we all lie down in our bed of earth as sure to wake as ever we can be to shut our eyes In and from thee O blessed Saviour is this our assurance who art the first fruits of them that sleep The first handfull of the first fruits was not presented for it self but for the whole field wherein it grew The vertue of that oblation extended it self to the whole crop Neither didst thou O blessed Jesu rise again for thy self only but the power and vertue of thy resurrection reaches to all thine so thy chosen Vessel tels us Christ the first fruits afterwards they that are Christs at his coming So as though the resurrection be of all the dead both just and unjust yet to rise by the power of thy resurrection is so proper to thine own as that thou O Saviour hast styled it the resurrection of the just whiles the rest shall be drag'd out of their graves by the power of thy God-head to their dreadful judgment Already therefore O Jesu are we risen in thee and as sure shall rise in our own persons The Loco-motive faculty is in the head Thou who art our head art risen we who are thy members must and shall follow Say then O my dying body say boldly unto Death Rejoyce not over me O mine enemy for though I fall yet I shall rise again Yea Lord the vertue of thy first fruits diffuseth it self not to our rising only but to a blessed immortality of these bodies of ours for as thou didst rise immortall and glorious so shall we by and with thee Who shalt change these vile bodies and make them like to thy glorious body The same power that could shake off death can put on glory and Majesty Lay thee down therefore O my body quietly and cheerfully and look to rise in another hue Thou art sown in corruption thou shalt be raised in incorruption thou art sown in dishonour thou shalt be raised in glory thou art sown in weaknesse but shalt be raised in power XXXVI In this life in this death of the body O Lord I see there are no degrees though differences of time The man that dyed yesterday is as truly dead as Abel the first man that dyed in the world and Methuselah that lived nine hundred sixty nine years did not more truly live then the childe that did but salute and leave the world but in the life to come and the second death there are degrees degrees of blessedness to the glorified degrees of torments to the damned the least whereof is unspeakable unconceivable Oh thou that art the Lord of life and death keep my soul from those steps that go down to the chambers of death and once set it for higher I dare not sue to go but over the threshold of glory and blessedness XXXVII O Lord my God I am as very a Pilgrime as ever walked upon thy earth Why should I look to be in any better condition then my neighbours then my forefathers Even the best of them that were most fixed upon their inheritance were no other then strangers at home It was not in the power of the world to naturalize them much less to make them enroll themselves free-Denizons here below they knew their country which they sought was above so infinitely rich and pleasant that these earthly regions which they must pass thorough are in comparison worthy of nothing but contempt My condition is no other then theirs I wander here in a strange country What wonder is it if I meet with forrainers fare hard usage and neglect Why do I intermeddle with the affaires of a nation that is not mine Why do I clog my self in my way with the base and heavy lumber of the world Why are not my affections homeward Why do I not long to see and enjoy my fathers house O my God thou that hast put me into the state of a Pilgrim give me a Pilgrims heart set me off from this wretched world wherein I am let me hate to think of dwelling here Let it be my only care how to pass through this miserable wilderness to the promised land of a blessed eternitie XXXVIII One Talent at the least O Lord hast thou put into my hand and that sum is great to him that is not worth a dram but alas what have I done with it I confess I have not hid it in a napkin but have been laying it out to some poor advantage yet surely the gain is so unanswerable that I am afraid of an Audit I see none of the approved servants in the Gospel brought in an increase of less value then the receit I fear I shall come short of the sum O thou who justly holdest thy self wronged with the style of an austere master vouchsafe to accept of my so mean improvement and thou who valuedst the poor widows mites above the rich gifts cast into thy Treasurie be pleased to allow of those few pounds that my weak indevors could raise from thy stock and mercifully reward thy servant not according to his success but according to his true intentions of glorifying thee XXXIX What a word is this which I hear from thee O Saviour Behold I stand at the doore and knock Thou which art the Lord of life God blessed for ever to stand and knock at the door of a sinful heart Oh what a praise is this of thy mercy and long suffering What a shame to our dull neglect and graceless ingratitude For a David to say I waited patiently upon the Lord Truly my soul waiteth upon God it is but meet and comely for it is no other then the duty of the greatest Monarchs on earth yea of the highest Angels in Heaven to attend their Maker but for thee the great God of Heaven to wait at the door of us sinful dust and ashes what a condescension is this what a longanimity It were our happiness O Lord if upon our greatest suit and importunity we might have the favor to entertain thee into our hearts but