soul the cockatrice of Adams sin was first hatched I will not now dispute whether it was in the understanding being first blinded or in the will being first perverted this I know that the will is apt to be seduced by a blinde understanding and the understanding as apt to be clouded by a perverse will The understanding * moves the will by proposing the object which the will cannot affect except the understanding knowes it the will †moves the understanding to judge and consider the object which the understanding cannot consider except the will command it Lord illuminate my understanding that it may direct my will to affect the things that thou commandest and rectifie my will that it may command the understanding to exercise its act in meditating on the things which thou commandest LXIIII. If Christs obedience had been necessarie or naturall and not voluntarie he had not been like to us in all things except sin neither had he been subject to the tentation of disobedience nor had his obedience been meritorious nor had it been more excellent then the obedience of Angels but in this was his obedience more noble then theirs in that he yeelded that obedience willingly which they doe necessarily I will strive whilst I am here to obey willingly that hereafter I may obey necessarily for though voluntary obedience be the nobler yet necessarie obedience is the surer for I may disobey in the one I cannot but obey in the other LXV Though the sufficiencie of Christs death be extended to all yet the efficacie thereof is not applied to all nor did he pray and make intercession for all By his death he procured pardon for us and by his intercession he applies that pardon to us Lord in thy birth thou acceptedst my nature in thy death thou representedst my person by thy intercession put away my sins and pardon my offences that the mediation which thou begannest in thy birth and didst accomplish in thy sacrifice and passion may be fully made effectuall to me by thy prayers and intercession LXVI Action followes the affection therefore we love and hate actually because these affections are in us radically Though hatred be no affection in God yet we conceive it as an affection God therefore rejected Esau because he hated him but he did not hate him because he rejected him Lord I know thou maist justly reject me because in me there is that pravitie for which thou maist justly hate me repaire therefore in me the lost image of thy Son and so I shall escape thy just wrath and indignation LXVII The acts of Christs righteousnesse are ours not as they are performed by him but as they are imputed to us imputed I say by his merit and goodnesse and apprehended by our faith though in much weaknesse Then I see Lord that without faith thy righteousnesse will not availe me and without thy merit and goodnesse my faith cannot prevaile with thee give me then the hand of faith that with the Hemorroisse I may touch thee and by thy merit strengthen that hand that with Jacob I may hold thee LXVIII Christ first suffered before we could be redeemed and we are redeemed before it is applyed or can receive benefit by it then are we fully redeemed when we are from Satan and sin delivered Though Christ in suffering hath sufficiently paid the ransome yet whilst we are here subject to sin and Satan we are not fully partakers of redemption Heaven not earth is the place where that shall be perfected I will therefore lift up my head with joy because by death the day of my redemption draweth nigh LXIX A double benefit we have by Christ one that he hath purchased Redemption for us by his bloud the other that he hath applyed that Redemption to us by his Spirit if he had not died I could not have beleeved if I had not beleeved he had not applyed his death and merits to me Redemption is the cause of Faith and Faith the cause of Application Lord produce Faith in me by the vertue of thy passion that by Faith I may injoy thee in a true and spirituall Application LXX That the Church injoyes life eternall she is bound to Gods dilection but that she injoyes that life alone she is bound to his election because he loved her he hath bestowed this happinesse upon her because he chose her he hath appropriated this happinesse unto her Lord I will praise thy love by which I was elected and I will praise that election by which I am separated from the reprobate LXXI Gods will is the cause of preterition his justice is the cause of predemnation he was not bound to give grace to all therefore he passed by some without prejudice to his goodnesse he was bound to punish sin in all therefore he preordaines the death of his own Son and eternall paines for reprobates that he might not suffer prejudice in his justice Lord if thou hadst passed by me I could not have blamed thy goodnesse if thou shouldst punish me eternally I cannot blame thy justice for if thou givest grace to all where is thy libertie if thou forgivest all where is thy justice and equitie LXXII God is a most free Agent because he can doe what he pleaseth not because he can doe every thing his will is the supreme cause of all externall things but not of his justice which is internall as he cannot doe that which is evil so he cannot will that which is unjust as goodnesse is the object of his actions so justice is the rule of his will Lord make my actions subordinate to thy will as thy wil is subordinate to thy justice that as thou canst not will that which in justice thou maist not so I may not doe that which in wisedome thou