World that Christ the Messias is come in the Flesh c. Or to Things present as That Almighty God knows all I do and knows all I think or That he is a reconciled Father unto me in Christ Jesus Or Things to come which principally excite those Two great movers of the Soul Hope and Fear in relation to the future Life of Rewards and Punishments Hale Faith worketh by Love consumeth our Corruptions and Sanctifieth the whole Man throughout I come to God by Jesus Christ and as I believe in God so I believe also in Jesus Christ and rejoyce and glory in Him acknowledging my own unworthiness and sinfulness I rest entirely on Him as the ground of my Justification to Life and of all favour and acceptance with God. I most heartily take Christ according to the offers of the Gospel not only to be Justified from my Sins and delivered from the Wrath to come by his Merits but also to be Sanctified by his Word and Spirit and to be Governed by his Law and to be brought by him unto Fellowship with GOD. Corbet 's Self-Imployment Tho' there be not a co-operation of Faith and other Graces to Justifie yet there is a co-existence of Faith and other Graces in the Persons Justified Faith cannot be the Hand to take Christ but Love will be the Warmth to heat our Affections to Christ they always go together like Mother and Daughter Gal. 5.6 Phil. 5. Faith is required as an Hand which we should put forth to receive Pardon for our Sins First At God's Hands as a Free-Gift for he blotteth out our Transgressions for his own sake Isa 43.25 Secondly At Christ's Hands as a purchased Commodity bought for us with his own precious Blood and given to you There is First an Heart mollifying Faith. Secondly An Heart purifying Faith. Thirdly A fruitful Faith. Fourthly An Heart Praying Faith. Fifthly A Victorious Faith. Tho' we are Justified by Faith yet it is by Faith working by Love Gal. 5.6 And he that Loves God keeps his Commandments John 14. Bishop of Hereford 's Legacy 66 67. As to Faith Justifying and the Merit of Good-Works Bishop Cranmer concluded with this That our Justification was to be ascribed only to the Merit of Christ Jesus and that those that are Justified must have Charity as well as Faith but that neither of these is the Meritorious Cause of our Justification When ever we read of our Justification by Faith it is meant of our Justification in a Gospel way and that is by Christ alone Meritoriously and by what he hath done and Suffered Faith being but the conditional means Christ's Satisfaction contrived provided accepted and the Conditions performed then every Saved Person will appear Righteous before God and it will be very apparently a Righteous thing with God to bring such to Glory who have Christ's Righteousness by way of Satisfaction to answer for them in respect of the Law and their own Faith and sincere tho' imperpect Obedience to answer the terms of the Gospel Faith to Live by it IT is an Heavenly and Dutiful committing our whole Persons and of our whole Estates upon God with a Pious dependance on Christ for suitable and seasonable Supplies in all our Exigencies Occurrences and Changes whatsoever When the Soul is in any Exigence and comes to Christ and puts it self upon him and trusts to him for help This is to Live by Faith and this Faith extends it self both to our Spiritual and Temporal Estate The Just shall Live by his Faith Gal. 3.11 speaking of the Temporal State And Live by Faith of the Son of God says St. Paul Gal. 2.2 speaking of the Spiritual State. By reason of the Dignity of Christ's Person his Obedience and Sufferings being performed in our Nature and wholly upon our account God by an Infinite Gracious Statute in Heaven accepts them for us tho' not as done by us and reckons all the Effects and Advantages of them by way of Imputation to us Justification Evangelical We should not try Mens Faith by their Persons but their Persons by their Faith. Tertullian Chrysostom saith As a Rock tho' the Winds blow and the Waves beat against it is Immovable so Faith grounded on the Rock Christ holds out in all Temptations and Spiritual Combats Chrysologus saith Neither in the Steel alone nor in the Flint alone any Fire can be seen nor Extracted but by Conjunction and Collision so nor by Faith alone nor by Works alone is Salvation to be attained but by joyning both together Alexander of Hales saith What the Eye is to the Body Faith is to the Soul it 's good for direction if it be kept well And as Flies hurt the Eyes so little Sins and Ill-Thoughts do the Soul. Says Luther to Melancthon Who feared to Profess the Truth If the Cause be bad le ts revoke it and fly back but if it be good why do we make God a Lyar who hath made us such great Promises viz. Cast thy Care on the Lord and be of good Comfort I have Overcome the World. If Christ be the Conqueror of the World why should we fear it as tho' it would Overcome us therefore be not afraid but Couragious and Chearful solicitous for nothing the Lord is at hand to help us Calvin saith With all my Heart I embrace the Mercy which God hath used towards me for Jesus Christ 's sake recompencing my Faults with the Merits of his Death and Passion that Satisfaction may be made by this means for all my Sins