should be converted and healed for the punishment of former Sins God may give up the Wicked to be blinded and hardned by Satan to their own destruction which is one of the most dreadful Acts of God as a Judg on this side Hell Certainly then when we are tempted we have great cause to deal with God about the Temptation for he hath a hand either he may suffer us to be tempted as Lord and Soveraign or may lead us into Temptation either in a way of fatherly Correction or as a meer Punishment that we may more ruin and destroy our selves I come now to the second Reason Secondly God alone can give strength to resist and overcome the Temptation and therefore we should deal with him very earnestly about it Rom. 16. 20. The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly It is God that treads down Satan but under your feet We fight it out but the Author of the Victory is the God of Peace We are interested in it for we trample upon Satan with our own feet but God's is the Grace Our Faculties are not only exercised but our Graces Briefly two ways doth God concur with the Saints in resisting Temptations First God plants all those Graces in their Hearts that are necessary to the Conflict To speak of those three Essential Graces Faith Fear and Love these are all necessary for the resistance of a Temptation That Faith is necessary 1 Pet. 5. 9. Whom resist stedfast in the Faith And Fear and Love that they also are necessary I shall prove thus Satan's Weapons against us and his way of assaulting are either subtil Wiles or fiery Darts That ye may be able to stand against the Wiles of the Devil and quench all the fiery Darts of the Wicked Ephes. 6. â—1 16. As he assaults us by fiery Darts by raging and boisterous Temptations take the Shield of Faith cover all with the Righteousness of Christ and with a sense of your Privileges by Christ and that 's it which maintains the Heart and keeps it against the fiery Darts of the Devil But as he assaults us by his Wiles there Fear and the Love of God comes in and is necessary for us For there are two sorts of Wiles that Satan useth for the destroying of our Souls One is to convey the Temptation by such means as are most taking with the Person tempted and the other is disguising and turning himself into an Angel of Light colouring the Temptation For the first Namely as he suiteth every Distemper of our Souls with a proper Diet or Food or tempts us by such means as are likely to prevail As if a Man were tempted by sensual Delight there the Love of God is necessary Why
when they are alone with him When Daniel was praying alone with great Earnestness the Angel Gabriel was sent and caused to fly swiftly to him to tell him his Prayers were answered Dan. 9. 21. And Cornelius while he was praying alone an Angel of God came unto him to report the hearing of his Prayers Acts 10. 3. and vers 9. Peter when he was praying alone then God instructs him in the Mystery of the calling of the Gentiles then had he that Vision when he was got upon the top of the House to pray Before we are regenerated God appeareth to us many times when we do not think of it but after we are regenerated usually he appeareth upon more eminent Acts of Grace when we are exercising our selves and more particularly dealing with God and putting forth the Strength of our Souls to take hold of him in private 3. There is this profit in it It is a mighty Solace and Support in Affliction especially when we are censured scorned and despised of Men and know not where to go to find a Friend with whom we may unbosom our Sorrow then to go aside and open the matter to God it 's a mighty ease to the Soul Iob 16. 20. My Friends scorn me but mine Eye poureth out Tears unto God When we have a great Burden upon us to go aside and open the matter to God it gives Ease to the Heart and Vent to our Grief as Hannah in great Trouble falls a praying to God and then was no more sad 1 Sam. 1. 13. As the opening of a Vein cooleth and refresheth in a Fever So when we make known our Case to God it is a mighty Solace in Affliction 4. It is a great Trial of our Sincerity of our Faith Love and Obedience when we are alone and no body knows what we do then to see him that is invisible Heb. 11. 27. When we are much with God in private where we have no Reasons but those of Duty and Conscience to move us Carnal Hypocrites will be much in outward Worship They have their Qualms and pray themselves weary and do something for Fashion sake when foraign Reasons move them but will they so pray as to delight themselves in the Almighty Will they always call upon God Job 27. 10. That Delight in God which puts us upon Converses with God affects Privacy 5. It is a profitable Duty because of the great Promises which God hath made to it This secret and private Prayer in the Text shall have a publick Reward it will not be lost for God will reward it openly So Iob 22. 21. Acquaint now thy self with him and be at Peace thereby Good shall come unto thee Frequent Correspondence with and constant Visits of God in Prayer what Peace Comfort Quickning brings it into the Soul So Psal. 69. 32. His Soul shall live that seeks the Lord. Without often seeking to God the vitality of the Soul is lost we may as well expect a Crop and Harvest without sowing as any Liveliness of Grace where there is not seeking of God Could a Man take notice of another in a Croud whose Face he never saw before So will God own and bless you in the Crouds of the Assemblies of his People if you mind not this Duty when you are alone APPLICATION Vse 1. To reprove those which neglect Closet-Addresses to God they wrong God and themselves 1. They wrong God because this is a necessary part of the Creatures Homage of that Duty he expects from them to be owned not only in publick Assemblies but in private And they wrong Themselves because it brings in a great deal of Comfort and Peace to the Soul and many sweet and gracious Experiences there are which they deprive themselves of and a Blessing upon all other things But more particularly to shew the Evil of this Sin 1. It is a Sin of Omission and these Sins are very dangerous as well as Sins of Commission Natural Conscience usually smites more for Sins of Commission than for Sins of Omission To wrong and beat a Father seems a more heinous and unnatural Act then not to give him due Reverence and Attendance We are sensible of Sins of Commission but yet God will charge Sins of Omission as well as Commission upon you and so will Conscience too when it is serious when against the plain Knowledg of God's Will you can omit such a necessary part of God's Worship Iames 4. 