my self once more to be the Lord's more unfeignedly more firmly than ever I have hitherto done that the Bonds of God upon me may be strengthned and my Soul more throughly ingag'd to be the Lord's O help me to do it with the greatest seriousness as the most important Affair of my whole Life by thine aid and Grace alone shall I be sincere and cordial in this surrender and Dedication of my self O breathe upon my Soul most Holy Spirit the Power of the Highest that there may be no Hypocrisie or Reservation in this so weighty and solemn Transaction between God and me O most Blessed and Glorious TRINITY Father Son and Holy Spirit Thy favor is my Life and thy Lovingkindness is better than Life Thy Will should have been my Rule thy Word my Law thy Glory my end to please thee my principal Business and to injoy thy Love and Presence my ultimate Felicity But I am one of thy revolted Creatures who have lost thine Image and rebell'd against thy Law slighted thy Authority and rejected thy Grace and deserve to be cast out of thy sight and banisht from thy Presence for ever Nevertheless O most merciful God and Father upon thy gracious invitation and call I now return to thee my rightful Lord acknowledging thee as my Almighty Wise and bountiful Creator my absolute Owner my Righteous Governour my End my Happiness and Chief Good. I now accept thine offer'd Mercy I now submit to the Scepter of thy Grace and give up my self to Thee as my King and my God to rule and sanctify me now and be my Everlasting Portion I desire to be no longer my own but Thine to whom of right I belong and ought to be devoted I yield my self to Thee O my Lord Accept and possess that which is thine own I lay my self at thy Foot at all Times and in all Conditions to be at thy dispose and in every thing to acquiesce in thy Good Pleasure Deliberately resolving with unfeigned and free consent of my Will to walk before Thee in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of my Life Hereby I consecrate and devote my self to be thy perpetual Avowed Servant Lord I am thy servant I am thy servant the Son of thine Handmaid Though other Lords have had dominion over me I will now make mention of thy Name and of thy Righteousness only by Jesus Christ O Blessed Jesus my All-sufficient Saviour Thy dying Love infinite Condescention and matchless Grace hath at last overcome me and constrain'd me to resolve to be wholly Thine who hast redeem'd and bought me with thy most precious Blood. I now acknowledg and own Thee as my Lord and my Jesus my Prophet Priest and King my Sacrifice Surety and Ransom to satisfy for my Sins and reconcile me unto God to instruct me in his Will and teach me the Mysteries of his Kingdom and the way to the Father How often hast thou open'd thine arms and called me yea beseecht me to come unto thee and accept of Life but I refused to come I adore thy merciful Condescention that yet thou wilt receive me on such easy Terms O thou Lord of Life and Glory now accept of an unworthy helpless Sinner who flies to Thee as his only Refuge and Hope who is convinc't that None but Christ None but Christ can make his Peace with God and save from wrath to come I acknowledg thy Title to me and my obedience and to all I have by dying for me I desire to take thy Yoke upon me for it is Easie and thy Burthen which is Light. I desire to be intirely and for ever thine in an Everlasting Covenant never to be broken to take up the Cross and follow thee whithersoever thou shalt lead me through the straight Gate and the narrow way I will reserve no Lust refuse no Labour grudge at no Suffering stick at no difficulty so I may please and honour thee and continue in thy Love. O shed abroad more of thy Love in my Heart to make all Things easie for his sake who hath loved me and washed me from my Sins in his own Blood. O God the Holy Ghost I acknowledg Thee as my Great Teacher and Sanctifier and give up my self to Thee as the Author of all saving Knowledg and Holiness By Thee I have been convinc't of my Sin against the Law of God and the Gospel of Christ and of my necessity of his Merit Satisfaction and Righteousness to justify my guilty Soul by procuring the Forgiveness of Sin and my acceptance with God and of the freeness of his Love the Riches and alsufficiency of his Grace towards all who come unto God by Him. I adore Thee O most Blessed Spirit as proceeding and sent from the Father and the Son to renew all the Powers of my Soul and restore the Divine Image there to enlighten my mind to know and receive the Truth as it is in Jesus and purify my Heart and to sanctify all the Members of my Body and make them Instruments of Righteousness unto Holiness which before were Servants unto Sin and gradually to deliver me from the power the defilement and abode of Sin as from the Guilt and Punishment by the Blood of Jesus And as the Witness of God to the Truth of the Holy Scriptures and as the Great Paraclete to comfort and establish the Hearts of Believers sealing them up to the day of Redemption and giving them the Earnest of the Heavenly Inheritance O blessed Spirit be thou my Witness that though I have violated the Law of God and defac'd his Image and formerly undervalu'd the Love of Christ and the Grace of the Gospel yet by