faln into hell if I had not faln into â—in Onesimus therefore departed saith St. Paul to Philemon that thou mightest receive him an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eternall So it is in the Originall And thus if our sins were heavy Gods mercies would be weighty and worth the recounting Were our fins often in our eyes Gods praises would not be long out of our mouths We that see we have deserved nothing would be thankfull for every thing and rather then his mercies should be forgotten would keep some remembrances by us of Gods goodnesse to us who is every day mindfull of us 2. Remember oftne your low and poor condition It is little peradventure that yâ—â— haâ—â— but was it not lesse God commands his people this duty Remember that thou wast a serâ—ant in the land of Aegypt This they were enjoyned to do when they came yearly to offer up their basket of first-fruits to the Lord. Thus they must say A Syrian ready to perish was my Father and he went down into Aegypt and â—ojourned there with a few c. 〈◊〉 King of Sicily who was by birth but a Potters Son would alwayes be served at his Table with earthen vessels that he might ever be mindful of his low mean condition at first Jacob did so With my staff I came over this Jordan His condition was low when the earth was his bed a stone his pillow and the heaven his canopie over his head he is thankfull for this because he forgâ—t not his low estate He that well remembers what he once wanted will not forget to be thankful for what at present he enjoys Humility is a good spur to thankfulness I have read of two garments in Scripture of excellent use First the garment of humility Be 〈◊〉 with humility saith Peter and the garment of praise Christ is said to appoint to them that mourn in Zion the garment of praise for the spirit of heavynesse The under garment is commonly plain and of lesse worth but the upper is very costly Let humility be like the first It is no matter how vile we be in our own eyes but let praise be the upper garment Be ye rooted and built up in Christ faith the Apostle and established in the faith abounding therein with thanksgiving He that is rich in faith and low in humility will make his upper garment costly will be abundant in praises 3. Labour to understand a mercy aright Endevour to discern the height and breadth of a providence weigh every benefit bestowed skilfully The reason why the Israelites remembred not the multitude of Gods mercies was saith the Psalmist because they understood not his wonders in Aegypt Moses told them that they had seen all that the Lord had done before their eyes in the Land of Aegypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants and unto all the land The great temptations which thine eyes have seen the signes and thâ—se great miracles And yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to bear unto this day It is true they had eyes and ears but they wanted an understanding heart to perceive and discern God in all Hence it comes to passe that as a proud man will not be mindfull so an ignorant man cannot remember God and be thankfull It is good therefore not onely to remember our low and sinfull estate that we may be humble but to understand the loving kindnesse of the Lord that we may record his favours The reason why the Disciples forgâ—t what Christ had done done and therefore mistook him when he had them take â—eed of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadduces was they did not understand the miracles of the five loaves amongst the five thousand nor the seven loaves amongst the foure thousand nor how many baskets they took up They did not well understand nor seriously consider the mighty power of his divine nature by which he did all that You shall do well therefore to understand a mercy fully in all the causes circumstances manner and means of working Sometimes he works without means and then his works are miraculous sometimes by weak means and then his works are wonderfull sometimes by contrary means so that losses enrich us divisions unites us and our routing in battle makes us conquerors and then his works are glorious Hence the Lord commanded his people to understand why he gave them that good Land to possesse it not for their righteousnesse for they were a stiffe-necked people but for his Name sake and for the wickednesse of those Nations which were driven out before them It is not an easie matter for men to hit right oâ— the true reason of Gods dispensations of mercy or judgement Hence Samuel advised the people of Israel to consider that is to weigh ponder wel in their hearts what great things God had done for them Now we all know things that are not known and therefore lightly valued are soon forgotten when matters that are looked at as things of price and worth are laid up very carefully It is good therefore when our thoughts dwell upon mercies Omnis festinatio caca swift passengers cannot be serious observers a transient thought is too mean for a standing mercy one mercy enjoyed deserves more serious thoughts then a million of miseries do one hearty tear our mercies are from God our calamities from our selves Understand this well and consider this seriously you cannot be unmindful of the loving kindnesse of the Lord. 4. Would you write down the great things of God in a book that you might never forget them Take speciall notice of the actings of God in