17. To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is Sin That is it will be Sin with a Witness Conscience will own it so when it is awakened by the Word or by Providence or great Affliction or cast upon your Death-bed how will your own Hearts reproach you then that have neglected God and lost such precious Hours as you should have redeemed for Communion with him Sins of Omission argue as great a Contempt of God's Authority as Sins of Commission for the same Law which forbids a Sin doth also require a Duty from us And Sins of Omission argue as much Hatred of God as Sins of Commission If two should live in the same House and never speak to one another it would be taken for an Argument of as great Hatred as to sight one with another So when God is in us and round about us and we never take time to confer with him it argues much hatred and neglect of Him And Sins of Omission are an Argument of our Vnregeneracy as much as Sins of Commission A Man which lives in a course of Drunkenness Filthiness and Adultery you would judg him to be an unregenerate Man and that he hath such a Spot upon him as is not the Spot of God's Children So to live in a constant neglect of God is an Argument of Unregeneracy as much as to live in a course of Debauchery The Apostle when he would describe the Ephesians by their unconverted State describes it thus Eph. 2. 12. That they lived without God in the World when God is not owned and called upon and unless the Restraints of Men the Law of common Education and Custom of Nations call for it they live without God So Psal. 14. 1. They are corrupt they have done abominable Works there is none that doth Good they are altogether become filthy every unregenerate Man is that Atheist There is some Difâ—erence among unregenerate Men some are less in the Excesses and gross Out-breakings of their Sins and Folly some sin more some less but they all are abominable on this account because they do not seek after God And the Apostle makes use of that Argument to convince all Men to be in a State of Sin Rom. 3. 11. There is none that seeketh after God The Heart may be as much hardned by Omissions yea sometimes more than by Commissions As an Act of Sin brings a Brawniness and Deadness upon the Heart so doth the Omission of a necessary Duty Not only the breaking of a String puts the
a Gardiner withholds his hand the Ground is soon grown over with Weeds Restrain Prayer and neglect God and noisom Lusts will abound Our Hearts are fill'd with Distempers when once we cease to be frequent with God in private It is said of Iob chap. 15. 4. Thou restrainest Prayer before God That Passage is notable Psal. 14. 4. They eat up my People as they eat Bread and call not upon the Lord. Omit secret Prayer and some great Sin will follow within a little while you will be given up to some evil Course or other Either brutish Lusts Oppression or Violence to hate the People of God to join in a Confederacy with them which cry up a Confederacy against God The less we converse with God in private the more is the Awe of God lessen'd But now a Man which is often with God dareth not offend him so freely as others do As they which are often with Princes and great Persons are better cloathed and more neat in their Apparel and Carriage So they which are often conversing with God grow more heavenly holy watchful than others are and when we are not with God not only all this is lost but a great many Evils to be found It is plainly seen by Mens Conversations how little they converse with God But now to avoid the Stroke of this Reproof what will Men do Either deny the Guilt or excuse themselves First Some will deny the Guilt They do call upon God and use private Prayer therefore think themselves to be free from this Reproof Yea but are you as often with God as you should be There are three sorts of Persons 1. Some there are that omit it totally cannot speak of redeeming any Time for this Work These are practical Atheists without God in the World Eph. 2. 12. They are Heathens and Pagans under a Christian Name and Profession We should pray without ceasing 1 Thess. 5. 17. that is take all praying Occasions Therefore they which pray not at all all the Week long God hears not from them surely come under the force of this Reproof 2. There are some which perform it seldom O how many Days and Weeks pass over their Heads and God never hears from them The Lord complains of it Ier. 2. 32. They have forgotten me Days without number It was Time out of mind since they were last with God 3. The most do not perform it so often as they should And therefore that I may speak with Evidence and Conviction I shall answer the Case what Rules may be given how often we should be with God and when we are said to neglect God 1. Every day something should be done in this kind Acts 10. 2. Corneliuâ— pray'd to God always every day he had his Times of Familiarity with God Daniel tho with the hazard of his Life would not omit praying three times a day Dan. 6. 10. And David speaks of Morning Evening and Noon Psal. 55. 17. Tho we cannot bind all Men absolutely to these Hours beause of the difference of Conditions Employments and Occasions yet thus much we may gather from hence That surely they which are most holy will be most frequent in this Work 2. Love will direct you They which love one another will not be strange one to another a Man cannot be long out of the Company of him whom he loveth Christ loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha Iohn 11. 5. and therefore his great Resort was to Bethany to Lazarus's House Surely they which love God will have frequent recourse to him In the Times of the Gospel God trusts Love we are not bound to such particular Rules as under the Law Why for Love is a liberal Grace and will put us upon frequent Visits and tell us when we should pray to God 3 The Spirit of God will direct you There are certain Times when God hath Business with you alone when he doth as it were speak to you as to the Prophet in another Case Ezek. 3. 22. Go forth into the Plain in the Desart and there I will talk with thee So get you to your Closets I have some Business to speak with you Thou saidst Seek ye my Face my Heart answered Thy Face Lord will I seek Psal. 27. 8. God invites you to Privacy and Retirement You are sent into your Closet to deal with God about the Things you heard from the Pulpit This is the actual Profit we get by a Sermon when we deal seriously with God about what we have heard When God sends for us as it were by his Spirit and invites us into his Presence by these Motions it is spiritual Clownishness to refuse to come to him 4. Your own inward and outward Necessities will put you in mind of it God hath not stated what Hours we shall eat and drink the Seasons and Quantity of it are left to our Choice God hath left many Wants upon us to bring us into his presence Sometimes we want Wisdom and Counsel in Darkness Iam. 1. 