God's Almightiness and All-sufficiency will work in us an holy awe and filial fear of Him Who would not fear such a God Luke 12. 5. And also it will breed an holy confidence in him Psal 9. 10. They that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee O my Soul look up to God's All-sufficiency He can in a moment turn thy Darkness into Light thy Sorrow into Joy He can make dry Bones live He that breaks can bind up He that takes can give This is the best way to glorifie God in the day of our Visitation to trust in him and relye upon him though He kill all our Comforts yet to believe He can supply He can provide as said Abraham so Psal 107. 33 35. Whatever our case be let us take heed that we despond not nor cast away our confidence but rest upon God's All-sufficiency Trust in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Isa 26. 2 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee 6ly Let us eye and own the infinite Wisdom of the invisible eternal God He that sends and orders all our Afflictions is the Wise God the Only-wise God the very Fountain of all Wisdom 1 Tim. 1. 17. He shews his Wisdom not only in his general Providence governing the whole World but in all his special Providences towards his People and that in respect of their Afflictions For 1. God knows best how to order our Afflictions to us and that 1. as to Time when to send them 2. as to Kind what sort of Affliction to send 3. as to Measure how much to send 4. as to Duration how long to continue them Rev. 2. 10. and to what end and purpose He is a most wise God 2. He knows best how to support and comfort his People under all their Afflictions and when to comfort them He knows their Frame He knows their Souls in Adversity He knows their Need and their Strength and hath regard to all this 2 Cor. 1. 4. He is the God of all consolation 3. He knows best when to deliver even then when it shall make most for his own glory and his Peoples greatest good 2 Pet. 2. 9. and surely that must be the best time 4. He knows best how to make Afflictions work most for our good how to bless them and to make them Blessings to us that we may have cause to bless him for them Now we eye and own the Wisdom of God in our Afflictions when by the consideration of it we are kept from maligning and fretting at the Instruments or Causes of our Afflictions saying in our Hearts and Tongues Let Shimei curse let Enemies persecute and plunder c. All these are but Swords Staffs Rods in our most wise and loving Father's Hand These Losses Sicknesses c. do but execute the Will and Wisdom of God and when we make no haste to get out of our Troubles nor use any unlawful means but quietly and contentedly referr all to the Holy Will and Wisdom of God and when we can wait with Patience upon God and stay his time and hope in Him only for an happy issue resigning up our Wills to his Will and Wisdom to do with us to dispose of us and of all our Comforts as He pleaseth By so doing we shall be sweetly supported under all our Troubles Lord God of thy abundant Grace and by thy Almighty Power work in us this blessed frame and keep us in it till Death that thou maist be glorified by us 7ly and lastly Let us eye and own the love and goodness of God in all our Afflictions We are apt to look mostly to the Anger and Displeasure of God in our Troubles which indeed we ought to be sensible of and deeply affected with because we have sinned against Him and therefore ought we patiently to bear the effects of his indignation Mic. 7. 9. and to humble our selves under his mighty Hand to repent of and turn from our evill ways Lam. 3. 40. This we must do but this is not all our Duty but we must also look up to the love of God and to his goodness from which our Afflictions come Psal 89. 33. Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chastneth Psal 25. 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth For as our Afflictions have a bad Cause as bad as may be even our Sins Lam. 3. Wherefore doth the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Yet they proceed from a good Root even the Love of God As many as I love I rebuke and chasten saith our loving Lord Jesus Rev. 3. 19. He loves when he takes as well as when he gives He takes in love and this believed and considered will very much sweeten every bitter Cup The believing consideration that the love of our Father the love of the Mediator is in every Affliction that every Cup that comes to us passeth first through his Hands who loved us and gave himself for us for through him are all things this consideration will support us Lord encrease our Faith So much of the second Counsel viz. To resign up our Wills to the Will of God in all our Miseries III. The last Counsel to Christians in order to their support and comfort in their Afflictions is this Aim at Communion with God and Conformity to him in all your Actions Look unto the invisible eternal God and labour for Communion with him and conformity to him It is conformity to God that fits us for communion with him The more conformity to him to his holy Nature and to his holy Will the more communion we shall have with him and the more we are like him the more will he manifest himself unto us and the more we obey him the more fellowship we shall have with him John 14. 