actions with a Golden Scepter and crushing to pieces its Enemies that 's all rebellious and evil actions And Plato tells us that this Law is founded in Nature for the maintaining ennobling and the perfecting of Nature But Tully draws a most lively portraicture of the Law of Nature Est quidem vera lex recta ratio naturae congruens diffusa in omnes constans sempiterna quae vocem ad officium jubendo vetando fraude deterreat quae tamen probos neque frustra ju bet aut vetut nec improbos jubendo aut vetando movet Hinc legi nec propagari jas est neque derogari ex hac aliquid licet neque tota abrogari potest nec vero aut per Senatum aut per populum solvi hac lege possimus neque est quaerendus explanator aut interpres ejus alius non erat alia Roma alia Athenis alia nunc alia posthac sed omnes gentes omni tempore una Lex sempiterna immutabilis continebit unusque erit quasi communis Magister Legislator omnium Deus ille legis hujus inventor disceptator lator cui qui non parebit ipse se fugiet naturam hominis aspernabitur The Law of Reason sayes he is a beautiful Law a Law of a pure Complexion and Natural colour of a vast Extent and diffusion its colour and beauty cannot fade it encourages men in Obedience with a smile it chides them and frowns them out of wickedness good men hear the whisperings of its pleasant voice and observe the least glance of its lovely eye but wicked men sometimes will not hear it when it comes to them in Thunder nor take the least notice of it though it flash out in Lightning none must enlarge nor diminish this Law neither can the malice of men totally deface its Beauty neither Prince nor People Angels nor Men can absolve you from it this Law never paints its face nor change its colour it does not put on one aspect at Athens and another at Rome but looks upon all Nations and Persons with an impartial eye it shines upon all Ages and Times and Conditions with a perpetual Light there is but one Law-giver he contrived and commanded it and none can be exempted from it unless he be banisht from his own Essence and excommunicated from humane nature And St. Austin in his Confessions Thy Law sayes he Tua lex tua lex scripta est in cordibus nostris quam non ulla unquam delet iniquitas is written in our hearts which no Iniquity can blot out And the wiser Heathen braved it out in admirable expressions That Beauty and Goodness was a sufficient reward and compensation that the very turpitude of evil actions is Punishment enough in it self And what an high pitch of greatness did Plato attain to when he calls Laws that were made by man to preserve Justice and Punish Vice but Hominum infirmiorum commenta a remembrance for weak men to keep them virtuous And Seneca divinely exprest himself Licet scirem Deum ignosciturum homines ignoraturos attamen peccare nollem ob peccati turpitudinem Sen. Vir bonus reveretur seipsum If I were sure sayes he that God would certainly pardon me and men could never know of it yet I would scorn to sin for its foulness and dishonesty And what Christian can keep pace herein endeavouring after such original rectitude and when he gave the world that golden Apothegm That a good man has a veneration for himself what strong emulations had he to climb after Original Purity and advance Nature to her primitive Dignity how did he aim after the Image of his Maker to preserve that Species of Goodness implanted in him as knowing that sins and immoralities were the degenerations of humane Nature and would debase him into a Devil Now man being a free and voluntary Creature hath a freedome and liberty to prosecute his own happiness and having tasted that forbidden fruit how has he as it were poysoned himself and posterity And how hath that glorious Picture of his Maker lost its gloss and beauty and the oriency of its colours Horresco referens We tremble to relate how that sweet harmony of his faculties and subordination of them to each other is broken how every motion of the inferior power has disobeyed that government and direction which the superior did administer how hath man basely exchanged reasonable and well ordered Passions for sensual and beastly Tanta est vis voluptatum ut ignorantium protelet in occasionem conscientiam corrumpat in dissimulationem Tertul. what crookedness and dissention is there fighting against his reason what Solecisms in his manners what impostures to obliterate reason and original truth and the Understanding being cast out Passion hath usurped the Chair which judges of things not according to natural truth but according to the Impressions of Fancy Pleasure and the dictates of corrupt Nature And this Corruption of Nature is particularly seen in Incontinency