our redemption and his blessed Sacrament to seal up unto us our redemption thus wrought and purchased And with souls thus thankfully elevated unto God we approach with all reverence to that heavenly table where God is both the Feast-master and the Feast What intention of holy thoughts what fervour of spirit what depth of Devotion must we now finde in our selves Doubtlesse out of heaven no object can be so worthy to take up our hearts What a clear representation is here of the great work of our Redemption How is my Saviour by all my senses here brought home to my soul How is his passion lively acted before mine eyes For lo my bodily eye doth not more truly see bread and wine then the eye of my faith sees the body and bloud of my dear Redeemer Thus was his sacred body torn and broken Thus was his precious bloud poured out for me My sins wretched man that I am helped thus to crucifie my Saviour and for the discharge of my sins would he be thus crucified Neither did he onely give himself for me upon the crosse but lo he both offers and gives himself to me in this his blessed institution what had his generall gift been without this application now my hand doth not more sensibly take nor my mouth more really eat this bread then my soul doth spiritually receive and feed on the bread of life O Saviour thou art the living bread that came down from heaven Thy flesh is meat indeed and thy bloud is drink indeed Oh that I may so eat of this bread that I may live for ever He that commeth to thee shall never hunger he that beleeveth in thee shall never thirst Oh that I could now so hunger and so thirst for thee that my soul could be for ever satisfied with thee Thy people of old were fed with Manna in the wildernesse yet they died that food of Angels could not keep them from perishing but oh for the hidden Manna which giveth life to the world even thy blessed self give me ever of this bread and my soul shall not die but live Oh the precious juice of the fruit of the Vine wherewith thou refreshest my soul Is this the bloud of the grape Is it not rather thy bloud of the New testament that is poured out for me Thou speakest O Saviour of new wine that thou wouldest drink with thy Disciples in thy Fathers kingdome can there be any more precious and pleasant then this wherewith thou chearest the beleeving soul our palate is now dull and earthly which shall then be exquisite and celestiall but surely no liquor can be of equall price or soveraignty with thy bloud Oh how unsavoury are all earthly delicacies to this heavenly draught O God let not the sweet taste of this spirituall Nectar ever goe out of the mouth of my soul Let the comfortable warmth of this blessed Cordiall ever work upon my soul even till and in the last moment of my dissolution Doest thou bid me O Saviour doe this in remembrance of thee Oh how can I forget thee How can I enough celebrate thee for this thy unspeakable mercy Can I see thee thus crucified before my eies for my sake thus crucified and not remember thee Can I finde my sins accessary to this thy death and thy death meritoriously expiating all these my grievous sins and not remember thee Can I hear thee freely offering thy self to me and feel thee graciously conveighing thy self into my soul and not remember thee I doe remember thee O Saviour but oh that I could yet more effectually remember thee with all the passionate affections of a soul sick of thy love with all zealous desires to glorifie thee with all fervent longings after thee and thy salvation I remember thee in thy sufferings Oh doe thou remember me in thy glory SECT XXIX HAving thus busied it self with holy thoughts in the time of the celebration the devout soul breaks not off in an abrupt unmannerlinesse without taking leave of the great Master of this heavenly feast but with a secret adoration humbly blesseth God for so great a mercy and heartily resolves and desires to walk worthy of the Lord Jesus whom it hath received and to consecreate it self wholly to the service of him that hath so dearly bought it and hath given it these pledges of it's eternall union with him The devout soul hath thus sup't in heaven and returnes home yet the work is not thus done after the elements are out of eye and use there remains a digestion of this celestial food by holy meditation and now it thinks Oh what a blessing have I received to day no lesse then my Lord Jesus with all his merits and in and with him the assurance of the remission of all my sins and everlasting salvation How happy am I if I be not wanting to God and my self How unworthy shall I be if I doe not strive to answer this love of my God and Saviour in all hearty affection and in all holy obedience And now after this heavenly repast how doe I feel my self what strength what advantage hath my faith gotten how much am I neerer to heaven then before how much faster hold have I taken of my blessed Redeemer how much more firm sensible is my interest in him Neither are these thoughts this examination the work of the next instant onely but they are such as must dwell upon the heart and must often solicite our memory and excite our practise that by this means we may frequently renue the efficacy of this blessed Sacrament and our souls may batten more and more with this spirituall nourishment and may be fed up to eternall life SECT XXX THese are the generalities of our Devotion which are of common use to all Christians There are besides these certain specialties of it appliable to severall occasions times places persons For there are morning and evening Devotions Devotions