because we are ripe for Judgment coming upon us like an Armed man that cannot be resisted 2 For our Miseries fears of Want of War Pain and Confusion for Distraction in our understandings Perplexity in our Wills Madness in our Passions boyling over in Dispair Which makes the Wicked Raging Forlorn Desperate Cursing and Blaspheming Foaming and Tearing like a Wild Bull in a Net 3. For our Deliverances from Sin and Miseries a Harbour out of a Raging Ocean a Calm in a Storm an Anchor a Rest a Rock in a dry and weary Land In a Tempest every man cries to his several God In Distress every man takes care for his Body and for his Soul pities himself should pity others helps himself and should help others prays for himself and should for others labours for himself and should for others Shifts for himself at last We know not what to think speak or do but look one upon another and all upon God SECT IX All Experiments Cordials 1. If ever there was a time of trial surely it is now Behold and see O all ye that pass by was there ever any Sorrow like unto my Sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger For these things I weep my eye my eye poureth out tears because the Comforter that should relieve my Sorrow is far from me Can we believe and will we believe now Do we dare to be honest still If ever Faith be found faithful it will be now If we cannot be happy now we shall be sure to be happy hereafter Veniet aliquando dies Time will end in Eternity All tears shall one day be wiped away from our eyes We have cause to be taken off from things below and to fix upon things above If there be deliverance it will come if none God's Will be done Sit down under the Judgment If we perish we perish Ly prostrate at the Footstool of God's Grace we cannot everlastingly perish Faith and a good Conscience will bring us peace at the last We know the worst 't is but a Temporal Life We can loose Great heart akings fear not them that can kill the Body and go no further but fear him that is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell fire The Lord can find away to deliver us which we cannot think of if he have any heart towards us or if we have any heart towards him He will seek to do us good if we will seek to do our selves good We have studied to do our selves good and our labour is in vain without God but our labour shall never be in vain in the Lord. Wo be unto them by whom the offences come it had been better for them if they had never been born or that they had been like the untimely fruit of a Woman which never saw the Sun 2. Is this a time to contend about Trifles Parties We had more need unite them and not Scratch and Devour one another as we do We must live and die together then let us live and die in love together Seek to reconcile all Parties at least bear with them and love them then look up to God and try if we shall be heard otherwise if we make many prayers he will not hear know this for certain the Party that is bloody and false shall be destroyed A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand There will be Parties as long as the World lasts and those Parties will be of several Judgments as long as the World lasts These may instruct one another whither they will hear or whither they will forbear they must not devour one another therefore if they do both parties are guilty the innocent party may complain and defend themselves Is this a time to hunt after Honours Riches Pleasures till the Flood come and sweep us all away Throne of Grace 3. The last Refuge is the Throne of God's Grace never to depart from that is to be sure of Glory We know well what to do for our Eyes are upon God Signs of good 4. There are signs of fair Weather God remembers that we are but Dust and that the Breath is in our Nostrils and therefore he will not be always chiding lest the Spirits of men should fail before him and the Souls should die and perish which he hath Created God propounds the way of Peace 1. By opening unto us the Danger and discovering the Contrâ—vers of it 2. By raising up the Spirits of men to that pitch of detestation and utter abhorrence of those damnable Doctrines and Practices as are so universally destructive to the Church and Commonwealth 3. By offering ways and means to recover if we will take them God hath done his part but our business will not be done except we do our part What could God do more for his Vineyard which he hath not done but still we bring forth Wild Grapes God can and will save us if we will be saved 4. By giving us a Seed of Rare Champions Giants for Piety and Learning 5. If God had no delight in us Why hath he done so much for us already And why is he so ready to do for us still If we will yet repent we shall not perish Preparation for the worst 6. Prepare for the worst Hope for the best If we must die let us die together In Love in one anothers Arms. 2. In Faith in the Arms of God 3. In Justice doing no harm to one another in Righteousness having a good Cause and a good Conscience free from presumptuous sins and from blood guiltiness The will of the Lord must be done whither we will or no 't is best for us to be willing even against our Will we sin but God suffers and we suffer and God suffers we suffer altogether take heed we do not sin altogether We are not alone in sufferings let us not be altogether in sinnings God