God of his great goodness hath given us a lawful and honourable use of those innate desires and propensities of nature in mutual enjoyments ad conversationem speciei for Generation sake but not to satisfie those vile affections of Lust as the Apostle speaks and forsaking the guidance of reason they dishonoured their bodies amongst themselves as St. Jude tells which is styled by the Philosopher Aristotle Morbid desires and the Apostle tells us that he who commits fornication sins against his own Body Morbus est affectus contra naturam corpori incidens As Fernelius observes of diseases that they are affections of body contrary to Nature so are Adulteries and Fornications The Poet represented Agamemne Os occulusque Jovi par in his features like Jupiter in valour like Mars in Wisdom a very Apollo himself But when angry and passionate transform'd into a Lyon a Tyger a Devil So man was created after the Divine Image and should preserve the sacred obligations of Marriage Inviolable but by Fornications and Adulteries metamorphos'd into a Beast a Devil and though the Commission of Sin at first pleases corrupt Nature yet the violation of the Divine Law and our guilty Consciences will affright and torture us The Poet tells us Principium dulce est sed finis amoris amarus Laeta venire Venus tristis abire solet This vultures and gnaws the afflicted heart this brings destruction to Soul and Body whence proceeds such Ghonorreahs and Inflamations of Liver and brings a suddain Catastrophe to life it self Suetonius invit ejus It ruined Alexander the Great Otho the Emperour Pope Sextus the fourth Qui dissessit tabidus voluptate as the Historian tells us And as Turtullian observes the Body quickly fails the Mind the Mind the Desire the Desire the Satisfaction and all the man And how hath Gods Judgments pursued the Adulteror Suetonius Julius Caesar was stabb'd in the Senate-house as a just
their appointed Stations the Earth is Lowermost the Sea keeps his bounds the Air Aethur and Superaethur observe their Sphaerical apartments the Earth is our Habitation the Beast of the Field our Food Vegetables afford both Medicine and Nourishment and all things admirably useful and adapted for the service of man Psal 19.3 4. There is no speech nor language where their Voice is not heard Their line is gone throughout all the Earth and their words to the end of the World And are wonderful Indiciums of Gods Glory and goodness in their serving man and shall he only degenerate and prove Anomalous and Sceptical shall the best piece of the Creation prove the worst and unserviceable The noblest beings shew most Beauty in their operations and shall man that was created to admire the Wisdom and goodness of his Maker be silent and do less than the dumb pieces of the Creation God forbid The all-wise God hath communicated the sensible and eminent influences of his mercy goodness and bounty to the rational Nature of man that so Body and Soul jointly engaged might produce an harmony of Praise and Thanksgiving to the great Creator of the World wherefore did God give him his Tongue the Organ of Speech but to pray unto his Maker and with David O Lord open thou my Lips and my Mouth shall shew forth thy Praise God gave him his hands to lift them up in prayer to him Tendens ad sydera palmas and with David that his Prayer might come before him as Incense and the lifting up his hands as the Evening Sacrifice So also the Inorganical parts are to be chiefly imployed in our prayers to God Elevatio mentis ad Deum the Understanding Will and Affections without which prayer is insignificant 't is only the spiritual and fervent prayer that availeth which is called wrastling Gen. 32.24 Oratio essicax Beza and pouring out of the Soul to God and 't is that which is our indispensible Duty all the faculties of the Soul must be engaged herein to supplicate and adore the great God and intentionally with David exciting all within us to pray unto that God who gave us our Being and to Praise him for all our Mercies and Benefits Affectus operi nomen imposuit St. Ambros for 't is the lively affections of the Soul in a Duty that gives it a Name and makes it successful so Eliezer here pray'd unto God for his Masters Son And prayer is our Duty to shew our dependance on God In him we live move and have our Being our daily exigencies invite us to it Inf. Let us therefore pray daily for prayer is as useful to us as our daily bread and we are encouraged hereto for he filleth the hungry with good things and exhorted to pray without ceasing In all things let your Requests and Supplications be made known to God That some forms of Invocation and phraseologies are very prevalent Observ 