that thou shouldst importune us to admit thee and shouldst wait at the posts of our doors till thine head be filled with dew and thy locks with the drops of the night it is such a mercy as there is not room enough in our souls to wonder at In the mean time what shall I say to our wretched unthankfulnes and impious negligence Thou hast graciously invited us to thee and hast said knock and it shall be opened and yet thou continuest knocking at our doors and we open not willingly delaying to let in our happiness we know how easie it were for thee to break open the brasen doors of our brests and to come in but the Kingdome of Heaven suffers not violence from thee though it should suffer it from us Thou wilt do all thy works in a sweet and gracious way as one who will not force but win love Lord I cannot open unless thou that
yet this was that which caused her just joy That she had not so much children as nations in her womb even so the trouble of this inward conflict is abundantly requited with the joy of this assurance That now Christ is come into our soul and is working his own desired ends in and upon us Let vain and sensual hearts please themselves in their inward peace and calmness there cannot be a greater signe of gracelesness and disfavor of God When they shall say Peace Peace then shall come upon them sudden destruction The old word was No safety in War here it is contrary It is this intestine war of the heart with fire and sword to our corruptions that must bring us true rest for the present and hereafter eternal peace and happiness Now Lord since it is thy desire that this fire should be kindled kindle thou and enflame my heart with a fervent desire and endeavor that this thy desire may be accomplished in me Set me at war with my self that I may be at peace with thee XVI In all that we have to do with God he justly requires and expects from us an awful disposition of heart towards his infiniteness hereupon it was that he delivered his Law in thunder fire smoke and all dreadful magnificence And when upon the same day he would send down his Spirit for the propagation of the Gospel it was done with an astonishing Majesty with a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and with the apparition of cloven and fiery tongues And as it was thus in the descent of the Holy Ghost in the miraculous gifts so it is in the sanctifying Graces Seldom ever doth God by them seize upon the heart but with a vehement concussion going before That of S t Pauls conversion was extraordinary and miraculous but in some degree it is thus in every soul We are struck down first and are made sensible of our spiritual blindness ere our full call be accomplished as it was with Elijah in the Mount of Horeb There came first a strong wind that tore the Rocks and Mountains and after that an earth-quake then a fire before the still small voyce so it is usually in our brests ere the comfortable voyce of Gods Spirit speak to our hearts there must be some blustrings and flashes of the Law It is our honor and his favor that we are allowed to love God it is our duty to fear him We may be too familiar in our love we cannot be too awful in our fear XVII All valuations of these outward things are arbitrary according to the opinion of their pleasure or their rarity or the necessity of their use Did not mens mindes set a price upon mettals what were they better then some other entrails of the earth or one better then other If by publike law the mint were ordained to be onely supplyed by our stanneries how currantly would they pass for more precious then silver mines To an Indian a bracelet of worthless Beads is estimated above his Gold an hungry Esau values a mess of pottage above his birth-right In the siege of Samaria an Asses head was sold for fourscore peeces of silver and a Kab of Doves dung for five peeces We have heard that those of Angola have valued a Dog at the price of many slaves In all these earthly commodities the market rises and falls according to conceit and occasion neither is there any intrinsecal and setled worth in any of them onely Spiritual things as Vertue and Grace are good in themselves and so carry their infinite value in them that they make their owner absolutely rich and happy When therefore I see a rich man hugging his bags and admiring his wealth I look upon that man with pity as knowing the poorness of that pelf wherein he placeth his felicity neither can I behold him with other eyes then those wherewith a discreet European sees a savage Indian priding himself in those trifles which our children have learned to contemn On the other side when I see a man rich in the endowments of minde well-fraught with knowledg eminent in goodness and truly gracious I shall rise up to that man how homely so ever his outside be as the most precious and excellent peece which this world can afford XVIII Should I but see an Angel I should look with Manoah to dye no other death then the sight of that glory and yet even that Angel is fain to hide his face as not able to behold the infinite Majesty of God his Creator When Moses did but talk with God in the Mount for fourty days his face did so shine that the Israelites could not look upon the lustre of his countenance even the very presence of the Divine Majesty not onely hath but communicates glory Lord that I could see but some glimpse of the reflection of those glorious beams of thine upon my soul how happy should I be in this vision whose next degree is perfectly beatifical