Servants and Beasts may rest as well as we The Church of the Jews under the Old Testament had various Sabbaths as of Days Months and Years 1. Their Sabbath of days every seventh day of the Week So also their Sabbaths of days were their other Festivals as the Feast of Passeover Pentecost Tabernacles Expiation Trumpets c. for in all these Feasts they were commanded to rest as well as on the Seventh day Of all these read at large in Levit. 23. and 25. Chapters 2. Their Sabbath of Months every New-Moon 3. Their Sabbath of years every seventh year in which they were not to till the ground Levit. 25. 8. and I may add hereto the Jubilee which was once in seven times seven years or the 49th year The word remember in the Hebrew signifies to call to mind somewhat before or to keep in mind somewhat for after and sometimes it signifies both as it may well here be taken for this ordinance of God of the Sabbath was instituted long before and was to continue for afterward The word Sanctifie or hallow doth signifie these four things 1. To make a thing Holy by putting holiness into it morally 2. To acknowledge a thing to be Holy 3. To appoint a thing to Holy and Religious uses 4. To use things to those good uses whereto they were appointed This day hath no more Holiness in it than any other that for it self it might be accounted more Holy than other only God hath appointed it to holy uses and would have us to use it thereunto The reasons why God commands us to keep holy this day 1. God gives us six days to labour in and hath reserved but one in seven for Himself therefore good reason is it we should obey 2. God requireth no more than that which Himself hath done therefore ought men to do so 3. God hath blessed and hallowed this day to this end Therefore it must be kept We must spend our strength in sanctifying of the Sabbath in the duties of of the day they that worship God to purpose spend their bodies and their strength in nothing so much as in the worship of God stirring up themselves to take hold of God Jacob wrestled Isai 64. 7. Gen. 32. 24. with God in Prayer now wrestling is a hard exercise therein men put forth all their strength It will be a sad thing another day when this shall be charged upon very many that they have spent their strength upon sin and upon their lusts but never put forth any strength in Holy Duties or Sabbath-Performances there they are as cold and dead as may be It is a sign of the breath of life when it is warm but artificial breath is cold As the breath that comes out of a living body is warm but the breath out of a pair bellows is cold So the breath of many people in Prayer is discovered to be but artificial breath it is so cold but if there were spiritual life than it would be warm There must be strength and heat of affection So I might instance in hearing the Word we must hear as for our lives Isai 55. 3. so hear that our Souls may live c. But you will say the Sabbath is a time of rest I confess it is a time of rest from outward labours but it is a time of spending strength in a spiritual way They that will worship God aright upon the Sabbath will find it a spending of a great deal of strength And blessed is that strength that is spent in the Worship of God EXERCITATION THE ELEVENTH Luk. 21. 19. In your patience possess ye your Souls VVE are not able to enjoy our selves or any of the blessings which God affords us without patience While we are here in this life let us expect troubles and afflictions and discomforts even from our nearest relations crosses and losses It is our blessed Saviours Legacy in the world ye Joh. 16. 33. shall have tribulation and through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of heaven Expect them therefore Acts 14. 22 and prepare for them then when they come they will wound us the less Praevisa minus feriunt tâ—lâ— Let us enjoy this present life and the comforts thereof so long as it shall please God to afford them unto us exercising our selves in continual patience and by it enduring all Behold we count them Jam. 5. 11. happy which endure we have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pittiful and of tender mercy Patience is a Christian vertue whereby Definition by faith resting on the Providence Power and Goodness of God we sweetly and quietly submit our selves to His hand in all afflictions which by Him are sent upon us The afflictions of the Godly are 1. For Correction 2. For Tryal 1. For Correction if we were without chastisement whereof all God's Heb. 12. 8. 10 11. Children are partakers then were we bastards and not sons He chastifeth us for our profit and He seeth it is needful for us for a season if need be we 1 Pet. 1. 6. are in heaviness through manifold temptations So that at length we may say it is good for us and we could not have been without it Though at present no Psal 119. 71. affliction is joyous but grievous yet afterward it yieldeth the quiet fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby This is all the fruit to take Isai 27. 9. away their sin 2. The afflictions of the Godly as they are for correction so also for tryal to try our faith and other Graces if we will quietly submit unto God and humble our selves under His mighty 1 Pet. 5. 6. hand to be dumb with silence and not open our mouths that is in a fretting and repining way because Psal 39. 