But he is the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all that obey him Heb. 5. 9. Whom he saves he makes by his power willing and obedient 'T was said unto the Lord Messiah Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal 110. 3. 5. If we have accepted Christ we are born again and made new Creatures 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature And Joh. 1. 12 13. They that receive and believe in Christ are said to be born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Grace does not come by natural descent the flesh has no will or desire after it man though never so eminent is not able to work it but 't is alone from God And all true Believers are born of God they have a new heart a new nature new desires and affections new designs are carried on and they walk in newness of life The old man indeed remains in part but they are burthen'd with it and desire more fully to put on the new which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness 6. If we have accepted Christ we do and we see cause to admire the Fathers love in sending him we look upon him as the greatest gift that ever was given or could be given to the sons of men He is all in all Col. 3. 11. He fills all in all Eph. 1. ult If Christ be ours God is ours Heaven is ours all is ours Here 's a height that none can reach a depth that none can fathom a length that none can measure a bredth that none can comprehend How do Believers admire Jesus and the love of the Father that gave him They know that gift of God and wonder at the Donors kindness 1 Joh. 4. 9 10. In this i. e. in this above all was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him If ye talk of love herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our Sins 7. If we have accepted Christ we live upon him by faith we are strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus I live says the Apostle yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2. 20. And thus relying upon the sufficient grace and strength of our Lord Jesus which is made perfect in our weakness we shall resolve to follow the Lamb without standing still without turning aside without drawing back from him we shall not cowardly fly nor treacherously revolt from him but follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Case 6. The sixth Case is this When may Conversion be judged to be sincere and true Man is departed from the Lord and he is brought to this strait either he must turn to God or he must burn in Hell and every turning will not serve our turn The Scripture speaks of a feigned Conversion such a Convert was treacherous Judah Jer. 3. 10. It concerns us to prove our selves whether we are Converts in reality which may be thus known 1. Sincere Converts have been made to consider their own ways and the evil and destructiveness of them David tells us he thought on his ways and turned Psal 119. 59. They have lookt to the end of the broad road in which they once went and seen that burning Lake at the end of it destruction and misery is in that way and so they dare not proceed He never turns from Sin indeed that sees no harm or danger in it Those Scriptures The Soul that sins shall die and The wages of Sin is death are deeply engraven upon the Converts heart 2. Sincere Converts are really grieved that they turn'd no sooner they reflect with sorrow and shame upon that time wherein they were foolish and disobedient and deceived and served diverse lusts and pleasures Tit. 3. 3. and wish they had been so wise as to have served another a better Master How are they afflicted that Sin and Satan and Mammon have stolen away so many of their few days and that their lusts should devour the cream and prime of all their time They think with themselves how much Sin might have been prevented how much Grace might have been gotten how much might have been done for God if they had turned sooner and this makes them to live the remainder of their time in the flesh not to the lusts of men but to the will of God 1 Pet. 4. 2. 3. Sincere Converts turn unto God himself they own him as a Lord and eye him as their happiness in their Conversion to him Jer. 4. 1. If thou wilt return O Israel saith the Lord return unto Me. They seek the Lord himself and his strength and his face evermore the mercies of God indeed they do and may desire but principally the Father of them they see that God has all is all and can be infinitely more than all things unto them they come to him that they may enjoy him here and for ever Lord be my God my Father my Inheritance give thy self to me and then thou wilt deal most bountifully with me That 's the Converts language 4. Sincere Converts turn with their whole heart This is called for Joel 2. 12. Turn ye even unto me with all your heart And the want of this is complain'd of Jer. 3. 10. Her treacherous Sister Judah hath not turned to me with her whole heart but feignedly saith the Lord. When the whole heart is turned no iniquity is regarded there but all is disliked no creature is suffered to have the highest room the whole heart is resigned and given unto God As the Besieged render up the Castle to the Conquerer that he may dispose of it as he pleases so the Convert renders himself all the powers and faculties of his Soul he yields and consents to have all renewed all sanctified which is a perfection of parts and a perfection of degrees is desired and aspired unto he longs to be turned more and more and to be kept from returning again to folly 5. Sincere Converts turn their feet unto Gods testimonies Psal 119. 59. I turned my feet unto thy testimonies They conform to the Word which God has spoken as their Rule This declares best of all Quid pulchrum quid turpe quid utile quid non what is fair and what is filthy what is profitable and what 's destructive By this Word they order their hearts and conversations He that despises the Word of God and the Commands of it is not sincerely converted but damnably deluded True Converts keep close to Scriptures and Ordinances and never fancy themselves above them but with David desire to dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of their lives
are but for a season Job 20. 5 8. Knowest thou not this of old since man was placed upon Earth that the triumphing of the Wicked is short and the joy of the Hypocrite but for a moment Though his excellency mount up to the Heavens and his head reacheth to the Clouds yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung they which have seen him shall say Where is he He shall fly away as a dream and shall not be found yea he shall be chased away as a night vision 3. Better their false peace which must quickly end should be disturbed by Self-trial than that it should cease by their Trial at Gods Bar. The ungodly cannot carry a false peace along with them into another World The rich man in the Gospel that fared sumptuously every day carried none of his good things with him when he died his pleasure then came to a full stop and we read of nothing he met with but evil things torments flames endless and unquenchable Luk. 16. and then the rich man saw it had been better before to have broken off his sinful pleasure by Self-reflection and Repentance 4. Though a false peace upon Self-examination be banished yet there may a true peace be obtained in the room of it Be not unwilling to look into your selves though you find matter of sorrow for godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation They that sow in tears shall reap in joy Psal 126. 5. And Christ pronounces the mourners blessed for they shall be comforted Mat. 5. 4. Case 2. The second Case is this Is it not time enough hereafter for Sinners to search and look into themselves Then when prosperity and youth are gone and affliction and old age are come What necessity is there to put themselves upon the rack presently Ans 1. The longer they defer the more afraid they will be to begin and so it may never be done in this World especially considering that delay will make the work more difficult and grievous The larger the scores are the more loath they will be to look them over and the more peccant and wicked the heart has been the more unwilling it will be to be called to account therefore 't is best to begin this very instant and 't would have been better to have begun before 2. Sin is so great an evil that none can be too soon convinced of it nor too soon converted from it as on the other hand Grace is so excellent that we can never be too early enriched with it and assurance of the love of God so desirable and delightful that it can never be too soon obtained Why should there be a delay in the search after Sin This Enemy should speedily be inquired after since if let alone it may ruine us suddenly before we are aware 3. If Sinners refuse to mind the Lord and themselves in the time of youth and prosperity God may refuse to have any regard to them in the time of their distress Now is the accepted time now they may seek the Lord and search themselves to good purpose but whether the time of affliction may be an accepted time or no is questionable The Lord threatens to laugh at the calamity of some and to mack when their fear comes and that he will not be found of them Prov. 1. 