and Crimes and the remembrance of them may be blotted out I have not lived so that I am ashamed to live longer neither do I fear to Die because I have a Merciful Lord in that a Crown of Righteousness is laid up for me Christ is my Righteousness Father let thy Will be done thy Will I say and not my own which is imperfect and depraved This Day let me see the Lord Jesus c. Jewel Fall of Man. Anselm saith O hard hap What did Man lose What did he find He lost the Blessedness to which he was made and found Death to which he was not made Fortune SIR William Saint James was wont to say That none Fought well but those that did it for a Fortune Fortune saith Sir Ralph Winwood may begin a Man's Greatness but Vertue must continue it Friendship Friendship saith my Lord Bacon easeth the Heart and cheareth the Vnderstanding making clear Day in both partly by giving the purest Council or partly from our Interest and Prepossessions and partly by allowing opportunity to Discourse and by that Discourse to clear the Mind to recollect the Thoughts to see how they look in Words whereby Men attain to the highest Wisdom which Dionisius Aeriopagitus saith is the Daughter of Reflection Forgiveness IF a Man saith Sir David Brooke wrongeth me once God forgive him If he wrong me the second time God forgive me O God Forgive me my Ten Thousand Talents I come to Jesus Christ who
weakness because tho' the Believers hand is weak yet his Heart is right the Hypocrite may have the most active Hand but the Believer hath the most faithful and sincere Heart Our applying to God through Jesus Christ id est our address to the Father through his Son begetting in us a sense of that Love which our Saviour had for us cannot but kindle returns of Love suitable to it and that must needs reform the inward Man upon which purity and holiness of Life will certainly follow Right Obedience to Christ First It must be Evangelical 1st For the Matter of it Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15.14 2ly To the manner of it according to what God requires of us God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth John 4.24 3ly The ground of it This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1.15 Secondly It is an Universal Obedience Numb 14.24 But thy servant Caleb because he hath another Spirit with him and hath followed me fully him will I bring into the Land c. Psal 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments Thirdly It is a continual Obedience Psal 119.112 I have enclined my Heart to perform thy Statutes always even unto the end God is never absent tho' the wicked have him not in their Thoughts where he is not by Favour he is by Punishment and Terror Greg. the Great Painting of Faces THey that love to Paint themselves in this World otherwise than God hath made them may justly fear that at the Resurrection their Creator will not know them Cyprian Passions IT is the greatest Slavery in the World to be subject to ones own Passions Justin Martyr Patience OTher Graces are but the parts of a Christians Armour but Patience is the whole Armour of the Man of God the Enemy foils us without it but we foil him with it Ignatius O that I could live says Mr. Corbet by Faith in this time of Affliction I endeavour to press upon my Soul those Arguments which the Scripture affords with Patience and Long-suffering with Joyfulness but this will not do the Work except the Spirit of Faith and Patience be given from him from whom comes down every good and perfect Gift I do pray I do cry to my Father that he would give me the gracious Spirit according to his Promises that I may shew forth the Power of his Grace and that I may not Dishonour him A Soul patient when Wrongs are offered him is like a Man with a Sword in one hand and a Salve in the other could wound but will heal Alexander of Hales Do not promise to thy self that which God never promised thee This heals the evils that arise from vain hopes and cools the anger of those Sores that are caused by frustration of our Expectations It is lawful to desire several things which are uncertain if God sees them good for us but let us not promise to our selves any of them Do not entertain thy thoughts with promises of Contentment in such a relation in such a condition nor success in such an Enterprise no tho' thou goest about it wisely but promise to thy self pardon of Sin and Eternal Life if thou do thy Duty and the Grace of God to do it if thou pray for it and wilt use it for this our Merciful Father hath promised And if we will hope for any thing let it be as I said before in the days of our Sorrow and Adversity to support our Heaviness but not in the days of our Prosperity to please our Fancies Parents PArents ought to offer these things to their Children as Instructions both in God's Word and Human Arts which preserves them from Idleness and Folly gives them Wisdom and learns them Subjection and Obedience to their Superiours Justin Martyr Peace WHat will it avail thee to Dispute soundly of the Trinity if thou be void of Humility and art thereby displeasing to the Trinity high Words surely never make a Man neither Holy nor Just but a Vertuous Life makes him dear to God I desire rather to feel Compunction