Work under these three Heads First In his perfect Righteousness by which he answered the Requirings of the first Covenant Secondly In his giving up himself voluntarily to Death to answer the Justice of God for the Elect. Thirdly How it was subservient to the Decree of Election and answers the Design of it And first I shall consider this perfect Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and that I may the more clearly behold it I shall consider him with the Apostle as a second Adam and as a second Adam brought to the trial of his Obedience given up into the hands of Satan to be sifted and tried whether he would yield to the Tempter or no Mat. 4. from ver 1 to 11. From v. 1 to 3. we have the preparatory Work that went before the Temptation And here we may view the great difference that is betwixt the Persons of the two Adams the first Adam assisted with all the outward Advantages that were possible to be afforded him that he might withstand the Temptation the other put under all the outward Disadvantages that might tend to make him yield to it Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights he was afterwards an hungred The first Adam was under no necessity of feeling that grievous Misery that Hunger brings upon Nature having always a furnished Table before him the Temptation was in a place where there was no moving Cause to draw the Creature from his Obedience to God but his Disobedience was a voluntary Act. But the second Adam in his Human Nature to prepare for the Temptation was brought to feel the bitter Pain of Hunger Nature having wanted Supplies of Food for forty days and forty nights together and besides the Temptation is brought in a place even in a Wilderness destitute of all outward Support The next step is to consider the Progress of the Temptation it self in its three several Assaults First From ver 3 to v. 5. Secondly From ver 5 to v. 8. Thirdly From ver 8 to v. 12. And first As to the first Assault from ver 3 to v. 5. And when the Tempter came unto him he said If thou be the Son of God command that these Stones be made Bread But he answered and said Man shall not live by Bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God Let us compare this Temptation with the Temptation brought against the first Adam and consider the difference that is betwixt the Matter contain'd in the Temptations In the Temptation that was brought against Eve and handed by her to her Husband there is a Discontentedness with the Bounty already bestowed and a seeking by indirect means to attain to a greater pitch of Glory wrapt up in the Temptation Ye shall be as Gods knowing Good and Evil. In the Temptation brought against the second Adam the Lord Jesus Christ the Matter contain'd in the Temptation is more closely laid together here is the supply of Nature's Necessities presented and here is the working of a Miracle propounded to supply the craving Necessities of his Human Nature If thou consent Nature will be supplied and the Power of thy Divinity will be manifested The first Adam looks not at what should be the issue of going out of God's way to attain that which the Temptation presented to him and so is taken in the Snare The Lord Jesus looks to the Event as appears in his Answer to the Devil Man shall not live by Bread alone It 's the Blessing of God upon the Bread that makes it tend to the satisfying of Nature and not Bread alone without his Blessing that can do it and so he overcomes the Tempter The Devil being overcome in this first Assault he prepares for the second ver 5 6. And the Devil taketh him up into the holy City and setteth him on a Pinnacle of the Temple and saith unto him If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a Stone Ver. 7. Jesus said unto him It is written again Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Not that another Scripture opposeth the true meaning of that Scripture cited by the Devil but his addition to it Cast thy self down for he is said to tempt God who presumptuously without necessity seeks an Experiment of the Wisdom Power Goodness and Truth of God The Devil being overcome in this second Temptation prepares for the third ver 8. Again the Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high Mountain and sheweth him all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them Ver. 9. And saith unto him All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Here he appears as a Liar in saying that the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of it were at his disposal and he manifests his Pride in requiring the Son of God to fall down and worship him which is implied in our Saviour's Answer ver 10. Get thee hence Satan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve It appears from what hath been here laid down that the Lord Jesus Christ being required as the Head of the Elect to give a perfect Obedience to the Law or the first Covenant did notwithstanding the assaults of Satan persevere in his Obedience which Obedience of his is in Scripture call'd God's Righteousness because of the Union of the two Natures in his Person and because it was by the Power of his Divine Nature that his Human Nature was supported and inabled to withstand the Temptations But seeing I shall have occasion to speak further of this Righteousness when I come to shew how the Holy Ghost doth apply it to the Souls of poor weary heavy-laden Sinners who fly out of self-dependance unto him as to a Sanctuary I