2. So Eliezer here O Lord God of my Master Abraham and this expression is used to strengthen Eliezers Faith And we may learn from hence That upon particular wants and occasions we ought to use such Phraseologies which are analogous to Gods Promises or referr to our wants Thus Joshua after Israel had sinn'd Josh 7.8 9 O Lord what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their Enemies That was when they were pursued by the men of Ai which implies his earnest Expostulation with God to preserve his own People and concludes with this prevailing argument And what wilt thou do unto thy great Name The Prophet Hosea exhorts the Israelites to renounce in these Expressions their former Sins Hos 14.2 3. Take with you words and turn to the Lord and say unto him Take away all Iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our Lips Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon Horses neither will we say any more to the work of our hands ye are our Gods for with thee the Fatherless findeth Mercy So Elijah prayed unto God 1 Kings 17.20 Hast thou also brought evil upon the Widdow with whom I sojourn by slaying her Son Which is as if he remembred God who commanded him to go to that Widdow for succour as we find in the beginning of that Chapter And we read of Asa 2 Chron. 14.14 when he went to Battle he used this pathetical way of expressing himself to God Help us O Lord our God for we rest in thee and in thy Name we go against this Multitude O Lord thou art our God let not man prevail against thee and so Jehoshaphat when the Army of the Heathens were coming against him he prayed unto God 2 Chron. 20.6 7. O Lord God of our Fathers art thou not God in Heaven and rulest not thou over all the Kingdoms of the Heathen and in thine hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee Art thou not our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this Land before thy People Israel and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy Friend for ever Secondly In our Thanskgiving and Exultation we should admire and paraphrase on Gods power suitable to the Nature of our deliverance such was the Song of Moses after the Children of Israels deliverance at the Red Sea a paraphrastical Triumph repeating the manner of their deliverance and Pharaohs overthrow what pious Airs and Encomiums was chanted out by the thankful Israelites And what was Deborahs Song but the slaming Raptures of a rejoicing Heart And the twenty second of Samuel is a continued thanksgiving of David to God for his mercies and the 105 and 106. Psalms are a History of the deliverance of Gods People and Davids thankfulness for Gods Mercies Inf. Let us therefore remember the advice of the Apostle 1 Thess 5.18 In every thing give thanks for this is the Will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you And as we expect any blessings we must pray for them so also to improve what we have with thankfulness is the only way to have more Observ 3. That we ought to pray for each other 1. Here was good Eliezer praying for his Masters Son and 't is the Duty of Christians to assist each other with their Prayers The Apostle bids us make Supplication for all Saints and the Apostle prayed for those that had not seen his Face in the Flesh and how passionate was he for the prayers of of the People and conjures them For Christs sake Coloss 2.1 and the love of the Spirit that they should strive with him in their Prayers to God for him Tertullian calls it Rom. 15.30 An holy conspiracy to besiege Heaven this Conjunction in Prayer edifies the whole Church the Communion of Saints and is of advantage to every member nay even the wicked have a sense and need of the Prayers of good men so Pharaoh told Moses
sociable Creature and desirous of Company as a learned Commentator on the place tells us An individual makes no Society Nec jucundum individuo nec utile speciei Piscator in loc Tanquam alter ipse specie formâ conveniens Rivet in loc neither is serviceable to its Species therefore God gave man a Wife as another self of the same Species and Figure with himself than which nothing could be so meet an help both for Society and Propagation of Issue which was absolutely necessary for the preservation of Mankind And in the second Chapter of Genesis we have an account of the Womans formation that she was formed of the Rib of Adam and presented to him and thereupon she becomes aliquid ipsius something of him if not alter idem another same which the Schoolmen declare for that she being formed out of a Rib there was both Flesh and Nerves which makes her an alter ipse And she being after the similitude of man he might the more affect and approve of her