XIX As good so evil is apt to be communicative of it self and this so much more as it meets with subjects more capable of evil then good the breath of a plague-sick man taints the air round about him yea the very sight of blear eyes infects the sound and one yawning mouth stretcheth many jaws How many have we known that have been innocent in their retiredness miserably debaucht with leud conversation Next to being good is to consort with the vertuous It is the most merciful improvement of an holy power to separate the precious from the vile it is the highest praise of a constant goodness for a Lot to be righteous in the midst of Sodom XX. We are all apt to put off the blame of our miscarriages from our selves Even in paradise we did so It was the woman saith Adam it was the Serpent saith the woman How have we heard fond gamesters cast the blame of their ill luck upon the standers by which intermedled nothing but by a silent eye-sight So the idolatrous Pagans of old though flagitiously wicked yet could impute their publike judgments to none but the Christians whose onely innocence was their protection from utter ruine So foolishly partial doth our self-love render us to our own demerits that all are guilty save our selves Yea rather then we will want shifts our very stars shall be blamed which are no more accessary to our harms then our eyes are to the Eclipses of their most eminent Lights As on the contrary we are ready to arrogate unto our selves those blessings which the meer bounty of Divine Providence hath cast upon us whereto we could not contribute so much as an hand to receive them but by the mercy of the giver It cannot be well with me till I have learned to correct this palpable injustice in both challenging to my self all my errors and guilt of sufferings and yielding to God the praise his own free and gracious beneficence XXI How profitable and
servant would have hated to take upon him the trade of a begger Service is a lawful calling beggery not so he that gave life to all creatures could take a maintenance from them without asking he that did command the fish to bring the tribute money for himself and his disciples and could multiply a few loaves and fishes for the relief of thousands could rather raise a sustenance to himself and his then beg it But here was neither need nor cause even ordinary means failed not many wealthy followers who had received cures and miraculous deliverances besides heavenly doctrine from him ministred to him of their substance neither was this out of charity but out of duty in the charge which he gave to his disciples when he sent them by payrs to preach abroad he tells them the laborer is worthy of his wages and can we think this rule doth not much more hold concerning himself had not himself and his family been furnished with a meet stock raised from hence what purse was it which Judas bore and how could he be a theif in his office if his bags were empty He therefore that could say It is a more blessed thing to give then to receive certainly would not choose when it was in his power rather to receive then give The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof and he distributes it as he pleaseth amongst the children of men For me I hope I shall have the grace to be content with whatsoever share shall fall to my lot but my prayer shall be that I may beg of none but God XXXII What a madness it is in us to presume on our interest in Gods favor for the securing of our sinfulness from judgment The Angels were deeper in it then we mortals can ever hope to be in these houses of clay yet long since are ugly Devils and they which enjoyed the liberty of the glorious Heavens are now reserved in everlasting chains of darkness And if we look down upon earth what darling had God in the world but Israel This was his first born his lot his inheritance of whom he said Here I have a delight to dwell And now where is it O the woful desolations of that select people What is it to tell of the suffossion of her vineyards vastation of her tents the devouring of her land demolition of walls breaking down Altars burning of Cities spoyling of houses dashing in peices their children ravishing their wives killing of their Priests eating of their own children of but a span long and a thousand such woful symptomes of war the Psalmist hath said a word for all in a just but contrary sense Destructions are come to a perpetual end what destruction can be more when there is no Israel How is that wretched nation vanished no man knows whither so as it was Jezebels curse that nothing was left whereof it could be said this was Jezebel So there is not one peece of a man left in all the world of whom we can say This was of one of the tribes of Israel as for those famous Churches which were since that honored with the preaching and pens of the blessed Apostles where are they now to be lookt for but amongst the rubbish of cursed Mahumetism O that we could not be high-minded but fear XXXIII What a woful conversion is here The sting of death is sin and the sting of sin is death both meet in man to make him perfectly miserable Death could not have stung us no could not have been at all if it had not been for sin And sin though in it self extreamly heinous yet were not so dreadful and horrible if it were not attended with death How do we owe our selves to the mercy of a Saviour that hath freed us from the evil of both having pulled out the sting of death which is sin that it cannot hurt us and