proper to our board to our closet to our bed to Gods day to our own to health to sicknesse to severall callings to recreations to the way to the field to the Church to our home to the student to the souldier to the Magistrate to the Minister to the husband wife child servant to our own persons to our families The severalties whereof as they are scarce finite for number so are most fit to be left to the judgement and holy managing of every Christian neither is it to be imagined that any soul which is taught of God and hath any acquaintance with heaven can be to seek in the particular application of common rules to his own necessity or expedience The result of all is A devout man is he that ever sees the invisible and ever trembleth before that God he sees that walks ever here on earth with the God of heaven and still adores that Majesty with whom he converses that confers hourely with the God of spirits in his own language yet so as no
look't inward into ourselves and taken an impartiall view of our own vilenesse it will be requisite to cast our eyes upward unto heaven and there to see against whom we have offended even against an infinite Majesty and power an infinite mercy an infinite justice That power and Majesty which hath spread out the heavens as a Curtain and hath laid the foundations of the earth so sure that it cannot be moved who hath shut up the sea with bars and doors and said Hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shalt thou stay thy proud waves who doth whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth who commandeth the Devils to their chains able therefore to take infinite vengeance on sinners That mercy of God the Father who gave his own Son out of his bosome for our redemption That mercy of God the Son who thinking it no robbery to be equall unto God for our sakes made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and being found in fashion as a man humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the accursed death of the crosse That mercy of God the holy Ghost who hath made that Christ mine and hath sealed to my soul the benefit of that blessed redemption Lastly that justice of God which as it is infinitely displeased with every sin so will be sure to take infinite vengeance on every impenitent sinner And from hence it will be fit and seasonable for the devout soul to look downward into that horrible pit of eternal confusion there to see the dreadfull unspeakable unimaginable torments of the damned to represent unto it self the terrors of those everlasting burnings the fire and brimstone of that infernal Tophet the merciless and unweariable tyranny of those hellish executioners the shrieks and howlings and gnashings of the tormented the unpitiable interminable unmitigable tortures of those ever-dying and yet never-dying souls By all which we shall justly affright our selves into a deep sense of the dangerous and wofull condition wherein we lye in the state of nature and impenitence and shall be driven with an holy eagernesse to seek for Christ the Son of the ever-living God our blessed Mediatour in and by whom onely we can look for the remission of all these our sins a reconcilement with this most powerfull mercifull just God and a deliverance of our souls from the hand of the nethermost hell SECT XIII IT shall not now need or boot to bid the soul which is truly apprehensive of all these to sue importunately to the Lord of life for a freedome and rescue from these infinite pains of eternall death to which our sins have forfaited it and for a present happy recovery of that favour which is better then life Have we heard or can we imagine some hainous Malefactor that hath received the sentence of death and is now bound hand and foot ready to be cast into a den of Lyons or a burning furnace with what strong cryes and passionate obsecrations he plies the Judge for mercy we may then conceive some little image of the vehement suit and strong cryes of a soul truly sensible of the danger of Gods wrath deserved by his sin and the dreadfuâ— consequents of deserved imminent damnation Although whaâ— proportion is there betwixt â— weak creature and the Almighty betwixt a moment and eternity Hereupon therefore followeâ— a vehement longing uncapablâ— of a denyall after Christ anâ— fervent aspirations to that Saviour by whom only we receive a full and gracious deliverance from death and hell and a full pardon and remission of all ouâ— sins and if this come not the sooner strong knocking 's at the gates of heaven even so louâ— that the Father of mercies cannot but heare and open Neveâ— did any contrite soul beg of God that was not prevented by his mercy much more doth he condescend when he is strongly intreated our very intreaties are from him he puts into us those desires which he graciously answers now therefore doth the devout soul see the God of all comfort to bow the heavens and come down with healing in his wings and heare him speak peace unto the heart thus thoroughly humbled Feare not thou shalt not dye but live Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee Here therefore comes in that divine grace of Faith effectually apprehending Christ the Saviour and his infinite satisfaction and merits comfortably applying all the sweet promises of the Gospell clinging close to that all-sufficient Redeemer and in his most perfect obedience emboldning it self to challenge a freedome of accesse to God and confidence of appearance before the Tribunall of heaven and now the soul clad with Christs righteousnesse dares look God in the