the wayes of his gracious providence whilest they are new and fresh in memory together with the workings of your hearts whilest they are so considered Oh! what vows covenants purposes resolutions are made and entertained then Omne novum valde mutat saith Scaliger New things fresh mercies make a wonderful change upon mens spirits for the present Omnia subita videntur majora saith Cicero All sudden and unexpected passages seem very great at first fight and work very much upon the heart Observe then what joy what thankfulnesse what meltings what resolutions And what you doe doe quickly strike while the iron is hot Qui tardâ— fecit diu noluit saith Seneca He that is slack in his performances was but unwilling in his resolutions Oh! remember your first love when you were newly converted and brought home to God how zealous lively active forward and savoury were you in the wayes of God So much the Lord tells his people by the Prophet Hosea that at their restitution and Gods reconciliation with them they should sing at in the dayes of their youth as they did when they came out of Aegypt Then sang Moses and Aaron A converted condition is a singing condition God takes special notice of this I remember thee saith the
Lord of Israel the kindnesse of thy youth the lose of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wildernesse in a land that was not sown Our first works and our last works are commonly our best works when we begin first to live the life of grace and when we are ready to die and are entring upon the life of glory how excellent is our marriage how savoury our words how heavenly our conversation Even so it is when we are delivered from any great danger when enlarged with any singular comforts how lively how zealous and how active are we Call to minde the fifth of November 1605. when we were delivered from that barbarous Gunpowder-treason how forward were we in making laws against Papists how severe in suppressing Jesuites how zealous in setling true Religion Iâ— Iâ— reported of the City of Berne when first delivered from Antichrist when that State cast off that Romane bondage and reformed Religion that they wrote the day of their Redemption upon pillars in letters of gold And it is observable that in all the ages of the Church God hath set out himself to his people by such names and titles as were most suitable to his present dispensations or such as were of the last edition And why so But that his late mercies might be the better considered and remembred Hence in the beginning he was called the most high God the possessour of heaven and earth who had made all by the word of his power Under those times Melchisedech blessed Abraham Blessed be Abraham saith he of the most high God possessor of heaven and earth And Abraham covenanted to take nothing from the King of Sodome and that under these terms I have lift up my hand unto the Lord the most high God possessor of heaven and earth that I will not take from a thread to a shoe-latchet and that I will not take any thing that is thine Afterwards when God entred into a covenant with Abraham and his seed he was called the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And under those titles God gave his charge to Moses when he sent him to bring his people out of the Land of Aegypt I am the God of thy Father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. After that he was called the God that brought them out of the Land of Aegypt out of the house of bondage Such was the preface to his law I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt out of the house of bondage And so it continued for many generations even until he brought them out of Babylon And then saith the Lord It shall be no more said The Lord liveth that brought them out of the land of Aegypt but The Lord liveth that brought the children of Israel out of the land of the North. And now under the Gospel he is known by this most excellent name The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And why so But because our redemption by Christ is the last and the great work he hath done for his Church and most fresh in our memories Whilest therefore mercies are fresh and work most upon the heart doe something in remembrance of Gods goodness and why not then write them downe in a Journall A small matter I should think whilest the heart is warm and well affected with the present sense of some singular pledge of Gods loving kindnesse may easily perswade to this duty 5. And finally love the Lord for his goodnesse If any thing under heaven will constrain us and help forward this duty love will Oh! love the Lord all ye his Saints saith the Psalmist And indeed none but Saints can love him He knocks at every dore and as it were pulls every man by the sleeve and saith Oh! love you the Lord Let the drunkard love his cups and the adulterer his harlots and the covetous person his bags but do you that are Saints love the Lord. For the Lord preserveth the faithfull and pletifully rewardeth the proud doer When one bucket goes downe the other will come up When Pharaoh is drowned Israel is saved When Haman is hanged Mordecai is advanced When proud doers are plagued the faithful are delivered Oh! love the Lord therefore And indeed love is all that God looks at in us and expects from us and where there is love there is no lack After so large a repetition of the great things God hath done