shall be conquerors over them through Christ Jesus And let me not be offended at the Cross of Christ knowing that the Gospel is offer'd upon the termes of self-denial and taking up our Cross and knowing that thou dost comfort thy Servants in all afflictions and that as their afflictions do abound their consolations do much more abound but rather let us count it all joy when we fall into these temptations knowing they work in us patience experience hope and repentance So David before he was afflicted he went astray but by his afflictions learned thy Judgments and he said 't is good for me that I have been afflicted And my afflictions seem not greater than his when he cried out Thy hand is heavy upon me day and night my moisture is like the drought in summer All the day long am I afflicted and chastned every morning I am dried up and my heart is like the melting wax my heart panteth my strength faileth me and the light of my eyes is gone from me my lovers and my friends stand afar off and no man cares for my soul But Lord I will make my prayers unto thee in an acceptable time and call upon thee in the time of my trouble Lord how long shall mine enemies triumph over me Lord when wilt thou comfort me Lord as others have found thee full of compassion and mercy so let me find Think upon thy compassions which have been ever of old Remember not against me mine iniquitys but do away my sins for thy names sake Meditation I don't enough apprehend my proneness to every sin and lust but think my self free from sin and from the danger of falling because I feel it not stirring for the present whereas the reason why it is so is only because various diversions take up my thoughts otherways and keep out those so that they are but only laid asleep as it were and are easily awaked by any temptation if the Lord don't strengthen me and the least opportunity lets them loose upon me so that I am not able to resist them Lord let me watch against all those sins that I find my nature inclined to and against such as I find no inclination to but an utter aversation from because my nature is wholly corrupted and it is the power of God only that keeps me from all sorts of sins and temptations therefore let me fear every temptation and sin and watch against them and pray that I enter not into any temptation for if I once but enter into the temptation I am sure to fall if I have no better support than my own strength though the temptation be but weak my strength is weaker Lord do thou either give me more strength or temptation less let me never enter the lists with this enemy but se defendendo flying him as far as I can let me not desire to know what sin or lust is but let me love the ignorance of it Lord when I confess my sins which I have comitted against so many means of grace thy mercies Judgments promises Threatnings the testimonies of my own conscience of thy holy Spirit and the testimonies of the wicked also I must needs acknowledg thy justice in all my punishments and thy long suffering in this that thou dost not confound me nor quite cast me off as thou didst Saul but punishedst me less than I deserve And I admire thy goodness in this that in the midst of thy wrath thou rememberest mercy and hast delivered me when in my affliction I sought thee herein I rejoice and I beseech thee Lord make me contented to be restrain'd from sin by sorrow Lord thou art my God and my Lord therefore let me acknowledg thee in all my ways wait upon thee serve and obey thee and let me not live as if I were without a God nor according to my own lusts denying the Lord that bought me as those do who make their belly their God or Idolize the unrighteous Mammon and vanities of the world neither let me question thy power in the want of means Thou art my Saviour and my deliverer my Buckler the Horn of my Salvation and my refuge my Stony Rock and my Castle therefore let me have grace to fly unto thee in my time of trouble to trust in thee in thy power and in thy goodness for my refuge and defence and stay my self upon thee and commit my way unto thee as unto a faithful Creator make my Prayers continually unto thee Thou art to thy Servants their hope and strength and present help in trouble therefore let not the surprise of any trouble dismay me as if I were hopeless or helpless thou art the Defender of all them that put their trust in thee mighty to save God all-sufficient therefore let me walk with thee and be perfect O thou who art the Rock of ages the helper of the poor and fatherless helpless and destitute The Fountain of living water Let me always run unto thy fountain for true comfort not to broaken Cisterns Let not the baseness of my nature or my sins dismay me for thou knowest whereof we are made but let me look up to Christ as the Israelites being stung did to the brazen Serpent and be healed Let me taste of the Tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God live even the body and blood Jesus Christ as oft a I eat of this Tree of life in the blessed communion assure me that I am healed of all my passed sins Thou Lord art life and truth I will therefore be guided by thee believe in thee and be dead to the World and all creatures and live unto thee and upon thee In Christ let us have life even the new life of the life of faith and not of sense That the