21 23. And also the more communion we have with him the more communications we have from him the more conformable we shall be to him and the more we shall be like him 2 Cor. 3. 18. Communion with God will transform and change us into his Image more and more and the more we have of his Image the more pleasure will he take in us and the more delight will he take to communicate himself to us The more holy heavenly humble meek patient loving merciful peaceable we are the more like him we are and the more we are like him the more of his love and likeness will he continually work in us and manifest unto us This is the Life of true Religion this is to live the Life of God to live in communion with him panting and longing after constant Influences and Communications of his Life Spirit Love Grace Peace and Comfort from him and giving up surrendring up of our Hearts and Souls to him spending our best thoughts desires affections hopes trust joy and
we minded and loved them â—o much and lived so much upon them and that â—e lived so little upon God in them and enjoyed â— little of God and his Love in them and this â—ill be the Sting and Burthen of our Souls then â—ut now to live on God and his Love in our â—njoyments will prevent this Trouble of Troubles â—nd support us under all our Troubles because our God and his Love which we lived upon before remain still God is everlasting and his Love unchangable The Foundation remains the â—pring of all our Mercies remains But woe and â—as what Strangers are we to this living upon God and his Love in Christ David lived enâ—rely upon God Psal 73. 24 25 26. Whom have â—in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that desire besides thee My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever 2dly By this we may begin our Heaven upon Earth out of Heaven even in the Hell of the Troubles and Miseries of this World for this is the â—ery Happiness of Heaven to be continually with God and to live upon God that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. This is Heavens Happiness to live upon that infinite Fountain of goodness and to live with God And so far as we can thus live upon God by Faith Love Meditation Holy Confidence and Dependance Holy Resignation of our selves and all our concerns to him so far we are entred into Heaven and Heaven is entred into us already The kingdom of Heaven is within you said our Lord. And what support will this be to us in all our Afflictions 3dly This is the way to lose nothing of all our Earthly Comforts for what we lose in the Creature we shall find in the Creator If we enjoyed God in the Creature in Relations Friends Estate Liberty Health c. we may enjoy him as well when these Creature-comforts are gone and it may be better than before for the Fountain it self is purer than the Streams All the little good the small comfort the slender and short satisfaction the little mixed sweetness that we have in or from any Creature comes not from the Creature it self distinct from God for then all that enjoy the Creature would have that Comfort and Content the bad as well as the good which we know is not so for many have had large Portions of the best of the Creatures that have had no comfort or contentment in them Solomon himself is a Witness But that very little Comfort or Content that any one hath in the Creature it is distilled and derived to him through the Creature from God and from him alone It God put sweetness into any Creature-comfort and bless it to us it shall be sweet to us If He convey any goodness or content to us through any Creature-chanel we shall have it not else But if he put bitterness into any Creature-comfort and with-hold his Blessing it will yield us no content at all This is a most experienc'd Truth That it is God's Love his Blessing in a Mercy that is The Mercy and it is that only which brings any Comfort or Content to us that have it What Content had Ahab in his Kingdom or Haman in his Honour Surely none at all Prov. 10. 22. The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and he adds no sorrow with it The Blessing of the Lord maketh the Poor in this World rich and with this Blessing comes no Sorrow as there doth with all other Blessings This is the Blessing that goes with The Blessing the inward Blessing that goes with the outward Blessing whether little or much the love of God is in it to his People and that maketh rich that contents the Soul and yields sweetness to it and this Contentment is the Blessing without which Godliness it self is not Gain Now when the outward Blessing is gone the Creature-blessing gone the inward Blessing may be continued the Love of God and inward Contentment may be continued when the Cabinet is worn out the Jewel may be as good as ever And if this continue with us namely the Blessing which is the Love of God if that remain towards us when the outward Blessing is taken away we have no cause of Disquietment But this remains always to the true Christian for it is God's Covenant which cannot be broken Psal 89. 