for humane Nature is taken with similes and we are pleased with the reflex of our selves and like Narcissus even dote upon identical dilations the sacred Phrase runs thus Deus creavit hominem marem faeminam Vulg. lat Matrimonium humano generi immortalitatem tribuit Nevisanus God created man male and female There being then an indentity of constituted matter that the love of Society and Conjugal affections might be homogenial and reciprocal Whereas if God had given him a Friend only the Society had been deficient neither could the Species be preserved without a Genus but the Ordination of God and current of Nature have made them individually one God presented her to man as a second self Nature and Religion Law and Policy strictly oblige them to this sacred Oeconomy This was visible in Adam's Apprehension and Approbation of it as we read 23 and 24. verses This is now bone of my bone Gen. 2.23 24. and flesh of my flesh And in the 24. verse we have the consequents of this noble and sacred Institution Therefore shall a man leave Father and Mother and cleave to his Wife and they two shall be one flesh That is not Non loquitur de carnis libidine sed affectû conjugali Paulus Fagius in loc as one observes spoken of fleshly Lusting but out of Conjugal Affections and Love to his Wife who resembles the two branches in Ezekiels hand enclosed in one bark and closing together make but one flesh as being a Society of the most endeared Amity and Friendship Matrimonii symbolum Ezek. 24.26 Micah 7.5 Prov. 5.19 Solomon speaks thus Be thou ravisht always in her Love in the Original it is Erre thou alwayes in her love velut extra sis ut rerum aliarum obliviscare which signifies a very earnest affection and a respect immeasurable And our Blessed Saviour himself when he lived on earth was pleased to honour Marriage with his personal attendance and to put the greater accent and honour on so sacred a Solemnity was further pleased to the admiration of all Spectators to work his first Miracle thereat by turning Water into Wine which tacitly implies that Marriage brings honour and perfection to the humane nature Faelix necessitas quae ad meliora tendit which was shaddowed out by the melioration of water and was a clear signification and approbation of those lawful delights and entertainments which were suitable and proper to the occasion this Nuptial tye is Recorded in Heaven Solemnized on Earth and Confirmed by the mutual gages of two united individuals This Love is the Harmony Nil habet natura melius quam ut possis neque praestantius quam ut velis servare plures Cicero the Complexion Genius and very Soul of Nature this true Friendship is the Zodiack wherein the Sun of Truth Constancy and hearty Affections interchangeably compleat the whole circle of motion and influence and is the Guardian and tutelar Angel of Society to which Quarles alludes in his description of Conjugal Love They were so one that none could justly say Which of them rul'd or whether did obey He rul'd because she would obey yet she In so obeying rul'd as well as he And as it was instituted for Gods glory and preservation of Mankind so to preserve inviolate the Laws of God by avoiding and preventing Fornication Exod. 10.14 Mark 10.19 Heb. 13.3 which is forbidden by God in several places of Scripture We can still describe and represent the primitive rectitude of humane Nature though the fall hath maimed our perfection and impaired those glorious Ideas we had at first and disposed us to sin and deviations At first the action of sense was appointed to touch the affection and so present it primarily to the Understanding by whose conduct the Passions were subordinate and subject to its inclinations and as its Deputies in the administration of such Duties and Performances for the Benefit Service and Happiness of the humane Nature which Understanding in the Soul is called an Intellectual Lamp which God placed for the admirable government of his Creature and the School-men call it Lumen Naturae the Light of Nature which St. Chrysostome calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Chrys 13 Orat. and tells us that 't is a radical and fundamental knowledge planted in the being of Man budding and blossoming in his first Principles flourishing and bringing forth fruit spreading it self into all the fair and goodly branches of Morality under whose shaddow the Soul takes great delight And tells us further that it grows spontaneously shines out chearfully and pleasantly 't is so visible that the infant age of the World could spell it out and read it without a Teacher before Moses was born or Aaron wore his Golden Bells before there was a Prophet or Judge in