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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39934	Grace and mercy to a sinner in a time of afflictions, or, The serious meditations of M. Tho. Ford of Rochester during the time of his imprisonment, before his execution, faithfully delivered from his own copie : together with his funeral sermon, preached by Mr. Wil. Sandbrook, P.M. Rochester / set forth for the strengthning of our faith in Jesus Christ ... ; published for the satisfaction of his friends ... by John Plasse.	Ford, Thomas, d. 1656.; Sandbrooke, William.; Plasse, John.	1657 (1657)	Wing F1513; ESTC R40949	26,591	84

and we know what the duty of Subjects ought to be in yeilding obedience to the commands of a King and not to rule over their King yet this revolting people Israel this rebellious House for so God calls them notwithstanding his owning them for his people and challenging a Soveraignty over them grievously sinned and fell from God For thou hast fallen by thine Iniquity Your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear So to instance in divers other of the saints and people of God David's Adultery and Murder 2 Sam. 11. 4 to 18. Peter's Denial Mark 14. 68. But what are the grounds and reasons that Gods people fall from him by their iniquities First The principal and main ground may arise from Original sin the filthiness and corruption of our own natures for we are in nature as we came out o● the loyns of our Parents no better the● a very lump of rottenness and corruption If thou shouldest see a man from the very crown of the head to the soal of hi● foot had nothing in him but wound and swellings and sores full of corruption he could not but seem a very loth●som creature unto thee Yet know this● whosoever thou art be thou never s● well descended never so rich wise beautiful c. thy soul is through sin ● thousand times more odious and abominable before God Think well on this Comune with thine own heart about it it will make thee abhor thy self in dus● and ashes with Iob and with Paul coun● all things to be dung that thou mightest win Christ Reas. 2. That by this means man●● may see his own frailty and miserable condition by nature and that seeing his wretched and lost estate in himself he might be deeply humbled before God that thereby he might rest in no performances of his own for our best performances are full of sin and corruption 〈◊〉 David was humbled to the purpose ●●er he was truly sensible of his sin when ●athan the prophet reproved him I ●●ve sinned saith he against the Lord ●eter wept bitterly after he denied his ●aster Where the sense of sin and the wrath 〈◊〉 God hath a deep impression upon the ●eart there it will effect deep humiliati●n and hearty sorrow David's sins were alwaies before ●im he could take no rest in Conscience ●ntil he found God reconciled unto ●im now where sin in the true sense of ●t hath this working on the Spirit hap●y is that soul But where on the con●rary there is sin committed in a high na●ure yet notwithstanding the heart is not ●t all moved to compunction and humi●iation but rather hardned woful and 〈◊〉 desperate is the condition of that soul Motives to move us to Humiliation First may be from Gods Command ●O Israel return unto me turn you from from your evil waies For why will ye dy O house of Israel Repent and turn you from all your evil waies so iniquity shall not be your ruine there m●● be an universal turning from all sins a● a turning to God with the whole hea●My son give me thy heart It is Go● complaint against the children of Israe● after he had brought them out of the land of Egypt into a land flowing wit● Milk and Honey the joy of all Land Then God said unto them Obey 〈◊〉 voice turn from the evil of your doing 〈◊〉 for I am the Lord your God but the● rebelled against me and would not hear Shall God call to us to come unto him and shall we reject his call shall ou● Saviour Iesus Christ beg of us to be reconciled unto him to come unto him to take his yoak his yoak is easy to those that will ly under it Hath he promised to satiate the hungry soul salvation to the repentant soul doth he command us to come unto him and drink i● we thirst not to sip but drink and shall we reject this cup of Salvation O let the mercies of God constrain us and let his kindness draw us unto him Another motive to perswade us to come is the mercies patience and long sufferings of God with us for many years it may be our whole life time we ●●ve lived in sin and in grievous sins ●●l God spareth us to see whether we ●ll return unto him and shall we yet 〈◊〉 revolting and drawing back from ●od then considering the infinite mer●● of God in providing the Lord Jesus ●hrist to be our Phisitian to cure our ●eakness and imperfections by his per●●ct righteousness and to accept of us in ●●d through him Let these considera●●ons be as so many cords of love to ●aw us unto God by speedy repen●nce and a present return unto God If we did but consider the blessed e●●te of that soul that is at peace with ●od and truly keep in our thoughts ●●●e uncertainty of this life and certainty eternal life to the Godly and death 〈◊〉 the unregenerate certainly we could ●●t be so lazy in our journy to heaven 〈◊〉 if reconciliation