34 35. My loving-kindness I will not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My covenant will I not break c. Oh that we could look more at the invisible eternal Blessing the sure Mercies of David in all our outward Blessings which remains when all the visible temporal things are gone Yea further this invisible everlasting Blessing doth not only remain with us when all other Blessings are gone but which is wonderful then even then our everlasting Father doth usually communicate and manifest more of his Love which is the Blessing indeed to the Souls of his People than when they had the enjoyment of their outward Blessings When had Ezekiel and John such glorious Visions of God but in Captivity and Exile When God brings his People into the Wilderness then he speaks comfortably unto them then he speaks to their Hearts Hos 2. 14. as in the Wilderness in the absence of Creature-comforts the Spouse leans on her Beloved Cant. 8. 5. fixeth her Loves and Desires most intimately and heartily upon him so even then her Beloved manifests most of his tender love to her and when the World frowns he smiles upon her So that this looking up to God in all our Enjoyments living upon Him and enjoying all in him and for him will wonderfully support us under all our Trouble because by this means we shall lose nothing but what we lose in the Stream we shall find in the Fountain what we want in the Creature we shall find in God yea and in all our losses for Christ and his Truths we are assured to have an hundred fold Matth. 19. 29. So much for the first Counsel Look to God in all our Enjoyments II. The second Counsel Resign up your wills entirely to the will of God in all your Afflictions It is an Argument of an excellent Spirit when all Self-respects are drowned in the Will of God and there is nothing lost therein for our best safety is in the Will of God our Happiness is more in God than in our selves and His Will is infinitely better than ours We may be sure of this that a man shall never have setled Peace and Comfort until he have cordially committed and resigned up all his Will and Way all his Concerns and Interests and Ends to the holy Will of God Psal 37. 5 7. Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him Prov. 16. 3. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established
it is renewing day by day as in the Text. But the Fruit of Affliction upon others is like a morning dew or early cloud which the Sun-blast of Prosperity dries all up and blows all off Those seeming Fruits of Humility of Sensibleness Patience Inclinations to good Duties Resolutions against Sin c. which appear in some in time of their Affliction are all blasted and withered again when their Afflictions are removed Hos 6. 4. Thirdly The Fruit of Affliction upon the Godly is more afterward than at present Heb. 12. 11. â—ut on others 't is most at present even while the Affliction is upon them then they will seek God early and earnestly but when the Affliction is over they grow remiss and careless And oh that this were not the fault of too many of the Godly It is the After-fruit of Righteousness the exemplary Holiness of our Lives afterwards that â—s the good Fruit of sanctified Afflictions which we must bring forth to evidence the Love of our Father to us in his Chastnings of us and our spiritual Profit by those Chastisements It is not so â—uch how we behave our selves in the time of our Afflictions though that must be minded also and â—â—reful we must be to carry our selves as Christians under the Cross for an Ahab may then â—ehave himself well but the great matter is how â—e carry our selves after our Afflictions that â—â—en we bear and bring forth the quiet and peaceâ—ble Fruits of Righteousness that we shew forth our Conversations the singular good and spiritual profit that we have got by our Afflictions at we are become more holy more heavenly â—umble meek lowly more tender-hearted more â—â—tchful and circumspect more zealous of good â—orks more charitable more careful in all things please God This is that will clearly prove That Afflictions have done us good and then we shall have cause to bless God for them Fourthly The promised Good and Blessing â—â— Affliction is the main thing which the graciouâ— Soul mostly desireth prayeth for and hopes and expects Thus he breaths O that this strokâ— may be a stroke of Love O that this Affliction may do good to my inward man O that my Sâ—â— may flourish and prosper and be a Gainer by a my outward Losses and Crosses O that my Soâ— may be purged in those Fires and cleansed iâ— those Waters of Affliction that I may bring for all the blessed Fruits of Affliction and O thâ— God would accomplish all his gracious ends upâ—â— my Soul by his Chastisements but it is not with others they cry Lord remove thy haâ—â— take away my Affliction Fifthly The gracious Soul understands God's a sign in Affliction and earnestly desires to kâ—â— the whole Mind of God and why the Lord oâ— tendeth with him and hears the Voice of Rod searcheth for his Sin for the Plague of own Heart repents and turns to God through casts away the Idols of his heart resolves agaâ—â— his Corruptions prays and hopes for the bleâ—â— of his Affliction and thereupon he labours submit to the holy Will of God and patiently bear his Afflictions But it is not so with othâ—â— they are not sollicitous about the attaining of spiritual good to their Souls so they can get the Affliction they care for no more Wheâ— the gracious Soul is afraid that he shall lose â— benefit of his Afflictions and therefore is nâ— earnest with God for it Sixthly The gracious Soul seeks a â—â—eparation of all his Losses and a Balance to all his Troubles in God through Christ and in God's Covenant 2 Sam. 23. 