Israel and so the learned Grotius describes it The Law of Nature sayes he is a streaming out of glorious Light Jus Naturale est dictatum rectae Rationis indicans actui alicui ex ejus convenientia disconvenientia cum ipsa Naturae Rationali inesse mortalem turpitudinem aut necessitatem moralem consequenter ab authore naturae ipso Deo talem actum aut vetari aut praecipi Grotius de jure Natu. powerfully discovering such a deformity in some evil as that an intellectual Eye must needs abhor it and such a commanding Beauty in some good as that a rational being must needs be enamoured with it and so plainly shewing that God stampt and sealed the one with his Command and branded the other with his dislike to which Plutarch very excellently alludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Royal Law of Nature sayes he was never shut up in a paper Prison was never confined and limited to any outward surface but was bravely situated in the Center of a rational being alwayes keeping the Soul Company for its protection and direction ruling all its Subjects all obedient
Historians and Poets celebrated this Alliance this Conjugal Oeconomy this Divine constitution Dies deficeret Nox we will only give you the rapture of Boaethius O Faelix hominum genus Si vestros ammos Amor Quo Caelo regitur regat Now two being become one by this Mysterious Conjunction they reciprocally love and mutually affect each other and jointly promote the happiness of both the man is obliged to love his Wife as Grotius sayes Dilectione sincera castâ perpetuâ exemplo sanctae vitae uxoribus praebeat Spontaneâ nempè voluntate agnoscentes ordinationem Dei qui id etiam an te peccatum constituit with a chaste and constant love and set their Wives the example of a Religious Life And the Woman to love reverence and submit to her Husband freely and chearfully acknowledging the Ordinance of God from the beginning as Zanchius directs And as the Matrimonial honour is to be preserved inviolable so the Holy Ghost is pleased to represent the mystical Union between Christ and his Church by the semblance and Analogy of Marriage Quo spectare videtur sequens comparatio de Christo ecclesiamsuam sanctificante Estius in loc Aristotle Pol. Now this Love and Affection being proper to Mankind is called Amor cognitionis Leon Hebreus calls it Rational love whereby all the Affections and Actions are conformed to the Object and this Love the Philosopher styles Debitum Naturae a Debt we owe to Nature and the neglect thereof a trespass against Nature because God is Love it self he made the World out of Love and wonderfully illustrated this Love in redeeming of it and the Emanations of it are visible in his Divine Providence and in his care and protection of every individual and particle of the Creation Si rerum quaeris fuerit quis finis ortus Desine nam causa est unica solus Amor. Doest ask the reason moved God above To make the world the only cause was Love And here we might enter into a vast and Philosophical Field of discourse Amor est voluntatis affectus Forma est vitalis â—ulgorâ—ex ipso bono emanans par Ideas Plato Pulchritudo est perfectio compositi congruente ordine mensurá ratione partium consurgens and give you the Definition division and object of Love according to Leon Hebreus a voluntary affection and desire to enjoy that which was good Omne pulchrum est amabile and the more fair the object the more desirable Plato defines Beauty a resulting from effased good Others call it a perfection of the whole composition and this Comeliness is called Grace which joyned with Beauty is like the Shinings that come from a Glorious and Divine Sun than which admirable Beauty says Socrates there is nothing so majestical nothing so sacred divine and Lovely and nothing can charm mankind so much When Xerxes destroyed all the Temples of the Graecian Deities he caused the Picture of Diana in Integrum servari to be spared for its Beauty and Majesty Naturae gaudentis opus But how much more charming is natural Beauty which Plato calls the Quintessence and Triumph of Nature Carneades calls it Still Rethorick that perswades without Speech 't is a Kingdom without a Militia Gratior est pulchro veniens è corpore virtus Vir. Aeneads which made Diogenes call Beautiful Women Queens because all were willing to obey their Commands and the Poet describes Dido's astonishment when she first beheld Aeneas Obstupuit primo aspectu Sydonia Dido So the Woman of Samaria was transported with the Beauty of Christ Origen he was Fairer than the Sons of men Joseph's comeliness conciliated his Favour in the Aegyptian Court Lib. de pul Jes Mar. How much doth P. Morales admire the Beauty and Lustre of