5. If any lack Wisdom let him ask of God which giveth to all Men liberally It is an Occasion to bring us to God God is the best Casuist to resolve our Doubts and guide us in our Way Sometimes we lack Strength to withstand Temptations the Throne of Grace was set up for a Time of Need Heb. 4. 16. when any Case is to be resolved and Comfort to be obtained We want Comfort Quickning Counsel and all to bring us to God So for outward Necessities too Certainly if a Man doth but observe the Temper of his own Heart he cannot neglect God but will find some occasion or other to bring him into his presence some Errand to bring him to the Throne of Grace We are daily to beg Pardon of Sin and daily to beg Supplies Now certainly when you do not observe these Things you neglect God Secondly Others to avoid it will excuse themselves Why they would pray to God in private but either they want Time or they want a convenient Place or want Parts and Abilities But the truth is they want a Heart and that 's the Cause of all and indeed when a Man hath no Heart to the Work then something is out of the way 1 Some plead they want Time Why if you have Time for other Things you should have a Time for God Shall we have a Season for all Things and not for the most necessary Work Hast thou time to eat drink sleep follow thy Trading how dost thou live else and no time to be saved no time to be familiar with God which is the greatest Business of all Get it from your Sleep and Food rather than be without this necessary Duty Jesus Christ who had no such Necessity as we have yet it is said Mark 1. 35. He arose a great while before day and went out and departed into a solitary Place and there prayed Therefore must God only be encroached upon the lean Kine devour the fat Sarah thrust out instead
Glory and then our Profit for the End is the first thing intended by any rational Agent 2. As we are the Children of God by Adoption The great Duty of Children is to honour their Parents God pleads for Honour upon this account Mal. 1. 6. If I be a Father where is my Honour So that if you consent to the Preface and say Our Father then the next request will be Hallowed be thy Name If we would own our selves in such a Pâ—lation then we must make it our chief desire and care that God might be glorified by our selves and others Every kind of Honour will not serve the turn of our Heavenly Father He must not be honoured as an ordinary Father in a common Notion but as an Inâ—inite and Eternal Majesty and to prefer any thing to his Interest or Glory or to equal any thing to him it is to make an Idol of him and to renounce him to be our Father The case of earthly Parents is not always so But now you renounce God when an Idol is set in the Throne when any Interest or Concernment of yours is preferred before God and before his Interest and Concernment 3. That which is of most value and consideration should be sought first Now God's Glory it hath an inâ—inite Excellency above all other things The Glory of God is of more worth than all Creatures than their Being and Happiness The End is more worthy than that which serveth and conduceth to the End Meats and Drinks they were made for the Body therefore are not so good as the Body Who would dig for Iron with Mattocks of Gold The Means or Instrument is better worth than the Purchase Now no matter what becomes of us so God may be glorifyed As it is said of David Thou art better than ten thousand of us therefore tho they exposed their Bodies to hazard they thought it not safe for him So is God better than the whole World of Men or Angels Our first care must be that he may be glorifyed then let other Things succeed in their place 4. The Example of Christ shews how much the Glory of God should be cared for and preferred before the Creatures Good Joh. 12. 27 28. Father save me from this hour There was the Innocent and sinless Inclination of his Human Nature But For this Cause came I unto this Hour Father glorify thy Name He doth not so earnestly insist upon that but submits all his Human Concernments tho exceeding precious that they might give way to the Glory of God and he had no respect to his own Ease or to the innocent inclination of his Human Nature or to the felt Comforts of the God-head Now Christ's Example it is the best Instruction he taught us how we should behave our selves to our Heavenly Father and therefore we should learn to prefer the Honour of God before our own ease And if God but get up tho we be kept low and poor yet we should be contented Look as all natural Things will act against their particular Inclination on for a general Good as to avoid a Vacuity the Air will descend and the Water ascend that there may not be a Confusion or Dissolution of the Frame of Nature So hath Christ taught us still to prefer a general Good Father glorify thy self that is it we must insist upon tho it be with our Loss Suffering Trouble yea sometimes with our trouble of Conscience we must be content 5. From the Nature of Prayer The whole Spiritual Life it is a living to God Gal. 2. 19. I am dead to the Law that I might live unto God The whole Tendency and Ordination of all acts of the Spiritual Life they are to God Even the Natural Life is over-ruled and directed to this End there is an Eating and Drinking to God the Meat and Drink we take if God be not the last End of it it is but a Meat-Offering and a Drink-Offering to our own Appetite and a Sacrifice to Moloch Now much more in acts of immediate Worship there God will be principally regarded for their respect and tendency is mainly to God In our whole Life we are God's dedicated to him Every Godly Man is set apart for God A Man that is a Christian must Be holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15. A Christian must look upon himself as one that is dedicated to God when he is at his Meals in his Trade and Calling and Grace is to run out in every Act. But much more is this tendency of Grace to bewray it self in our solemn Sequestration of our selves when we make our nearer approaches to him Lev. 10. 