thine Aid I now accept what I have so long neglected and thankfully devote my self henceforward to be the Lord 's in a Covenant Relation But fearing and distrusting my self I give up my self entirely to the conduct of thy Grace depending upon it for my establishment and perseverance O form my Heart into an obediential Frame that in every thing I may endeavor to answer the Ends and Obligations of this Devoted State. To this One God I have once again dedicated and resign'd my self to serve and please and honour Thee in Thought Word and Act to the last moment of my Life in the Performance of all Duties even those which I have been most averse from in the mortification of every Lust and the forsaking of every Sin even those which I was once most addicted to Resolving deliberately to allow my self in nothing great or little secret or open which I shall know or believe to be contrary to thy holy Will making it my business to be fruitful in good Works to the praise of my Redeemer waiting in the use of all his appointed means for higher measures of Grace and Holiness to be more victorious over inward Lusts and outward Temptations still pressing towards the mark for the prize of my high and holy Calling even Eternal Life I call Heaven and Earth O Lord
that quick succession to one another The supposition of a perpetual night is a dismal gloomy Thought O what will the Everlasting Darkness of the Infernal Prison be The Sun by day enlightens the Earth directs our motion guides our way governs our Travail assists Conversation awakens Industry warms the Earth and Air gives life and vigor and fruitfulness to all things under the Sun and makes the whole Inferior Creation to rejoyce An Emblem of God's universal Goodness who is kind to all his Creatures How admirable is its Lustre how glorious is its Light how loudly doth it proclaim his Power and Wisdom who made this and the other Lights of Heaven his powerful Word and preserves them hitherto by his daily Providence If God be now so glorious contemplated in his works considered in the lustre of the created Sun viewed only through the Windows of Sense how much more glorious will he appear hereafter when we shall see him face to face and nothing interpose btwixt us and his incomparable Light If mine Eyes dazle to look upon the meridian Sun in what inaccessible Light must he dwell who is the Father of Lights If this lower World the common receptacle of his Friends and Enemies have so much of his Glory vouchsafed them by the Heavenly Bodies O what a place will Heaven be where shall be no Sun or Moon nor need of any but the Glory of God shall lighten it and the Lamb be the Light thereof While I thus consider the Sun and the Day I must not think the Night is useless which discovers another part of the Heavens not discernible by Day viz. the Stars and Planets refreshing the Earth cooling the Air giving necessary Rest to the Creatures c. their order motions aspects oppositions influences are all useful and instructive The agreeable mixture of Light and Darkness the regular succession of Day and Night within a few hours are exceeding wonderful and advantagious In other parts of the World where the Sun beams are more direct and its Heat excessive God hath made amends by the length of the night under the Equinoctial Line it is always Twelve hours and in the more Northern parts where the Influence of the Sun is weaker the days are proportionably longer So good is God to all his Creatures in all parts of the world As the Morning and Evening answer to the day of Twenty four hours so doth Spring and Autumn to the Twelve Months of the Year that we may not pass immediately from one extreme to another but gradually be disposed for so great a change as is between Summer and Winter and Winter and Summer So merciful and gracious and infinitely wise is God in all his Works so that we cannot say one part of the Year is more necessary than another The winter is as useful for the good of the Universe as the summer In this we are supplied with what is necessary to maintain us in that and the admirable situation of the Sun most probably in the Center of the World seems much to contribute to it If it had been at a farther distance from us our earth would have been in a manner desolate be cause the influence of the Sun could not have been considerable And if it had been nearer the Stars above would have wanted Light and this Earth under been burnt up The Excellent order which it hath now obeyed for above six Thousand Years is also wonderful The Sun never stood still but once and that by a miracle Tho much inferior to that of its daily Progress What a subject is here to admire the Power Goodness Wisdom and Faithfulness of God Lord what is Man for whom thou dost all this And because I find every year that the Day dies into Night the Summer into Winter and herbs and plants lose their beauty and verdure and shed their blossoms may I not hence learn to consider and prepare for my own approaching Change In prosperity health and ease and life to expect and make provision for trouble sickness pain and Death as every wise man in Summer would do for Winter and work all my might while it is called to day while the Light continues because the Night of darkness is