is with us in sufferings God is not with us in sinnings God is with us if we live not nor die not in sin this is comfort but God is far from us if we live and die in unrighteousness this is sorrow Look to Thoughts Words and Deeds that they be good now They that are profane and wicked as they were in times of safety are worse now in times of danger 'T is a bad sign to be bad still Will nothing do Then if your Sons and Daughters commit whoredoms and other Abominations let them alone for why should they be punished any more they will revolt more and more they that are wicked shall be wicked still But they that have fear'd the Lord and do fear the Lord and speak often one to another a Book of Remembrance is written of those men and God shall make up these Jewels carefully these have done what they can and can do no more they have satisfied themselves and shall satisfie God through Jesus Christ their Lord who hath satisfied for them because they have
this World Why Because I know and feel That 1. God is mine by his own Act and Deed not only of Creation as he is to all but of Redemption as he would be to all if they would take it and is to all that do embrace it to whom he therefore giveth power that they should be called the Sons of God And then God's Work is done 2. I am God's by my own Act and Deed not only by owning my self to be the Work of his Hands but covenanting with him to do and suffer his Will in and upon me and to trust to him that he will be my exceeding great Reward And so I may call God Father And then my work is done While a Soul is abstracted with mutual Enjoyments Studies and Raptures with God no worldly Grievances can affect such sublime Spirits as they do those that grovel upon the ground in the concerns chiefly of the Flesh and of the World 'T was said of Archimedes that his Mind being intent upon Demonstrations when the City was besieged and the Enemy broke in upon him he perceived not the Danger of his Death till it seized upon his Contemplations Death it self is not fear'd nor felt so much in the Flesh to a man that is mortified to the Flesh before-hand from the Corruptions and Lusts thereof waiting all the days of our appointed time till his change do come looking for after this earthly house of his Tabernacle is dissolved to have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens but groaning earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with his house which is from Heaven that being clothed he shall not be found naked not for that he would be unclothed but clothed upon so that mortality might be swallowed up of life desiring not in the Flesh but in the Spirit to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better Other thoughts and cares are eating fretting and consuming but these are healing comforting and reviving caring for God how we may please him that cares for us By these the Soul is upheld from sinking into despair when the Flesh the World and the Devil are alltogether about our ears Thus we bear up against the Waves because our Stern is good or Keel is sound and our Pilot steers a right Course Do not therefore break my heart with worldly fears I have a mind to hope as well as fear I have crowded my Head already among the Stars I may be vex'd in my Body but that also being ioyn'd to the Head will follow after it by degrees and Christ which is my Head will draw my whole Body Soul and Spirit after him with whom I am already in Faith in Heavenly places My Tribulation worketh in me patience and patience experience and experience hope and I shall never be ashamed So I encourage all Sufferers Durate rebus vosmet servate secundis Dabit Deus his quoque finem Virg. Upbraid me not but pity me for I am resolved and therefore tempt me no more it is enough that I suffer I murmure not let me alone Oro miserere laborum tantorum miserere animi non digna ferentis They that sow in tears shall reap in joy and bring their Sheaves with them after a few days I shall find the comfort of it An humble Soul aims high God and my Right but all in Christ God be merciful to me a Sinner for his free Grace in Christ Jesus only Amen If in this Life only we have hope we are of all men the most miserable It is so short and miserable that in our Extremities we look one upon another and know not what to do What shall we do in Death That puts an end to all worldly Extremities eases the poor Captive in the Dungeon from his Bonds and the oppressed from all Tyranny and is too often wished for in the error of our Life but is a beginning of endless Extremities to them that have no hope We that could not tell what to do in Life what shall we do in Death When the naked Soul sits trembling upon the pale lip to be plunged into the bottomless Abyss of Eternity But if in this Life our hope be full of a Glorious and Blessed Immortality we know what to do there is hope in Death When the Body goes to the Dust the Soul returns to God that gave it to the God of Abraham and of Isaac and Jacob who is not the God of the Dead but of the Living for they are all alive in the Spirit with God and shall live with him in the Body when the times of Refreshment shall come from the Lord. My Son if thou come to serve the Lord prepare thy Soul for Temptation set thy Heart aright and constantly endure and make not hast in time of trouble Cleave unto him and depart not