body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be manifest in our bodys with which agreeth that Rom. 8. Nevertheless afterwards they yeild the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby Wouldst thou have the life of Jesus manifest in thy body or Jesus Christ to live in thy soul then be content with Afflictions sickness and paines continually or wouldst thou have an hyperbole on hyperbole of glory then embrace the Cross which worketh it for us and love God afflicting thee Wouldst thou have eternity of Blessedness hereafter then be content to be fitted and prepared for the injoyment of it by a moments misery if thou desirest these ends use those meanes Med. 6. The Lord hath said it in his word that the voice of joy and thanksgiving is in the dwelling of the righteous heaviness may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning He saith he creates Israel a rejoycing Trust thou then in the Lord O my soul that thy grief shall not always last That the Rod of the wicked shall not always rest on thy back That he hath not forgotten to be gracious to thee Thou hast found by thine own experience the truth of these gracious dealings of God and mayst break out into praises of his goodness with the words of the Prophet Isaiah 25. O Lord thou art my God I will exalt thee I will praise thy name for thou hast done wonderful things thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth v. 4. Thou hast been a strength to the poor a strength to the needy in his destress a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall Therefore according to thy loving kindness of old now O Lord in the midst of thy wrath remember mercy Med. 7. What Son is there whom his Father chastneth not let me see the love of a Father in thy chastisements that it is the cup which my Father giveth that it is thy loving correction as David calls it Psal That it is but when need reguires That it is less than I deserve that it is that I should not perish with the World That thou dost not afflict nor grieve me willingly but as unwillingly as a Father his Son in whom he delighteth 't is affliction to himself That thou layest no more upon me than thou wilt enable me to bear That in all my afflictions Christ suffers with me and he that touches me touches also the Apple of his eye that when the Lord afflicts me with one hand he supports me with the other That he corrects me not in wrath That fury is not in him That his wrath endureth but a moment That he will save the afflicted people Psal 18.27 That it is an undoubted evidence to me of my Adoption and filiation And that it shall work in my soul Patience Humility meekness and all other peaceable fruit of righteousness in this life and an unspeakable weight of eternal glory hereafter That as a Father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth me If this I be assured of I shall count afflictions matter of joy and rejoycing for as I desire the ends grace and glory I must embrace the means that God useth to subdue my iniquities and to teach me obedience and make me better and account it loving correction Med. 8. If I would attain the end I must be contented with the trouble and difficulty of the means Heaven is purchased at no less a rate than All for it Whatever is dear unto thee as thy right eye in this thou must deny thy self Hast thou tryed and found the difficulty of mortification forsaking of the world and self-denial and of thy self thou art not able to attain to them to conquer thy passions viz. thy anger by an invincible patience thy revenge and malice by doing good for evil and by submission to him who hath said Vengeance is mine or else thy covetous mind of possessing much and trusting to the multitude of thy riches or else the lusts of thy flesh and youth pride or vain-glory love of pleasure and ease and indulging thy self What thou findest thou art not able of thy self to do those acts of mortification thou hast prayed to God to inable thee to do viz. that these messengers of Satan that buffet thee may depart from thee The Lord by his visitations and afflictions takes away the strength of thy corruptions weakens them and brings them under and so doth that for thee which thou wert not able to do thy self thou hast cause to say with holy David Psal 119. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn the judgments of thy mouth whereas before I was afflicted I went astray Then thou hast cause to rejoyce also as the Apostle St. James bids the Brother of a high degree rejoyce when he is brought low It may be thou hadst need of subduing and keeping under thy body and instead thereof hast been rather inclined to pamper it feeding to the full and hast waxed fat and kicked The Lord out of his mercy to thee hath sent afflictions to purge thee and heale thee and to keep under thy body that thou shouldst subdue thy corruption and lusts which are ready to break out do what thou canst by mortification self denial fasting abstinance and prayer which dutys thou hast been unwilling to undergo or at least in such sort and measure as the Gospel requireth Thou must not only be conntent to use and undergo the means but if thou wilt have grace and glory thou must pray for the means also and desire it Thou knowest that visitations and loving corrections are those means which thy heavenly Father is forced to use to reclaim those that go astray and to improve those that are weak Thou knowest many of thy graces are weak and want improvement thou prayest to him to fulfil his promises of helping and strengthening his that are weak if so thou must pray for these means which he hath appointed and take up thy Cross that thou mayest be able to follow thy Saviour Med. 9. Thou knowest the Discipline which God useth to his prodigal and undutiful children If they forsake his waies he visits their iniquities with rods and their sins with scourges though he doth not utterly take his loving kindness from them We read not of any of the Saints of God who went unpunished for their sins Job cryed out that God made him possess the sins of his youth David's sins took such hold upon him that he was not able to look up he was even consumed by means of Gods heavy hand there was no health in his flesh nor rest in his bones by reason of his sin Psal 38.3 Then he confessed his wickedness and was sorry for his sins and they were ever in his sight when the rod was upon him v. 17 18. Though we also believe our selves to be the Garden
thou O my soul apprehend that these are only the peculiar priviledges and injoyments of the Saints and fearest thy self to be none of those but fain thou wouldst be such thou maiest sue to the Lord to perform those and the like promises of free grace Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me I will give them a new heart And that Micha 7.19 He will subdue our iniquities And that Isa 3.4 The heart of the rash shall understand And that Isa 11.6 The Wolf shall lye down with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid. And that Hosa 14.15 I will heal their backslidings And that Rom. 16.20 The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly And that Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgements and do them Luke 11.13 How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him And Isa 35.5 The ear of the deaf shall be unstopped And that Deut. 30.9 I will circumcise thine heart That thou maiest love the Lord thy God with all thine heart c. And that in Isa 40. v. 31. They shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint Since then God hath promised to give thee his Spirit if thou askest it of him and prooved it with an argument a fortiori that he will and hath promised to do all this for thee and work all these works in thee and thou findest in thy self desires pantings and longing for them and thereupon dost ask him in his Sons name and for his mercies sake his truths sake and his names sake to perform these promises and givest him no rest till he doth it doubt not but he will Meditation of the Love of God Psal 103.8 The Lord is full of compassion and mercy long suffering and of great goodness c. Those sweet compellations which almighty God useth to his poor creature man if they do but sink into our hearts they must needs make such impressions as will cause reciprocal love to him Is Ephraim a dear Son is he a pleasent Child what can endear thee more than this Oh my soul what love canst thou desire more he counts thee and calls thee in this Relation Son looks upon thee with compassion as his child and pittieth thee as a Father pittieth his Child delighteth in thee as a Father delighteth in a Child whom he loveth and helpeth thee as his Child Behold what manner of love God hath shewed thee that thou shouldest be called the Son of God Joh. 1.4 If a Son then an heir and joynt heir with Christ his only begotten Son for Christ is not ashamed to call us Bretheren in this relation to God and Christ what canst thou want or fear or what more canst thou desire in the 3d. Chap. of Mal. He calls them his Jewels and Rev. 1. Kings and Priests and Isa 62. a Crown of glory His portion he called Abraham his friend What canst thou fear a Master may be severe if his work be done he will pay wages if not stripes but a Father is indulgent and will spare his Child and require no more of him than he can perform with comfort and delight if then thou canst find in thy self the disposition of a Child be sure thou maiest find in him the disposition of a Father Mat. 3. Our Blessed Saviour hath owned them in these relations viz. His Bretheren his members his Spouse his betroathed his Sister and Mother his Garden his Church his beloved his branches his Servants his flock his lambs his friends and Revel 1.6 He hath loved us and washed us from our sins and made us Kings and Priests to God Could the Canaanitish Woman find incouragement for faith to lay hold from that of Dog who needs to dispair sure not a prodigal Son And every thing that is excellent beautiful and desirable beloved and endeared he compares his people to it and sees all those perfections in them as he expresseth in the Cant. O then my soul admire and be inamoured of him and find all excellencies perfections and desirable good things in him from whom thine excellency cometh and is derived thine head thy Husband thine elder Brother thy Father thy Maker thy Governour thy Redeemer for so doth the heavenly Spouse see and admire in Christ Jesus her Beloved If so thou dost then