wilst not LXXIII Though God foresaw sin in all yet he rejected not all sin was the occasion why he rejected some his will was the cause why he rejected but some his will was the cause of discrimination but sin of reprobation Lord I confesse it was not for want of sin in me that thou didst not reject me but because there was no want of goodnesse in thee therefore thou didst elect me my sin was the cause why I might have been rejected but thy mercie is the cause why I was not rejected LXXIIII God hindred Adams sin morally by his law not physically by his power he gave a law to guide him threatnings to affright him promises to induce him sufficient grace to strengthen him but used no violence or force to restraine him he would not thwart or destroy by any violent restriction that libertie which he gave him by Creation Thus we see his prudence in not restraining sin physically and withall his goodnesse in curbing it morally LXXV God willeth the death of a sinner because he foresaw the impenitencie of the sinner this is his consequent not his antecedent will in this his will depends not on the creatures
A CENTURIE OF Divine Meditations UPON PREDESTINATION and its Adjuncts Wherein are shewed the comfortable uses of this Doctrine To which are annexed sixteen Meditations upon Gods Justice and Mercy By ALEXANDER ROSS LONDON Printed by Iames Young 1646. TO The Right Honourable and Vertuous Lady FRANCES Countess of Rutland wife to the Right Honorable JOHN Earle of Rutland Noble Lady AS you have been pleased to make me happy by permitting me to gaze with admiration upon the rare structure and goodly fabrick of that beautifull temple of your Vertues so give me leave to passe through this into your temple of Honor and there at the shrine of your perfections to lay this Centurie of Divine Meditations a sacrifice I know more acceptable to you then whole Hecatombes of fat beasts or the smoake of Sabean incense Your noble Progenitors have devolved upon you many naturall endowments whereby you out-strip most of your own sex but grace hath gifted you with cleernesse and perspicuitie of judgement in the mysteries of speculative Divinitie even beyond many who think themselves learned Clerks of our sex Madam though you are every way honourable yet nothing doth so much enoble you as your zeale to Religion and love to learned men When your beautie wealth outward honours and pleasures shall determine in death even then Religion and Learning will beautifie and inrich your soul and immortalize your name The highest pitch of my ambition in this and the former Dedication is only to shew my gratitude to your honourable Husband and your Self though in small mites compared to your noble favours and withall to set forth the lustre of your own knowledge in these points which still perplex the mindes of many Christians The Father of Mercies crowne you both and your hopefull Issue with the blessings of both hands here and of Eternitie hereafter This is and still shall be the prayer of Your Honours devoted Servant Alexander Ross I Have perused these divine and learned Meditations on Gods Predestination Iustice and Mercie and judging them to be pious and profitable I allow them to be printed and published JOHN DOWNAME January the 7. 1645. DIVINE MEDITATIONS UPON PREDESTINATION and its Adjuncts I. I Finde that God by his absolute power can do that which in justice he may not He can torment the good Angels that sinned not but he will not if he could not doe so he were not omnipotent if he should he were not just I will therefore reverence that power which can doe what he wills but will not doe all that he can II. God may justly annihilate the good Angels though justly he cannot punish them He could not be unjust in taking that nature from them which he freely bestowed and he could not be just in inflicting a punishment which they had not deserved But I that am a sinfull man must acknowledge it goodnesse in him to annihilate me I must reverence his Iustice if he punish me but will admire and extoll his mercy if he save me III. God is a most free Agent being subject neither to a commanding law nor to a constraining power yet hath he necessitated some of his externall actions partly by his goodnesse partly by his Promise He must do what he promiseth because he is true he must doe what is just because he is good I will claime Heaven as my due not because I merit it but because he promised it his own goodnesse hath tied him to give it though my sinnes may deterre me from begging it IIII. If my Adoption be the end of Predestination by which Grace and Glorie are prepared for me then shall the end be first in my intention but the meanes shall be first in execution I will strive and beg for faith in Gods naturall Son that in him I may become Gods adopted sonne V. The good Angels were made happie by the grace of Confirmation Adam by the grace of Restauration the Angels fell not therefore needed not this grace Adam stood not therefore wanted that grace He that is confirmed falls not he that falls is not confirmed God shewed his love to the Angels in confirming them but his mercy to Adam in restoring him Lord shew thy mercy to me when I fall in restoring me shew thy love to me when I am raised in confirming me make me happy with Adam in the one happy with Angels in the other VI Gods Prescience is of a larger extent then his Predestination for he foreknew or foresaw both good and evil but he predestinated good only he foresaw good and evill because he is