having taken such order with the sting of sin which is death that in stead of hurting it shall turn beneficial to us Lord into what a safe condition hast thou put us If neither sin nor death can hurt us what should we fear XXXIV How unjustly hath the presumption of blasphemous cavillers been wont to cast the envy of their condemnation meerly upon the absolute will of an unrespective power as if the damnation of the creature were onely of a supreame will not of a just merit the very name of Justice convinces them a punitive Justice cannot but suppose an offence It is not for us to rack the brains and strain the heart-strings of plain honest Christians with the subtilties of distinctions of a negative and positive reprobation of causes and consequences truths meet for the Schools It is enough that all Christian Divines the Synods both of Dort and Trent agree in this truth that never man is was can be miserable but for sin yea for his own sin The Prophet tells us so in terms Why is the living man sorrowful man suffereth for his sin Nothing can be more true then that of Bildad the Shuhite Behold God will not cast away a perfect man thy perdition is of thy self O Israel It is no less then rank blasphemy to make God the author of sin Thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickedness neither shall any evil dwel with thee saith the Psalmist our sin is our own and the wages of sin is death he that doth the work earns the wages so then the righteous God is cleared both of our sin and our death onely his justice pays us what we will needs deserve Have I any pleasure at all saith he that the wicked should die and not that he should return from his ways and live wherefore return yea and live What a wretched thing is a willful sinner that will needs be guilty of his own death Nothing is more odious amongst men then for a man to be a felon of himself besides the forfeiture of his estate Christian burial is denied him and he is cast forth into the highway with a stake pitcht through his body so as every passenger that sees that woful monument is ready to say There lyes the carcass but where is the soul But so much more heinous is the self-felony of a wilful sinner because it is immediatly acted upon the soul and carries him with pleasure in the ways of an eternal death O Lord cleanse thou me from my secret faults keep thy servant also from presumptuous sins lest they get the dominion over me XXXV We are wont to say That we ought to give even the Devil his due and surely it is possible for us to wrong that malignant spirit in casting upon him those evils which are not properly his It is true that he is the tempter and both injects evil motions and draws them forth into act but yet all ill is not immediatly his we have enough besides of our own Every man saith
the way through the golden gates of honor or down to the mines of wealth or to the flowry garden of pleasure but the way of true peace he knows not he no more knows the way to Heaven then if there were none The fool saith the Psalmist hath said in his heart there is no God Did not the wicked man say so he durst not wilfully sin in the face of so mighty and dreadful an avenger Lastly the fool is apt to part with his patrimony for some gay toys and how ready is the carnal heart to cast away the Favor of God the inheritance of Heaven the salvation of his soul for these vain earthly trifles Holy men are wont to pass with the world for Gods fools alas how little do these censurers know to pass a true judgment of wisdom and folly he that was rapt into the third Heaven tells us That the foolishness of God is wiser then men and the weakness of God stronger then men but this we are sure of that wicked men are the devils fools and that judgments are prepared for scorners and stripes for the back of fools XLVII There are some things which are laudable in man but cannot be incident into God as a bashful shamefastness and holy fear And there are some dispositions blame-worthy in men which are yet in a right sence holily ascribed unto God as unchangeableness and irrepentance Attributes and qualities receive their limitations according to the meet subjects to which they belong with this sure rule That whatsoever may import an infinite purity and perfection we have reason to ascribe to our Maker whatever may argue infirmitie misery corruption we have reason to take to our selves Neither is it otherwise in the condition of men One mans vertue is anothers vice so boldness in a woman bashfulness in an old man bounty in a poor man parsimony in the great are as foully unbeseeming as boldness in a Soldier bashfulness in a childe bounty in the rich parsimony in the poor are justly commendable It is not enough for us to know what is good in it self but what is proper for us else we may be blemished with that which is anothers honor XLVIII It is easie to observe that there are five degrees of the digestion of our spiritual food First it is received into the cell of the ear and there digested by a careful attention then it is conveyed into the brain and there concocted by due meditation from thence it is sent down into the heart and there digested by the affections and from thence it is conveyed to the tongue in conference and holy confession and lastly it is thence transmitted to the hand and there receives perfect digestion in our action and performance And as the life and health of the body cannot be maintained except the material food pass through all the degrees of