in our Baptism when we took his presse-mony to be his Souldiers and serve him in the field of this world against his and our enemies that we have renounced our vow made â—…o him â—…dd fled from his standard yea fought for Satan and the World seeking to win all we could from Christ by tempting to sin and by persecuting such as were better then ourselves so that all our recompence of thy love unto us hath been to do that which thou hatest and to hate those whom thou lovest Yea we cannot deny but we have persecuted thee with Paul denied thee with Peter betraied thee with Judas and crucified thee with those cruel Jews And as wee have committed one sinne on the neck of another so we have multiplyed and many times repeated them by falling often into the same wickednesse whereby our sinnes are become for number as the sands of the Sea and as the Stars of Heaven Now Lord it being thus with us how can we expect that thou shouldest hear our praiers grant our requests yea how can wee look for other at thine hands then great and grievous yea then double damnation as most justly we have deserved Yet  Yet most most merciful Father being that thou hast given thy Son and thy Son himself for the ransome of so many as shall truly repent and unfainedly believ in him who hath for our sakes fulfilled all righteousness yet suffered on the Crosse and there made full satisfaction for the sins of all thine Elect. And seeing thou hast appointed Praier as one special means for the obtaining of thy grace unto which thou hast annexed this comfortable promise that where two or three be gathered together in thy Name thou wilt be in the midst of them and grant their requests and since our Redeemet hath assured 〈◊〉 that And likewise knowing that mercie pleaseath thee and that the sole perfection of a Christian is the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and the not-imputation of his own unrighteousnesse whatsoever we shall ask thee in his name thou wilt give it us  We are emboldened to sue unto thee our God for grace that we may be able to repent and believe Wherefore for thy promise sake for thy Sons sake and for thy great Names sake we beseech thee send down thy holy Spirit into our souls regenerate our hearts change and purifie our natures subdue our reason rectifie our judgments strengthen our wills renew our affections put a stop to our madding and straying fancies beat down in us whatsoever stands in opposition to the Scepter of Jesus Christ and enable us in some measure both to withstand that which is evil and perform that which is good and pleasing in thy sight Yea give us repentance never to be repented of and possess our souls with such a dreadfull awe of thy Majesty that we may fear as well to commit small sins as great ones considering that the least sin is mortall without our repentance thy mercy as wel fear to sin in secret as openly since there is nothing hid from thee as well condemne our selves for evill thoughts as evill deeds considering that the Law is spirituall binding the heart no lesse then the hands as well abstain from the occasions of fin as sin it self and consider that it is not enough to abstain from evill unlesse wee hate it also and do the contrary good And because every day which does not abate of our reckoning will increase it and that by procrastinating we shall but heap unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath Good Lord suffer us not we beseech thee to defer our repentance lest the custome of evill makes it altogether unalterable in us or lest we dye before we begin to live or lest thou resusest to hear us another day calling upon thee for mercy because we refuse to hear thee now calling to us for repentance And now O Lord since thou hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day we beseech the to defend and dierct us in the same and as thou hast blest us in our lying down and in our rising up so protect prosper us in our going forth in our coming home shield and deliver us from the snares of the Hunter who lieth in waite for our souls and is continually labouring our everlasting destruction And no lesse arm us against the allurements of the world wherein we shall meet with many provocations and temptations and that 〈◊〉 may not lead ourselvs nor be Wherefore if we be not yet converted let this be the happy hour of our conversion that as our bodies are risen by thy power and providence from sleep so our soules may daily bee raised from the sleep of sin and the darknesse of this world that so we may enjoy that everlasting light which thou hast prepared for thine and purchased with the bloud of thy dear Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.  Give unto us we beseech thee a true lively and justifying faith whereby we may lay hold upon those gracious promises which thou hast made unto us in him and wherewith we may vanquish all our spirituall adversaries Seal up unto us the assurance of our salvation by the testimony of thy blessed Spirit Give to led into temtation give us wisdome to beware of men even of associating our selves with the vitious like Joseph lest otherwise with David we be drawn to dissemble or with Peter to deny thee for sin is of a catching and infectious quality and our corrupt hearts are like tinder which will kindle with the least spark especially O Lord keep us from yeelding to their solicitations or following their customs of drink ing swearing slandering and making the worst construction of thinâ—…s of mocking and scoffing at religion or the religious let not custome and example any whit prevail with us without or against thy written Word lest we misse of the narrow way which alone leadeth unto life onely give us wisedome and grace to look upon thy Sons whole life see how he would speak and do before we speak or do anything then having thy word for our warrant and thy glory for our aime let no censures not flowts of anydiscourageus us thy servants that wisdome which descendeth from above that we may be wise unto our eternall salvation so shall our hearts instead of a Commentary help us to understand the Scriptures and our lives be an Exposition of the inward man Give us grace to account all things in this world even as drosse and dung that we may win Christ Jesus and Heaven and happinesse by means of him Give us single hearts and spirits without guile that wee may love goodnesse for it self and more seek the power of godlinesse then the shew of it and love the godly for thy sake and because they are godly Grant that in the whole course of our lives we may doe unto all others as we would that they should doe unto us considering that whether we
it by some neglect or oversight there was an English man left behinde but how did God provide for his escape it's worth the remembring hee was no sooner crept into a hole under a pair of stairs but instantly a Spider weavs a web over the hole and this diverted them for when one of them said here is surely some of them hid another replyes What a fool art thou doest thou not see it 's covered with a firm cob-web and so past him that in the night hee ascaped O! Saviour our extremities are the seasons of thy aid even when Faux was giving sire to the match that should have given fire to the Powder which should have blown up Men and Monuments even the whole State together thou that never sleepest didst prevent him and disclose the whole design yea thou didst turn our intended Funerall into a Festivall And why doth the goodness of our God pick out the most needfull times for our relief and comfort but because our extremities drive us to him that is omnipotent there is no fear no danger but in our own insensibleness but because when wee are forsaken of all succours and hopes wee are fittest for his redress and never are wee nearer to help than when wee despair of help but because our extremities give him the most glory and our comfort is the greater when the deliverance is seen before it is expected His wisdom knows when aid will bee most seasonable most welcome which hee then loves to give when hee finds us left of all other props That mercifull hand is reserved for a dead list and then hee falls us not as when Abraham had given Isaac and Isaac had given himself for dead then God interposeth himself When the knife is falling upon his throat then then coms the deliverance by an Angell calling forbidding commending him When things are desperate then look most for God's help for then is the time Psal. 119. 