omniscient he predestinated only good because in him there is none and from him there comes none evill O that we could be like him to foresee evil and hate it to resolve only upon good and doe it VII Gods decrees are in our power and our power is in his decrees they are in us as causes in their effect we are in him as effects in their cause It 's by his decree that we have power 't is not by our power that he decrees ' Its in our power to performe his decrees but this power we have by his decree Lord if thou hast decreed my obedience give me power of performance and so thy decree shall be in my power not that thou didst decree because thou knewest I would obey but I will obey because I know thou hast decreed VIII God hath decreed to give us faith and he hath decreed to justifie us by that faith by the former decree he makes us his sonnes by the other he acquits us of our sinnes Lord if thou hast decreed to make me thy son bestow faith on me if thou hast decreed to blot away my sin by that same faith justifie me IX God first loved us and then he decreed to bestow Grace and Glory on us his love to us is the cause of our happinesse so our love to him must be the cause of our obedience Lord make me to love thee and then I know I shall obey thee X. Faith and Holinesse are graces by which we attain to happinesse but Gods love is that grace by which we obtaine faith and holinesse As the action followes the qualitie so Gods decree followes this first grace but other graces come after his decree it was by his decree that we have any grace it was by his grace that he was pleased to decree Lord as the grace of thy love made thee to decree my happinesse so make the love of thy grace in me increase that I may enjoy this happinesse XI God doth so determine the actions of the Will that sometime he bends it to what he pleaseth and so it works necessarily not freely if we consider the act or use of working sometime he determines it so that he leaves it to its own inclination and then it workes freely Gods Providence doth not thwart his Creation if he sometimes suspends hinders determines the properties and motions of his creatures in the creation he
gave them that in his providence he might use them Lord if thou shouldest leave my Will to it self in this corrupted estate I now am in what fruit can it produce but sowre grapes and wilde olives for the fruit cannot be better then the tree and men gather not grapes of thistles nor figs of thornes I had rather have a necessitie laid on me to doe good then be left at libertie to doe evil I had rather my Will should be a servant to thy commands then be master over its own actions XII If Adam had not sinned he had been saved and being a sinner yet he is saved grace had saved him then and grace saves him now the grace of Gods love had saved him then the grace of Gods mercy saves him now Gods love then had been grounded upon the first Adams perseverance it is now grounded on the second Adams death and obedience I had been happie in Adam had he not been a sinner but I am now much more happie in Christ by being my Saviour I lost Paradise by the first Adam I have gained Heaven by the second the first Adam being man would needs be God and so made us equall to the beasts the second Adam being God would needs be man and so hath made us equall to the Angels XIII Some †say that God in predestinating man looked on him as he was to be created others * that he considered him as already created and lapsed because we are predestinated in Christ but Christ is a Saviour and a Saviour presupposeth a sinner I will not dispute the question but this I know that my miserie occasioned his mercy and had I not been a sinner he had not been a Saviour XIIII I am elected in Christ who is my Mediator not only by his merit of impetration of pardon for me but also by the efficacie of application of that pardon to me Not only by his bloud hath he made a purchase of Heaven for sinners but also by that same bloud he hath delivered the possession of Heaven to sinners XV There is a Promise of Heaven made to us and there is a law of obedience and faith imposed on us Heaven is promised upon condition of faith and obedience and these are promised upon condition of divine assistance Lord if thou assist I will obey if I obey thou wilt reward but here are the odds that my obedience is the effect and fruit of thy grace and assistance but not the cause of thy remuneration and benevolence XVI God being the supreme cause can have no superiour cause of his actions yet some say he may produce an effect which may occasion him to work further thus the foresight of mans sin gave him occasion to precondemne him This well is too deep and I have no bucket to draw with I will not soare with the waxen wings of humane reason too nigh this inaccessible light nor will I prie into the sacred Arke of Gods secret decrees only this I can say that whatever his decrees were before time I am sure his proceeding to judgement is just in time He is so just that he never condemned any man but for sin and he is so mercifull that he will not condemne every man that doth sin XVII Justice and Mercy were still in God actually from all eternitie in respect of the first act to wit of existence though they were not alwayes in respect of the second act to wit of operation God could not alwayes exercise Justice and Mercy on sinners because there have not been alwayes sinners as soone as man sinned these attributes in God appeared which were eternally existent