at hand when none can work VIII Of Evils to be expected in this Year the Wisdom and Mercy of God in concealing from us the knowledge of future Events NOt only few and uncertain but Evil likewise are the days of the Years of my Life may every one say with the Patriarch Jacob. A sufficient portion of Evil for every year may well be expected when our Lord tells us there is a certain measure allotted for every day Sufficient to the day is the evil of it Not only is our Life short but troublesome full of vexatious Mixtures We cannot sing a Requiem to our Souls when one great Calamity is past for we know not in this Region of Changes but another a greater may be at hand One Messenger of ill News may succeed and out-do another as it was with Job We come weeping into the World in a most helpless forlorn state and if we escape the dangers of Infancy and the casualties of Childhood and after that out-live the Snares and Follies of Youth We are tost upon the Pikes of Time and Chance and sadden and disquiet our selves with a thousand Griefs and Sorrows by inevitable and unexpected occasions though we increase the number of needless Cares and Fears and Discontents Till at length a sudden stroke arrests us we fetch a groan and die Who can give a Catalogue of the Afflictions and Calamities Perplexities and Disappointments Incumbrances Crosses and evil Accidents of Humane Life By means whereof Millions are disconsolate and sad mourn and complain weep and sigh and from day to day are fed with the Bread of Affliction and the water of Adversity Not to mention mens fluctuating restless Thoughts of Heart importunate Desires baffled Projects defeated Purposes which suppose or bring vexation A good share of these is not to be avoided and yet very few can be particularly foreseen Who could prognosticate a year ago the Mercies or the Evils which have happened since Publick and private personal and relative to the Countries Cities Families and Persons we are concerned for And who can certainly foretel the Events of this ensuing Year God hath intermixt Good and Evil in the Life of Man He hath set Prosperity against Adversity saith Solomon to the end that Man should find nothing after him Eccles 7.14 that he may not know what shall come next whether a Prosperous or a Calamitous Event What a change may be made in a year by the meer Casualty of humane Events by the treachery of Friends or the malice of Enemies or the more immediate Hand of God We know not what shall be on the Morrow much less what a twelve Month may produce Because whatever may be disposed to happen from natural causes or civil counsels may be altered
of God for ever and all the impressions of his holy Image and likeness and to know that this is the fruit of my own choice that I lost it by my own Fault and Folly that I deserved to lose it that the Sentence is as Just as it is irrecoverable Who can fully imagine the dismal despair of a condemned Sinner under this anguish of a Guilty self-accusing Mind while under the stroke of God's Almighty revenging Justice with a distincter view and knowledge than now of God and his Excellencies of himself and his own vileness and malignity which must greatly increase his rage and Torment Add to this his being inraged by the accusations and cries of wicked Acquaintance and Relations and his being mockt and insulted over and tortured by malicious damned Spirits with a clear understanding of that glorious Felicity he despised refused and forfeited with a deep sense of his former Madness in preferring the sinful Pleasures and Advantages of this World and this after so many warnings and invitations and calls from God to have prevented it never to be diverted one Moment from the consideration sense and feeling of his Misery and the duration of it to have all his Passions let loose with the greatest violence and nothing to satisfie them and continually to preserve an Hell of wickedness and Horror in himself and to endure the reproaches convictions regrets and stinging Reflections of Conscience the gnawing Worm which shall never dye who can conceive the unspeakable misery of such an accursed State So great Calamity and yet Everlasting How long doth one Day or Night now seem to a Man under some violent racking Pain in any one part of his Body tho' he be under the means for Cure and have his Friends about him to pity comfort assist him with the hopes of Ease in a little while and the certain knowledge that it cannot last long Oh what then will be the dismal state of tormented (h) Vide Mr. Baxter's Saints Rest part 2. chap. 4. Sinners in Hell How infinitely must it exceed the most terrible Idea we can now frame of it to languish out a long Eternity in that Gulph of Darkness and Despair under unpitied intolerable Torments without Intermission or hope of End Miseries without measure Judgment without Mercy Pains and Sorrows intense and yet endless without the least succour or relief relaxation or remedy diminution or change without a drop of Comfort without a moments Rest without the smallest beam of Light or the least glimmering of Hope Perpetually dying and never dead under unsufferable Wrath which yet will be for ever Wrath to come seeking Death and never able to find it but Eternally to