And prayeth Forsake me not in the time of mine Age when my strength faileth me until I have shewed thy strength unto this Generation and they Power unto all c. Psal 72. He urgeth his holy Resolutions Give the King thy judgements c. Then shall he Judge the people according to right and defend the poor c. He shall keep the simple folk by their right and punish the wrong doer Psal 5.2 Hearken unto the voice of my calling my King and my God Motiv for unto thee will I make my my prayer my voice shalt thou hear betimes O Lord early in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up Psal 86.11 Teach me thy way O Lord the motive And I will walk in thy truth knit my heart unto thee the motive that I may fear thy name Psal 16. Preserve me O God the motive for in thee do I put my trust Psal 17. And in sundry other Psalms he urgeth the wickedness of his enemies as a motive ver 8. Keep me as the apple of the eye hide me under the shadow of thy wings from the wicked that oppress me the motive with their mouth they speak proudly c. In the 38 Psal he also urgeth the malice and wickedness of his enemies together with his own sorrow and misery by reason of his sins and his enemies ver 2. Thine arrows stick fast in me and thine hand presseth me sore There is no health in my flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there rest in my bones because of my sin ver 20. Of his enemies he saith they were against him because he followed the thing that is good but he will confess his iniquities these motives introduce this prayer Hast thee to help me O Lord God of my salvation In the 4 Psal He makes use of Gods former benefits as a motive for further beneficent saying Hear me when I call O God of my Righteousness the motive for thou hast set me at liberty when I was in trouble Psal 86. He urgeth his afflictions he suffered under Gods hand and his enemies malice and the goodness and mercy of God And concludes O turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me Usual in his prayers is that expression for thy Name sake They who would make use of this as all must must know him in that name which he himself proclaimed Exod. 34.6 For David did refer to this The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin c. The Lord cannot forget his own name therefore cannot forget to be gracious If we can use that inducement of Moses Lord if I have found favour in thy sight it is peculiar to his favourites and obligeth God to hear This is a large Field and may afford great plenty and variety but every man may supply himself with it that list to read and observe the Psalms It is noted by Bishop Cooper that it is not sufficient to seek from God because of that which he is but we must also consider what we are Otherwise as Jehu said unto one demanding Is it peace What hast thou to do with peace So the Lord may answer us though the Lord be gracious what is it to us As to the subject matter of Prayer the Children of God are sometimes mistaken about it and are in doubts St. Paul accordingly confesseth in the behalf of himself and others we know not what to pray for as we ought We find Moses also mistaken in the matter of his Prayer Exod. 33.18 Shew me now thy Glory for God answer'd him that no man could see his face and live and that he could not see it yet Almighty God to shew his propensity in hearing prayer came as neer his request as he could for God answered him in that which was as profitable and useful for him He made all his goodness to pass before him and let him see his back-parts so that Moses lost not his Prayer though he did not obtain the thing he asked Much more may we expect success in our Prayers when we ask such things as he hath commanded us to seek which we know are according to his will and our blessed Saviour also hath engag'd for our obtaining The invitations being so many so importunate and so free viz. To come and buy without money and without price to open our mouths wide to ask and have it appears and we must so believe that Gods bountifulness is such that he is more ready to give than we to ask or receive And like as a Mother whose breasts are full is more desirous to give suck to her Babe than that to crave or receive it such is Gods freeness to us It concerns us then to advise what these rich benefits are which we are to beg and buy without money or price And if we may have what we lack for asking certainly we shall be convinced of the greatest folly in the world if we will lose them for want of asking Many are ignorant of their own wants as the Church of Laodicea who knew not that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked but thought herself in the contrary estate But God adviseth her of her wants and the remedy of it which he sheweth her is to be had of him only viz. Gold tried in the fire that she might be rich and white raiment that she might be cloathed and eye Salve that she might see and freely invites her to buy them of him though she were poor blind and naked and had nothing to purchase them withall therefore we may infer that all men be their condition what it will may come to God in this duty of Prayer for all their needs as we read Jonah 1.5 The Mareners cryed every one to his God For our better direction that we may not miscarry in our suits as the Mother of Zebedees Children did our blessed Saviour hath plentifully instructed us what we should pray for as he here directs the Church of the Laodiceans Matth. 6.9 and Luke 11.2 The Disciples sensible of their own insufficiency do make it their suit to him to teach them thereupon he gives a pattern and rules for them and us to use In which Prayer the three first and the three last petitions are spiritual According to the rule which he gives ver 33. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof From this prayer of our Saviour and the rules by him given and from the precepts elsewhere and the prayers of the Saints we find but these three things necessary to be prayed for viz. Grace and the means of Grace and the rewards promised thereto For though the Children of God do most frequently use confession of their sins and thanksgivings together with their Prayers as Daniel did And Davids Psalms are most of them thus and whether we use them as
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
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
not of the terror of the Lord to keep my heart in awe neither do I fear thee according to my fear I had when in danger neither do I seek to thee serve thee and delight in thee according to all my vows and admiration of thy goodness because thou hast been so merciful to hear my prayer and deliver me from all my fear but I am ready to think that it is for my own goodness and virtue that thou hast wrought this Of this sin thou warnedst the Israelites and we are all too prone to it O pardon Lord thy servant and heal him of this evil and give him to walk in the same awe and fear of thee and the like obedience to all thy commandments and love to thy waies watchfulness against sin and in it self examination and humility when the trouble and danger is past as when it is impendent and then I shall know that I have a filial fear of thee and not a servile fear Lord since thou makest thy Mercy and thy Almighty Power the inducements to awe us and allure us to keep and observe thy Statutes saying to Israel I am the Lord the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage therefore enjoynedst thy people to keep the Commandments following Let me alwaies keep a remembrance of thy mercies and because thou didst injoyn them the keeping of the Passeover in commemoration of their deliverance out of Egypt and that they should continually when they made their offering acknowledge that their Father was a Syrian ready to perish Lord let us in like sort reflect upon thy mercies and deliverances and our former sufferings to humble us and to be thankful to thee and praise thee and whilst we enjoy the benefit let us give thee the glory and the rather because one mercy is the earnest of another as holy Paul argued God hath delivered me and will deliver me therefore let me put a due estimate upon them by apprehending my unworthiness of them which the more I apprehend the more able I shall be to know the true value of the mercy and God's goodness in it The more low I am in my own eyes the more high will God's mercies be in my eyes If we pray for mercies it is for love of our selves but our praises are not so many nor so earnest as our prayers for them Lord increase our praises and let us say with David Praised be the Lord who hath remembred us in our low condition and hath delivered us from all our fears and troubles and keepeth all our bones so that none of them is broken and ladeth us with daily benefits and maketh our life comfortable And let my soul praise him not only with my lips but with a constant living to his praise and using the mercies which he hath given me to the honour of him who gave them Lord give us grace to mortifie our earthly members and affections since the promise is that as we have been planted with Christ into the similitude of his death so we shall also be into the similitude of his resutrection And let this mortification be universal of all our sinful and sensual affections and let it be constant and perpetual without intermission looking to the pattern of Christ on his Cross for our imitation and instructed thereto by thy holy Word and stirred up thereto by a godly sorrow for our sins committed And to this end let us cut off the superfluities of every lust and corruption that may fortifie and strengthen it And that we may destroy it in the birth and keep far off the danger of it as holy Job made a Covenant with his eyes not to look upon a Maid considering that I can never be safe near a danger though sin seem to me as a right eye or hand yet by thy grace let me have power to renounce it not only forbearing the act for fear of punishment but destroying and mortifying the habit and inclination And although the body of sin and death do remain as in Paul it