thou knowest that he is they Beloved thy Saviour thy Head thy Brother thy Portion thy Delight thou lovest him in all that he did or said his teaching his sufferings his miracles thy love to him is but the reflexion of the beam of his Meditations of Mercy Med. 1. Psal 103.11 As high as the Heaven is above the earth so great is his Mercy c. WOrthy of our meditation are all the workes of God and every word of his to be studied by us that we may thereby improve our graces but his workes of mercy and that part of his word which holdeth forth mercy and offers it and sets forth God in the Glory and excellency of his mercy is most necessary for sinful man and most comfortable to be considered All that are saved are saved by meditating of this all that are lost are lost and perish for lack of the knowledg of this this is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ The freeness then and largeness of it is to be our chief study free it is What motive found he in us to move him when enemies to give his Son up for us all and to beseech us but only from his own goodness because he delights in mercy The man that seeks his lost sheep may get the profit of it and so may the woman that seeks her lost groat but what profit can the Lord get by us for which he may seek us for when we have done all we are unprofitable Servants The largeness of his mercy is without limits for if he hath commanded us to forgive seventy times seven times will not he frankly forgive us what we are not able to satisfy since he makes his forgiving of us many talents the argument why we should forgive petty debts can we imaging that he will take the first forfeiture since he hath commanded us not only to forgive our enemies but to love them bless them pray for them to do good for evil will not he forgive us love us and bless us as freely for Christs sake though there be no motive in us for it would he make love to be the fulfilling of the law charity the covering of transgression prefer charity before piety by commanding us to leave our gift at the Altar to be reconciled to our Brother prefer it before faith and all gifts and graces making it as it were the ligament and sinews of all and that if we want that all other graces are but empty sounds make
power to the faint and to them which have no might he increaseth strength They that wait upon the Lord shall renew thâ—ir strength Isa 40.29 30. The God of Peace shall sanctifie you throughout in spirit soul and body Faithful is he who hath called you who also will do it 1 Thes 5.23 â—4 Sin shall not have dominion over you Rom. 6.14 A new heart will I give you Ezek. 36.26 But it would seem tedious to run through all the sins which humane nature is prone to and to adapt the promises in holy Scripture to particular sins and lusts under which we labour and desire to be eased I therefore pursue it no further the rather because the precedent instances are easily imitated by those who read and meditate in the Scripture which all they do who desire to break off their sins by repentance This Direction I conceive to be necessary viz. That those who come to crave a promise of God do also consider the qualification and in the first place seek that else the promise belongeth not to thee For example if in thy trouble thou prayest that all things may work together for thy good pray also that he would circumcise thy heart and cause thee to love him with all thy heart And pray for this in the first place for the other will follow upon it This is according to God's own direction Seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof all other things shall be thrown in to you And in this manner we are to put in suit all the promises We must look upon the promised blessing as the invitation and incouragement to seek the grace that is the qualification and he who prayes for the grace implicitely and most strongly prayes for the promise annexed And there is no grace but hath a promised reward annexed a cup of cold water given in charity shall not lose its reward or but two mites where little is Then we must believe that no good works shall lose its reward And there is no blessedness promised to any but those who are qualified with this or that grace as may be seen in the 5th of St. Matthews Gospel and in other like places And he that seeks godliness seeks all the promises of this life and that which is to come as incident thereto therefore seek this first For many that have the qualifications of these promises and blessedness are yet in doubt whether they are sufficiently qualified and think that they ought to be better qualified for them and desire to be better qualified as well for their own joy and comfort as also that they may be more excellent and lovely in the eye of their Lord and beloved Saviour And grace wherever it is begets a holy thirst for a greater measure and will still thirst till it enjoy the highest perfection of degrees in glory Therefore they pray chiefly for grace and the improvement of every grace in themselves and others according to that Col. 1.8 9. Since the day we heard of it viz. Their love in the spirit mentioned in the 8th verse we cease not to pray for you and to desire that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding And chap. 4.12 That ye may stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God Phil. 1.11 And be filled with the fruits of righteousness c. And for the Blessings Rewards and Promises which God hath made and limited to those who have these graces and qualifications No man that prayeth for them in the behalf of those that are qualified can doubt of prevailing as when we pray Psal 7.4 Let all those that seek thee rejoyce Psal 40.16 Psal 33.22 Let thy mercy O Lord be upon us according as we hope in thee Psal 25.21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee and the like Because we oftener find these blessings and rewards positively asserted to be the portion and peculiar priviledges of those that seek God call upon him love him delight in him trust in him rely upon him have their mind stayed on him hope in him fear him and wait upon him Then we have found them particularly prayed for in the behalf of them who are so qualified Yet we do well to pray for them as well for our selves as for the whole Church of God Now in regard there be many promises free and without any condition on our part it behoves us when we fear that we are not qualified for a promise that we press God with those promises which are free as that I will love them freely Hos 14.4 I will pardon their iniquities I will heal them Hos 14.5 I will pour out my Spirit upon them Joel 2.28 I will put my Laws in their hearts and write them in their inward parts Jer. 31.33 I will be merciful to them and their sins and their iniqnities will I remember no more Jer. 31.34 He will subdue our iniquities and cast our sins into the bottom of the Sea Mich. 7.19 I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and I will not remember thy sins Isa 43.25 I will put my fear in their hearts Jer. 32.40 A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you Ezek. 36.26 Psal He will teach sinners in the way Isa 32.4 The heart of the rash shall understand Isa 42.7 He shall open the eyes of the blind Isa 44.3 I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground These and many others are promised upon very little or no consideration to be performed on our part As some are for asking seeking coming to God looking up to him If we had the sagacity of the Canaanitish woman we should perceive a door of hope through a little cranny For God will be sometimes prevailed with for a very petty consideration performed from a sincere heart because he knoweth our frailty This David well knew when he prayed Let the liseing up of my hand be as an evening Sacrifice So did the woman that brought two mites to inrich the Treasury And the Thief upon the Cross Also there are promises which are meerly free and grounded upon the privation and want of all consideration on our parts as that Therefore will the Lord wait to be gracious And at other times the Lord will not be prevailed withal but with great intreaty and importunity of prayer and fasting and alms-giving As we read our blessed Saviour told the Disciples in the case of dispossessing unclean spirits And Cornelius also with his prayers used fasting and alms much But sometimes the Lord will not be prevailed with at all as he said to the Prophet Though Noah Daniel and Job should entreat c. Therefore he commands him not to pray for that people and though Moses and Samuel should intercede Jer. 15.1 As it is said in the first chapter of Proverbs Because when I called
shall be conquerors over them through Christ Jesus And let me not be offended at the Cross of Christ knowing that the Gospel is offer'd upon the termes of self-denial and taking up our Cross and knowing that thou dost comfort thy Servants in all afflictions and that as their afflictions do abound their consolations do much more abound but rather let us count it all joy when we fall into these temptations knowing they work in us patience experience hope and repentance So David before he was afflicted he went astray but by his afflictions learned thy Judgments and he said 't is good for me that I have been afflicted And my afflictions seem not greater than his when he cried out Thy hand is heavy upon me day and night my moisture is like the drought in summer All the day long am I afflicted and chastned every morning I am dried up and my heart is like the melting wax my heart panteth my strength faileth me and the light of my eyes is gone from me my lovers and my friends stand afar off and no man cares for my soul But Lord I will make my prayers unto thee in an acceptable time and call upon thee in the time of my trouble Lord how long shall mine enemies triumph over me Lord when wilt thou comfort me Lord as others have found thee full of compassion and mercy so let me find Think upon thy compassions which have been ever of old Remember not against me mine iniquitys but do away my sins for thy names sake Meditation I don't enough apprehend my proneness to every sin and lust but think my self free from sin and from the danger of falling because I feel it not stirring for the present whereas the reason why it is so is only because various diversions take up my thoughts otherways and keep out those so that they are but only laid asleep as it were and are easily awaked by any temptation