diffides doe not distrust it doe not make any doubt or question of it but it will bestead thee and befriend thee and be firme and sure unto thee at any time of need It is the Apostles owne advertisement 1 Pet. 1. 13. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} trust perfectly on the Grace that is revealed and brought into the world by Jesus Christ It is a thing that a man may leane his whole weight upon and venture his whole estate upon and pawne his life and soule upon the certainety the truth and the infallibility of Gods heavenly grace to all that make their peace and put their trust in him Feare not Mary said the blessed Angel to the blessed Virgin for thou hast found favour with God as if he had said Let them feare that are out of Gods favour let them be distrustfull that are wicked and deceitfull that make no conscience of their wayes but live in the displeasure of an angry God paveant illi let them feare but noli tu feare not thou be thou steadfast unmoveable in thy affiance to God for why invenisti gratiam thou hast found favour with him in whose favour is life and whose grace will bee thy guide unto the day of death In a word then to close up this point As I said before so I say it over againe {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} gird up the loynes of your mindes and trust perfectly to the Grace of God doe it not in any wavering or timorous or unconfident manner as if God were like the Poets Tenedos Statiâ— malefida carinis a trustles Anchor-hold to the sea-beaten Traveller or like those deceitfull Iewes Ioh. 2. 24. to whom our Saviour durst not commit himselfe though they seemed to beleeve in his Name Oh let not thy heart entertain the least suspition the least jealousie of the faithfulnesse and fidelity of thy God but try him by thy prayers and trust him by thy faith and urge him with this Text that now is preached unto thee as St. Austin saith his mother Monica did Chyrographa tua ingerebat tibi Lord saith he shee urged thee with thy own hand-writing tell him but how hard the world goes with thee and then say ere God have done with thee if thou dost not finde his Grace to bee sufficient for thee And so I am come in the third place to shew you the efficacie and vertue of the Grace of God how and wherein the sufficiency thereof doth consist {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith the Text My Grace is sufficient The principall things whereunto the Grace of God and besides Gods Grace nothing else under heaven is available or sufficient are these that follow 1. Ad Condâ—nandum to pardon and forgive us all our sinnes which would bee the bane and destruction of all our soules Grande est barathrum peccatorum meorum saith a Father sed major est Abyssus misericordiae Dei Great is the gulfe and whirlepoole of my sinnes but greater and deeper is the bottomlesse Sea of Gods Grace and mercy see that place Rom. 5. 20. where sinne abounded Grace did much more abound Hast thou abundance of sinnes let not that dishearten thee God hath abundance of Grace if thy sinnes be great his Grace is greater then thy sinnes and farre more sufficient to justifie than all thy sinnes are to condemne thy soule Onely ne desis be not thou wanting to God in thy prayers and repentance and his Grace shall never bee wanting to thee in thy pardon and forgivenesse What a golden sentence is that of St. Chrysostome {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Thou dost not thou canst not so much desire to have thy sinnes forgiven thee as God doth desire to forgive thy sinnes unto thee I forgave thee all thy debt because thou desiredst mee said that gracious Lord to his ungracious servant Mat. 18. 32. intimating unto us that if God doe not forgive us our debts if he doe not pardon and remit our sinnes we may thanke our selves the fault is our owne because we doe not desire him for if we desired him he would doe it In a word then as our Saviour asked the Cripple Iohn 5. 6. Wilt thou be made whole so wilt thou bee made holy and cleane and fit for absolution from God dost thou desire in sincerity and truth to have thy sinnes remitted and thy soule absolved by the blood and death of Jesus Christ to have all thy misdeeds expunged and blotted out that they may be as if they never had beene Then take the Prophet Esaies counsell Esay 43. 25 26. put God in remembrance of these things it is a pregnant place I pray reade and remember it I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes there 's a gracious promise but marke the condition in the next immediate words put mee in remembrance faith God and I will doe it and not otherwise for though God remember all our sinnes and can tell them better than our owne soules yet hee doth not remember them to our comfort but rather to our confusion unlesse we tell him and put him in remembrance of them so that the onely way to put our sinnes out of Gods remembrance is to put them into his remembrance the onely way to make God forget them is daily and hourely to declare them and put him in minde of them If therefore thou canst not be so good as thou wouldst bee not ashamed bee not afraid to tell God how evill thou art tell him how ungodly how unthankfull how unprofitable a servant thou hast beene unto him and desire God to mend thee and make thee such a one as he would have thee And as Ioseph of Arimathea went to Pilate begged the body of Iesus so goe thou to God and begge the Spirit of Iesus even that spirit of grace and Supplication which the Prophet speakes of Zach. 12. 