for Israel What saith Moses to them doth God now require for all this but that you would love him And indeed love is complementumlegis the fulfilling of the Law Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing saith the Apostle but faith that worketh by love Faith and Love are like a pair of Compasses Faith like one point fastens upon Christ as the center and Love like the other goes the round in all the works of holinesse and righteousnesse Now certainly Love hath a good memory or would have a good memory What we slight we soon forget but what we love we endevour to lay up sure in our memories Vbi amâ—r ibi animus Where our love is our minde is Where our treasure is there will our heart be It was the eye that made the match That which which the eyesees not the heart desires not And as love came in by the eye so it delights by the same dore to look after that beloved object Such a soul that hath seen God in all things and therefore loves God above all things delights still to look after God in all his wayes that he may love him more and more Such a soul loves God as Jonathan loved David 1. Amore unionis with a love of union the soul of Jonathan was knit to David for he loved him as his own soul 2. He loved him amore complacentiae with a love of delight for it is said that Jonathan delighted much in David 3. He loved him amore benevolentiae with a love of good will for Jonathan said to David Whatsoever thy souldesireth I will even do it for thee Even so doth a gracious heart love God not onely with a love of union and a love of delight but with a love of good will too who saith to God as Paul at his conversion Lord what wilt thou have me to do Such an one is ready to suffer what ever may be inflicted on him and to do what ever may be required of him especially whatsoever may testifie how well he remembers God and his loving kindnesse to him CHAP. VIII Severall arguments propounded by which Christians may be provoked to keep such a Journall or Diary as hath been commended THat such Christians as have any abilities for the keeping of such a Journal or Diary as hath been commended to them may be encouraged thereunto I shal in the second place propound these foure arguments First it is
Aegypt so we at the administration of the other might remember Christ by whom we are saved from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate us This Supper is not onely a representing a sealing and a conveying signe but a commemorative signe Do this in remembrance of me saith Christ There is no Gospell-ordinance whether prayer reading or hearing of the Word but there is such mention made of Christ as we ought to remember him But this ordinance of the Supper hath this signall note of excellency stamped upon it above all a speciall charge from Christ to remember him when that is administred Do this in remembrance of me for as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye shew that is ye make a commenoration of the Lords death till he come Sometimes that we may come to the subject matter intended God appointed Records and Registers of his mercies Histories and Journalls of the noble acts and loving kindnesses of the Lord to his people to be kept and conveyed to posterity that the generations to come might know them even the children that should be born who should arise and declare them to their children Thus the Lord commanded that the History of Amalek should be written in a Book their malice and Gods mercy their war and overthrow and it must be rehearsed to posterity that it might never be forgotten What this Book was we shall not much enquire Some say it was the Book of Jasher mentioned Josh chap. 10. which was a Chronicle of the acts of the people of the Lord which is lost Some say it was the Book of the Judges Some say it was a Book of the Battails of the Lord mentioned Numb 21. 14. Others and that most probably that it was no other but this Book of Exodus Junius and Calvin But why this History must be written in a Book is more worthy of our inquiry and more sutable to our purpose And the reasons may be these two 1. That a thankfull remembrance of so great a deliverance from so malicious an enemy might be continued in the generations following 2. That the people of God knowing what sentence was denounced against Amalek which should be executed in due time as it was in the Reign of Saul might be the better encouraged to fight against them and through faith expect the victory over them And thus in this Chapter God would have the Journals of the people of Israel from Aegypt to the Land of Canaan recorded that the great things God had done for them by the way might not be forgotten for so it is said in the Text. Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandement of the Lord. In this Chapter two parts are observable 1. An Israelitish Journall is recorded from vers 1 to v. 50. 2. A direction is given them concerning their proceedings in and with the Land of Canaan Which is threefold 1. That they should cast out the inhabitants v. 52 53. 2. That they should destroy their idols v. 52. 3. That they should divide the Land amongst them by lot v. 54. The two former whereof are seconded with a most sharp threatning that if they did not punctually observe Gods command therein 1. For the present that people should prove a continuall snare unto them 2. For the future what God had intended to these their enemies should fall upon their own heads all this to the end of the ch In the Israelitish Journall two things are to be considered 1. The duty is in generall propounded v. 1 2. 