if the Lord don't strengthen me and the least opportunity lets them loose upon me so that I am not able to resist them Lord let me watch against all those sins that I find my nature inclined to and against such as I find no inclination to but an utter aversation from because my nature is wholly corrupted and it is the power of God only that keeps me from all sorts of sins and temptations therefore let me fear every temptation and sin and watch against them and pray that I enter not into any temptation for if I once but enter into the temptation I am sure to fall if I have no better support than my own strength though the temptation be but weak my strength is weaker Lord do thou either give me more strength or temptation less let me never enter the lists with this enemy but se defendendo flying him as far as I can let me not desire to know what sin or lust is but let me love the ignorance of it Lord when I confess my sins which I have comitted against so many means of grace thy mercies Judgments promises Threatnings the testimonies of my own conscience of thy holy Spirit and the testimonies of the wicked also I must needs acknowledg thy justice in all my punishments and thy long suffering in this that thou dost not confound me nor quite cast me off as thou didst Saul but punishedst me less than I deserve And I admire thy goodness in this that in the midst of thy wrath thou rememberest mercy and hast delivered me when in my affliction I sought thee herein I rejoice and I beseech thee Lord make me contented to be restrain'd from sin by sorrow Lord thou art my God and my Lord therefore let me acknowledg thee in all my ways wait upon thee serve and obey thee and let me not live as if I were without a God nor according to my own lusts denying the Lord that bought me as those do who make their belly their God or Idolize the unrighteous Mammon and vanities of the world neither let me question thy power in the want of means Thou art my Saviour and my deliverer my Buckler the Horn of my Salvation and my refuge my Stony Rock and my Castle therefore let me have grace to fly unto thee in my time of trouble to trust in thee in thy power and in thy goodness for my refuge and defence and stay my self upon thee and commit my way unto thee as unto a faithful Creator make my Prayers continually unto thee Thou art to thy Servants their hope and strength and present help in trouble therefore let not the surprise of any trouble dismay me as if I were hopeless or helpless thou art the Defender of all them that put their trust in thee mighty to save God all-sufficient therefore let me walk with thee and be perfect O thou who art the Rock of ages the helper of the poor and fatherless helpless and destitute The Fountain of living water Let me always run unto thy fountain for true comfort not to broaken Cisterns Let not the baseness of my nature or my sins dismay me for thou knowest whereof we are made but let me look up to Christ as the Israelites being stung did to the brazen Serpent and be healed Let me taste of the Tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God live even the body and blood Jesus Christ as oft a I eat of this Tree of life in the blessed communion assure me that I am healed of all my passed sins Thou Lord art life and truth I will therefore be guided by thee believe in thee and be dead to the World and all creatures and live unto thee and upon thee In Christ let us have life even the new life of the life of faith and not of sense That the old man may dye daily That Christ may live in us as the head liveth in the members and we in him by faith in the promises of eternal life through him As Abraham did in the Land of promise though he had not as yet received the earthly promise neither did he set his heart upon it nor seek it or suffer himself to be hindred by it in the persuit of his future felicity Thou to a believer art all that is desirable in all conditions whatsoever whom have I in Heaven but thee And whom in earth that I can desire in comparison of thee Thy goodness is infinite and though our sins be never so great yet thy thoughts exceeding our thoughts so far as the Heaven is higher than the earth we may have Hope in thy mercy because it endureth for ever and is over all thy works The Lord will never leave nor forsake those that trust in him though he suffered Daniel to be cast into the Lions Den. The three children into the firye furnace the sword to be put to Isaacs throat yet then he delivered them for the Lord knoweth how to deliver his Lot was delivered though Sodom was burned and so was Noah
drunkenness this sense is made clear to be the meaning of the place by Psal 119. where in v. 166. He saith Lord I have hoped for thy salvation and done after thy Commandments 167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly v. 168. I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies for all my waies are before thee He had an eye to all Gods Commandments But it followeth in the same Psal ver the last I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost seek thy Servant David did not alwaies keep Gods testimonies if he had he had not gone astray nor needed seeking neither yet went he so far astray as to forget the way to return as the words imply which follow Seek thy Servant for I do not forget thy Commandments And Psal I have not forsaken thee as the wicked doth For when he did fall as in the numbring of the people and likewise in the matter of Vriah his heart soone smote him and he humbled himself with weeping fasting and prayer and sacrificing and renewing his vows of better obedience confessing his sins with grief and shame patiently enduring such chastisements as God layed upon him Neither sin nor the punishments which he suffered for his sin could prevail to extinguish his love to God and holiness because he was regenerate and borne againe and his seed remained in him therefore he still retaines good thoughts of God and his waies as he expresleth in the Psalmes chiefly the 119. My soul breaketh out for the desire it hath alwaies to thy Commandments His eyes prevented the morning watches that he might be occupied in Gods word which he saith he esteemed above Gold and had chosen for his heritage because they were the very joy of his heart and this carried him forth to praise and extol the excellency of Gods word and Commandments saying Thy testimonies are wonderful therefore doth my soul love them And again they are tried to the utmost They are exceeding righteous and true I have more understanding than my teachers for thy Commandments are my study Except my delight had been in thy Commandments it had not failed but I had perished in my trouble Thy word giveth light and understanding to the simple And in Psal 18. The law of the Lord is an undefiled law converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure and giveth wisdom to the simple The statutes of the Lord are right and rejoyce the heart The Commandment of the Lord is pure and giveth light unto the eyes The fear of the Lord is clean and endureth for ever The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than the hony and the hony comb Moreover by them is thy Servant taught and in keeping of them there is great reward His hatred also was changed to hate that which God hated as he saith I hate them that hate thee And I hate all false waies but thy Law do I love This holy love makes the yoak of Christ not only easy but delightful As Solomon expresseth Prov. 1. Her waies are waies of peace and all her paths are pleasantness And those that walk in her paths shall not stumble for all her paths are right paths And they know that these paths are right and lead to happiness peace rest and life for that experience they have had already and taste of those heavenly gifts and power of the world to come they retain with good liking and they thirst for a further enjoyment of them albeit God suffers them sometimes to fall that they may know their own weakness may learn humility be more diligent in prayer and watchfulness live more by faith and depend upon God and ascribe all to Christ Jesus who is all and in all and that they may go out of themselves as St. Paul did when he desired to be found in him not having his own Righteousness for he saw the imperfection and insufficiency of his own Righteousness and therefore sought it in him Who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption for he is the only Righteousness on which we can trust for our Justification Jehova Justitia nostra omnis Justitia nostra pannis menstruata God that hath found folly in the Angels sees iniquity in our best duties I and that all have sined and come short of the glory of God and are righteous by God's mercy only not imputing their sin As Psal 32. Blessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven and whose sin is covered V. 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no sin and in whose spirit there is no guile That all flesh may be silent and all mouths may be stopped before him But God overlooks the frailties of those that are sincere before him in whom there is no guile hypocrisie or dissimulation in their love to him who eschew their own sin which their nature is most inclined to As David in Psal 18.23 saith I was also uncorrupt before him and eschewed my own wickedness They allow themselves in no sin nor in any degree of sinfulness As Naaman the Syrian would be excused in bowing to Ammon in the house of Rimmon So many seeming righteous are holden captive by some one lust which they like not to have spoken against But those whom Christ gave himself for he hath redeemed from all iniquity and purified them unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Albeit their best works are imperfect for who can bring a cleane thing out of an unclean thing not any yet are they who are Christs redeemed ones zealous of all good works and with David they can say they have an eye unto all Gods Commandments and have put off the old man and all his works And it is from a principle of love and desire from the sense of Gods love to them and the desire of obeying him who hath so obliged them together with a love and liking they have to the waies of God by reason of the new nature begotten by God in them in the act of regeneration This Divine love breathed lived and moved in David when he said What shall I render unto the Lord for all his mercies towards me And Oh how I love thy law And in the same manner the Servants of God find it to move and it is the fulfilling of the law in Gods account and acceptance As on the contrary disobedience proceeds from unthankfulness to God for his mercies and forgetfulness of them whereby the love of God is extinct as in the rebellious Israelites They remembred not his marvelous works that he had done but were disobedient at the Sea even the Red Sea Psal 106.13 Within a while they forgat his works and would not abide his counsel but lust came upon them in the Wilderness That it is the way of Gods dealing with his people thus to oblige them to his service
