you trust him and leave your self wholly to his Wisdom and Kindness I could entertain you here with a delightful Discourse on this Argument were it not that I would not burden you as I said before with too great a Book Let me only advise you of this which shall excuse me from adding a Prayer at the end of this Discourse especially since you know where to find one in another place That as it is most for our ease to recommend all we have and do to Gods good providence and resolutely to rest satisfied in what he determines so the most effectual course to obtain this resignation to him and confidence in him is rather to exercise it in our Devotions by acts of resignation and expressions of our trust in his great goodness than to be petitioning him continually to bestow upon us this grace Say therefore with the heartiest affection upon all occasions in the words of David Thou art my hope O Lord thou art my trust from my Youth I trust in the Mercy of God Psal 71.5.14.52.8.141.8.56.3.92.2.118.9.37.2.5 for ever and ever Mine eyes are unto thee O God the Lord I will hope continually and will yet praise Thee more and more What time I am afraid I will trust in thee I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and my fortress my God in him will I trust It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princes I will therefore trust in the Lord and do good I will commit my way unto him that he may bring it to pass Behold O Father of Mercies how intirely I confide in thee I absolutely resign my self and all I have unto thee I rely upon thy bounty for what thou judgest fit and needful for me Thy Goodness is the greatest treasure thy Truth and Faithfulness is my best security thy gracious Promises and careful Providence is my comfort thy Wisdom is my satisfaction in all events and accidents thy Power is my support protection and safeguard Lead me whither thou pleasest and I will follow thee with a chearful heart I refuse nothing which comes from thy hands O most loving Father I submit to thy orders and hope that all things shall work together for my good And I trust in thy grace that I shall always do as I do now stedfastly adhering thus unto thee and never suffering any thing that befalls me to pull me away from this humble faith in thy wise and almighty Goodness to which I refer my self now and ever And the more to awaken you to this let me tell you My Friend that we find examples of it even in the Heathens themselves who in a strange fit of devotion have sometime cryed out on this fashion O man what dost thou Why dost thou not free thy self from all this trouble Adventure at last Arrian Epict. L. 2. Cap. 16. with eyes lifted up to God to say unto him Use me at thy pleasure O God for the time to come Thou hast my perfect consent I am of the same mind that thou art I have a mind to nothing but what thou thinkest good Wilt thou have me bear an Office or shall I lead a private life Must I stay or must I fly Shall I be poor or shall I be rich I am ready to obey I will defend thee against all the World I will apologize for thy providence about these things to every body I say that all is good because thou art so Thus they exhorted men to follow God chearfully in a belief that he is Wise and Good for we can never be happy said they if we follow him sighing and groaning as a man doth one that is stronger than he who pulls him after him when he hath no mind to go Let us begin every thing saith the same Philosopher in another place without too much desire or aversation Let us not incline to this or to the other way But behave our selves like a Traveller who when he comes to two ways asks him whom he meets next which of those he shall take to such a place having no inclination to the right hand rather than to the left but desiring only to know the true and direct way that will carry him to his Journeys end Just so must we come to God as to a Guide as to one who shall dispose of our motions as he pleases We must not look about us and desire of him this or the other thing which we fancy We must not direct Him what course he should take with us nor desire him to show us this rather than that but embrace that which he proposes and desire only he will conduct us in the right way to happiness This is our duty and our safety Whereas now you shall see Men run to him and say Lord have Mercy upon me deliver me from such and such a thing Wretch that thou art Wouldst thou have any thing but what is best And who can tell what that is Is there any thing best but that which seems so to God Why then dost thou endeavour as much as in thee lies to corrupt him who is to judg and to seduce Him who is thy Counsellour and to move him by thy cries to do otherways than he thinks good Cease these clamours and do not urge him to incline to thy desires but suffer him to follow his own Wisdom It cannot be any delight to him to cross and vex us If what we are inclined to desire be conformable to his judgment he will not deny it us meerly because we are inclined to desire it But he will give us that which is good in his eyes as the holy Scripture speaks And what would we have more Will it not suffice us to have our own hearts desire And what should that be if we are well advis'd but this that we may have what unsearchable Wisdom united with Infinite Power and Goodness shall think to be fittest for us and most convenient Of this we need not doubt And this is sufficient for any Mans satisfaction XII AND as a means to all this which hath been said in the foregoing Advices I cannot but desire you in the next place to Receive as often as you can the Holy Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood For there you have an ample testimony of Gods tender love to you and care over you There a number of Christian Brethren and good Friends meet to rejoyce together There your Soul is excited to the noblest thoughts and sublimest Meditations of your Saviour's love and of the purchase he hath made for you The sight of which will not let you stand in need of being chidden by your self into the devoutest affections and the most chearful resignation to him who having given so great a gift as his Son to you will not deny you may be confident to bestow lesser benefits when he sees them expedient for