with God and eter●tie were not worth the looking after ●t we should rather with that Disciple ●hom Jesus loved out-run Peter and get ●rst to the ●epulchre Let Jesus Christ ●ve the chief room yea all the room in ●ur hearts A Prince is at peace and cease war against a Rebel a Traitor yet●● will not bring the Rebel before him into his special favour yet the Lord glory doth both towards us as enemie strangers rebels devils in our reconci●●ation with him O the wonderfull me●●cy of God in Jesus Christ that he shou● be pacified wholy and throughly wi● thee Out of Christ he is a consumin● fire in Jesus Christ he is a nothing e● but Love and though there may be f● therly frowns and chasetisements fro● him though he may for a time hide h● face shut out thy Prayers defer to fulf● Promises yet all these if thou art reco●ciled in Christ are out of pure love u● to thee and thou shalt see it and fe● it so in 〈…〉 end Quest 〈◊〉 how must we come Christ that we may be accepted Answ. 1. We must come humbl● stript of all self performances and dutie● resting wholy upon Jesus Christ as the only means of our redemption 2. We must return unto him hearti● with our whole heart not keeping part of our heart for sin and give Chri●●●e other part we must come unto him ●o be our King to rule us as well as to ●ave us In a word we must come unto ●im as the Hart to the rivers of waters ●s a Spouse to her beloved with ferven●y of Love and zealous affections and ●rdency of spirit being sick of love for him so come unto him as esteeming our selves lost without him as our rich●s our only pearl of great price 3. Be earnest in Prayer unto God ●hat he would grant you his good spirit that he would mollifie you

hid●en by his holiness and the very being ●hereof daily diminished by the ●trength power and working of his Spi●t If thou wouldst be saved this must be ●●y Plea I Lord have most grieviously ●●ned against thee even in my best per●rmances therefore I beseech thee for Christ his sake to pardon me And not ●us Behold this I have done thus I have deserved therefore I require thee ●f thy Iustice to reward me for in the work of salvation all merrit and desert ●f our own is absolutely excluded How sweetly and contentedly may ●at soul repose it selfe that hath a testi●ony of his salvation by Iesus Christ ●at God is reconciled unto him in Christ notwithstanding his many and ●rievous sins the root of corruption every coruption that lyeth lurking in the heart of man Now for the soul to feele such a change such a regeneration wrought on the heart after a true and serious repentance and the embracements of a Saviour the Lord Jesus in his arms ready to receive thee what a transcendent unspeakable comfort is that soul partaker of But that we may not flatter our selves with the bare flashes and as it were shaddows of comfort taken from a wrong principle let us consider and that seriously from whence our comforts do arise Do they arise from an utter abhorring our selves by reason of our polution by nature For until we be wounded what need can we find of a medicine Until we can find our selves heart-sick of sin what need can we find to our selves of a Physician They that are whole need not a Physician but they that are sick Is Jesus Christ the chief desire of thy soul Art thou willing to part with any thing for him that having found this treasure canst thou presently hide it in thy heart Art thou willing to sell all that thou hast to purchase this Field this Treasure this Wisdom Is thy heart affected with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ Dost thou eye Jesus Christ by faith Dost thou see fulness of satisfaction in the merits death and passion of Christ Dost thou feel by the power of Christ's spirit an application of all this to thy soul that thou canst out of a setled assurance conclude these benefits and blessings belong to me Then my soul let thy temporal condition be what it will as for this life yet raise up thy affections higher let thy heart be where thy treasure is repose thy self upon Jesus and take care of exempting thy self from those heavenly priviledges which the blood of Jesus Christ is ready to pour down upon thee These things well considered are as so many sinews and joynts to strengthen a weak and drooping faith the Lord give me his spirit of grace that I may not only write these Truths but that by his strength they may be applied unto my soul Thomas Ford He that broke the heart of Manasseh and Paul after their blood and blasphemies when they never desired any such thing he can break thine much more when thou desirest him to do it for thee T. F. To my loving and esteemed Friend Mr Henry Wright one of the Serjeants at Mace within the City of Rochester Loving Friend I Present unto you a small quantity of Winter fruit which hath fell from ●a Dry Branch What my purpose is in presenting them I trust of your self you will conceive it to be no other but this that they may remain with you as a testimony of mysetled purpose never to forget your ancient Love He that hath a friend let him shew himself friendly saith the Scripture Accept therefore this little as from a new Graft upon a corrupt stock and vouchsafe it some low room in your Meditations and as you relish it promote it not for any worth in the Gift but for the integrity of the Donor who while he lives will alwaies pray that after you and yours have served their time here ye may be made Free-men and Free-women of the Kingdom of Heaven Amen Nov. 30. 