10. which will come downe from heaven and bring into thy soule first Supplications to prepare thee secondly Grace to assure thee of the free and full forgivenesse of all thy sinnes And then let thy sinnes bee what they will bee sinnes of death sinnes of blood sinnes of hell if thou canst finde in thy heart to pray God will finde in his heart to pardon for his Grace is sufficient to doe it That 's the first 2. The second thing whereto the sufficiency of Gods Grace doth belong is ad consolandum to comfort those sad and heavy hearts that can no other way bee comforted I should have fainted saith David Psal. 27. 13. for all my worldly comforts but that I steadfastly beleeved to see the Lords good grace in the land of the living that is to see it before he dyed therefore we reade 1 Sam. 30. 6. when he was in great distresse had neither house nor home to shelter him neither wife nor child nor friend to be any comfort to
shall he doe to finde it the second is like unto it when a man hath found Gods grace and favour at his need how shall hee doe to keepe it that hee doe not forfeit it nor loose it againe I will answer you for both in a word Dost thou want the Grace of God and faine wouldest finde it Thou must doe two things for it First thou must depreciari teipsum it is Tertullians word thou must disparage and disgrace thou must humble and abase thy selfe before the face of God for if that bee true which our Saviour saith Ioh. 10. 35. non potest solvi scriptura The Scripture cannot bee broken then no man living can finde Grace with God but he that is truely humble for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble Let one example serve for all and it is a seasonable one for this time that of the blessed Virgin of whom wee spake before The Angel told her as you have heard that shee was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} highly or extraordinarily in favour with God for indeed shee had such grace as never mortall woman had the like with God to bee made {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Mother of God and to beare him in her body who in his body bare away the sinnes of all the world to give her owne Saviour sucke it was a favour beyond expression well but whence came this to passe that the Virgin Mary found this favour with God rather then any other Virgin in Israel no doubt as our Saviour said in another case many widdowes were in Israel in the dayes of Elizeus but to none was the Prophet sent save onely to the widow of Sareptah So many Virgins were in Israel in the dayes of the Virgin Mary yet to none was the Angel sent but to her onely And why to her and not to them shee that knew it best gives the reason her selfe in her Magnificat which we daily read My soule doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour for why Respexit humilitatem saith shee Hee hath regarded the lowlinesse of his hand-maiden It was not then for her lovelinesse but it was for her lowlinesse not for her handsomenesse but for her humblenesse that she found such grace and favour with God above her fellow Virgins Other Virgins there might bee that were as chaste as shee as beautifull as shee and farre more wealthy and gay then she was but no Virgin in Israel nor in all the world was so humble nor so lowly as she was and this was the onely materia struendae misericordiae if I may so speake the matter that Gods mercy had to worke upon that that onely was the foundation and ground-worke of all the grace and favour that she found with God In like manner if thou dost desire to bee partaker of the same mercy to finde favour with God as shee did thou must also be partaker of the same humility thou must bee humble and lowly as shee was doe as Benhadads servants did to Ahab 1 Reg. 20. 31. We have heard say they that the Kings of Israel are mercifull kings let us goe then and put sackcloth upon our loynes and ropes upon our heads and so humble our selves before him peradventure wee shall finde favour with him that we shall not die but live So thou hast heard that the God of Israel is a mercifull God stand not then upon termes of ease or state if thou lovest thy selfe but goe and humble thy selfe unto him prostrate thy selfe before him pray and seeke his face in the lowliest the dejectedst the devotest manner that possibly thou canst expresse both with thy body and with thy soule and beleeve it for a truth if any thing under heaven bring thee into favour with the God of Heaven that will doe it depreciare teipsum to disparage thy self Secondly thou must Appropriare Christum thou must appropriate Christ unto thy selfe thou must shrowd thy selfe under thy Saviours wings thou must sue to God under his protection and patronage and as the Herodians Act. 12. made friendship with Blastus the Kings Chamberlaine to helpe them into favour with Herod so must thou make friendship with Jesus Christ for it is hee and onely he that can helpe thee into grace and favour with thy God Gratificavit nos in dilect◠saith the Apostle Ephes. 1. 6. Hee hath brought into grace or hee hath made us accepted in his beloved Sonne Gratiam pro Gratiâ saith Saint Iohn elsewhere Ioh. 1. 16. Wee have received Grace for Grace that is for the Grace and favour that Christ hath with God wee also are received into grace and favour with him For otherwise as Elisha told the King of Israel 2 Reg. 3. 