did yet let it be to me as a burthen and grief of soul crying out with him O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death LORD God the fountain of goodness above all things give me faith in thee for then I must of necessity love thee if I believe thou hast loved me and given thy Son for me and shall have in my soul the joy that is unspeakable Lord when thou layest thy heavy hand of affliction upon us to cause us to search and try our waies and that we should examine our selves and turn unto the Lord in stead of this our wicked heart is prone to cast off God and say Why should we wait upon God any more what profit is there in serving him Who is the Lord we will own him and his goodness no more In stead of humble repentance we are prone with Job's wife to curse God and with those wicked ones prophesied of to come in the last times in the book of the Revelations of whom 't is said That after all the Vials of wrath and the 7 last Plagues poured out they repented not but cursed God or else we are prone to charge God foolishly as they in Ezek. 8.12 said God hath forsaken the earth or 18 Ezek. That our Fathers have eaten sowre grapes and our teeth are set on edge yet we their children have eaten sowre grapes too or we are tempted to have hard speeches of God accompanying our natural complaints and call God's providence into question as if thou didst not govern the earth or not well because we think thou dost not hear us soon enough saying Why have we fasted and thou hearest not Now that we may eschew these iniquities let us see first the fruitlesness of this course though we roar all like Bears and mourn like Doves it doth not better us nor abate our afflictions So is it causeless for thy plagues are the just punishments for our sins and it is the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed as said the Church in Babylon and that we are living And why should a living man complain for the punishment of his sins for that we are alive is more than we deserve That thou givest us our life for a prey for we know we are all sinners and our sins exceed our punishments It was never so bad but it might have been worse with us and at the worst we have some mercy For David saith I know that of very faithfulness thou hast afflicted me In thus murmuring we overlook all Gods mercies As Haman when he had reckoned all his advancements yet said all this is nothing so long as Mordecai the Jew vailed not to him In this we shew our exceding great pride which makes us think all that God hath given us is no more than our due In this is direct rebellion against our God and
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
helpe in trouble I have wilfully opened a gap to let in a stream of corruptions a Breach is made in my spiritual Castle for all the enemies of my soul to break in at and I am disposed to greater sins which by little and little creep in and get ground by degrees till at last it reigns uncontrolled and brings us in the end to a hardned heart a seared conscience that cannot repent and eternal damnation I consider also what might and ought to have drawn me from my sin to the contrary virtue What strength of humane reason what moral precepts natural modesty and shame fear of being seen examples of moral serious and religious men to the contrary serenity of mind the publick good and my own private good contentation and transquility and happiness with many more motives from the light of nature and good education ready to inform and restrain a mind willing to be virtuous Besides innumeâ—able other restraints from the word of God the instructing of the Spirit The life of faith the fear of God and his alseeing eye the terror of the curse upon the disobedient Hope of Heaven and eternal recompences to the obedient the exceeding and eternal weight of glory which is laid up for us the exceeding precious promises able not only to support the soul of a believer in the greatest difficulties but also to ravish it which excess of joy under the greatest sufferings Besides if I had no such light of nature no education no knowledg of the scriptures and humane precepts no knowledg of histories of Gods dealing in judgment with other sinners who have felt the truth of all the threatnings denounced against sinners as Josephus and the scriptures and other writings testify the Jews did and all notorious sinners have done and daily do if I had no promises to allure no threatnings to drive me no conscience to testify unto me no testimony of other men in all ages both wicked and righteous yet this one argument were perswasive enough to have deterred me from wickedness to the service of God namely my dependance on him for the necessaries and conveniencies of life my supplys my sustentation and preservation from imminent dangers unexpectedly surprising me This might be sufficient to make me bewaile my own improvidence and folly in casting away my succour my hope my sustentation safeguard and preservation for that which hath not profited me I therefore with grief of heart bewail my self But that which may cumulate more grief is to consider the ungratitude of my sinful soul for so many mercies received which have transported me with admiration As when I received form the hands of the Lord houses that I built not and wealth that I laboured not for whereby I was delivered from getting my bread with the sweat of my brow and the labor of my mind and body in pain and sorrow with continual carping and caring and restlesness the benefit whereof I continually enjoy with comfort therefore my duty of gratitude obligeth me to consider what I shall render to God and to use these mercies to his honour and glory and not to abuse them to his dishonour in sinning against him And when I have done the contrary I have dealt unworthily with so good a God for if Hanna would needs retribute for one mercy what must I do for so many The many deliverances that God hath wrought for me in bringing me out of troubles which I have sometimes brought upon my self sometimes my enimies have brought upon me sometimes the hand of God hath brought upon me and my relations either for our sins or for our trials out of all which the Lord delivered me so that I can testify and set to my seale that God is true and hath performed all his gracious promises to me that he hath made to them that fear him He hath been with me in six troubles and in the seventh he hath not forsaken me his deliverances have exceeded both these numbers therefore I must confess that he hath also verified his largest promises to me saying I will never leave thee nor forsake thee And also when he saith No weapon formed against thee shall prosper And when he saith Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it For his mercies have been greater than my desires and my tongue would fail me to recount them All which fly in my face and testify against me when I sin for how can I recount all his benefits which I have received from him upon which I live beginning with that of being born of virtuous parents And all the deliverances which he hath wrought for me in abundance of mercy and chiefly that he hath delivered my soul from Hell But I must reflect upon my sin with shame and confusion of face with loathing and abhorring my self in sackcloth and ashes with fasting and depriving my self of all comforts and injoyments with humiliation and abasing my self with earnest and humble supplications sighs and tears of a contrite heart but when I consider the vows promises and protestations which I have made to God in my time of trouble when I sought to God for my deliverance and that he did pluck me as a brand out of the fire and did hear my prayers and delivered me and did grant my requests above my desire or hope as he did Jacobs These broken vows put me to shame and cause me to abhor my self and with Ephraim to smite upon my breast desiring in my heart that I could do any thing whereby I might but undo one sinful action or that I could expiate the same by any sufferings but my conscience tells me that all I can do or suffer through the whole course of my life will not be sufficient to expiate or attone for one sin so as to make me innocent again Therefore I have resolved and vowd to sin no more And I have wished my self dead that I might no more sin and I have resolved to separate my self from the world that I may spend all my time in serving God who hath not dealt by me after my sins Thy word O Lord hath shewed me that if thy people repent them of their sins and forsake them though they be as scarlet thou wilt make them white as snow and thou wilt abundantly pardon them and thou wilt repent thee of the evil which thou bringest upon them If Ahab go mourning thou wilt not bring the evil in his days and all thy threatinings are only conditional unless we repent So the City of Ninivie diverted thy wrath by turning unto thee and seeking thee with fastings and prayers This duty all the Prophets taught This St. John the Baptist preached Saying Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand This our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles taught Therefore let me practise this so necessary a duty but unless thou inablest me with thy grace and unless thou givest me repentance I cannot have it of my self because my heart is hard of it self
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
