in the deluge As thou art the God of our strength and therefore we need not to go mourning through fear of the enemy so art thou our exceeding joy whereby we are holily transproted to rejoyce in thee in singing thy praises Psal 43. Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me Praise his holy name Psal 103 As thou art gracious and merciful patient slow to anger ready to forgive the sins of thy people for thy names sake so art thou also righteous in all thy waies and holy in thy works If a man will not turne thou wilt whet thy sword and bend thy bow thou wilt bring upon such all the curses written in thy book till thou hast destroyed them for so thou hast done to thine own people the Jews who would not believe thy threatnings to be warned thereby Thou who shewedst mercy to Niniveh repenting after the judgment pronounced and to Ahab going mournefully when he heard the judgment threatned against his house which shews that thy threatnings are conditional viz. if we turn not thou likewise laidest thy hand so heavy upon thy Servant David day and night that his moisture was like the drought in summer The light of his eyes was gone from him he was almost consumed by means of thy heavy hand he had no health in his bones nor no soundness in his flesh his teares was his meat day and night All the day long was he punished and chastened every morning because his iniquities were gone over his head these and many more as Eli Lot and Noah are set out in the word for examples of the truth of thy threatnings against sin though repented of Give me therefore thy grace that I may watch against sin and all temptations and occasions thereof and against the least degrees and beginnings of sin and all appearance of evil with prayer that I entter not into temptation and the Lord support me and hold me up that I fall not in temptations And when I pray unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ my Saviour for pardon for my manifold sins O Lord remember that thou hast declared thy self to be the Lord gracious and merciful slow to anger that forgivest the iniquities of thy people for thy name sake and let thy mercy be magnified by the greatness of my sins my sins are more in number than the hairs of my head But thy mercys as infinit thy thoughts are not like our thoughts For as far as the Heaven is above the earth so far are thy thoughts above our thoughts And let the greatness of my Redeemers merits be magnified by the greatness of my unworthiness He is mighty to save And though our sins be as scarlet he can make us white as snow by his blood which he hath shed for us for if he be Lord of all and the World was made by him then was he able also to reedeem all the World that come unto God by him for redemption do thou but assure me that the least drop of his blood the least sigh of his heart or the least degree of his humiliation was for my sins or had respect unto me among the rest and I do undoubtedly believe they are fully pardoned and I am saved from all the curse that is due unto them Lord since thou hast imputed to him my sins for it is said that he hath born the Iniquities of us all it is but just with thee that I should be acquitted and have his rightoeusness imputed to me else why did he suffer LET us then be made the righteousness of God in him since he was for that end and purpose made sin for us since thou hast given him for a covenant to the people give us also to find in our selves that we have him and with him all those promises of grace that belong to this covenant which in him are verified and fulfilled With him therefore give us thy Spirit in our hearts to cause us to walk in thy statutes to know and do thy judgements cause us to love thee with all our hearts to delight in thee and to fear thee to run and not be weary and to be holy in all our common things c. Of Afflictions Let him deny himself and take up his Cross are the first and second step to happiness therefore that we may not be so effiminately fearful to touch the Cross as we are nor be so longing and licorish to gratify our selves in whatsoever our heart desires is this meditation Afflictions are Christs School whereby he teacheth his followers in the discipline of holiness as he is said to have learned obedience by the things he suffered so he prescribes a suffering condition to his and they who are not partakers of his sufferings but are without chastisement are said to be bastards and not sons of their heavenly father so it concerns us to expect them and not beds of Roses oiled paths or the pleasures of the sences and that we make a sanctified use of them for those holy ends and purposes for which they are sent whether it be for our conversion from the state of nature and unbelief by true and unfeigned repentance or to renew our repentance after some fall to awaken us out of security or to improve our patience or holiness humility or any or all our graces and so to purify us to himself for as soon as they have attained their end he removeth them from us for he doth not afflict nor grieve willingly the sons of men to help me to make a sanctified use of them are these meditations Fides Fructifica 1 James 4. Let patience have her perfect work Meditation LORD teach us with thy blessed Apostles Paul and Silas to sing Psalmes in the midest of the Dungeon and with the three children when the furnace is made three times hotter than at other times And that we may have perfect patience make us sensible that the hand of