3. I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the People will I be glorified What is it to sanctify God A thing is sanctified when it is set apart And God is sanctified when we set apart our selves wholly for him when he hath more than common Affections and common Respects And therefore in Prayer in the firstâ— place we should go to God for God and surely in such a Request we are likely to speed 6. Love to God if it be unfeigned and hath any Strength in the Soul will necessarily put us upon this Love seeks the good of the Party beloved as much or more than its own Those which love have all things in common between them and one counts it done to himself what is done to the other So it is in the Love between us and God Look as Christ loves the Saints and counteth what ever you do to them it is done to him because done to those whom he loved Mat. 25. So reciprocally the Saint which loves God what is done to God is done to us when God is honoured we are comforted as much or more than with our own Benefit And when God is dishonoured we have the Grief and Sorrow Psal. 69. 9. The Reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me Or if they hear God's Name rent in pieces and Men dishonour him by their filthy Lives it goeth to their Hearts for God and they have but one common Interest Nay they prefer God's Interest before their own or any others Ioh. 21. 15. Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these By the Worlds Maxim Love should begin at home but by Christ's Direction it beginneth with God They are more tender of God's Glory than their own Lives and outward Comfort I count not my Life dear to me saith Paul Thus you see what reason there is why our main Care and Thoughts should be taken up about the Concernments of God and about the Glory of his Holy Name Vse 1. To reprove us that we are no more affected with God's Glory O how little do we aim at and regard it in our Prayers We should seek it not only above the Profits and Pleasures of this Life but even above Life it self yea above Life present and to come But alas since the Fall we are
Heart towards God but only a few Wishes 6. Halâ—ing the Will of God as in many Cases many will do part of the Will of God but not all they come not fully up to the Mind of God For Instance They will take notice of some great Commandment but not of the least we cannot dispense with our selves in the least Mat. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break one of the least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven We are apt to say It is but a little one and my Soul shall live No Sin is little which is committed against a great God It argueth more Wickedness to break with God for a Trifle and a very small Matter it argueth more Corruption As a little Force will make a heavy Body move downward Again in another Case The Ceremonialist stands upon some lesser things as the Jews Iohn 18. 28. would not go into the Iudgment-Hall lest they should be defiled yet they could seek the Life of the Lord of Glory They are not brought under the Dominion of the Lord's Grace Faith Repentance Holiness and the weightier things of the Law these are things they regard not This is Hypocrisy Like one that comes into a Shop to buy a Penny-worth and steals a Pound 's worth so they are punctual in lesser things that they may make bold with God in greater Again some will do the Will of God in publick where they may be observed but not in private and when alone They make a fair shew in the World but in their Families their Converse is more loose and careless Psal. 101. 2. I will walk within my House with a perfect Heart A Man that is truly holy will shew it at home and abroad in his Closet and secret Retirements every where he makes Conscience of the Will of God Many times we strain our selves and put forth our Gifts in publick God will be served with our utmost in secret also and the Will of God is exprest concerning the inward as well as the outward Man and we must make Conscience of both Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked Man forsake his Way and the unrighteous Man his Thoughts c. Not only make Conscience of our Way our outward Course but of our Thoughts as well as our Actions for the Thoughts fall under a Law So some will make Conscience of the First-Table Duties and neglect the Second and some of the Second and neglect the first Some are very punctual in dealing with Men but neglectful of God Rom. 1. 18. The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men. Both Tables are owned from Heaven Some will not wrong their Neighbour of a Farthing but stick not to rob God of all that Faith Fear Love Trust Worship that is due to him Many that will not defile their Bodies with promiscuous Copulation yet are Adulterers and Adulteresses to God their Hearts stragling from God doting upon the Creature to the Wrong of God Many condemn the Rebellion of Absalom and rise up against their heavenly Father and are Murtherers that strike at the Being of God They are tender of wronging the Reputation of Men yet dishonour God and are never troubled So on the other side others fear and worship but in their Dealings are very unconscionable they will not swear an Oath but are very uncharitable censuring their Brethren without pity and remorse This is the fashion of the World to be in with one Duty and out with another 7. A Loathness to know the Will of God to search and enquire into it argueth Deceit and that we are loth to come under the Power of it Some Men shrewdly suspect it is true but are loth to enquire into it Iohn 3. 20. Every one that doth Evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved They have a shrewd Guess about the Ways of God but will not search to be satisfied 2 Pet. 3. 5. They are willingly ignorant As Tertullian saith of the Heathens they would not search into the Christian Religion because they had a mind to hate it So these are loth to enquire further into the Will of God There 's a great deal of Deceit in it it shews we are afraid to come too near a suspected Truth Again now and then when Lusts are under some restraint Men seem to lie much under the Will of God A Horse that is kept low is easily ruled by the Rider but when fed high he grows head-strong Many times in a mean Condition a Man seems to make Conscience of doing the Will of God but when prosperous he waxeth wanton and disobedient Ier. 5. 5. I will get me to the great Men but these have altogether broken the Yoke and burst the Bonds So that there are a great many Mistakes about doing the Will of God therefore you had need search Secondly How shall we know we are rightly affected with the Will of God 1. When God's Will is Reason enough for what he hath required of us when a Man is so sensible of God's will that this is instead of all Reasons Obedience is never right but when it is done upon the meer sight of God's Will This is enough to a gracious Heart that this is the Will of God 1 Pet. 2. 15. 1 Thess. 5. 