2. You have an Historicall enumeration of their severall Journeys in v. 2. In which three things are to be noted 1. The matter that stands upon record and that is their journeys according to their goings out 2. The Scribe that recorded them and that was Moses Moses wrote c. 3. The authority by which he did it and that was the commandement of the Lord he had very good warrant for what he did The first of these namely the matter that stands upon record their journeys is that which I shall principally take notice of In which Journall this is observable That there is not onely a particular relation of the place from which and the place to which they journeyed as from Rameses to Succoth c. but also a singular mention is made of all the great passages of Gods good hand of providence over them together with their murmurings and rebellions by which they provoked him All which are in this ch implyed and some particulars are expressed as you may finde v. 9 14 38 40. This ch being but a short Epitome or abridgement of the whole History So that in the Israelitish Journall you shall finde how here God gave them bread from heaven there water out of the rock in one place he delivered them from the violence of the mighty waters in another from the fury of their potent enemies Now he saved them from the cruelty of the Aegyptians at another time from the malice of the Amalekites and soon after from the sting of the fiery Serpents To day he gives them Manna and Quails good food for their hungry bodies to morrow he delivers them his Law with many divine ordinances and statutes for the good of their souls In all their goings out he afforded them plentifull pledges of his care of them bounty to them and patience towards them Who notwithstanding the many grievous sins by which they provoked him being full of compassion forgave their iniquities and destroyed them not yea many a time he turned away his anger and did not stir up all his wrath for he remembred that they were but flesh c. By this time we are come to the Observation that is intended and may hence be collected and that is this To keep a Journall or Diary by us especially of all Gods gracious dealings with us is a work for a Christian of singular use I say of Gods gracious dealings with us in a more especiall manner because it is good also to observe and keep a good account of the severall occurrences of the Times we meet with as they have reference to the Countrey and Nation we live in It is good to keep an History a Register a Diary an Annales not onely of the places in which we have lived but of the mercies that have been bestowed on us continued to us all our dayes This was the practice of David the Servant of the Lord who made a Psalm and Song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul Moses writes his Book called Deuteronomy which is nothing else but a repetition of the Journeys of the people of Israel and the great things God had done for them in their goings out to that day There was scarce any thing in Israel but was typicall their Meats their Drinks their Mannâ— their water out of
have proved the instrument of preserving his Father and his family from perishing in the famine and providing for them a dwelling place in the Land of Aegypt And yet God made choyce of him Amongst all the Sons of Jesse even Samuel the Seer would not have chosen David the youngest and the least regarded and therefore set to keep the sheep to be the man whom God would anoint amongst his Brethren to be King of Israel And yet God made choyce of him and leaves Eliab and Shammah and Abinadab though proper persons great Souldiers and prime Courtiers When this David was sent by his Father into the Camp to visit his Brethren none would have judged him a fit man to encounter with Goliah yea even Saul himself could not believe it Thou art not able saith he to go out against this Philistine to fight with him for thou art but a youth and he is a man of war from his youth And yet God chose him as the man that should slay that Giant and save Israel that day Jethro a Midianite shall give good counsel to Moses and Gideon shall be fetcht from the threshing floor and made Captain Generall over all the forces of Israel he shall save them from the hands of the Midianites and that with three hundred men alone This God doth not onely to magnifie his power and wisdome whose wayes and thoughts are above ours past finding out often secret but alwayes just but to check the haughty thoughts of proud man who is ready to limit the holy one of Israel and to conclude that if God go not his way to work that cannot be effected which is promised and expected It was the fault of good Melancthon though a man of excellent parts and very serviceable for Christs cause who was extreme pensive for fear of some sad issues of the great meeting at Auspurge who though very humble yet had this pride his projects must like the counsels of God unerringly and unchangeably stand or the cause was lost whereupon Luther wished Spalatinus his friend to exhort him yea charge him in his name Nefiat Deus that he make not himself a god It was as some have observed the proud humour of Ferdinand Alvares Duke de Alva to neglect the advice of