26 28. They that refused to hearken and stopt their Ears and made their hearts like an Adamant Stone see what came to pass at last great wrath came upon them they were scattered with a whirlwind and as he cried and they would not hear so they cried and I would not hear saith the Lord of Hosts Zach. 7. 13. 4. Why should such a short lived creature as Man delay to examine himself What is his life 'T is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4. 14. How quickly may Death arrest him and summon him before the Lords Tribunal Some are well in one hour sick the next and dead the third nay some are well and sick and dead the same hour if not the same minute Defer not then to look into thy state and heart speedily since upon the sudden it may be said to thee Render an account of thy Stewardship for thou shalt be no longer Steward Luk. 16. 2. Case 3. The third Case follows which is this How shall Sinners that all their days have been careless of and utter Strangers to themselves manage this business of Self-examination Ans 1. Let them get alone not to be speculatively wanton or project for the World or to please themselves with vain and proud and towring imaginations but that they may seriously bethink themselves what is likely to become of them for ever Let them get out of the croud and hurry of worldly business and shake off carnal company and be at leisure to understand their Souls condition Certainly a Soul that is of greater value than all the World is worth minding is worth saving 2. Let the thoughts of God and of Eternity make them serious especially considering how much God has been provoked and how near they may be unto Eternity Time is posting away from them and Death is making great haste towards them and immediately after Death they enter upon Eternal state and how sad will it be if it be a state of eternal woe 3. Let them cry unto God for his Convincing Spirit When the Spirit is given and truely the Lord is ready to give his Spirit unto all that ask him he does discover that in Sin that before was not perceived he makes Hell to become naked and takes off that covering that was upon destruction He holds before Sinners the Glass of Gods holy Law that in that Glass they may behold their hearts and lives shews unto them that the characters of Gods Enemies agree to them and that their spot is not the spot of his Children Deut. 32. 5. Then Sin will revive and Sinners die that is become sensible they are the sons of death and wrath and in great danger of Eternal ruine Now they are to hold up their hands and cry Guilty Guilty and to lament and bemoan themselves as Ephraim did to see themselves in such a lost condition 4. Let them be very inquisitive what they shall do that they might be saved Thus were those Jews that were prickt at the heart Act. 2. and thus was the trembling Jaylour Act. 16. A lost estate being perceived is not to be rested in none ought to be contented to be damned but they must inquire what they must do to escape the wrath to come and they must give themselves to prayer in good earnest and use the other means of grace and the sense of their sin and misery should make them the more servent in crying for that mercy and grace which they so highly stand in need of Case 4. The fourth Case this When Sinners upon Self-trial have found out the badness of their State is there any
Thus have I finished this Subject of Self-Examination a Duty which the Ungodly mind not which Hypocrites are afraid and do not care to meddle with and which if Saints would more frequently and thorowly engage in there would be less unbelief and fear more joy and Faith in the Church of Christ You that are Saints In this discourse I have been helping of your Joy Let it not be hindred by your selves Some clusters of Canaan might be brought to the Wilderness and more of Heavens joys might be tasted in the Vale of Tears if the Heirs of Heaven would but take more pains in self-trial to clear up their Title And as for you that are Hypocrites and Vnbeleivers I have don you a kindness in telling you what you are and what you may expect hereafter If after all you will put a cheat upon your own souls you must be blamed and your selves must smart for it If you will cry peace and safety till Christ himself does thunder that sentence in your ears Go ye Cursed into Everlasting fire Who can help it Alas Alas 'T will be too late to look up to Heaven and to look into your selves when the Gulph is fixed between Heaven and you Let every sinner therefore try his own ways and cry to the Lord to search and change and turn his Heart For 't is the greatest Wisdom to prevent those mistakes which will be the mistakers Eternal ruine and which after death will be found impossible to be corrected Herbert page 105. CAnst he idle Canst thou play Foolish soul who sinn'd to day Rivers run and springs each one Know their home and get them gone Hast thou tears or hast thou none If poor soul thou hast no tears Would thou hadst no faults or fears Who hath these those ills forbears But if yet thou idle be Foolish Soul who di'd for thee Who did leave his Fathers Throne To assume thy Flesh and Bone Had he life or had he none If he had not liv'd for thee Thou hadst di'd most wretchedly And two deaths had been thy fee. He so far thy good did plot That his own self he forgot Did he die or did he not If he had not di'd for thee Thou hadst liv'd in misery Two lives worse than ten deaths be He that loseth Gold though dross Tells to all he meets his cross He that sins hath he no loss He that finds a silver vein Thinks on it and thinks again Brings thy Saviours death no gain Who in Heart not ever kneels Neither sin nor Saviour feels Meditations ON THE LORDS SUPPER MEDITATIONS I. WHerefore do I spend my money for that which is not Bread And my labour for that which can never satisfie Many a time have I made trial of the things that are visible but the higher my expectations have been raised the greater has been my disappointment I have sought that among the Creatures which is not to be found Sin has turned this World into a Country far from God and truly Husks are the best fare that ever this World hath yeilded me 'T is high time to come out from the World and to be separate left my Soul perish for hunger there Meat that perishes is improper for a Soul that is of an immortal nature and of an Everlasting duration I will arise and go unto my God and Father He has promised to satiate and replenish the weary and sorrowful Soul In his House I am sure there is Bread enough and to spare MEDITATION II. Boast not O Mammon of thy Treasures Unless thou hast that which is of sufficient value to be a ransom for me Can all the Wealth of both the Indies pay the debt which by sin I have contracted Can Riches satisfie for the wrong I have done to the justice of God by my Transgression Oh no I was not Redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot Pardon Grace and Glory are such gifts of God as are not to be purchased with money for if they were so many Rich men would not be lost for ever Wealth cannot buy any out of the Devils possession but rather brings them more under his power it cannot save any from Hell but rather proves a means to send them thither For they that will be Rich fall into Tempttaion and a Snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in Destruction and Perdition MEDITATION III. O my Soul strive not to load thy self with the thick clay of this present World this will debase thee exceedingly and defile and burthen thee Thou needest that which is of more value then Gold that perishes to enrich thee and that is precious Faith Thou needest a garment to cover thy nakedness which no Shop on Earth can furnish thee withal and that is the Robe of Christs Righteousness Thou needest Food to satisfie thy hunger which cannot be got for money