shall proceed to the second part of the Redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ which consisted in his free and voluntary giving up of himself to answer the Justice of God for the Elect. And first I shall take notice of the Sufferings of his Soul Isa 53.10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to Grief when thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for Sin He never had committed Violence neither was Guile found in his Mouth but having undertaken to make Satisfaction to the Justice of God for the Elect and to undergo the Penalty of the first Covenant how did he feel the weight of Divine Wrath upon his Soul as that bitter fruit which doth attend Sin Mat. 26.37 38. And he took with him Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy Then saith he unto them My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death
God through the Ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their Hearts who being past feeling have given themselves over unto Lasciviousness to work all Vncleanness with greediness The Understanding is so far from being taken up with the Knowledg of God his Mind and Will that it labours more and more after the knowledg of the ways of Sin and so becomes more and more estranged from God wise to do evil but to do good without Understanding The Memory wherein lay a holy remembrance of heavenly things is now become dull and forgetful and easily lets go those things which we are in the chiefest place concerned to remember we can remember readily the things which concern this Life the Vanities and Follies of the ways of Sin What deep Impression do these things make upon the Memory of poor Creatures But things which lead to the enjoyment of God and the everlasting Welfare of the immortal Soul how slippery and weak is the Memory become to retain these The Will wherein lay the liberty of choosing or refusing and before Sin enter'd will'd always that which was good is now become impotent and weak in its joining with Good how is it inslaved by Sin and in the Chains of Satan Rom. 6.20 For when you were the Servants of Sin ye were free from Righteousness Holiness without which God cannot be enjoy'd the poor unconverted Sinner hath no Will in him to lay hold of but on the contrary lusteth after that which is evil Gen. 6.6 And God saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth and that every Imagination of his Heart was evil continually compared with Job 15.16 How much more abominable is Man who drinketh Iniquity like Water Yea what an Enmity is seated in the Will of unconverted Sinners against the ways of Holiness How do their very Hearts rise against it Rom. 8.7 Because the carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be The Affections of the Soul wherein lay the strength of the desire after God are subjected to Sin How are they set upon unmeet Objects inclined to things they should not be and not to those they should Thus we naturally hate good and love evil 1 Kings 22.8 And the King of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat There is yet one Man Micaiah the Son of Imlah by whom we may inquire of the Lord but I hate him for he doth not prophesy good concerning me but evil Our Affections are naturally raised to meet Sin and the Temptations that lead into it and do even embrace the Temptation but are not stirred up to that which is Good unless it be to eschew and shun it Besides when the Affections do move how disorderly is their Motion when merry too merry when sad too sad The Conscience wherein lay Man's Integrity or walking with God and wherein were the Impressions of the Divine Law which contained in it our Duty to God and to one another how is it disordered by Sin the Acts of Sin taking away the inward sense and feeling of the evil of it And with what weakness doth that first Covenant-Light which leads the Soul to seek after God as Creator move in the Soul How are its Reproofs hardly taken notice of by most Persons and that by reason of that great Darkness that is fallen upon the Soul of Man Thus we may see that Sin as a Leprosy hath over-run all the Faculties and is become as a Body in the Soul consisting of many Members Rom. 7.23 24. But I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death Tho all Sin doth not appear alike in all some by Nature are more mild and courteous than others the reason of which difference is not that there are not the same seeds of Corruption in all but that the Lord keepeth down those Sins in some which he suffereth to rise up in others The Children of God that are by the Inlightnings of the holy Spirit come to see into the Corruptions of their Hearts how do they see the seeds of Sin lying in their Souls even of such Sins which they thought had not been in them The Heart or Soul doth then appear to be desperately wicked who but God himself can have the full knowledg of it For the Children of God in their searches after Heart-corruptions cannot come to find the bottom of them so far is the Soul of Man fallen from God by Sin that it is afraid to come nigh unto God it flies farther and farther from God until it gets into the Pit of eternal Misery How dark was Adam become by Sin as to think the Trees of the Garden could hide him from the Eye of the great Creator And that God might aggravate and heighten his Sin he speaks ironically by way of taunt The Man is become like one of us He is come to know Evil by woful experience he is fill'd with