1656. Your loving and Well-wishing Friend Thomas Ford a Prisoner in the Prison of the City of Rochester called the Dolphine Certain Propositions which in my Meditations I have collected together in this time which is lent me out of the 14 chapter of Hosea and the first verse The words are these Oh Israel Return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast faln by thine Iniquity THe words are an exhortation or a vehement perswasion which the Spirit of God doth use by the Prophet to return to God The whole chapter containing a rousing or stirring up the people of Israel to repent of their iniquiries and to return to God whereunto are annexed gracious promises of Gods mercies unto them in healing their backslidings and returning unto them and you may observe what a mixture of repentance and mercy there is in the chapter From whence in the general we may observe the unseparableness of true repentance and mercy they are linked together as in a chain even as David and Ionathan they will not part one from the other In the words there are five particulars observed 1. The seriousness of the Prophet's call perswading our better attention and as it were a necessity of lending an ear unto this Call in the Vocative O! 2. The persons called Israel By Israel is meant the people of God 3. The Act or Duty called unto Return 4. The object matter of their return or the person to whom they should is the Lord 5. and lastly The grounds and reasons of this their return laid down in cloze of the words For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity From the words you may plainly gather several points or observations to wit 1. That the best and choisest of God's children may decline and grievously fall from God as Israel did 2. That the ways of sin lead us directly from God Or thus That sin is an absolute turning the Back upon God therefore Return 3. That God the Father through his Son the Lord Iesus Christ is the only shelter and tower of refuge for a penitent sinner Thy God 4 And lastly That it is and ought to be the main scope and aim of the Ambassadors and Ministers of Iesus Christ to disswade from sin and perswade to repentance O Israel Return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquities First of the first in order That the best and choisest of God's Saints and people may grievously decline and fall from God For proof whereof I need go no further then the subject we treat of Israel a name whereby God pleased to stile his own people his elect his chosen people of Israel my people as he terms them Nay God is pleased to term himself The King of Israel in Isa. 44. 6. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts We know the prerogative of Kings is to rule over their Subjects to have the command and government of their subjects

in the Lord Jesus Christ to humble and penitent sinners that by hearty repentance come home unto him He is very ready and willing to meet them to imbrace them in the arms of his mercy to kill the fatted Calf to provide delicates heavenly delicates for his the bread of life the food of immortality ushered in with the most delightfull Musick for there is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth That by the way When thou hast judged thy self then earnestly beg of God pardon for Christs sake and never leave him off untill he give this blessed answer to thy Conscience that thy sins are pardoned The unjust Judge by reason of the importunity of the Widdow granted her request how much more shall the just God grant the request of his that pray day and night unto him Thus did David Let thy good spirit lead me c. These things are necessary if we would be saved we must not be Cowards in a business of this nature if we intend to win the field but we must work our best endeavours and still hold out wrestling with God if we intend to win the Victory Some Captives amongst men are redeemed by price only some by power without price but such is the lamentable captivity of all men under sin and the severity of Gods Justice that without the price of Christs blood and the power of his spirit there is no deliverance from sin and misery the Lord Jesus Christ having paid the full and absolute price of our deliverance Ioh 8. 