5. and there he finds it in some measure which stayeth and quieteth him When the streams of all Creature-comforts fail him he repairs to God the Fountain and there he lies for all Supplies Psalm 31. 14. Psalm 142. 4 5. Refuge failed me no man cared for my Soul I cried unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living But the Ungodly are strangers to this course in the time of their trouble Now these things considered we may by them attain in some measure the knowledge of our estate whether we be godly or no in a state of Grace or no to wit by the real good our Souls have gotten by our bodily troubles So much for Information II. Thesecond Vse is of Counsel to God's afflicted People when their earthly Comforts wither and decay 1. Bear the Indignation of the Lord take his blows with patience acknowledge his hand stoop and submit to his Will He is your gracious wise merciful Father that smites you he intends you no hurt He that loves you better than you can love your selves He that Redeemed you and he that knows what is best for you He that intends all for your good and will cause all things to work for your good therefore in your patience possess ye your Souls and quietly submit to his good Will 2. Search your Hearts and try your Ways and turne him that smiteth you Commune with your oâ— Hearts call to remembrance your neglects â—â— Duty to God and Man your neglect of the Soâ—â— of your Relations your careless performance â— holy Duties your mis-spending your Talents your earthly and unprofitable Discourses c. Thâ—â— is a time for Heart-searching a time for the trâ— of your ways Lamentat 3. 40. In the day of Adversity consider Consider wherefore God afflicts you consider what you have done against God aâ— what your present Duty is Repent of your fâ—â—mer miscarriages hurable your selves under God mighty hand and act Faith on the Lord Jesus â—â— Remission and by Faith labour to draw strengâ— of Grace to reform and amend and so compâ— with God's design in his Corrections which iâ— to take away your Sin and to make you partake of his Holiness 3. In your Afflictions consult God's Word aâ— be conversant therewith and conform thereâ—â— Now learn to kep God's Precepts Psalm 119. â— Now set straight steps to your feâ—t Heb. 12. 12. â— God 's Word you will finâ— sweet Counsels and Coâ—solations precious Promises encouraging â— amples of Faith and Patience supporting quiâ—ning and strengthning Arguments Had it â—â— been for God's Word David had perished in his â— fliction O therefore now study the Scripturâ— and make them your Meditation Night and Daâ— acquaint your selves with God's Word and appâ— it and yield up your selves to the obedience of â— holy Job in his Affliction esteemed the Word of Gâ—â— above his necessary Food and David above Gold â—â— Silver 4. Learn and comply with God's Designs in chastening you His main Designs are these To take away our Sins Isa 27. 9. He takes away our Isaacs to destroy our Dalilahs he removes the desire of our Eyes to consume the Defilements of our Hearts God designs the purifying of us to make us clean and holy and fit Vessels for himself to dwell in to make us partakers of his holiness and conformable to his Son to make our
vanity of all earthly things as David prayed Psal 39. 4. That we may judge of them as God judgeth of them and not otherwise and then it will not so much trouble us to part with them So much for a right Judgment of the good things of this World We must also labour to get a right Judgment of the evil things of this World as Poverty Sickness Imprisonment Disgrace loss of Friends and Relations we usually judge amiss of these also and therefore become impatient Now that we may have a right Judgment of these things also we must observe the former Rules 1. To judge of these Evil things as God in his Word judgeth of them Now God tells us in his Word that Afflictions are short and light that is comparatively as was shewed before that his ends and designs in all the Afflictions of his People are good and gracious of which largely before that they are Tokens of his Fatherly Love to us and Evidences of our Sonship that they are for our spiritual and eternal profit to take away our Sins and to make us partakers of his Holiness and to prepare us for that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory that they are needful and necessary for us Afflictions being as necessary to God's People in their passage to Heaven as Water is to a Ship to carry her to her Port. Now if we judge of Afflictions thus as the Only-wise God judgeth of them we shall bear them with much patience 2. To judge of them as the wise good and holy men of God do judge of them Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Holy David professeth That it was good for him that he was afflicted Psal 119. 71. Vpon which Text I have written at large by it self So the Primitive Christians 2 Cor. 4. 17 18. and Heb. 10. 