8. Micah 6. 9. God hath done it To hear the rod and who hath appointed it For the rod of God hath a voice with it and the man of wisdom will see it and hear it and endeavour to understand the meaning of it as well as to feel the smart of it Affliction ariseth not out of the dust neither Job 5. 6. doth trouble spring out of the ground Say therefore with the Church I will Micah 7. 9. bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him when He hath truly tryed me He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold His righteousness Let us not therefore like a dog snarl at the stone but look to the hand that flung it A sparrow shall not fall to the ground without the will of our Father and we are of more value than many sparrows This will Mat. 10. 29. help us in our patience to possess our souls because God hath done it and so acknowledge it is His hand and that the Lord hath done it Psal 109. 27. Let us examine and
I pray thee c. So do thou as Jacob there did wrestle with God in Prayer and give Him not over until He bless thee So David prays to God to have respect Psal 74. 10. to the Covenant Jeremiah likewise prayeth Do not Jer. 14. 21. abhor us for Thy Names sake Oh remember break not Thy Covenant with us So look to the Covenant and the Promises build upon them hold them fast and be assured that in God's good time though perhaps not in thy desired time all shall be fulfilled And God will either give thee the mercy desired or that which is better for thee Now let us consider the misery of all those who are not in Covenant with God They are without God in the world Eph. 2. 12. and have no hope they have no right to one of the promises wicked creatures subject to many wants and need much assistance from God and yet can have no confidence to go unto God Oh that pitiful speech of Saul I am 1 Sam. 28. 1â— sore distressed for the Philistins make war against me and God is departed from me and answereth me no more c. Yea as they have no comfort from God so God is their enemy a devouring fire unto them everlasting burnings quickly and easily consuming them as stubble yea and all the creatures are at enmity with them because they are at enmity with God All Men Beasts and Devils may hurt them there is no prohibition against them for wicked men have no interest in God by Covenant and so are out of His more especial profection God oftentimes le ts loose the creatures against them go and worry them wound them hurt them be an enemy unto them destroy them Afflictions to those that are not in Covenant with God are as a cup of poison and as a sword for their destruction The bread and meat which they eat may choak them Though they have a civil right before men yet they are usurpers before God of all their Lands and Estates and of all the good things of the world which they have and do enjoy On the other side I might largely speak of the comforts blessedness security and happiness of all those who have a Covenant-interest in God and who can truly say to the Lord O Lord thou art my God Read Job 25. 23. to the end As God is faithful in keeping Covenant with us let us be faithful in keeping Covenant with God In Covenants between men there is usually a league offensive and defensive to defend and help each other Let God's enemies be our enemies as David said Do not I hate them O Lord that Psâ—l 139. 21. hate thee and am not I grieved at those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I account them mine enemies Let no iniquity cleave unto us neither allow we our selves in any one known Sin Grieve when God's Name is dishonoured His Laws broken His Sabbath prophaned c. Let every thing that bears the Stamp or Name of God be precious to us as His Ordinances Sabbaths Servants c. Stand up in Gods Num. 25. 7. cause like Phinehas and shrink not back Side not with any ungodly speeches courses or practises As God is not ashamed Heb. 11. 6. to make us His people and to be called our God so let not us be afraid or ashamed to make it good upon all occasions Else if we be ashamed of Christ and His words here of us will He be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father Mark 8. 38. with His holy Angels Especially let us take heed we be not a shame to Christ and our Christian profession by ungodly or unsuitable lives We have great cause of admiration that the great and glorious and most holy God would enter into Covenant with us such vile miserable and sinful creatures and so to oblige Himself unto us to do us good As God is ours so all that is in God is ours and for our good He provides Isai 54. 13. 48. 17. for us for Soul and Body He doth instruct and teach us we are all taught of God who alone teaches to profit He helps us to grow in Grace and to hold out against all oppositions He comforts us with the consolations of God which are very sweet and precious He 2 Cor. 1. 4. encourages us in His ways preserves us therein against all the temptations and power of Devils or wicked men He is Josh 23. 6. Psa 84. â—1 a sun and shield to us to direct and protect us He gives us grace and glory no good thing will He with-hold from us None shall ever pluck us out of His Joh. 10. 28. hands He will guide us with His counsel here and at length will bring us safe Psal 73. 