in him but not eternally exercised by him Lord thou hast exercised the eternitie of thy Iustice in punishing for me thy naturall Son exercise I pray the eternitie of thy Mercie for him in saving the soule of me thy adopted sonne XVIII God by his antecedent will decreed to bestow Faith and Grace on us which by his consequent will he resolved to deny us his former will was moved by his own goodnesse but his latter will was provoked by our wickednesse if we have unjustly rejected the grace which by his former will he resolved to give us may not he justly by his latter will deny that grace which was rejected so perversly by us Lord if thou art resolved by thy first will to bestow grace on me let me not by my disobedience provoke thy second will to deny that grace unto me XIX Our wickednesse is the cause that moveth God to exercise his acts of Justice but his own bountie is the cause and our miserie the occasion why he exerciseth his acts of Mercy When I am punished I will accuse my own wickednesse which provoked against me divine Iustice and when I am saved I will extoll and reverence that bountie which took occasion by my miserie to make me an object of his Mercy XX I finde a two-fold decree the one of Providence the other of Predestination by that God resolved to give us as much grace as might suffice to save us by this he appointed to give us effectuall grace that we might be powerfully saved by the former we may beleeve if we will by this we doe actually beleeve They are inexcusable that have sufficient grace though it be not effectuall for God hath dealt graciously with us in affording sufficient helps of our salvation and we have dealt wickedly with our selves in hindring the efficacie of these helps No man then hath cause to complaine of Gods crueltie seeing he hath bestowed on all men sufficient grace of Providence whereby they may be saved but many men have cause to admire Gods mercie who hath bestowed on some the effectuall grace of Predestination whereby they shall be saved XXI God will have all men to be saved and he will have wicked men to be damned that is his antecedent will this his consequent that is sometimes frustrated of its end this never and its fitting that seeing his will cannot be fulfilled by us it should be fulfilled upon us They that will not satisfie his will by their obedience shall satisfie his will in suffering just vengeance XXII God loves himself and so he doth man the one love is internall the other externall the one is eternall the other temporarie the one necessarie the other voluntarie for Gods internall actions if the object be internall naturally are absolutely necessarie as when he loves himself the agent the object the action are all internall and all necessarie in respect of existence but if the object be internall voluntarily as when God decreeth and understandeth externall objects which he makes internall by uniting them to his understanding then all these actions are voluntarie and free even his very decrees which proceed from his free will It was in his choice whether he would decree any thing concerning man or not whether he would bestow grace and glorie on him The eternall generation indeed of his
and the glory of thy truth in performing what thou hast promised though thus I have not deserved XCV All the afflictions of Gods people are either punishments chastisements or probations punishments for sins past chastisements to prevent sinnes to come probations to make triall of our Christian vertues and though Christ was punished for our sinnes to free us from eternall torments yet we are not thereby exempted from temporarie punishments he died to save us from death eternall not from death temporall he both suffered and satisfied we suffer though we cannot satisfie our sufferings are to shew our conformitie with Christ but not to shew any insufficiencie in the death of Christ Thou O Lord hast paid a plenarie ransome for sin and thou that knewest no sin becamest sinne and didst suffer death as a punishment for us that we who are born in sin might be free from sin that death might not be a punishment but a chastisement to us XCVI As by one simple act God knowes his own Essence so by one simple act he wils his own goodnesse which will whether we take it for an act or for an habit is eternally in God and differs but in some respects from his essence and therefore is immutable infinite and holy as his Essence and though many things are willed by him yet there is but one will in him which cannot be moved by any efficient end or object different from himself Lord though my will cannot attain that simplicitie infinitenesse and immutabilitie that is in thee yet let it obtain some measure of holinesse that in desiring of that only which is good it may in some measure resemble thine XCVII All have not had the happinesse to heare of Christ and yet there is no happinesse without Christ in this God is not unjust for they who either in themselves or in their parents have rejected him are not worthy of him besides God hath not left himself without a witnesse for he hath left a law written in all mens hearts and so much light of his goodnesse and justice as may make all men excuselesse If therefore they shall be rejected that had not that light of knowledge which we have how can we think we are elected who have even spurned at the knowledge of that light which they have not XCVIII Regeneration which is the killing of the old man and quickning of the new hath for her ushers Sorrow