18. tho the Duty be never so cross to our own Desires and Interests This is to obey the Commandment for the Commandment's sake without any other Reason or Inducement There is indeed Ratio formalis Ratio motiva the formal Reasons of Obedience and the Motives of Obedience The formal Reason of Obedience is the sight of God's Will the Motives to Obedience are Rewards and a Dread of Punishment The formal Reason is God's Will and this is pure Obedience to do vvhat God vvills because God vvills it 2. When a Man is very inquisitive to know what is the Will of his heavenly Father When he doth not only practise what he knows but searcheth that he may know more Rom. 12. 2. That ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect Will of God And Ephes. 5. 17. Be ye not unwise but understanding what the Will of the Lord is When a Man is desirous to know the whole Will of God not for Curiosity but for Practice that he might do it When the Understanding hath a confused Notion of a thing they will not know it distinctly but when Men search and are willing to find out the Counsel of God in all things that they may come up to it this is a Sign the Heart is rightly affected to the Will of God 3. Hereby may you know your Affection to God's Will by keeping your selves from your Sins Psal. 18. 23. I was upright before him and kept my self from mine Iniquity There is an Iniquity that we may call ours upon which the Will is most passionately addicted be it Worldliness Sensuality
3. When we do our best we cannot deserve these Mercies or merit ought at God's Hands for all we do is already due to God as we are his Creatures and the paying new Debts will not quit old Scores The Question is propounded Iob 22. 2. Can a Man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself See the Answer Chap. 35. 7. If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine Hand and wherein is God profited if a Man's ways be perfect And therefore what ever God doth for Creatures he doth it freely because he cannot be obliged by any Act of ours and pre-ingaged Thus Adam in Innocency could not obtain the Blessing but by virtue of the Covenant nor merit ought at God's Hands that is put any Obligation upon God and therefore certainly now we cannot And partly too not because whatever we do it will carry a Proportion with these common Mercies We are proud Creatures and think of a Condignity of Works and to merit from Heaven these Mercies But alas there 's no Comparison and if God would deal with us upon Merit and strict Commutative Justice we cannot give him a valuable Compensation for temporal Mercies Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the Mercies which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant Though none of God's Mercies can simply be said to be little for whatsoever comes from a great God should be great in our Value and Esteem as a small Remembrance from a great Person is much prized therefore no Mercy is simply little but comparatively now the least Mercies some have and others the greatest temporal Things When we are put into the Ballance We and all our Worth and Deservings cannot counterpoize the least Mercy or merit the daily Bread we have from God And then the little Good we do it is meerly by the Grace that we have received If one Man differs from another who made him differ It is but a new Gift he is the more indebted to God 4. We deserve the contrary We have forfeited our Lives and all our Comforts we have put our selves out of God's Protection by Sin Death way-laid us when we were in our Mothers Womb and as soon as we were born there was a Sentence in force against us Rom. 5. 12. Death came upon all for that all have sinned And still we continue the Forfeiture We provoke God to cut us off It is a kind of pardoning Mercy by which we subsist every moment This is sensible in case of Sickness when our Lives and Comforts slide from us when there is but a Step between us and Death when the Old Covenant comes to be put in Suit and God seems to be executing the Sentence of the Law And that is the Reason why the temporal Deliverance of the Wicked and Impenitent is called a Remission as Psal. 78. 38. But he being full of Compassion forgave their Iniquity and destroyed them not And Mat. 18. 26 27 28. Have Patience with me and I will pay thee all And the Lord of that Servant was moved with Compassion and forgave him the Debt Why is it call'd a Remission Improperly because it was a Reprieve from the temporal Judgment for a time it was not an executing the Sentence which was in force against us And it was not from any thing in the Sinner but from God's pity over his Creatures And a godly Man every time his Life and Comforts are in danger hath a Pardon renewed at that time Isa. 38. 17. Thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the Pit of Corruption for thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back They are loved out of Danger and loved out of Sickness the pardoning Mercy of God is indeed renewed to them APPLICATION Vse 1. For Information in two Branches First That God will give his People temporal Things Not only Pardon and Grace and Glory but no good Thing will he with-hold Psal. 81. 11. Many say they can trust God for eternal Life but cannot trust him for daily Bread This is an utter Mistake Certainly it is far more easy to trust God for daily Bread than for eternal Life because there are more Difficulties more natural Prejudices against these greater Mercies of Pardon and Eternal Life than there can be against the daily Effects of God's Bounty It is a harder matter to work through our natural Prejudices which lie against Eternal Life than to work through that Distrust which lies against God's Care over us and Provision for us Why For God's common Bounty it reacheth to all his Creatures even to the smallest Worm his Mercy is over all his Works And surely it is more easy to believe his common Bounty than his special Love which runs in a distinct Channel to such a sort of Men. But because many have too weak a Faith about temporal Things let us consider how willing God is to distribute and give out these Supplies Several Things I might mention 1. God's Respect to the Bodies of his People is a mighty Ground and Encouragement God is in Covenant with the Body as well as the Soul Jesus Christ proves the Resurrection from thence that God is the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob Mat. 22. 