by those words which God spake to him viz. If thou do well shalt not thou be accepted From whence we are taught this Rule viz. That they who will offer their service or any thing to God may not offer any but the best Nor defer the time to serve him for that which we defer we are loath and unwilling to do or indifferent whether we do it or no that which we desire to do or do with good will and love we hasten fearing lest we should be prevented The more forward and early our services are the more acceptable to God and men for this persumes them Now is the accepted time He then that deferreth loseth the Accepted time 2 Cor. 6.2 And Psal 69.13 David urgeth it as an Argument why God should hear him and deliver him because he made his prayer in an accepted time therefore slip not the seasonable time though thou be indisposed He that is early in his service and constant too cannot possibly miss the accepted time when God will be found as he was found of Cornelius For these two are joyned together by David seek the Lord while he may be found seek his face evermore for by this we shall be sure not to miss Psal 116.1 The Saints first and only refuge is prayer and it is the last refuge of the wicked They who fear they shall be prevented of their usual time let them take the present It is a high point of Wisdom to know the fit time and place and the ignorance of it makes the misery of man great David practised what he taught and did not only seek early but late too Psal 141.2 he saith Let the lifting up of my hands be as an evening Sacrifice The morning and the evening Sacrifice were not to be omitted and he that doth omit them or either of them finds his mind less disposed for the duty and the injoyment and comfort of it which he useth to have when he performeth them without intermission for by the omission of one duty God seemeth to be withdrawn and gone further from us and not so ready to be found or to hear us by how much we have withdrawn from him and neglected and forsaken him We also find Isaac going out to meditate in the evening And Daniel persisted in his practice of praying three times a day notwithstanding the peril of his life David kept the same times as he saith Psal 55. At evening at morning and at noon day I will pray unto thee Love need cause frequent early visits those who are greatly beloved of God God beloved of them do pray often Weread of other circumstances as that of Daniels opening his windows and looking towards the temple but we are not restrained to this manner of ceremonies for those things are abolished by the substance the more we observe of these circumstance the more joy comfort and satisfaction we shall reap by the duty Take time enough for preparation for if thou straiten thy self thou mayest be diverted But we are commanded to pray alwaies with all manner of prayer that is as the occasion will permit or requires for there are various manners we cannot be alwaies upon our knees in publick prayers or in private nor must one duty justle out another All times and all places afford us opportunity and occasions of lifting up our hearts and hands to God in the Heavens which may be accepted sometimes as well as Sacrifice And as in heaven we shall never cease from praising God so while we live here we shall never cease from praying to him Psal 122. I give my self unto prayer Lastly this duty that it may be acceptable doth require preparation premeditation Psal 10.19 thou preparest their heart and thine care harkneth The next thing to be considered is the matter of prayer Which is Twofold viz. The Inducements to be used and the subject matter for which we pray Seldom is there any prayer without Inducements and motives perswasive with which we urge God and press him to grant us the things we desire The Lords prayer which is as brief as may be concludes with three Inducements viz. for thine is the Kingdom the power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen We find in the Psalms of David variety of those Sometimes he urgeth the promises of God Sometimes the Commandment of God some motives he fetcheth from the name of God some from his nature and being as from his Truth his Holiness his Goodness his Faithfulness his Mercy his Power his Justice his Righteousness his Almightiness He urgeth the pledges of Gods love already bestowed his loving kindness of old And his thankful acknowledgment of them Also he urgeth his Relation as Servant I am thy Servant O grant me understanding that I may know thy statutes Some he urgeth from his own Misery Need Necessity Trouble and Affliction Some from his Innocency uprightness simplicity sincerity c. Psal 59. Some from his holy desires Intents vows purposes and Resolutions and his service done for him His hope in God his Trust and affiance in him His love to him and his word He urgeth also that he makes his prayer in an accepted time Psal 69.13 Psal 119. Hear me O Lord and I will keep thy statutes Let my Soul live and it shall praise thee Let thine hand helpe me for I have chosen thy Commandments give me understanding according to thy word So that we see that it is a good motive when we ask any grace to shew how we have endeavoured and used the means to attain it as he doth purpose to use them In this Psalm throughout he shews how he studied Gods statutes meditated and delighted himself in them Psal 71. He urgeth his trust In the O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion This Motive he useth very often as though trusting did engage God not to fail him It followeth Be thou my strong hold whereunto I may alwaies resort For thou hast promised to help me In the two next verses he urgeth his love and desire of God as an Argument why he should deliver him from his ungodly enemies And this motive he useth often and he very often useth that of his promise In the 9 ver of this Psal he urgeth his trouble Mine enemies speak against me c. Go not from me O God my God hast thee to help me Look upon my affliction and misery and forgive me all my sin From my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind c. In the 12 13 16 19. and 20. verses he urgeth his Resolutions of trusting in God waiting upon him serving him and praising him ver 12. As for me I will patiently abide alwaies and praise thee more and more 13. My mouth shall daily speak of thy righteousness and thy salvation for I know no end thereof I will go forth in the strength of the Lord and make mention of thy Righteousness only
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
shameful flight If thou assist us not in our callings our labouurs are but in vain except the Lord keep the City the Watch-man watcheth in vain In vain we rise early and go late to bed except the Lord give us his blessing Therefore will we seek the Lord and his blessing upon our Labours And though we find no worth in our prayers for which the Lord should hear them or reward them but punish us for them yet nevertheless it is his command that we should offer up our weak services to him and he hath promised to hear us for the things we ask for in his Sons name and in obedience to that command And in the faith we give to his promise we seek to him to assist us and to let his presence go with us For the Lord hath shewed us by frequent experiences That those who have most means do not seldom miss their purpose or if they by Gods blessing do attchieve their purposes yet it is frequently without the use of those means by some accident that it might be seen to be of God and not of man and our unbelief be convinced Praise the Lord O my Soul who hath often brought to pass my desires without any considerable means by me used And all that is within me praise his holy name because he hath accepted my two Mites my worthless Prayers for his mercy endureth for ever Meditation When I am tempted to any sin let me consider how I have loathed my self heretofore when I have been overcome by any lust or sensual pleasure If I have at any time yielded to the pleasures of any of my senses which is all that the world can offer though it hath been but to a very small degree as to drink one glass more than the necessity of nature or a competent refreshing required for though it makes not drunkenness yet it sets the mind too much at liberty from that strictness and watchfulness that mortification and crucifying the flesh and self-denial that the Scripture requires or if I give way to a lustful thought or glance or action whereby my mind is carried to effeminate meditations from the more serious and virtuous considerations which an honest mind should meditate how do I seem sordid to my self and degraded from my pristine excellency And though the person whose beauty excellency and perfections drew me aside thereto be incomparable yet when I consider the baseness of the last acts of lust and fruition to which all this tends and serves how poorly do I think of all those allurements of beauty and parts carriage wit and other excellencies since they are the motives and incentives to concupiscence And I no sooner perceive that I have yeilded too much to any temptation of lust or covetousness or any other whatsoever but I presently perceive that my honour is gone from me or if I know of any other who hath yeilded to any temptation I think the same of them All these arguments and reasons are not sufficient to restrain from relapsing into the very same offences and sensualities for sense with one glance of the eye captivates the affections in a moment whereas reason and strength of Argument prevails only upon deliberation so that I cannot expect to stand by my own strength unless thou Lord holdest me up I shall fall one day by these my spiritual enemies And it is by thy power only that we are kept from the evil of the World Therefore as the eyes of a Servant are to the hands of his Master so shall my eyes be to thee And I will continually pray unto thee for supportation and strength since thy strength is perfected in our weakness why then should my weakness discourage me and for grace and faith in thy promises since grace alone is sufficient for us and faith alone is the victory whereby we may overcome the World that by faith I may look upon the infinite joyes of Heaven and contemn the vain and base joyes of this life or else be terrified with the horrid torments thou hast threatned to the disobedient and fear to do evil LET me think it greater pleasure to resist lust or any sensuality than to yield to it for if I resist I satisfy and delight my reason which delights in manly noble resolute actions and in eschewing the contrary viz. Effeminate sensual pleasures which the mind doth oppose and disdain as brutish and below it for how is it possible that the mind should be satisfied contented or delighted with the