inward Horror and with outward Shame Secondly I shall shew the miserable state that Adam was brought into by the Fall as to his Body for no sooner was he fallen but the Sentence was inflicted on him That in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Altho the Sentence was not so far put in execution against him as to separate the Soul from the Body yet his bodily state was so far changed as to bring it under those Evils that lead to a Dissolution He was driven out of that pleasant Garden of Delight in which God at first placed him into the Earth to get his Living in it amongst the Beasts of the field and whereas in his innocent state he had a furnished Table provided without labor or toil God himself having by his own Power provided things necessary for his bodily Subsistence now he must till the Earth with labour and toil which was put under the Curse of Barrenness for Man's sake until the poor Body wearied out returneth to the Earth by a painful Death from whence it was taken Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return The Beasts of the Field who gave a willing Subjection to him as their Soveraign were now so far estranged from him as to rebel against him and ready to put in execution the Sentence of a bodily Death the Air in which he breathed was changed for his sake and infected the poor Body with many sorts of Distempers Sores Sicknesses and Diseases of all sorts Sin being the cause of all this Misery Mat. 9.2 And behold they brought to him a Man sick of the Palsie lying on a Bed and Jesus seeing their Faith said unto the sick of the Palsie Son be of good cheer thy Sins be forgiven thee Thus by taking away the Sin he takes away that which was inflicted upon the poor Body
took he Counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the Path of Judgment and taught him Knowledg and shew'd him the way of Vnderstanding Behold the Nations are as a drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small Dust of the Balance Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing The Majesty and the infinite Power that is in God when some glimmering of it is beheld by the Soul how doth it lay it in the Dust before him and make it willing to be resigned up unto him to be disposed of by him For as his own Pleasure and his own Glory was the moving Cause why he created Angels and Men so in disposing of them according to his own good Pleasure who shall say to the most High Why dost thou thus God will be honoured by all his Creatures in a way of Mercy or in a way of Justice That he secured part of the Angels in the state wherein he created them is infinite Grace to them that he gave up others that fell from him to follow the Counsel of their own Wills and to persist in a course of Rebellion against him that so they might glorify the Attribute of his Justice is no Injustice in him the Evil which they brought upon themselves being a voluntary Act of their own That part of the Offspring of Adam are rescued out of their fallen state by rich and free Grace whilst the rest are left to the Light or Law of the first Covenant under which the great Creator hath placed them determining to proceed towards them according to the Tenor of that Covenant which they stand under before him is his own good pleasure In clearing up the Soveraignty of God I shall proceed a little further and before I leave it open two or three Scriptures in Job Chap. 2.3 And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my Servant Job that there is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright Man one that feareth God and escheweth Evil and still he holdeth fast his Integrity altho thou movedst me against him to destroy him that is in his outward Estate without cause From hence I observe that Sin was not the moving cause why that great outward Calamity fell upon Job but an Act of God's Soveraignty over his Creature intending to bring Glory to himself out of the Misery of his Servant of whom he might dispose as he pleased without the least Injustice And Job beholding God dealing with him in a way of Soveraignty his Soul was kept in a right frame before him ver 9 10. Then said his Wife unto him Dost thou still retain thy Integrity Curse God and die But he said unto her Thou speakest as one of the foolish Women Shall we receive Good at the hand of God and shall we not receive Evil The best Support for God's Children when under Affliction is to look at the Soveraignty of God that so they may be kept from murmuring against him When we look up unto God as no ways bound to us but as he is pleased himself it makes us stoop before him and when the Soul goeth from its Duty here it goeth from that which should support it in Peace and Quietness An Example we have in Job when he begun to stand upon terms with God how was his Spirit unsettled as Chap. 31. from ver 1 to the 35th and then he breaks forth O that one would hear me Behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me And in ver 37. I would declare unto him the number of my steps as a Prince would I go near unto him Look forward into Job 40. from ver 1 to 15. and we find that God doth come forth to answer Job but how doth he answer him Doth he give Job an account why he brought such Calamity upon him No he stands upon his Soveraignty ver 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him He that reproveth God let him answer it Doth Job now make good what he said that he would declare unto him the number