126. Isa. 33. 9. 10. And indeed our faith is most commendable in the last act it is no praise to hold out untill wee bee hard driven but when wee are forsaken of means then to live by faith in our God is thought worthy of a Crown O! wretched Saul hadst thou held out never so little longer without offering and without distrust Samuel had come and thou hadst kept the favour of God whereas now for thy unbelief thou art cast off for ever 1 Sam. 13. 10. to 15. To shut up all in a word were thy soul in such a straight as Israel was between the Red Sea and the Egyptians the spirits of vengeance like those enemies pursuing thee behindo Hell and death like that Read Sea ready to ingulf thee before yet would I speak to thee in the confidence of Moses Exod. 14. ver 13. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Thy Word O! God made all thy Word shall repair all hence all yee diffident fears hee whom I trust is omnipotent Again Secondly thou must know that God in his wisdome hath set down a certain period of time within which hee will exercise his children more or less and at the end whereof and not before hee will relleve and comfort them again As wee may perceive by Eccles. 3. 1. Act. 7. 25. Exod. 12. 41. Gen. 15. 13. Dan. 12. 1. 4. 11. Jer. 25. 11. Gen. 6. 3. Four hundred years hee appointed to Abraham and his seed that they should bee Sojourners in a strange land where they should bee kept in bondage and evill intreated Gen. 15. At the end of which time even the self same day they returned from the land of Egypt that was the precise time appointed and the selfsame day it was accomplish'd and till then Moses undertook it in vain Why were they so long kept from it the land was their own before they were the right heirs to it lineally descended from him who was the first possessor of it after the flood God will do all in due time that is in his time not in ours if at any time the Lord deliver us it is more than hee owes us Let him saith Saint Augustine choose his own opportunity that so freely grants the mercy Again hee appointed that the Jews should serve the King of Babylon seventy years not a day not an hour to bee abated Jer 25. 11. but at the end thereof even that very night Dan. 9. it was accomplished neither did Daniel who knew the determinate time once pray for deliverance till just upon the expiration Thirty eight years hee appointed the sick man at Bethesda's Pool Joh. 5. 5. Eighteen years to that daughter of Abraham whom Christ loosed from her disease Luk. 13. 16. Twelve years to the woman with the bloody issue Matth. 9. 20. Three months to Moses Exod. 2. 2. Ten days tribulation to the Angell of the Church of Smyâ—…na Apocal. 2. 10. Three days plague to David 2 Sam. 24. 13. Each of these groaned for a time under the like burden as thou doest But when their time which God had appointed was come they were delivered from all their miseries troubles and calamities and so likewise ere long if thou wilt patiently tarry the Lord's leasure thou shalt also bee delivered from thy affliction and sorrow either in the Morning of thy trouble with David Psal. 30. 5. or at the Noon of thy life with Job Chap. 42. 10 to 17. or toward the Evening with Mr Glover that holy Martyr who could have no comfortable feeling till hee came to the sight of the stake but then hee cryed out and clap'd his hands for joy to his friend saying O! Austin hee is come hee is come meaning the feeling joy of faith and the Holy Ghost Acts and monuments Fol. 1555. Or at night with Lazarus at one hour or another thou art sure to bee delivered as time will determine Many were the troubles of Abraham but the Lord delivered him out of all Many were the troubles of David but the Lord delivered him out of all Many were the troubles of Joseph but the Lord delivered him out of all Many were the troubles of Job but the Lord delivered him out of all therefore hee can and will deliver thee out of all But if hee do not saith Shadrach Meshach and Abednego yet wee will not do evill to escape danger because Christ hath suffered more for us therefore if I perish I perish saith Hester Bee our troubles many in number strange in nature heavy in measure much in â—…urthen and long in continuance yet God's mercies are more numerous his wisdom more wondrous his power more miraculous he will deliver us out of all Many are the troubles of the righteous Yea hee riseth higher and calls them millions for so the words may bee rendered but the Lord delivereth them out of all Psal. 34. 19. How many or how great soever they bee or how long soever they continue yet an end they shall all have For the Lord either taketh troubles from them or
our learning and recorded by the holy ghost to the end that wee may gather unto our selvs assurance of the same pardon for the same sins upon the same repentance and beleeving Are thy sins great his mercies are infinite hadst thou committed all the sins that ever were committed yet in comparison of Gods mercy they are less than a more in the Sun to all the world or a drop of water to the whole Ocean for the Sea though great yet may bee measured but God's mercy cannot bee circumscribed and hee both can and will 〈◊〉 easily forgive us the debt of ten thousand millions of pounds as one penny and assoon pardon the sins of a wicked Manasses aâ—… of a righteous Abraham if wee come unto him by unfaigned repentance and earnestly desire and implore his grace and mercy Rom. 5. 20. The Tenure of our salvation is not by a covenant of works but by a covenant of grace founded not on our worthinesâ—…s but on the free mercy â—…d good pleasure of God and therefore the Prophet well annexeth blessedness to the remission of sins Blessed is bee whose transgression is forgiven Psal. 32. 1. Yea the more miserable wretched and sinfull wee are the more fit objects wee are whereupon hee may exercise and shew the infinite riches of his bounty mercy virtue and all-sufficiency And this our spirituall Physitian can aswell and easily cure desperate diseases even the remediless Consumption the dead Apoplex and the filthy Lâ—…prosie of the soul as the smallest malady or least faintness Yea hee can aswell raise the dead as cure the sick and aswell of Stones as of Jews make Abrahams children Did hee not without the Sun at the Creation cause light to shine forth and without rain at the same time make the earth fruitfull why then should you give your self over where your Physitian doth not Besides what sin is there whereof wee can despair oâ—…â—…e remission when wee hear our Saviour pray for the forgiveness of his mâ—…rtherers and blasphemers And indeed despair is a sin which never knew Jesus It was a sweet saying of one at his death When mine iniquity is greater than thy mercy O God then will I fear and despair but that can never bee considering our sins bee the sins of men his mercy the mercy of an infinite God Yea his mercies are so great that among the thirteen properties of God mentioned Exod. 34. almost all of them appertain to his mercy whereas one onely concerns his might and onely two his justice Again shall it ever enter into our hearts to think that God gives us rules to keep and yet break them himsef Now his rule is this Though thy brother sin against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying it repenteth mee thou shalt forgive him The son angers his father he doth not straight dis-inherit him but Gods love to his people exceeds a fathers love to his son Matth. 7. 11. and a mothers too Isa. 49. 