bodily concoction no more can the soul live and prosper in the want of any of these spiritual degrees of digestion And as where the food is perfectly concocted the body grows fat and vigorous so is it with the soul where the spiritual repast is thus kindly digested Were there not failings in all these degrees the souls of men would not be so meager and unthriving as they are Some there are that will not give so much as ear-room to the word of truth such are willing recusants others will admit it perhaps so far but there let it rest these are fashionable auditors some others can be content to let it enter into the brain and take up some place in their thoughts and memories these are speculative professors some but fewer others let it down into their hearts and there entertain it with secret liking but hide it in their bosomes not daring to make profession of it to the world these are close Nicodemians Others take it into their mouthes and busie their tongues in holy chat yet do nothing these are formal discoursers But alas how few are there whose hands speak louder then their tongues that conscionably hear meditate affect speak do the word of their Maker and Redeemer XLIX Men that are in the same condition speed not always alike Barabbas was a theif murderer seditionary and deserved hanging no less then the two theeves that were crucified with our Saviour yet he is dismissed and they executed And even of these two as our Saviour said of the two women grinding at the mill one was taken the other refused one went before Peter to paradise the other went before Judas into hell The providence and election of a God may make a difference we have no reason in the same crime to presume upon a contrary issue If that gracious hand shall exempt us from the common judgment of our consorts in evil we have cause 〈◊〉 less his mercy but if his just hand shall sweep us away in the company of our wicked consociates we have reason to thank none but our selves for our sufferings L. How sweet a thing is revenge to us naturally even the very infant rejoyces to see him beaten that hath angerd him and is ready with his little hand to give that sroke to the by-stander which he would have with more force returned to the offender and how many have we known in mortal quarrels cheerfully bleeding out their last drop when they have seen their enemy gasping and dying before them This alone shews how much there is remaining in our bosome of the sting of that old Serpent who was a murderer from the beginning delighting in death and enjoying our torment whereas on the contrary true grace is merciful ready to forgive apt to return good for evil to pray for our persecutors Nothing doth more clearly evince what spirit we are of then our disposition in wrongs received The carnal heart breathes nothing but revenge and is straight wringing the sword out of the hands of him that hath said Vengeance is mine The regenerate soul contrarily gives place to wrath and puts on the bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of minde meekness long suffering forbearing forgiving and will not be overcome with evil but overcomes evil with good We have so much of God as we can remit injuries so much of Satan as we would revenge them LI. It is worth observing how nature hath taught all living creatures to be their own physitians The same power that gave them a being hath led them to the means of their own preservation No Indian is so savage but that he knows the use of his Tobacco and Contra-yerva yea even the brute creatures are bred with this skill The Dog when he is stomack-sick can go right to his proper Grass the Cat to her Nep the Goat to his Hemlock the Weasel to Rue the Hart to Dittany the sick Lyon can cure himself with an Ape the Monkey with a Spider the Bear with an Ant-heap the Panther with mans dung and the Stork is said to have taught man the
feels nor sees Whiles the coast is clear every man can be ready to say with Peter Though all men yet not I If I should dye with thee I will not deny thee in any wise But when the evil hour cometh when our enemy appears armed in the lists ready to encounter us then to call up our spirits and to grapple resolutely with dangers and death it is the praise and proof of a true Christian valour And this is that which the Apostle calls standing in opposition to both falling and fleeing Falling out of faintness and fleeing for fear It shall not be possible for us thus to stand if we shall trust to our own feet In and of our selves the best of us are but meer cowards neither can be able so much as to look our enemy in the face Would we be perfect victors we must go out of our selves into the God of our strength If we have made him ours who shall yea who can be against us We can do all things through him that strengthens us All things therefore conquer Death and Hell If we be weakness he is omnipotence Put we on the Lord Jesus Christ by a lively Faith what enemy can come within us to do us hurt What time I am afraid I will trust in thee O God In thee O God have I trusted I will not fear what either flesh or spirit can do unto me The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from mine enemies LXXV It is disparagement enough that the Apostle casts upon all the visible things of this world That the things which are seen are temporary Be they never so glorious yet being transitory they cannot be worthy of our hearts Who would care for an house of glass if never so curiously painted and gilded All things