by beneficence and bounty and wonderful deliverances wherein his hand and almighty power onely could help us appears by Psal 10â— Which recites the wonders which God wrought for the Israelites in Egypt Whereby he delivered them from that thraldom and afterwards brought them to the promised land that flowed with Milk and Hony The end of all which is expressed in the last ver That they might keep his statutes and observe his laws When God bestowes such great mercies upon us as astonish our understanding as he did to them they were like men that dream when they were deliverd from Captivity when he delivereth us miraculously just then when we are at the very brink of destruction when the knife is at our throats or like brands pulled out of the fire so are we rescued and sometimes we are so rescued from the precipice of Hell before we are consumed it is no cause that may induce us to think that we are better than others or that it is for our own righteousness sake God forwarneth the Israelites from such misconceptions and that caution seemeth to imply that we are prone of our selves to such delusions God commands them when they bring their offering to say A Syrian ready to perish was my Father c. But the cause that moved God was from himself because of his love and favour which he had to them his goodness only was the efficient cause and the final cause his own glory and so it is of all our deliverances that we being delivered should serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all the daies of our lives Sutable thereto is the practice of Gods Servants for they ascribe them not to their own merit but reflect upon their own unworthiness that they may ascribe the more to Gods free goodness and mercy saying with David What am I and what is my Fathers house that thou shouldst do such great things for me Psal 116.9 And Psal 8. Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him And St. Paul admiers Gods mercy to him who he saith Was the least of the Apostles and not worthy to be called an Apostle Which humility of mind and sense of our own unworthiness kindles the flame of our holy love to God for all his goodness and excites our Zeal to do all we can for God And not only the mercies received are improved to inflame our affections to love God our great benefactor but the mercies also which we hope for and expect hereafter as in 2 of Sam. 7.19 David speaks to God Who am I O Lord and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto And this was yet a small thing in thy sight O Lord God but thou hast spoken also of thy Servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of men O Lord God! Though men the more they have done the less we can expect from them yet with God every mercy is an earnest of a greater therefore he argued well that said The Lord delivered me from the Lyon and Bear and will deliver me from this uncircumcised Philistine So did St. Paul saying The Lord hath delivered me and will deliver me And this assurance and hope alone in the want of all outward comforts by the strength of faith was able to support holy Job for therefore he was a conquerer over all these fiery darts of Satan and was able to do and suffer the good will and pleasure of God because he believed that his redeemer lived and that he should see him at the last day A further improvement the heavenly soul makes of mercies to engage its love and affections to God in the consideration of the overplus which God in his great goodness and liberality bestowes upon us above our desires and requests as when Solomon asked wisdom God bestowed upon him riches and honour and when David asked life God gave him a long life even for ever and ever So Abraham asked a child and God gave him seed as the sand of the Sea And we know of our own experience how God hath exceeded our requests for many temporal blessings which for the present when we had received them seemed great to us and to a thankful heart they will alwaies seem so and have the same operation to affect the heart with burning love to so great a benefactor But much more that overplus of eternal happiness which the Saints believe they shall receive For eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man what the Lord hath prepared for them that love him And as a Virgin beloved puts not an estimate upon the gifts of her Lover according to their meer value but according to the respect which she hath to his love whereof they are pledges so the heavenly soul also looks more upon the love and favour of God shewed in his mercies than upon the benefit it receives by them as David expresseth in the Psalmes Psal 63. saying Thy loving kindness is better than life it self Therefore saith the Spouse in the Cant. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better then Wine Which holy love the soul delights in and by it all duties in religion and works of piety charity and mortification are made easy delightful and desirable and not burthensome And so love may be said to be the fulfilling of the law because God accepts the will of them that are carried by this principle And they likewise accept of all that comes from God as from his love whether it be affliction or prosperity because they believe that God will bring good out of evils and cause all things to work together for their good and will shew his love and faithfulness in delivering them and will give them their hearts desire if they delight themselves in the Lord. Psal 37.4 And injoy themselves in serving him call the Sabbath a delight and as the Spouse in the Cant. ch 1. Sit under his shadow with delight If they trust in him hope in him rely upon him stay themselves upon him All which duties and all others they can do in some degree through Christ that strengthens them from whom they have all their sufficiency whose Grace is sufficient for them though of themselves they can do nothing not think a good thought for his strength is perfected in their weakness and his Spirit helpeth their infirmity for instance in the duty of Prayer they will approach the Throne of Grace to pray and praise God though they feel in themselves dulness and indisposition because they have found assistance in former duties from Gods Spirit enabling them when they were as much indisposed as at present therefore they do hope for and expect the like again and therefore they go on assured as Abraham was that God will provide himself a Sacrifice A parallel instance is that which St. Paul experienced when the
and Oyl is increased and may say truly my joy shall be in the Lord as he did and every child of God is commanded this duty in this saying Rejoice in the Lord ye Righteous This excellent grace makes the soul happy wherein it is because he that possesseth it possesseth Christ and all the benefits and priviledges that he hath purchased that incomparable benefit of justification first as it is Rom. 4. and last v. and the 5th and first v. Who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification Rom. 3. Being justified freely by his grace Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ This peace is a second benefit or priviledg which faith derives from Christ a third follows by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand the favors of God wherein we stand or the blessed condition of justified and sanctified persons to which we come by Christ through faith and rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God both our present and future condition is made happy by faith and it assures to us that happiness It followes and not only so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation works patience So that calamities are by faith made consolatory through the sanctified use which faith makes of them they are not only made not formidable as David his fears vanished by relying upon God which he expressed saying What time I am afraid I will put my trust in thee Psal 56.3 He made use of his faith in the time of his fears as he did also in the time of his wants Psal 8. The Lord is my shepherd therefore I shall lack nothing So that faith imboldens the Servants of God against all evil Christ gives and ensures them these priviledges partly by the testimony of his Spirit partly by faith in his merit Ephe. 3.12 In whom we boldness and access with confidence through faith in him Heb. 10.19 We have entrance into the holiest through the blood of Jesus The Spirit assures us that all the Privileges which Christ hath purchased for his people are ours and causeth us to rejoyce in them as ours That all the promises are ours and causeth us to rely upon them because we are assured that Christ is ours by Faith when he is laid hold on as ours all things are ours then it follows that we have peace of Conscience and tranquility in our Souls for he is our Peace Ephe. 2. And we acquiesce in him because we have chosen him for our portion He is reconcilation between God and us he satisfieth our debts makes God at peace with us and our conscences at peace in themselves and our souls satisfied as having nothing more that they can desire but more communion with God as that which satisfieth it We know that God hath no wrath at all towards us nor our consciences any dread or fear of Gods wrath or any terror but assurance of his favour and love and that our sins are washed away by the blood of Christ according to that in Colos 1.20 Having made peace through the blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things to himself 21. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight if you continue in the faith Hence the soul assures it self that none of the works of Gods severity have any wrath at all against it for in the 24. v. St. Paul saith He rejoyceth in his sufferings But positively they are assured of their adoption and of the love and friendship of God that he will preserve them supply them teach them heal them guide and support them visit them with spiritual consolations and joy in the Holy Ghost and that all things shall work together for their good which makes them willing to submit to Gods chastisements as it is Psal For thy sake are we killed all the day long yet do we not forsake thee This keeps them from murmuring and from covetousness The nature of it is that it can only be where the Son of peace is This peace is a league offensive and defensive whereby the soul hates sin and all that God hates and loves holiness and all that God loves That salutation which our blessed Lord perscribed to his Apostles must needs be the most excellent and desirable that saies Peace be to this house This peace makes all other things at peace with us for he is said To make a league with the foules of the air and the beasts of the field for us in Job and Prov. 16.17 When a mans waies please God he makes his enemies at peace with him Psal 91.10 The plague shall not come neer his dwelling or if it do it shall be no plague Rom. 8.31 If God be with us who shall be against us That is though they are against us the sting is taken out The excellency of it is so great that it passeth human understanding It is an everlasting peace it doth not forsake us in the time of trouble nor in the hour of death Isa 55.3 His mercies are called everlasting It makes us peaceable with men to those we have offended it makes us willing to satisfy them and willing to pardon those that have offended us but the wicked are like the rageing Sea alwaies unquiet It quickens the soul to holy duties the soul considers what it shall render to the Lord for all his mercies towards it Psal 103.3 Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thy sins The excellency of it must needs be great because it is the legacy which Christ dying left to his Church not as the world gives gave he it to them but more largely liberally and bountifully and absolutely without any limitation of time or condition David calls it great peace which they have which love Gods word but yet he saith that many are the troubles of the righteous That which followeth makes amends The Lord delivereth them out of all and the Lord will stand by them and deliver them as we know he did the three children out of the fiery furnace and Daniel out of the Lyons den and Job out of the fiery Trials The fruits of righteousness are sown in peace not in discord they which love peace sowe them And this shield of faith is both an offensive and defensive weapon whereby these holy warriours in their spiritual warfare fought the Lords battels under the bloody banner of the Cross of Christ who for the glory that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame these follow the lamb and suffer with him that they may also raigne with him and take joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing that they have a more enduring substance in Heaven And willingly they spend and are spent for God
other which are briefly contained in the three first petitions of the Lord's Prayer Since it is so that we must pray to God for every grace and every good thing we are to know that we cannot have them of our selves without his gift If we know how often we have resolved against any particular sin and yet when we have but entred into temptation we have again done the like Though we must needs acknowledg this and pray to God that we be not any more tempted And ascribe it to him that he suffereth us not to be tempted above our ability That we may be able to stand let us diligently consider and weigh all those snares of Satan whereby we are subject to be overcome and have fallen and more especially watch and pray against these that thou mayest be able through the spirit to overcome them And pray allso against such temptations which thou seest other men overcome by and doubtest whether thou thy self couldest have resisted And particularly those whereby thou readest in the word of God that men have been overcome especially those whereby good people have fallen beginning with our first parents temptation to eat of the fruit of the Tree of knowledg For though our blessed Saviour hath overcome Satan for us yet must we overcome him also and tread upon him therefore hath he forwarned us and armed us to fight and given us his Spirit to assist us in praying and fighting and watching against him and his temptations viz. The cares of the world and the vain pleasures and deceitfulness of riches and persecutions c. Pray then that thou mayest not hearken to any of the suggestions of Satan much less believe them as Eve did Though he pretend kindness nor give ear to those who are overcome by him as Adam did to her though he knew that the suggestion came from Satan Beware that the consideration of the many graces which thou findest in thy heart do not embolden thee to transgress or make bold with God in small matters for which fault some of the seven Churches of Asia were reproved and severely threatned but pray against this temptation Look not upon what thou hast so much as upon that thou wantest and comest short in Sometimes Satan speaketh directly against Gods word alledging that to be no sin which God hath forbid or that the punishment which God hath threatned shall not be inflicted but the contrary good shall be to the sinner thus he dealt with our first Parents and prevailed And thus he attempted our Lord and Saviour Sometimes he extenuates it sometimes he makes use of the falls and sins of other Saints and Servants of God as an excuse for us if we do the like some are perswaded they can repent when they will To some he pretends the Gospel to be a law of liberty and a licence to sin and that they shall not be condemned for sinning but for want of believing the Forgiveness and Remission through the blood of Christ through whom we Hope for mercy To this I answer that we must seek glory by grace he that doth not so will miss it The desire of our soul is to thy name my soul thirsteth for God Psal 42. And many other prove this And when ever he makes use of true premises he insers false conclusions Generally he assaults by surprise and takes the advantage of time and place as when our Saviour had fasted forty daies and forty nights and was hungry and in the wilderness where was no relief he tempts him to make bread of stones He will not suffer them to consider the danger nor mind the cure till it be late and then he perswades them it is too late or incurable When ever he makes use of Scripture he misconstrues it and misapplyeth it By small and imperceptible degrees he draws us to greater and greater When he hath made his way by one sin or one degree in a sin he argues this is no more than that we have already done therefore why may we not do it now as heretofore That he may not deceive thee by this fallacy make a covenant with all thy senses and look not upon that which tempteth nor harken to it Another fallacy of Satan is that he preswades some that they do not sin unless they are within the express letter of the Commandment The Fornicator he makes believe that simple Fornication is not forbid in the seventh Commandment for that forbids adultery So the covetous he makes believe that he is not within the condemnation of the second Commandment though he worships Mammon in his heart It is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he gives his goddess And likewise the Papists when they pray to the Blessed Virgin and other Saints And when they fall down to the host or any thing else carried in lieu thereof by the knavish bearer they pretend they worship not Idols but yet in their catechises they have left out that Commandment and split the tenth Commandment in two to make up the number Another deceit is in misvaluing time whereby he steals away the present opportunity and by anon and to morrow he puts off from the present Idleness and delayes are pernicious most of Satans Fallacies may be urged against himself as the reasoning of the unprofitable Servant because he knew his Master to be a hard man he hid his Talent in a Napkin it was more strongly urged against him For he ought so much the more to have improved it This way of refelling him is like the cutting off Geliahs head with his own sword When he makes use of his fairest Insinuators be not ashamed of rudeness to them Thou mayest answer all his suggestions with a Scriptum est as our Saviour did This sword of the spirit cuts all Satans snares asunder As Joseph cut them asunder saying How can I do this and sin He would not so much as hearken to the fair tempter nor be with her when she laid hold of him he fled from her without a complement So must we keep Satan at swords point for if we suffer him to come within it we lose our guard Non sic retribuam Domino may be answered to all Non sic Patri Adjutori Salvatori consider the many pleasures comforts and enjoyments which the Lord allows thee to sollace thy self withall how free how pure how satisfying and contenting they are and compare them with those which are offered by Satan and see how thy exceed them in goodness For these which Satan tempts thee to are allayed so with bitterness that the very sweetness is turned into bitterness the Hony into Gall The damnable alloy which I mean is the gripes of conscience in the very act of enjoying them and the flashes of Hell fire as oft as they come into memory expressed by that of the Poet Et coeco verbere pulsat That is they are slashed by their own conscience Also the detrement which these bring to the body estate and good