1â—… I hear many menaces and threats for sin but I read as many promises of mercy and all they indefinite excluding none whose impenitency and infidelity excludeth not themselvs every sin deservs damnation but no sin shall condemn but the lying and continuing in it Wherefore if our clamorous conscience like some sharp fang'd officer arrests us at Gods suit let us put in bail two subsidue virtues Faith and Repentance and so stand the triall the Law is on our side the Law of grâ—…ce is with us and this Law is his that is our Advocate and he is our Advocate that is our Judge and hee is our Judge that is our Saviour even the head of our selvs Jesus Christ. For the first of these do but repent and God will pardon thee hee thy sins never so many and innumerable for multitude never so hainous for quality and magnitude Isa. 55. 7. Ezek. 18. 33. 17. Yea sins upon Repentance are so reâ—…itred as if they had never been committed I have put away thy transgressions as a cloud and thy sins as a mist Isa. 44. 22. and what by corruption hath been done by repentance is undone as the former examples and many other witness Come and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow Isa. 1. 18. yea whiter for the Prophet David laying open his blood-guiltiness and his originall impurity useth these words Purge me with Hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow Psal. 51. 7. And in reason did hee come to call sinners to repentance and shall he not shew mercy to the penitent Or who would nor cast his burthen upon him that doth desire to give ease As I live saith the Lord I would not the death of a sinner Ezek. 18. 32. and 33. 11. Section 5. Ojection Yea but I cannot Repent Answer In time of temtation a man is not a competent Judge in his own case In humane Laws there is a nullity held of words and actions extoâ—…ted and wrung from men by fear because in such cases a man is held not to bee a free-man 〈◊〉 to have power or command in some sort of himself A troubled soul 〈◊〉 like troubled waters wee can discern nothing clearly in it wherefore if thou canst lay aside prejudice and tell mee in cold blood how it fares with thee at other times though indeed thy words at present are enough to convince thee For first thou findest sin a burthen too heavy for thee to bear which thou didst not formerly what 's the reason are thy sins more and greater No but the contrary for though they appear more yet they are less for sin thé more it is seen and felt the more it is hated and thereupon is the less Motes are in a room before the Sun shines but they appear onely then Again secondly the very complaint of sin springing from a displeasure against it shews that there is somthing in thee opposite to sin viz. that thou art penitent in affection though not yet in action even as a child is rationall in power though not in act Yea more thou accusest and condemnest thy selfe for thy sins and by accusing our selvs wee prevent Satan by judging our selvs wee prevent God Neither was the Centurion ever so worthy as when hee thought himself most unworthy for all our worthiness is in a capable misery nor does God ever thinke well of him that thinkes so of himself But to let this passe Are not your failings your grief are they not besides your will are they not contrary to the current of your desires and the main bent of your resolutions and indeavours Dost thou determine to continue in the practice of any one sin Yea dost thou not make conscience of all Gods Commandements one aswell as another the first table aswell as the second and the second aswell as the first Matt. 5. 19. Dost thou
not grieve for sins of all sorts secret aswell as known originall aswell as actuall of emission aswell as commission lesser viz thoughts aswell as greater yeâ—… aswell for the evill which cleavs to thy best works as for the evill works Rom. 7. 21. and as heartily and unfaignedly desire that thou maist never commit it as that God should never impute it 2 Tim. 〈◊〉 19. Dost thou not fear to displease him not so much because hee is just to punish as for his mercy and goodness sake and more fear the breach of the Law than the curse Dost thou not love rather to bee than seem or bee thought good and seek more the power of godliness than the shew of it Ioh 1. 1. If so well may Satan and thine own conscience accuse thee of impenitency and unbelief but Christ thy Iudge never Yea then notwithstanding your failings you may say with David I have kept thy Word Psal. 18. 21. 22. 23. for though this bee not such a measure of keeping as the Law requireth yet it is such a keeping as God in Christ accepteth for suppose thy knowledge is still small thy saith weak thy charity cold thy heart dull and hard thy good works few and imperfect and all thy zealous resolutions easily hindred and quite overthrown with every small temtation yet God that worketh in us both the wil and the work wil accept the wil for the work and that which is wanting in us Christ will supply with his own righteousness Hee respecteth not what wee can do so much as what wee would do and that which wee would performe and cannot hee esteemeth it as though it were performed whereas take away the will and all acts in God's sight are equall As the wicked sin more than they sin in their desire so the righteous do more good than they do in their will to do it If there bee a paratum cor though there bee not a perforatum cor a profer of blood though no expence of blood for the honour of Christ it is taken for Martyrdom as Origen testified of one Non ille Martyrio sed Martyrium illi defuit I know thy poverty but thou art rich saith the Spirit to the Church of Smyrna poor in thy condition rich in thy affection to goodness Facultas secundum voluntatem non voluntas secundum facultatem estimanda est God esteems our charitable beneficence not onely secundum quod habemus but secundùm quod tribuere velimus Wee are charged to forsake all houses lands friends liberties lives for Christ yet many dy with houses lands and riches in their possession whom Christ receives and Crowns in Heaven because they did part with all secundùm animae preparationem What wee would have done shall bee reckoned to us as done wee do it quoad conatum though non quoad effectum In like manner God taketh a heart desirous to repent and believe for a penitent and beleeving heart volens dolens The vehement desire of godly sorrow or a sorrow because we cannot sorrow goes for godly sorrow with God so that to sigh and grieve for what wee cannot do is to come short and yet to do it too for God likes the will so wel that in his Son what we would do is in acceptance done 2 Cor. 8. 12. which textone brings in thus O! what an unspeakable comfort was this cordiall verse to my afflicted soul And well it might for if wee hate our corruptions and strive against them they shall not bee counted oâ—… It is not I saith Paul but sin that dwelleth in mee Rom. 7. 20 for what displeaseth us shall never hurt us and wee shall bee esteemed of God to bee what wee love and desire and labour to bee The comfort of this doctrine is intended and belongs to troubled consciences and those that would fain do better but let no presumptuous sinners meddle with it for what hast thou to do to take I say not the childrens bread to eat Matth. 15. 26. but even the least parcell of Gods Word into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to bee reformed Psal. 50. 16. 17. But if thou beest a weary and heavy laden sinner thou maist comfort thy self thus I do hatefull things but I hate that I do I break the Law but yet I love the Law as holy just and good Flesh is in mee but I am not in the Flesh I must not fix mine eyes onely upon mine own resistance or failings but on God's assistance and acceptance in his Son by which I shall bee able to leap over all walls and impediments Psal. 18. 29. The Law is given that Grace may bee required Grace is given that the Law may bee sulfilled by us evangelically for us by Christ whose righteousnesse is ours perfectly as Saint Augustin speakes The Law is a glass to shew us our spots the Gospell a fountain to wash them away Wherefore cast not both thine eyes upon thy sin but reserve one to behold the remedy look upon the Law to keep thee from presumption and upon the Gospel to keep thee from despair Canst thou not aggravate thine own sins but thou must 〈◊〉 and call in question Gods mercy and Christs all-sufficiency spoil him of his power and glory Though the grievousness of our sins should increase our repentance yet they should not diminish our faith and assurance of pardon and forgiveness As the plaister must not be less than the sore so the tent must not bee bigger than the wound It was a sweet and even coâ—…rs which Saint Paul took who when hee would comfort himself against corruption and evill actions Rom. 