24. to His glory That where our blessed Saviour is there we may also be and Joh. 17. 24. that for ever We have also a right to the creatures and to all God's promises and to Heaven God hath confirmed and ratified His Covenant with us 1. By his promise which is a sure word Therefore it is of faith that it might be of Grace to the end the promise Rom. 4. 16. 2 Pet. 1. 19. might be sure c. 2. By His oath God willing more abundantly to shew to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things that is His Word and His Oath in which it was impossible Heb. 6. 17 18. for God to lye we might have strong consolation c. 3. By the death of His Son the blood of Christ For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death Heb. 9. 16. of the Testator By the seals of the Sacraments which is not so much to confirm the promises on God's part but to help our faith to believe them and to rely upon them Q. How may we know if we are in Covenant with God A. 1. By faith Abraham believed God and was reckoned to be in Covenant with God and so he was called Rom. 4. 3. the friend of God But this must be a true lively working faith a faith that shews it self by its good works This Acts 15. 9. faith purifies the heart 2. If we be in Christ and have His Spirit for if any have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His. This holy Spirit makes us like unto God and so testifies with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and also that we are partakers of the Covenant After that we believe in Christ we are sealed with Eph. â— 13 14. that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance c. This is a Divine impression of light and an inexpressible Rev. 2. 17. Joh. 14. 21. assurance that we are the children of God and so in Covenant with Him None knows it but
stranger to the grace of liberty whom the service of fear meerly bindeth and obligeth 8. Know thy self that thou mayest fear God know God that thou mayest love Him For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the end of the Commandment is charity Even as out of knowledg of thy self the fear of God comes into thy heart so if thou knowest God as thou oughtest thou wilt be sure to love Him 9. He will easily swerve from the way of righteousness who fears men more than God For the fear of man brings a snare 10. If the love of God cannot keep thee from sin let the dread of Him who is a sin-revenging Judge terrifie thee the fear of hell the snares of death that burning fire the ever-gnawing worm those pains of hell stinking brimstone black flames of fire the blackness of darkness for ever and all those miseries accompanying it which are insupportable to be born impossible to express passing all understanding to conceive at least terrifie thee from sin 11. The fear of man brings distrust but the fear of the Lord brings strong confidence â—rov 14. 26. 12. He that truly fears God loves God and he that truly loves Him fears Him For these in our worshipping of God are conjoyned and cannot be separated 13. When thou hearest that God is merciful see that thou love Him when thou hearest that God is just see that thou fear Him that being stirred up both by the love and fear of God thou mayst be careful to strive to keep His Commandments Pray therefore with David O let me Psal 119. 1â— 1. not wâ—nder from Thy Commandments And O that my ways were directed to keep Thy Statutes Always remembring that frequently iterated precept of our blessed Saviour If ye love Me keep My Commandments EXERCITATION THE FIFTH Psal 62. 5. My Soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from Him OH how good is it to wait upon God! they alone who have found the benefit of it know how good it is There be three especial ingredients to make up this duty of waiting upon God 1. Faith 2. Patience 3. Diligence 1. Faith which is the substance of Heb. 11. 1 things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Faith is the bottom of our waiting upon God Faith discovers to us on what grounds we may stand as namely upon God's faithfulness and all-sufficiency c. and therefore David still encourageth himself as twice in this Psalm to wait upon God 2. Patience waiting implies delay and delay without patience is insupportable Hope deferred makes the heart Prov. 13. 12. sick Delay is a sore sickness and Patience is the only cure of it without which that sickness will prove death 3. Diligence and activity he that waiteth for a mercy must serve God's Providence in the use of all the means which God hath ordained and appointed for the accomplishment thereof It is Diligence as well as Faith and Patience that must inherit the promises We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that ye be not Heb. 6. 11 12. slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Waiting without diligence is nothing but slothfulness and security Waiting signifies a patient abiding and expectation of help from God I waited Psal 40. 1 2 3. patiently upon the Lord and He inclined His ear unto me and heard my cry He brought me also up out of an horrible pit out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings And He hath put a new song in my mouth even praise unto our God I will wait upon the Lord I will not go back from Him I will try or use no unlawful means but will wait in His Isai 26. 