old man may dye daily That Christ may live in us as the head liveth in the members and we in him by faith in the promises of eternal life through him As Abraham did in the Land of promise though he had not as yet received the earthly promise neither did he set his heart upon it nor seek it or suffer himself to be hindred by it in the persuit of his future felicity Thou to a believer art all that is desirable in all conditions whatsoever whom have I in Heaven but thee And whom in earth that I can desire in comparison of thee Thy goodness is infinite and though our sins be never so great yet thy thoughts exceeding our thoughts so far as the Heaven is higher than the earth we may have Hope in thy mercy because it endureth for ever and is over all thy works The Lord will never leave nor forsake those that trust in him though he suffered Daniel to be cast into the Lions Den. The three children into the firye furnace the sword to be put to Isaacs throat yet then he delivered them for the Lord knoweth how to deliver his Lot was delivered though Sodom was burned and so was Noah
Stimulus in carne the provocation or irritation in the Flesh buffeted him First he is sensible of his own weakness and useth violence upon himself and keeps under his body yet he did not trust in these means because he knew their insufficiency Therefore he seeks help and assistance from him that is All-sufficient and besought God against it that it might depart from him which God was not pleased to grant as appeareth because the Holy Man was subject to be transported with Pride because of the extraordinary priviledges and abundance of Revelations given unto him Yet he obtained that which was better for him Grace sufficient for when he was weak in himself he was then strong in Grace And that Stimulus suffered to remain to prick the bladder of his Pride and probably for the same reasons God may suffer many of us to undergo the like buffetings from our corruptions and yet support and sustain us in the encounter that we fall not If we be careful as the Apostle was to make use of the same means viz. subduing our body and prayer For we have all the same promises as these men had and the same means to obtain Grace and Life Eternal To know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent and he that hath but the hope of Eternal Life purifyeth himself even as he is pure and this purifying is by denying our selves taking up our Cross and following Christ which is the Act of Faith and the Life of Faith And by Faith too it is scarcely attainable with great difficulty as our Saviour himself tells us Luke 3. Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for narrow is the way And the righteous shall scarcely be saved c. And those who have both Faith whereby they are able to overcome the World by Gods assistance and the Spirit too to assist them yet these find that though the Spirit is willing the flesh is weak That is though thou subdue it never so much yet though it be subdued that it dare not much oppose yet it will still be unable to keep Pace with the motions of the Spirit Yet I fear too that it will never be so subdued but I shall be forced to bewail my self often with the words of the Apostle Romans 8. The Law is Spiritual but I am carnal but as he disowned himself in this person saying 't is no more I but sin that dwelleth in me So may every child of God whose will is as his was and useth the means that he did And so will God own them for that which is his Image in them By this the Apostle sheweth the enemy with whom he had fought the good fight and having fought it he assures himself that God will give him the Crown And having sowed the seed he expects to reap the same he sowed for he sowed to the Spirit and of the Spirit hoped to reap life everlasting which the Righteous Judge will give to all that love his appearance Rev. 22. Let him that is holy be holy still Meditation 5. The meanes which the soul useth to attaine its renovation and to preserve and persevere in it Are fervent prayer to God for it diligent reading meditation mortification and continual self denial Zeal of God an earnest thirst after a greater degree of grace from the sense of its own weakness and failing a forsaking the world its hopes and feares and worldly interests profits joys and greifes Faith hope and watchfulness against temptation to watch the mouth and the heart Patience in suffering wrongfully humility or to be little in his own eyes for God gives his greace to the humble To set God alwaies before us in his omniscience omnipotence infinitness of his holiness glory and goodness A timely and carely seeking it and entertaining it when it is offered to us without delaies else when we seek we may be rejected as in Prov. 1. Because when I called you answerd not c. Unweariedness in their race To have an eye to the recompence of reward and not to fear them that can only hurt the body but be in the fear of God all the day To abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes 5.22 Not only from known sins but from things that have but some complexion of evil for such is the purity of Gods nature that he hates every species or shew of evil And such perfection doth he require in his Servants as it is expressed by our Saviour Math. 5. Strait is the gate c. Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect A holy appetite to the word of God and communion with God in every ordinance as prayer praise the communion of the body and blood of Christ Jesus in the Lords supper Mat. 5. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied Psal 42.2 My soul is thirst for God yea even for the living God When shall I come to appear before the presence of God This sheweth how he practised Another meanes like unto this is that of St. Paul not to account that we have attained but to press forward Also it is appointed as a necessary means to attain this end by our Saviour himself that we learn of him and we are taught so to do by the holy Apostles That we should walke even as he walked 1 Joh. 2.6 Hereby we know that we have his nature his image his Spirit and union with him we ought then to imitate his humility whereby he became man and took upon him the form of a Servant in his meekness Isa 53.7 He was oppressed and afflicted but opened not his mouth He gave his back to the smiter and his cheeke to them that plucked off the hair and hid not his face from spitting So ought we to bear injuries with patience and not render evil for evil 3. In his willing and perfect obedience Psal 40. I delight to do thy will thy law is in my heart 4. In love Ephe. 5.7 Walk in love as Christ loved us Let husbands love their wives as Christ loved the Church 5. In perfect charity we must pray fer our enimies as he did 6. In diligence in religious duties he prayed all night he went constantly to the Synagogue on the Sabbath day 7. In our Reverence in holy Worship he fell on his face or kneeled yet he had the Spirit without measure 8. In his contempt of the world My Kingdom saith he is not of this world 9. In heavenly-mindedness his custom was to instruct of Heaven out of ordinary conferences as when the woman spake to him of water he spake of the water of life So must we have our conversation in Heaven 10. In his faithfulness in his function Heb. 3.2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him as Moses was faithful He was daily in the Temple and went about doing good and therefore in his last prayer said It is finished 11. In self-denial he said I seek not my own will but the
priviledges which Jesus Christ hath purchased for us Give us more assurance of the pardon of our sins and our reconciliation to God and the joy thereof Give us the peace of conscience and the Peace of God which passeth all understanding Give us the Joy which is in the Holy Ghost which we enjoy in holy duties Let us taste and rellish these sweet enjoyments with more satisfaction and joy that the excesses of our souls may be in these enjoyments and we may keep them in our mouths and hide them under our tongues as we do sweet morsels And let the enjoyment of these carry us through all difficulties Give us more confidence in our accesses to the Throne of Grace and a belief that thou art more ready to give than we to ask for thy fulness is more full than our emptiness is wanting Thy fatherly care to provide for us is more faithful and careful to do it than we to seek it though we are resolved to be alwaies begging and craving because we know we shall alwaies be wanting in this life and we will not lose our desires and thy bountiful gifts for want of asking The cause which moved thee to make such gracious invitations to us and such great and precious promises of grace and mercy was only in thy self for thou invitest the thirsty to buy Wine and Wilk without mony or price What then is there that we can buy it with that is neither mony nor price it can be nothing but to exchange our thirst for the thing which we thirst for to relieve it to open our mouths Therefore as the cause which moved thee to make these invitations and promises was in thy self Lord seek in thy self the cause which may move thee to perform them The qualifications of thirst want and need we have and shall have as long as we have any life But if we be dead in trespasses and sins quicken thou us because thou only canst do it by thy holy Spirit In the assurance of thy free mercy then whereof thou by thy free promises hast convinced us and by the performance of the chiefest of them hast fully satisfied us inable us to assure our souls of thy readiness and willingness to hear and help us through the merits of Christ Jesus and in assurance thereof to come boldly and with confidence to the Throne of Grace And give us sure evidence of our interest in all other priviledges That our joy may be full assure us that our place of defence is the munition of Rocks That bread be given us and our water shall be sure Bless us and make us a blessing Let showers of blessings come down upon thy people Give us to lay hold of Christ for only Wisdom our only sufficient Righteousness our Sanctification and Redemption Tread Satan under our feet that we may bruise his head as often as he goeth about to sting our heel Destroy his works Let the Spirit of the Lord set up his standard against him And let not Antichrist any more deceive the Nations but destroy thou him and the Whore which is drunk with the blood of Saints Succour those that are tempted Be with thy people in the fiery Tryal that is to come upon all the world to try them as thou wast with Joseph in the prison Lord let not our sins