these two principles they are our sollaces and delight and also Gods delight Therefore will he hear them and reward them Albeit Gods holy people ask temporal blessings of him and the comforts of their life and temporal deliverances so that it may be objected that they have other principles and motives natural of performing duties than these two spiritual I Answer that it is the disposition of the New nature of the child of God to desire the obtaining of temporal mercies and blessings by and through this way and meanes of seeking them of the gift of God by prayer only that so they may enjoy them as pledges of his fatherly love mercy and faithfulness and as returnes of their prayers And so they will be the more careful to use them to the honour and glory of God And in them they enjoy God and his loving kindness which they value and comfort themselves with more than with his gifts as it is expressed in the Psalmes in this saying thy loveing kindness is better than the life it self and the heavenly Spouse desireth not to be inriched but by her husband and for further answer I say If God hath at any time heard us for outward blessings I conceive he hath obliged us to ask them of him still as if I salute or visit my neighbour and acquaintance and he returnes the like civilities I am to continue my complisance but if he answer them not then he casts me out Another Motive may be fetched from the Priestly office of Christ who ever liveth to make intercession for us And offereth up our prayers in his golden censer perfumed with incence and sweet odours If so then must we be careful and make sure that he have our prayers alwaies to offer up for us else we shall neglect him and his office and the access with confidence which he hath purchased for us Also we shall neglect the mercy of almighty God who is said to be rich in mercy to all them that call upon him in Faith Ephes 3. Also we shall neglect the gracious assistance of the holy Spirit which helpeth our infirmities in this duty Consider also what Vows and promises we have made to God upon extraordinary occasions for the due performance of this duty Psal 61.8 I will alwaies sing praise unto thy name that I may daily perform my vows Psal 116.16 Consider whether the facility of the duty be not a sufficient Motive to it for I conceive that there could not be made a more easie command than this of our blessed Saviour Ask and ye shall have Man could not have desired an easier It is expressed by David in his Psalms thus Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it To ask is the easiest thing that we can do unless it be to open our mouthes In this respect Christs burthen is light The prayers which he enjoins are short he forbids long ones Besides the great rewards of so small a service make it yet lighter because of the disproportion between this and that And they are yet more light by reason of the assistance we have from Gods holy Spirit I intend not that all prayers are performed with ease alike The fervent prayers of the Saints which are put up for such graces as they need and against such lusts temptations corruptions trials as they labour under are mixed with sighs and groanes which cannot be uttered but all their prayers are not such for those which are but for common mercies ought not to be such for even the wickedest will pray and howl for Corn and Wine as it is in Hose few words are injoined in these prayers And thus they are most consistent with faith in Gods promises that he will not suffer us to want these Necessaries of life Compare these services with the chargable Sacrifices of the Jewish law and the burthen of ceremonies which they were not able to bear and these will appeare but easie and light But that which facilitates this duty most is faith whereby believing we shall obtain we ask of God such things as we need for our soul and body as confidently and boldly as children use to ask of their parents the things they need their food and rayment and the like these esteem it no difficulty to ask whatsoever they have a mind to but a pleasure and delight and doubt not of speeding especially when they are invited and incouraged by promises The freeness and easiness of access which we have to God in Christs name makes the duty facil for Jesus Christ the Son of God hath made way for the poor and needy and empty handed begger they need not bring a present to make their way But then when thou seest no good in thy self if thou grieved thereat desirest grace and seekest to him for it these are Motives with which thy Saviour will be perswaded to give thee of his fulness grace for grace and will be moved thereby to intercede for thee to his Father what begger will not go thither for relief where he is assured to speed The paternal relation between God and us instructs us of the easie access what ever we need we know he is ready as a Father to give he takes care of us and will provide for us he expects but to be asked he hath prevented our asking with invitations and will hardly stay till we have done asking but he will grant it because he delighteth in granting the requests of his children else he would not grant them with such overplus nor invite us to ask And it evidenceth to us that we are his children when we do make use of our free access upon all occasions And believe his readiness to grant And if a prodigal Son might find such free and kind reception as our Saviour saith then he that is the dear Son and pleasent child and hath title to all cannot be denied 1. Preparatory Ejaculations Lord draw nigh to me Now that I draw nigh to thee and if for my unworthiness thou canst not be so propitious to me as thou wouldest be to thy child that is obedient then draw nigh to me as the Father was pleased to do to his unworthy prodigal son But if thou wilt neither of these yet be thou pleased to help me as thy Servant and Son of thine handmaid but if this thou wilt not then Lord relieve me as thou didst the Cananitish woman as a Dog of thy family with the crums of the bread of life thy holy Commandment hath taught us importunity therefore if thou canst not hear me for any relation hear me for my Importunity 2 Preparatory Ejaculation Lord thou hast made thy Servant to know his own insufficiency I find daily that fain I would do good and be such as thou commandest us to be but when I would do good evil is commonly present with me and how to do the good I would I know not This sense of my own insufficiency in every grace makes me a daily
the designes and interests which the world in general carrieth on and how vigilant they are and industrious in their own secular interests insomuch that they quite lay aside the design of Jesus Christ and the promotion of Gods Glory of goodness and vertue and every grace Yet there must be a holy seed a peculiar people zealous of good works and a Spiritual Temple and there must be some to carry on the holy interest and designe of Gods glory both by doing and suffering graces and therefore I have resolved to my uttermost ability to promote this and the rather because I see so many carrying on Satans design as if the Devil were let loose Ten Lepers were cleansed They all received equal benefit but one only of ten acknowledged his benefactor and returned him thanks let not the paucity of thy companions discourage thee in thy duty and good resolutions Lord that I may do thee this service the better affect me so with the sense of thy mercys and goodness now and alwaies as I was affected when I first received them For then I admired thy goodness and thought I could never love thee enough and praise thee enough And then I enjoied the sweetness of thy mercys but much more I enjoied the sweetness of thy self for I did enjoy thee as the Lord God alsufficient And as a God hearing prayer and as My God And I enjoied my self as thy Servant And that I may the better do this duty of thankfulness let me remember the affliction and oppression sorrow and grief fear and fearful misgiving of mind that I lay under before the Lord delivered me and let it be evermore before me and affect me with the sense of it else I can never be thankful enough for thy mercy for so thou prescribedst to thy antient people the Jews that when they brought their offerings before thee they should make their recognition and say a Syrian ready to perish was my Father and came down to Aegypt with a few c. And I find holy David praising God in this manner Praised be the Lord who remembered us in our low estate Psal And few there be who may not as fitly as he use this form But if there be any who have not experienced this condition it is to be feared they shall for as great as they are reduced daily He also remembers his fears before God and praiseth him for his deliverance from them all And there is no man so valiant but sometimes his fears make him at his wits ends therefore all man-kind may use this form too And for deliverance from troubles we may all praise God as we find him doing Psal 34. He further praiseth God for deliverance from afflictions from breaking his bones ibid. We also may remember the time when we have narrowly scaped the like danger Therefore we must acknowledge it thankfully to Gods gracious preservation He praiseth God also for raising him up from his sickness This occasion of praise we all have had He praiseth him for delivering him from his enemies and all that will live Godly must have enemies as he had and shall have occasion to praise God for delivering them from them He that is born after the flesh will persecute him that is born after the Spirit but shall not prevail against him For if he should prevail how then were it better that a Milstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the Sea then that he should offend them that are such And all those that belong to God may say with him By this I know that thou favourest me because mine enemie doth not prevail against me for the Lord will not leave them in the hand of their enemies though they persecute them and wrong them in word and deed and despitefully use them and say all manner of evil of them falsely He only that is little in his own eyes can be thankful to God Therefore David assaying to give God praise for his mercies first strips himself of all pretence of merit saying What am I and what is my Fathers house And the blessed Virgin in her magnificat ascribes lowness to her self whom God exalted so highly He only can bless God for afflictions who is sensible of his straying inclination And Gods restraining goodness The troubles of the righteous are many but the Lord delivers them out of all Therefore their thanks and praises of God must not be few I will shew forth all his praises saith he in the Psalms And I will alwaies give thanks unto the Lord his praise shall ever be in my mouth Psal 34. He shews the cause In the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart thy comforts have refreshed my soul If we are sensible that God hath heard our prayers we must remember too that he hath heard our vows It is but a reasonable imposition of a never-failing Benefactor I will deliver thee and thou shalt praise me Psal For we receive our wages before we perform our service And what doth it avail the Lord and what doth accrew to him whether we are delivered or whether we perish in our affliction our praises is all that redounds to him the benefit to us This duty is so delightful and satisfying in the very act of performance that it is a reward to it self Psal 63. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and satness when my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips Thus he sings sweetly in the ears of God of Angels and of good men and in his own ears too or else how was he so fully satisfied whilst he performed it And why else did he so often perform it with such studied variety Certainly it doth much delight a man to recount how much God hath favoured him helped and heard him The Royal Prophet doth not only recount his own troubles and sorrows and perils and travels that he had gone through from his youth up but he recounts also the National mercies what God wrought for them when he brought them out of Aegypt and downward to his own time Also he admires God's goodness to all sorts of men in affliction as at large may be seen in the 107 Psal as particularly to men driven from their own place and Country into strange Lands wandering without succour To prisoners cast into dungeons because of their sin To sick men and to seafaring men when they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end then they cry unto the Lord and he delivers them Lord How Good How Gracious art thou When our condition is so desperate that we know not what to do which way to turn us And know no way to escape no more than he that flies from a Lion and is torn in pieces by a Bear When we see that we cannot be delivered without God will please to work a miracle When we seem to our selves irrecoverable like the dried Bones in the Valleys in Ezekiel's Prophecy