and Contrition for her Attendants Faith and Hope for her followers the works of Charitie if any of these be defective Generation will be little effective neither is this the work of nature but of grace for nature by generation can give us a mortall essence but grace by regeneration gives us an immortall existence in our first birth we had a new nature from our corporall parents in our second birth nature is renewed by our spirituall parents So easie is the work of physicall generation that it 's performed in the instant of our conception so difficult is the work of hyperphysicall regeneration that we cannot be consummately reformed till the instant of our dissolution Lord the great world was with greater facilitie by thee created then the little world of man could by thee be re-created that was done only by uttering thy externall word this could not be done but by the suffering of thy internall Word therefore as I am bound to thee for the tempor all life which in my generation by thy spirit thou breathedst in me much more am I bound for that eternall life which in my regeneration by thy Sonnes death thou hast purchased for me XCIX In thy sight O Lord no flesh can be justified if we consider the puritie of thy nature the rigour of thy justice the infirmities of our flesh and the imperfections of our righteousnesse For the first the Angels are not pure in thy sight much lesse we who dwell in houses of clay For the second if thou shouldst marke Lord what is done amisse who could abide it For the third there is no man that doth good no not one we are all gone out of the way For the fourth the justest man falleth seven times a day and our righteousness is like a menstruous cloath Therefore we acknowledge Lord there is no righteousnesse inherent in us by which we can be saved but that righteousnesse which is inherent in thee and imputed to us and by that we are justified and there is in thee exuberance of mercies by which we may be pardoned C. We are justified by grace formally by faith instrumentally by the word ministerially by good works demonstratively by sorrow and repentance preparatively by Christs death and obedience meritoriously and by God himself principally if then God be the efficient cause if Christs active and passive obedience be the materiall if grace be the formall if Gods glory be the finall cause of our justification how can we claime any share in it We are only subjects and patients no wayes agents our good works are but fruits and effects no wayes causes our sorrow and repentance are effects of preventing grace not of free-will our faith is from above not from our selves Therefore O Lord I disclaime all merit of congruitie and condignitie all efficacie of Sacraments all suffrages of Saints all power of Romane Prelates all absolution of Priests all observation of humane tradition and all will-worship from my justification I acknowledge no other merits but thy mercies by thy grace thou preventedst my merits my merits are thy suffrings my holinesse is thy goodnesse my righteousnesse is but a sparkle of thy brightnesse a drop of that Ocean a grain of that heap a stone of that immense mountain of thy incomprehensible goodnesse for which I am indebted to thee not thou to me Therefore not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name we glve the glory DIVINE MEDITATIONS UPON Gods Justice I. GOD will not pardon any sin except we repent of every sin for as he that breaks one command is guiltie of the breach of all so he that faileth in repenting of one sin repenteth of never a sin God loves not to doe things by halves he will pardon all or none and he will have us repent of all or none for as it stands not with his goodnesse and perfection to give an imperfect pardon so it consisteth not with the sinceritie of repentance to conceale any sin not repented as he ejected seven divels out of one and a legion out of another without leaving any behinde in the possessed so he will have us cast out all our sinnes without hiding of any unrepented What availes it to be freed from Satans power in casting us into the water of drunkennesse if he can when he pleaseth fling us into the fire of concupiscence O thou that art the great Physician of my soul to thee I open all my wounds and disclose all my maladies make me by the vomit of confession to cast up all my sinfull humours before
thee that by the cordiall of a generall pardon my soule may be cured and totally saved by thee II. So severe is the great Judge of the quick and the dead that when he shall come to judge the world in righteousnesse at his presence the powers of Heaven shall shake the elements shall melt the starres shall fall the sun shall be darkned the sea shall roare and the moone shall give no light yea the heavens shall be rolled up like a scrole and shall passe away with a noise Lord if the righteous shall scarcely be saved where shall sinners appeare If there be no puritie in the Angels nor stabilitie in the heavens nor holinesse in thy Saints what shall become of me who am sold under sin and drinks in iniquitie as water But my comfort is that thou hast committed all judgement to thy Son who died for sinners Shall I feare to be judged by a brother or appear before a Saviour He that left Heaven to suffer death for me will he after death shut Heaven against me I will not feare from that mouth the sentence of condemnation which by prayer hath been the meanes of mediation between God and me Surely he that came to seek that which was