others if beneath him though never so good and would rather stumble then beware of that block that another had warned him of because he scorned the instrument Such an one was Cardinall Matheo Langi Archbishop of Saltzburg who at the Diet of Ausburg confessed that the reformation of the Masse was needfull that liberty of meats was convenient but that Luther a poor Monk should reform all and tell them what was to be done must not be endured But he that walks much with God and observes him in the wayes of his providence shall in his owne experience finde that he receiveth least from those from whom in reason he might expect most and most oftentimes from those from whom he could expect nothing Even the Aegyptians shall favour the Israelites and lend them jewels of silver and gold for their better accommodation in their journey It was the Lord indeed that gave them favour in the eyes even of their enemies The very Ravens in a famin shall bring Elijah food morning and evening and when that means fails a poor Widow shall provide for him when never a Prince nor noble Lord in Israel did bear so much love to the Prophet as to sustain him in that extremity Ebedmelech the Aethiopian is very kinde to Jeremiah and through his interest with the King works out his inlargement When his own Countrey-men cast him into the dungeon Nebuzaradan by the commandment of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon delivers Jeremy out of prison gives him liberty to go whither he please when Zedekiah his own King shuts him up in prison It is an excellent rule therefore I wish all that fear God to observe it Use means love prayer and trust God which was well implyed in that embleme of some Heathens A man with his hand on the plow but his eye in heaven There is no restraint with God saith Jonathan to his Armour-bearer If there be many means God must blesse them if but few means he can multiply them if they be contrary means he can use them if there be no means he can create them or work without them He it is that appoints all means of our good He gives virtue to those means that he appoints he draws out that virtue that he gives he blesseth that virtue that he draws out and by the finger of his providence points us to the use of those means that he will blesse and in the want of all will work wonderfully for our good In the Creation God had light without Sun Moon or Stars He made the earth fruitfull and caused every plant to flourish when there was no rain nor any man to till the ground and could finde out an help for Adam that was most meet though he could not 2. Observe Gods goodnesse in the choyce of the time As God doth all things well so he doth all at the best time The greatest things that God hath done in the world he hath done for his Church and the greatest things that God hath done for his Church he hath done as by the most unlikely instruments so at the most unlikely time and yet those instruments were the best instruments and that time the best time The Aegyptians had wont to picture Time with three heads Time past with the head of a greedy wolfe as one that had devoured much time Time present with the head of a crowned Lion triumphing in the enjoyment of the present time Time to come with the head of a dog fawning on that which is to come But all our times are in Gods hands and in better hands they cannot be our time to come into trouble our time to continue in trouble and our time to come out of trouble is at his dispose God seldome comes at our time alwayes at his owne And if deliverance from dangers successe in our endevours supply of our wants had come sooner or later it had not been so good for us Christ is said to be sent at the fulnesse of time or at the full time so called because it was just that time that God had designed Moses was sent to deliver Israel out of Aegypt at the full time though the tale of bricks were doubled and their burthens encreased and at the end of 430 years even the self-same day as it was promised it came to passe that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the Land of Aegypt Christ came to his Disciples when they were distressed by a storm â—t Sea in the best time though it were at the fourth Watch in the night and they most in danger Our extremity is Gods opportunity to magnifie his wisdome and goodnesse to us when we
these things in upon you if he see them good for you and as many wayes to take them from you if he perceive they prove hurtfull to you He that can blesse a little can blast a great deal He can raise you up on high and bring you downe again Job one while was the greatest man in all the East and in a short time stript of all and again the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more then his beginning who gave him twice as much as he had before You are but Tenants at will to the great Landlord of all the earth and all you have are but moveables To be ble to bear extremities of heat and cold â—iscovers a strong constitution such were â—â—r Henry the fifth King of England and 〈◊〉 Adolphus King of Sweden of whom 〈◊〉 is reported in the History of their Lives â—nd Wars that no weather of heat or â—old or wind or storms came amisse to â—hem I am sure it is an argument of a â—ery gracious heart that is strong in the Lord and in the power of his might to be able to bear comfortably severall conâ—itions even in their extremes This may be seen in