face and can both challenge and triumph over all the powers of darknesse For being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. SECT XIV BY how much deeper the sense of our misery and danger is so much more welcome and joyfull is the apprehension of our deliverance and so much more thankfull is our acknowledgement of that unspeakable mercy The soul therefore that is truly sensible of this wonderfull goodnesse of it's God as it feeles a marvellous joy in it self so it cannot but break forth into cheerfull and holy though secret gratulations The Lord is full of compassion and mercy long suffering and of great goodnesse he keepeth not his anger for ever he hath not dealt with me after my sins nor rewarded me after mine iniquities What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. I will thank thee for thou hast heard me and hast not given me over to death but art become my salvation O speak good of the Lord all ye works of his Praise thou the Lord O my soul SECT XV. THe more feelingly the soul apprehends and the more thankfully it digests the favours of God in it's pardon and deliverance the more freely doth the God of mercy impart himself to it and the more God imparts himself to it the more it loves him and the more heavenly acquaintance and entirenesse grows betwixt God and it and now that love which was but a spark at first grows into a flame and wholly takes up the soul This fire of heavenly love in the devout soul is and must be heightned more and more by the addition of the holy incentives of divine thoughts concerning the means of our freedome deliverance And here offers it self to us that bottomlesse abysse of mercy in our Redemption wrought by the eternall Son of God Jesus Christ the just by whose stripes we are healed by whose bloud we are ransomed where none will befit us but admiring and adoring notions We shall not disparage you O ye blessed Angels and Archangels of heaven if we shall say ye are not able to look into the
THREE TRACTATES The Devout Soul The Free-Prisoner The Remedie of Discontentment To which may be added The Peace-maker BY JOS. HALL D. D. and B. N. LONDON Printed by M. Flesher for NAT BUTTER M. DC XLVI TO ALL CHRISTIAN READERS Grace and Peace THat in a time when wee heare no noise but of drums Trumpets and talk of nothing but arms and sieges and battels I should write of Devotion may seem to some of you strange and unseasonable to me contrarily it seems most fit and opportune For when can it be more proper to direct our addresse to the Throne of Grace then when we are in the very jaws of Death Or when should we goe to seek the face of our God rather then in the needfull time of trouble Blessed be my God who in the midst of these wofull tumults hath vouchsafed to give me these calme and holy thoughts which I justly suppose he meant not to suggest that they should be smoothered in the brest wherein they were conceived but with a purpose to have the benefit communicated unto many Who is there that needs not vehement excitations and helps to Devotion and when more then now In a tempest the Mariners themselves doe not onely cry every man to his God but awaken Jonah that is fast asleep under the hatches and chide him to his prayers Surely had we not been failing in our Devotions we could not have been thus universally miserable That duyy the neglect wherof is guilty of our calamity must in the effectuall performance of it be the meanes of our recovery Be but devout and we cannot miscarry under judgements Woe is me the teares of penitence were more fit to quench the publique flame then blood How soon would it cleare up above head if we were but holily affected within Could we send our zealous Ambassadours up to heaven we could not faile of an happy peace I direct the way God bring us to the end For my own particular practice God is witnesse to my soule that as one the sense of whose private affliction is swallowed up of the publique I cease not dayly to ply the Father of mercies with my fervent prayers that he would at last be pleased after so many streames of blood to passe an act of Pacification in heaven And what good heart can doe otherwise Brethren all ye that love God and his Church and his Truth and his Anointed and your Country and your selves and yours joyn your forces with mine and let us by an holy violence make way to the gates of heaven with our Petition for mercy and peace and not suffer our selves to be beaten off from the threshold of Grace till we be answered with a condescent He whose goodnesse is wont to prevent our desires will not give denials to our importunities Pray and Farewell Norwich March 20. 1643. THE DEVOVT SOULE SECT I. DEvotion is the life of Religion the very soul of Piety the highest imploiment of grace and no other then the prepossession of heaven by the Saints of God here upon earth every improvement whereof is of more advantage and value to the Christian soule then all the profits and contentments which this world can afford it There is a kind of Art of Devotion if we can attain unto it whereby the practice thereof may be much advanced Wee have known indeed some holy souls which out of the generall precepts of piety and their own happy experiments of Gods mercy have through the grace of God grown to a great measure of perfection this way which yet might have been much expedited and compleated by those helps which the greater illumination and experience of others might have afforded them Like as we see it in other faculties there are those who out of a naturall dexterity and their own frequent practice