32. Yet it is with us as with a company of Captives in prison our sins like strong chains holds us Satan our Keeper will not let us go the Prison doors through unbeleef are shut upon us and thereby God and Christ are kept our from us what power now can rescue us that are held fast unto such a power even after the price is paid The spirit of God speaketh of a power in Christ Thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help As Christ hath redeemed us so we must go unto him For strength and power that we may make application of this Redemption to our selves that by his spirit we may find the fruits of it on our own souls and here consists our comfort that as Christ was abased to purchase redemption for us so now he is exalted at the right hand of God the Father to apply this redemption unto us Four causes of mans misery joyned with four acts of Christs power Mans misery 1. The ignorance of his own misery 2. Security and unsenceableness of it 3. Carnal confidence in their own duties 4. Presumption or resting upon the mercy of God by a Faith of their own forgeing Christs Act 1. Conviction of sin 2. Compunction for sin 3. Humiliation or self-abasement 4. Faith These are the works of Christ on the soul There must be an actual deliverance in man wrought by the efficacy and power of the spirit of Christ as well as a purchased deliverance wrought by the blood of Christ therefore untill we can find the former wrought in us we can lay no claim to the latter until we can see sin in its own colours with the several aggrevations thereof and the wages of sin which is eternal death we cannot truly hate it and not truly hating it we cannot repent of it and not repenting of it we cannot with a true faith lay hold on the Lord Jesus Christ Shew me thy Faith without thy work saith S. Iames and I will shew thee my Faith by my works He that repents and beleeves shall be saved but he that beleeves not shall be damned Thus you see where our rest and rock of comfort for salvation is only in our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ You see the manner how we must come to Christ so that we may be accepted we must come loathing and abhorring our selves out of our selves into Christ come humbly come willingly to Christ as with all thy might and power as to the only spring fountain and head of comfort of wisdom of excellency come even as the Bride to the Bridegroom as the members to the Head as the branches to the Vine and let thy confidence when thou comest inwardly perswade thee that Those who come to him he will in no wise cast away for we have his promise for it Behold saith our Saviour I stand at the dore and knock c. Let every beleeving Soul then say with Thomas My Lord and my God Objection may arise Is God such a merciful God and is Iesus Christ so willing to imbrace us when we come unto him and seek to him by those we 〈◊〉 which he hath appointed us in his Word ●hen what is the reason that he hears ●t the Prayers of his People that they ●t up unto him to be delivered from sin ●om some particular sin which it may is more predominant than any other against hardness of heart It may be thou art not humbled e●ough in thy self thou dost not pray as ●ou oughtest to pray in Faith or if thou ●st God may for present not answer ●ee according to thy desire for the try●● of thy Faith and Patience to make ●ee the more earnest suitor unto him ●oahs Dove returns not presently with 〈◊〉 Olive branch of Peace in his mouth ●rayer sometimes that speeds well re●●rns not presently for want of compa●● enough to fetch away that abun●nce of mercy that God hath to give the Lord ever gives them that ask in ●aith their asking in mony or monies ●orth God is long many times before ● gives but pays them well for their ●aiting Approve thy self to God in all thy ●aies for he is an omniscient God no ●atter what he world saith of thee God is thy Spie taking notice of all actions and they are in print in Hea●● which that great spectator and Ju●● will open at the great day Fear the●●fore to sin in secret unless thou canst a dark hole to sin where God cannot thee Have a care of playing the Ath●● in practice although thou be not so thy profession to confesse there is God yet by thy works to deny hi● even if it were possible to unthrone ●●●sus Christ they that pluck the 〈◊〉 from his throne are as bad or as vile they that say there is no King But that we may the better understa●● how sin is remitted by Christ and him Consider that in him there 〈◊〉 three things that makes Sin exceed 〈◊〉 Sinfull 1 The Crime of Sin 2 The Guilt of Sin 3 The Stain and blot or pollution Sin The Crimes by which God is offen●ed The Guilt by which we are liable punishment The blot or stain which the 〈◊〉 ●ommitted leaveth in the offender These three are taken away by the ●erits of Christ 1 The Crime is taken away by his Obedience 2 The Guilt is removed by his suffer●ngs 3 The blot stain and coruption is

to the Crown of David yet he came in the very declining age of Davids Kingdom to shew us that his Kingdom is not of this World as he tells us My kingdom is not of this World and should suffer a cursed death on the Crosse for our sins that we might be delivered from eternal misery and from his Fathers wrath and overcome death for us Will not these considerations work our hard hearts to an humble frame and perswade us to love God and our Lord Jesus Christ again Is not the love of Christ to be esteemed by us in that he being the Son of God humbled himself to become a servant to men to make us Sons and j●ynt-heirs with himself and of the children of wrath to make us heire of ●●●vation ●re●t is mens readiness chiefly in 〈…〉 and giddy times to gaze upon strange and uncouth sights to run to see things that are rare and are seldom seen therefore now let me quicken your desire to behold a thing without comparison such a thing as we may with a kind of astonishment and amazedness admire but the eloquence of no man alive is able fully and effectually to express Behold saith the Apostle what love