〈◊〉 20. then not I but sin dwelling in mee when he would humble himself notwithstanding his graces then not I but the grace of God in mee 1 Cor. 15. 10. Section 6. Objection But I am not worthy the least mercy I have so ofâ—…en abused it and so little profited by the meanes of grace Answer I think so too for if thou refusest the offer of mercy until thou deservest it wo bee to thee But if thou wilt take the right course renounce the broken reed of thine own free will which hath so often deceived thee and put all thy trust in the grace of Christ The way to bee strong in the Lord is to bee weak in thy sels bee weak in thy self and strong in the Lord and through faith thou shalt bee more than a Conquerour Leav tugging and strugling with thy sin and fall with Jacob to wrestle wâ—…th Christ for a blessing and though thy self go limping away yet shalt thou bee a Prince with God and bee delivered from Esau's bondage But thou standâ—…st upon thine own feet and therefore fallest so foully thou wilt like a child go alone and of thy self and therefore gettest so many knocks And thou wouldest accept of a pardon too if thou mightest pay for it but Gods mercies are free and hee bids thee come and buy without silver and without price or else he says
Jesus resting on him alone for their salvation as appears Isa. 55. 1. Ezek. 33. 11. Mark 16. 16. Joh. 3. 14 15 16. 36. and 6. 37. 40. Act. 10. 43. 1 Joh. 2. 1. Neither is there any limitation or exception of this or that sin for bee they never so grievous and manifold yet if wee perform the condition of faith and repentance they cannot debar us from receiving the benefit of God's mercy and Christ's merits as appears Isa. 1. 18. Titus 2. 14. 1 Joh. 1. 7. 9. And therefore unless thou conceivest of God that hee is unjust in his dealing untrue in his Word a covenant-breaker yea a perjured person which were most horrible blasphemy once to imagine thou must undoubtedly assure thy self that hee will pardon and forgive thee all thy sins bee they in number never so many and innumerable or in nature and quality never so hainous and damnable if thou turnest unto him by unfained repentance and laiest hold upon Christ by a true and lively faith For consider doth the Lord say hee will extend his mercie unto all that come unto him doth hee invite every one doth hee say I would have all men saved and none to perish and dost thou say nay but hee will not extend his mercy unto mee hee will have mee to perish because I am a grievous sinner What is this but in effect and at a distance to contradict the Lord and give the lye to truth it self Indeed God says not Beleeve thou John or Thomas and thou shalt bee saved but hee says Whosoever beleeveth and is baptized shall bee saved which is as good And yet thou exceptest thy self hee excludes none and dost thou exclude one and that one thy self Hee would have all men saved and thou comest in with thy exceptive All but mee Why thee a precious singularity but beware of it For whereas others that beleeve not the threatnings flatter away their souls in a presumptuous confidence thou by not beleeving the promises wilt cast away thine in a sullen prodigious desperateness if thou take not heed For infidelity on both sides is the cause of all of presumption in them of despair in thee of impiety in every one But bee better advised beleeve the Lord who never brake his Word with any soul. Thou wilt give credit to an honest man's bare word and hast thou no affiance in the mercifull promises of God past to thee by Word Oath Seals Scriptures Sacraments the death of his own Son and I presume the Spirits testimony if not now yet at other times take heed what thou dost for certainly nothing offends God more then the not taking of his Word Section 7. Objection I know well that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness unto every one that beleeveth Rom. 10. 4. But I want faith Answer This is the objection I expected for the true Christian is as fearfull to entertain a good opinion of himself as the false is unwilling to bee driven from it But is it so or doth Satan onely tell thee so I know it is not so I know that thou beleevest with some mixture of unbelief and that this is but a slander of Satans for as Satan slandereth us to God Iob 1. 9. and God to us Gen. 3. 4. 5. so hee slandereth us to our selvs Iob 16. 9. But least thou shouldest think I slander Satan know that you beleeve even whiles you complain of unbelief for as there could bee no shadow if there were no light so there cannot bee this fear where there is no faith They that know not Christ think it no such great matter to loose him But if God once say this is my Son Satan will say if thou bee the Son of God Matth. 3. 17. and 4. 3. That Divine testimony did not allay his malice but exasperate it Neither can the happy building of Lord I beleeve stand without that columne to under-prop it Help thou mine unbelief And he that doubts not of his estate his estate is much to be doubted of doubting and resolution are not meet touch-stones of our success a presumptuous confidence commonly goes bleeding home when an humble fear returns in triumph As it fared between the Philistims and Israel 1 Sam. 17. 10. 11. The Philistims and Goliah were exceeding confident of the victory but Saul and all Israel much discouraged and greatly afraid yet Israel got the victory and the Philistims with their great Goliah were overcome ver 51. 52. They that are proudly secure of their going to heaven do not so frequently come thither as they that are afraid of their going to hell As it is in this world for temporall things so for the World to come in spirituall things Cantant pauperes lugent divites poor men sing and rich men cry Who is so melancholly as the rich worldling and who sings so merry a note as hee that cannot change a groat so they that have store of grace mourn for want of it and they that indeed want it chant their abundance But the hopes of the wicked fail them when they are at highest whereas Gods Children had those comforts in extremity which they durst not expect As there is nothing more usuall than for a secure conscience to excuse when it is guilty so nothing more common than for an afflicted conscience to accuse when it is innocent and to lay an heavie burthen upon it self where the Lord giveth a plain discharge but a bleeding wound is better than that which bleeds not Some men go crying to heaven some go laughing and sleeping to hell Some consciences aswell as men lie speechless before departure they spend their days in a dream and go from earth to hell as Ionas from Israel towards Tarshish fast a sleep And the reason is they dream their case is passing good like a man which dreams in his sleep that hee is rich and honorable and it joyes him very much but awaking all is vanish'd like smoak Yea they hope undoubtedly to go to heaven as all that came out of Egypt hoped to go into Canaan and inherit the blessed promises when onely Caleb and Ioshua did enter who provoked not the Lord. And the reason of this reason is whereas indeed they are Wolâ—… the Devill and their own credulity perswades them that they are Lambs The Philosopher tells us that those Creatures which have the greatest hearts as the Stag the Doe the Hare the â—…oney and the Mouse are the most fearfull and therefore it may bee God refusing Lyons and Eagles the King of Beasts and Queen of Birds appointed the gentle Lamb the fearfull Dove for his sacrifices A broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal. â—…1 17. And sure I am Christ calls to his onely wâ—…ary and heavy-laden sinners Matth. 11. 28. not such as feel no want of him Mark 2. 17. and will fill onely such with comfort as hunger and thirst after righteousness not such as are in their conceit righteous