or price but may be had without it and that is the Bread of God which came down from Heaven to give Life unto the World Thou art of Heavenly original and therefore mind not Earthly things for it can never be well with thee untill thou return to that All-sufficient Lord who is the Father of Spirits and alone can fill them out of his own fulness MEDITATION IV. Lord Thou who art full of Love nay love it self and art jealous of my love lest it should be misplaced Turn away my Eyes that they may not be set upon that which is not If Riches take to themselves wings and fly away as an Eagle towards Heaven let my Heart be so wise as to get the start of them and fly away first from such transitory and fading vanities and fly towards the highest Heaven of all How great a gain will it be to lose my love to the World And though it be no gain at all to thee for me to love thee who art so self-sufficient from Everlasting to Everlasting yet I shall hereby be an Eternal gainer and shall be interested in that love which is Everlasting and unchangeable Oh! Love me freely in the Son of thy love and inflame my Heart with love to Thee 'T is my Honour that I have leave to love thee who art so high and glorious and 't is thy first and great Command that I should love thee with my whole Heart and Soul and Strength Let this Command be kept and let not the biggest offer the World can make me ever tempt me to break it so as to prevail with me MEDITATION V. Pleasures of sin and sence have often charmed and deceived me Those things which have gratified the Eye the Ear the Touch the Taste have had a kind of an inchanting Force and Power Sensual Delights have been some of the finest and strongest cords of vanity to draw me a way from God and Duty But now I see what madness 't is to please my self and displease my Lord
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE True TOVCHSTONE Which shows both GRACE and NATVRE OR A Discourse concerning Self-Examination by which both Saints and Sinners may come to know themselves WHEREUNTO Are added sundry MEDITATIONS relating to the LORDS SUPPER By Nathanael Vincent M. A. Minister of the Gospel Psal 26. 2. Examine me O Lord prove me try my Reins and my Heart E coelo descendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 London Printed by J. Richardson for Tho. Parkhurâ—â— at the Bible and 3 Crowns in Cheapside 1681. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL Sir THOMAS PLAYER Knight and Chamberlain of the City of LONDON Much Honoured Sir GReatness and Goodness though more rarely joyned are not inconsistent God himself is Optimus Maximus the Highest and the Best of Beings Magistrates that are good do best deserve the Name of Gods on Earth Psal 82. 6. I said ye are Gods but ye shall dye like Men. And when Death seizes on them their Greatness is buried with them but their goodness accompanies them into another World and in this World perpetuates their Names and makes their Memory Blessed Rich men ought not to be High minded nor trust in uncertain Riches Wealth is but as it were a Castle in the Air and a High Wall in the conceit and fancy of him that has it The Rich man therefore is to rejoyce that he is made low because as the flower of the Grass he shall pass away Jam. 1. 10. Good Sir Weigh this World but in the right Scales and it will be found a Drop a Small Dust as the Prophets phrase is Goodness is the most real Grandeur Holiness the highest Honour Godliness the greatest Gain and Purity has the most solid and exquisite Delight and Pleasure for its concomitant In this degenerate Age wherein Sin is so much in fashion and become the Mode of the Times it is matter of rejoycing to see some Great men striving against the stream and manifesting to all that they are not afraid or ashamed of being Religious I wish more Great Men were good and that all good men were a great deal better Times would quickly alter with Manners and if more would lead good Lives more would see good days Go on I beseech you Sir To stand up for God and for your Country God and your Country will stand by you It is your Glory that you are a firm Protestant against Popery and against Atheism also and Prophaneness and that both in Word and Conversation Go on to be Faithful in that great Trust which most deservedly is reposed in you and to be a greater Treasure to your beloved City then that you are keeper of Go on to a Father to Orphans a Patron to Apprentices a Friend to Masters and one of the Darlings of London May you live long to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a publick Good and may your Name outlive you many Ages Stapleton the Jesuit put forth a Book Entitled Tres Thomae the Three Thomas's St. Thomas the Apostle Thomas of Becket and Sir Thomas More Every Christian will readily grant the preeminence to an Apostle but for the other two the Arch-Bishop and the Statesman The Thomas I addresse to does much outvy them and in saying this I cannot justly be charged with Flattery The proud Prelate Becket and the Unhappy Wit Sir Thomas More were for the Pope against their Kings But Sir Thomas Player is and will be for the King against the Pope and all his Adherents Many Trials of the Papists have of late been Printed in this Treatise is the greatest Trial of all and that is the Trial of our selves May your Conscience upon the perusal of it acquit you at present and pronounce you upright and may you be absolved and crowned at the great approaching day of Trial this is the Prayer of Sir Your most Humble Servant Nathanael Vincent TO THE READER Reader T IS an Argument of sufficient strength to prove that Man has lost his understanding by his sin that he is so unconcern'd about Himself so fearlesse of Eternal Ruine so negligent of Everlasting Salvation though prudent in secular and smaller matters yet he is perfectly phrantick in the greatest and most weighty concerns of another World If a man have a trial at Law is he thoughtful of the issue The Malefactour who is to be tried for his Life is sollicitous about the Judges sentence But though All must be tried and judged at the great Tribunal of the Lord of Heaven and Earth yet few very few regard it or think before hand what is like to be their unalterable Doom How truly lamentable is it that Souls should be thus drown'd in flesh and sensuallity So blinded by the Prince of Darkness as not to consider what is likely to become of themselves What must be their next Home when once they leave their present Tabernacle which is continually decaying and must fall down quickly may fall down suddenly To prove thy self is certainly thy Wisedom Ignorance of sins evil makes sin damnable ignorance of Satans wiles and devices makes them successful to destruction ignorance of a bad estate makes it so much the worse because 't is not probable it should be changed and not discerning the Grace that is in us keeps the Conscience and Heart upon the Rack Satan is gratified and the Comfort of the Spirit is refused Reader Converse with thy self will be very advantagious Why should Thou and thy self be perfect Strangers any longer Commune often with thy own Heart and reflect more upon thy Life this would be an excellent means to make both better I did not think when first I began to Preach upon this subject to have been so large upon it much less had I thoughts to make the discourse publick but the concurrent desire of a considerable number made me hope it had been already profitable unto many and might be useful unto more Reader Whether thou art to be reckoned among the Righteous or the Wicked be not unwilling to examine thy felf For if thou art serious in this matter the effect will be either a profitable fear and sorrow or good Hope and Peace and Joy Nathanael Vincent The CONTENTS THE Text Opened Page2 The Doctrine raised It highly concerns all to examine and prove themselves p. 3 self-Examination opened Six propositions premised p. 4 Seven things implied in Self-Examination p. 7. What of our selves is to be proved shewed in eleven particulars p. 12 Eight signs of our being in the Faith p. 19 Eight Evidences of Christ his being in us p. 27 The right manner of proving our selves in nine particulars p. 33 By what Rule and Touchstone this proof of our selves is to be made seven cautionary rules laid down to prevent mistaking p. 40 The right rule of judging p. 45 Nine signs of being in a state of Nature p. 46 Nine signs of being in a state of Grace p. 53 The special seasons when we are to prove our selves p. 62 Arguments perswading to Self-Examination p.
new Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away and all things become new The old Adam and deceitful lusts are put off and the new man put on which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness This Spirit of Christ mortifies the deeds of the Body Rom. 8. 13. and causes those who are led by him to walk in the Lords Statutes and he fills them with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God 7. If we are in Christ and he in us we shall endeavour to walk as he walked He is the unerring Pattern to be followers of Christ is certainly to go right 'T is in vain to say that we abide in him unless in some measure we resemble him and long to be more and more conformable to the Image of the Son of God The Apostle tells us 1 Joh. 2. 6. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked When we go about doing good when 't is our meat and drink to do the work and business of our heavenly Father when we walk in meekness and humility not rendring evil for evil or railing for railing but overcome evil with good then the same mind that was in Christ our Lord is also in us and 't is evident that Christ is in us of a truth 8. If Christ be in us we shall account it our happiness to be where he is and to behold his glory As long as we are upon Earth we are in a vale of Tears Sin remaining we cannot be free from trouble the remainders of flesh and corruption will make us sigh and cry O wretched Rom. 7. 24. But when we are absent from the Body we shall be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 8. and then we shall be compleatly freed from whatever is matter of complaint and sorrow Believers value Heaven though the hypocritical and carnal are earthly minded The Apostle propounds it as the highest comfort that Believers shall certainly be with the Lord and shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4. ult And Christ himself prays for this as the top of his Disciples happiness Joh. 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory This he promises to his Disciples to bear up their hearts and arm them against all fears and troubles whatsoever Joh. 14. 3. If I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also In the fourth place follows the Manner how we are to prove our selves 1. In Self-proving Self-love and Self-flattery must be banished Wicked men are said to flatter themselves in their own eyes until their iniquity be found to be hateful Psal 36. 2. that is till punishment overtake them and throughly convince them how hateful sin is in the eyes of an holy and Righteous God Self-flattery has undone thousands rather than have bad thoughts of themselves and their own condition they will frame a strange conception of God and think him like themselves and 't is ordinary to cry peace and promise safety to themselves till sudden destruction come upon them Psal 50. 21 22. These things hast thou done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver We must therefore deal plainly with our selves and pass a true judgment 2. A sufficient time must be allotted and allowed for this matter What is our time given us for but that we may make provision and sure work for Eternity Qui cito pronunciat ad pauca respicit He that judgeth hastily commonly judgeth amiss We must sequester our selves from other business that we may have a full conference with our selves Commune with your own heart upon your Bed says David and be still Psal 4. 4. that is when you are retired do this and be at leisure to understand what your hearts have to say for or against themselves If we commune but little but seldom with our hearts we may live and die ignorant of them 3. Self-proving ought to be managed with all possible seriousness and concernedness of spirit Matters which relate to our Estates and Livelihood are minded seriously and especially we do not trifle in matters of Life and Death But how much more serious should we be in a business upon which our eternal welfare does so very much depend A Mistake about our selves and our Spiritual Estate would be an undoing mistake indeed and after Death 't will be perceived and lamented but 't will be too late to rectifie and amend it And how much will it increase our woe to go out of the World with confidence that all 's Well and find our selves in Hell immediately after our dissolution where our condition will be so very ill and never never to be altered Our fear therefore must be the greater of being deceived and our care the more diligent to prevent it 4. We must be willing to Examine and Ransack our selves to the very bottom to know the worst to know the best to know the whole of our selves Travellers have taken a great deal of pains and gone many a weary step to view the greater World Man is a Microcosm little World And as in the greater World there is Terra Incognita much Land unknown so 't is in this lesser World much of it remains undiscovered Curiosity acts the Travellers in the viewing of Cities and Nations but truly Necessity should make us to take a view of our selves because Self-ignorance is so dangerous and damnable We are endued with a great many powers and faculties we have various affections desires and inclinations many imaginations reasonings and designs All these are corrupted by nature and need be renewed by the grace of God We should therefore be the more strict in searching that Sin wherever it lurks may not escape our knowledge and that grace also may be made manifest 5. All along the aid of the Spirit of God is to be called in David says Whither shall I go from thy Spirit and whether shall I flee from thy presence Psal 139. 7. The Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. Surely then the Spirit can discover the deepest things in Man 'T is the work of the Spirit to reprove the World of Sin He takes away the Fig leaves of excuses and presents Sin naked and bare He wipes off the paint that is upon Sin and shews the exceeding sinfulness of it that it may be lamented and abhorred He discovers also the truth of Grace and he does both infallibly His light and help therefore is the more to
the Emblem of one that knows the Word of God but neither loves nor obeys it A great head he has but his actions and steps bear no proportion to to the knowledge he has received 6. They that have no true grace may attain unto excellent gifts Judas and Demas were both Preachers of the Gospel and called upon others to turn to God and yet were not real Converts themselves Our Lord tells us that many will say to him in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name And yet they shall be bid to depart from him Mat. 7. 22 23. Many Ministers miscarry Many fall into Hell from under the Pulpit and our of the Pulpit they are able to preach to others and yet themselves are castaways These unsound ones aim at their own applause in the exercise of their gifts they hunt after honour they prefer gifts before grace and many times use their gifts amiss to divide and destroy and not to edfie the Church of Christ 7. They that have no true grace may have their Consciences exceedingly awakened and may be filled with the terrors of the Lord because of Sin Pashur had the name of Magor-missabib because of those terrors where with he was surrounded Oh what an agony was Judas in when he saw that Christ was indeed condemned and under these terrors there may be a confession of Sin I have sinned says Judas in that I have betrayed innocent blood I have sinned against the Lord and against you says Pharaoh to Moses But 't is to be observed concerning them that are unsound that their troubles do either drive them to carnal means to remove them or to desperate courses or if they do seek unto God 't is but for a while and they are glad when their trouble is gone that they may sin with greater freedom When he slew them then they sought him they returned and enquired early after God but yet their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his covenant Psal 78. 34-38 8. They that have no true grace may have some inclination towards and wishes after grace and holiness Agrippa his heart was somewhat inclin'd towards Christianity The young man in the Gospel had done something and was inclined to do more good that he might inherit Eternal Life Mat. 19. 16. But these wishes as they are weak and inconstant so they are inconsiderate When they hear that holiness is necessary to happiness they say Oh that we might be holy But when they understand that holiness is to hate every pleasing and gainful sin to keep unspotted from the World and to yield up their whole man unto God that he may dwell and rule in them and command all and make what use he pleases of them in his service to his glory then their ignorant and lazy wishes to be holy cool and vanish They are not for present and through Sanctification If they could have grace upon a Death-Bed just sufficient to keep them out of Hell they look upon that as the best time of having it which shews they are of Balaams mind and that they desire not to live the life but only to die the death of the Righteous 9. They that have no true grace may resolve upon a reformation nay actually reform in many things The Israelites of old when terrified by the voice of the Lord out of the midst of the Fire they speak thus to Moses Deut. 5. 