us so many good things even before we desire them Do you not see how Men delight to commend extol and magnify that they love And how lavishly they are wont sometime to bestow those praises There is not any thing in this World so excellent but they will borrow a Metaphor from it wherewith to adorn their beloved They go to the precious stones and to the stars nay to the Sun it self to fetch some lustre from them for their expressions And more than this it 's usual with love as every one may observe to go beyond the nature and value of things and to make those hyperboles not uncomely which in other cases are ridiculous And as for gratitude we are all sensible that nothing is so acknowledging as love Every favour it esteems a Treasure and studies all means to express its resentments So that if it become a divine passion you may learn from King David how much it will dispose our hearts to admire and extol the perfections of God and excite us to give him thanks because he is good and his mercy endureth for ever Do but read the beginning of the 103. Psal and observe how he calls up all the faculties of his Soul to assist in this Holy Duty of praising and blessing the Name of God And then being conscious to himself of his own disability to offer him the praises that are due unto his Great and Glorious Name you may take notice how in other places he goes to all his Friends and begs of them that they would joyn in consort with him saying Psal 33.23 O love the Lord all ye his Saints and 34.3 O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together Let Israel now say Psal 118. that his Mercy endureth for ever Let the house of Aaron now say that his Mercy endureth for ever Let them now that fear the Lord say that his Mercy endureth for ever O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his Mercy endureth for ever And lest all these should not be able to make this joyful sound loud enough he invites all strangers to come and help them to the discharge of this debt saying Psal 100. and 117. O make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye Lands Serve the Lord with gladness and come before his Presence with singing O praise the Lord all ye Nations praise him all ye People For his merciful kindness is great towards us and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever Praise the Lord. Yea it is frequent with him to extend his entreaties to the Angels that they would lend him their help to acquit himself 103.20 and he calls Psal 148. upon all the lower Hosts of God who are in the Heavens nearer us and in the Earth also that if they can do any thing they would bear a part in his Song of Praise which he composed in honour of him And in the very conclusion of his Heavenly Book that he might say all he could he thus bespeaks the voice of all things which either by Nature or Art are framed for delight and pleasure Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. All which Observations I thought good to annex to this Discourse of the Power of Love in Prayer because when we have said all we can there is nothing so prevalent for a new favour as praising God and being heartily thankful for the benefits we have already received To which the love of God disposing us so effectually that it never thinks it can praise or acknowledg him enough it must needs obtain much of the Divine Grace for us and consequently secure our obedience to him above all other things Especially since 3. Love is ever Watchful which is another means to be joyned with Prayer to keep us from entering into temptation It always hath its light burning and its loynes girded It is ready and forward to apprehend and imbrace any occasion of serving him to whom it is engaged It is jealous of every thing which would rob it of that good which it ardently desires And therefore hath its eyes always open and by reason of its heat will not easily fall asleep nor suffer that dulness and weariness to infest it wherewith others are usually surprised I need not pursue this Argument any further it being so apparent that fervent love and affection chases away all drowsiness of Spirit and makes a Man slip no opportunity to do that which is pleasing in the eyes of God And I am the more willing to quit it because I have been so long in the former and have two other Considerations still to add 4. One of them is which I shall but briefly touch that it will breed in us a pious confidence of the succours of Gods holy Spirit in the power of which we shall be able to undertake any thing that he commands It is impossible to have any heart to do well if we have not this hope rooted in us and it is as impossible to doubt of it if we feel the love of God burning in our hearts Which is both a testimony of his Divine Power already working in us and an argument that he is as willing to do any thing further for us as we find thereby that we are to do any thing for him It doth not only widen the heart to impart but also to receive And the very same motion which carries it out towards God and towards others in sincere affection brings home large assurances that he will abundantly communicate himself to it on all occasions for the encouraging and assisting of its faithful endeavours to do his will in every thing 5. The other is this which shall put an end to this part of my discourse that it hath no less power to make us fully assured both of the blessed rewards I spoke of in the other World and of the greatness of them which are the strongest Motives to our obedience There is nothing so sharpens the sight to discern or enlarges the heart to conceive the things of God as this doth For God is love as St. John tells us and therefore he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him Among all the goods of this World we find no where such repose and quiet as in hearty love and true friendship Nothing give us such a taste of pleasure and if the Object be worthy such satisfaction Of two it makes one so that they communicate in each others happiness And this satisfaction is wont to make them forget all other things at that instant For love is of such a nature that it endeavours to take up all the room in the heart and would leave none for any thing else that it may be intirely and wholly possessed of that which it loves And therefore when it is turned towards God and settles it self in him it must needs give us a lively sense of future bliss by uniteing our hearts and gathering up our minds as I