away that thou mayst be encreased in thy last end Whatsoever is brought unto thee take chearfully and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate For Gold is tried in the Fire and acceptable men in the Furnace of Adversity Believe in him and he will help thee order thy way aright and trust in him Ye that fear the Lord wait for his Mercy and go not aside lest ye fall Ye that fear the Lord believe him and your reward shall not fail Ye that fear the Lord hope for good and for everlasting Joy and Mercy Look at the Generations of old and see Did ever any trust in the Lord and was confounded Or did any abide in his Fear and was forsaken Or whom did he ever despise that called upon him For the Lord is full of Compassion and Mercy long suffering and very pitisul and forgiveth sins and saveth in time of Affliction Wo be to fearful hearts and faint hands and the Sinner that goeth two ways Wo to him that is faint-hearted for he believeth not therefore shall he not be deseded Wo unto you that have lost patience and what will ye do when the Lord shall visit you They that fear the Lord will not disobey his Word and they that love him will keep his ways They that fear the Lord will seek that which is well-pleasing unto him and they that love him shall be filled with the Law They that fear the Lord will prepare their hearts and humble their Souls in his Sight saying we will fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of Men for as his Majesty is so is his Mercy Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of Comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God For as the Sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolation also aboundeth by Christ and whither we be afflicted it is for our Consolation and Salvation which is effectual in the enduring of the
than it should do Rejoyce not against me O my Enemy for though I fall yet shall I rise again The Bush burneth but is not consumed The Lord knoweth how to uphold and comfort and deliver No body knows the Comforts and the mighty Assistances that flow from the Divine Spirit upon the Spirits of afflicted Servants and Children of God making ample satisfaction for all the Sufferings of this life superadding the Assurance of everlasting Salvation into which through many Afflictions we must enter The Righteous suffer justly from God but wrongfully from the Sons of Men they have deserved it from God but not from Men. They are basely betrayed and abused even for Well-doing Christ was numbred among this Transgressors but he was innocent and had done nothing amiss The two Thieves had their deserts He was betrayed with a Kiss of his Servant that did what he listed with the Purse and eat of his Masters Bread and dipt his Morsel in his Dish Joab took Abner aside to speak with him quietly he thinking no harm and smote him under the fifth Rib that he died not as a Fool died bound hand and feet that he could not help himself but unawares as a man falleth before a Treacherous Enemy Such usage the best of Men find of whom the World is not worthy Let us oppress say they the poor Righteous man and not spare the Widow nor reverence the ancient Gray-hairs Let our strength be the Law of our Justice for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth Let us lay wait for the Righteous because he is not for our turn and he is clean contrary to our doings he was made to reprove our thoughts He is grievous unto us even to behold for his life is not like other men his ways are of another fashion If the Just man be the Son of God he will help him and deliver him out of the hand of his Enemies Let us examine him with despitefulness and torment that we may know his Meekness and prove his Patience But the Souls of the Righteous are still in the hand of God whatever becomes of their Bodies and there shall no torment touch them Though they be punished in the sight of God yet their hope is full of a glorious and blessed Immortality And having been a little chastised they shall be greatly rewarded for God proved them and found them worthy for himself They that put their trust in the Lord shall understand the Truth and such as be faithful in Love shall abide with him for Grace and Mercy is to his Saints and he taketh care for his Elect. These are the Sufferings and this is the perfecting of the Patience and Faith of the Saints even unto the death of the Body and after death the Patience of their Souls continueth waiting and crying from under the Altar Lord how long how long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth While they lived the eyes of their Faith were upon God an Evidence of their deliverance not seen and the Substance thereof hoped for If they fail in the Flesh they never fail in the Spirit if they fail in the false Honours and Riches they never fail in the true Honours and Riches For them to live is Christ and to die is gain and whether they live or die they are the Lords Whatever their Beginning be their End is Peace A bed of Thorns is to them a bed of Roses The Wicked kiss a painted Jezabel ravish a Cloud tantalize Chimera's desperate trying all their Wits using all means but the true which is Repentance from dead works to serve the living God instead of which they die in their sins cursing God and blaspheming cursing the Stars and the Fates and what not so they go to their