Lord will give I doubt not but such a Prayer will be heard and my ground is this as it is the justification or acceptance of our persons so it is in the acceptance of our duties 〈…〉 our person will doubt less justifie our prayers and that weakness or wavering which will not hinder the one will neither hâ—nder the other Now it is universally granted that our persons may be justified even when we are strongly perswaded of the contrary and know no reason why the like must not be granted concerning our prayers I note this the rather for the support and comfort of many of the poor weakling servants of Christ or such as are in a troubled or deserted estate who after they have sign'd out their broken prayers because their own misgiving hearts return them a negative answer conclude that God doth so too my prayers are lost the Lord doth not regard them Why how can you tell God doth not regard them How can I tell why I cannot believe the Lord will hear none but the Pâ—ayers of Faith and I cannot believe I cannot be perswaded that God doth hear But by what hath been said you may perceive your â—â—istake you cannot be perswaded that God hears you therefore you do not believe Why you may even then believe when you want this perswasion Have you offered up your Prayers in the Name of Christ Have you committed them to his hand to present them to his Father and leaving them with him and adventuring them upon his Interest can you now but wait what answer the Lord will give This is that Faith which will secure your Prayers from being lost Having thus in brief shewed you what it is to pray in Faith what remains but that you practice accordingly study the Attributes of God his Power Goodness Mercy and Truth Study Christ his Office Interest Sufficiency and Faithfulness study the Promises and the stability of them let your faith set its seal to all this that God is good merciful mighty and true that Christ will be faithful in his Office that his Name is mighty with the Father that the Promises of God are in him Yea and Amen Strengthen your selves here and so go before the Lord let God be in your heart Christ be in your hand the Promise in your eye when ever there is a Prayer in your mouth Let your Prayer be so presented your dependance be so settled and your confidence as much as may be so raised as before you have been directed or whether you can attain to this confience or no yet do not fail of such dependance and then see what a rich return your prayers will sooner or later bring down upon you But he that will pray without thus believing let not that man think to receive any thing of the Lord and if he doth get nothing let him not lay the blame on Prayer as if this were an empty useless thing but on his unbelief The answer which God gives to Prayer is alwayes this Be it unto thee according to thy Faith And in this is included Be it unto thee according to thy unbelief This is the first means or help to a godly life Prayer THe second special Duty I shall direct you in is holy Meditation And touching this my purpose is not to insist upon the general nature of it but onely to give you some directions for your putting it in practice The directions which I shall give shall be such as concern 1. The matter of it 2. The Method Concerning the former I shall reduce the chief matters to be ordinarily meditated on to seven heads which as I shall afterwards advise may save an Head for a day and so in every week you may go over the whole I. Head concerning God BEgin with him who is the beginning of all things in whom we have our being in whose nature as well as his will is the very foundation of Religion In the spiritual nature of God is the reason of our spiritual worship his wisdom is the reason of our submission to him his power of our dependance on him his holinesse of our conformity to him his justice of our fear his goodnesse of our love his truth of our trust his grace of our prayers his glory of our praiser Now there are two things especially that I may contract all into as narrow a room as possible which you may pitch your thoughts and exercise your meditations upon concerning God Namely his Dreadfulnesse Goodnessâ— Direct 1. In order to the bringing you to a due apprehension and sense of the dreadfulness of God set before your eyes what the Scriptures speak of the Majesty Glory Omnipotenâ—â— Omniscience Holiness Severity and Righteousness of God The Scriptures speak of the Name of God as a fearful Name Deut. 28. 58. That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful Name the Lord thy God And this dreadfulness of God is set forth 1 By the greatness of his power Jer. 5. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my presence Luk. 12. 5. 2 By the immensity of his Nature Psal 139 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Whither shall I flee from thy presence 3 By the Glory of his Holiness Exod. 15. 11. Who is like unto thee O Lord who art glorious in Holiness fearful in Praises doing Wonders 4 By his Justice and Severity Hebrews 10. 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God Heb. 12. 29. For our God is a consuming Fire Direct 2. That you may understand and be duly affected with the goodness of God confider what the Scripture speaks concerning his All-sufficiency loving Kindness Mercie Faithfulness Patience c. Gen. 15. 1. Fear not Abraham I am thy Shield and thy exceeding great Reward Psal 36. 