that are measured by time are thus brittle Bodily substances of what kinde soever lye open to the eye and being seen can be in no other then a fading condition even that goodly Fabrick of Heaven which we see and admire must be changed and in a sort dissolved How much more vanishing are all earthly glories and by how much shorter their continuance is so much lower must be their valuation We account him foolish that will dote too much upon a flower though never so beautiful because we know it can be but a moneths pleasure and no care no art can preserve it from withering amongst the rest the Hemerocallis is the least esteemed because one day ends its beauty what madness then were it in us to set our hearts upon these perishing contentments which we must soon mutually leave we them they us Eternity is that onely thing which is worthy to take up the thoughts of a wise man That being added to evil makes the evil infinitely more intolerable and being added to good makes the good infinitely more desireable O Eternity thou bottomless abyss of misery to the wicked thou indeterminable pitch of joy to the Saints of God what soul is able to comprehend thee what strength of understanding is able to conceive of thee Be thou ever in my thoughts ever before mine eyes Be thou the scope of all my actions of all my indeavors and in respect of thee let all this visible world be to mee as nothing And since onely the things which are not seen by the eye of sense are eternal Lord sharpen thou the eyes of my faith that I may see those things invisible and may in that sight enjoy thy blessed eternity LXXVI What is all the world to us in comparison of the Bird in our bosome our conscience In vain shall all the world acquite and magnifie us if that secretly condemn us and if that condemn us not We have confidence towards God and may bid defiance to men and devils Now that it may not condemn us it must be both pacified and purged pacified in respect of the guilt of sin purged in respect of the corruption For so long as there is guilt in the soul the clamors of an accusing and condemning conscience can no more be stilled then the waters of the Sea can stand still in a storm There is then no pacification without removing the guilt of sin no removing of guilt without remission no remission without satisfaction no satisfaction without a price of infinite value answerable to the infiniteness of the Justice offended and this is no where to be had but in the blood of Christ God and Man All created and finite powers are but miserable comforters Physitians of no value to this one And the same power that pacifieth the conscience from the guilt must also purge it from the filthiness of sin even that blood of the Son of God who is made unto us of God Sanctification and Redemption That Faith which brings Christ home to the soul doth by the efficacy of his blessed Spirit purifie the heart from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit Being justified by this faith we have peace with God When once the heart is quieted from the uproars of self-accusation and cleansed from dead works what in this world can so much concern us as to keep it so Which shall be done if we shall give Christ the possession of our souls and commit the keys into his onely hands so shall nothing be suffered to enter in that may disturb or defile it if we shall settle firm resolutions in our brests never to yield to the commission of any known enormious sin Failings and slips there will be in the holiest of Gods Saints whiles they carry their clay about them For these we are allowed to fetch forth a pardon of course from that infinite mercy of our God who hath set a Fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness by the force of our daily prayers But if through an over-bold security and spiritual negligence we shall suffer our selves to be drawn away into some heinous wickedness it must cost warm water to recover us Neither can it in such a case be safe for us to suffer our eyes to sleep or our eye-lids to slumber till we have made our peace with Heaven This done and carefully maintained what can make us other then happily secure Blessed is he whose conscience hath not condemned him and who is not faln from his hope in the Lord. LXXVII We cannot apprehend Heaven in any notion but of excellency and glory that as it is in it self a place of wonderful resplendance and Majesty so it is the Palace of the most high God wherein he exhibites his infinite magnificence that it is the happy receptacle of all the elect of God that it is the glorious rendezvous of the blessed
knock'st for entrance wilt be pleased to inable me with strength to turn the key and to unbolt this unweldy bar of my soul O do thou make way for thy self by the strong motions of thy blessed Spirit into the in-most rooms of my heart and do thou powerfully incline me to mine own happiness els thou shalt be ever excluded and I shall be ever miserable XLI In what pangs couldst thou be O Asaph that so woful a word should fall from thee Hath God forgotten to be gracious Surely the temptation went so high that the next step had been blasphemie Had not that good God whom thy bold weakness questions for forgetfulness in great mercy remembred thee and brought thee speedily to remember thy self and him that which thou confessest to have been infirmity had proved a sinful despair I dare say for thee that word washed thy cheeks with many a tear and was worthy of more For O God What can be so dear to