the Virgin Mary Anthony admired Cleopatra and Theseus was charmed with Hellena And though the Mind is not occasioned by the Body yet Philosophy tells us it follows the temperament of it and where the external Qualities are so beautiful we may guess at the Judgment concluding that the lovely dispositions of the Soul quickneth and animates the outward Graces and there being so strong a love between the Body and Soul we may from thence presume of a similitude in the Qualities of the Soul with those lovely impressions of nature we find in the Body Now Leon Hebreus divides Love into three parts Natural Sensible and Rational Natural Love is seen in the Elements Sun Moon and Stars in Mettals and Stones gravia tendunt deorsum Fire upwards and in Vegetables as before Sensible Love in brute Beasts for the preservation of the Species and Rational which was handled before as proper to Mankind but then only respecting Philanthropy the love of men to their own Species whereas the affections of men are likewise dilated on things as well as persons We admire Virtue Wisdom Eloquence Profit Wealth Honour Beauty Friendship Charity and other things Arts and Sciences but we only name them each head would take up a copious discourse by it self And pleading Peccavi for this pleasant digression we return to prosecute the remaining Effects of Marriage And the next is Children When he sees those fine and elaborate pieces of himself whom God hath graciously given him how does he adore the Divine Goodness that made him a Father and Instrument to preserve by a continued Succession Gods Church in the World and how is he obliged to give down to his Off-spring those Precepts and Institutes for Gods glory their good and advantage he received from his Ancestors Children are the blessing of their Parents and a good Parent a blessing to his Children When God blessed our first Parents 't was thus Be fruitful Gen. 1.28 Signifiâ—at secunditatem omnemque favorem copiam quae Deus illis omnia laeta pausta precatus fuit Paulus Fagius in Locum Gen. 22.17 and multiply and replenish the earth which Blessing as a learned man tells us signifies all Fruitfulness Favour and Plenty and that God would heap on them all Joys and Prosperity so that the blessing of Children and all other Enjoyments are annext to Marriage So when God blessed Abraham In blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the Stars in Heaven and as the sand on the Sea-shore and thy seed shall possess the Gate of his Enemies The words are an Hebraism verbalia addita verbis which signifies Gods earnest resolutions to Bless Abraham and his Seed after him The Hebrews observed a Conveniency between the forms of expression and the thing exprest So when Christ said Luke 22. Cordis Oris orationem notat With desire I have desired Aquinas noteth on the place that the Heart and Tongue both Prayed And David expresseth the goodness of God to the Seed of Abraham Psal 105.6 8 9 10 11. O ye seed of Abraham his Servant and ye seed of Jacob his Chosen he hath
not waste nor the cruise of Oyl fail till the day that God send Rain on Earth And when Hezekiah prayed against Sennacherib for reproaching the living God the Lord was pleased to answer him 2 King 19. that he should not shoot one Arrow nor come before the City with Shields or Bucklers but return as he came and God smote a hundred fourscore and five thousand Assyrians and even Sennacherib himself slain by his two Sons And let but those three Servants of that God whom they trusted would deliver them but pray to him in the fiery Furnace though the very heat slay even those that put them in yet a hair of their heads shall not be singed nor shall their Coats be changed Dan. 2. neither the smell of Fire pass on them Nay even the Son of God shall bear them Company and preserve them And when Daniel is in the Den of Lyons God answers his Prayers and sends his Angel and shuts the Lyons mouths that they could not hurt him In fine by Prayer the Moon hath stood still the Sun gone backward the Ravens have brought Food the Heavens rained Manna the Rocks afforded Water the Fire hath given over Burning the Lyons have stopt their Mouths Fidelibus totus mundus divitiarum est St. Austin de Civ Dei and all Creatures shall muster up themselves to defend the Body of Christ whereupon sayes St. Austin The Saints have all the World at their service And gives us the Reason Domine quis tenet te Lord sayes he who can hold thee who can fetter and restrain Omnipotency Nay even Heathens and Turks have alwaies had a great veneration for Prayer which is a reproach to Christians to be out-done by them Numa Pompilius thought it sufficient for his safety he could answer