32. This Argument can never be made good but upon this Supposition that God is in Covenant with Abraham's Body with the whole Believer and therefore the Mark of Circumcision was in their Flesh as the Water of Baptism is sprinkled upon our Bodies Well then if the Bodies of the Saints be in Covenant with God certainly some of the Promises of the Covenant do concern the Body and Sustentation of the present Life But that is not all but Jesus Christ hath purchased both Body and Soul 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a Price therefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's Not only the Soul is Christ's but the Body You will say That is ground of Service but what can it be inferr'd that therefore God will provide for us It is not only a ground of our Service but of Christ's Care of us If Christ had only purchased our Service yet it were a ground of Hope If you expect Work and Service from a Body you will give maintenance to that Body But Christ's Purchase implieth his Care over that he hath purchased for the Interest God hath in us in Redemption is a gracious Interest God had an Interest in us before we were redeemed we could not make void his Right by any Rebellion of ours But then God hath such an Interest in us as engaged and sollicited him to destroy us Look as a Prince hath an Interest in his Subjects if they rebell and revolt from their Obedience they cannot disannul his Right but it is such a Right as binds him to pursue and chastise them until they return to their Duty So God hath a Right to the fallen Creature but it was
14 15. Friend I do thee no wrong is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own The fulness of the Earth and all is his and therefore though others have better trading and finer Apparel and be more amply provided for than we are God is Soveraign and will give according to his Pleasure and you must be content 2. Nothing is deserved and therefore certainly every thing should be kindly taken If a Man be kept at free-cost and maintain'd at your Expence you take it very ill if he murmur and dislike his Diet. Certainly we are all maintain'd at free-cost and therefore we should with all humble Contentation receive what ever God will put into our Hands 3. God knows what Proportion is best for us he is a God of Iudgment and knows what is most convenient for us for he is a wise God It is the Shepherd must chuse the Pasture not the Sheep Leave it to God to give you that which is convenient and suitable to your Condition of Life A Shoe may be too big for the Foot and a Garment too great for the Body as Saul's Armour was too large for little David 1 Sam. 17. God will give you that which is convenient that which is agreeable to you A Garment when too long proves a dirty Rag we may have too much and therefore God he carves out our Allowance with a wise Hand 4. God doth not only give suitable to your Condition but suitable to your Strength such a Portion as you are able to bear God layeth Affliction upon his People and he gives them Mercies as they are able to bear if they had more they would have more Snares more Temptations You find it hard for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19. 24. A Man may take a larger Draught than he is able to bear so God proportioneth every Man's Condition accâ—rding to his spiritual Strength every Man is not able to bear a very high prosperous Estate Heb. 13. 5. Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor for sake thee then you will live upon the Promise But when Men set God a Task and he must maintain them at such a rate that ends in Mischief and Distrust Psal. 78. 19. Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness c. 5. Contentation is one of God's Gifts that we ask in this Prayer Give us this day our daily Bread that is we ask to be contented with our Portion Contentment and quietness of Mind with what we do injoy it 's a great Blessing Ioel 2. 19. See what the Lord saith there by his Prophet I will send you Corn and Wine and Oil and ye shall be satisfied therewith The bare and simple Blessing doth not speak so much of God's Love as when we are satisfied when we have Contentment in it that 's the greater Blessing When our Minds are suited to our Condition then the Creature is more sweet more comfortable Your Happiness lies not in Abundance but in Contentment Luke 12. 15. This doth not make a Man happy that he hath much but this that he is contented he hath what God will give him All spiritual Miseries may be referred to these two things a War between a Man and his Conscience and a War between his Affections and his Condition 6. There may be as much Love in a lesser Portion as in a greater There 's the same Affection to a small younger Child though he hath not so large an Allowance as the elder Brother yet saith he my Father loves me as well as him not that I have a double Portion but I have as much of my Father's Love So a Child of God may say God loves me though he hath given another more and me less Be content with what falls to your share and with your Allowance by the wise Designation and Allotment of God's Providence Thus much for the first Point A Word of a second viz. Doct. 2. In asking temporal things Christ hath stinted us to a day Give us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this day our daily Bread God in an extraordinary manner fed his People in the Wilderness the Mannah stank if they had kept it another day they had it from day to day What 's the Reason Christ saith Give us this day 1. That every day we may pray to God Therefore it is not give us this Month or Year but Day because every day God will hear from us 1 Thess. 5. 17. Pray without ceasing God would not have us too long out of his Company but by a frequent Commerce he would have us acquainted and familiar with him This is required that you should not let a day pass over your Head but God must hear from you for your Patent lasts but for a day you have a Lease from God of your Comforts and Mercies but it is expired unless you renew it again by Prayer How much do they differ from the Heart of God's Children that could be contented like the High-Priest of old to come to the Mercy-seat but once a Year now the Lord would have us come every day to the Throne of Grace 2. Every day because there should be Family-Prayer for all that taketheir Meat together are to come and say to God Give us this day our daily Bread It is not said Give me but Give us Therefore you see how little of Love and Fear of God is there where Week after Week they call not upon God's Name 3. To make way for our Gratitude and Thankfulness Our Mercies they flow not from God all at once but some to day and some to morrow for we take them day by day alltogether they are too heavy for us to weild and manage Psal. 68. 19. Who daily loadeth us with Benefits Our Mercies they come in greater Number and a greater Measure then we are able to acknowledg make use of or be thankful for Therefore this is the burden of gracious Hearts that Mercies come so thick and fast they cannot be thankful enough for them but to help us God distributes them by Parcels who loadeth us daily some to day some to morrow and every day that we may not forget God but may have a new Argument to praise him 4. To shew us every day we should renew our Dependance upon God for temporal things There is no day but we stand in need of the Lord's Blessing of Sanctification of Comfort that they may not be a Snare that there is still need of new Strength new Grace and new Supplies 5. Again Give us this day that we may not burden our selves with over-much Thoughtfulness that we might not solicitously cark for to morrow Mat. 6. 34. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof Every day affords Business Trouble Care and Burden enough we need not anticipate and pre-occupy the Cares of the next day God would not have