than to understand the Definition thereof If thou dost know the whole Bible and the Sayings of all the Philosophers by Heart what would that profit thee without the Word of God Vanity of Vanity all is Vanity but to fear God and him only this is the highest Wisdom by contempt of the World to attend the Kingdom of Heaven It is Vanity then to tend after Perishing Riches to hunt after Honors to climb to high Dignities and to labor after that for which we afterwards suffer more grievous Punishments Vanity it is to wish to live long and carelessly to live well Vanity it is to mind only this present Life and not to foresee these things that are to come Vanity it is to stay and set thy love on these fading and Perishing things here below and not to hasten thither where everlasting Joy is permanent Call often to mind that Proverb The Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing endeavor therefore to withdraw thy Heart from these Visible things and turn thy self to the Invisible for they that follow their Sensuality shame their own Consciences and lose the favor of God. Thou must labor to break thy Will in many things if thou wilt have Peace and Concord with others It is no small thing to live in Chistian Communion It is no small thing to dwell in Religious Communion and to converse therein without Complaint and persevere therein faithfully till Death Blessed is he that hath then lived well and persevered therein till Death The Kingdom of God is within you saith the Lord turn thee with thy whole Heart to God and forsake this wretched World and thy Soul shall find rest Learn to despise Exterior things and to give thy self Inferior and thou shalt perceive the Kingdom of God to come into thee for the Kingdom of God is Peace and within the Holy Ghost which is not given to the Wicked Christ will come unto thee and shew thee his Consolations if thou prepare for him a worthy Mansion within thee All his Beauty and Glory is within and there he pleaseth himself the Inward Man he often Visiteth and hath with him sweet Discourses much Solace much Peace and wonderful Familiarity O faithful Soul make ready thy Heart for this Bridegroom that he may vouchsafe to come into thee and dwell within thee If any love me he will keep my Words and we will come and make our Abode with him Give therefore admittance to Christ and deny entrance to all others When thou hast Christ thou art Rich and he will suffice thee he will be thy faithful and provident Helper in all things so that thou shalt not need to trust in Men for Men are quickly
we say less than the least of God's Mercies Prayer THat Prayer that is pure and holy entereth into the Heavens and returneth not empty It is a shelter to the Soul a Sacrifice to God and a Scourge to the Devil Austin's Prayer was Lord first give me what thou requirest and then require what thou wilt And he that Prayeth well cannot choose but Live well Mr. Perkins upon his Death-Bed said to his Friends praying for the ease of his Pain Pray not for the ease of Torments but for the encrease of my Patience He that Prays for the good Things that he hath not doth not seek for that which is good but that which seems to be good Oh! what do I inwardly suffer when in my Mind I consider Heavenly Things and presently in my Prayers a multitude of Carnal Imaginations present themselves before me My God be not far from me depart not in thy Wrath from thy Servant cast forth thy Light and scatter them send forth thy Darts and break all the Imaginations which the Enemy casts in Gather in call home my Senses unto thee make me forget all the things of this World grant me to cast away speedily the imaginations of Wickedness Succour thou me thou everlasting Truth that no Vanity may move me come Heavenly Sweetness and let Impurity fly from before thee Pardon me also and mercifully forgive me as often as I think of any thing else besides thee in Prayer I do humbly confess I am wont to be subject to many Distractions for I confess I am not there where I do corporally stand or sit but there am I whither my Thoughts do carry me where my Thoughts are there am I. There are oftentimes my Thoughts where my Affections are that offer themselves quickly unto me which is naturally delightful and by custom pleasing Tho. de Kempis 268. If thou be in God Christ is thy Father and therefore in Prayer thy Applications are to thy Father Mat. 7.7 If we being evil know how to give good things whatsoever thou canst expect from thy Earthly Father so much and much more may'st thou expect from thy Heavenly Father patience to bear with thy Infirmities and Failings Psal 78.18 compassion to pity thy Sufferings Psal 103. Goodness to supply thy Wants Justice to revenge thy Injuries Psal 105.14 Those Prayers that are from the workings and sighings of God's Spirit in us from sincere Hearts lifted up to God through the sense of our own Emptiness and from God's infinite Fulness that are suited to God's Will and the great Rule of Prayer that are for Spiritual things more than Temporal that are accompanied with Faith and dependance these Prayers speak a Man altogether a Christian Mead. A Prayer for Purging the Heart and for obtaining Heavenly Wisdom STrengthen me O