27. Go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it Here was a good resolutin but when the Lord adds v. 29. Oh that there were an heart in them to fear me and keep all my Commandments always that it might be well with them forever It shews how unlikely 't was to be kept Such resolutions are made in distress and fear to stop the mouth of a clamorous Conscience and in their own strength and when the distress is over they break them as quickly and easily as Sampsons bands were snapt asunder And suppose there be an actual reformation as in Herod who heard John and observed him and did many things Mar. 6. 20. Yet the obedience is but partial there is not a following the Lord and his Word fully Herod forsook several of his iniquities but his incestuous love to Herodias his Brother Philips Wife he could not endure to be told of rather than pluck out this right eye he cuts off the Head of the Baptist who told him 't was unlawful for him to have her 10. They that have no true grace may not only lead an unblameable life but may suffer much upon the account of Religion The lives of the Pharisees were free from scandalous and notorious Crimes and yet their righteousness was insufficient according to our Lords sentence Nay as external active obedience may be yielded by them that are graceless in heart so some passive obedience also Judas was one of those twelve that forsook all and followed Christ but 't is likely 't was in hope of a greater gain for he kept the Bag and bare what was put therein and probably thought he should be a great man in the Kingdom of Messiah which he deemed a Temporal Kingdom Unsound ones are acted by vain glory in their sufferings not influenced by love to Christ and Truth And though they give their Bodies to be burned and have not this love what does it profit them 1 Cor. 13. 3. Some may undergo much but 't is to promote a Party not Christianity and though very stiff and stubborn in their sufferings yet much of the express Word of God they cast behind their backs 11. They that have no true grace may yet be very zealous in defending the Truths of the Gospel I grant Conversion to an Opinion is many times taken and mistaken for Conversion unto God though that Opinion is erroneous and such Zealots for erroneous Opinions care to talk of nothing else hardly the most warm and spiritual discourses are not savoury to them they are apt to judge all that are not of their way though never so holy but connive at Sin in those that side with them and while their heads are busie about their Opinions their spirits hearts and lives are not lookt after But I go farther and affirm that Graceless ones may espouse the quarrel of Truth and stand up for the defence of the Gospel The Apostle tells us of some that did preach Christ not sincerely not of good will but even of envy and strife yet he rejoyced that Christ was preached and the truth of the Gospel published and maintained Phil. 1. 15 16 18. Many may speak for that which is really truth and defend Tenents that are sound and Orthodox but these Opinions are entertained only as Opinions they float in their heads but sink not down into their hearts neither do they care practically to improve
in the weighty concerns of another World Any thing satisfies him and makes him securely to say all is well If Satan tell him as he did our first Parents that he shall not surely dye Satan is believed the God of Truth and the Word of Truth being disregarded How many when they hear the Words Curse do bless themselves in their hearts and say they shall have peace though they walk on after the imagination of their evil heart therefore the Lord threatens that his anger and jealousie shall smoke against such and he will blot out their names from under Heaven Deut. 29. 19 20. Are they reproved for Sin They say All are Sinners whereas Penitents forsake presumptuous Sins and are willing to forsake all but these Self-deluders are hardly willing to forsake any They bear up upon this that God is merciful and yet they slight and abuse his mercy preferring their vanities and lusts before it and go on to injure his Justice and provoke him to Jealousie They are full of hope because Christ died and yet they thwart one great end of his Death and will not be the better for it for they refuse to dye to Sin and live to Righteousness 3. If it highly concerns all to prove themselves hence we may infer what an advantage it is to enjoy the light of the Word of God This is a Glass that flatters none It discovers what Sin is and where it is It calls Grace Grace and will speak peace to them that are the Sons of peace but on the contrary it will tell the Sinner though he be never so high in the World never so high in his vain hopes Thou art the man that lovest and livest in thy iniquity therefore thou art under wrath a Son of Death and in danger of eternal damnation This word convinces of Sin shews the necessity of turning unto God and is a great means of Conversion and afterwards by discovering of Grace it proves the joy and rejoycing of the heart The Unbelievers and Ungodly need this Word and ought to prize it for it shews them their guilt and a Mediatour their sore and also a Physician and faith is wrought by the hearing of it Rom. 10. 17. The Saints have loved this Word exceedingly Hark how the Psalmist cries out Psal 89. 15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance 4. Hence we may also infer the benefit of a searching Ministery Seers that will see vain visions are not worth hearing and Prophets that prophesy only smooth things had better prophesy nothing at all for they prophesy nothing but deceit Such Prophets are guilty of the blood of Souls and utterly ruine them while they heal them slightly crying peace peace when there is no peace Jer. 6. 14. Such Pastors destroy the Lords Vineyard such Dawbers are not Builders of the House of God How sad is it when the blind lead the blind both they that are led and they that are the leaders fall into the bottomless pit of perdition But a plain dealing Minister that rebukes Sin sharply that gives warning in time to flee from eternal wrath that commends himself to every mans conscience in the sight of God that speaks as if he knew mens hearts and discovers their secret thoughts to them that is a Son of thunder to the wicked and a Son of consolation to the broken hearted and has the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to the weary and heavy laden Such a Shepherd is a great blessing to the Flock ought highly to be esteemed in love for his work sake and may be an happy instrument to save himself and them that hear him 5. Hence we may further infer the great necessity of the Spirits aid Unless he enlighten the eyes of our understandings we shall pass a wrong judgment upon our selves and every thing else also A subtle Serpent and a deceitful heart will be too hard for the most powerful Preacher breathing if the Spirit of the Lord does not second and set home the word preached The Spirit as I said before takes the Glass of the Law and holds it before the Sinner that he may see therein both his heart and life and then and truely not till then he will cry out Alass alass What have I been What have I done Where am I And whither will my Sins at last bring me The Spirit can charge Sin so home that there is no denial no excuse made The Sinner trembles confesses laments begs pardon consents to forsake his wickedness Thus Ephraim after he was instructed is ashamed and confounded because of his abominations The Publican being made sensible he was a Sinner cries out God be merciful And as the Spirit convinces the Sinner so he discovers to the Saint what God has given him not only the things themselves which are great and glorious but also the Saints interest in those things 1 Cor. 2. 12. Now we have received not the Spirit of this World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know those things which are freely given to us of God 6. If it highly concerns all to prove themselves learn hence the hatred and subtlety of Satan in Staving men off from this duty All his subjects are a company of inconsiderate fools if they would but bethink themselves they would become wiser than to serve such a Master This Enemy cannot endure that wicked men should look downward to Hell for fear they should be awakened and affrighted nor that they should look inward into themselves for fear they should see themselves lost and look out for a Saviour nor that they should look upwards unto God for fear they should be converted and healed The Devil hates Souls therefore is unwilling that any care should be taken about them he cannot abide that any should inquire into their Spiritual state therefore he endeavours to divert them he allures some with wealth bewitches others with pleasures intoxicates others with applause and honour he represents Self-examination to be Self-tormenting and holiness a meer Hell upon Earth But in all this he shews his falshood as well as enmity What madness is it to listen to him as a Leader and Counseller who is both a Liar and a Murtherer 7. Hence we may learn the great Error of the Church of Rome in crying down Assurance and consequently discouraging Self-examination The Council of Trent Sess 6. has impiously determin'd and declared Certitudo remissionis peccatorum est vana omni pietate remota fiducia The Saints assurance of the pardon of Sin is a vain and ungodly confidence How have they here blasphemed against the Comforter in making all his joys and consolations which suppose Sin to be pardon'd altogether vain The Scripture speaks after another manner Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father 1 Joh. 4. 16.