And after that in the time of the Ten persecutions were such an innumerable company of innocent Christians put to death and tormented that Saint Jerome in his Epistle to Chromatius and Heliodorus saith There was not one day in the whole year unto which the number of five thousand Martyrs might not bee ascribed except onely the first day of January who were put to the most exquisite deaths and torments that ever the wit or malice of Men or Devills could invent to inflict upon them Since which time the Turke and the Pope have acted their parts in shedding the blood of the Saints as well as the Jews and Roman Empeours as appears in the Book of Acts and Monuments and Rev. 17. where the holy Ghost hath foretold that the Whore of Babylon should fight with the Lambe and they that are on his side called and chosen and faithfull untill shee were even drunk with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus which in part was fulfilled in England under the Raign of Queen Mary when in one year a Hundred seventy six persons of quality were burnt for Religion with many of the common sort and in France where before theselate bloody Massacres there were two Hundred Thousand which suffered Martyrdone about Transubstantiation And it is well known that our Saviour Christs whole life even from his Cradle to his Grave was nothing else but a continued act of suffering yea hee was the person upon whom as upon one Center all our sorrows met Hee that had all possessed nothing except the punishment due to our sins which lay so heavy upon him for satisfaction that it pressed his soul as it were to the nethermost Hell and made him cry out in the anguish of his spirit My God My God why hast thou sorsaken mee so that there is nothing befalls us but hath befalne our betters before us and to bee free from crosses and afflictions is the priviledge onely of the Church triumphant For qui non est Crucianus non est Christianus saith Luther there is not a Christian that carries not his Cross. It is onely Heaven that is above all windes storms and tempests Not hath God saith Bernard cast nâ—…n out of Paradice for him to think to find out another Paradice in this world Now the way not to repine at those above us is to look at those below us we seldom or never see any man served with simple favours It is not for every one to have his soul suck'd out of his mouth with a kiss as the Iews tell of Moses It is a great word that Zazomen speak of Apollonius that hee never asked any thing of God in all his life that hee obtained not This is not our Paradiâ—…e but our Pargatory not a place of pleasure but a Pilgrimage not a Triumph but a Warfare Wee cannot say of this world as Tully reports of Siracuse in Sicily and others of Rhodes that not one day passeth in which the Sun shines dot clâ—…arly on them Yea wee think hee speeds well that lives as it were under a perpetuall Equinoctiall having night and day equall good and ill success in the same measure for these compositions make both our crosses tolerable and our blessings wholesomâ—… Wee that know not the afflictions of others call our own the heaviest every small current is a torrent every brook a River every River a Sea wee make our selves more miserable than wee need than wee should by looking upon our miseries in a multiplying glass wee measure the length of time by the sharpness of our afflictions and so make minutes seem hours and days months If wee bee sick and the Physician promises to visit us to morrow with his best relief with what a tedious longing do wee expect his presence Our imagination makes every day of our sorrows appear like Ioshua's day when the Sun stood still in Gibeon The Summer of our delights is too short but the Winter of our affliction goes slowly off Wee are so sensible of a present distress and so ingratefull sor favours past that wee remember not many years health so much as one days sickness it is true former meals do not relieve our present hunger but this cottage of ours ruins straight if it be not new daubed every day new repaired What then shall to-days Ague make us forget yesterdays health and all Gods former favours if hee do not answer us in every thing shall wee take pleasure in nothing Shall wee slight all his blessings because in one thing hee crosseth us whereas his least mercy is beyond our best merit But if wee think of our deliverance from the fire of Hell this is cause enough to make us both patient and thankfull though the trifles wee delight in bee taken from us Lord take away what thou pleasest for thy glory and my good so long as thou savest mee from the fire of Hell and thy everlasting wrath Neither is there a better remedy for impatience than to cast up our receipts and to compare them with our deservings If thou lookest upon thy sufferings thou shalt find them far easier than thy fins have deserved nothing to what thy fellow Saints and Christ thy elder brother hath suffered before thee at a Lyons den or a fiery furnace not to turn taile were a commendation worthy a Crown do but compare thy own estate with theirs and thou shalt find cause to bee thankfull that thou art above any rather than of envy or malice that any is above thee to domineer and insult over thee Yea compare thine own estate with thine enemies thou shalt see yet greater cause to bee thankfull for if these temporary dolors which God afflicts his people with are so grievous to thee how shall thine and Gods enemies though they suggest to themselvs that God is all mercy as if hee wanted the other hand of his justice endure that devouring fire that everlasting burning Isa. 33. 14. Psal. 68. 21. Doth he make bloody wayls on the backs of his Children and shall bastards escape doth hee deal thus with his Sons what will hee do with his Slaves cannot all the obedience of his beloved ones bear out one fin against God as wee see in Moses David Zachary c. Where will they appear that do evill onely evil and that continually The meditation whereof may bee of some use to thee Thales beeing asked how adversity might best bee born answered By seeing our Enemies in worse estate than our selves CHAP. 39. That the more wee suffer here so it bee for righteousness sake the greater our reward shall be heareafter 5 FIfthly wee shall bear the Cross with more patience and comfort if with Moses wee shall have respect unto the recompence of reward which is promised to all that notwithstanding what they shall suffer persevere in well doing Great are our tryals but salvation in heaven will one day make amends when we shall have all tears wiped from our eyes
be buffeted yet was denied Satan beg'd his shame who envied his successe Saint Paul that freedom from temptation which would have been worse had then wanted yea if granting were alwaies an effect of love then was our blessed Saviour lesse loved than Satan for the Lord would not let the Cup of his Passion passe from him upon his earnest praier which he made as he was Man But you must know that denials in some cases are better than grants the Lord will not take away the body of sin from us upon our earnest praiers yet he granteth us that which is equivalent viz. Grace to subdue our corruptions and withall takes away the occasion of pride which is better for certainly he is more supported of God that hath grace given him to conquer a temptation as had the Martyrs in being able to suffer those tortures than another who is excused to fight Again we must not measure God's hearing of our suit by his present answer or his present answer by our own sense touching the first Zachary a long time failed of a Son for all his Praier but when he had even forgot that Praier he had a Son the Angel brings him good news Luk. 1. 