of his steps as a Prince doth he go nigh unto him No he falls under him ver 3 4. Then Job answered the Lord and said Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Here is the end of the Creatures standing upon terms with God and here is the safety of God's Children to endeavour to witness a humble submissive frame of Spirit to him I have treated hitherto of the Soveraignty of God I come now under the second Head to shew that Election proceeds from God as an Act of Grace and Goodness the advancing of his own Glory being that which is carried on in the Decree of Election Rom. 9.23 And that he might make known the Riches of his Glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto Glory For altho God was infinitely happy in himself yet so great is his condescending Grace to those whom he doth by his eternal Decree choose to be Vessels of Mercy that he is pleased to manifest of his Goodness to them and to take them into a state of eternal Glory with himself nothing foreseen at all in them being the moving Cause of God's choosing of them the only Cause being the good Pleasure of his Will 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which is given us in Christ Jesus before the World began Chap. 2.19 Nevertheless the Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his This Doctrine administreth great Comfort to the Saints who feel the Work of Election upon their Hearts that their Salvation standeth by God's eternal Decree that cannot be changed and not in themselves that daily might lose it How doth this make the Saints love God to the uttermost who hath manifested so great Love to them How doth this serve to humble them that they had nothing of themselves for their Salvation but it freely came from God Thirdly I shall proceed to shew how the Lord Jesus Christ is made the Head of the Elect and the way through which electing Love doth pass to every elect Person I shall prove it by these following Reasons 1st Because that our Nature in him was fitted as a Tabernacle for the receiving of the eternal Word the second Person in the Godhead the Holy Ghost by his incomprehensible Power working his Conception supernaturally purifying that Matter of which his Human Nature was taken in the Womb of the Virgin so that his Nature had not the least Defilement in it The Divine Nature and the Human Nature became united in him to him run all the Promises and to all the Elect as they are united in him 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the Promises of God in him are Yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us that through him
beating me about the Head I was almost stupified and growing melancholy I was judg'd to be gone into a Consumption My Mother advising with Dr. Korbat about me he advised her to take me from the School which she did but my Father that I might not forget to read English well borrowed for me Fox's Acts and Monuments which I began to take great delight in And the first thing that fastened upon my Heart to do me good was a Letter of Bilnay's to Dunstal the Popish Arch-bishop of York in the Reign of Henry the Eighth wherein that holy Martyr laying before the Bishop the manner of his Life that he was a Mass-Priest to pray Souls out of Purgatory Reading saith he Tindal's New Testament at the last I came to hear of Jesus Which Passage was fixed upon my Heart as if it had been written upon it Leaving the Book I went out and began with great deliberation to consider of this Passage and the reason that should make this holy Man and others give up their Lives with such chearfulness in the Fire whenas by conforming to the Publick Worship they might many of them have lived in great Prosperity I begun to think of a future state and the manner of Life that I had led in the World to the great dishonour of that God that gave me my Being my Sins were then set in order before me and I began to be fill'd with such inward Guilt and Fear that I was many times afraid to be alone yet never made my Condition known to any Person but often bewailed it before God and resolved which I was enabled through Mercy to perform to turn my Back on my former vicious Company and betook my self to a very retired Life even beyond the most young Men that I was acquainted with not daring to allow my self the Pleasures of youthful Vanities My Mother being a Hearer of Mr. Luck I frequently went with her and was much affected with his preaching but two things fell out which wholly alienated my Mind from him and indeed almost from all Dissenting Ministers for his sake The Act against seditious Conventicles coming forth forbidding all Persons above four besides the Minister to assemble together under pretence of the Worship of God after Mr. Luck had finished his Exercise on the Lord's-day before the Act took place two Rooms being full of Hearers he stood up and acquainted them with the Act and that he could no longer preach to above four as the Act directed A second thing that gave me the greatest Offence was that going with my Mother to hear him after the Act was in force four Persons were gotten there before us and the Door lock'd we desired to let be in and were not willing to be denied until we were refused by himself which caused me to break forth into this or the like Expression That it could not be that he was a Minister of the Gospel who was more afraid of Man than of God and for my part I would never go to hear him more That which heightned my Aversness to