34. And thousands now in Heaven and upon Earth can seal to this Truth That Afflictions have done them good 3. Let us judge also by our own Experiences that as the good things of this World have been by Satan's Temptations and our own Corruptions very hurtful to our Souls so the evil things of this World have been through the Grace of God sanctifying them to us very profitable to our Souls and we have cause to bless God for them And as Earthly things good in themselves become evil to us so evil things so in themselves but by the Blessing of God on them become good into us Now this right Judgment of the evil things of this World will much support us under them 1. If we strongly act our Faith in believing that God in his Word hath said of these Evil things that they are all but light and short that He hath such gracious ends in them and if we act faith and Hope upon the many exceeding great and precious Promises in the Word made to his People in their Afflictions and relye upon his faithfulness in them we shall be sweetly supported under them 2. If we duly meditate and consider of the good â—ruits that our Afflictions shall bring forth in us â—â— due time and do duly ponder upon the gracious ends of God in them it will doubtless mightily uphold us under them 3. And if we add fervent Prayers to God to give out all those spiritual Blessings of Afflictions to us and wait on him for the blessing hoping â—esiring and panting after these Blessings we shall be enabled to bear up under them all Application Let us bewail our wrong and false Judgment of Earthly things both of the good and evil things of this World and pray earnestly for a true spiritual and right Judgment of them let us fully submit our Judgments to the Judgment of God and setledly acquiesce in God's Judgment let us pray earnestly for a spiritual Understanding and a renewed Judgment let us look on all visible temporal things as God looketh on them and settle it in our minds That the Judgment of God is right and best and let us not lean to our own Understandings and by this means we shall be much helped to bear all our Afflictions with Comfort and Patience So much of this Doctrine Now to proceed to the last words in this Verse 2 COR. iv 18. But to the things which are not seen for they are eternal THIS is another Act of Faith Faith enables the Soul not only to look off from things which are seen for they are temporal but also to look unto those things which are not seen for they are eternal We look the original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prospicio to look seriously diligently earnestly to look upon a thing as his mark and scope to look with ardent desire to attain that which he looks for Now saith the Apostle We look not on those things which are seen temporal things as our mark and scope with such eagerness and diligence to attain them we see not such worth and excellency in them as to spend our best Thoughts about them and our ardent Affections upon them no no but we look on things not seen we look on unseen things as infinitely more worthy and more highly meriâ—ing our best Thoughts and Affections for those â—â—seen things are eternal things and therefore more worthy of our Affections Two Points of Doctrine arise hence Doct. I. That truly-gracious Souls do most seriously mind and most diligently intend and aim at unseen eternal things upon these their thoughts are mainly and mostly fixt and about these their greatest Care and Study is employed Doct. II. That the due minding of and meditating upon unseen eternal things will much help to support the People of God under all their Sufferings in this World Doct. I. First That truly-gracious Souls do most â—eriously mind and most diligently intend and aim at â—â—seen and eternal things Here we must enquire 1. What those invisible eternal things are 2. The Reasons of the Point 1. What they are They are things not seen and they are eternal unseen to the bodily Eye opposed to the visible things of the World Riâ—â—es Honours Pleasures Friends Health Liberty c. those good and evil things of this World these we look not unto but to invisible and they are 1. First The Invisible God whom no man hath seen nor can see with bodily Eyes Coll. 1. 15. 1 Tim. 1. 17. Moses saw him that is invisible Heb. 11. 27. We saith the Apostle look unto him Mic. 7. 7. I will look unto the Lord Psal 34. 5. Gracious Souls make God their aim and their end how to serve and please and glorifie him and how to have Communion with him and to enjoy him This is the chief Study Care and Labour of gracious Souls to be accepted with God and to bring Glory to him 2 Cor. 5. 9. We are always looking to God to his Precepts to obey them to his Promises to believe and rest upon them to
glory that Everlasting Rest in the full and perfect enjoyment of the Blessed God for ever thought on minded and laboured after more but because these things are not fully believed O cursed Unbelief Men believe that Life Liberty Health Honour Estate c. are good things and therefore they mind them and labour after them and count no Pains too much to obtain them labouring as it were in the Fire to get those things Those that believed those better things in the other World counted those visible temporal things of this World but Toyls and Trifles Heb. 10. 34. 2 Cor. 5. 