have got into a safe posture of defence and have handled their weapon with commendable skill whom yet the Fence-schoole might have raised to an higher pitch of cunning As nature is perfited so grace is not a little furthered by Art since it pleaseth the wisdome of God to work ordinarily upon the soul not by the immediate power of miracle but in such methods and by such means as may most conduce to his blessed ends It is true that our good motions come from the Spirit of God neither is it lesse true that all the good counsails of others proceed from the same Spirit and that good Spirit cannot be crosse to itselfe he therefore that infuses good thoughts into us suggests also such directions as may render us apt both to receive and improve them If God be bounteous we may not be idle and neglective of our spirituall aids SECT II. II you tell me by way of instance in a particular act of Devotion that there is a gift of prayer and that the Spirit of God is not tyed to rules I yeeld both these but withall I must say there are also helps of prayer and that we must not expect immediate inspirations I finde the world much mistaken in both They think that man hath the gift of prayer that can utter the thoughts of his heart roundly unto God that can expresse himselfe smoothly in the phrase of the holy Ghost and presse God with most proper words and passionate vehemence And surely this is a commendable faculty wheresoever it is but this is not the gift of prayer you may call it if you will the gift of Elocution Doe we say that man hath the gift of pleading that can talk eloquently at the Barre that can in good termes loud and earnestly importune the Judge for his Client and not rather he that brings the strongest reason and quotes his books and precedents with most truth and clearest evidence so as may convince the Jury and perswade the Judge Doe we say he hath the gift of preaching that can deliver himselfe in a flowing manner of speech to his hearers that can cite Scriptures or Fathers that can please his auditory with the flowers of Rhetorick or rather he that can divide the Word aright interpret it soundly apply it judiciously put it home to the conscience speaking in the evidence of the Spirit powerfully convincing the gainsayers comforting the dejected and drawing every soul nearer to heaven The like must we say for prayer the gift whereof he may be truly said to have not that hath the most rennible tongue for prayer is not so much a matter of the lips as of the heart but he that hath the most illuminated apprehension of the God to whom he speaks the deepest sense of his own wants the most eager longings after grace the ferventest desires of supplyes from heaven and in a word whose heart sends up the strongest groans and cries to the Father of mercies Neither may we look for Enthusiasmes and immediate inspirations putting our selves upon Gods Spirit in the solemn exercises of our invocation without heed or meditation the dangerous inconvenience whereof hath been too often
VI. NOw that these mutuall respects may bee sure not to cool with intermission the devout heart takes all occasions both to think of God and to speak to him There is nothing that he sees which doth not bring God to his thoughts Indeed there is no creature wherin there are not manifest footsteps of omnipotence Yea which hath not a tongue to tell us of its Maker The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-work One day telleth another and one night certifieth another Yea O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisedome hast thou made them all The earth is full of thy riches so is the great and wide sea where are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts Every herbe flower spire of grasse every twigge and leafe every worm and flye every scale and feather every billow and meteor speaks the power and wisdome of their infinite Creator Solomon sends the sluggard to the Ant Esay sends the Jews to the Oxe and the Asse Our Saviour sends his Disciples to the Ravens and to the Lillies of the field There is no creature of whom we may not learn something we shall have spent our time ill in this great school of the world if in such store of Lessons we be non-proficients in devotion Vain Idolaters make to themselves images of God wherby they sinfully represent him to their thoughts and adoration could they have the wit and grace to see it God hath taken order to spare them this labour in that he hath stamped in every creature such impressions of his infinite power wisdome goodnes as may give us just occasion to worship and praise him with a safe and holy advantage to our souls For the invisible things of God from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternall power and Godhead And indeed wherefore serve all the volumes of Naturall history but to be so many Commentaries upon the severall creatures wherein we may reade God and even those men who have not the skill or leisure to peruse them may yet out of their own thoughts and observation raise from the sight of all the works of God sufficient matter to glorifie him Who can be so stupide as not to take notice of the industry of the Bee the providence of the Ant the cunning of the Spider the reviving of the Flye the worms indeavour of revenge the subtilty of the Fox the sagacity of the hedge-hog the innocence and profitablenesse of the sheep the laboriousnesse of the Oxe the obsequiousnesse of the Dog the timerous shifts of the Hare the nimblenesse of the Dear the generosity of the Lion the courage of the Horse the fiercenesse of the