8. way and expect His help and aid and the fulfilling of His promises depending wholly upon Him and His Word Faith apprehends the promise and thereby brings forth Hope and Faith by means of Hope makes them that believe to wait God is not like to man but in whatever He promiseth He approveth Himself most faithful both in His ability and performances I will therefore trust in the Name of the Lord and stay Isai 50. 10. my self upon Him my God This waiting upon God is a virtue Definition whereby we are inclined to the expectation of those things which God hath promised to us If we hope for that we Rom. 8. 25. see not then do we with patience wait for it This waiting this expectation 1. It hath God for its principal object that our faith and hope might be in 1 Pet. 1. 21. God and the less principal objects are all those things whereby as by means and steps we come to God 2. It hath respect to God as the Author and Giver of every good thing which it expects Every good gift and Jam. 1. 17. every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning Commit thy way to Psal 37. 5. the Lord rest also on Him and He shall bring it to pass Every-where in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is wont to be rendered Hope it signifies properly expectation And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signifies more than bare expectation it signifies patient expectation and that unweariedly from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maneo I tarry so 2 Thess 3. 5. it is rendered into the patient waiting for Christ namely by which expectation we expect till Christ shall come to judge both the quick and dead there it is taken passively for the expectation in or by which Christ is expected by us The Septuagint render these words thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Soul subject thy self to God for my expectation or my abiding continuance patience perseverance is from Him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subjectio simply signifies sub alio jacere to lye under another but properly it signifies more as namely to be subordinate or to subject our selves in an orderly way So it denotes an orderly subjection and implyes the reverence of the heart respectful speech and gesture obedience without resisting a willing subjection and in due manner as is required So be subject is a general word comprehending all other duties and services to be obedient in all things The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies tolero sustineo remaneo persevero A man must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stay abide and stand under his weight and burden until God â—ase him Magis significat expectationem longanimitatem quà m adversitatum tolerantiam sic alii Propriè est ipsa laudabilis sub cruce permansio constans in virtute cum crucis tolerantià vel contemptu perseverantia Properly it signifies that laudable constant abiding under affliction and a perseverance in
their hearts God will rent the caul â—oâ— â—â— 3. of their hearts consume and destroy them Humility is to acknowledg that all the good things which are in us or done by us are not from any worth or excellency in our selves but meekly from the free-grace and goodness of God And so from the acknowledgment of His Divine Majesty and our own frailty and unworthiness to submit our selves wholly to God to give glory of all those good things in us to Him alone and so truely to fear God to acknowledge and deplore all our sins wants and weaknesses not to desire great things or high places but to contain our selves within our own place and callings not resting on our own endowments but wholly on Gods help not to despise others in comparison of our selves nor hindering them in the performance of their duties but to acknowledge that others are and may be as worthy instruments of Gods glory as our selves and so to give them honour and respect accordingly Not to affect excellency above others but to be content with our place and those gifts which God hath given us and to employ all our gifts and studies and parts to Gods glory and the good of our Neighbours not to murmur against God if we are frustrated of our hope if we are contemned and despised of some but in all things to give unto God the praise of His Wisdom and Justice This is the practice of an humble man Job 22 29. When men are cast down then thou shall say there is a lifting up and God will save the humble person He forgetteth Psal 9. 12. not the cry of the humble He will Psal 10. 17. hear the desire of the humble A mans pride shall bring him low but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit It is Prov. 29. 23. Prov. 16. 19. better to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud God said by Moses to Pharaoh How Exod. 10. 3. long wilt thou refuse to humble thy self before Me When he had so many Plagues and Judgments upon him yet he did not humble himself but his heart and the hearts of his servants were not humbled therefore they were utterly destroy'd and consum'd and sunk like a stone in those mighty waters of the Red-Sea So God brought them low Now these things are written for our 1 Cor. 10. 11. 7. 8. admonition that we should not be proud and stubborn haughty and rebellious c. as they were lest God pour down His vengeance and judgments on us likewise The humble shall see and be glad Psal 34. 