14. As the Lord liveth were it not that I regard the presence of Iehosaphat I would not looke toward thee nor see thee So stands our case with God wee are of our selves such vile bodies as the Apostle rightly termes us who shall change our vile bodies I meane so foule and so full of corruption and lust and sinne so odious and abominable in the holy eyes of God that as the Lord liveth were it not that God doth regard the person the presence and the prayers of Jesus Christ our true Jehosaphat he would not looke to us nor see us but that as he saith himselfe This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased There come we into favour and marke that he doth not say This is my beloved Sonne which pleaseth mee well but in whom I am well pleased which intimates a further matter unto us namely that our blessed Saviour doth not onely please God his Father for his owne part but that God in him and for his sake is well pleased even with them that are in themselves as the Prophet speakes even vessels wherein there is no pleasure Ier. 22. 28. Thou therefore that desirest to get into favour with thy God flatter not thy selfe in thy owne eyes thinke not that God will accept thee for thy owne person or for any other personall qualities or abilities that are in thee but as Iacob shrouded himselfe under the garments of his elder brother and by that meanes got him the blessing of his Father so doe thou shroud thy selfe under the garments of thy elder brother in Heaven I meane as the Apostle speakes Labour to be found of God not having on thy owne righteousnesse but the righteousnesse of Christ by faith Say as Tertullian doth Mihi vendico Christum mihi defendo Iesum claime thou thy part stand thou for thy right in Jesus Christ and as thou art a Protestant so make this protestation before God and the world that thou hopest for grace and mercy not by any merits or deserts of thy owne but meerely by the merits and by the spirit by the death and by the Blood of Iesus Christ This is another infallible way for a man to finde the Grace
mendacium peccatum lying and sinne as our Saviour said of the devill Iohn 8. when hee speaketh a lye hee speaketh de suo of his owne God never put that into him so for thy sinnes thou must thank thy selfe or rather indeed beshrew and blame thy selfe for they are thy owne but if thou hast any grace or any vertue in thee thanke God for that for it is not thine it is the Lords seeing then thou art but a Tributary to God and hast nothing that good is but what thou art beholding and must be countable to the Lord for it nè superbias bee not proud of it 3. Seeing Grace is the Lords to bestow on whom he pleaseth nè invideas doe not envy it let not thine eye be evill because God is good nor thinke the worse of another man because God is better to him then unto thee for Gods grace is his owne he may give it to whom he will When God shall take off his grace and of his good Spirit as Samuel said to Saul shall give it to a Neighbour of thine that is better then thou what cause hast thou to be envious at this and not rather to humble thy selfe and thinke that as Daniel told the King chap. 5. 27. God hath weighed thee in a ballance and found thee minus habens wanting to God and to thy selfe and therefore hath justly with-holden his favour from thee and given it to one that will use it better for his glory and for the Churches good farre be it from any child of God to cherish in his breast the spawne of that old serpent the Divell for envy is no better as the learned have well observed there is so neere a resemblance betwixt an envious man and the Divell that in the Booke of God the one is taken for the other so the Divell is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an envious man Mat. 13. 28. an envious man is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a devill Ioh. 6. 70. How farre better would it become us in this respect to be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} like the Angels of Heaven who now at Christmas time when they saw that our Saviour would in no wise take their nature which was farre better then ours but tooke our nature upon him which was farre worse then theirs and which was most of all and would have gone most against our stomackes commanded them to worship it Heb. 1. 6. they were so farre from envying or taking offence at this as that elder brother did in the Gospel when the younger was received to grace after his riotous course that even then they sung an Anthem for the joy of our happinesse and even to this day Saint Peter tells us 1 Pet. 1. 12. they doe {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} stoope downe as it were in duty and love to honour the mystery of Christs incarnation and to admire the Grace and favour of God to mankinde In a word then seeing that the honouring of Gods grace wheresoever it lights is a quality so Angelicall and the contrary so diabolicall let it bee thy practice evermore to reverence him that hath it to judge thy selfe unworthy of it seeke it in Gods name and get to be partaker in it but in any case ne invideas doe not envy it 4. Seeing that Grace proceedes from so holy a Fountaine as is the Lord ne Abutaris doe not abuse it doe not vitiate nor staine it with sinne as Lot entreated the men of Sodome Gen. 19. 