stand as a cloud to hinder these our prayers from ascending to thee or cause thee to turn away thine ear For though they are so many that we scarce know how to confess them yet thou hast pardoned as great sinners as we when they turned unto thee and it is usual with thee to seek thy lost sheep and to receive thy returning Prodigals Lord thy free promises and importunate invitations by thy self and thy Son give us this boldness of access to thee for thereby we are assured that thou art more desirous to give than we to receive Hear us therefore through the merits of thy Beloved Son our Eternal High Priest in whom only we hope to prevail with thee in whom thy Promises are Yea and Amen And accept us in him who hath purchased this Access for us in whom we trust that he now intercedeth for us whilst we are praying to thee And that he persumes and presents these our supplications at the Throne of Grace To whom with Thee and thy blessed Spirit of Grace be all honour praise and glory Eternally Amen Enter not into Judgment with us O Lord for our best services for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified A shorter Prayer for daily use LOrd draw nigh unto me now that I draw nigh unto thee for thy promise sake for thy mercy sake and for Christ Jesus sake And assist me with thy Spirit that I may pray unto thee in the Spirit and in Faith believing that thou art more ready to give than we to ask or receive thy graces and thy mercies Lord relieve me according to all my needs and according to thy infinite goodness and according to thy gracious promises and invitations Relieve my spiritual blindness with that eye-salve which thou hast invited the blind to come unto thee for Relieve my spiritual nakedness with that fine white linnen which thou hast invited the naked to seek of thee and cloath me with humility patience temperance chastity and charity and every grace Relieve my spiritual poverty with that fine gold which will enrich our souls to eternity and make me rich in good works Relieve my spiritual hunger and thirst with the bread of life and the water of life so that I may never hunger or thirst after any thing else And make me more hungry and thirsty for thee and thy grace and more sensible of my needs Lord I pray not for my self alone but for me and mine and all the Israel of the Lord. Let my seed be a seed unto thee and all that shall come of them to the end of the world Remember the entail of thy blessings to us and to our seed for a thousand generations Let the Kingdoms of the world become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Let holiness to the Lord be writ upon all our common things Make us all to know thee from the greatest to the least Let us need no more to teach one another saying Know the Lord. Let us all be taught of God and let us hear the sweet voice behind us saying This is the way walk ye in it when we turn to the right hand or to the left and make Jerusalem a praise Love us freely pardon us and heal us Subdue our iniquities and cast our sins into the bottom of the Sea that they may never rise up against us Give us new hearts Put thy Laws into our hearts and write them in our inward parts Be thou our God and make us thy people Put thy Spirit into us and cause us to walk in thy Statutes and to know thy Judgments and do them Cause us to love thee with
the perception of these mysteries so according to this example let thy faithful people prepare themselves with repentance and perfect charity and if we remember that our neighbour hath any thing against us ler us leave our gift at the Altar and go and be first reconciled to our neighbour and then perform our Sacrifice to God and apprehending and discerning the Lord's body that we commit no irreverence And as our souls are prepared so let us prepare our bodies as thy servant David when he eat the shew bread 1 Sam. 21.5 answered the Priest Women had been kept from them three daies and the vessels of the young men were holy Let our bodies be sanctified by fasting temperance abstinence prayer and humiliation lest as the Ark of the Covenant by which the Lord conveyed the greatest benefits to the Israelites being taken by the Philistines brought to them the greatest calamities and so it did to Vzzah for but touching it irreverently In like manner these heavenly gifts if we eat them unworthily shall prove our damnation and if they who but touched the hem of his garments or received him into their house received such benefits shall not they who receive him into their souls be healed of all their infirmities and as the antient martyrs by receiving these mysteries were strengthened to undergo all that tyranny could lay upon them Let them in like manner strengthen us against all that Satan and the world can do against us And as the daily Infirmities of our body are helped by our bodily nourishment so let our Infirmities of our souls by this our Spiritual nourishment be relieved and us be satisfied and delighted therewith as with heavenly manna O Lord sacrifice and offerings and burnt offerings thou wouldest not have but thou gavest a body to thy only begotten Son that he should offer up himself in whom thou art well pleased And this Sacrament was instituted by him in Commemoration of his death and the acceptable Sacrifice of his life for the sins