Tiger the cheerfull musick of Birds the harmlesnesse of the Dove the true love of the Turtle the Cocks observation of time the Swallows architecture shortly for it were easie here to be endlesse of the severall qualities and dispositions of every of those our fellow-creatures with whom we converse on the face of the earth and who that takes notice of them cannot fetch from every act and motion of theirs some monition of duty and occasion of devout thoughts Surely I fear many of us Christians may justly accuse our selves as too neglective of our duty this way that having thus long spent our time in this great Academy of the world we have not by so many silent documents learned to ascribe more glory to our Creator I doubt those creatures if they could exchangetheir brutality with our reason being now so docible as to learn of us so far as their sense can reach would approve themselves better scholars to us then we have been unto them Withall I must adde that the devout soul stands not always in need of such outward monitors but finds within it self sufficient incitements to raise up it self to a continuall minding of God and makes use of them accordingly and if at any time being taken up with importunate occasions of the world it finds God missing but an hour it chides it self for such neglect and sets it self to recover him with so much more eager affection as the faithfull Spouse in the Canticles when she finds him whom her soul loved withdrawn from her for a season puts her self into a speedy search after him and gives not over till she have attained his presence SECT VII NOw as these many monitors both outward and inward must elevate our hearts very frequently to God so those raised hearts must not entertain him with a dumb contemplation but must speak to him in the language of spirits All occasions therefore must be taken of sending forth pious and heavenly ejaculations to God The devout soul may doe this more then an hundred times a day without any hinderance to his speciall vocation The Huswife at her Wheel the Weaver at his Loom the Husbandman at his Plough the Artificer in his Shop the Traveller in his way the Merchant in his Warehouse may thus enjoy God in his bufiest imployment For the soul of man is a nimble spirit and the language of thoughts needs not take up time and though we now for examples sake cloath them in words yet in our practice we need not Now these Ejaculations may be either at large or Occasionall At large such as those of old Jacob O Lord I have waited for thy salvation or that of David O save me for thy mercies sake And these either in matter of Humiliation or of Imploration or of Thanksgiving In all which we cannot follow a better pattern then the sweet singer of Israel whose heavenly conceptions we may either borrow or imitate In way of Humiliation such as these Heal my soul O Lord for I have sinned against thee Oh remēber not my old sins but have mercy upon me If thou wilt be extream to mark what is done amisse O Lord who may abide it Lord thou knowest the thoughts of man that they are but vain O God why abhorrest thou my soul and hidest thy face from me In way of Imploration Vp Lord and help me O God Oh let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I be not ashamed Lord where are thy old loving mercies Oh deliver me for I am helplesse and my heart is wounded within me Comfort the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord due I lift up my soul Goe not far from me O God O knit my heart unto thee that I may fear thy Name Thou art my helper and redeemer O Lord make no long tarrying Oh be thou my help in trouble for vain is the help of man Oh guide me with thy counsell and after that receive me to thy glory My time is in thy hand deliver me from the hands of mine enemies Oh withdraw not thy mercy from me O Lord. Lead me O Lord in thy righteousnesse because of mine enemies
bottome of this divine love wherewith God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life None oh none can comprehend this mercy but he that wrought it Lord what a transcendent what an infinite love is this what an object was this for thee to love A world of sinners Impotent wretched creatures that had despighted thee that had no motive for thy favour but deformity misery professed enmity It had been mercy enough in thee that thou didst not damn the world but that thou shouldst love it is more then mercy It was thy great goodness to forbear the acts of just vengeance to the sinfull world of man but to give unto it tokens of thy love is a favour beyond all expression The least gift from thee had been more then the world could hope for but that thou shouldst not stick to give thine onely begotten Son the Son of thy love the Son of thine essence thy coequall coeternall Son who was more then ten thousand worlds to redeem this one forlorn world of sinners is love above all comprehension of men and Angels What diminution had it been to thee and thine essentiall glory O thou great God of heaven that the souls that sinned should have died and perished everlastingly yet so infinite was thy loving mercy that thou wouldest rather give thy onely Son out of thy bosome then that there should not be a redemption for beleevers Yet O God hadst thou sent down thy Son to this lower region of earth upon such terms as that he might have brought down heaven with him that he might have come in the port and Majesty of a God cloathed with celestiall glory to have dazeled our eyes and to have drawn all hearts unto him this might have seemed in some measure to have sorted