8. that they would not abuse the Angels of God seeing they were come to shelter themselves under the shadow of his roofe So let mee entreate you all in the Name of Christ that you would not abuse the graces of God seeing they are come from Heaven to take shelter and harbour in your breasts and bosomes The Apostle speakes of some Iud. 4. that turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and that 's a woefull kinde of Alchymie as one saith singularly well would he not esteeme that man prodigally foolish and mad that would spend all his time all his stubstance and all his industry to find out a perverse Philosophers stone that should turne all the gold it touched into lead and drosse even such are they that pervert the grace of God and turne it into wantonnesse into lasciviousnesse into all manner of scurrility and deboistnesse and never lin till they have made a poyson of an Antidote and baned themselves with that which would have beene their blisse Lucerna Dei inspiritu hominis saith Salomon Pro. 20. 27. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord it implyes that a man naturally walkes in darkenesse which is full of errour and full of terrour till God in mercy set up a candle in his soule I meane endues him with knowledge and grace from heaven that he may shew him the path of life and to avoid the snares of death Now you know that a candle naturally burnes upwards if you take it and turne it the wrong way and hold it downewards it dyes and goes out alone so fares it with {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Graces and gifts of God as Wit and Wisdome Knowledge and Learning and all these are the candles of the Lord and are purposely given us to light us up to heavenward but if wee take Gods candles and hold them downeward turne them the wrong way and apply and abuse them to sinne it is much to bee feared the light of God will goe out and thou shalt be left at the length in a place of utter darkenesse Therefore as thou tenderest the favour and good-will of God and the eternall welfare of thy owne soule deale not with the Graces of God as Iehu dealt with Iehorams messenger 2 Reg. 9. doe not turne them behinde thee and make them serve against their owne masters but remember that if the sonnes of Iacob would not endure to have their sister abused Gen. 24. ult. how dost thou thinke thy God will endure to have his grace abused and to be prostituted to every sinne In a word as Ruben said to his distressed brethren Gen. 42. 22. did not I speak unto you saying Sin not against the child and ye would not heare Oh bee not you like them monitoribus asperi so carelesse and regardlesse of divine admonition but remember that you have beene spoken unto that you have beene warned of God not to sinne against your owne soules in this too common kinde but if the Lord have betrusted you with his grace labour to cherish it and as the Apostles word is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 2 Tim. 1. 6. to blow it or stirre it up as we do a dying fire to kindle and quicken it by the use of good meanes but in any case ne abutaris abuse it not 5. Lastly seeing thou hast to doe with the grace and favour of God ne
if your case be the same your comfort is the same for God is no accepter of persons his Grace is as sufficient for the one as for the other 1. Saint Paul was Homo in Christo he was a man in Christ as you may see by the second verse of this chapter I knew a man in Christ that was taken up into the third Heaven Art thou such a one I meane art thou regenerate and become a new creature for he that is in Christ is a new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. dost thou daily renew thy repentance and renew thy obedience and renew thy duty and devotion to God And is it a griefe to thy soule that so much of the old leaven thy old corruption remaines still in thy heart Then take this holy Scripture to thy comfort and assure thy selfe though thy conscience disquiet thee Gods Grace will be sufficient for thee contrarily if thou beest an old weather-beaten sinner an old rusty drunkard swearer and that standest at a stay and gatherest sinne like an old tree that stands and gathers mosse I must say unto thee as Peter said to Simon Magus Act. 8. thou hast neither part nor portion in this priviledge thou art not a man in Christ and consequently canst claime no interest in the Grace and favour of God 2. Saint Paul was Homo in Cruce a man upon the crosse Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ and elsewhere Colos. 2. 24. I fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh whereupon saith a Father quid deest passioni Christi nisi ut nos similia patiamur what is or what can be wanting to the sufferings of Christ but that as he tooke up his Crosse so wee take up ours and follow him for Vae portantibus crucem non sequentibus Christum woe to them that are crucified and not with Christ that beare the Crosse and follow not Christ but turne from him cleane another way It is well knowne that afflictions goe under the name of crosses now a Crosse was a piece of wood for a malefactour to dye on there was no other use of a crosse but that Affliction therefore is called a crosse because it should have the nature and power of a Crosse that is it should be a meanes to crucifie and mortifie all carnall lusts and affections in us that the more we are afflicted the more wee should dye to sinne and the lesse life and power should our corruptions have in us Thus it was with Saint Paul is it so with thee dost thou wish and desire the death of thy sinnes dost thou make this use of thy afflictions even to die daily as the Apostles speakes dost thou every day drive one naile into the body of sinne I meane one sigh or groane to God against it dost thou labour to draw blood of thy soule as they drew blood of thy Saviour I meane the teares of true repentance and is it a death to thy heart that thou canst not dye unto sinne and live unto God as thou shouldest and oughtest to doe Then looke no further for Hearts-ease but to the words of my Text and assure thy selfe what ever Crosses be upon thee Gods Grace in Gods good time shall bee sufficient to case thee Contrarywise if thou beest one that dost {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as Saint Stephen speaketh Act. 7. 