thee as the glory of thy mercy There is none of thy blessed attributes which thou desirest to set forth so much unto the sons of men and so much abhorrest to be disparaged by our detraction as thy mercy Thou canst O Lord forget thy displeasure against thy people thou canst forget our iniquities and cast our sins out of thy remembrance but thou canst no more forget to be gracious then thou canst cease to be thy self O my God I sin against thy justice hourly and thy mercy interposes for my remission but oh keep me from sinning against thy mercy What plea can I hope for when I have made my Advocate mine enemy XLI How happy O Lord is the man that hath thee for his God He can want nothing that is good he can be hurt by nothing that is evill his sins are pardoned his good indeavors are accepted his crosses are sanctified his prayers are heard all that he hath are blessings all that he suffers are advantages his life is holy his death comfortable his estate after death glorious Oh that I could feel thee to be my God that I could enjoy an heavenly communion with thee In vain should earth or hell labour to make me other then blessed XLII How just a motion is this of thine O thou sweet singer of Israel O love the Lord all ye his Saints Surely they can be no Saints that love not such a Lord Had he never been good to them yet that infinite goodness which is in himself would have commanded love from Saints Yet how could they have been Saints if he had wholly kept his goodness to himself In that then he hath made them Saints he hath communicated his goodness to them and challengeth all love from them and being made such how infinitely hath he obliged them with all kinds of mercies How can ye choose O ye Saints but love the Lord What have ye what are ye what can ye be but from his meer bounty They are sleight favours that he hath done you for the world in these his very enemies share with you How transcendent are his spirituall obligations Hath he not given you his Angels for your attendants himself for your Protector his Son out of his bosome for your Redeemer his Spirit for your Comforter his heaven for your inheritance If gifts can attract love O my God Who can have any interest in my heart but thy blessed self that hast been so infinitely munificent to my soul Take it to thee thou that hast made and bought it enamour it thoroughly of thy goodness make me sick of love yea let me die for love of thee who hast loved me unto death that I may fully enjoy the perfection of thy love in the height of thy glory XLIII Lord how have I seen men miscarried into those sins the premonition whereof they would have thought incredible and their yeildance thereto impossible How many Hazaels hath our very age yeilded that if a Prophet should have fore told their acts would have said Is thy servant a dog that he should do these great things Oh my God why do not I suspect my self What hold have I of my self more then these other miserable examples of humane frailtie Lord God if thou take off thy hand from me what wickedness shall escape me I know I cannot want a tempter and that tempter cannot want either power or malice or skill or vigilance or baits or opportunities and for my self I find too well that of my self I have no strength to resist any of his temptations O for thy mercies sake uphold thou me with thy mighty hand stand close to me in all assaults shew thy self strong in my weakness Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins Let them not have dominion over me then onely shall I be upright and shall be innocent from the great transgression XLIV It is thy title O Lord and only thine that thou givest songs in the night The night is a sad and dolorous season as the light contrarily is the image of cheerfulness like as it is in bodily pains and aches that they are still worst towards night so it is in the cares and griefs of mind then they assault us most when they are helpt on by the advantage of an uncomfortable darkness Many men can give themselves songs in the day of their prosperity who can but howl in the night of their affliction but for a Paul and Silas to sing in their prison at mid-night for an Asaph to call to remembrance his song in the night this comes onely from that Spirit of thine whose peculiar style is the Comforter And surely as musick sounds best in the night so those heavenly notes of praise which we sing to thee our God in the gloomy darkness of our adversity cannot but be most pleasing in thine ears Thine Apostle bids us which is our ordinary wont when we are merry to sing when afflicted to pray but if when we are afflicted we can sing as also when we are merriest we can pray that ditty must needs be so much more acceptable to thee as it is a more powerful effect of the joy of thy Holy Ghost O my God I am conscious of my own infirmity I know I am naturally subject to a dull and heavy dumpishness under whatsoever affliction Thou that art the God of all comfort remedy this heartless disposition in me pull this lead out of my bosome make me not patient only but cheerful under my trials fill thou my heart with joy and my mouth with songs in the night of my tribulation XLV It is a true word O Lord that thy Seer said of thee long ago The Lord seeth not as man seeth Man sees the face thou seest the heart man sees things as they seem thou seest them as they are many things are hid from the eyes of men all things lie open and displaid before thee What a madness then were it in me to come disguised into