objects and delights of the senses any more then the senses can enjoy or take delight in the objects of the mind or intellect since the senses are of the Brutish nature of the meanest creature and the mind and understanding is of the divine nature of the Creator and since the Saints are said to be made partakers of the Divine nature let us endeavour to partake of the Divine nature by holiness of life And if we have received Christ in his teaching and in his Sacrament of his supper to walk in him that our life may grow out of the death of Christ Not to be unprofitable Servants as Israel was said to be an empty vine but let us be ever sowing the fruits of righteousness that we may reap accordingly and be studious to know the things which belong to our peace before they be hid from our eys and to do them too lest thou remove our light from us remembring that if we be like the dry and unprofitable chaff we shall be burned with unquenchable fire But the Gospel bringeth forth fruit in all the World Colos 6.1 LORD if thou dost but seem to have forsaken me so that when I think of thee I dont perceive comfort but fear though I have all the outward comforts and all the pleasures which the World can afford I am in horror in the midst of my pleasures I will therefore walk in the waies of righteousness for her waies are waies of peace and all her pathes pleasantness and this will bring a man peace at the last Blessed are they that do righteousness alwaies they walk with thee and have sweet communion with thee and thou wilt come in and sup with them and abide with them then hath their soul fulness of joy but I fear I grieve thy holy Spirit continually in this that I am carnal and do not live by faith above the World Lord that I could live as those whose conversation is in Heaven whose treasure is there and they are always adding to this treasure who are spiritually wise whose hearts are fixed upon thee and go not astray as the Israelites did in the wilderness forgetting God their Saviour who had done wonders for them but they thought not of his hand nor remembered what wonders he had wrought for them but lust came upon them in the desert wherefore the Lord thought to have destroyed them had not Moses stood in the gap to turn away his wrath If we in
in the deluge As thou art the God of our strength and therefore we need not to go mourning through fear of the enemy so art thou our exceeding joy whereby we are holily transproted to rejoyce in thee in singing thy praises Psal 43. Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me Praise his holy name Psal 103 As thou art gracious and merciful patient slow to anger ready to forgive the sins of thy people for thy names sake so art thou also righteous in all thy waies and holy in thy works If a man will not turne thou wilt whet thy sword and bend thy bow thou wilt bring upon such all the curses written in thy book till thou hast destroyed them for so thou hast done to thine own people the Jews who would not believe thy threatnings to be warned thereby Thou who shewedst mercy to Niniveh repenting after the judgment pronounced and to Ahab going mournefully when he heard the judgment threatned against his house which shews that thy threatnings are conditional viz. if we turn not thou likewise laidest thy hand so heavy upon thy Servant David day and night that his moisture was like the drought in summer The light of his eyes was gone from him he was almost consumed by means of thy heavy hand he had no health in his bones nor no soundness in his flesh his teares was his meat day and night All the day long was he punished and chastened every morning because his iniquities were gone over his head these and many more as Eli Lot and Noah are set out in the word for examples of the truth of thy threatnings against sin though repented of Give me therefore thy grace that I may watch against sin and all temptations and occasions thereof and against the least degrees and beginnings of sin and all appearance of evil with prayer that I entter not into temptation and the Lord support me and hold me up that I fall not in temptations And when I pray unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ my Saviour for pardon for my manifold sins O Lord remember that thou hast declared thy self to be the Lord gracious and merciful slow to anger that forgivest the iniquities of thy people for thy name sake and let thy mercy be magnified by the greatness of my sins my sins are more in number than the hairs of my head But thy mercys as infinit thy thoughts are not like our thoughts For as far as the Heaven is above the earth so far are thy thoughts above our thoughts And let the greatness of my Redeemers merits be magnified by the greatness of my unworthiness He is mighty to save And though our sins be as scarlet he can make us white as snow by his blood which he hath shed for us for if he be Lord of all and the World was made by him then was he able also to reedeem all the World that come unto God by him for redemption do thou but assure me that the least drop of his blood the least sigh of his heart or the least degree of his humiliation was for my sins or had respect unto me among the rest and I do undoubtedly believe they are fully pardoned and I am saved from all the curse that is due unto them Lord since thou hast imputed to him my sins for it is said that he hath born the Iniquities of us all it is but just with thee that I should be acquitted and have his rightoeusness imputed to me else why did he suffer LET us then be made the righteousness of God in him since he was for that end and purpose made sin for us since thou hast given him for a covenant to the people give us also to find in our selves that we have him and with him all those promises of grace that belong to this covenant which in him are verified and fulfilled With him therefore give us thy Spirit in our hearts to cause us to walk in thy statutes to know and do thy judgements cause us to love thee with all our hearts to delight in thee and to fear thee to run and not be weary and to be holy in all our common things c. Of Afflictions Let him deny himself and take up his Cross are the first and second step to happiness therefore that we may not be so effiminately fearful to touch the Cross as we are nor be so longing and licorish to gratify our selves in whatsoever our heart desires is this meditation Afflictions are Christs School whereby he teacheth his followers in the discipline of holiness as he is said to have learned obedience by the things he suffered so he prescribes a suffering condition to his and they who are not partakers of his sufferings but are without chastisement are said to be bastards and not sons of their heavenly father so it concerns us to expect them and not beds of Roses oiled paths or the pleasures of the sences and that we make a sanctified use of them for those holy ends and purposes for which they are sent whether it be for our conversion from the state of nature and unbelief by true and unfeigned repentance or to renew our repentance after some fall to awaken us out of security or to improve our patience or holiness humility or any or all our graces and so to purify us to himself for as soon as they have attained their end he removeth them from us for he doth not afflict nor grieve willingly the sons of men to help me to make a sanctified use of them are these meditations Fides Fructifica 1 James 4. Let patience have her perfect work Meditation LORD teach us with thy blessed Apostles Paul and Silas to sing Psalmes in the midest of the Dungeon and with the three children when the furnace is made three times hotter than at other times And that we may have perfect patience make us sensible that the hand of God is upon us for our sins deservedly as the thief upon the cross was If we have no success either in our spiritual or Worldly affaires let us believe that it is the hand of God for our sins That we have not made better use of the afflictions which God hath laid upon us to purge us of some sin and do not search out the causes thereof and try our waies it is our sin for his hand is streched out still for if we know that God chastens and scourges every Son whom he loveth we may then understand that with one judgment God punisheth us for the sins passed and delivereth us thereby from sin and destruction for the time to come As when his Servant David had sinned by numbering the people God sent the Prophet to him to declare his will to punish him with one of those three evils he cried I have sinned so that whereever sin is there God detests and punisheth The righteous shall not go unpunished But the Sons of Ely when their Father reproved