the Father hath shewn unto us that we should be called the Sons of God Behold the Son of God made man to dy for us that we might be delivered from the slavery of Satan and be made the adopted sons of God I might insist upon this point not out of any hope I have to set out a benefit so inestimable for the tongue of men and Angels cannot reach it but as it were as God said to Moses to let you see the back parts of that perfect glory which the dimness of our minds is not able to behold Now that we may be the better sensible of Christs love let us consider how and in what manner the Lord Jesus Christ is pleased to reveal himself unto us in the Gospel and that in three particulars First He uncovers and layeth open himself fully and manifestly in the Gospel we have a whole Christ offered unto us we have his offices and the whole work of our redemption set down Search the Scriptures for they are they that testifie of me saith our Saviour We do in the Word of God as in a glasse behold the proportion of Jesus Christ when we compare the Old and New Testament together for indeed it concerns us and it is most needfull and necessary in this great work of our salvation so that our faith may be the better grounded and confirmed to note and observe the order and agreement of the Scriptures both Old and New Testament by this mens Christ himself endeavoured to settle his Disciples Faith for the Text tells us that he began at Moses and the Prophets and interpretted to them in all the Scriptures the things which were written of him We live in an age that men are so backward in following Christs pattern herein that they are grown contemners and dispisers of the word of God which plainly appears in that they divide the New Testament from the Old making a separation of that which God hath joyned together they will it may be carry the New Testament in their pockets I and in their pates too yet sure I am it cannot be near their hearts when they shall think themselves too wise to read the Old or give entertainment to it upon which the Patriarchs and our forefathers of old built their Faith and by the light of which they found the way to heaven This was Pauls course for the establishment of his hearers he disputed by the Scriptures he said no other things then that Moses and the Prophets did say should come These and the like sayings we read often that the sayings of the Prophets should be fullfilled This is done that the Scriptures should be fullfilled which argues the care and purpose the Spirit of God had to ground our Judgement upon the Scriptures in so much that when we clearly behold those things fullfilled which are recorded in them we should set the higher esteem on them comfort our selves in them and strengthen our Faith by them Take now a view of Christ in the Scriptures and see first how he is represented in Zacharïas prophecy Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who hath visited and redeemed his people There you have Christ termed the horn of our salvation a Metaphor taken from beasts wherein doth ly their chief strenght and power giving us to understand that our saviour Iesus Christ is of full and absolute sufficiency to accomplish the work of our redemption for there is no other Name under heaven by which we can be saved But only in and through the Name and merrits of the Lord Iesus Christ It hath pleased the Father that in him all fullness should dwell would you see Christ promised read the 28 of Esaiah 16. therefore thus saith the Lord Behold I lay in Syon for a foundation a stone a tryed stone a precious Corner stone a sure foundation Psal. 118. 22. Matth. 21. 42. Acts 4. 11. 1 Pet. 5. 6 7. Esai 11. 1. Would ye behold Christs Nativity read Luke 2. 7. 10 11 12. Iohn 7. 42. Mich 5. 2. Would you behold his Passion Esaiah 53 7 8 9. Mat. 27 35. would you see him Dead and Buried read Mat. 27. 50. 60. would you see his Resurrection read the 28. Math. 6. Iohn 20. 2. 15. 19. 26. Would you see his Assention read Acts 1. 9. Would you see him at the Right hand of his Father in heaven read Hebrews 1. 3. Would you see him coming from heaven to Judge the quick and the dead read Matthew 25. 31. Thus you see in the first place how fully the Lord Iesus Christ is set forth unto us in his word in himself which is the Word Secondly Christ doth very friendly perswade us to imbrace him in the Scriptures and that upon very good grounds and reasons First because he came purposely into the world to save us he was wounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities and with his stripes we are healed Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Behold I stand at the door and knock saith Christ he hath redeemed us from the curse of the law Beeing made a curse for us Oh every one that thirsteth come unto the waters and he that hath no mony come buy c. Secondly Christ doth very friendly perswades us to be reconciled unto him by his Ambassadors which he sends amongst us the Ministers and dispencers of his Word and Sacraments the Ministers of Christ they are the Ambassadors of Iesus Christ which bring his message unto his people they do the work which they are imployed in by their Master and Christ is pleased to set men apart purposely for this service as S. Paul