place Such shame have all God's Enemies and such honour have all his Saints SECTION III. I might here make a Metaphysical Discourse of Spiritual Desertions and Streights that they say Spiritual Desertions God puts his People into and leaves them in for a time and times hiding his face and again looking upon them casting them down and lifting them up Like Parents leaving their Children to cry and want and then satisfying their wants I am not certain that these are the usual waies and methods of God's dealing with Souls God's waies are in the Deep and his paths are in the great Waters and his footsteps are not known I find it was the way of God's proceeding under the Old Testament in Legal dispensations of Judgments and Mercies but I do not find it is so now I find the Spirit is called the Spirit of comfort and when in seems to depart fear not for it is not departed as to the comforts of the Body much more of the Soul And that God delighteth not in grieving the Sons of Men nor doth he fright-Mortals into Regeneration for though there be fear in the Flesh which is weak yet there is joy in the Spirit which is willing all along under various Dispensations and Measures creating hope above hope and contrary unto Hope which is the Anchor of the Soul The Messenger of Satan hath been miraculously sent to buffet some great Saints in the Body here to try their Faith that the Soul might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus St. Paul was in a great strait but it was of Love between two that is betwixt his own and his Disciples happiness whether it were best for him to live or die he had a desire to both but did not well know which to choose though the one were better for him than the other To depart and to be with Christ was far better for him but to stay among his Disciples was better for thein A great contest and striving of Love as in another place he saith He could wish himself accursed for his Brethren his Companions sake the Jews rather than they should be cast away The like Spirit we find in Moses in a Rapture of Love wishing to be blotted out of the Book of Life rather than the People should perish David was brought into a great strait which to choose for one he must of the three Judgments of Pestilence Famine or the Sword but he chose the last and least because it was better to fall into the hands of God than of men for with God there was mercy but with men there was none Job complained in the errour of his life cursing the day of his birth and wishing for death Elijah in distress prayed that he might die Jonah was angry even unto death for a small matter of the shadow of a Gourd and because his Prophecy came not to pass Thus for want of Faith in Extremities of Sufferings many fools in all hast would go down to the Grave to secure themselves there and many of them died indeed by their own hands in a mad mood and wished themselves alive again when it
impossible to be done Elijah prayed for Rain and had it Manna came down from Heaven The Syrians Army smitten with blindness at the Prayer of the Prophet Elisha The Thundring Legion by Prayers got Rain when the Romans fainted for thirst Jobs latter end was greater than his beginning Jeremiah was drawn out of the stinking Dungeon The Israelites were saved in the Plagues and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched out Arm and walled on both sides in the Red Sea while their Enemies sank like Lead in the mighty Waves They were secured by a Pillar of Fire by Night and a Pillar of a Cloud by Day The Jews returned from Seventy years Captivity Christians secured at Pella and elsewhere from the Destruction when Jerusalem was taken The Ten Persecutions ceased and the Blood of the Martyrs was the Seed of the Church Satan bound for a Thousand Years Hitherto he must go and no further Manna and Quails rained from Heaven Water gushed out of the Rock and God prepared a Table in the Wilderness David was delivered from Cruel Saul and overcame Goliah with a Staff and a Sling Isaac was snatcht from the sharp Knife ready to cut his throat Noah c. escaped from the Flood Elijah was left alone and preserved from them that sought his life to take it away was fed by Ravens Hezekiah was healed of his Plague Sore and his days lengthned The Widdow of Sarephath had but a little Cake and a Cruse of Oyle and two Sticks all multiplied to save her life and to pay her debts Nebuchadnezar from a Beast became a man again The Shunamit's Son was raised to life Jonah was delivered out of the Whales belly Nineveh to be destroyed at Forty Days end was saved Lazarus after four days raised from the Grave Paul was let down in a Basket to save his life and many times saved beside both at Land and Sea especially from false Brethren Christ in his Agony was strengthned in the Garden as the Angels of God had ministred unto him in the Wilderness after the Devils Temptations Christ commended his Spirit into the hands of his Father after he uttered that bitter cry My God my God why hast thou forsaken me He trod the Winepress of God's Wrath alone and when he looked round about him and saw one to help him he wondred that there was none to uphold therefore his own Arm brought Salvation to himself and all his People The Invincible Navy of Spain in 88. was scattered with the Winds and broken in pieces after they had divided the Lions