with his divine magnificence But thou wouldst have him to appear in the wretched condition of our humanity Yet even thus hadst thou sent him into the world in the highest estate and pomp of royalty that earth could afford that all the Kings and Monarchs of the world should have been commanded to follow his train and to glitter in his Court and that the knees of all the Potentates of the earth should have bowed to his Soveraign Majesty and their lips have kissed his dust this might have carried some kind of appearance of a state next to divine greatnesse but thou wouldst have him come in the despised form of a servant And thou O blessed Jesu wast accordingly willing for our sakes to submit thy self to nakednesse hunger thirst wearinesse temptation contempt betraying agonies scorn buffeting scourgings distention crucifixion death O love above measure without example beyond admiration Greater love thou saiest hath no man then this that a man lay down his life for his friends But oh what is it then that thou who wert God and man shouldst lay down thy life more precious then many worlds for thine enemies Yet had it been but the laying down of a life in a fair and gentle way there might have been some mitigatiō of the sorrow of a dissolution there is not more difference betwixt life and death then there may be betwixt some one kind of death and another Thine O dear Saviour was the painfull shameful cursed death of the crosse wherein yet all that man could doe unto thee was nothing to that inward torment which in our stead thou enduredst from thy Fathers wrath when in the bitternesse of thine anguished soul thou cryedst out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Even thus wast thou content to be forsaken that we wretched sinners might be received to mercy O love stronger then death which thou vanquishedst more high then that hell is deep from which thou hast rescued us SECT XVI THe sense of this infinite love of God cannot choose but ravish the soul and cause it to goe out of it self into that Saviour who hath wrought so mercifully for it so as it may be nothing in it self but what it hath or is may be Christs By the sweet powers therefore of Faith and Love the soul findes it self united unto Christ feelingly effectually indivisibly so as that it is not to be distinguished betwixt the acts of both To me to live is Christ saith the blessed Apostle and elsewhere I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which now I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himselfe for me My beloved is mine and I am his saith the Spouse of Christ in her Bridall song O blessed union next to the hypostaticall whereby the humane nature of the Son of God is taken into the participation of the eternall Godhead SECT XVII OUt of the sense of this happy union ariseth an unspeakable complacency and delight of the soul in that God and Saviour who is thus inseparably ours and by whose union we are blessed and an high appreciation of him above all the world and a contemptuous under valuation of all earthly things in comparison of him And this is no other then an heavenly reflection of that sweet contentment which the God of mercies takes in the faithfull soul Thou hast ravisht my heart my sister my Spouse thou hast ravisht my heart with one of mine eyes Thou art beautifull O my Love as Tirzah comely as Jerusalem Turne away thine eyes from me for they have overcome me How fair is thy love my sister my Spouse How much better is thy love then wine and the smell of thine ointments better then all spices And the soul answers him again in the same language of spirituall dearnesse My beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand Set me as a seal upon thine heart as a seal upon thine arm for love is as strong as death And as in an ecstaticall qualm of passionate affection Stay me with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sick of love SECT XVIII VPon this gracious complacency will follow an absolute self-resignation or giving up our selves to the hands of that good God whose we are who is ours and an humble contentednesse with his good pleasure in all things looking upon God with the same face whether he smile upon us in his favours or chastise us with his loving corrections If he speak good unto us Behold the servant of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word If evill It is the Lord let him doe whatsoever he will Here is therefore a cheerfull acquiescence in God and an hearty reliance and casting our selves upon the mercy of so bountifull a God who having given us his Son can in and with him deny us nothing SECT XIX VPon this subacted disposition of heart wil follow a familiar yet awfull compellation of God and an emptying of our soules before him in all our necessities For that God