him was my Father's frequent upbraiding of us with our careless Shepherd who in time of danger was asham'd to own his Flock From that time I began to have a particular Eye upon the poor despised Quakers whom I look'd upon as the only People God had in the World for altho I had shaken off sinful self I had not shaken off righteous self and by reading a multitude of their Books I was more and more confirm'd in their Foundation-Principle of the Light in every Man which convinceth him of Sin being the Light of Christ which from an experienced Heart I have cause to speak it is no other but the Light of the first Covenant that shews Man his state and condition he is in by Sin but leads not into the Gospel-Dispensation but as the Light according to the tenor of the first Covenant calls for an Obedience to the Law so by keeping up to a strict walking according to its requirings much inward Peace is gain'd and this I very well remember that having through Temptations outwardly and from Corruption inwardly been led into Sin this Light which is God's Witness in the Souls of all the Sons and Daughters of Adam did begin to accuse me and I felt inward Guilt and fear of Punishment arising in my Breast which made me look for some trouble or other befalling me for running in the way of Sin and very seldom miss'd of it which Trouble was an instrumental means to drive me to my Knees to bewail my Condition before God and frequently with great earnestness of Heart have besought him that I might come to a sinless state never to go astray from him but to witness a being led out to behold the Lord Jesus Christ by Faith either as a Redeemer or as Mediator betwixt God and Man from any inward Work of God upon my Heart I did not in the least experience altho I do believe all that knew my Conversation will say that it was very strict yet under the leadings of this first Covenant-Principle And mark it my Children this I leave with you as one that to the praise of rich Grace be it spoken hath found Mercy at the hand of God that it is not your joining with the purest Truths of Christianity that ought to be the Evidence to your selves of your being such as God will own for Christians but it is the Principle by which your Hearts are guided in the Worship of Christ whether private or publick that must be the Evidence A Christian that is brought to walk with God by the Spirit of Adoption is taken off the old Foundation and set upon a new Foundation his hope of enjoying eternal Life is fixt upon his Union with the Lord Jesus Christ by Faith through whom eternal Happiness is secured unto him in such a way as is impossible it should miscarry But this I shall speak to by and by when I come to shew you how my Soul closed with the Lord Jesus and return to speak a little further of that poor despised People called Quakers who I did believe were in the Favour of God above any People in the World and altho I did not join with them so far as publickly to meet with them at their Worship yet I gave frequent Testimonies how highly I esteemed them The Persecution upon the account of their Consciences increasing about the year Eighty three I did endeavour to shelter them what in me lay by perswading the Towns Officers to endeavour to baffle the Informers and being chosen an Overseer of the Poor at that time and so being injoyn'd by Warrant to take their Goods I was driven into grievous Perplexity not knowing which way to turn me for I was grievously afraid of the Justices on the one hand and utterly averse to such an Act on the other hand believing them to be God's People which caused me to shed a great many Tears in
lies Man's chief Happiness Keep thy Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life 2. The things that concern the outward Man are through the Inlightnings of the holy Spirit beheld as of less Concern and Worth altho they do lie next to Sense and the Hearts of the Saints have been inabled to get above them and to part with them when they stood in Competition with the sincere performance of those Duties which God call'd them to The Inlightning of the Spirit doth concern it self for the outward Man but it is that Nature may be satisfied and not Lust gratified it is that such a Supply may be given as Nature may be kept from Temptations not that we may run into Temptations Remove far from me Vanity and Lies give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with Food convenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain While the Heart is without the Inlightnings of the Spirit it is made a Servant to those things that are most obvious to Sense Daily Experience shews us that the Heart of every unconverted Sinner doth place its Satisfaction in the enjoyment of these things altho they end in Death so that the Inlightnings of the holy Spirit are absolutely necessary in the Duty of Prayer 3. The holy Spirit gives inward Life and Motion to the Faculties of the Soul that so the Soul may be ingag'd in the Duty Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be uttered That is the Spirit follows the Inlightnings with inward Life and Motion by which the Heart is set a working after God for the removal of that which stands in the way of Communion with him and for the obtaining of it there is an inward sensibility doth accompany the Matter which we present unto God in Duty not only the things we pray for are presented unto God as those we have need of but the Heart goes along with them that