7 8 9. Thy mercie O Lord is in the Heavens and thy Faithfulness reacheth unto the Clouds How excellent is thy loving Kindness O God therefore the Children of Men put their â—ust in â—hee They shall be abundantly satisfied with thy fatness for with thee is the Fountain of Life in thy Light we shall see Light Psal 10. 5. For his anger endureth but a moment in his favour is Life Psal 73. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psal 91. 4. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust his Truth shall be thy Shield and Buckler Psal 84. 11. The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield These Scriptures set forth the Lord as a sufficient portion wherein his people may be happy and a sure refuge wherein they may be safe He is a Fountain of Light Life Joy Rest Peace Everlasting blessedness and Everlasting safety He is the inheritance of the Saints wherein they shall be satisfied and their defence wherein they shall be safe for ever Direct 3. Ask thy heart these Questions Quest 1. Is not this God worthy
not for the worse 1. For who knows when-ever the Ministry is removed but it may be in order to a greater Glory at it's Return Perhaps God's sending away Pastors from a People may be as Paul's absence from the Romanes that they may return in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel Or as Onesimus his departing from Philemon Perhaps they therefore depart for a season that they may be received for ever Or if this should not be the case of any particular Church if they should return no more yet 2. Their want of means shall supply their want of means their want of means shall be their means When they have no Preacher their empty Pulpits shall preach to them this most smarting of Rods will have its voyce If they have no longer the Light with them their darkness shall instruct them if they want their burning Lights the very Cold shall preserve and increase their inward vigour the wickedness of others shall make them more holy the violence of evil men upon sin shall enkindle their zeal for God the darkness that 's here below shall make them to live more above and all this shall make to their fuller reward 'T is a greater vertue to keep up the heart to keep on our way where there is a want than where there are abundance of means and helps and an higher vertue shall have a greater reward 3. The failing of the Word will bring back to their Memories and upon their own hearts that which they have received and as the emptiness of the Stomack will cause a second and better Concâ—ction and turn it into better nourishment when there are no more Loaves they 'l gather up the Fragments that nothing be lost the less there is more to be had the more reckoning the better use they will make of what they have their present want will be a rebuke of their former wantonness their want of remembrancers will help their Memories whet their Appetites Every old truth that hath been too much laid by will then be precious 4. Whenever ordinary means fail God will either find extraordinary or else will feed them more immediately on himself Psal 34. 9. God hath promised that those that fear the Lord shall want no good thing If that be meant of temporal good things yet sure it will yield us an argument that will reach the present case If God will provide for their Carkases much more for their Souls If God will supply them with less necessaries then doubtless he will not be wanting in what is absolutely necessary Psal 23. 1 2 3. The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want and so on through the Psalm Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Here we have the Psalmists conclusion and it's foundation or his confidence and its ground his foundation or ground is the Lord is my Shepheard his conclusion and confidence is I shall not want that is neither the Body nor Soul as appears by the following part of the Psalm If Davids Logick and his Faith too does not fail him the conclusion is firm let the Lord be his Shepherd and he shall not know famine or want Gods Relation to his people is their security for a sufficient provision in all times If the Lord be their Shepherd he must see them fed he must either find them those that shall or do it himself He must either find them Pastors or be their Pastor he must either provide them or be their Pasture If ordinary means fail he must find extraordinary if both fail he must be instead of means to them Here two things 1. That God stands engaged as the Shepherd of his people where ordinary means fail either to provide them extraordinary or to feed them more immediately from himself 2. That extraordinary means or no means when God brings his people to it will be better than their ordinary means 1. That God stands engaged as the Shepherd of his people where ordinary means fail either to provide them extraordinary or to feed them more immediately from himself Feed them he must or he cannot be faithful and if means fail he must supply that want one way or other Now God is faithful and will not see his Sheep to starve Isa 41. 17 18. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them I will open Rivers in high places and Fountains in the midst of the Vallyes I will make the Wilderness a Pool of water and the dry Land Springs of water Oh what a good Word is here for the poor Saints to live upon in hard times It is interpreted to have an immediate reference to the outward and yet a special respect also to the spiritual wants and distresses And it will appear if we compare it with the like expressions Chap. 44. 3. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit on thy Seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring From the former Scriptures note 1. That the poor people of God may somtimes be as to the visible Soul-provisions but in a poor case Needy and hungry and thirsty their hearts fainting their tongues failing for thirst and their waters dryed up If they seek water and there be none 2. All the wants and straits of the Saints are before the Lord. I the Lord will hear Christians though those that should will not yet he that can will hear the cryes of your Souls all your faintings and pâ—ntings and longings for the water of life are before your eyes and come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath 3. God hath more wayes than one to relieve the wants and refresh the bowels of his hungry ones He hath extraordinary means for extraordinary cases If they can find no common Rivers he will open or make new Rivers The high places the dry places the very Rock will yield a River when God commands it 4. Gods extraordinary Provisions shall not be scanty and penurious but rich and plentiful 'T is not some drops or now and then a draught a little to stay the longing or barely enough to keep them alive he prepares them Rivers Fountains Pools Springs of water I will open Rivers in the high places Fountains in the Vallies c. Where-ever they be cast in the high Places in the Vallies in the Wildernesse in the dry Lands where-ever they be cast I will cause provision enough to meet them though they have neither bag nor bottle nor any thing to carry with them they shall not want the Rivers shall meet them Springs shall arise and break forth to them 5. They are not the wanting but the thirsting the seeking Souls whom God will supply When the poor and needy seek water and there is none
this duty upon you as your task but excite and encourage your selves to it by looking for a return think what it is that you would have and look to receive it The reason why we obtain no more in prayer is because we expect no more God usually answers us according to our own hearts Narrow hearts and low expectations have usually as little as they look for or desire large expectations are ordinarily answered with large returns Expectation will put life into action you will then pray with most enlarged hearts when you are most full of hopes the reward that is looked for in the Evening will much encourage and quicken the labour of the day fear not to expect too much from Heaven Be not straitned in in your own Bowels and you shall not be straitned in the God of bowels open thy Mouth wide and he will fill it God will never upbraid his Beggars for looking for too great an Almes he hath enough to supply them and he hath a heart to bestow it God will never say to you you are too bold you ask too much too much Grace too much holiness why cannot less content you God hath given you commission to ask what you will not to the one half but the whole of his Kingdome the Kingdome you shall have if no less will serve your turn Christians be thankfull for every little you receive but look for much be thankful for every little every little received from God is much A drop from that Fountain is worth the World yet content not your selves with some drops when if you will the Fountain may be yours The King of Glory loves to give like a King and will never say This is too much either for a King to give or a Beggar to receive Since he hath given you leave spare not to speak in large your desires and let your Eye be as big as your Belly God hath promised you and therefore you may promise your selves whatever you ask that is good for you you shall not ask in vain Oh if we had so much in our Eye when we come before the Throne of Grace we should be oftner there and yet still return with our load Well Christians remember this when ever you come to begg look to receive come not to prayer as to dry breast that is like to yield no milk or to an empty Cistern that will yield no water 3. Learn the skill to plead with God in Prayer Though the Breasts be full yet they must be drawn hard ere the milk will come Though the Lord be willing to give those that task yet he will have them first to prove they are in earnest Store of Arguments he hath furnished us with to press him withal but he will have us use them We must strive with God if we will prevail and the best striving is with his own weapons The counsel I give you in this is Plead hard with God but plead with him upon his own Arguments there are amongst many others these four grounds on which to bottom your plea 1. On God himself 2. On Christ 3. On the Promises 4. On Experiences 1. On God himself And there are two special things from which you may plead here 1. His gracious Nature Fetch your Arguments by which you plead with God for Mercy thence whence he originally fetched his Arguments to perswade himself to shew mercy from his own bowels from his gracious nature from his natural goodness and gracious inclination to mercy John 3. 16. God so loved the world that he grve his onely Son c. Eph. 1. 