and amazing kindness and love of God The Father himself looks here and is delighted in the Obedience and Sufferings of his Son through whom without any prejudice to his Justice and Holiness his Grace and Mercy have a full vent and a free course to be glorified among the Sons of men The Beleivers under the Old Testament looked unto Jesus though he was more darkly represented to them Moses and the Prophets spake of him and Abraham himself rejoyced to see his day And under the New Testament he is more fully revealed Here therefore I will fix my eye and living and dying Behold this Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World MEDITATION XII I am in my self a lost Creature My sins my sins have ruin'd me the sins which I have lov'd and pleaded for and taken so much pleasure in have done me the greatest harm Wo wo is me that I have sinned I have broken the best Law and rebelled against the best Lord. I have sided with the Enemies of my Salvation to destroy my self 'T is an endless task to number the Stars in the Firmament or the Sand upon the Sea shore or the days of Eternity and I may as well do all this as number my iniquities Innumerable Evils have compassed me about my iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more then the hairs of my Head therefore my heart faileth me And if the wages of the least sin be Death and Hell what large wages and what a low place in Hell have I deserved Gods anger is just his power is terrible his patience is wonderful his mercy is utterly undeserved I should be all despair were it not for the Grace of God and the Blood of God but these are sufficient grounds of hope and Everlasting Consolation MEDITATION XIII I plainly perceive that all mankind have suffered shipwrack The first man Adam had the steering of the Vessel and he run it upon the Rocks and lost himself and his whole progeny All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God The calamity is general the whole World is become guilty before God there is none that understandeth or seeketh after God there is none that doeth good no not one 'T is truly lamentable that the humane nature should be so infected so corrupted as that every mind should be carnal and enmity against God that every Heart should be like an adamant stone that every neck should be like an iron sinew All are born the Children of wrath and with strong inclinations to be the Children of Disobedience So that when the Son of God came into the World to dye and save it He found the World lying in wickedness secure in sin and hastning towards Everlasting misery MEDITATION XIV Whence is this to Man that a Saviour should be provided for him Were there no Creatures fell besides Yes an innumerable Host of Angels kept not their first estate but left their own Habitation The Angels that sinned were excellent and glorious in their first Creation but they grew proud and Enemies to Truth and voluntarily departed and were justly banished from the Lord that made them And when these Angels sinned no mercy that we read of was extended to them The Scripture expressely says that God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell That was a dreadful fall indeed from the highest Heaven to the lowest Hell those mighty Spirits are fettered in Chains of darkness and are reserved unto the judgement of the great day they never that we find had a Redeemer provided nor a pardon offered nor after they had made themselves miserable were they ever brought within the reach and possibility of Mercy The Son of God took not on him the nature of Angels or he took not hold of the Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham MEDITATION XV. Lord What was man that thou wert thus mindful of him Or the Son of man that the Son of God should come and visit him Admirable condescension That thou whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain shouldst rejoyce in the habitable parts of the Earth and that thy delights should be with the Sons of men Can man be profitable unto God Is it any gain to the Almighty that any make their ways perfect Lord Man has the benefit of Salvation 't is but reason that thou shouldst have intirely all the Glory Man is therefore subservient to thine honour because his meanness makes thy condescension and his guilt and vileness does render thy Grace the more wonderful When 〈◊〉 Creature so undeserving nay that deserves so ill is so highly advanced as to be saved the power and grace which does advance and save him is matter of the greater admiration MEDITATION XVI Who is this Lord Jesus that undertakes the work of mans Redemption He is the express Image of his Fathers Person the Brightness of his Glory He is to be Worshipped with the same Worship and has the same Eternal Power and Godhead with the Father and the Spirit He it is who created all things in Heaven and Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist The Elect Angels adore him the Reprobate ones he has spoyled and triumphed over he has all power in Heaven and Earth and Commands the Keys of Hell and Death He is Wonderful in Counsel the Mighty God the Prince of Peace How safe is it then to trust in this Lord Jesus 't is the highest reason to believe in him that is so mighty that is Almighty for the must needs be able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him Whosoever Believeth in him shall not be confounded MEDITATION XVII O my Soul let thy Faith be fixed and settled on the Godhead of thy Lord and Saviour were he not God 't were both sin and folly to rely upon him Faith in him would be altogether vain but since he is the true God and Eternal Life They shall not perish but have Everlasting Life that do indeed beleive in him Christ thy Righteousness is the Lord Jehovah in him therefore thou mayst confidently expect to be justified and thou mayst Glory and rejoyce for ever The Blood of Christ is called Gods own Blood because 't is the Blood of him that is truly God and over all God blessed forever as well as truly man And surely the sufferings of him that was God can make satisfaction for the sins that thou hast been guilty of against God Thou art amazed to see thy iniquities increased and thy Trespasse grown up to the Heavens Thou art astonished and desolate and horribly afraid to see how high thy sin strikes even at God himself But withal take notice how Christ who is God does stoop and humble himself He that thought it no Robbery to be equal
with God the Father takes upon him the form of a Servant and becomes obedient to death even the Death of the Crosse and he is sufficient to make peace MEDITATION XVIII Christ as he was God could not die but he took mans nature upon him that he might be in a capacity to dye for sinful and lost Man He suffered in the same Nature that had sinned that he might make Atonement Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings could never take away the guilt of sin nor quiet the Conscience of the sinner nor cleanse and sanctifie a defiled soul therefore Christ had a Body prepared for him that by one Offering he might perfect his Church for ever Wonderful mystery of Godliness That God should be manifested in the Flesh and suffer upon the Cross to make peace Here is a wonderful contrivance Christ is the Sacrifice Christ is the Altar and Christ is the Priest Through the Eternal Spirit he offered up himself without spot to God to purge our Consciences from dead works that we might serve the Living God MEDITATION XXI Christ is God and has so effectually don the work of a Mediator that God is forward to be at Peace and entreats sinners to be reconciled Christ is Man and therefore Man may go with boldness to him O my Soul Thy Lord is near a kin to thee he bears good will to thy whole kind He is the Saviour of all men especially of them that Believe Being so nearly related to thee he has a right to Redeem thee nay he has actually paid the price of thy Redemption already so that nothing remains but that thou come to him and be made free indeed His Arms were not folded or hanging down but stretched out upon the Cross And oh How forward is this Saviour who died to embrace all that come to him When he says he will in No wise cast them out methinks it speaks the greatest readiness and gladness imaginable to entertain them Venture O venture to look to Jesus to come to Jesus and venture thy all with him Never any miscarried in this bottom and all must needs miscarry in any other He knows thy Sins thy Wants thy Foes thy Fears he knows how to Pity Protect and Succour thee He was in all things made like unto his Brethren that he might be a Merciful and Faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make Reconciliation for the sins of the People