of the world Lord by his death and Sacrifice of his life unto thee which we hereby celebrate be reconciled unto us This is that pure Sacrifice which the Saints shall offer up unto thee in every place LORD since thou turnest the malice of men and the unjustice which they do thy Saints to the advantage either of their secular concerns as Josephs imprisonment was or of their soules Lord inable me to suffer wrong and to take it patiently to suffer railings and reviling as David did Shemei's railing saying If the Lord hath said to Shemei curse David who shall say why hast thou done so So let him curse for who can tell whether the Lord will requite good for his railing If I loath the fool in them I must not act it my self by returning the like Let me consider that by patience I possess my Soul and that it is better to suffer wrongfully than as an evil doer since it is the will of God that we should suffer and let our graces be exercised hereby And let us consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners Jesus our Lord lest we faint and be weary in our mind for the consideration of his suffering such reproach and the frequent remembrance of him hath efficacy and vertue to strengthen and support us who are willing to be conformable to his sufferings but we had rather that this cup might pass from us LORD whenever we fall into any sin we find immediately that we have lost our own innocence and thy favour so that we cannot go about our affairs with that quietness and peace and serenity of mind as before we did and in all that we do we fear it will have but bad success because we dare not look up to thee for a blessing Lord give us to consider this when we are tempted that we may fear sin more and make it out to our understandings how we do by sin crucify again unto our selves the Lord Jesus and put him to an open shame for we are all ready to pronounce an Anathema upon the Crucifiers of our Lord therefore let us not suffer these his Crucifiers to live He that seeth in secret he will reward thee openly Let this encourage us to frequent Prayers and duties But O Lord our services are so few and so slight and perfunctory and sinful while our hearts go after our covetousness and lusts so that we forget before whom we are and what we are doing and so our duties are sacriledge and our services provocations sins vain oblations abominations filthy rags like Nadab and Abihu's strange fire like the offering of the lame and blind when we have a male in our Flock so that thou mayest justly deal with us as Pilate did with the Gallilaeans whose blood he mingled with their sacrifice What reward then can we expect O Lord we beseech thee though our prayers are sinful yet accept them offer'd up in the Golden censer of Jesus our Mediator which is full of Incense which are the Prayers of the Saints and let these filty rags be wash'd in his blood and then they will be clean and white as Snow and then thou mayest reward them but yet that reward is thy free mercy therefore not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy name is all the praise for what can we do for which thou should'st reward us with so many mercies here and with life eternal Any one of thy mercies is of more value then all our services could deserve or requite if we should continue in the duties of prayer and praising thee night and day all our lives for we owe thee all we have or can do It is thine as we are thy creatures and we were but unprofitable Servants after we had done all we can and we have need of an almighty Redeemer Then let us not murmure if the Lord doth delay to hear us Neither let us say 't is in vain to serve the Lord. Let us consider also that thou dost delay out of mercy to try our patience and perseverance and other graces and to make us more servent or may be because thou wilt not reward us with temporal blessings but eternal which is far better and let us not press or be importunate to receive our reward here lest we go without the eternal reward but let us be willing to trust God though he delay LET me not come near to that which may be a temptation or if a temptation come upon me unawares let me not say in my heart I shall be strong enough to resit it and so trust to my own strength but let me have grace to observe those ways and methods of resisting sin as thou hast appointed in thy word Therefore let me fly immediately from the temptation as Joseph fled from his Mistress leaving his Cloak If by chance I fall into the Company of Drunkards let me not say I shall preserve my sobriety because I love that and hate that