51. one that dost fall crosse and contrary to all but to thy sinnes and art indeede a very crosse to God himselfe and to his good Spirit by thy perverse ungodly courses I must say unto thee as the Prophet Esay saith Esay 3. 6. Woe bee unto thy soule for thou hast rewarded evill unto thy selfe thou forsakest thy owne mercy and deprivest thy selfe of the comfort of Gods Grace in the time of need 3. Saint Paul was Homo in negotiis a laborious man a man full of imployments 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more then all my fellow-Apostles saith hee yet not I but the Grace of God which was with mee there 's an honest acknowledgement by whom hee profited And elsewhere he tells the Corinthians 2 Cor. 11. 9. When I was with you and wanted non obtâ—rpui I was not chargeable nor burthensome to any man The Learned observe that word hath his weight from Torpedo which signifieth a Crampfish a Fish they say that hath such a benumming quality that the cold of it will strike from the hook to the line from the line to the goad from the goad to the arme from the arme to the body of the fisher and so benum him take away al use and feeling of his limbes His meaning is that he was none of those idle drones that by their lazinesse and lewdnesse doe even chill and benumme and dead the charity of well-disposed people but as he laboured in preaching so hee wrought in his calling too and put himselfe to any paines rather then bee chargeable or burthensome to any friend or stranger and by this meanes it came to passe that what he wanted at home he found it abroad and Gods grace that was with him did ever supply him with that which was enough and sufficient for him Is it so with thee Thou that art a poore man art thou also an industrious and a painfull man that as Iacob got the blessing in the garment of Esau which signifieth Working so dost thou work and take paines to get the blessing of thy God dost thou labour with thy hands the thing that is good that thou mayest rather bee charitable then chargeable to him that needeth and will not thy honest labour maintaine thee nor suffice the charge that daily lyes upon thee Take comfort by this Text that now is taught thee and let not thy wants nor thy necessities dismay thee for there is a God above that hath sufficient for thee contrarily if thou beest one that live in pleasure as Saint Paul saith of that widdow {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} she was dead even while she lived one that spendest thy time in this world no otherwise then that Leviathan doth in the Sea onely by taking thy pastime therein or like those Lyllies that our Saviour speakes that neither labour nor spin but onely make a faire shew as long as it will hold Then as Iehu said to Ioram What Peace so may I say to thee What Grace or what favour canst thou looke for at the hands of God 4. Saint Paul was Homo in aerumnis a man full of cares I doe not meane of carnall or wordly cares or such as Martha's were for the things of this life for these he had cast upon God and had learned in whatsever estate he was therewith to bee content but I meane of spirituall divine religious cares for the health and welfare of the soule such as he commends in the Corinthians 2 Cor. 7. 11. as being the first fruits of Grace and godly sorrow {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}
{non-Roman} {non-Roman} What carefulnesse it hath wrought in you how much it wrought in them I know not but sure I am it wrought in him a marvellous and a manifold care and that of the better kinde first an immediate care for himselfe and his own soule lest after hee had preached unto others himselfe should be a cast-away 1 Cor. 9. 27. secondly a charitable and that a Catholicke and universall care for all Churches and Christian soules under the cope of heaven 2 Cor. 11. 28. Non aliter in ecclesias quantumvis remotas affectus quam si illas humeris gestaret as Beza said of Calvin hee was no lesse tenderly affected for those Churches that were remote and farre off than if hee had borne them upon his owne shoulders and carried them as Nurses do their Babes in his owne bosome But his third and most especiall care was for the soules and saving health of his little children as he calls them Gal. 4. 20. Of whom he travelled in birth till Christ was formed in them His care was greater for them than either for himselfe or any others and he gives his reason {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for saith he I stand in doubt of you Good Parents the more they love their children the more they stand in doubt of them least they should fall to any defection or decline to any corruption or come to any disaster when they themselves are dead and gone This made Saint Paul in such perplexity for them and yet were they but his spirituall children what care then may we thinke would he have taken for them if they had beene his naturall children too then might he justly have used that word and said {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I am in doubt of you for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in Greeke signifieth both dubius and pauper doubtfull and poore for none have so much reason to bee doubtfull of their childrens welfare as they that are poorest and have least to leave them They may justly feare as the woman of Tekoah said to David 2 Sam. 14. 