or like a dead Tree withered and plucked up In this forelorn and hopeless condition when no man regards our perishing we come to God for help and he in whose only power it is to help doth help us and deliver us and makes the dry bones live and we have seen the salvation of the Lord and the wonders that he doth for the Sons of men and have been transported with joy as the Israelites when they came out of Babylon were I acknowledge that there be some who come in no misfortune nor are plagued like other men But all those whom Christ Jesus hath chosen to be his souldiers he trains up in this discipline But if it were so that I had not gone thorow such perils such afflictions and such troubles as I see and hear to befall other men Have I not much more cause to praise God for keeping me in health than for raising me up again being fallen sick from keeping me from the perils which befall other men than for delivering me if I had been in danger and for keeping me from troubles wherein others are plunged If I consider the calamities of men far greater than my self As for instance of him who is more worth than thousands of us our Soveraign Lord the King Can I chuse but bless God that my distresses afflictions and perils of life have not been so many and great as his But how great and good above me was he that was after God's own heart What pains perils and troubles did he not go thorow first in his person his reins chastened him in the night he had no soundness in his bones then from his superiours Saul persecuting him as long as he lived from his inferiours his servant curseth him to his face from unkind neighbours as Doeg the Edomite from his Relations his wife scoffing him his Son rebelling and another commits a rape on his Sister c. Besides the temporal mercies he also tells us what God hath done for his soul too as Psal 103. and blesseth God for forgiving all his sin c. ib. For this we can never praise God enough Meditations and Ejaculations Go about Duties not as labours but thy only enjoyments Delight thy self in the Lord and expect the Reward LORD since thou hast promised thy holy Spirit to them who ask it of thee I beseech thee give it to me for without it I cannot serve thee nor walk in obedience to thy holy Commandments for by reading and hearing thy Word I can only know my duty I cannot retain my holy resolutions which are stirred up in the duties one hour Therefore do thou create in me a new heart and a new nature Regenerate me by thy Spirit and the immortal seed and write thy Law in my heart and give me thy holy Spirit the Almighty Helper the Comforter and hold thou me up and I shall be safe Make me willing to undergo conflicts with sin for hereby I shall have comfort in the hour of death and the day of trouble O give me peace of conscience the comforts of a well-spent life that I may be able to say with Hezekiah Lord remember how I have walked before thee in all simplicity when the day of death comes Make me wise to consider alwaies my latter end and what thoughts I shall have then of the world and all its comforts let this restrain me from giving up my self to them else I shall be a fool in my latter end as the wicked are and cry out that the world hath deceived them their consciences being then awakened which in their lime-time they stifled and then the Hypocrites have no hope Therefore Lord give me grace and prudence to make provision against that time that the sting of death may be taken out Let me believe the terrours threatned against the wicked that I may never come to feel them Let me find Christ my Advocate when death comes upon me And that I may not die in my sin make me by thy grace continually to die to sin Deliver me from every evil work and preserve my body and soul blameless unto the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Lord above all things give me to fear sin and the transgression of thy Law who art the great Soveraign of the world its Creator and Preserver to whom we owe both our persons and obedience and if the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the Law much more let me who have as well the written Law and the Gospel as the Law of Nature do the things contained in the Law else how shall I escape thy wrath But having tryed our obedience thou hast found us all rebels and in thy justice mayest damn us all if thy mercy in Christ Jesus do not save us Since Jesus Christ our Saviour was made under a Law and the glorious Angels fulfil thy commandments and hearken to the voice of thy word and man hath no such perfection as his Saviour or the Angels but our wisdom and our perfection is in obedience to the Law Inable us to keep it for herein God hath shewed us what is good Micah 6.8 Every child of God is as a souldier keeping a garrison in an enemies Country Therefore Lord as I put on my apparel let me remember to put on the Armour of light and to watch and be provided to fight thy battels let me not be destitute of any piece of this Armour but give me all Christian vertues I am naked naturally and without this Armour but unless I have it of thy gift I cannot put it on but must perish by my nakedness for I cannot have any truse from my spiritual adversary who watches to destroy us And give me the skill of an expert warriour to use these Armes against the Devil the World and the flesh inable me to put off all sins which hinder the planting and growth of grace in our hearts for we cannot serve God and mammon let me depart from evil that I may do good Let me feel the power of Christ's death that I may partake of his resurrection Let the sense of my forepast sins make me the more diligent in thy service Since my darkness is passed let me put off the works of darkness Let me not delay considering my danger and the shortness and uncertainty of life and the greatness of the reward if I do thy service For to him that is faithful in much thou wilt give much ten Cities for improving his five talents to that number That I may fear sin and not make light of it or a mock of it as fools are said to do let me consider the great evil of it That it is the foolishness and brutishness of a man the darkness and nakedness the blindness and sottishness and death of the soul which makes us said to be dead in trespasses and sins and that the effects of sin are the worst of evils That it makes us like to the Devils That one sin makes us
the perception of these mysteries so according to this example let thy faithful people prepare themselves with repentance and perfect charity and if we remember that our neighbour hath any thing against us ler us leave our gift at the Altar and go and be first reconciled to our neighbour and then perform our Sacrifice to God and apprehending and discerning the Lord's body that we commit no irreverence And as our souls are prepared so let us prepare our bodies as thy servant David when he eat the shew bread 1 Sam. 21.5 answered the Priest Women had been kept from them three daies and the vessels of the young men were holy Let our bodies be sanctified by fasting temperance abstinence prayer and humiliation lest as the Ark of the Covenant by which the Lord conveyed the greatest benefits to the Israelites being taken by the Philistines brought to them the greatest calamities and so it did to Vzzah for but touching it irreverently In like manner these heavenly gifts if we eat them unworthily shall prove our damnation and if they who but touched the hem of his garments or received him into their house received such benefits shall not they who receive him into their souls be healed of all their infirmities and as the antient martyrs by receiving these mysteries were strengthened to undergo all that tyranny could lay upon them Let them in like manner strengthen us against all that Satan and the world can do against us And as the daily Infirmities of our body are helped by our bodily nourishment so let our Infirmities of our souls by this our Spiritual nourishment be relieved and us be satisfied and delighted therewith as with heavenly manna O Lord sacrifice and offerings and burnt offerings thou wouldest not have but thou gavest a body to thy only begotten Son that he should offer up himself in whom thou art well pleased And this Sacrament was instituted by him in Commemoration of his death and the acceptable Sacrifice of his life for the sins of the world Lord by his death and Sacrifice of his life unto thee which we hereby celebrate be reconciled unto us This is that pure Sacrifice which the Saints shall offer up unto thee in every place LORD since thou turnest the malice of men and the unjustice which they do thy Saints to the advantage either of their secular concerns as Josephs imprisonment was or of their soules Lord inable me to suffer wrong and to take it patiently to suffer railings and reviling as David did Shemei's railing saying If the Lord hath said to Shemei curse David who shall say why hast thou