1 2 3 4. So Heb. 11. throughout It is our Unbelief is the cause why God and Christ and Heaven have so little of our hearts and minds so little of our thoughts and affections Oh let us all bitterly bewail our Unbelief Lord subdue and pardon it These are the Hinderances II. The Means to help us to this Work that we may most seriously and most heartily mind invisible eternal things 1. First We must labour clearly to know and understand the Truth and Reality the exceeding Greatness and Excellency of those invisible eternal things as was hinted before Our ignorance of them is much the cause why we mind them no more Ignoti nulla Cupido No man minds or loves what he knows not Let us set our Hearts in earnest to consider what it is to enjoy God who is All-fulness what it is to have Fellowship with the Father and the Son what it is to have Communion with the Holy Ghost to have the gracious Presence of the Holy Spirit to feel the Work the Witness the Sealing the Joy the Consolation of the Holy Spirit all which all true Christians know and feel in some measure and rejoice in them Consider also what it is to live in Christ and to have Christ to live in us to dwell in our Hearts to manifest his Love to us to come in to us to sup with us and we with him to take up his Abode with us what it is to know the Power of his Death and the Vertue of his Resurrection to be made one with him joyned married to him made one Spirit with him and what it is to be made like him here and what it is to be made like him hereafter both in Soul and Body â—ad to appear with him in Glory at last and to be for ever glorified with him what it is to see this Face and to dwell in his presence for ever Oh chese are the only things that are worthy of all our Hearts and Minds most worthy of all our Affections and Desires of all our Labourings Longings Pantings Breathings Hungrings and Thirstings of Soul Oh shame on us all that we spend our Affections on Toys and Trifles on Dreams Fancies and Shadows Oh that such Folly and Madness such Brutishness should possess us Let us lament and lament it And let us labour to know and understand those high and excellent things and let us be fully perswaded of them and of their infinite worth and value These things are worth glorying and rejoycing in Jer. â—â— 23 24. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom But let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. Let us consider also the exceeding-great and precious Promises and what our Blessed Jesus hath purchased and what God hath prepared for his People in the other World and let us ponder upon and by Meditation work these things into our Hearts and Minds Labour for a distinct knowledge of all those things Labour to prove your particular Right and Title to all those invisible eternal good things and then you will mind them indeed A bare Knowledge of them without an Interest in them will do you no good No wise man will much mind those things in which he hath no Interest let us then search and try whether we have any true Title to these things whether we have any good and solid ground to hope that we shall one day be possest of them and shall certainly enjoy them Then we shall think of them and speak of them with Joy and Comfort when we can say with Paul There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness And we know that when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens We all hope to enjoy that promised purchased Inheritance all hope to see God in Glory and to be happy but let us try our Title by the Word of God by that Word which must judge us all at the last day We may easily deceive our selves as those in Matth. 7. 21 22. and as the foolish Virgins no Deceit so easie nor so common nor so dangerous for it is irrecoverable and a little serious tryal might prevent this Self-deceiving Self-searching may prevent Self-deceiving and Self-undoing Briefly then let us ask our selves Is Jesus Christ ours Then All is ours All depends on this If Christ be ours God is ours Pardon Life Salvation Heaven and Earth is ours 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Are we Christ's really and sincerely his Then He is ours My beloved is mine and I am his Are we his all we are his Hearts Heads Tongues Time Talents are we all his Are we new Creatures 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature Mark it a new Creature all old things are pass'd away and behold all things are become new new Insides new Out-sides new Principles new Ends new Affections new Desires new Delights new Company new Language all new if new Creatures Have we the Spirit of Christ in us If any man have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8. 9. Doth Christ live in us Is Christ most precious to us Do we believe in him Let us try the truth of our Faith doth it purifie our Hearts Doth it work by Love by Love to Christ to all that hath the Image of Christ on it Doth it overcome the World Doth it support under Trouble Let us see that it be Faith unfeigned the Faith of God's Elect. Have we with all our Hearts chosen the Lord for our Portion and placed our Happiness in him fixed our best Loves Desires and Delights in him and have we resigned up our whole selves cordially and unreservedly to him Have we broken our League with all Sin and with all the Idols of our Hearts Do we hate and detest all Sin and do we keep a continual watch and war against all Sin Have we an equal respect to all God's Commandments Can we deny our selves and part with all things for Christ Are we the Heirs of the Promises If we be really Christ's then are we Heirs of the Promises Gal. 3. 29. Are we the Children of God If Children