loathsom vice of beastly intemperance but let me avoid them and not look upon the Wine when it moveth it self right and giveth a pleasant colour in the Cup or if it should be so that I have no inclination of my self to this or any other sin yet let me not therefore venture my self upon the temptation but let me fear sin always considering how foully Noah and Lot fell let me never be found standing or walking in the way of sinners nor sitting in their seat but let me be always found in the way of God And what is said of the adulterous Woman whoever toucheth her shall not be innocent let me fear the same in every temptation and avoid the least medling with it or approaches to it and as it is also said concerning the same avoid it pass not by it turn from it pass away so let my practice be in all other temptations And as it is said of Gluttony for remedy of it if thou beest a man given to thy appetite set a Knife to thy throat So in all other temptations let me lay violent hands upon the peccant member if my right eye offend me let me pluck it out Lord thou knowest that I am resolved not to sin to avoid the greatest suffering therefore teach me wisdom that I may prevent and guard my self against all provocations to sin that I may not draw upon my self a necessity of suffering MAKE us to accept Jesus Christ our Saviour upon his own terms as he offers himself to us in the Holy Gospel to be our King to rule us and reign over us our Prophet to teach and instruct us as well as to be our high Priest to attone and sacrifice for our sins Let us not think to have the priviledges of Christians without the duties Make it to be a greater pleasure to us to deny our selves in sins then ever it was to give our selves up to them that we may be meet to receive Heaven into which flesh and blood cannot enter Let the Holy Spirit inflame us always with that divine fervent affection to God that inspired the Spouse when she said or ever I was aware my Soul was like the Chariots of Aminadab O sweet Christ do thou put grace into our hearts by that sweet voice behind us saying this is the way walk you in it for thou only art our great Prophet and teacher who canst make us learn and our high Priest and mighty Saviour delivering us from our sins and making us as innocent by thy attonement as if we had never offended for those whom thou makest free they are free indeed if thou wilt not take away the being of sin in us in this life yet assist us with thy grace to subdue it deliver us out of the power of darkness and the Prince of darkness And what benefits thou hast purchased for us by thy death apply them to us by thy intercession deliver us from death and give us the Crown of life which thou hast promised to all them that love thee and since thou art desirous of our salvation and it is because we will not come unto thee that we have not life O Christ make us a willing people as thou hast promised for our salvation is wholly from thee But our damnation from our own wills and if we perish our blood is upon our own heads O sweet Christ our Prophet and teacher teach us by thy word and thy Spirit the things that belong to our peace Guide me by thy Spirit and then bring me to glory LORD what is there in us for which thou shouidest desire our love Lord in thee is every thing that is lovely therefore ought we to chuse thee for the object of our love But we seek that happiness in the World which we cannot find any where but in thee and having found nought but emptiness vanity and the loss of all our labour in the pursuance of content peace and happiness in the affaires and matters of the world let us at last betake our selves to seek it in thee and thy waies to learn of thee to take thy yoak upon us that we may find rest to our soules LORD what pretence can sinners have for which they cast off thy yoak and will not have thee to rule over them upon whose daily benefits they live when they rebel against their Princes and shake off their yoak it is either for their leud lives and wickedness that they judge them unworthy to rule therefore scorn to be subject unto them Or for their oppression that they are not able to bear their grievous burthens but what iniquity have sinners found in thee thou hast put the Question to them but they can find no answer LORD since thou hast shewed me that every Saint must live in the same holiness of life that thy Servants the Apostles attained and St. Paul said of himself that he was crucified with Christ yet he lived yet not he but Christ lived in him and he lived that life by the faith of Christ who gave himself for him give us thy grace in like manner to crucify our selves to the World and to live no more to it nor to our selves but to live by Christ in us so as we may be said not to live And if thou givest us to live the life of faith and not to the World and live to thee let us not impute this our well doing to our selves for of our selves we cannot think a good thought but to Christ who liveth in us who only can inable us thus to live In all our distresses let us pray to the Lord and use the meanes as when the Arabians Ammonites and Ashdodites conspired against Jerusalem 't is said Nehemiah 4.9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them day and night But let us not like King Asa seek to Physicians in our sickness and not to God LORD while I am supported by thy Spirit I shall be able to live blamelesly as Lot did in the midst of Sodom but the strongest of thy servants will fall as he afterwards did if thou withdraw the Assistance of thy Spirit and shall be as that Apostle who denied the Lord Jesus Christ whom before he sought for and resolved to dye for though he was the Rock Therefore let me never be confident lest thou leavest me as thou didst him And when I hear of others miscarriages let me be thankful to thee for holding me up and ascribe it to thee as the Angels in the Book of the Revelations are said to cast their Crowns at thy feet and let us learn not to judge uncharitably of those that are overcome by temptations LORD when we pray unto thee our prayers are so interrupted with worldly and sinful thoughts and the things we pray for being mostwhat temporal mercies and deliverances from bodily evils they are not such prayers as our own reason can think worthy thy acceptance But Lord though we offer thee