endure all that Calamity which the Conjunction of Death and Life together can render dreadful What Groans and Cries will these Thoughts and these sufferings wring from their Hearts But no refuge will then be found no excuses admitted no Prayers no entreaties will then prevail no Tears move Pity He that made them will shew them no Mercy and he that formed them will shew them no favour 'T is Never Never that is the killing word that breaks the Heart of those hopeless Prisoners in the place of Torment When once deliver'd over to that Prison of Gods Wrath they shall no longer be prisoners of Hope Judgment shall be brought forth unto final victory and the Redemption of the Soul shall cease for ever The vain hopes of Sinners shall then be ended in eternal desperation Hell will be full of those who did once hope they should never come there and full of those who despair of deliverance from thence but shall suffer exquisite Pains that cannot be numbred or measured or endured but that every Minute of an hour will seem an whole Year and yet must eternally be endured by miserable Sinners who will not be wise in time to prevent such an intolerable Portion Let me therefore O my Soul descend into Hell by Meditation whilst I live that I may not descend thither when I dye and be shut up for ever in that Prison the place of endless Torment Might we but suppose that one of those Miserable Souls did let fall but one Tear in an hundred thousand years and if after he had by this means wept so much as that his Tears would equal the drops of water in the whole Sea his Misery should have an end this were Hope this were Comfort But alas after that Period his Misery will be as far from an end as when he first began to feel it It will then be but the Beginning of Sorrows which will never never never End. Think O my Soul that this is the Portion of the Sinners Cup this is the wages of Sin and the certain doom of final Impenitence and Unbelief 'T is no politick Cheat or melancholy dream but the express repeated word of God and Christ the holy Prophets and Apostles and the voice of Reason too supposing but the Immortality of the Soul and the power of self-Reflection the punishment of Sinners must needs be Everlasting as carrying continually an Hell within them unless God work a miracle to prevent it which there is no ground to imagine he will or shadow of reason why he should God hath pawn'd his Truth and his (i) Deut. 32. c. 40 41. Eternity to execute this Sentence of his threatned wrath He is a God of infinite Mercy 't is true but he hath told us how far his Mercy shall extend He will not exercise one Attribute to the dishonour and the disparagement of the rest That obstinate and impenitent Sinners shall thus perish is not because the goodness and mercy of God are not infinite but because his other Perfections are so viz. His Holiness Justice Truth Soveraignty and Wisdom Was it Wisdom and Goodness to annex such a Penalty to the violation of his Law and can it be inconsistent with them to inflict his threatned wrath Shall we suppose God to uphold his Dominion and Government by a Falshood to keep the World in awe by the menaces of such Punishments as shall no where never be executed Is it unlikely that God should exercise so much severity and is it not as improbable that his repeated Word and Oath should prove false Is it not a righteous thing with God as the Governour of the World thus to punish the obstinate Despisers of his Grace who slighted his Authority disobeyed his Law affronted his Soveraignty derided his Power denied his Truth contradicted his Holiness and joyned Issue with the Devil to pull him from his Throne who abused his Patience and Long-suffering and scorned all his threatnings who thrust away their own Happiness and would not take warning who burst all his bands asunder and broke through all obstructions and would not be stopt in their course of Vanity and Folly or so much as consider their danger who rejected his calls to Repentance and refused his Mercy when it was offered and preferred a
than Ignorant Heathens who never heard of Christ never saw his Miracles or were inform'd of his Doctrine How shall we escape For he will come again as a Conqueror and a Judge and not as a sufferer and a surety as he came at first and tho he was numbred with Transgressors and made his Grave with the Wicked at his first Appearance he shall hereafter be attended with the shouts of Angels who excel in strength and the joyful Acclamations of his Saints glittering as the Light and paying Homage to him as the Judge of Quick and Dead He whom we have despised shall then be encompast with a dazling Glory that will confound us He whom we have affronted will be clothed with a Majesty that shall astonish us He whom we have offended shall be armed with Power and with Wrath to punish us and all that continue to lift up the Heel against him shall then be made his Footstool all that refuse to kiss the Scepter of his Grace shall be broken in pieces by his Iron Rod. The holy Scripture doth frequently and expresly assure us that he will thus come again and for these ends He is exalted and gone to Heaven as the Head of his Church and the King of Glory and when he foretold his Ascension he gave a promise of his Return The Heavens are to contain him till the restitution of all things By his Providence and by the Holy Spirit he now carries on the designs of his Death and when these are accomplish'd he will appear to the Joy of Believers and the Confusion of the Wicked He is entred as our * Heb. 6 c. 19 20. 