the evidence of things not seen In our extremities we hope for Gods gracious deliverance faith gives a subsistence to that deliverance before it be The mercies that God hath reserved for us doe not yet show themselves faith is the evidence of them though yet unseen It was the Motto of the learned and godly Divine Master Perkins Fidei vita vera vita The true life is the life of faith a word which that worthy servant of God did both write and live neither indeed is any other life truly vitall but this for hereby we enjoy God in all whatsoever occurrences Are we abridged of means we feed upon the cordiall Promises of our God Doe we sigh and groan under varieties of grievous persecutions out of the worst of them we can pick out comforts whiles we can hear our Saviour say Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the kingdome of Heaven Are we deserted and abandoned of friends we see him by us who hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Doe we droop under spirituall desertions we hear the God of truth say For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercy will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Are we driven from home If wee take the wings of the morning and remain in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there also shall thine hand lead us and thy right hand shall hold us Are we dungeon'd up from the sight of the Sun Peradventure the darknesse shall cover us but then shall our night be turned into day yea the darknesse is no darknesse with thee Are we cast down upon the bed of sicknesse He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death It cannot bee spoken hovv injurious those men are to themselves that will be managing their owne cares and plotting the prevention of their fears and projecting their own both indemnity and advantages for as they lay an unnecessary load upon their own shoulders so they draw upon themselves the miseries of an unremediable disappointment Alas how can their weaknesse make good those events which they vainly promise to themselves or avert those judgements they would escape or uphold them in those evils they must undergoe Whereas if wee put all this upon a gracious God hee contrives it with ease looking for nothing from us but our trust and thankfulnesse SECT XXI Of true inward riches IN the third place it will be most requisite to furnish the foul with true inward riches I mean not of meer morall vertues which yet are truly precious when they are found in a good heart but of a wealth as much above them as gold is above drosse Yea as the thing which is most precious is above nothing And this shall be done if we bring Christ home to the soul if we can possesse our selves of him who is God al-sufficient For such infinite contentment there is in the Son of God made ours that whosoever hath tasted of the sweetnesse of this comfort is indifferent to all earthly things and insensible of those extream differences of events wherewith others are perplexed How can he be dejected with the want of any thing who is possessed of him that possesseth all things How can he be over-affected with triviall profits or pleasures who is taken up with the God of all comfort Is Christ mine therefore How can I fail of all contentment How can he complain to want light that dwels in the midst of the Sun How can he complain of thirst out of whose belly flow rivers of living water What can I wish that my Christ is not to me Would I have meat and drink My flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drink indeed Would I have clothing But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ saith the Apostle Would I have medicine He is the Tree of life the leaves whereof are for the healing of the Nations Would I have safety and protection He truly is my strength and my salvation he is my defence so as I shall not fall In God is my health and my glory the Rock of my might and in God is my trust Would I have direction I am the way and the truth Would I have life Christ is to me to live I am the resurrection and the life Would I have all spirituall things We are in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdome and Righteousnesse and Sanctification and Redemption Oh the happy condition of the man that is in Christ and hath Christ in him Shall I account him rich that hath store of Oxen and Sheep and Horses and Camels that hath heaps of metals and some spots of ground and shall I not account him infinitely more rich that ownes and enjoyes him whose the earth is and the fulnesse of it whose Heaven is and the glory of it Shall I justly account that man great whom the King will honour and place near to himselfe and shall I not esteeme that man more honourable whom the King of Heaven is pleased to admit unto such partnership of glory as to professe To him that overcommeth will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set downe with my Father in his Throne It is a true word of Saint Augustine that every soul is either Christs Spouse or the Devils Harlot Now if we be matched to Christ the Lord of glory what a blessed union is here What can he withhold from us that hath given us himself I could envie the devotion of that man though otherwise mis-placed whom Saint Bernard heard to spend the night in no other words then Deus meus omnia My God and all things Certainly he who hath that God hath more then all things he that wants him what ever else he seemes to possesse hath lesse then nothing SECT XXII Holy resolutions 1. That our present estate is best for us AFter these serious considerations and meet dispositions shall in the last follow certain firme resolutions for the full actuating our contentment And first we must resolve out of the unfailable grounds of divine Providence formerly spoken of that the present estate wherein we are is certainly the best for us and therefore wee must herein absolutely captivate our understanding and will to that of the Highest How unmeet Judges are flesh and blood of the best fitnesse of a condition for us As some palates which are none of the wholsomest like nothing but sweet meats so our nature would be fed up with the only delicacies of pleasures and prosperity according to the false principle of Aristippus that he onely is happy which is delighted but the all-wise God knowes another diet more fit for our health and