are with him And if God be with us who can be against us And we must convince our selves of this comfortable presence of God with us by our presence with him If we walk with him desire and love him for if he be with us he warmes the Soul and the love of God is spread abroad in our hearts then we must continue seeking till we find him Cant. 1.7 Tell me my Spouse where thou restest Because she thought he was all Lovely therefore she sought him And because she could not be without him Psal 80. v. 87. All my fresh springs are in thee She trusts in him and stays her self upon him when she is in darkness and sees no light as it is expressed in those words Though he slay me I will trust in him It is like death unto the soul and it can find no joy nor content no rest nor quiet in this condition When Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me it was her misunderstanding of her own condition for it follows But I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands When we know we have God's presence with us we are ravished like the Spouse in the Canticles Ere ever I was aware my soul was like the Chariots of Aminadab She is vigorous in holy duties and carried with an Impetus to desire an enjoyment of God in his Ordinances But in the withdrawings of God and the hiding of his face the soul is troubled If any trial be a fiery Trial this is It it more fiery than that of the three children in the furnace But comfort thy self with these promises I will be with thee in the fiery tryal that is to come upon all the world to try them The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart And I will never leave thee nor forsake thee The Angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him and delivers then of Look upon them as sent from a merciful Father for good ends either to restrain thee from sin to humble thee or to drive thee to seek God by prayer and fasting and other holy duties which thou haply hast neglected and therefore the Messengers of Satan are sent to buffet thee Look upon Christ bearing a part of thy sufferings and suffering with thee Look upon the Holy Spirit helping thy infirmities and look upon the Crown and the exceeding weight of glory which they work But if thou hast walked with God in prosperity put him in mind of it as Hezekiah and Job did Also comfort thy self with the Love of Je-Jesus Christ thy Saviour revealed to thee who suffered the like that he might know the better to succour thee his unspeakable Love For seeing it is so that he seeth such beauty loveliness and perfection in his beloved Spouse as he expresseth Canticles 4. throughout If he be so inflamed of her love as is there expressed he cannot if he would long absent himself from her nor brook her absence from him In the first sixth verses he admireth her several beauties and in the seventh verse least he should seem to have overlook'd any imperfection he giveth a large commendation of the whole and exempteth it from all imputation of Imperfection Thou art all fair my Love there is no spot in thee Vers 8. It followeth Come with me my Spouse c. He must needs desire her company in whom he seeth such excellent beauty and perfection Further reasons he expresseth of this his desire of her company in the following verses In â—â—e 9th Thou hast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse thou hast ravished me of my heart with one of thine eyes with one chain of thy neck How fair is thy Love my Sister my Spouse How much better is thy Love than Wine and the smell of thine ointment than all spices Thy lips O my Spouse drop as the hony comb hony and milk are under thy tongue and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebenon A Garden inclosed is my Sister my Spouse a spring shut up a fountain sealed Thy plants are an Orchard of Pomegranats with pleasant fruits Camphire with Spikenard c. These are the amorous Courtships which thy most loving and lovely Saviour courteth thee with These and many more of like love and kindness he useth to thee to satisfy thee of his love and to gain thine And having said all that in love could be said and done all for thy love that could be done unless it were the last Act of giving thee his hearts blood suppose him thus speaking to thee immediately before his passion And now my Sister my Spouse what wilt thou have me say or do more wilt thou have my hearts blood If thou wilt I am ready to give it thee Methinks I see the Spouse astonished at this ravishing kindness and grieving fore that her need is such that she must have her lovers hearts blood to heal her she answereth thus O Blessed and most dear Lord worthy of all love and service for this real expression of thy love how can I entertain such excess of love but be inflamed with love to thee again and if I am inflamed with love and desire of thee how can I admit of this thy wonderful offer the effusiion of thy blood And yet I must accept of this thy offer to cure those my greifs which otherwise are incurable And so with tears she breaks off her speech because her heart is broak and she knoweth not how to answer such high and reall expressions of love But yet the Lord who is love resteth not there he doth for us above all that we are able to ask or think And seeing that thou must needs have his hearts blood to cure thee or perish he suffereth death and inviteth thee to the funeral banquet and there under the complexion of of noble wine presenteth thee with his hearts blood to drink and under the complexion of bread presents thee his heart to eat And now thou must needs feel thy self revived and healed with the heat and virtue of this heavenly food and thou knowest thou hast ravished him of his heart therefore maiest rejoyce in thy Beloved Ejaculations LORD Since I cannot experience thy goodness and mercy in my deliverances or thy faithfulness in keeping promise to them that trust in thee hope in thee call upon thee delight in thee and love thee unless I first experience troubles dangers calamities and the malice of my enemies and fiery trials from which thy promise is to deliver us to save us and be with us in them Then make me be contented to fall into these troubles and trials the fire and the water of affliction and let them not seem strange to me though never so fiery Neither let me be cast down or dismayed faint or sorrow as those that are without hope and have no promise of God to trust to LORD Supply me with all suffering graces as well as doing graces
let me be strong and of good cheer and undaunted incouraging my self in the Lord let me not be so cowardly and fearful and base spirited as to lye down under afflictions Let me remember thy loving kindnesses of old that I may encourage my self with them Thou hast delivered me therefore let me trust that thou wilt still deliver me and therefore let me bless thy name when thou shalt take away from me remembring how freely thou gavest it to me LET the righteous be bold as a Lyon and daunt their enemies so that they may never rise up against them any more SINCE thou hast often given me clear and undoubted evidence of my Title to eternal life and hast shewed me that the way by which I must pass thither is through many tribulations make me willing to take the means with the end and to go to Heaven by that way as thou hast appointed to all Saints How can I imagin that thou hast exempted thy Servants from affliction when thou hast said the contrary and that Judgment must begin at the house of God and that through many tribulations they must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and I know by my own experience that it is good and beneficial to my soul that it should be so Therefore I do not only submit to them but chuse them as Moses did I chuse rather that Satan should prevail against me to impair my estate or to cast me into prison if thou wilt have it so as thou hast foretold thy Saints that some of them shall be Revel 2. For their probation That thereby I may be restrained from sin and made to walk humbly with my God and closely than that thou shouldst suffer me to fall into any sin that should wound my conscience ever after LORD If in our affliction we stand to thee we know thou wilt not leave us But will stand the by us and save us and break all the snares of ungodly to pieces therefore fear not worm Jacob. LORD cause the uncessant lies and slanders with which the world afflicts thy people that they serve to make their vertues more conspicuous because thy promise is to make their righteousness as clear as the light and their just dealing as the noon day therefore do thou assert their righteousness though for a while their enemies Eclipse them yet let their bright shining break out like the Sun out of a Cloud and dazel the eyes of their enemies and remember too thy promises to root out those false tongues which slander them and to stop the mouths of those that speak lies and since it is vileness that vilifies goodness and baseness debaseth honour let us contemne them and let us look to the weight of glory which they work for us The Soliloquy O my soul that thou couldst in this thy day see the things that belong to thy peace that thou couldst have grace to lay hold on this season of Prayer the time of thy affliction seasonable both to thee to Pray and to God to hear and to implore his mercy with strong crys and tears and give him no rest with thy Prayers who gives thee no rest with his Chastisments as his hand is heavy upon thee day and night so let thine eyes be ever looking unto him from whom thy salvation must come and let thy hands be ever lifted up to him and always be mindful of his promise and word wherein he hath caused thee to put their trust Saying call upon me in the time of trouble and I will deliver thee Let it be thy comfort in thy trouble to quicken thee in thy faintings that thy hope may not faile nor thy patience tire nor thy Prayers cease nor the holy fire of Zeal upon the Altar of thy heart go out That fire that came down from Heaven Divine love to him that made thee and redeemed thee and to his servants and all that bear his Image Let thy affections be set on things above and wait thou still on the Lord hold fast on him stay thy self on him though with Jonah thou shouldst be cast into the Sea or with the 3 children into the fiery furnace for his hand is not shortned that it cannot save now say Lord look upon my assliction and misery and forgive me all my sins Lord pitty and pardon and heal our souls let not thy wrath wax hot against the people of thine inheritance whom thou hast redeemed Let not thy jealousy burn like fire for ever Lord remember thy loving kindness of old wherefore hast thou made all men for naught Lord all thy waves and storms are gone over me yet is my soul resolved not to go back from thee nor to behave her self frowardly in thy covenant nor to charge God foolishly still I will learn obedience by the things which I suffer still will I make my Prayer unto God and cease not but increase them and still will I make my confession before him still will I believe that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall see him with these eyes though wormes consume my flesh for I shall utterly faint unless I can still believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and unless I can with patience tarry the Lords leisure and still put my trust in the Lord although he should seem to make me as his enemy still will I bless God though he should take away all my comforts for I can enjoy none in the want of health or inward grief of Soul Though my troubles and griefs are never so many I have Gods word that he will deliver my soul out of all and he hath delivered me and therefore will deliver me afflictions shall not always rest upon the back of the righteous in measure he will debate with them the end of the righteous is peace Bless the Lord O my Soul if he hath spared thee nothing but thy life and confess it to be his mercy that thou art not consumed and that it is because his compassion fails not And though he visit thy iniquity with rods and thy sin with scourges yet it is his Fatherly mercy that he doth not utterly take his loving kindness from thee That he thus bringeth thee to the sight of thy sins and restraines thee from others Meditations on several Scriptures of Zeal Rom. 10.2 They have a Zeal of God but not according to knowledg Med. LORD Teach me to bound and moderate all my affections and duties which I perform to thee according to the rules which thy word hath laid down lest I mis-serve thee as the Jewes did and Saul before he was converted and instead of a reward procure a punishment Teach me to labour first to know thy will then to do it and not to overdo it as Peter who would not have his feet only washed but his head also Let knowledg proportion my Zeal to thy will This teacheth me in repenting for my sins not to sorrow above measure and so