God is upon us for our sins deservedly as the thief upon the cross was If we have no success either in our spiritual or Worldly affaires let us believe that it is the hand of God for our sins That we have not made better use of the afflictions which God hath laid upon us to purge us of some sin and do not search out the causes thereof and try our waies it is our sin for his hand is streched out still for if we know that God chastens and scourges every Son whom he loveth we may then understand that with one judgment God punisheth us for the sins passed and delivereth us thereby from sin and destruction for the time to come As when his Servant David had sinned by numbering the people God sent the Prophet to him to declare his will to punish him with one of those three evils he cried I have sinned so that whereever sin is there God detests and punisheth The righteous shall not go unpunished But the Sons of Ely when their Father reproved
a noise in the ear without any profit would God require such love from us but that he is Love Gracious Merciful and full of compassion slow to anger hateth nothing that he hath made what can he say more free to thee though thou art as an adulterous Spouse to him yet thou maiest returne and he will receive thee again though thou bringest no merit but demerit to provoke He hath excluded none from his mercy unless they be such as will shew no mercy or else those that sin of malicious wickedness and sin in despight of the Spirit wilfully against light The entail of his mercy is to thousands of them that love him 2 Meditation on Gods Mercy Lord if thou shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss who may abide it but there is Mercy with thee c. LORD be merciful to me a sinner we have all sinned and hope in thy Mercy only through the merits of our Saviour If we were not sinners thy mercy would be of no use towards us And our Blessed Lord and Saviour would be of no use to us nor faith nor hope would be of any use nor prayer nor praises But because I am a sinner I pray for thy mercies I praise thee for thy mercies I hope for thy mercies I trust in thy mercy revealed to sinners I believe in the merits of my Saviour and renounce all merit in my self therefore Lord cast me not off because I am a sinner shut not out my prayers for this I will not sin that grace may abound but though I have sinned I am an object of Mercy and thy grace that abounded to Mary Magdalen to Paul to Publicans and sinners may also extend to me Thou hast sent thy Son to call not the Righteous but Sinners To the lost sheep of the house of Israel to seek and also to save that which was lost to quicken them who were dead in trespasses and sins To preach the glad tidings of the Gospel of our Salvation though thy Mercy in giving up thy Son to dye for us that by his death we might escape death and live because he bore the iniquities of us all and by his stripes we are healed That precious blood that he shed upon the ground when the speare was thrust into his body was a sufficient ransom for the lives of all man-kind And as my sins had a concurrent demer it procuring his death so I hope they are joyned in the effect the attonement and expiation That his righteousness may be imputed to me also as my sins were to him 2 Cor. 5. That I may be made the righteousness of God in him Therefore we have need that he should be made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption because we were foolish disobedient and deceived serving divers lusts and therefore hast thou proclaimed thy self abundantly pardoning because our sins abound Isa 55. As our Blessed Saviour is the chiefest and greatest of all mercies because he is of more value than all so is he also to be esteemed because in him as in the Fountain are all others contained for by him and faith in his merits only we pray for all others which we need therefore above all we praise thee for him and in him and by him we praise thee for all 3. Meditation All our spirituall mercies as well grace here as glory and eternal happiness hereafter are free without any merit of ours of meer gift and mercy Tit. 3.3 5. We our selves were sometimes disobedent c. But after the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by workes of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ c. He is the medium by whom they are derived to us and not our own merit of his fulness we have received grace for grace as the members derive their vital Spirits from the head The converting grace and the confirming graces are both free Ephe. 1.13 In whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance He worketh in us both the will and deed that is good when of our selves we cannot think a good thought Therefore above all we pray that thou wouldst give us thy Son whom thou hast given for us all freely and then with him thou givest us all things and as a Father pittieth his own Children so doth the Lord pitty them that fear him Thy bowels cannot see them want any thing Let him live in us by his word by his Spirit by his image in us by his graces which we receive from his fulness let him be formed in us and by him dwelling in our hearts let us be crucified to the world and dye daily and be buried with him and yet live but so that we may be said not to live our selves but Christ in us Thus let the word and the Sacraments convey him to us Since thou hatest nothing that thou hast made and thy delight is among the Sons of men Pro. 1. Certainly thou dost