and our pardoning of others whether we respect the Persons that are interrested in this Action or the Sâ—bject Matter or Manner and way of doing or the Fruit and Issue of the Action First In the Persons pardoning what Proportion can there be between God and Men the Creator and the Creature God he is most free and bound to none of infinite Dignity and Perfection which can neither be increased or lessened by any Act of ours for him or against him but we live in perfect Dependance upon God's Pleasure are subject to his Command and bound to do his Will and therefore what is our forgiving our fellow Creatures made out of the same Dust animated by the same Soul and every way equal with us by Nature when they wrong us in our petty Interests what Proportion is there between this forgiving and God 's forgiving he that is of so infinite a Majesty his forgiving the Violations of his holy Law And 2ly To the subject Matter that which is forgiven there is no Proportion When we compare the Multitude or Magnitude the Greatness and the Number of Offences forgiven of the one side and the other we see there 's a mighty Disproportion we forgive Pence and God Talents we an hundred Pence he ten thousand Talents Mat. 18. So 3dly the manner of forgiving on God's part by discharging us freely and exacting a full Satisfaction from Christ therefore our forgiving can hold no Comparison with it which is an Act of Duty and Conformity to God's Law And 4thly As to the Fruit and Issue of the Action our Good and Evil doth not reach to God Though our forgiving of others be an Action of Profit to our selves yet no Fruit redounds to God And therefore there being no Proportion between finite and infinite there can be no such proportion between our forgiving and God 's forgiving as that this Act may be meritorious before God Thus it is not brought here as Merit as that which doth oblige and bind God meritoriously to forgive us 2. It is not a Patern or Rule We do not mean our forgiving should be a Patern of forgiving to God So as is taken indeed ver 10 Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven there it implies a Conformity to the Patern But when we say Forgive us as we forgive it doth not mean here a Patern or Rule We imitate God but God doth not imitate us in forgiving Offences And it would be ill with us if God should forgive us no better than we forgive one another God is matchless in all his Perfections there is no Work like his Psal. 86. 8. As God is matchless in other Things so in pardoning Mercy As the Heavens are above the Earth so are his Ways above our Ways and his Thoughts above our Thoughts Isa. 55. 9. And upon this very occasion the Lord will multiply to pardon As far as the Heavens c. This is the greatest Distance we can conceive The Heavens they are at such a vast distance from the Earth that the Stars tho they be great and glorious Luminaries yet they seem to be but like so many Spangles and Sparks This is the distance and disproportion which is made between God's Mercy and ours Hos. 11. 9. I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not Man If God should forgive but only as Man doth it would be ill for Ephraim if he had to do with revengeful Man God acteth according to the Infiniteness of his own Nature far above the Law and manner of all created Beings Therefore it is not put here as a Patern and Rule 3. It doth not import Priority of Order as if our Act had the precedency of God's or as if we did or could heartily forgive others before God hath shewed any Mercy to us No in all Acts of Love God is first his Mercy to us is the Cause of our Mercy to others As the Wall reflects and casts back the Heat upon the Stander-by when first warmed with the Beams of the Sun So when our Hearts are melted with a sense of God's Mercy his Love to us is the Cause of our Love and Kindness to others 1 Iohn 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us that is we love him and others for his sake For Love to God implies that why because he hath been first with us And then it is the Motive and Patern of it In that Parable Mat. 18. 32 33. God's forgiving is the Motive to our forgiving I forgave thee all thy Debt and shouldest not thou have compassion on thy Fellow-Servant In those that have true Pardon it causeth them to forgive others out of a sense of God's Mercy that is they are disposed and inclined to shew Mercy to others But in others that think themselves pardoned and have only a temporary Pardon and Reprieve such as is there spoken of it is a Motive which should prevail with them tho it doth not Nay it is the Patern of our Love to others Eph. 4. 32. Forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you in that manner and according to that Example 4. It doth not import an exact Equality but some kind of Resemblance As it is a Note of Similitude not Equality either of Measure or Manner it only implieth that there is some correspondent Action something like done on our part So Luke 6. 36. Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful As notes the certainty of the Truth tho not the exact proportion there will be something answerable to God 2. But positively to shew what respect it hath 1. It is a Condition or moral Qualification which is found in Persons pardoned Mat. 6. 14. For if ye forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you But ver 15. If ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses These two are inseparably conjoin'd God's pardoning of us and our pardoning of others The Grant of a Pardon that 's given out at the same time when this Disposition is wrought in us but the Sense of a Pardon that 's a thing subsequent to this Disposition And when we find this Disposition in us we come to understand how we are pardoned of God 2. It is an Evidence a Sign or Note of a pardoned Sinner when a Man's Heart is entender'd by the Lord's Grace and inclined to shew Mercy here 's his Evidence Mat. 5. 7. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy The Stamp or Impression shews that the Seal hath been there so this is an Evidence to us whereby we may make out our Title to the Lord's Mercy that we have received Mercy from the Lord. 3. It is a necessary Effect of God's pardoning Mercy shed abroad in our Hearts for Mercy begets Mercy as Heat doth Heat Titus 3. 2 3. Shew meekness to all Men for we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient c. There 's none