13. Thy Praier is heard When did he make this Praier Not lately for then he was grâ—…n old and had given over all hope of a child so that his request was past over many years and no answer given The like example we have in Hannah who powring out her soul before the Lord in the trouble of her spirit God did not immediately tell her by revelation that she should conceive a Son but he gave her for the present faith which did work in her joy and peace of conscience for saith the text she looked no more sad and when shee had waited his leisure a certain time The Lord remembred her with a Son 1 Sam. 1. There is nothing between God and thee but time prescribe not his wisdom hasten not his mercie now his grace is enough for you his glory shall be more than enough hereafter Tarry a little the Lords leisure deliverance will come peace will come joy will come thy tears are reserved thine hunger shall be satisfied thy sorrow shall be comforted In the mean while to be patient in misery makes misery no misery while we consider that when a little brunt is once past troubles will cease but joies shall never cease Wherefore let us never give over but in our thoughts knit the beginning progresse and end together and then shall we see our selves in Heaven out of the reach of all our enemies 2. To prove that wee are not to judge of Gods answering our praiers by our own sence I need but to instance the woman of Canaan as what can speed well if the praier of faith from the knees of humility succeed not and yet behold the further she goes the worse she fares her discouragement is doubled with her suit It is not good saith our Saviour to take the childrens bread and cast it to dogs here was cold comfort yet stay but a while he clears up his brows and speaks to her so comfortably that 't were able to secure any heart to dispel any fears O Saviour how different are thy waies from ours when even thy severity argues favour The trial had not been so sharp if thou hadst not found the saith so strong if thou hadst not meant the issue so happie It is no unusual thing for kindnesse to look sternly for the time that it may indear it self more when it lists to be discovered It was cold comfort that the Cripple heard from Peter and John when he begg'd of them an alms Silver and gold have I none but the next clause vise up and walk made amends for all O God! we may not alwaies measure thy meaning by thy semblance sometimes what thou most intendest thou shewest leastâ—… In our afflictions thou turn'st thy back upon us and hidest thy face from us when thou most mindest our distresses So Jonathan shot the arrows beyond David when he meant them to him So Joseph calls for Benjamin into bands when his heart was bound to him in the strongest affection so the tender mother makes as if she wou'd give away her crying-child whom she hugps so much closer in her bosom If thou passe by us whiles we are strugling with the tempest we know it is not for want of mercie thou canâ—…st not neglect us Oh let not us distrust thee if thou comest it is to relieve us if thou staiest it is to trie us howsoever thy purpose is to save us Surely God will work done and man must not be of his counsel Wherefore many times he deals with wicked men as Eutrapilus sometimes did with his subjects who when he was minded to do a poor man a mischief would give him abundance of wealth whereas contrarily his children find themselvs crost with a blessing Possidonius tells us of Austin that when there was wait laid for his life through God's providence he mist his way whereby his life was preserved and his adversaries disappointed As when Isabel Queen of England was to repasse from Zealand into her own Kingdom with an Army in favor of her Son against her Husband she had utterly been cast away had she come unto the Port intended being there expected by her enemies but Providence against her will brought her to another place where shee safely landed Yea this I have seen two men striving for the way one receiving a switch over the face draws his Bapyer to kill the other but by a providence in making the offer his saddle swaied to the horse-belly whereby in all likelihood the one was saved from killing the other from hanging for before he could make after him he was rid a mile And have not some been detained by a violent storme from coming home whereby they have been exempt from seeling the down-fall of their house Sure I am the letting fall of my Glove in the dark once proved a means of saving me from drowning while another stepping before me found the danger to his cost And indeed how infinitely should we intangle our selves if we could sit down and obtain our wishes Do we not often wish that which we after see would be our confusion because we ignorantly follow the flesh and blinded appetite which looks on nothing but the shell and outside whereas God respecteth the soul and distributeth his favour for the good of that and his glory It is an argument of love in the Father when he takes away the Childs knife and gives him a book Wee crie for riches or liberty or peace they are knives to cut our fingers wherefore God gives us his Word the riches of verity not of vanity Hee gives us that glorious liberty to be the Sons of God he gives us that peace which the world cannot give nor take away wherefore let the Christian understand God his Physitian Tribulation his physick being
rightly considered It was hard for Josephs brâ—…hren to hear him speak roughly unto them take them for spies accuse them of theft and commit them to prison Gen. 42. 30. and think it is all out of love much more hard for 〈◊〉 to bee cull d cut from the rest and committed to ward while his brethren are set at libertie Vers. 24. and yet it was so yea he loved him best whom he seemed to favour least yet such is the 〈◊〉 of our nature that as weak eies are dazled with the â—…ght which should comfort them so there is nothing more common with God's Children than to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 causes of 〈◊〉 joy and 〈◊〉 with that which is intended for their confirmation Even Manoah conceivs death in that vision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 did consist Judg. 13. 22. And the Shepherds Luk. 2. who were sore afraid when the Angel of the Lord came to bring them good tidings of great joy to all people viz. their Saviours Birth which â—…as Christ the Lord Vers. 9. 10. But what hath been the answer of GOD alwaies to his children in such their extasies but this Fear not Gideon Judg. 6. 23. Fear not Joseph Mat. 1. 20. Fear not Zachary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 13. Fear not Abraham for I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward Gen. 15. 1. Fear not Paul for I am with thee and no man shall lay hands on thee to do thee hurt c. Acts. 18. 9. 10. the words are often repeated as Pharaohs dreams were doubled for the surenesse Yea to the end that we should be fearlesse in all our sufferings so long as we suffer not as evil doers 1 Pet. 4. 15. Fear not as one well notes is the first word in the Annunciation of Christs Conception and the first word in the first Anâ—…iation of his Birth and the first word in the first Annuuntiation of his Resurrection and almost the last words in his last exhortation a little before his death are Let not your hearts be troubled and be of good comfort strengthening his followers and sweetâ—…ing his Cross by diverse forcible reasons 〈◊〉 21. Mark 13. And the words of dying men have ever been most emphatical most effectual Nay more than all this if yet thou wilt not be comforted look but Joh. 16. 20. and thou shalt have thy Saviour assure â—…hee by a double bond His Word I say Oath Verâ—…ly verily I say unto you that though for the present you do fear and sorrow and weep yet all shall be turned into joy 〈◊〉 that joy shall no man be able to take from you v. 22. And so much of the Patience of the Womans seed Innocency Felicity If you will see the Malice of the Serpents seed Subtilly Misery Read the three soregoing parts viz. The cause and cure of Ignorance Error c. The cure of Misprision Characters of the kinds of preaching The last whereâ—… sold only by James Crump in Little Bartholomews Well-yard A two-fold PRAYER for the Morning and for the Evening as also another to be said at any time Jer. 1â—… 25. Pour out thy fury upon them that know thee not and upon the families that call not on thy name Psal. 145. 18. Rom. 10. 12. The Lord is nigh and rich unto all that call upon him in truth Isa. 65. 24. Before they call I will answer and whiles they are yet speaking I will hear Jer. 33. 3. Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not 1 Joh. 5. 