Skin before he was dead Twenty years Rebellion and Murder of Charles the First and the greatest and best of his Subjects and Devastation of Church and State was Seconded by such a miraculous Restauration of all things as the World hardly ever knew the like and Posterity will as hardly believe it and the Authors of these mischiefs that survived are as little sensible of it though so much for the Glory of God and the good of the Kingdoms and the strengthening of the Protestant Cause is for their own safety if they had hearts to understand it The Gunpowder Treason makes honest mans hearts ake to this day to think of it and the Devil and the Pope were shamefully foyled on that day Black to them but Glorious to us and our Posterity for ever The last Plot was come to the Birth but wanted strength to bring forth It is gon back into the Womb of Hell where it was hatched and we trust it shall be condemned to everlasting darkness and never O never see the Light All these Comforts and Examples and many more were written for our Instruction that we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures might have Hope Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside every Weight and the Sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the Right hand of the Throne of God for consider him that endured such contradiction of Sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your Minds ye have not yet resisted unto Blood striving against sin and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto Children My Son despise not thou the chastizing of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastnâ—ng God dealeth with you as with Sons For what Son is he whom the Father chastneth not But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye Bastards and not Sons Furthermore we have bad Fathers of our Flesh which corrected us and we give them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits and Life For they verily for a few days chastned us after their pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his Holiness Now no chastning for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of Righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby Wherefore lift up the Hands which hand down and the feeble Knees and make strait paths for your feet lest that which is low be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed Think it not strange concerning the fiery Tryal which is to try you as the same strange thing hapned to them But rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding Joy If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you on their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified But let none of you suffer as a Murderer or as a Thief or as an evil doer or as a busy body in other mens matters for if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be asham'd but let him glorify God on this behalf wherefore let them that suffer according to the Will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator We know not what to do one way and yet we do know what to do another way For the Divisions of Reuben there are great thoughts of heart For the Union and Communion with God there are greater thoughts of heart 1. For our sins we cannot expiate the guilt of them Divisions we cannot explicate our selves from the miseries of them we shall be left in the lurch for them we shall be taken in their snares be lost and be at our witts end Because our sins are ripe at the full height Because our Consciences do sadly accuse us and
thought spoke and done the bed they can to the utmost of their power and taken all the best courses to avoid sin and misery and provide for their eternal good the wisest and best and strongest can do no more If after all this all their hopes fail for this life they have freed their own Souls they shall be saved in the life to come Means useless We have seen by woful experience all the ways of temporising and flattery and fraud and policy and cruelty and whatsoever else is contrary to Godliness and a sound Mind comes to nothing We have tried all means and beat upon every bush and all to no purpose every thing fails let us come to that at last that will never fail us Fear God and keep his Commandments A Rich man uses all means and nothing does him good all his Physitians are of no value and leave him to God We have contracted sins and by them brought these miseries upon our selves that we groan under and being found out for them as we never thought to be we look one upon another and say one to another as Josephs Brethren did We are verily guilty because of our Brothers Blood and because of our Fathers Blood and therefore is this distress come upon us The Prodigal came too when he came to his Husks and not before There are two Protestant Parties that hurt one another and a third Party that is Popish stands by and laughs and encourages them to worry one another and when he sees them spent he rushes upon them to destroy them And this is our Case 7. Make Observations in your Life Observations of Mercies 1. You shall find particular Deliverances to your Persons Estates great experiences of Gods Love in supporting you under your troubles and saving you from them whether they come mediately from the hands of Men or immediately from the hands of God if you mark them to your great