2. and consider it their heart shall live that seek God O consider this ye that proudly forget God lest He tear you in pieces and Psal 50. 22. there be none to deliver yet there is hope for all this if thou wilt humble thy self and pray and seek the face of God and turn from thy wicked wayes then 2 Chron. 7. 14. Isai 55. 7. will the Lord hear from heaven and will pardon thy sins and will have mercy upon thee For God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble Humility makes men like to the holy Addition Angels but Pride made those become Devils that were Angels Pride was born in Heaven and as if it had forgotten which way it fell there-hence it can never return thither again Pride is the very beginning and end and cause of all Sin it is the root of all evil and Mistress and Queen of all other vices Other vices do only oppose and fight against those virtues which they are contrary unto as Drunkenness warreth against Sobriety Anger against Patience Wantonness and Whoredom against Chastity c. but Pride lifâ—eth up it self against all virtues and like a general and pestiferous Disease corrupts them all One said well there are four things draw the Chariot of Pride 1. Desire of Dominion 2. Love of ones own praise 3. Contempt of others 4. Disobedience And the wheels of this Chariot are boasting and arrogancy multitude of words and levity The Chariot-driver is the spirit of Pride and all they that are lovers of this present world are carried in this Chariot the horses of this Chariot are unbridled the wheels are very slippery the Chariot-driver very perverse and furious and they that are carried therein very infirm and weak persons Therefore this sin of Pride is to be cut down and grubbed up even at the very roots lest hiddenly and secretly it rising up it grow and increase by our allowing and bearing with it and so become stronger by use and custome much care and watchfulness is required against it Pride overthrew the Tower of Babel confounded our Speech prostrated Goliah hanged Haman slew Nicanor killed Antiochus drowned Pharaoh destroyed Sennacherib made Nebuchadnezar like a beast Herod to be eaten up with worms ruined stately Cities and Palaces and God sets Himself against all proud persons The Heathens could say Nosce teipsum è caelo descendit Know thy self is a saying or an Oracle from Heaven They that know themselves cannot be proud persons for they see so much sinfulness weakness ignorance and infirmities in themselves which kills Self-love that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and makes them even out of conceit with themselves seeing they have nothing but sin in and from themselves Every man of himself is a very Devil having nothing but wickedness in him All the imaginations and thoughts of his heart are only evil continually evil and extreamly evil If Gen. 6. 6â— he hath any good at all in him it is from God He cannot think a good thought as of himself much less speak or do that which is good all our sufficiency is 2 Cor. 3. â— of God Man by the fall of Adam was despoyled of all spiritual and supernatural gifts as faith love righteousness c. so also of all natural gifts as understanding judgment will c. which although they are not taken away yet the uprightness soundness and regularity of them is lost The understanding being filled with darkness and blindness the will with crookedness and perverseness c. yea and all things which belong to the blessed life of the soul are extinguished and lost until by grace of regeneration they are recovered Because Christ restoreth all these things to us therefore they are accounted from another and not from nature and therefore were once taken away Reason was not taken away by the fall but it was exceedingly corrupted and depraved that only foul ruines thereof do now appear The light shined in darkness Joh. 1. 5. and the darkness comprehended it not In the perverted and degenerate nature of man there shine yet some sparks which shew him to be a reasonable creature differing from brutes because he is endued with understanding and yet that light is choaked with great and thick mists of ignorance that it cannot effectually get abroad I might farther
punishment did grow from the fall of our first Parents The punishment of sin which we now speak of is the wrath and curse of God by whose just sentence man is delivered over for his sin into the power both of bodily and spiritual â—eath begun here and to be accomâ—lished hereafter Bodily death is the separation of the â—ul from the body with all personal â—iseries and evils that attend thereon â—â— make way thereunto Spiritual death is the final separation â—f both soul and body from God together with spiritual bondage and all â—re-runners of damnation Or more particularly All the misery â—f man God in this one word Death â—â—th comprehended In the day thou Gen. 2. 17. â—â—est of the tree of knowledg of good and â—â—il thou shalt dye There are four degrees of death 1. There is a spiritual death which a privation of spiritual life whereby man is destitute of saving Grace and â— lives only unto sin So Christ of the â—hurch of Sardis I know thy works Rev. 3. â— â—ou hast a name that thou livest but thou â—t dead 2. The second degree is of afflictions â—d miseries So Pharaoh said to Moses â—d Aaron Pray ye to the Lord that He Exod. 10. 