the Devil's work in us 1 John 3. 8. He that committeth Sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil And Joh. 8. 34. Whosoever committeth Sin is the Servant of Sin The one cometh from a just God the other from our corrupt Hearts The one is the Act of an Holy God the other the Act of a sinful Creature 4. The Death of Christ falls more directly upon this Benefit exemption from Sin Mat. 1. 21. He shall save his People from their Sins Acts 3. 26. God having raised up his Son Iesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities not Troubles or Sorrows but Sins 5. Affliction is a more particular temporal Evil but Sin is an infinite universal Evil Sickness depriveth us of Health Poverty of Wealth c. And every adverse Providence doth but oppose some particular temporal Good But Sin depriveth us of God who is the Fountain of our Comfort the other but of some limited Comfort 6. Afflictions are sent to remove Sin Heb. 12. 11. Now no chastning for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby Isa. 26. 9. When thy Iudgments are in the Earth the Inhabitants of the World will learn Righteousness But Sin is not sent to remove Affliction Now the End must be greater than the Means both as to Prosecution and Aversation As to Prosecution To dig for Iron with Mattocks of Gold and Silver So in Aversation If Death were not worse than the Pain of Physick no Man would take Physick to avoid Death 7. Affliction is the Effect of God's Love Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chastneth But to be left to Sin is an Effect of God's Anger God doth not always exempt from Troubles yet if he keep from Spiritual hurt thereby if he sanctify the Trouble support us with sufficient Grace 2 Cor. 12. 9. if preserved from Evil howsoever tempted and exercised 't is enough Vse 1. To reprove our Folly We complain of other Things but we do not complain of Sin which is the greatest Evil. This is contrary to the Spirit of God's Children who rejoice in Troubles but not in Sins 2 Cor. 12. 9. Most gladly therefore will I rejoice in Infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon me They groan bitterly under Sins Rom. 7. 23. O wretched Man c. If any Man had cause to complain of Afflictions Paul had In Perils often Whipped Persecuted Stoned But the Body of Sin and Death was the greatest Burden Lusts troubled him more than Scourges his Captivity to the Law of Sin more than Prisons When Affliction sitteth too close Sin sits loose In Affliction there is some Offence done us but in Sin the wrong is done to God And what are we to God Afflictions may be good but Sin is never good The Body suffereth by Affliction but the Soul suffereth by Sin loss of Grace and Comfort which are not to be valued by all the World's Enjoyments The Evil of Affliction is but for a moment like Rain it drieth up of its own accord But the Evil of Sin is for ever unless it be pardoned and taken away Sin is the Cause of all the Evils of Affliction therefore when we complain we should complain not so much of the Smart as of the Cause of it 2. It directeth us 1. How to pray to God against Sin rather than Trouble This is indeed to be delivered from Evil 2 Tim. 4. 18. Paul reckoned upon that He will deliver me from every evil Work When afflicted you should rather desire to have the Affliction sanctified than removed you will be most careful for that Saints do not pray for the Interests of the Old Man rather than the New Man To be freed from Trouble is a common Mercy but to have it sanctified is a special Mercy Carnal Men may be without Affliction but Carnal Men cannot have experience of Grace Bare deliverance is no sign of special Love 2. In our choice 'T was an heavy Charge they put upon Iob Job 36. 21. Thou hast chosen Iniquity rather than Affliction Sometimes we are put upon the trial To loose the Favour of God or the Favour of Men Duty and Danger Here content my self gratify my Lusts and Interests there offend God Out of the Temptation we could easily judg that all the Misery in the World is to be endured rather than commit the least Sin But how is it upon a trial when a Worldly Convenience and a Spiritual Inconvenience is proposed By chusing Sin a Man cannot altogether escape Affliction here or hereafter Wickedness though it prosper a while yet at length it proveth a Snare 3. It directeth us to submit to God's Providence and to own Mercy in it Though God doth not exempt us from Troubles yet if he keep us from Hurt thereby if he sanctify the Trouble and support us with Grace sufficient 't is his Mercy to us For Daniel to be put into the Lion's Den was not so great a Judgment as for Nebuchadnezzar to have the Heart of a Beast To be given up to our own Hearts Lusts to commit any Sin 't is a greater Cross than any Misery that can light upon us therefore let us be patient under Affliction Our great Care should be not to dishonour God in any Condition God hath promised to be with his People in their Afflictions to comfort them but hath never promised to be with his People in their Sins I will be with you in the Fire and in the Water as the Son of God was with the three Childrâ—â— in the fiery Furnace But God is departed whâ— they siâ— I will go to my own place Sin hindreth Prayer but Afflictions quicken it Isa. 26. 16. Lord in Trouble have they visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy chastning was upon them In Affliction 't is a time to put the Promises in suit it doth not hinder our access to God and the Throne of Grace but driveth us to it But Sin increaseth our Bondage maketh us stand at a distance and grow â—hy of God The Fruit of Sin is Shame Rom. â— 21. 4. It teaches us how to wait and hope for the issue of our Prayers Pray that ye enter not into Temptation yet be not absolute in that but to be kept from Evil that what way soever we are tried we may be kept from the Evil of Sin For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever Amen IN these words we have the Conclusion of all and that which giveth us confidence in the Requests we make to God First The Confirmation is taken from the Excellency of God to whom we pray where there is a declaration of what belongeth to God Secondly The Duration and Perpetuity for Ever Three things are mentioned