At ego rem Divinam facio But I nm about the Service of my Gods And 't was the Heathen Custom not to venture upon business of moment without the Invocation of their Gods And the advice of Xenophon was Divine That in Prosperity they should worship their Gods that when they had a more particular need of their assistance they might with greater confidence approach them at their Altars commending the success to the Power and Providence of those Deities they served Publius Scipio used alwayes to go to the Capitol before he went to the Senate and so begin the service of the Commonwealth with prayer as Suetonius tells us †Benè ac sapienter Majores instituerunt ut rerum agendaram ita dicendi initium à praecationibus capere Sueto in vit Caes It was the Wisdom of those Governments to commence all their business with the service of their Gods Let us Christians therefore Inf. that have the Son of God to intercede for us he is the Angel standing before the Throne with the Golden Censer in his hand Rev. 8.3 filled with the Odours of his Merits Ipse solus est cujus gratia Deum habemus propitium Calvin to offer up with our prayers be encouraged to come to the Throne of Grace to find Mercy and Grace to help in time of need For he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Let us come to God in all Conditions In our Adversity God tells us No good thing will he withhold from them that diligently seek him Prayer lists us in the service of the Almighty and inrolls us under the Divine Standard and from whence we may expect the favourable Protections of Providence And in our Prosperity lest we be full and deny God let us remember the Corrective the Roman Emperours met with in the midst of their Triumph and Glory Look behind thee Respice post te hominem memento te Suetonius and consider thou also art mortal and subject to misery for we know not to what extremities we may be exposed Let us therefore pray with David Psal 71.12 O Lord be not far from me O God make haste for my help And if we expect good success in our Prayers let us be alwayes deeply affected with those things we pray for St. Matth. 22.11 It is said The King came in to see the Guests so in Prayer the King of Glory looks into the frame and disposition of our Hearts let us therefore use Prayer aright that it prime our Souls and preserve us in the Oyl of Grace from Wind and Weather Observ 5. Gods blessing and providing for Children is a great blessing to Parents 1. Jacob tells us Children are the Gift of God when he met his Brother he told him Gen. 32.5 These are the Children God hath graciously given me and his great care and affection to his Children is a great Pattern to Parents Now Children being the same Flesh and pieces of their Parents their Affection to them must needs be very great and be highly solicitous to promote their welfare as our Saviours Parents at Jerusalem did present him before the Lord for his Blessing And we cannot give it you in terminis for Speech is lame and words cannot reach the sence of the thing signified but most certainly when God is pleased to answer the Prayers of Parents and bless and provide for their Children it is a very great kindness and Mercy to Parents We will give you Davids sence of this matter when Gods Promise was made known to David 2 Sam. 2.12 And when thy dayes shall be fulfill'd and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy Bowels and I will establish his Kingdom And we have Davids acknowledgment in the following verses Who am I O Lord God V. 18 19. and what is my House that thou hast brought me hitherto and this was yet a small thing in thy sight O Lord God for thou hast spoken also of thy Servants House for a great while to come and is this the manner of man O Lord God! Nay in the 20. verse he wants words to express his thankfulness And what can David say more unto thee for thou Lord God knowest thy Servant And when God had placed Solomon upon the Throne he breaks out into this Elogium 1 Kings 1.48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which hath given me one to sit upon the Throne this day mine eyes even seeing it Thus the admirable care Abraham took for Isaac and his great charge to Eliezer is an assured Indication of his great Love and Affection and that it would please God to answer Eliezers request he useth this Expression And shew kindness unto my Master Abraham And how did the Heart of old Jacob revive when he heard of Josephs being alive how did he contemplate and adore the mysteries of Providence That God had so miraculously preserved and provided for him and made him Governour over all the Land of Egypt and when he met him how was he overwhelmed with Joy Gen. 46.30