our Heavenly Father may see we are in earnest with him Psal 25.1 Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my Soul Compared with Psal 119.20 My Soul breaketh for the longings that it hath to thy Judgments at all times The holy Spirit draws out the Heart with such earnestness unto God as if there were a Separation going to be made betwixt the Soul and the Body 4. The holy Spirit doth lead the Soul in the way by which Entrance is obtain'd into Heaven We must distinguish betwixt the Spirit 's Intercession in us and the Son's Intercession for us The Spirit 's Intercession in us is that supplicating begging frame which the holy Spirit doth inable the Soul to express it self in when it appears before God yet this through the weakness of the Creature is attended with a great deal of Imperfection But the Intercession of the Son for us as Mediator the Church's Head is that upon which our admittance into Heaven is granted His Prayer is a perfect Prayer and carries Incense along with it to perfume ours Rev. 8.3 And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a Golden Censer and there was given him much Incense that he should offer it with the Prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar which was before the Throne This Angel is the Angel of the Covenant the Lord Jesus Christ as Mediator and the Church's Head the Censer is his holy glorified Body the Man Christ the Incense is his Divine Nature the Perfume of which perfuming the Supplications or Prayers of the Saints and ascending with them before God gains acceptance That Spirit that would assume a right of giving Salvation by Man's Obedience to it its Work is as opposite to the leadings of the Holy Ghost as Light and Darkness For as the Declaration of the Gospel leads to the Lord Jesus Christ as God-Man in one Person our Emanuel as Redeemer and as Mediator who is able to save all those that come to God by him so with this doth the Holy Ghost agree in his inward Witness in the Souls of the Saints Joh. 15.26 27. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testify of me And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning This is that new and living way which the Apostle speaks of which gives Boldness in our approaching before God Heb. 10.19 20. Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh The Holiest that is into Heaven of which the Sanctum Sanctorum under the Law was a Type by a living way that enlivens the Person that walks in it boldness or a holy freedom being given to plead with God which yet causeth great Humility in the Soul its acceptance with God being grounded upon the account of another's Worthiness which by Faith the Soul is inabled to behold and not upon the account of its own Worthiness This is the Way that meets the Experience of the Saints that are now upon the Earth this is the Way that the Flock walk'd in who are gone to Heaven before us we may say we are compassed about with a Cloud of Witnesses The second part of this Head of the Duty of Prayer is to shew the necessity of the continuance of it while we are on this side Eternity 1st Because we have a multitude of Temptations attending of us outwardly And 2dly Because the Soul doth too readily join with the Baits that gratify corrupt Nature First I shall shew you that we have a multitude of Temptations attending of us outwardly The World is gotten to a very high pitch of Atheism and Profaneness Christianity as to the Power of it is not only removed but Persons have lost that Morality that former Ages did enjoy You can hardly deal in the World now but you are in danger every moment to be carried away with the Stream the Difficulties of getting an outward Support for the Body being great Satan takes the advantage of it to draw out the Corruptions of Mens Hearts after these things so as to hurry them forward in their Endeavours to keep and to gain a share in this fading World without any Consideration Where is the Person that hath the Fear of the Almighty before him and an inward Tenderness lest he should offend him Did David take up this Complaint Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tenths of Kedar My Soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth Peace What cause have we every day to take up the same Complaint if we look upon the
Immorality of the Times we live in most Persons being at Peace with the ways of Sin but unwilling to be brought to the Enjoyment of that Peace which the ways of Holiness do afford Surely my Children if God in Mercy to your Souls open your Understandings to see that great danger that your precious Souls are in you will see a great necessity laid upon you to keep close to God by the great Duty of Prayer that you may stand in his Counsel and that he may undertake to lead you in a safe way that so you may be kept from the Pollutions of the times you live in If the Lord be so gracious to you as by his Providence to open a door for you by which you may get daily Bread in a way that doth not expose you to those great Temptations that many are exposed to tho it be in a lower station in the World make choice of it before Greatness in the World with Temptations Consider the wise Man's words Prov. 28.22 He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil Eye and considereth not that Poverty shall come upon him It 's Corruption that insatiably drives him forward and suffers him not to consider how he is heaping Sin upon his Soul while he is gathering together