7. lest their coales should be quenched for so shee calls her childe her coale for as coales either warme or burne as they are used so doe children either comfort or crosse their parents as they prove now when a poore man shall dye and leave his coales I meane his Orphans behinde him such is the world that where you shall light of one good body that will bee a meanes to cherish and maintaine and keepe them alive there be twenty to that one so unchristianly and uncharitably minded that they care not how they use them yea though they quench and crush and put them cleane out And hence come those {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} those perplexities and doubtfull cares of tender-hearted Parents for their Children Hast thou therefore many little ones and little to leave them and doth thy heart even yearne with care and feare to fore-thinke what shall betide them when thou by death art taken from them I will give thee the same counsell that I desire of God to take my selfe and that 's this Cognovisti Gratiam Dei saith our Apostle Colos. 1. 6. Thou knowest the Grace of God thou knowest that to bee a sure stay when all other props and stayes are done away That Anchor will hold when all other tackling breakes Make tryall of that Doe by thy Children as Saint Paul did by his brethren Acts 20. 32. Commend them to God and to the word of his Grace Lay them downe at the feet of Jesus Christ as they in the Primitive Church laid downe their money at the feet of the Apostles desire God to bee their Father Christ to be their Guardian the Holy Ghost to bee their Guide and when thou hast done so then as David saith Psal. 116. 7. Revertere ad requiem Returne unto thy rest O my soule then settle and assure and resolve thy selfe that Heaven shall want mercy and earth meanes before any of those that are under Gods protection and patronage shall want maintenance Never bee in doubt what shall become of them knowing that His Grace is sufficient for them I might adde hereunto many particulars as that Saint Paul was homo in vinculis a man in bonds but the Grace of God unloosed them all that he was Homo in necessitatibus a man in wants but the Grace of God supplyed them all that he was Homo in periculis a man in many perills and dangers but by the Grace of God he escaped them all that he was Homo in tentationibus a man mightily troubled with temptations but by the Grace of God he overcame them all All these I purposely overslip which perhaps might comply with many a mans condition and conduce to his comfort but there is one behind that is of greater value than all the rest that S. Paul was as I pray God of his mercy make me and thee and every Christian soule to be 5. Homo in Coelestibus a man of an heavenly disposition though his bodily abode was upon earth yet his {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} his soules commerce and conversation was in heaven Phil. 3. 20. no marvell then that being so much acquainted with God as hee was and so conversant in heaven which is Gremium Gratiae the lap and bosome of Grace if as t is said of Saint Iohn that leaning in the bosome of Christ he thence suckt out his heavenly knowledge So St. Paul being so intimate and so entire with God who is the God of all Grace whatever else hee wanted could not possibly want Grace sufficient for him In a word then Is it so with thee though in a farre inferiour degree Art thou as every good Christian is and ought to be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a Citizen of Heaven Dost thou account that thy home and this but the place of thy pilgrimage for a time and as our Saviour set his face to goe to Ierusalem Luke 9. 51. Dost thou set thy face to go to heaven doth thy heart stand Heaven-ward Art thou bound for that coast as Paul went bound in the spirit to Ierusalem Act. 20. I meane dost thou set thy affections upon things above upon God and his Grace and not on things below upon the world and her goods which drowne mens soules in perdition Art thou one of that same Generis Aquilini of that Eagle kinde whereof our Saviour speakes Mat. 24. where the body is thither will the Eagles resort the body of thy Saviour thou knowest is in Heaven and doth thy soule resort often thither dost thou wish as Macarius did {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that thy soule might goe up into heaven with thy prayers and there abide for ever with God Then what Nathan said to David in a case of conviction I dare apply to thee in a case of comfort Thou art the man whom God delighteth to favour and therefore as the Patriarchs are said Heb. 11. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} even to kisse and embrace the promises of Christ so doe thou even claspe and hugge this promise of Grace to thy selfe and let neither thy wants nor thy weaknesses dismay thee for both in life and death thou shalt finde Gods Grace to bee sufficient for thee which God of his mercy grant unto us all c. Amen FINIS