God by the Grace of thy holy Spirit give me to be strengthened in the inward Man and to empty my self of all unprofitable Care and Anguish not to be drawn away by sundry desires either mean or precious but looking upon all things as passing away together with them for nothing is permanent under the Sun where all things are vanity and vexation of Spirit Oh how wise is he that considereth of them Tho. de Kempis 112. A Powerful Letter IN a Letter to King Henry the VIII it is concluded thus Wherefore Gracious King have pity on your Soul and consider that the Day is even at hand when you shall give an Account of your Office and the Blood that hath been shed with your Sword. In which day that you Grace may stand stedfast and may have your Quietus est sealed with the Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ which will only serve at that day is my daily Prayer c. Our Persecutors FRet Fume and Gnash the Teeth to hear that we under these grievous Afflictions can be so Merry let us Pray instantly that this Joy may never be taken from us for it passeth the Delights of this World This is the Peace which passeth all Vnderstanding This Peace the more it is chosen and possessed with the more they feel it and therefore cannot faint neither by Fire nor Water Prosperity HEre lies the danger of a pleasing Condition in regard of Pleasures Credit Delights Riches Friends Habitation Health or any inferiour thing the more of Good that seemeth to be in them as distinct from God the more Dangerous for they are more like to stand up in Competition with him and carry it with our partial and blinded Souls in the Competition Remember this if you love your selves when you would have all things about you more Pleasant and Lovely here lies the danger of a prosperous Condition and State. On the contrary here lies the blessed benefit of Adversity which if Men were not Brutish and Unbelieving they would heartily welcome it as the surest Condition Mr. Baxters Rest 3d Part 216. Papist MY Lord of Worcester being a Papist had this Maxim That he would not be Disordered within himself only because things were out of Order without him Queen Elizabeth was wont to say That my Lord of Worcester had Reconciled what she thought Inconsistent A stiff Papist to be a good Subject Punishment WHensoever God Punisheth he doth it for just Cause and the Godly never accuse him of Rigour as the Wicked do but acknowledge that in themselves is just cause why they should thus intreat them Dan. 9.7 Why should a Living Man complain for the Punishment of his Sins Hale 130. Reason IT 's Human to use Reason rather than Force and a Christian to seek Peace and ensue it Reformation IT would be an easie matter says Malvezzi for Favourites to Reform Kings Palaces if it were not an hard thing to Reform their own Houses Regiment of Health TO be chearfully disposed at Hours of Meat Sleep and Exercise is one of the best Exercises of long lasting As for the passions and studdies of the Mind avoid Envies Anxious Fears Anger fretting Inward subtile and knotty Inquisitions Joys and Exhilerations in Excess Sadness not Communicated entertain Hopes and Mirth rather than Joy variety of Delights rather than Surfeit on them Lord Bacon 's Essays 188. Rejoycing at Death MR. Edward Deering said As for my Death I bless God I feel and find so much inward Joy and Comfort in my Soul that if I were to make my Choice whether to Live or Die I would a Thousand times rather choose Death than Life if it may stand with the good Will of God And shortly after he Died in the Year of our Lord Christ 1576. Religion REligion and the Practice of its Vertues is the Natural state of the Soul the condition to which God designed it As God made Man a reasonable Creature so all the Acts of Religion are equal and suitable to our Natures and our Souls are then in Health when we are what the Laws of Religion require to be and to do what they Command us to do Dr. Tillotson The great Principals of Religion
Faculty The Will against the Will Affection against Affection And this is that the Apostle calls The lusting of the Flesh against the Spirit That is the striving of one Unregenerate part against the Regenerate part and this ever in the same Faculty But striving against Sin may be in several Faculties as between the Will and Conscience as for fear of Hell which Wicked Men may have Acts 7.15 It is impossible for a Man to forsake Sin except he forsakes all that he knows to be Sin To hate Sin as it is an offence to God and wrong to his Majesty to hate Sin as it is a breach of his Commandments a wicked controuling of God's Will which is the only Rule of Goodness To hate Sin as being a disingenuous Transgression of that Law of Love established in the Blood and Death of Christ and so in a degree a Crucifying of Christ afresh to hate Sin as being a grieving and quenching of the Spirit of God as all Sin in its nature is Thus to hate Sin is Grace and thus every true Christian hates Sin and not for the Shame that attends it nor as it is contrary to some other Sin c. I do not cease to lament the more hainous Sins of my Life and cannot forbear continually to implore the Pardon of them I do not again return unto them and resolve never