17. â—ay remove from me this death only 3. Corporal death which is a privaâ—on of natural life and a resolution of the body into dust and returning oâ— the soul again unto God Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and Eccles 12. 7. the spirit unto God that gave it 4. The fourth degree is everlasting death or the state of the damned Rev. 21. 8. which in respect of corporal death â—â— called the second death But it is the third of these corporal death which â—â— here meant Spiritual death hath three degrees 1. When a man who is alive in regard of corporal or temporal death lies dead in sins She that liveth in pleasures is dead while she liveth And this 1 Tim. 5. 6. is the case of all men by nature whâ— are children of wrath and dead in sinâ— Eph. 2. 1. and trespasses 2. The second degree is the very end of this life when the body is to be layed in the earth and the soul descendâ— to the place of torment 3. The third degree is in the day oâ— Judgment when the body and soul meâ—â— again and go both to the place of the damned there to be tormented for ever and ever But now we are to speak of temporaâ— or corporal death which is a punishment inflicted on man for sin Deatâ— passed upon all men for that all have Rom. 5. 12. â—inned This death is a miserable priâ—ation of life And yet this death is not so properly as by Gods appointment â—ut from God as revenging on Sin and so properly it is from Sin as the meritorious and procuring cause of it And so this death is not only a simple and a bare privation of life but joyned with a subjection unto misery Therefore it is not an annihilation of the Sinner because the subject of misery being â—aken away then misery it self should be â—aken away also Now sith we must all dye let us labour Heb. 9. 27. to dye well To dye well two things are requisite 1. A preparation 1. Preparation before death before death 2. A right behaviour and disposition in death 1. The preparation unto death is an action of a repentant Sinner whereby he makes himself â—it and ready to dye That which we can do but once how careful should we be to do it well sith there is no place after for amending of errours therein committed This preparation is a duty very necessary to which we are bound by God's Commandment Therefore we are bid to watch and pray As death leaves us so judgment finds us as the tree falleth so Eccles 11. 3. it lyeth This preparation is twofold 1 General 1. General preparation for death 2. Particular 1 General to prepare our selves to dye through the whole course of our life for we know not neither the time of our death nor the place of our death nor the manner how whether of a sudden death or of a lingring sickness Therefore all the days of my Job 14. 14. appointed time will I wait till my change shall come The best Art of living well is to learn the Art of dying well Balaam would dye the death of the righteous Numb 23. 10. and that his latter end might be like to his but he did not care to live the life of the righteous I protest by our rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our 1 Cor. 15. 31. Lord said St. Paul I dye daily That is in preparation for it meditation upon it and expectation of it This will keep us humble and further our daily repentance and help us to be contented in every condition and make us watchful over our selves to fly and avoid Sin careful to grow in Grace and to be frequent in Prayer to God that He would teach us so to number Psal 90. 12. our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom For if we would live for ever we must begin to live that blessed and everlasting life here before we dye to live the life of Grace here which is the life of Glory begun We all with open face beholding as in a 2 Cor. 3. 18. glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory aâ— by the spirit of the Lord that is we by faith contemplating the glorious light of God's mercy truth power c. by which means we are made like unto Hiâ— in the glory of holiness and newness of life by the Spirit of regeneration which hath its progresses in this life until such time as it cometh to its perfection in the life everlasting â— Of particular preparation before 2. Particular preparation â—oâ— death death this contains three duties 1. Concerning God 2. Our selves 3. Our Neighbour â— Concerning God to seek to be reconciled to Him in Jesus Christ This reconciliation is had by renewing our former faith and repentance To see and acknowledg that Visitation of sickness from God's hand and usually it is for sin 1. Therefore make we a new examination of our hearts and â—am 3. 3â— lives search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. 2. Confess we our sins to the Lord and He will forgive the iniquity of our sins If we confess our sins He is saithful and just to forgive 1 Psal 32. 5. Joh. 1. 9. us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 3. Pray earnestly unto God with sighs and groans of the Spirit for pardon of sin and that God would assure us of it and that He is reconciled to us in Christ Jesus our Surety 2. Concerning our duties to our selves and that 1. In reference to the Soul 2. In reference to the Body 1. In