not afflict nor grieve willingly the Sons of men Therefore when we cry unto the Lord in our trouble he delivers us out of distress Psal 104. He cannot forbear to kiss and embrace his prodigal Son O let thy revelation of thy love to man recall mans straying affections to God If we believe this our faith will work love to him again and we shall be as willing to be reconciled to him as he to be reconciled to us 2 Cor. 5.20 If while we were enemies Christ died for us whom hath he not died for who is excluded from his mercy much more being justified by his blood will he save us seeing he hath done so much for us when we were worse now that we are put in a better relation by the blood of Christ and are reconciled to him and made just persons much more now will he do the rest which is but the consequence of the justification to save us All this is free mercy Not of workes which we have done but of his own good will he begot us and accordingly we are justified freely by his grace 4. Meditation I find no condition annexed to be precedent to make a subject capable of mercy but only want and desire of mercy want I have without my own act or endeavour desire of relief too ariseth spontaneously without my endeavour and largeness of desire proceeds from a covetous mind an eye unsatisfied yet such is the ocean of mercy that it requires but only that we open our mouth wide and he will fill it as he promiseth As long as the widow brought empty vessels the Oyl ran he giveth liberally and upbraideth not he giveth more then we are able to ask or think the debtor doth but desire forbearance but the Lord forgives him the debt Jacob only desired food and
priviledges which Jesus Christ hath purchased for us Give us more assurance of the pardon of our sins and our reconciliation to God and the joy thereof Give us the peace of conscience and the Peace of God which passeth all understanding Give us the Joy which is in the Holy Ghost which we enjoy in holy duties Let us taste and rellish these sweet enjoyments with more satisfaction and joy that the excesses of our souls may be in these enjoyments and we may keep them in our mouths and hide them under our tongues as we do sweet morsels And let the enjoyment of these carry us through all difficulties Give us more confidence in our accesses to the Throne of Grace and a belief that thou art more ready to give than we to ask for thy fulness is more full than our emptiness is wanting Thy fatherly care to provide for us is more faithful and careful to do it than we to seek it though we are resolved to be alwaies begging and craving because we know we shall alwaies be wanting in this life and we will not lose our desires and thy bountiful gifts for want of asking The cause which moved thee to make such gracious invitations to us and such great and precious promises of grace and mercy was only in thy self for thou invitest the thirsty to buy Wine and Wilk without mony or price What then is there that we can buy it with that is neither mony nor price it can be nothing but to exchange our thirst for the thing which we thirst for to relieve it to open our mouths Therefore as the cause which moved thee to make these invitations and promises was in thy self Lord seek in thy self the cause which may move thee to perform them The qualifications of thirst want and need we have and shall have as long as we have any life But if we be dead in trespasses and sins quicken thou us because thou only canst do it by thy holy Spirit In the assurance of thy free mercy then whereof thou by thy free promises hast convinced us and by the performance of the chiefest of them hast fully satisfied us inable us to assure our souls of thy readiness and willingness to hear and help us through the merits of Christ Jesus and in assurance thereof to come boldly and with confidence to the Throne of Grace And give us sure evidence of our interest in all other priviledges That our joy may be full assure us that our place of defence is the munition of Rocks That bread be given us and our water shall be sure Bless us and make us a blessing Let showers of blessings come down upon thy people Give us to lay hold of Christ for only Wisdom our only sufficient Righteousness our Sanctification and Redemption Tread Satan under our feet that we may bruise his head as often as he goeth about to sting our heel Destroy his works Let the Spirit of the Lord set up his standard against him And let not Antichrist any more deceive the Nations but destroy thou him and the Whore which is drunk with the blood of Saints Succour those that are tempted Be with thy people in the fiery Tryal that is to come upon all the world to try them as thou wast with Joseph in the prison Lord let not our sins stand as a cloud to hinder these our prayers from ascending to thee or cause thee to turn away thine ear For though they are so many that we scarce know how to confess them yet thou hast pardoned as great sinners as we when they turned unto thee and it is usual with thee to seek thy lost sheep and to receive thy returning Prodigals Lord thy free promises and importunate invitations by thy self and thy Son give us this boldness of access to thee for thereby we are assured that thou art more desirous to give than we to receive Hear us therefore through the merits of thy Beloved Son our Eternal High Priest in whom only we hope to prevail with thee in whom thy Promises are Yea and Amen And accept us in him who hath purchased this Access for