so to do I watch and pray against all Sin but especially against those Sins to which I especially am enclined my Conflicts are daily and I am hard put to it but I do not yield up my self to any Sin nor lie down in it Yea I do not suffer Sinful Thoughts or Cogitations to lodg in me howbeit I am much discomposed and damped in Spirit deadned in Duty distracted in my Studies and molested and hindered every way by Sin that dwelleth in me But I resolve that Sin shall never have rest in my Soul and that I will never enjoy it I cannot keep Sin out of my Heart yet it doth not raign in my Mortal Body nor do I yield my Members to the Service of it Mr. Corbet 's Enquiry It is a less Evil to do Sin and not to love it than to love Sin and not to do it for to do Sin may argue weakness of Grace but to love Sin argues strength of Lust What I hate that I do Rom. 7.14 A Man may forsake the Life of Sin and yet retain the Love of Sin. True Mourning for Sin is more for the Evil that is in Sin than the Evil that comes by Sin more because it dishonoureth God and Wounds Christ and grieves the Spirit and makes the Soul unlike God than because it Damns the Soul Mat. 7.11 O Lord when I confess Sin unto thee grant that I may feel the burthen and weight of it upon my Conscience that it may not be a customary Confession Where Confession is right it will be distinct especially of those which were our chief Sins Confession should come like Water out of a Spring which runs freely not like Water out of a Still which is forced by Fire Salvation by CHRIST's Blood. TAke it for granted there is no Man under Heaven whereby we can be saved but Jesus Christ all Grace for this Life and for that which is to come must come to you through the Channel of Christ's Blood. Acts 16.30 31. Sorrow I Could have born any Sorrow rather than this I am under this is a good sign GOD hath let me Blood in the right Vein he will have me part with all manner of Sin without exception It is doubtless our Sin to disable our selves by our Sorrow for our general or particular Callings Let us be heartily Sorrowful that we have so Carnally so Hypocritically so Covetously so Vain-gloriously Professed the Gospel Let the Plagues and Anger of GOD most justly fallen upon us be applyed to our Sins that from the bottom of our Hearts every one of us may say It is I Lord that have Sinned against Thee It is my Wickedness that causeth success and encrease of Authority to my Enemies M. Bradford Speech THERE is no Man that talks but I may gain by him and none that holds his Tongue but I may lose by him As Henry Wotton being bound for Rome asked his Host in Vienna a Man well versed in Men and Business What Rules he would give him for his Port Conduct and Carriage He answered There is one short Remembrance which will carry you Safe throughout the whole World and that is nothing but this Keep your Thoughts close and your Countenance loose He that knoweth to speak well knoweth also where he must hold his Peace Said that Old Grecian Think an Hour before thou speakest and a Day before thou Promisest Spirit SPirit in the un-erring Sense is nothing but Reason illuminated by Revelation out of the Written Word for when the Mind and Spirit humbly conform and submit to the Written Will of God then are you said to have the Spirit of God and to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the Flesh Mr. Hales of Eaton College There is an Having of the Spirit which is a sure Work of Saintship Where the Spirit is an effectual prevailing Principle of Grace and Sanctification renewing and regenerating the Heart Where the Spirit is as a potent Worker helping the Souls Infirmities Rom. 8.26 Where the Spirit is said to abide for ever John 14.16 The true Believer hath so much of the Spirit such a work of it in him that he cannot sin that Sin unto Death He that is born of God sinneth not to wit that Sin unto Death for that is meant 1 John 7.16 1. Mr. Smith in a Sermon said to this purpose If God be our Father in Christ he lays hold of us by his Spirit and we lay hold of Him by Faith. Now it is his Hold-fast of us that saves us so that tho our Faith be as it were a sleep yet the Fathers Hold-fast continues firm Many when they hear that Spiritual Comforts are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit presently conceive themselves to be meerly Passive therein and that they have nothing to do but wait when God will bestow them Notwithstanding tho these Comforts are Spiritual yet they are rationally raised up on the Understanding's Apprehension of the Excellency of God our Happiness and our Interest in Him and by the rolling of these blessed Objects in our frequent Meditations the Spirit doth advance and not destroy our Reason it doth ratifie and then use it as its ordinary Instrument for the Conveyance of such things to our Affections and Exciting them accordingly and not lay it aside and affect us without it Therefore our Joys are raised discoursively and the Spirit first revealeth the Cause of our Joy and then helps us to rejoice upon those revealed Grounds so that he rejoyceth groundedly who knoweth why he rejoiceth ordinarily Mr. Baxter's Rest 3d. part p. 159 160. Sufferings I May be Poor but still I