these worldly things Altho God do let such Persons live out their days with the Enjoyment of these outward things yet what a heap of Guilt do such Persons carry with them into Eternity Remember what the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 6.9 For they that will be rich fall into Temptation and a Snare and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts which drown Men in Destruction and Perdition Another great thing that shews the necessity of the continuance of the Duty of Prayer as long as we are on this side Eternity is that till then Satan hath not his Power of tempting of us wholly taken from him It is the great Mercy of God's Children that the Rage of this devouring Lion is limited that he has not liberty to execute all that Rage against them which is in him But daily Experience shews us that the Father is pleased to give Satan so much Power against his Children as to vex and grieve them with those violent Temptations he at times suggests into them Now the only way to escape this Adversary and to be strengthened against his Temptations is to keep up Communion with God by Prayer for so long as God is inwardly injoy'd he cannot enter The Apostle in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians Chap. 5. v. 17. saith Pray without ceasing He doth not mean that we should be always in the exercise of that Duty but that we should endeavour to have our Hearts always in a frame for it But secondly The necessity of the continuance of the Duty of Prayer doth appear while we are on this side Eternity because the Soul doth readily too often join with the Baits that gratify corrupt Nature The Body is yet unredeemed and therefore desires to be gratified in those things that delight the outward Man the Senses are as Doors and Windows unto the Soul to let in those outward Objects which are as so many Baits and Snares to draw away the Soul after them There is no keeping the door of the Heart shut against these things but as the Soul is led up by Faith to Objects of a higher nature and the Duty of Prayer is one of the great means made use of by the Spirit to give the Soul a view of those things that are of a more excellent nature than these earthly things are Again Endeavour to get imprinted upon your Minds the necessity of an even composed frame of Spirit under the various changes of God's Providence You know what is past but you know not what is before you whether Prosperity or Adverversity be appointed for you Have a care that with the change of Providences there be not a change of your Hearts for the worse Doth not daily Experience shew us that changes of Providence to poot unconverted Sinners have this effect upon them What a change hath a sudden Advancement to a higher Condition in the World made upon many unconverted Sinners They have hardly known how to behave themselves toward those that were their Familiars while they were in a low Condition much less how to carry themselves toward God who advanced them in the World This change from a low state in the World to a higher hath been a means greatly to eat out that Life and Power that hath been in God's Children when in a low Condition What a Change did it make in Joseph that in discoursing with his Brethren he so far forgets himself as to make use of the Courtly Oaths that were then in fashion By the Life of Pharaoh ye are Spies Again What an effect upon Persons hath a sudden change of Providence had when they have been surprizingly brought down into a low Condition in the World while they have been in an unconverted state that they knew not the way to go to God that they might humble their Souls before him Through the strength of Temptations accompanied with their Corruptions they have been so overwhelmed that they have broken out in unbecoming Expressions towards God and in a desperate manner have laid violent hands upon themselves yea some of God's Children when they have been under dark Providences for want of a settled frame have shew'd too much of a fretful impatient Spirit and like the Israelites have been fill'd with Murmurings and Repinings O endeavour to learn the Apostle's Lesson Phil. 4.11 Not that I speak in respect of want for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content That you may learn this Lesson take these following Directions 1. Endeavour to get your Minds exercised with the thoughts of God as to that absolute Power which he hath over you and all his Creatures that to him belongs the right of disposing of you and the things that he hath for a time given you even as pleaseth him that to you belongs a humble submissive frame of Spirit as you are his Creatures much more if he have brought you into the state of Children 2. Endeavour to see if you cannot find some of God's rational Creatures and some of his dear Children in one respect or other exercised with greater Difficulties than you are having found some under greater Straits than your selves search into your Hearts and Lives and see if you can find any moving Cause there why he should not deal with you as with those that you behold in a worse Condition and so learn Submission to him 3. Look into the Scripture-Glass and there behold that the way God hath taken with his Children to burn up the dross of Corruption and to fit the Soul for himself is by afflicting Providences Isa 48.10 I have chosen thee in the furnace of Affliction And let this be a means for you to press after the same sanctified use of