for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he knows how to succour them that are tempted MEDITATION XX. How excellent is the Knowledge of Christ Crucified Look O my Soul upon thy Lord who loved thee at such a rate as to dye for thee Behold him Arrested Arraigned and Condemned Thou wast guilty of the crime and thy Lord did bear the punishment Behold him going to execution going unto Golgotha and if he had not gone thither whither Oh! Whither must thou needs have gone for ever The Law had condemned Thee not only the first but also the second Death was the just desert of thy Transgressions But here thy Surety stept in and Redeemed thee from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for thee Look upon the Wrath of God revealed against thee because of thy ungodliness and unrighteousness look upon the glittering Sword of Justice drawn look upon devouring Fire and Everlasting Burnings prepared for thee and thy self just ready to be thrown into those unquenchable Flames And then behold and wonder at the kindness and love of Jesus who was willing to be made sin for thee and to bear the Wrath of God himself that he might appease it which was too heavy for thee to bear and which would have sunk thee into the lowest Hell and have kept thee there unto Eternity In what a deplorable and desperate case had the Sheep been if this good Shepherd had not stood in their room and layed down his Life for them MEDITATION XXI History tells us of Codrus the last Athenian King who was a great Lover of his People as appears by the manner of his Dying When the Grecians of Doris sought Counsel from the Oracle concerning the success of their Wars which they waged with the Athenians It was answered that undoubtedly they should prevail and become Lords of that State when they could obtain any victory against the Nation and yet preserve the Athenian King himself alive Codrus the King by some intelligence being informed of this answer withdrew himself from his own Forces and putting on the habit of a common Souldier he entred alone the Camp of the Dorians his Enemies and killing the first he met with was himself forthwith cut in pieces Thus he was willing to lose his own life rather then his Country should be ruined The Lord Jesus the Prince of Life and Glory did vail his Majesty appeared in the form of a Servant was contented to be counted a deceiver and to be numbred among Transgressours that his Life might be taken away and hereby Eternal Redemption be procured Codrus was deservedly honoured among the Athenians and certainly the Lord Jesus should be the higher in our esteem and love the lower he humbled and abased himself for our sakes The offence of the Crosse should cease since his Crucifixion was so necessary to our Eternal Salvation MEDITATION XXII Greater Love hath no man then this that a man lay down his Life for his Friends But Lord Thou didst dye for Rebels and for Enemies thou didst dye unsought to undesired therefore thy love is greater then the greatest love besides Thy love was stronger then Death no Water could quench it no Floods could drown it Hell it self could not discourage it 'T was a bitter Cup the Father put into thy hand but thou didst drink it and drink it off too the very dreggs of the Cup are gone Oh what a load did lye upon thee All the sins of all that ever were or shall be saved did meet on thee together How many stings had thy Death and yet thy Godhead and thy love did carry thee through all thy sufferings Oh! That I could comprehend with all Saints what is the heighth and length and depth and breadth and know the Love of Christ which passeth Knowledge that I may be filled with all the fulness of God! MEDITATION XXIII My Lord did know what was to come upon him Mans sin had been shamefull Christs Death was most Reproachful and Accursed Man had taken Pleasure in sin Christs Death was painful Man had been wilful in Transgression and Christs Death was voluntary though 't was violent Man had sinned against knowledge and with great contrivance and deliberation and Christ perfectly understood all that he was to endure He was well aware what he was to feel from Earth from Hell and from his heavenly Father and yet he makes no demur but endures the Cross and despises the shame and gives his Life a Ransom for many How was he straitned till his bloody Baptism was accomplished And
when his Disciple Peter through an ignorant and carnal Affection would have hindred him from dying for his Church how sharply does he rebuke him Get thee behind me Satan for thou art an offence to me thou savourest not the things that be of God but the things that be of men MEDITATION XXIV Dearest Lord Wert thou thus forward to dye and art thou not forward to reap the fruit of thy Death and to receive and save the Souls that come to thee If a Woman in Travel be willing to be delivered I need not question but thou art willing to see of the Travel of thy Soul since 't is so much for thy own satisfaction so much for thy Fathers Glory Certainly thou will not reject sinners that come to thee since thou hast done and suffered so much for their Salvation If thou hadst been really unwilling to save as sometimes Satan misrepresents thee that unwillingness would have shew'd it self when thou wast in thy terrible Agony when thy Soul was amazed and full of heaviness and exceeding sorrowful unto Death when the Heaven was black over thee and thy Fathers Face hid from thee and thou didst cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But all this thou didst willingly undergo to save lost Man and therefore thy willingness to bestow the Salvation thou hast purchased is not to be questioned For surely thou art not willing that such a Death as thine so sharp so bitter and of so great value should be in vain MEDITATION XXV I do not wonder that the Apostle Paul does magnifie the knowledge of Christ Crucified above all other knowledge compared with this all the Philosophy of the Greeks was but vain legal prerogatives and indeed all the Ceremonies of the Law were but insignificant Christ Crucified Though he be a stumbling block to the Jews and to the Greeks foolishness yet he is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God and the greatest demonstration of his love I do not wonder that the Lords Supper should be instituted on purpose that the Crucifixion of Christ should be remembred for the Death of Christ is the sinners life the Foundation of his hope and his security against Eternal Death The Gospel is styled the Preaching of the Cross and the Apostle is resolved to Glory in nothing else the Truth is we can take comfort in no other knowledge unless we have some respect and relation to Christ and him Crucified The Papists foolishly adore the sign of the Cross but true Beleivers do prize the Doctrine the Blood and the Vertue of Christ Crucified MEDITATION XXVI What sights may I see in my Lord Crucified Peace is made by the Blood of the Cross and all things Reconciled both in Heaven and Earth The Saints who lived and dyed before Christ was born were reconciled to God by the Blood of his Son which was to be shed in time as well as Believers since his being manifested in the Flesh In Christ Crucified the Anger of God is appeased his Justice fully satisfied and though the Christians debt amounts unto millions of Talents yet justice acknowledgeth that Christ his surety has paid it all Look upon God in Christ and you will see that Fury is not in him through the Lord Jesus you may see his very Bowels he does earnestly remember sinners his Bowels are troubled for them and he will surely have mercy upon them Oh certain and comfortable Truths That the Lord is the God of Love and Peace that he waits to be Gracious that he delights in shewing mercy and takes pleasure in them that hope in his mercy if that hope be accompanied with a fear and careful eschewing of what is evil in his sight MEDITATION XXVII In Christ Crucified I may see a New Covenant of Grace and Life and Peace established so that it is most sure and Everlasting Jesus is the Mediatour of this Covenant and every time I come to the Table this Covenant is sealed and confirmed to me that I may with the greater confidence expect the accomplishment of the promises which are contained in it These Promises are exceeding great and precious Temporal blessings in such a measure as the Wise God sees convenient are here made over to me for he that is a Son and Heir of God is the Heir of the World the Heir of all things Spiritual blessings which are of greater value are more absolutely promised and may with greater vehemency be desired and with greater confidence expected And as the Lord has engaged to give me Grace so to give