5. to vers 10. Having predestinated us to the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his Will to the praise of the glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdome and prudence having made known unto us the mystery of his Will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed of himself Here we have heaped up in a few words the Riches of Mercy which God hath bestowed on his People Christ his beloved Redemption through Christ and the forgiveness of our sins the adoption of Children acceptance in his fight the Revelation of the Mystery of his Will or the discovering or making known these glorious mercies to us But whence is all this who is it or what was it that perswaded the Lord to this aboundant kindness Why all this arose from himself He purposed it in himself He consulted no other Argument but what he found in his own heart it was from his love the-good pleasure of his Will his Grace the Riches of his Grace wherein he hath abounded towards us Hosea 11. 8 9. How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee up Israel I cannot do it I will not do it I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not destroy Ephraim But why wilt thou be angry Lord why wilt thou not destroy Ephraim Oh sayes the Lord Mine heart is turned within me my heart sayes Spare him my Bowels say Destroy him not I am God and not Man I love him and my love is the love of a God I have compassion on him and my compassion is the pity of a God I will bear with him I am a God of Patience Love is my nature Pity and Mercy and Compassion are my nature I cannot destroy Ephraim but I must deny mine own Nature Love and Pity and Mercy and Goodness are essential to God He can as soon cease to be God as to be Gracious and this is the Fountain of all our Mercy Hence Christ sprung hence the Gospel came and all the Unsearchable Riches of Mercy prepared for poor lost and undone creatures When you come to pray fetch your Arguments hence Plead with the Lord upon his own nature his Natural Love Grace and Goodness Thus we finde the Apostle Peter praying for the Christians to whom he wrote 1 Pet. 5. 10. The God of all Grace make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you Plead with the Lord in your Prayers as the Psalmist pleades with himself in his Affliction Psalm 77. 7 c. Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his Mercy clean gone for ever hath God forgotten to be Gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies Is his Mercy clean gone Hath God forgotton to be gracious That men should be merciless that men should forget themselves and their Friends in their low estate is no such wonder But hath God who is all Grace all Mercy all Pity hath God forgotten Doth Mercy cease to be merciful Grace cease to be gracious do Compassions cease to be pitiful Hath God not onely forgotten his servant but forgotten himself Remember thy self Lord thine own
that befals I might be happy but this stands in my way If you would give God leave to be wiser than you you would say where-ever you are its good for me to be here this is my way to my â—est 3. The Providence of God hath faithfulness with it Psal 25. 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Psal 111. 8. His Works are done in truth Gods works may be said to be done in truth in a double sence In Reality In Fidelity 1. In Reality not in specie or in shew only but indeed Gods Comforts are Comforts indeed Gods Salvation is Salvation indeed The Devil will come with his gifts with his comforts and deliverances but they are for the most part but spectra like himself shews and apparitions quite another thing than what they seem to be sinners comforts deliverances enjoyments wherewith the Devil feeds them do leave them in as poor a case and worse than they found them you will never thank the Devil for his kindnesses when you have prov'd them what they are If you do not find your selves as fast bound in the midst of all your liberties if you be not wrapp'd up in as many sorrows after all the joys he hath procured to you if the glittering glories the glorying pleasures he entices you by and entertains you with prove not trash and dirt and meer lies in the end then say the Devil hath forgotten his trade of lying the Devils works will be even like himself false and deceitful But God is true and all his works are done in truth 2. In Fidelity his Works are according to his word 1 King 8. 24. Thou hast spoken with thy mouth hast fulfilled with thine hand In thy faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Psal 119. Not only in thy faithfulness thou hast saved me in thy faithfulness thou hast comforted me in thy faithfulness thou hast succoured me but in thy faithfulness thou hast afflicted me in thy faithfulness thou hast humbled and broken me and cast me down The promise of God is that we shall want nothing we shall neither want his Staffe nor his Rod neither comforts nor crosses neither joys nor sorrows we cannot well want either and we shall want neither because God is faithful You may not only write down with the Apostle God is faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able to bear but you may write also God is faithful and will not suffer you to want a temptation When 't is seasonable your hearts shall be glad and if need be for a season you shall be in heaviness God is faithfull he will ever be true to himself and therefore to you 2 Tim. 2. 