comfort confirmation and assurance for future Mercies and Thankfulness to God for them 2. You shall find Publick Deliverances to the Church and State such as have happened in your days and in the days of old how the Lord doth build up Jerusalem and gathereth together the outcasts of Israel how he healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds how he satisfieth the longing Soul and filleth the hungry Soul with goodness Such as sit in Darkness and in the shadow of Death being bound in Affliction and Iron when they cried unto the Lord in their Trouble he saved them out of their Distresses he brought them out of Darkness and the Shadow of Death and brake their bonds asunder He sent his Word and healed them and delivered them from their Destruction Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men sacrifice the sacrifices of Thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoycing They that go down to the Sea in Ships that do business in greats Waters these see the goodness of the Lord and his wonders in the Deep For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the Waves thereof they mount up to the Heaven they go down again to the Depths their Soul is melted because of trouble they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses He maketh the Storm a Calm so that the Waves thereof are still then are they glad because they be quiet so he bringeth them unto their desire Haven Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderful works to the Children of men Let them exalt him also in the Congregation of the People and praise him in the Assembly of the Elders He turneth rivers into a wilderness and the water-springs into a dry ground A fruitful Land maketh he barren for the wickedness of them that dwell therein He turneth the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water-springs and there he maketh the hungry to dwell that they may prepare a City for Habitations and sow the Fields and plant Vineyards which may yield Fruits of encrease he blesseth them also so that they are multiplied greatly and suffereth not their Cattel to decrease again they are minished and brought low through oppression affliction on and sorrow He poureth contempt upon Princes and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction and maketh him Families like a Flock The Righteous shall see it and rejoyce and all iniquity shall stop her mouth Whoso is wise will observe those things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Observation of correspondence with God 8. Besides these temporal personal and publick Mercies I exercise my Soul in the strict observation of the intercourse and correspondence of Business betwixt God and my own Soul which greatly comforts me in all outward Distress And I perswade all Christians to do the like As to observe Influence of Gods Spirit upon our Spirits ☞ 1. The Influence of God's Spirit upon our Spirits by the Illumination of our Minds and the Invitation of our Wills When you are serious and solitary you will find God knocking at the Door of your Hearts the motions of his blessed Spirit the Light within you the Voice behind you in your Consciences this is the way walk in it Take good heed that you listen to all these good things God's turning to us Refluence of our Spirits upon Gods Spirit 2. The Refluence of our Spirits upon God's Spirit by our approbation of the Mind of God in our Mind and the Consent of our Will to God's Will and a Return of Love for Love our turning to God The use and exercise of Graces given and received frequent resort to the Throne of Grace for Grace sufficient to help us in the time of all our need You shall find this employment beneficial towards a supportation and qualification of all outward perplexities driving the weak heart towards despair Mark what comes from God to us inwardly and what comes from us to God inwardly for God marks us We shall find enough to do to prepare for God's coming into our Souls and to stir up the Gifts of God in us and to use his Graces after he is come into our Souls These things will so take up our thoughts and exercise our facultâ—es that we shall be all in hopes and joyes because of our Union and Communion with God while the calamities of the World are round about us that we shall fear them the less and bear them the better and overcome them the sooner This I find to be the great Remedy and Medela Auimae the Earnest of Heaven upon Earth the great Anodine to expell worldly Sorrows I am safe in the midst of all Temptations and Dangers of
God or man except our hearts rely upon God alone and our Consciences are pure from the blood of all men I Communicate my thoughts to the World to comfort them under God with such Comforts as I have received from God if they will imbrace them if they find fault let them produce better if they can if they do I shall not find fault but thank them Si non his utere mecum I have embosomed my own Soul my heart is enlarged I am filled as the Moon at the full O si esset fenestratum pectus It is my love and goodness not to be despised from the menarest Swain These good thoughts come into my mind in these distracted times and surely the worst of trouble occasion and stir up the best of thoughts and such ages by the good hand of God have produced most excellent of men I take it for a great mercy that there