us in whom we trust that he now intercedeth for us whilst we are praying to thee And that he persumes and presents these our supplications at the Throne of Grace To whom with Thee and thy blessed Spirit of Grace be all honour praise and glory Eternally Amen Enter not into Judgment with us O Lord for our best services for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified A shorter Prayer for daily use LOrd draw nigh unto me now that I draw nigh unto thee for thy promise sake for thy mercy sake and for Christ Jesus sake And assist me with thy Spirit that I may pray unto thee in the Spirit and in Faith believing that thou art more ready to give than we to ask or receive thy graces and thy mercies Lord relieve me according to all my needs and according to thy infinite goodness and according to thy gracious promises and invitations Relieve my spiritual blindness with that eye-salve which thou hast invited the blind to come unto thee for Relieve my spiritual nakedness with that fine white linnen which thou hast invited the naked to seek of thee and cloath me with humility patience temperance chastity and charity and every grace Relieve my spiritual poverty with that fine gold which will enrich our souls to eternity and make me rich in good works Relieve my spiritual hunger and thirst with the bread of life and the water of life so that I may never hunger or thirst after any thing else And make me more hungry and thirsty for thee and thy grace and more sensible of my needs Lord I pray not for my self alone but for me and mine and all the Israel of the Lord. Let my seed be a seed unto thee and all that shall come of them to the end of the world Remember the entail of thy blessings to us and to our seed for a thousand generations Let the Kingdoms of the world become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Let holiness to the Lord be writ upon all our common things Make us all to know thee from the greatest to the least Let us need no more to teach one another saying Know the Lord. Let us all be taught of God and let us hear the sweet voice behind us saying This is the way walk ye in it when we turn to the right hand or to the left and make Jerusalem a praise Love us freely pardon us and heal us Subdue our iniquities and cast our sins into the bottom of the Sea that they may never rise up against us Give us new hearts Put thy Laws into our hearts and write them in our inward parts Be thou our God and make us thy people Put thy Spirit into us and cause us to walk in thy Statutes and to know thy Judgments and do them Cause us to love thee with
all our hearts and with all our souls Put thy fear in our hearts that we may not depart from thee all our daies Let thy Spirit alwaies dwell in us and abide in us as our Helper our Almighty Comforter our Light our Guide and Instructer our Teacher and Remembrancer Let our bodies alwaies be the Temples of the Holy Ghost Let thy Spirit be alwaies acting in us love joy in the Lord peace meekness gentleness long-suffering brotherly-kindness charity chastity purity temperance and sobriety zeal knowledg faith affiance in thee mortification vivification hope and humility patience contentation and submission to thee and every grace Give us Christ Jesus too whom thou hast promised to give for a Covenant to the people first give him us for a Covenant then give him to us for our King our High Priest and our Prophet our Wisdom our Righteousness our Sanctification and our Redemption for our Beloved our Bridegroom and our Husband The joy of our heart and the desire of our souls O blessed Jesus give us thy self in all those offices and relations which thou beest to thy people Give us the kisses of thy mouth and the sweet pledge of thy love and communion with thee in every duty and refreshment of our graces and particularly in this duty Bring us into thy Chambers and let thy left hand be under us and thy right hand embrace us Repose thy self as a bundle of myrth betwixt our breasts Vnvail thy beauties to us that we may be enflamed of thy perfections and may evermore run after thee Give us thy self for our Brother and make us the adopted children of thy Father and give us the same nature that thou hadst Give us thy self for our Head and do thou live in us and let us feel thee living in us evermore and let us live in thee and receive of thy fulness grace for grace Give us thy self for our root and let us be grafted into thee and bear such fruit as thou borest Give us thy flesh for the food of our souls and thy blood for the drink of our souls to nourish them to eternal life and to give them eternal life O God give us thy self for our God our King and Governour our Refuge our Tower of Defence and Safe-guard our Help in time of need our Father our Husband our Portion and exceeding great Reward And let us seek all our desires in thee and in Jesus Christ And let us know that we are thy People thy Saints and thy Servants thy Redeemed and Ransomed of the Lord and thy Portion and thy Jewels thy Children and thy Spouse and that thou rejoycest over us to do us good as a Bridegroom rejoyceth over the Bride and do thou watch over us and keep us night and day lest any evil befal us and hold us up that we may be safe And give us all those graces which thou hast promised by thy new Covenant and all those degrees of grace and all those means of Grace Give us all those graces that any of thy Saints and Servants have had and all those degrees of grace and all those