me Glory he has said he will give me himself and be my God and Guide my Shield and my exceeding great Reward And truly the Ordinances of Heaven are not so immutable and unchangeable as the Covenant of Redemption and Reconciliation Heaven and Earth shall passe away but one joy or tittle shall in no wise pass from the Covenant till all be fulfilled MEDITATION XXVIII In Christ Crucified I may see the Curse of the Law removed the sentence of condemnation reversed the sting of Death taken out the Principallities and Powers of darkness triumphed over I may see Hell fast lockt and shut up for ever and Heaven opened a way made plain in to the Holiest of all an abundant entrance administred into the Everlasting Kingdom Who would not study the Cross of Christ Who would not Glory and rejoyce in it Who would not desire conformity to it and to feel the power and vertue of it They that are Enmies to the Cross of Christ are Enemies to their own Souls They that are offended at the Cross 't is a sign they are blind and do no understand the benefits which comes by it MEDITATION XXIX Do this in remembrance of me said my dying Lord and Redeemer Lord Can I put my memory to a better use then to remember Thee Thy Tears thy strong Cryes thy being cruelly Mockt and Scourged thy dreadful Agonies and Desertion the peircing of thy Hands and Feet and Side thy Wounds and Bruises and giving up the Ghost and making thy Soul an Offering for sin and sinners Shall all or any this be forgotten The sufferings of such an One such sufferings so great so beneficial to me should always be kept in most affectionate remembrance Thy Death and Burial should never be buried in oblivion A dying Lord should always live in a Christians memory If the poor Captives in Babylon could not forget Jerusalem shall I ever forget Jesus Or my obligation to him or the Love and service which I owe him I desire to grieve for sin which made thee sorrowful and to be prickt at the Heart for my iniquities whereby thy Heart was pierced And as I wish that sin may be more my grief so I would prefer Jesus before my chief Joy MEDITATION XXX My Lord at the Table says Take and eat this is my Body This is infinitely more and better then if a Rich man should say to me take my estate or then
to serve me too much mine to do me any real harm Christ by dying has taken out the sting of Death so that I need not any longer be under bondage through the Fear of Death O Death Thou hast left thy sting in the side of Christ and there hast lost it O Grave My Lord has broke thy gates open and because he is risen I may joyfully conclude my own Resurrection My body must lye in darkness for a while but it shall not always be Death's Prisoner This corruptible shall put on incorruption this mortal shall put on immortality and as the Corn cast into the ground does rise with advantage every single grain yeilding sometimes an hundred fold so my flesh shall come up out of the Earth with an hundred fold better qualities then now it has 'T is sown in weakness 't is raised in power 't is sown in dishonour 't is raised in glory But O my Soul Death will not be able at all to seize on thee Thou wilt be delivered out of a dungeon when thou leavest thine Earthly Tabernacle and go unto a glorious Palace assoon as ever thou art absent from the Body thou wilt be present with the Lord assoon as thou art departed thou will be with Christ and how much better that is thou wilt find to thy full and Everlasting joy MEDITATION XLVIII If my Beloved is mine and all things mine is there not reason I should be His His I am and His I will be to eternity Lord I am Thine for thou hast made me and not I my self I am thine by the right of purchase as well as Creation for thou hast bought me with a price Nay thou hast new made me on purpose for thine own use and that I should shew forth thy praises And I do willingly resign and yeild my self to thee if I am thy Servant make use of me if I am thy Treasure keep me if I am a child let me be imployed in my Fathers business if I am Betrothed to thee let thy love and jealousie secure me from other Lovers Oh let me be wholly only always Thine Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity Let my tongue be like an Angels continually sounding forth thy Name Let my hands be holy the path of my feet pondered let all my members be yeilded as instruments of Righteousness and let my soul with all its powers love and serve thee Lord sanctifie and satisfie and save me and honour me by employing me for I lift up my soul and give my very heart to thee MEDITATION XLIX Ten thousand times ten thousand praises to the God of love and peace Who would not worship thee and give thee glory O thou King of Saints Let thy Church on Earth as well as Heaven ring aloud with Hallelujah's Who is God save the Lord who is a Rock save our God! Who in Heaven above or in Earth beneath is to be compared to Thee a God glorious in holiness terrible in Majesty rich in mercy abounding in Grace wonderful in working and keeping truth for ever Who can by searching find out God! who can find out the Almighty to perfection It is high as Heaven what can we do Deeper then Hell what can we know Who is a God like unto thee abundant in loving kindness goodness and truth Delighting in mercy Forgiving iniquity Transgression and sin and reconciling the world to himself in Christ Glory be to God in the highest for such good will towards men Let the Heavens rejoyce and let the Earth be glad let the Sea roar and the fulness thereof Let the floods clap their hands and the hills be joyful together Let all the creatures joyn in magnifying that God which made them And let all Saints shout aloud for joy unto Him who has visited and redeemed them MEDITATION L. Lord How much art thou above thy Creatures reach Who besides thy self can conceive thy excellency Who can shew forth all thy praise Thou art exalted above the blessing and the thoughts of Angels above the songs of Seraphims Everlasting thanksgivings are thy due Oh let me live with thee to Eternity that I may ever be paying this debt of praises Bless the Lord ye innumerable company of Angels which excell in strength who see the Glory of your Maker and Lord Praise him O ye Thrones Dominions Principallities and Powers Exalt that mighty and gracious God who elected and confirmed you when so many other Angels sinn'd and are eternally left and miserable in their Apostacy O all ye Triumphant Saints that are with the Lamb upon the heavenly Mount Sion Strike up with your Harps and if it be possible let your strains be still higher and higher Ascribe blessing and honour and glory and power unto Him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever O thou Militant Church Begin this heavenly work of praising here on Earth Thy Redemption and deliverance is begun and will most certainly be compleated The Captain of thy Salvation will stand by thee in thy spiritual warfare and having made thee more then victorious over all thy Enemies will bestow upon thee the promised Crown of life and glory MEDITATION LI. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name What hast thou breath for but that it should be spent in his praises Wherefore hast thou a tongue at command but that it should be employed in glorifying thy Lord and hereby become thy glory Should not a slave that has been in very hard and cruel bondage be thankful to him that redeemed him Should not a Malefactor condemned to dye be thankful unto Him that pardoned him Should not the patient that has laboured under a Death threatning distemper be thankful to the Physician that has cured him And how much greater reason is there O my Soul that thou shouldst abound in thanksgivings unto thy God and Saviour Thou wast in the worst sense enslaved and he has made thee free indeed Thou wast condemned to the second Death to be separated for ever from the Lord and to be thrown into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone and he by dying himself has purchased a pardon for thee Thou wast sick of spiritual which are the worst kind of plagues and He is the Lord that heals thee Awake Awake Oh my soul Awake Awake And utter a song of praise Rejoyce in Christ Jesus Glory in the Father of mercies Who forgiveth all thy iniquities who healeth all thy Diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies MEDITATION LII Shall I not magnifie and advance my Lord who am so highly advanced my self I was once in darkness and securely went on towards the blackness of darkness forever but I am called out of darkness into marvellous light â— I was once a stranger and a forreiner but now I am a fellow Citizen with the Saints and of the houshold of God I am become a child of God who