lost will not loose that which he came to seek III. Such is the severitie of Gods Justice that he will not exempt his own children from temporarie punishments though he died for them 1. Because like gold they must shine in the furnace of affliction 2. That they may not be damned with the world 3. That they may be the better fitted for Heaven for they must be baptized in this red sea before they can obtain that heavenly Canaan and through the temple of Vertue must passe into the temple of Honour 4. That the wicked may have lesse cause to complain when they see Gods own Sonnes not spared 5. That by chastisements sin may be suppressed as Pauls pride by an Angel of Satan was buffetted 6. That the Patience Faith and Obedience of the Saints might be manifested and exercised that the metall of their vertues may not for want of exercise be rusted 7. That in some sort they might be made conformable to Christ their Master for if he suffered for sin that knew not sin shall we escape punishment that are born live and die in sin Shall the head be wounded with thornes and the members sleep in beds of Roses 8. That others by their example may be animated to run with patience the race which is set before them 9. That Gods love to them may be testified for he passeth by bastards and corrects those whom he loves Lord with all reverence I kisse thy rod by it I am bettered thy flail doth not break me but separates the chaffe from me thy fire purifieth but consumeth me not in thy morter the more that the spices of my vertues are bruised the more they are made fragrant My spirituall Camomell by thy treading is not spoiled but made more redolent in thy Presse though like grapes I am squeezed yet the pretious liquor of my vertues are not lost but increased the more that the stormes of afflictions beat upon me so much the more like a strong Cedar let my roots be fastned in thee the darker the night is I will like a star fastned in thy firmament shine the cleerer and the more burthen thou layest upon me with the Palme I will rise the higher I acknowledge Lord thy goodnesse in that thou hast not drowned the Ark of my soul in the flood of afflictions but hast raised it higher then the highest mountaines Thy rod hath sweetned my bitter waters and thy salt hath preserved me from rottennesse IIII. Such is the severitie of Gods Justice that some mens temporarie sinnes are punished with eternall paines because the person offended is eternall the happinesse which they lost is eternall their desire to sinne is eternall the malice of Satan in tormenting men is eternall the Justice of God is immutable the fire of hell is inextinguishable the repentance of wicked men in hell is impossible the wrath of God without Christ is implacable Lord make me seriously to meditate upon these infernall paines which for acerbitie are unspeakable for varietie innumerable for permanencie interminable that I may not run the hazzard of suffring endlesse torments for the injoyment of a few short and fruitlesse vanities make me to prevent thy wrath by timely repentance that I may before I goe hence obtain thy favour and indulgence V. As God in his Justice suffers his Children to lye under the rod of correction and adversitie so doth he permit wicked men to flourish with all outward prosperitie Lazarus starves whilst the rich Glutton surfets whilst Ioseph is a prisoner his brethren are at libertie and whilst Belshazzar is feasting Gods people are in captivitie This God is pleased to suffer 1. That his goodness may appeare which causeth his sun to shine upon the good and bad 2. To make the wicked inexcusable who have not wanted the bait of outward blessings to bring them to goodnesse 3. That we may know worldly prosperities to be none of Gods choicest blessings seeing bad men injoy them and outward adversities to be none of his chiefest judgements seeing good men are annoyed by them 4. That the wicked may not complain for wanting the reward of their good actions verily they have received their reward here let them be content with their temporarie blessings that is all the reward they shall have let them take then that which is their own and goe their way 5. The more outward prosperitie is heaped on them the greater judgements are prepared for them 6. It stands with Gods Justice that these temporall vanities which they preferre to life eternall should be the occasion of their stumbling and downfall 7. Here is the comfort of Gods Children that he who heapes so many outward and earthly benefits on his Enemies will not forget to bestow inward and heavenly blessings on his Friends if the few good actions of wicked men are here so plentifully rewarded surely the many sufferings of good men cannot be forgot and obliterated O my God as thy outward blessings which are but temporall content not my desires which are immortall neither am I assured by them that thou lovest me seeing thou bestowest them on such as hate thee therefore Lord conferre on whom thou wilt wealth and honour that which I desire of thee is thy love and favour VI It stands with Gods Justice to suffer us to fall into divers doubts and tentations when we are puffed up with pride and conceit of our own excellencies he will by such meanes humble us that we may see our own infirmities he will suffer us with Peter to sink in these waters that with him we may flie to our Master Jesus the Angel of Satan is permitted to buffet us that we may with Paul pray to him whose grace is sufficient for us God himself in these