9. He abideth faithful he cannot deny himself Should he be false to his people he cannot be true to himself to his purpose and promise his Word is not yea and nay God is not as man that he should lye or the Son of man that he should repent that he should say and unsay that he should say and not do you may write Gods name upon every word he hath spoken you may write his Name I Am upon all that he hath said It shall be Now Christians put these three Particulars together and if you cannot spel out the conclusion out of them the Providence of God will certainly accomplish his good Purpose and Promise concerning you You are of little understanding as well as of little Faith If God governs the World and nothing comes to pass but by his Providence if Providence governs according to Gods Purpose and promise if Providence cannot fail of accomplishing both If God be Almighty and can if God be Wise and knowes how if God be Faithfull and true let the Devil if he can with all his Sophistry evade the Conclusion That he will certainly do all that good for you which he hath purposed and promised If God be not able to perform he is not good if he mistake his way if he use impertinent improper means he is not the All-wise God If he do not actually perform what he is able and knows how to do when he hath said it he ceases to be the true God So that the matter is brought plainly to this Issue If God be God if God be the All-wise God if God be the true and faithful God this word which he hath spoken All things shall work together for good to those that love God shall not fail of its accomplishment in its season Having thus proved the Doctrine I shall after I have added a few words by way of Caution and answered an Objection or two against the Sence I have given of this Promise and subjoyned a few particular Inferences descend to the general Application 1. By way of Caution 1. Limit not the Lord to your time and way God will make good his word but you must give him leave to take his own season He that believesh shall not make hast believe God but do nor prejudge nor precipitate least you fall into temptation Put no more into the promise neither for matter nor circumstance then God hath put in it put not that into the Promise which God hath not put in it lest you miss and come short of that which God hath put in it Let others mistakes and miscarriages be warnings to you till God hath manifestly said do not you say This is the time build not your confidence on conjectures your Faith on the strongest Presumptions lest your Faith prove but a fancy and your confidence your confusion make not the promise of God of none effect by looking for its effect out of season Believe not your selves into Infidelity Consider Acts 1. 7. It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which God hath put in his own Power Study the Word and its commentary the Works of God but be sober in your Conclusions This you may safely depend upon and this will be enough if you have no more God will make good his good Word to you sooner or later in one time or other in one way other in the best time in the best way in the appointed time the Vision shall speak and shall not lye Habak 2. 3. Though it may tarry wait for it because it will surely come and will not tarry At least at the end of the days When you shall stand in your lott when you shall be gotten on the banks of Canaan and shall thence look back on the Promises and Providences of God ye shall see and say God is faithful there hath not failed one word of all that he hath promised Now I understand though once I could not how every Wheel was turning every Instrument was moving every event was working toward my good and everlasting welfare 2. Let not your expectation cause an abortion Let not your looking for mercy hinder the working of your affliction It is not seldom and
Oh Christians how many poor are there that fit down by their poverty who if they starve yet will not beg their emptiness hath taken away their Appetites These are sad Souls 't is a sad sight to behold a company of hunger-bitten Souls sit weeping and sighing seeking after the Bread and Water of life and finding none but to see empty and yet not hungry fainting and yet not panting Souls to see Souls even dying away for want and yet not desiring or craving a supply this is a much sorer spectacle A starving thirstless Soul is next to a Ghost Well if ever such Souls find who never seek water 't is more than God hath promised 'T is they that seek water to whom God will open a River 6. VVhatever difficulty there be to furnish the hungry Saints with a sufficiency of Provision yet one way or other it shall be done I the Lord will hear I the God of Israel will not forsake them Upon me be all their wants I am God and can I am their God the God of Israel and will provide for them They must and shall be provided for whatever course I be put to take I must not see them starve The Lord will not be wanting to them If his VVord be not heard his VVorks shall speak if Preachers cannot Providence shall preach to them if their friends cannot their enemies their stripes their wounds their rods shall instruct them Thy Rod and thy Staffe comfort me If they have no other the Sun Moon and Staâ—â— the Fouls of the Air the Beasts of the Field shall be their Prophets and Apostles If any should fail yet the Spirit of the Lord shall not fail to be their Teacher and Comforter 2. Extraordinary means have more in them than ordinary and no means more than means 1. Extraordinary means when ordinary cannot be had are sweeter and better feeding to the Saints than ordinary would be The less of the Creature the more of God the less of common Providence the more of special Grace Water out of the Rock was more precious than out of the River the Manna of the Wilderness was to them that understood it better