by despairing to do otherwise Bless the Lord O my Soul that we are aware of this dangerous mistake And let us not despond though we have no reason to boast and glory in our resolution Was not this the condition of other of the Saints long before I was born Am I the only example of an heavy and sluggish Soul Must I be recorded the first in the Catalogue for inconstancy What helps and assistances then had they to restore themselves and to preserve them to the end which are strangers to our eares Must I dispatch a message to some Forreign Country for their Recipe's as we send for Drugs and Spices Cannot we tell without the charge of going to Hippo what Holy Austine strengthned himself withall Must we take a Pilgrimage to Rome to learn St. Hierome's Medicines Sure my Soul thou hast the same gracious Saviour the same compassionate High-Priest the same cordial promises the very same hope of the Gospel which revived and supported their hearts or if thou hast not speak that I may go and seek them Look then on thy blessed Saviour look on his holy Apostles nay look upon all those excellent Persons in the Church that have succeeded them Shall we not follow such glorious Leaders Are their Examples impossible to be imitated If they be they are not examples How can we be cold when we think of the flames of their love How can we be lazy and unwilling to do when we see how forward how vehemently desirous they were to suffer What should hinder us from going on when we have such a Multitude of Triumphant Souls before our eyes whom nothing could drive back Shall pleasures shall the incumbrance of business shall Relations and Friends yea shall dangers shall Death No I am not inchanted I am not affrighted with these words Be gone you false and deceitful pleasures How dare you perplex me you impertinent imployments No more of your importunity I charge you if you will be my Friends Welcome contempt welcome reproach welcome poverty or any other thing which will certainly bring me nearer to my God But what is it that gives you this suddain confidence How come you of a coward to grow thus couragious Of a Snail who made you thus to mount up in your thoughts like an Eagle Who will believe that thou wilt do such things I will believe it may you answer again to your self whatsoever can be objected against it Why are these called suddain thoughts which are my most deliberate resolutions Through the Lord I shall do valiantly He it is that shall tread down mine enemies under me The like discourse you may have with your self about God or any other subject You may consider not only that he is gracious and merciful but cry out O how great how great is his goodness Is there any thing thou canst name comparable to his loving-kindness What makes thee then so unwilling to go to him What 's the cause of such a diffidence and unbelief as hath deadned and dispirited thine heart Could I think that any thing would make thee fall into this stupidity Didst thou not once look upon him as the first Beauty as the joy the health and the life of our Souls Who is it that is altered and hath suffered a change He or thou Is he not the same to day yesterday and for ever Why shouldest not thou be the same too Or why shouldst thou not think that he will make thee the same again How many times is it repeated in the Book of God that his mercy endureth for ever For whom was it but such trembling Souls as thou that he proclaims himself so often to be abundant in mercy goodness and truth But must we not then believe it Is this the way to obtain his mercy by distrusting of him What a preposterous course is this How unseemly nay how unkind is it to question these gracious declarations of his love Let us be confidently perswaded he hath a greater desire than we that we should be true and faithful to him Let us rest our thoughts in this conclusion that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now when you find any benefit by such expostulations and reasonings with your self hope it would do you some good if you should use the like in an humble address to God you may be furnished with several strains of devout Admiration and Pathetical Appeals to his all-seeing Majesty out of the Holy Scriptures There are Examples also of the other but expostulations with God are not to be imitated without much caution and holy fear and ought not to be commonly used It may be sufficient to conclude the foregoing Meditations with some such form of words as this A PRAYER O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth who hast set thy glory above the Heavens When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained What is miserable man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with Glory and Honour Lord what honour is that which thou hast conferred on him in setting him now in the Person of Jesus above the Angels themselves For to which of the Angels didst thou say at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again Let all the Angels of God worship him Who in the Heaven can be compared unto the Lord Who among the mighty can be likened unto the Lord And therefore whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee O God thou art my God early will I seek thee My Soul thirsteth for Thee and longeth after Thee O when wilt thou come unto me There be many that say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me Show me thy self and it sufficeth Lord what wait I for Truly my hope is in Thee My Soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him By thee O Lord have I been holden up from the Womb thou art he that took me out of my Mothers bowels My Praise shall be continually of Thee But who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord Who can shew forth all his praise Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the Sons