are such rare Saints and Servants of God that keep themselves unspotted from the World in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation hating the Garments spotted by the Flesh abounding so much more in Grace and Goodness as the World abounds in Sin and Wickedness of whom the World is not worthy nor am I worthy to pour water on their hands or carry their Books after them but desire to sit at their feet to learn and imitate their great Learning and Piety whom God preserve These things comfort me till deliverance come and will comfort me if it were come because I believe that the Grace of God is sufficient for us all though the Thorn be in the Flesh and the Messengers of Satan be sent to buffet us Let the Reader pardon me for this largeness in so sad a season and upon so solemn an occasion of Fasting and Praying in our greatest extremity I shall ask his pardon but this once I will trouble him no more in this kind I hope I shall never have the like occasion the Storm will blow over I have told him my mind in this matter if he pleases to hear it if not I am where I was and he is where he is let him use his discretion But whether he will pardon me or no for 't is hard to please I may pray for him though he be my deadly Enemy and that will not hurt him tho he would hurt me except he refuses to pray for himself SECT XIV I conclude with the word of God and Prayer Famous are the Examples of Noah Abraham Jacob Joseph Moses c. Who through Faith subdued Kingdoms wrought Righteousness obtained Promises stopped the Mouths of Lions quenched the violence of Fire escaped the edge of the Sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in Fight turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens Women received their dead raised to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonment They were stoned they were sawn a sunder were tempted were slain with the Sword They wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the World was not worthy they wandred in Deserts and in Mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth And these all having obtained a good report received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Consider what I have said and the Lord give you understanding in all things A PRAYER O Thou that hearest Prayers unto thee shall all Flesh come We bow the Knees of our Hearts to thee the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named that thou wouldest be pleased to grant unto us according to the Riches of thy Grace to be strengthned with might by thy Spirit in the Inner Man that Christ may dwell in our Hearts by Faith that we being rooted and grounded in Love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the Love of God which passeth all knowledge that we may be filled with all the Fulness of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the Power that worketh in us even unto him be Glory in the Church of Christ Jesus throughout all Ages World without End Amen For whose sake we pray for the whole World especially for those that have remembred thee their God and are entred into Covenant with thee against the World the Flesh and the Devil that they may continue thy faithful Servants unto their Lives end and that the Gates of Hell may never be able to prevail against them And more especially we pray for that part of thy Church which thou hast planted in these Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland and peculiarly for thy Servant our most Dear and Dread Soveraign Lord CHARLES by thy Grace and amazing Providence of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith and in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil in these his Majesties Realms and Dominions next and immediately under Thee and thy Son Christ Jesus Supreme Head and Governor Give him the precious things of Heaven for the Dew and for the Deep that coucheth beneath and the precious Fruits brought forth by the Sun and the precious things put forth by the Moon and the chief things of the Ancient Mountains and the precious things of the lasting Hills and the precious things of the Earth and fulness thereof and the good Will of him that dwelt in the Bush come upon the Head of Joseph and upon the top of the Head of him that is separated from his Brethren that he may be unto them a nursing Father the Light of Israel and the Breath of their Nostrils Endue his Soul with Princely Virtues and everlastingly reward him Grant him a long life a happy Reign a glorious Victory over all his Enemies and a happy Succession after him Let his Enemies be clothed with shame and let confusion of Faces for ever fall upon them Smite through the Loyns of those that hate him and Plague all those that offer to rise up against him Let an Excellent Spirit from the Most High God always rest upon him Make him Wise and exceeding Valiant and Couragious even as an Angel of God able to go in and out before this Mighty Stubborn Divided and Discontented People committed to his Charge Guard him with Holy Angels and Loyal Subjects that the Sons of Violence may not come near to hurt him but upon his own Head and the Heads of his Posterity let the Crown flourish so long as the Sun and Moon shall endure Bless His Royal Consort Queen Catherine the Illustrious Prince James Duke of York and all the Royal Family Bless the Lords and Others of