than the Milk of Canaan Elijah never made better meales than what he got out of the Ravens mouth I have heard of a woman in great distress of Soul who received comfort when the Word was brought her by the mouth of a Child which she had failed of receiving from the mouthes of many excellent Ministers 2. No means often prove better than means when I say no means I do not understand simply none meanes they shall have of one kind or other their understandings their memories their secret duties Prayer Meditation c. but by no meanes I understand nothing from without no Ordinances Friends Societies Books c. Gods feeding of a Soul more immediately is much sweeter then when he sends provision by the hands of another the Samaritans hearing of Christs words from his own mouth was much more to them than the same words reported by the woman Duâ—cius ex ipso fonte Water is the purer the nearer the Fountain the Bread that comes down from Heaven is better Bread than that which grows up out of the Earth though that be originally from Heaven also By how much the more immediately our comforts come from Heaven by so much the more they have of Heaven in them If upon the failing of publick Communion it bâ— made up so much the more in secret sure the Saints have no reason to complain And whether this be not so let the Prisons into which the Saints have bin sometimes cast the Wilderness into which they have been sometimes banished let Elihu's Songs in the night Peters Pauls Silahs Songs in the Prison in the Stocks stand forth and testifie If Prison joyes and exile comforts have not been often both fuller and sweeter to them than when they have rolled in Manna and lived in the fulness and freedom of all helps and means then not a few Christians have either mistaken or mis-reported their experiences To pretend to live above Ordinances whilest God affords them is a wickedness that some men have to repent of but where God denies them he doth he will provide a better subsistance without them Now lay all this together and then you will see that even this also this most grievous of Judgements the famine of the Word when-ever it befalls shall work for good to those that love God Christians chear up your hearts whatever drought or dearth may fall upon the World your are provided for you shall have enough If the shours fail without you have within you that which shall spring up to eternal life If your streams should be dryed up if your Pastures should be trodden down you have a God that will be both your Pastor and Pasture If the River fail you the Rock shall supply you what you want in ordinary you may look to be made up in extraordinary means The drying up of the waters shall but drive you up to the Spring-head If ever the Stars fail you God shall but exchange Star-light for Sun-light while there 's light in the Sun you shall not walk in darkness See but to this make sure that this God is yours and he must find out a comfortable feeding for you if you can but say Davids first words after him The Lord is my Shepherd you may then with confidence say the whole Psalm after him I shall not want he will make me to lie down in green Pastures he will lead me by the still Waters though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil thy Rod and thy Staff shall comfort me Thou shalt prepare me a Table in the presence of mine Enemies Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I will dwell in the House of the Lord for ever 2. There is another Objection that seems to have one difficulty in it Suppose a Saint to fall into Distraction and thereby to be deprived utterly of the use of his Reason and so to live and die How can it be imagined that this can work for his good either in this World or in the World to come Can any good arise out of an incapacity of any longer doing or receiving good or patiently suffering Evil Can either his Grace here or his Glory hereafter be increased or advanced by a mans being converted into a meer Bruit 1. There 's no doubt at all but this may make for the Churches good Is there nothing that others may learn out of such a sad Providence If others may reap good by my evil is it nothing to me May it not be said to be good for any particular Saint to bear the soarest affliction by which the Church may have benefit He hath not much of a Saint to whom if it were afore-hand proposed whether for the benefit of the Church he would be content if
to have no Assurance that he hath any at all If thou wouldest have power over Corruption if thou wouldest stand in the Day of temptation if thou wouldest not starve in the day of Famine if thou wouldest have the comfort of the Grace thou hast let it grow up to its fuller stature Grace when it is come to Age will speak for it self and shift for it self the better which whilest it is in its Infancie neither knows nor can help it self Christians let your Grace grow and let the Fruits of it increase Let your Fields ripen to the Harvest I may say concerning Sinners not as our Lord said Behold the Fields are already white to the Harvest but behold the Fields are already black to the Harvest The Word is ready to be given Come put in thy Sickle the Harvest is ripe the wickedness is great The Fields of Tares are already black to the Harvest But oh when shall it be said of you Behold the fields are white to the Harvest shall evil weeds grow so fast and shall only the good Corn be at a stand Brethren Let your Fruits grow more plentiful and more perfect daily Let that Scripture be verified in you Pro. 4. 