man but a diligent Servant shall share the Inheritance with the Sons Pro. What delight can dull lifeless service be to him whom we serve Our service should be suited to the delight of him whom we serve And Our service should be to the honour of him whom we serve But slothful and lifeless service is to the dishonour of God therefore he saith Mal. 4. v. Offer it now to thy Governour and see whether he will accept it The fruit of Christs death is the Zeal of good works Titus 2.11.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar people Zealous of good works From Thence it appeares that the note of Gods people is a Zeal of good works namely the works of mercy charity and piety They shall run and not be weary walk and not faint That obedience sway the conscience that the ends and aims be good that we should advance piety to the utmost and repress sin If we expect any benefit by our service we must not do it negligently but with Zeal the more Zeal the more comfort and satisfaction and the more will be our reward Zeal breaks through any restraints that would keep us from God Though Michael scoffed yet David would not leave off his dancing before the Ark. Consider how violent and earnest carnal men are in the ways of sin and shall they serve Satan better than God is served wicked men are so active and laborious that they are said to draw iniquity with cart-ropes they are not drawn into sin but draw sin there is no lust but costs them some self-denial Their pride must feel no cold the worldly man incroaches not only upon the pleasures of his life by rising early and going to bed late but also defrauds himself of necessary comforts they are wise in their generation like the unjust steward If Ammon be sick for Tamar shall not the Spouse be sick for Christ shall they take more paines to undo themselves than the Servants of God to save themselves Consider that you have been violent in the ways of sin and will you not do as much for God Rom. 6.19 I spake after the manner of men as you have yeilded your selves Servants of sin so now yeild your selves Servanss of Righteousness unto holiness So much as you have spent in and upon sin 't is but a modest proposal of the Apostle that you would spend so much in the service of God How can your conversion be right when sin hath more of your heart than God 2 Cor. 5.13 If we be besides our selves it is for Christ he had been mad against Christ 't was not unmeet if he seemed mad for Christ your pace was furious like Jehu's for your beloved lusts will you be slow for God Consider It may be you set out late towards Godliness therefore you must make the more haste Let the time spent in your lusts be sufficient All men set out too late we are transgressors from the womb God loved us before we were from eternity he loved us before we loved him or knew how to love him Consider what Christ hath suffered for us his bloody agonies and the sorrows of his Cross He is the Captain of our salvation and we must follow him He hath given us heaven as God gave Canaan to the Israelites but they were to force their way The power of Satan is broken but some relicts are left for our exercise Consider the enemies of our souls are violent The Devil compasseth the earth therefore we had need to stand upon our guard the enemy watcheth and do you sleep Whilest men slept the enemies sowed tares among their Corn. Whilest we are careless the enemy prevails when we make speed in our flight the enemy hath no advantage Whilest the Disciples were a sleep Judas and his Company were watching Small measure of grace must not content the professors of Christianity Except your righteousness exeed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven A temporary believer goeth far but a true believer must go farther Consider that all things in Religion are high and call for more than ordinary from us There are great obligations upon us He had no greater gift to give us than his only Son He could do no more for us then he did in his agonies and sufferings and laying down his life undergoing that intollerable pain that made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me So that in love God hath gone to the uttermost for us in his power he hath not so every mercy received obligeth us to do more than we have done the supplies of the Spirit of God which come in upon us and help more than we have done The supplys of the Spirit of God which come in upon us and help our infirmities oblige us The heathen some of them have gone so far by the light of nature that because they could not mortify their lusts they have put out their eyes this they did without those helps which we have Christ Jesus a person of the God head meriting our salvation and interceding for us The Spirit helping us to work out our salvation and the holy precepts of the law of God which is pure converting the soul Psal 19.19 Psal 119. The law of the Lord is exceeding broad It is another obligation that we have a hope exceeding all that we can imagine 2 Cor. 4.16 We have a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory laid up for us Besides these obligations the dreadful threats might make us earnest in the works of religion which if a man do but think of it causeth horrour Consider the danger of coldness in dutys if we don't go forward we go back like those that row against the stream Before we lose our first works we lose our Love first men grow careless then off goes religion and the service of God Some that are high in professing are cold in practice To provoake one another to love and good works is a good contention for solemn piety we cannot do too much In sin every thing is too much in grace nothing enough in particular exercises there may be too much in the love of God there can be no excess many come short Rom. 2.9 They come short of the glory of God 2 Peter 1.11 We are to labour that an abundant entrance may be given us into the Kingdom of Christ Jesus Consider if your heart is dead and cold you loose the comfort of Christian priviledges and duties a dead Christian is as none A change without life is but a morral reformation That is true conversion where we are not meerly changed but quickned by a new principal of life heathens have been changed from profaness to a morral life I am come saith Christ that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly All the true members of Christ are
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
will of him that sent me He would not suffer them to divulge his miracles nor be made a King 12. In his zeal 'T is said of him The zeal of thy house hath even eaten me up 13. In his Truth he saith To this end was I born that I should bear witness to the Truth 14. In his obedience to his Parents 15. In his publick spirit he was born and died and rose again upon a publick accompt Sic oculus sic ille manus sic ora movebat Those that are otherwise are not holy as they ought to be therefore let us press forward and pray that we may receive of his fulness grace for grace The last means but not the least is Repentance the same which was the first not a slight confession of our sins only with sorrow for a day as the Prophet Isaiah expresseth it Isa 58.5 To hang down our heads like a bulrush for a day Wicked Ahab did more than so Thy stony heart will endure more malliating than one daies contrition and not be broke But such sorrow as may work a change as that of the Ninevites Jonah 3.8 10. They turned from their evil way cloathed themselves in sackcloth and cryed mightily to God And since notwithstanding our repentance our corruptions and our spiritual enemies do sometimes prevail against us we must as oft as we fall rise again by repentance and mourn over the sinfulness of our nature as David did Psal 51. In sin hath my Mother conceived me And Paul When I would do good evil is present O wretched man that I am And this we shall have cause to do as long as we live and this causeth us to iterate our repentance which we first made upon our conversion as it did in holy David and Job calling to mind the sins of their youth For I conceive the method of the Argument of the penitent is that he believes that his sins were sharers in procuring those bitter sufferings to his Saviour which he cannot think of without grief and breaking off those sins and that grief leads him to believe that Christ in his sufferings had respect to his sins that affords comfort Meditations of Repentance Mot. The Sacrifices of the Lord are a troubled spirit Psal 51. When I have fallen into any sin I immediately perceive my loss of my innocency as our first parents did and the injury done to God And then I loath