done so So let him curse for who can tell whether the Lord will requite good for his railing If I loath the fool in them I must not act it my self by returning the like Let me consider that by patience I possess my Soul and that it is better to suffer wrongfully than as an evil doer since it is the will of God that we should suffer and let our graces be exercised hereby And let us consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners Jesus our Lord lest we faint and be weary in our mind for the consideration of his suffering such reproach and the frequent remembrance of him hath efficacy and vertue to strengthen and support us who are willing to be conformable to his sufferings but we had rather that this cup might pass from us LORD whenever we fall into any sin we find immediately that we have lost our own innocence and thy favour so that we cannot go about our affairs with that quietness and peace and serenity of mind as before we did and in all that we do we fear it will have but bad success because we dare not look up to thee for a blessing Lord give us to consider this when we are tempted that we may fear sin more and make it out to our understandings how we do by sin crucify again unto our selves the Lord Jesus and put him to an open shame for we are all ready to pronounce an Anathema upon the Crucifiers of our Lord therefore let us not suffer these his Crucifiers to live He that seeth in secret he will reward thee openly Let this encourage us to frequent Prayers and duties But O Lord our services are so few and so slight and perfunctory and sinful while our hearts go after our covetousness and lusts so that we forget before whom we are and what we are doing and so our duties are sacriledge and our services provocations sins vain oblations abominations filthy rags like Nadab and Abihu's strange fire like the offering of the lame and blind when we have a male in our Flock so that thou mayest justly deal with us as Pilate did with the Gallilaeans whose blood he mingled with their sacrifice What reward then can we expect O Lord we beseech thee though our prayers are sinful yet accept them offer'd up in the Golden censer of Jesus our Mediator which is full of Incense which are the Prayers of the Saints and let these filty rags be wash'd in his blood and then they will be clean and white as Snow and then thou mayest reward them but yet that reward is thy free mercy therefore not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy name is all the praise for what can we do for which thou should'st reward us with so many mercies here and with life eternal Any one of thy mercies is of more value then all our services could deserve or requite if we should continue in the duties of prayer and praising thee night and day all our lives for we owe thee all we have or can do It is thine as we are thy creatures and we were but unprofitable Servants after we had done all we can and we have need of an almighty Redeemer Then let us not murmure if the Lord doth delay to hear us Neither let us say 't is in vain to serve the Lord. Let us consider also that thou dost delay out of mercy to try our patience and perseverance and other graces and to make us more servent or may be because thou wilt not reward us with temporal blessings but eternal which is far better and let us not press or be importunate to receive our reward here lest we go without the eternal reward but let us be willing to trust God though he delay LET me not come near to that which may be a temptation or if a temptation come upon me unawares let me not say in my heart I shall be strong enough to resit it and so trust to my own strength but let me have grace to observe those ways and methods of resisting sin as thou hast appointed in thy word Therefore let me fly immediately from the temptation as Joseph fled from his Mistress leaving his Cloak If by chance I fall into the Company of Drunkards let me not say I shall preserve my sobriety because I love that and hate that
raiment and God increased him to two bands Abraham desired but a Son and God increaseth his seed as the sand of the Sea The prodigal desires to be but as a Servant and the Father entertaineth him with embracings and feastings But as for his people that trust in him mercy imbraseth them on every side God satisfieth their mouth with good things they shall want no manner of thing that is good He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him if he doth not give the thing desired he will take away the desire of it Psal 32.4 Delight thy self in the Lord and he will give the thy hearts desire We starve our souls for want of asking Joash struck three times on the ground and the Prophet was angry and said to him Thou shouldest have strucken six or seven times Paul to the Corinthians saith you are not straitned in us but in your own bowels And t is said of Christ that he could not do many works because of their infidelety to be often upon our knees shews our faith in him believing his goodness and Fatherly care of us Infidelity doth as it were bind the hands of God who is not wanting in his bowels of mercy Be sensible then O my soul of thy wants know where to go for thy supply namely to him that inviteth thee give way to thy most inlarged desires when thou goest to an infinite supply be not straitned in thine own bowels open thy mouth wide come boldly as he biddeth thee And ask the things that are pleasing in his sight since thou knowest thou shalt receive them if they be such things as the word of God teaches thee to ask fear not because thou art sensible of thine own unworthiness since such are invited and the best are unprofitable Servants And when they have done all they may and must acknowledge themselves such and stand in need of the merits of their Saviour and are justified freely by grace if so much more must such sinners as I and such as Mary Magdalen see our own unprofitableness But Oh that I could love as much as she did because much is forgiven me and I believe that he will forgive me because he hath given me many things and it is easier and lesser in the esteem of men to forgive a debt than to give I shall undoubtedly believe his love to me If I can feel in my heart such love to him 5. Meditation When I find the Lord reckoning up the greivous sins of his auncient people the Jews that they were a rebellious people lying Children that would not hearken to the law of the Lord which say to the seers see not and to the Prophets prophesy not unto us right things but deceits cause the holy one of Israel to cease from before us for which iniquity he threatens them v. 13. And v. 15. Promiseth them salvation if they return but finding them obstinate they would not whereby they procure their own ruin Therefore he saith Isa 15.18 He will wait to be gracious unto them He will be exalted that he may shew mercy unto them as if he had said though their sins were never so great yet his mercy should not be overcome his mercy is infinite as he is their sins are the sins of men his mercies the mercies of God that where iniquity doth abound grace doth superabound his mercy is free without any merit in us or any motive unless it be our misery the motive of his patience and mercy is only from himself but that he waited to be gracious implies that though his mercy were never so free yet he could not find a season to shew it then when they were so averse from him Since then the motive of mercy is only in God himself we may infer that there is nothing in him to discourage faith and recumbency upon him so that although we have been guilty of such sins as these are or the same though we have been rebellious lying averse and would not hearken unto his voice nor to his Prophets and have hindred them from speaking right things yet let us remember our selves and returne unto him as the Ninevites did when they were warned who knowes but he may wait to be gracious to us also but let us not presume upon his mercy and make that which should be our Physick our Poison We know that he hath given us a High Priest who doth not only know our insirmities and impotencies but therefore knew them that he might have compassion upon us Blessed Jesus thou knowest that no man can come after thee unless the Father draw him help thou our weak nature by thy Holy Spirits assistance draw us we will run after thee Quicken us who by nature are dead in trespasses and sins take away our heart of stone and give us hearts of flesh for thy promise sake A Prayer LORD when I am tempted to revenge pride Emulation Abition wrath or any other sinful action to satisfy my sensual carnal appetite to maintaine my honour to repress my adversary to Correct his insolency inlighten me with thy Heavenly grace thy word and thy Spirit that I may pull off the Mask of these sensual carnal waies of the men of the world which shall perish and see their vanity and deformity and anoint thou my eyes that I may cleerly see the beauty of every vertue grace meekness charity humility patience longanimity that I may view them in themselves and in those who excelled therein and esteeme them more honourable than to be accompted brave gallant bold valiant and heroick as sometimes I have esteemed when I have seen heard and read of any exemplar and rare act of the graces as to instance the patience of Job when he had lost his estate children and bodily health murmured not but blessed God and Eli 'T is the Lord let him do what seemeth good in his eyes Hanna when she was reproved for drunkenness answered without anger nay but in the bitterness of my soul I prayed Forgive us our trepasses as we forgive them that trespass against us 1. Meditation If our forgiving the trespasses of others be the pattern of Gods forgiveness to us how few can be saved for none ever forgave every injury that hath been done to him some they have revenged But if God doth not pardon every sin to us we are damned Lord give us thy grace to be as free in the pardoning of all trespasses without exception though never so many as we would have thee forgive us for we cannot have so many committed against us as we have committed against thee therefore we have need of a larger pardon from God to us than we can have occasion to give others If God would take accompt of us we shall have need of forgiveness for a thousand talents Mat. 18.24 More than we are able to satisfy yet when we fall down before him beseeching his pardon he freely forgives us all But if we for a hundred pence or