10 c. 10. Forerunner within the Veil to prepare Mansions and to take possession for us and will not always leave us in this dark and defiling World. He knoweth our Sorrows and heareth our Prayers and bottles our Tears takes notice of our Groans and in all our Afflictions he is afflicted Being reconciled by his Death at his first coming we shall be saved by his Life since he lives to make good his word of coming again How comfortable is the News of it how joyful will be the Meeting to such as expect and prepare to see him when the Sea and the Graves shall yield up their Dead and all the Prisoners of Hope lift up their heads arise go up and meet the Lord in the Air and ascend with him to the Heavenly Glory But who can express how dismal a sight this will be to the Secure and the Impenitent to all who die in their sins to behold their Judge who formerly offered to be their Saviour upon a glorious Throne and all the Children of Adam summon'd before his Tribunal to have nothing to answer against his Charge and no way to escape his condemning Sentence they despised him as a Lamb offer'd in Sacrifice to take away the sins of the World but shall no longer do so when he comes as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah to devour and destroy the Enemies of his Cross Now they will not own him for their Lord but shall then find he is so by the Vengeance he will execute As a Jesus as a Saviour they rejected him making light of his Salvation despising his Mercy refusing his Grace but the neglected Gospel will then be a more killing Letter than the Law. He who by his Ambassadors doth now intreat Sinners to be reconciled will then be as deaf to their Intreaties as they have been to His Because they would not turn at his Reproof hearken to the Call of his Word and obey its Voice they must hear the Sentence of Condemnation and feel the Execution of it whether they will or no yea the Blood of his Cross will upbraid accuse and plead against them And whatever foolish Evasions they now make to continue in security they shall then be Speechless and Self-condemned Nothing will be able to hide them from the amazing Presence of their Judge or from the Wrath of the Lamb. He then will inflict an intolerable and righteous Vengeance an Everlasting Destruction upon all the ignorant and ungodly World the Greatest the Stoutest the Boldest of them shall then be humbled and stand before Christ's Tribunal upon an equal Level with the meanest seized with horror filled with guilt anguish and despair and find to their eternal Confusion that the Judge is no respecter of persons but every man shall receive according to his works The Mighty shall not be spared for his Greatness nor the mean man for his Poverty O Fool O Wretch that I am shall many then say who now brave it out in Pride and Vanity unconcern'd about a future Judgment not to be persuaded by the terrors of the Lord which I was so often warn'd and foretold of What Refuge of Hope can I now flie to What can I say for my self What can I do to escape to die to exist no longer I would have no compassion on my own Soul I would not so much as consider its danger I shall now find none from Christ I can expect none His Mercy is gone and gone for ever I am lost undone tormented and must eternally be so O the Amazement Horror and Despair of self-condemned Sinners in that day of Vengeance O my Soul what is there of greater consequence or of greater certainty from the Word of God than that I must appear to Judgment when Christ shall come again Lord teach me to believe it firmly to consider it often to lay it seriously to heart to act under the Influence and Power of it as long as I live that at the Great Resurrection from the Dead I may lift up my head with a joyful Hope and find the Judge to be my Friend my Advocate my Jesus and not my Enemy and Destroyer XXIII Meditations of the Glory of Christ in his Glorified Saints and of the thankful Admiration of Believers when He shall come again from Heaven which shall be continued to all Eternity THE terror of our Lord's Appearance to Judgment cannot be greater to the Wicked than the Comfort and Joy of it will be to the Saints When they shall see Him whom their Souls love ascend with him to Heaven and be welcom'd according to his promise with those endearing words * Matt. 25. Come ye blessed Children of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the World. 'T was for your sakes I assumed Flesh lived on Earth and died on the Cross to purchase this Glorious Kingdom for you which I now come to give you the Possession of 'T was for this I praied and suffered on Earth for this I interceded ever since in Heaven I was heard in that Prayer accepted in those Sufferings and my Intercession granted that where I am you may be also to behold my Glory Come therefore good and faithful Servants enter into your Lord's joy O what ravishing words will these be What an Extasie of Love and Kindness is