my self and would give all I have to be restored to my guiltless state again if I could but undo that which I have done and I resolve to spend all my life in weeping fasting and prayer if so be the Lord will have mercy upon me and pardon my sin and not destroy me then I see that nothing I can do or suffer can make attonement to God for my sin But my stedfast resolution is that I will never sin more O Lord give me the same minde now and ever that my sins may be ever in my sight to bewaile the loss of my innocency and the injury done to thee to loath my sinful self to endeavour night and day to undo those sinful acts by teares of repentance mourning humble confession prayers fasting charity and severe watchfulness against my corruptions the duties of mortification and self-denial And to renew my vows and resolutions never to sin more And for the remainder of my days to abstain from the least degree of every sin and not to go as far as I think I may lawfully do in the satisfying of my senses and passions least I be drawn in one degree too far That the Lord may behold my grievous sorrow and repentance as he did Peters and Davids and may have mercy upon me and pardon me and not destroy me and take his holy Spirit utterly from me as he did from Saul O Lord Though my sins are as scarlet do thou wash me throughly with the blood of my Saviour which onely can purge my sins and is the only propitiation to attone thy wrath and to reconcile me to thee and restore me to everlasting righteousness better than mine own which I lost and makes me white as Snow and being so washed and cleansed I shall have communion again with my God and peace of conscience and abhor those sins that caused my Saviours sufferings Lord thy mercy would have no object if there were no misery All that are descended from Adam have been prodigal Sons as he was and by their prodigalities have forsaken thee daies without number and have sought out to themselves many inventions I find in my own heart that I would stay from thee and never return to thee if I could but find empty husks to satisfie the thirst of my soul which are only fit for the voluptuous Swines of the world and can never satisfie Thou sittest upon a Throne of grace to this can we come by Christ only through him we may come boldly and find mercy in a time of need and all that come unto thee come by this and to this I desire to approach that I may find mercy in this time of need receive me I beseech thee as a returning Prodigal desirous to break off my sins by repentance and a new life Lord give me that Repentance that I shall never repent of that I may search and try my waies examine my own heart and discuss all my actions what I have done through the whole course of my life let me performe this duty by thy assistance that I may not run on in wickedness without regret as they did of whom the Prophet Jeremiah speaks Jer. 8.6 They said not What have I done I will therefore make this reflection seriously particularly and constantly In this Examination I will consider the bate that cought me and deceived me that I may abhor it as a mean base and vile thing to be put in the scales against that communion with God his favour and hopes which the soul had in God which it lost by that sin as to its present feeling and if it should at any time reinforce its allurements I will reject them utterly and not have to do with them any more I consider also the present and future evils brought upon my soul by this sin for though I must not dispaire of pardon through the alsufficient merits of my Saviours sufferings yet I find my self fearful and ashamed to approach the throne of grace least I should find him a consuming fire I am undisposed for every holy duty and deprived of the assistance of the Spirit And not only so but I am as it were left to my self with the tempter and see none to succor me and I know not what to take in hand with hopes of success I am at a loss what I should do because I seeme to have lost God who hath withdrawn himself for my sin and hides his face I am also made naked and destitute for he was my defence and shield my strength and refuge my hope and
would lead me into all sins which God forbid And my own Conscience is ready to accuse me of all sins for this one Alledging to me that it was only Gods restraint by afflictions that hindred me from falling into all sins and that now he is like to leave me because I have left him and so I am like to be as guilty as any Man ever was Next that he finds another advantage to tempt me to a further degree of sin suggesting to my mind that I am so far engaged in Sin already that I am lost and God hath cast me off and I can be no more undone if I proceed further in sin to which suggestion if I am but once drawn to yield he will easily draw me deeper and deeper but I pray that he may never draw me to the belief of this A further evil I find as great as any that the guilt of all my sins both of Omission and Commission that ever I was guilty of in all my Life-time now flyeth in my face with aggravation as if they were unpardonable so doth my conscience aggravate them and my Spiritual adversary is ready to perswade me to despair because I lie under so much guilt and God so just that he punisheth sin where ever he findeth it as he did in our first Parents and all Mankind for the guilt of one sin All which evils and many more which sin bringeth and hath brought upon others I am sensible of with fear and grief in a great measure immediately after the commission of sin Yet I find it hard to keep in my mind a continual dread and fear of every sin and watch against it so strictly as I ought though I have felt the bitterness of it And though I can say with David my Iniquities are gone over my Head and are a sore burden too heavy for me to bear I pray therefore that they may ever be in my sight that I may be sensible of the burthen of them and of all the evil in them and weep for them day and night as he did for his and may bring forth fruit meet for repentance That God seeing it may turn his face from my sins and may blot out all my misdeeds when he shall behold my heart broke and beaten to pieces by the burthen and weight of my sins which sacrifice the Lord doth not despise And when he shall behold me abhorring my self he may not abhor me But when I confess them am sorry for them and forsake them he may blot them out and my soul may be assured that they are pardoned in Christ Jesus that he hath borne them And that he had an eye unto me in his sufferings and hath washed me clean with his blood and made me white as snow that by his stripes I am healed and that my name is written in that free pardon that he hath purchased And that I owe unto him all that I have or can do for this mercy Though I have forsaken God as an adulterous wife doth her husband for other lovers and given my affections to others and taken it off from God whereby I must confess that I have deserved that God should cast me off yet because he hath declared that though a man will not receive again such a wife yet God will receive again such people and invites them to return unto him therefore I returne again unto God trusting in this his word of promise that he will receive me again into his love and favour with everlasting mercy and kindness And I will henceforth resolve never more to entertain any thought that may tend to seduce my affections from so good a God or corrupt my love to him but will watch strictly against such as would allure me and deceive me and pray to God to assist me since these my spiritual enemies are too subtil and too strong for me alone to deal withall without his assistance which he hath faithfully promised to lend me when I heartily and earnestly crave it in my time of need and distress And then I shall be able to resist and overcome those that allure me to betray me and performe and keep my vows which were first made for me in my baptisme and often since that renewed by me in times of trouble and imminent dangers and at the sacrament of the Eucharist especially when I first I enjoyed the happy priviledg of those holy mysteries also when first I espoused my self by my own choise unto my Maker I am prone to look upon my own sins as little Oh that I could have the same apprehensions of my own sins as I have had of other mens for I have said If I had sined as they have I would have spent all my life in weeping fasting and praying cloathing my self in sackcloath washing my bed with my tears If so be the Lord would heare me and have mercy upon me and pardon me And how neere those very sins have I come Though I cannot attain the same degree of sorrow for my sins as Peter did when immediately after he denied his Saviour he went out and wept bitterly and as it is written of his life he wore channels in his eyes by his frequent tears for that sin Though I cannot with David Wash my bed and water my couch with my tears and mingle my drink with weepings because of my sin yet will I endeavour to supply what is lacking in the degree of my sorrow by the duration and continuance of it And make sin the only matter of my sorrow and thereby I shall be better inabled to avoid my falling into the same again and though I cannot wash my self clean from the guilt of my sins by mine own repentance because the blood of Christ only can cleanse us from our sins yet this is the condition necessary to make us subjects capable of being washed by the blood of Christ which is communicated to us in the Lords Supper to wash and cleanse and heal our penitent broken hearts Therefore will I look unto him hanging upon the Cross and sheding his precious blood to make satisfaction for my sins and bearing the iniquities of us all that we might have pardon of sin and peace of conscience in him And those which he hath invited to come unto him that he may give them rest are such only as are weary and heavy laden And he only can give it because the soul that receiveth it must come empty handed as it is intimated Isa 5.15 Come buy Wine and Milk without mony and without price Such whose consciences are weary and labour under the burden of sin and go mourning by reason thereof and are ready to sink and faint under Gods chastisements such a one can find no rest in the creature nor in it self till it come to Christ then mans misery is Christs opportunity They that are sick need a physitian not they that are hole Neminem venientem arcet a gracia sua There are none excepted out