graces that thou hast commanded us to have Make us perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect And give us all those blessednesses that accompany those graces Let all things work together for our good Let us want no manner of thing that is good Let us be like Mount Sion which cannot be removed And keep us secretly in thy Tabernacle from the strife of tongues and satisfie us with abundance of peace and accept of our praises too in Christ Jesus for a thousand mercies to me and mine for all the mercies wherewith thou ladest us and makest our lives comfortable especially for delivering us from Hell when we have been ready to throw our selves into it Thou canst not do a greater thing for us till thou bringest us to Heaven therefore let us retribute all we have or can do to thee and Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer Amen Of Thanksgiving to God A Meditation Exod. 23. None shall appear before me empty THIS practice of the Servants of God is general for we read of none of them who did not render unto God for his mercies received so that he is none of God's people who omits this neither doth he acknowledge God to be his benefactor One sacrificeth to his net viz. to the subordinate means another ascribes all to chance and fortune and howbeit many prophane people too have made their acknowledgments to God as Saul would reserve the best of the Cattel for sacrifice Cain would also sacrifice But of such Solomon saith The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord as Saul's was God speaking of the degenerate Israelites saith in the Prophecy of Isaiah They come before me as my people For the light of nature which is not easily extinguished dictates this to us Accordingly we read in the Proverbs of Solomon of the Harlot paying her vows They sing praises to God just then when they are freed from their affliction but within a while they forget God and the wonders which he hath done for them To render some thing is an acknowledgment which we perform to one another for we know we can hold nothing of another without a rendering But the rendering which we must make to God alwaies is our heart and all we can do and suffer for him Hanna did not think it enough to render the fruit of her lips but thought she had enough favour shewed her that her prayers were heard and was satisfied therewith and thankfully rendered the intire benefit received David did not satisfy himself with praising and magnifying God and resolving to praise him as long as he lived but he would have built a Temple to him too but that God would not suffer him yet he proceded in that purpose so far as he could for he provided the materials for the Temple And shall I think it enough to offer God thanks and praise for though this is honouring God yet why should I suffer my self to be out-done by the weaker sex why should I think to keep all Gods benefits to my self for my own use she for one prayer heard and for own favour received renders the same again because she had no other thing of equal value to her What shall I render for so many prayers heard and for so many mercies received I am at a loss what I shall render but I am resolved to do all I can and suffer all I can for him and to Sacrifice my most endeared lust to him I will praise the Lord with my mouth and my tongue shall faile when I tell of his mercies for I know no end of them But this shall not suffice me I must endeavour to build up his Temple too as far as I may not any Temple made with hands but I have frequent occasion to meditate how much God doth for me and how little do I for God! and taking a view of
the perception of these mysteries so according to this example let thy faithful people prepare themselves with repentance and perfect charity and if we remember that our neighbour hath any thing against us ler us leave our gift at the Altar and go and be first reconciled to our neighbour and then perform our Sacrifice to God and apprehending and discerning the Lord's body that we commit no irreverence And as our souls are prepared so let us prepare our bodies as thy servant David when he eat the shew bread 1 Sam. 21.5 answered the Priest Women had been kept from them three daies and the vessels of the young men were holy Let our bodies be sanctified by fasting temperance abstinence prayer and humiliation lest as the Ark of the Covenant by which the Lord conveyed the greatest benefits to the Israelites being taken by the Philistines brought to them the greatest calamities and so it did to Vzzah for but touching it irreverently In like manner these heavenly gifts if we eat them unworthily shall prove our damnation and if they who but touched the hem of his garments or received him into their house received such benefits shall not they who receive him into their souls be healed of all their infirmities and as the antient martyrs by receiving these mysteries were strengthened to undergo all that tyranny could lay upon them Let them in like manner strengthen us against all that Satan and the world can do against us And as the daily Infirmities of our body are helped by our bodily nourishment so let our Infirmities of our souls by this our Spiritual nourishment be relieved and us be satisfied and delighted therewith as with heavenly manna O Lord sacrifice and offerings and burnt offerings thou wouldest not have but thou gavest a body to thy only begotten Son that he should offer up himself in whom thou art well pleased And this Sacrament