Joseph who of all the twelve Patriarchs is only mentioned with honour amongst those famous believers in Heb. 11. To day he is his Fathers darling the Son of his love and none greater in that family then he to morrow he is sold for a slave by his owne Brethren and carried into Aegypt Now he is advanced by Potiphar one of the prime Peers of that Kingdome and none greater in that house then he By and by a jealous Husband at the complaint of his beastly Mistris casts him into prison where the irons entred into his soul Not long after that he is advanced by King Pharaoh to great honour even as high as Subjection could permit or Soverâ—ignty endure for onely in the throne the King would be above him And in all these turns and changes Joseph kept his integrity In the Countrey and in the Court in the Prison and at the Palace Joseph was sincere and faithfull neither did his low estate deject him nor the high sail of honor and greatnesse overwhelme him but he kept upright in both Now as affliction cometh not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground as Eliphas told Job but from on high So promotions come neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South but God is the Judge he putteth down one and setteth up another CHAP. V. The manner how a Journall or Diary is to be used according to the rules of Practise AND thus far of the rules of Observation We come now to the rules of Practice which are to be followed for the better improvement of such a Journall or Diary and they are these twelve 1. Look often into this Journall and read it over Of all imployments in the world a studious is the most ingenuous wherein the understanding judgement and memory the most noble faculties of the soul are principally imployed Of all studies he â—tudy of History seems to be most excelent Hence even the Scripture it self is for great part Historicall that the hearts of â—eople might be the better taken with it and â—elight in it Of all Histories the History of mens Lives is the most pleasant Such History amongst many commendations that may be given to it this is not the least that it can call back Times and give life to those â—hat are dead like a Landskip give a lively discovery of the actions of the Grandees in former ages But of all Histories of Lives should think the History of a mans owne Life even out of common principles of self-love must needs be most acceptable To be able to read our Lives even from the wombe to this present moment from the cradle within some few dayes of the grave would surely be a study as profitable as delightfull It seems that Jacob had some skil in the art of memory though he wrote not such a story who when he prayed unto God that he might be delivered from the hands of his Brother Esau that he might the better prevail with God he argues from the experience he had of his former goodnesse and gives him a brief narrative of his life in some particular passages of providence With my staffe I came over this flood Jordan and now I am become two bands And questionlesse this duty was taught every Israelite who when they came yeerly to offer their basket of first-fruits to the Lord did use to run over a short history of their Fathers lives wherein their condition had been wrapped up in these words A Syriâ—n ready to perish was my Father and he went downe into Aegypt and so journed there with a few and became there a Nation great mighty and populouâ— And the Aegyptians evill intreated us and laid upon us hard bondage and when we cryed unto the Lord God of our Fathers the Lord heard our voyce and brought us out of Aegypt into this Land c. It is reported of Aâ—ashuerosh that one night when he could not sleep he sent for the Book of the Chronicles of his owne Kingdome and they were read before him Now of all the parts of that History that which concerns things done in the time of his Reign was principally chosen wherein was written what good service Mordecai did him in discovering the treason of Bigthan and Teresh against him which probably was most acceptable to him as may appear in the sequel in that History Tamerlane the most victorious Emperour of the Tartars the night before he sought that fatall battle with Bajazet the Turkish King having cast himself upon a rich carpet in his pavillion called for a Book wherein was contained a history of the Lives of his Ancestors which he used often to read for this end that he might the better imitate that which was worthily done by them and learn also to decline such dangers as they by their over fight had faln into And surely such Histories of our Fathers are but next dore to our owne and may provoke us to look into our owne lives with more care and caution And I am assured to read a story of our owne lives would be a study next that of the holy Scripture as pleasant and profitable as any 2. When you have read over this Journall and seen what you have cast up also all your wants and see what at present you stand in need of When Israel and his family went down into Aegypt it was fair weather all the way they had rich provision for their journey Joseph his Son came out to meet him in great state and they were received into Goshen the best of all the Land of Aegypt But when Israel went out of Aegypt towards Canaan they met with many storâ—â—â— their wants were great their enemies mighty their dangers grievous a red Sea a howling Wildernesse