14. If wee ask any thing according to his will he heareth us Joh. 16. 23. Mat. 21. 22. Whatsoever yee shall ask the Father in my Name believing he will give it you Psal. 55. 17. Evening and Morning and at Noon will I pray A PRAYER for the Morning O Lord prepare our hearts to Pray O Most glorious LORD GOD and in JESUS CHRIST our most merciful and loving Father in whom wee live and move and have our being in the multitude of thy mercies we desire to approach unto thee from whom all good things do proceed who knowest our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking It is true O Lord if we should consider onely our own unworthiness and how we have heretofore abused thy goodnesse and long-suffering towards us wee might rather despair with Judas and like Adam run from thee then dare to approach thy glorious presence For we confesse O Lord to the shame and confusion of our own faces that as we brought a world of sinne into the World with us and deserved to dye so soon as wee began to live so ever since that thou hast spared us we have done nothing but add sinne unto sinne as thou hast added mercy to mercy For we have been no lesse rebellious unto thee then thou hast been beneficiall unto us We do daily and hourely break all thy commandements adding unto that our originall corruption which we were conceived and borne in all manner of actuall transgressions by sins of Omission sins of Commission sinnes of Ignorance sinnes of Knowledg sinnes against conscience yea sinnes of Presumption and Will fulness and that in thought word and deed We have sinned against thy Law and against thy Gospel against thy mercies and against thy judgments against the many warnings and the abundance of meanes afforded by thee to reclaime us against the spirit â—…of grace cotinually knocking at the doors of our hearts with infinite checks and holy motions as our first Parents left us a large stock of sinne so we have improved the same beyond measure O that we could have so improved that stock of grace which wee have received from thee But whereas thou gavest us as large a portion we suddenly lost it We were created indeed by thee after thine own image in righteousness holiness in knowledg of the Truth But alas now our understandings are so darkned and dulled our judgmeÌ„ts so blinded our wils so perverted our affections so corrupted our reason so exiled our thoughts so surprised our desires so entrapped and aâ—…l the faculties and functions of our souls so disordered that we are not sufficient of our selves to think much lesse to speak least of all to do ought that is good And yet usually like Bladders we are not more empty of grace than we are blown up with pride whereby with Laodicea we not once see our own spiritual misery and nakednesse but think we are rich and good enough as wanting nothing when as scarce Our eares have been alwaies open to the 〈◊〉 shâ—… unto thee we have abused our eyes to wantonnesse our mouthes to filthynesse and our feet have been swift to all evill flow to ought that is good any â—…ark of grace yet appears in us Yea so far have we been from loving and serving thee that we have hated those that do it and that for their so doing And so far have we been from performing that vow which we made to Christ
do good or evill unto any one of thy members thou takest it as done unto thy self Discover unto us all our own fins that wee may not be so forward to censure others as wee have been heretofore Give us patience to beare thy Fatherly chastisements which through thy grace sanctifying them to us become both Medicines to cure us and Antidotes to preserve us from the sicknesse of sin considering that all the afflictions of this life are not worthy those joyes which shall be revealed unto us Finally good Father we beseech thee inable us so to walk in thy fear that in mirth we be not vain in knowledg we be not proud in zeal we be not bitter instruct us by thy Word direct us by thy Spirit mollifie us by thy grace humbleus by thy corrections win us by thy benefits reconcile our nature to thy wil teach us so to make profitofevery thing that we may see thee in althings al things in thee And as we are suiters unto thy Majesty for these thy blessings spirituall so likewise we humbly beg at thy mercifull hands all necessaries appertaining to our temporall welfare beseeching thee to blesse us in our persons with health strength and liberty in our estates with sufficiency and the right use of it consâ—…dering that is wee spend what â—…ee And in these our prayers wee are not mindfull of our selves alone but forasmuch as thou hast commanded us to pray one for another as being the members of one and the same mysticall body wee beseech thee to blesse thy whole Church Universall wheresoever dispersed and howsoever  distressed or despised far and wide over the face of the whole earth and vouchsafe unto thy Gospell such a free and effectuall passage that it may sound throughout all Nations Yea wee humbly pray thee let it convert and reclaim the Turks Jews Infidels Indians Atheists Epicures Hereticks and Schismaticks Prevent all plots and projects against the Kingdome of thy Christ let thy Word and Spirit alone bear rule in all places Extend thy tender mercy O Lord to all Protestants beyond the Seas to all Christians under the Turks or other Infidels strengthen all such as suffer for thy cause and let thy presence with them counterpoyse whatsoever is laid upon them and inable them to continue constant in thy faith and truth to the end More Particularly be good unto that part of thy Church planted here amongst us in this sinfull Land and indue us with thy grace as thou hast already with other blessings that they may not rise up hereafter in judgment against us be propitious to the Nobility Gentry and Communalty Blesse the Tribe of Levi all Ministers of thy Word and Sacraments let their lips O God preserve knolewdg and their lives righteousnesse and for ever blesse thou their labours increase the number of those that are saithfull and painfull and reform or remove such as are either scandalous or idle and for a constant and continuall supply of their mortality blesse all Schools of learning and good literature especially the Universities Remember in much mercy all that are afflicted whether in body or in mind or in both whether in conscience have upon our own lusts we may ask but wee shall nor receive in our good names with an 〈◊〉 report and so blesse and sanctifie unto us all the things of thislife that they may be furtherances of us in the way to a better  And seeing that it is in vain for us to labour except thy blessing go along with it neither can our endeavours succeed well except thou prosper them bless every one of us in our several places and callings and so direct us in all we shall take in hand that whatsoever wee do may tend to thy glory the good of others and the comfort of our own soules when wee shall come to make our finall account unto thee sor them groaning under fin or for a good conscience because they will not fin and as thou makest them examples to us so teach us to take example by them and learn wisdome by thy hand upon them  These and all things else which thou knowest we stand in need of we humbly crave at thy mercifull hands and that for the alone worthinesse and satisfaction of thy son and the honour of our onely Redeemer and Advocate Jesus Christ to whom with thee O Father and thy blessed Spirit be given as is most due all praise glory and dominion the residue of this day and for evermore Amen A Praier for the Evening which would be performed before Supper and not when we are more prone to sleep then to pray O Eternal Almighty and incomprehensible Lord God who art great and terrible of most glorious Majesty and infinite purity Creator and Preserver of all things and Guider and Governour of them being created who fillest Heaven and Earth with thy presence and art every where at hand to receive and hear the praiers of all that repair to thee in thy Christ. Thou hast of thy goodnesse bestowed so many and so great mercies upon us that wee know not how to expresse thy bounty herein Yea we can scarce think of