was instituted by him in Commemoration of his death and the acceptable Sacrifice of his life for the sins of the world Lord by his death and Sacrifice of his life unto thee which we hereby celebrate be reconciled unto us This is that pure Sacrifice which the Saints shall offer up unto thee in every place LORD since thou turnest the malice of men and the unjustice which they do thy Saints to the advantage either of their secular concerns as Josephs imprisonment was or of their soules Lord inable me to suffer wrong and to take it patiently to suffer railings and reviling as David did Shemei's railing saying If the Lord hath said to Shemei curse David who shall say why hast thou done so So let him curse for who can tell whether the Lord will requite good for his railing If I loath the fool in them I must not act it my self by returning the like Let me consider that by patience I possess my Soul and that it is better to suffer wrongfully than as an evil doer since it is the will of God that we should suffer and let our graces be exercised hereby And let us consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners Jesus our Lord lest we faint and be weary in our mind for the consideration of his suffering such reproach and the frequent remembrance of him hath efficacy and vertue to strengthen and support us who are willing to be conformable to his sufferings but we had rather that this cup might pass from us LORD whenever we fall into any sin we find immediately that we have lost our own innocence and thy favour so that we cannot go about our affairs with that quietness and peace and serenity of mind as before we did and in all that we do we fear it will have but bad success because we dare not look up to thee for a blessing Lord give us to consider this when we are tempted that we may fear sin more and make it out to our understandings how we do by sin crucify again unto our selves the Lord Jesus and put him to an open shame for we are all ready to pronounce an Anathema upon the Crucifiers of our Lord therefore let us not suffer these his Crucifiers to live He that seeth in secret he will reward thee openly Let this encourage us to frequent Prayers and duties But O Lord our services are so few and so slight and perfunctory and sinful while our hearts go after our covetousness and lusts so that we forget before whom we are and what we are doing and so our duties are sacriledge and our services provocations sins vain oblations abominations filthy rags like Nadab and Abihu's strange fire like the offering of the lame and blind when we have a male in our Flock so that thou mayest justly deal with us as Pilate did with the Gallilaeans whose blood he mingled with their sacrifice What reward then can we expect O Lord we beseech thee though our prayers are sinful yet accept them offer'd up in the Golden censer of Jesus our Mediator which is full of Incense which are the Prayers of the Saints and let these filty rags be wash'd in his blood and then they will be clean and white as Snow and then thou mayest reward them but yet that reward is thy free mercy therefore not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy name is all the praise for what can we do for which thou should'st reward us with so many mercies here and with life eternal Any one of thy mercies is of more value then all our services could deserve or requite if we should continue in the duties of prayer and praising thee night and day all our lives for we owe thee all we have or can do It is thine as we are thy creatures and we were but unprofitable Servants after we had done all we can and we have need of an almighty Redeemer Then let us not murmure if the Lord doth delay to hear us Neither let us say 't is in vain to serve the Lord. Let us consider also that thou dost delay out of mercy to try our patience and perseverance and other graces and to make us more servent or may be because thou wilt not reward us with temporal blessings but eternal which is far better and let us not press or be importunate to receive our reward here lest we go without the eternal reward but let us be willing to trust God though he delay LET me not come near to that which may be a temptation or if a temptation come upon me unawares let me not say in my heart I shall be strong enough to resit it and so trust to my own strength but let me have grace to observe those ways and methods of resisting sin as thou hast appointed in thy word Therefore let me fly immediately from the temptation as Joseph fled from his Mistress leaving his Cloak If by chance I fall into the Company of Drunkards let me not say I shall preserve my sobriety because I love that and hate that