18. The path of the Just is a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Let your hearts be so filled with the fulness of God that your pathes may drop fatness Let it be said of you as of the Spouse Cant. 4. 18. and Chap. 5. 5. Her lips dropped as the Honey Comb and her hands dropped sweet smelling Myrrh Let your lips drop as the Honey Comb as you have drunk in the Milk and Honey that comes down from above so be ever droping it down to others Let something of the fatness something of the fatness that you have received from above be alwayes dropping down Be dropping according to what you have drank as you see sinners of whom 't is said They drink iniquity to be alwayes dropping iniquity dropping Oathes dropping Lies dropping Scoffs and reproaches So let it be said of you They drink the Dew of Heaven and this they are dropping down Let no Child no Servant no Friend come into your Company and go away without some sweet drops from your lips A word of heavenly instruction a gracious admonition a word of encouragement or a quickening word let them have or lift up a prayer and drop down a blessing upon them Something or other of the Dew of Heaven let them feel flowing from your Lips Let your lips drop as the Honey Comb and your Hands drop sweet smelling Myrrh Let your Holy Practises your holy Examples second and set on your wholsom counsels and instructions Let your words be savoury and your works be gracious Let lip and life speak the same things and lead on the same way Christians By your nursing up the Souls and Fruits of others you will ripen and encrease your own If you should look on all the Fruit as little which your selves have brought forth to God you will have this to comfort you That you have born more upon your Brethrens knees the Fruits of those Fields which you have planted or watered will abound to your account Bring forth much Fruit unto God and be much in immediate converse with God Phil. 3. 20. Our Convetsation is in Heaven Be more elevated and raised in your Spirits daily above things sensual and carnal Above Carnal Delights Above Carnal Discouragements 1. Above Carnal Delights live more purely in the Spirit let your Hearts be wrought up to such a spiritual frame that all the joyes pleasures and comforts of your lives may be spiritual Let the Lord be all your delight Psal 37. 5. Let it be with you as much as may be as it is with the Saints already in glory to whom God is all who being changed into his Image and dwelling in his presence are satisfied in him Let God alone be as much to you as God and all the world Let the Fashions and Pleasures and delights of this world be so much beneath your Spirits that it may neither be an abatement of your joy to want nor an addition to your content to possess them Let the light of all these lower sparks be swallowed up in God when the Sun shines all the Stars dis-appear and are not needed Lift up thine eyes Christian and see what pleasures there are within the Veil Come drink thy fill of this new wine let thy Faith draw the Curtains of Eternity and take a view of those heights and depths and lengths and breadths of that Glory and Joy which there it may discover Look on him that fits on the Throne and those everlasting Treasures of Light Holiness Goodness and Mercy which are streaming from his Face on those over-flowing Bowels of kindness and compassion on those Rivers of pure and eternal Pleasures Rest Peace that rise from that glorious Throne and run through the City of God Behold the Tree of life and feed thy Soul on its precious fruit whose very leaves are for the healing of Nations Hearken to and fill thine Ears and Heart with those Tryumphs and Exultations those Raptures and Extasies of unspeakable and glorious joyes those blessings and praisings those Hallelujahs that are tuned upon the hearts and tongues of the Heavenly Chore the glorious Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect by the vision and fruition of thy God the God of Glory Look on and possess this Joy and Glory say to thy Soul as God to Abraham Gen. 13. 14. Lift up thine eyes and look from the place where thou art Northward and Southward and Eastward and Westward through all the Coasts and all the Dimensions of the blessed Land of Promise and holy City and then say Come Soul take up thy rest here all this is thine Look and love love and long long and hope hope and rejoyce in hope of this glory of God Look on thy God and never leave looking till thou art changed into his Image and satisfied with his Image And here let thy delight and thy dwelling be 2. Above all carnal discouragements from any adversaries or dangers wherewith you are baited and affrighted as you walk in the Lord let the joy of the Lord be your strength let your Sun be your shield let your hope be your confidence and fear not your dutie nor danger Look to your hope and you will laugh at fear Dwell in your reward and you will not be afraid to dwell in your dutie But of this a word more by and by Thus much for general Directions 2. I shall next give you some special Directions for you daily work General necessarilie depend on and subsist in particulars As there can be no Religion in a Kingdom unlesse it be first in particular Families nor none in Families unlesse it be in particular persons so a general course of Christianity there cannot be unless it be supported in our particular daily walk The advice I