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
a noise in the ear without any profit would God require such love from us but that he is Love Gracious Merciful and full of compassion slow to anger hateth nothing that he hath made what can he say more free to thee though thou art as an adulterous Spouse to him yet thou maiest returne and he will receive thee again though thou bringest no merit but demerit to provoke He hath excluded none from his mercy unless they be such as will shew no mercy or else those that sin of malicious wickedness and sin in despight of the Spirit wilfully against light The entail of his mercy is to thousands of them that love him 2 Meditation on Gods Mercy Lord if thou shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss who may abide it but there is Mercy with thee c. LORD be merciful to me a sinner we have all sinned and hope in thy Mercy only through the merits of our Saviour If we were not sinners thy mercy would be of no use towards us And our Blessed Lord and Saviour would be of no use to us nor faith nor hope would be of any use nor prayer nor praises But because I am a sinner I pray for thy mercies I praise thee for thy mercies I hope for thy mercies I trust in thy mercy revealed to sinners I believe in the merits of my Saviour and renounce all merit in my self therefore Lord cast me not off because I am a sinner shut not out my prayers for this I will not sin that grace may abound but though I have sinned I am an object of Mercy and thy grace that abounded to Mary Magdalen to Paul to Publicans and sinners may also extend to me Thou hast sent thy Son to call not the Righteous but Sinners To the lost sheep of the house of Israel to seek and also to save that which was lost to quicken them who were dead in trespasses and sins To preach the glad tidings of the Gospel of our Salvation though thy Mercy in giving up thy Son to dye for us that by his death we might escape death and live because he bore the iniquities of us all and by his stripes we are healed That precious blood that he shed upon the ground when the speare was thrust into his body was a sufficient ransom for the lives of all man-kind And as my sins had a concurrent demer it procuring his death so I hope they are joyned in the effect the attonement and expiation That his righteousness may be imputed to me also as my sins were to him 2 Cor. 5. That I may be made the righteousness of God in him Therefore we have need that he should be made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption because we were foolish disobedient and deceived serving divers lusts and therefore hast thou proclaimed thy self abundantly pardoning because our sins abound Isa 55. As our Blessed Saviour is the chiefest and greatest of all mercies because he is of more value than all so is he also to be esteemed because in him as in the Fountain are all others contained for by him and faith in his merits only we pray for all others which we need therefore above all we praise thee for him and in him and by him we praise thee for all 3. Meditation All our spirituall mercies as well grace here as glory and eternal happiness hereafter are free without any merit of ours of meer gift and mercy Tit. 3.3 5. We our selves were sometimes disobedent c. But after the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by workes of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ c. He is the medium by whom they are derived to us and not our own merit of his fulness we have received grace for grace as the members derive their vital Spirits from the head The converting grace and the confirming graces are both free Ephe. 1.13 In whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance He worketh in us both the will and deed that is good when of our selves we cannot think a good thought Therefore above all we pray that thou wouldst give us thy Son whom thou hast given for us all freely and then with him thou givest us all things and as a Father pittieth his own Children so doth the Lord pitty them that fear him Thy bowels cannot see them want any thing Let him live in us by his word by his Spirit by his image in us by his graces which we receive from his fulness let him be formed in us and by him dwelling in our hearts let us be crucified to the world and dye daily and be buried with him and yet live but so that we may be said not to live our selves but Christ in us Thus let the word and the Sacraments convey him to us Since thou hatest nothing that thou hast made and thy delight is among the Sons of men Pro. 1. Certainly thou dost not afflict nor grieve willingly the Sons of men Therefore when we cry unto the Lord in our trouble he delivers us out of distress Psal 104. He cannot forbear to kiss and embrace his prodigal Son O let thy revelation of thy love to man recall mans straying affections to God If we believe this our faith will work love to him again and we shall be as willing to be reconciled to him as he to be reconciled to us 2 Cor. 5.20 If while we were enemies Christ died for us whom hath he not died for who is excluded from his mercy much more being justified by his blood will he save us seeing he hath done so much for us when we were worse now that we are put in a better relation by the blood of Christ and are reconciled to him and made just persons much more now will he do the rest which is but the consequence of the justification to save us All this is free mercy Not of workes which we have done but of his own good will he begot us and accordingly we are justified freely by his grace 4. Meditation I find no condition annexed to be precedent to make a subject capable of mercy but only want and desire of mercy want I have without my own act or endeavour desire of relief too ariseth spontaneously without my endeavour and largeness of desire proceeds from a covetous mind an eye unsatisfied yet such is the ocean of mercy that it requires but only that we open our mouth wide and he will fill it as he promiseth As long as the widow brought empty vessels the Oyl ran he giveth liberally and upbraideth not he giveth more then we are able to ask or think the debtor doth but desire forbearance but the Lord forgives him the debt Jacob only desired food and
less which our fellow Servant oweth us and is not able to pay will not forbear him till he is able but use all violence against him we shall make our selves unworthy and uncapable of the mercy and pardon of the most just God and least we should seem to curse our selves we rather pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also we forgive others that trespass against us Mat. 6.12 We assert our own mercy and compassion to our debtors as if our clemency and kindness to others did oblige God to the like so the Centurion desired Christ Jesus but to speak the word as he himself used to do in his authority Lord since thou hast given us a law to forgive our enemies to bless them that curse us to pray for them that dispitefully use us wilt thou not observe it thy self and forgive us all our trespasses certainly thou wilt freely forgive give us forgive us the rather because thou knowest that we have nothing to pay forgive us first because thou art the fountain of all goodness and if we have any goodness it comes from this fountain and unless thou givest the grace of love and compassion by first obliging us by thy pardoning mercy and compassion whereof thou hast declared thy self to be full how should we learn compassion to others how canst thou require such goodness from poor weak miserable men unless thou who art goodness and love wilt do the like to us in pardoning and forgiving our trespasses assure us therefore that thou hast pardoned us all our sins and blotted out all our iniquities for thy name sake and that the blood of Christ hath cleansed us from all our sins and then we shall be without excuse if we from our hearts forgive not every man his trespasses We live by the knowledg of thee in thine attributes by the knowledg of thee as a God alsufficient Abraham lived in the land of promise as in a strange country by this Daniel lived in the Lyons den and in the fiery furnace But we have need to know thee too as a God pardoning sin Thou pardonest Aaron when he caused Israel to commit Idolatry and gavest him the Priest-hood and the blessing Since the world by wisdom knew not God and he hath revealed himself unto babes no marvil if we cannot find out the mystery of godliness in the writings of the learned but intangle our selves in doubts and intricacies by reading their learned treatises of predestination and reprobation of election and Gods fore-knowledg of free will and the controversies thereupon arising as whether a justified person may fall away and the like And whether that faith werereal which fell away It may suffice us that the word of God is very plain in those scriptures which teach us our duty which we should do that we may inherit eternal life Psal 18. The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul c. Let us therefore meditate of that day and night and let our study be in that Et in lumine tuo Domine videbimus lumen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vive vale si quid novisti rectius istis Candidus imperti si non his utere mecum Horat. Corollarium A man whose soul is not fraught with holy Meditations is like a Ship which puts out to Sea without ballast it rolls about a while in the calm but the very first gale of wind that fills the sales overturns it So he that is empty and void of holy Meditations whilest no temptations come upon him he walkes unsteadily and lies open to dangers and the very first temptation that befals him overwhelmes him FINIS