thou O my soul apprehend that these are only the peculiar priviledges and injoyments of the Saints and fearest thy self to be none of those but fain thou wouldst be such thou maiest sue to the Lord to perform those and the like promises of free grace Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me I will give them a new heart And that Micha 7.19 He will subdue our iniquities And that Isa 3.4 The heart of the rash shall understand And that Isa 11.6 The Wolf shall lye down with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid. And that Hosa 14.15 I will heal their backslidings And that Rom. 16.20 The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly And that Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgements and do them Luke 11.13 How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him And Isa 35.5 The ear of the deaf shall be unstopped And that Deut. 30.9 I will circumcise thine heart That thou maiest love the Lord thy God with all thine heart c. And that in Isa 40. v. 31. They shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint Since then God hath promised to give thee his Spirit if thou askest it of him and prooved it with an argument a fortiori that he will and hath promised to do all this for thee and work all these works in thee and thou findest in thy self desires pantings and longing for them and thereupon dost ask him in his Sons name and for his mercies sake his truths sake and his names sake to perform these promises and givest him no rest till he doth it doubt not but he will Meditation of the Love of God Psal 103.8 The Lord is full of compassion and mercy long suffering and of great goodness c. Those sweet compellations which almighty God useth to his poor creature man if they do but sink into our hearts they must needs make such impressions as will cause reciprocal love to him Is Ephraim a dear Son is he a pleasent Child what can endear thee more than this Oh my soul what love canst thou desire more he counts thee and calls thee in this Relation Son looks upon thee with compassion as his child and pittieth thee as a Father pittieth his Child delighteth in thee as a Father delighteth in a Child whom he loveth and helpeth thee as his Child Behold what manner of love God hath shewed thee that thou shouldest be called the Son of God Joh. 1.4 If a Son then an heir and joynt heir with Christ his only begotten Son for Christ is not ashamed to call us Bretheren in this relation to God and Christ what canst thou want or fear or what more canst thou desire in the 3d. Chap. of Mal. He calls them his Jewels and Rev. 1. Kings and Priests and Isa 62. a Crown of glory His portion he called Abraham his friend What canst thou fear a Master may be severe if his work be done he will pay wages if not stripes but a Father is indulgent and will spare his Child and require no more of him than he can perform with comfort and delight if then thou canst find in thy self the disposition of a Child be sure thou maiest find in him the disposition of a Father Mat. 3. Our Blessed Saviour hath owned them in these relations viz. His Bretheren his members his Spouse his betroathed his Sister and Mother his Garden his Church his beloved his branches his Servants his flock his lambs his friends and Revel 1.6 He hath loved us and washed us from our sins and made us Kings and Priests to God Could the Canaanitish Woman find incouragement for faith to lay hold from that of Dog who needs to dispair sure not a prodigal Son And every thing that is excellent beautiful and desirable beloved and endeared he compares his people to it and sees all those perfections in them as he expresseth in the Cant. O then my soul admire and be inamoured of him and find all excellencies perfections and desirable good things in him from whom thine excellency cometh and is derived thine head thy Husband thine elder Brother thy Father thy Maker thy Governour thy Redeemer for so doth the heavenly Spouse see and admire in Christ Jesus her Beloved If so thou dost then thou knowest that he is they Beloved thy Saviour thy Head thy Brother thy Portion thy Delight thou lovest him in all that he did or said his teaching his sufferings his miracles thy love to him is but the reflexion of the beam of his Meditations of Mercy Med. 1. Psal 103.11 As high as the Heaven is above the earth so great is his Mercy c. WOrthy of our meditation are all the workes of God and every word of his to be studied by us that we may thereby improve our graces but his workes of mercy and that part of his word which holdeth forth mercy and offers it and sets forth God in the Glory and excellency of his mercy is most necessary for sinful man and most comfortable to be considered All that are saved are saved by meditating of this all that are lost are lost and perish for lack of the knowledg of this this is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ The freeness then and largeness of it is to be our chief study free it is What motive found he in us to move him when enemies to give his Son up for us all and to beseech us but only from his own goodness because he delights in mercy The man that seeks his lost sheep may get the profit of it and so may the woman that seeks her lost groat but what profit can the Lord get by us for which he may seek us for when we have done all we are unprofitable Servants The largeness of his mercy is without limits for if he hath commanded us to forgive seventy times seven times will not he frankly forgive us what we are not able to satisfy since he makes his forgiving of us many talents the argument why we should forgive petty debts can we imaging that he will take the first forfeiture since he hath commanded us not only to forgive our enemies but to love them bless them pray for them to do good for evil will not he forgive us love us and bless us as freely for Christs sake though there be no motive in us for it would he make love to be the fulfilling of the law charity the covering of transgression prefer charity before piety by commanding us to leave our gift at the Altar to be reconciled to our Brother prefer it before faith and all gifts and graces making it as it were the ligament and sinews of all and that if we want that all other graces are but empty sounds make