any thing more to pray for but that thou wouldest continue those which thou hast bestowed on us already yet we covet still as though we had nothing and live as if we knew nothing of all this thy beneficence Thy blessings are without number yet our sins strive with them which shall be more if we could count the numberless number of thy Creatures they would not be answerable to the number of thy gifts yet the number of our offences which we return in lieu of them are not much inferiour thereunto Well may we confesse with Judas we have sinned and there stop but we cannot reckon their number nor set forth their nature We are bound to praise thee above any Nation We no sooner lived then we de served to die neither need we any more to condemn us then what we brought into the world with us but thou hast spared us to this hour to try if we would turn unto thee by repentance as our first Parents and wee have turned from thee by sin yet thy mercy seems to have been in vain and thy long-suffering to no end For whereas many have been won by thy Word wee would not suffer it to change us many have been reformed by the Grosse but whatsoever for what Nation under Heaven enjoys so much light or so many blessings as we above any Creature for all the Creatures were ordained for our sakes and yet Heaven Earth and Sea all the Elements all thy Creatures obey thy Word and serve thee as they did at first yea call upon us to serve thee onely men for whom they were all made ingratefully rebell against thee we would not suffer it to purge us many have been moved by thy benefits but we would not suffer them to perswade us yea as if we had contracted with
the Divel that we would abuse all thy gifts so fast as they come thy blessings make us proud thy riches covetous thy peace wanton thy meaâ—…s intemperate thy mercy secure and all thy benefits serve us but as weapons to rebell against thee We have prophaned thy daies contemned thy ordinances resisted thy Word grieved thy Spirit misused thy Messengers hated our Reprovers slandered and persecured thy people seduced our friends given ill example to our Neighbours opened the mouths of thine and our adversaries to blaspheme that glorious Name after which we are named and the truth we professe whereas meaner mercies and far weaker means have provoked others no lesse to honour thee and the Gospel who may justly rise up in judgmeâ—…t against us Besides which makes our case far more miserable we can scarce resolve to amend or if we do we put off our conversion to hereafter when we were children we deferred to repent till we were men now we are men we defer untill we be old men and when we be old men we shall defer it until death if thou prevent us not and yet we look for as much at thine hands as they which serve thee all their lives Thou might'st have said before we were formed let them be Toads Monsters Infidels Beggers Cripples or Bondslaves so long as they live and after that Cast-awaies for ever and ever but thou hast made us to the best likenesse and nursed us in the best Religion and placed us in the best Land and appointed us to the best and onely Inheritance even to remain in blisse with thee for ever so that thousands would think themselvs happy if they had but a piece of ouâ—… happinesse Perhaps we have a form of godlinesse but thou who searchâ—…st the heart and triest the reins knowest that too often we deny the power of it and that our Religion is much of it hypocrisie our zeal envie our wisedom policie our peace security Why shouldest thou give us thy Son for a ransome thy holy Spirit for a pledge thy Word for a guide thy Angels for our guard and reserve a Kingdom for our perpetual inheritance Why shouldest thou bestow health wealth rest liberty limbs senses food raiment friends and the means of salvation upon us more then upon others whom thou hast denied these things unto We can give no reason for it but that thou art merciful and if thou shouldest draw all back again we had nothing to say but that thou wert just which being considered why should any serve thee more then we who want nothing but thankfulnesse Why should we not hate the Way to Hell as much as Hell it self and  why should we not make every cogitation speech and action of ours as so many steps to Heaven yet 〈◊〉 thoâ— shouldst now ask us what lust is asswaged what affection qualified what passion expelled what sin repented of what good performed since we began to receive thy blessings to this day we must needs confesse against our selvs that all our thoughts words and works have been the service of the World the Flesh and the Dâ—vel yea it hath been the course of our whole life to leave that which thou commandest and to do that which thou forbiddest yet mâ—serable wretches that we are if we could give thee our bodies and souls they should bee saved by it but thou wert never the richer for them our life rebellion our devotion deadâ—esse and that we live so securely as if we had no souls to save Thus while we look upon our selvs we are ashamed to lift up our eies unto thee yea we are ready to despair wâ—th Cain yet when we think upon thy Son and the rich promises of the Gospel our fear is in some measure turned into joy while we consider that his righteousnesse for us is more then our wickednesse against our selvs onely give us faith we beseech thee and settle it in thy beloved that we may draw virtue from his death and resurrection whereby we may be enabled to die unto sin and live unto righteousnesse and it sufficeth for all our iniquities necessities and infirmities Indeed thy Word and Spirit may work in us some flashes of desire and purposes of better obedience but we are constant in nothing but in perpetual offending onely therein we cease not for when we are waking our flesh tempts us to wickednesse if wee are sleeping it sollicites us to filthinesse or perhaps when we have offended thee all the day at night we pray unto thee but what is the issue of our praying First we sin and then we pray thee to forgive it and then return to our sins again as if we came to thee for no other end but to crave leave to offend thee Or of thy granting our requests we even dishonor thee and blaspheme thy name while thou do'st support and relieve us run from thee while thou do'st call us and forget thee while thou art feeding us so thou sparest us we sleep and to morrow we sin again O how justly mightest thou forsake us as we forsake thee and condemne us whose consciences cannot but condemne our selvs But who can measure thy goodnesse who givest all and forgivest all Though we be sinful yet thou lovest us though we be miserably ingrateful yet thou most plentifully blessest us What should we have if we did serve thee who hast done all these things for thine enemies O that thou who hast so indeared us to serve thee wouldest also give us hearts and hands to serve thee with thine own gifts It is true O Lord as wee were made after thine own Image so by sin we have turned that Image of thine into the Image of Satan but turn thou us again and we shall bee turned into the Image and likenesse of thy Son And what though our  sins be great yet thy mercie is far greater then our sins either are or can be we cannot be so bad as thou art good nor so infinite in sinning as thou art in pardoning if we repent O that we could repent O that thou wouldest give us repentance for we are weak O Lord and can no more turn our selvs then we could at first make our selvs yea we are altogether dead in sin so that we cannot stir the least joint no not so much as feel our deadnesse nor desire life except thou be pleased to raise and restore our souls from the death of sin and grave of long custome to the life of grace Apt wee are to all evil but reprobate and indisposed to all grace and goodnesse yea to all the means thereof Wee are altogether of our selvs unable to resist the force of our mighty adversaries but do thou free our wills and set to thy helping hand in casting down by thy Spirit our raging lusts and by thy grace subdue our untamed affections and we shall henceforth as much honor thee as by our wickednesse we have formerly dishonored thee  Wherefore