in the deluge As thou art the God of our strength and therefore we need not to go mourning through fear of the enemy so art thou our exceeding joy whereby we are holily transproted to rejoyce in thee in singing thy praises Psal 43. Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me Praise his holy name Psal 103 As thou art gracious and merciful patient slow to anger ready to forgive the sins of thy people for thy names sake so art thou also righteous in all thy waies and holy in thy works If a man will not turne thou wilt whet thy sword and bend thy bow thou wilt bring upon such all the curses written in thy book till thou hast destroyed them for so thou hast done to thine own people the Jews who would not believe thy threatnings to be warned thereby Thou who shewedst mercy to Niniveh repenting after the judgment pronounced and to Ahab going mournefully when he heard the judgment threatned against his house which shews that thy threatnings are conditional viz. if we turn not thou likewise laidest thy hand so heavy upon thy Servant David day and night that his moisture was like the drought in summer The light of his eyes was gone from him he was almost consumed by means of thy heavy hand he had no health in his bones nor no soundness in his flesh his teares was his meat day and night All the day long was he punished and chastened every morning because his iniquities were gone over his head these and many more as Eli Lot and Noah are set out in the word for examples of the truth of thy threatnings against sin though repented of Give me therefore thy grace that I may watch against sin and all temptations and occasions thereof and against the least degrees and beginnings of sin and all appearance of evil with prayer that I entter not into temptation and the Lord support me and hold me up that I fall not in temptations And when I pray unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ my Saviour for pardon for my manifold sins O Lord remember that thou hast declared thy self to be the Lord gracious and merciful slow to anger that forgivest the iniquities of thy people for thy name sake and let thy mercy be magnified by the greatness of my sins my sins are more in number than the hairs of my head But thy mercys as infinit thy thoughts are not like our thoughts For as far as the Heaven is above the earth so far are thy thoughts above our thoughts And let the greatness of my Redeemers merits be magnified by the greatness of my unworthiness He is mighty to save And though our sins be as scarlet he can make us white as snow by his blood which he hath shed for us for if he be Lord of all and the World was made by him then was he able also to reedeem all the World that come unto God by him for redemption do thou but assure me that the least drop of his blood the least sigh of his heart or the least degree of his humiliation was for my sins or had respect unto me among the rest and I do undoubtedly believe they are fully pardoned and I am saved from all the curse that is due unto them Lord since thou hast imputed to him my sins for it is said that he hath born the Iniquities of us all it is but just with thee that I should be acquitted and have his rightoeusness imputed to me else why did he suffer LET us then be made the righteousness of God in him since he was for that end and purpose made sin for us since thou hast given him for a covenant to the people give us also to find in our selves that we have him and with him all those promises of grace that belong to this covenant which in him are verified and fulfilled With him therefore give us thy Spirit in our hearts to cause us to walk in thy statutes to know and do thy judgements cause us to love thee with all our hearts to delight in thee and to fear thee to run and not be weary and to be holy in all our common things c. Of Afflictions Let him deny himself and take up his Cross are the first and second step to happiness therefore that we may not be so effiminately fearful to touch the Cross as we are nor be so longing and licorish to gratify our selves in whatsoever our heart desires is this meditation Afflictions are Christs School whereby he teacheth his followers in the discipline of holiness as he is said to have learned obedience by the things he suffered so he prescribes a suffering condition to his and they who are not partakers of his sufferings but are without chastisement are said to be bastards and not sons of their heavenly father so it concerns us to expect them and not beds of Roses oiled paths or the pleasures of the sences and that we make a sanctified use of them for those holy ends and purposes for which they are sent whether it be for our conversion from the state of nature and unbelief by true and unfeigned repentance or to renew our repentance after some fall to awaken us out of security or to improve our patience or holiness humility or any or all our graces and so to purify us to himself for as soon as they have attained their end he removeth them from us for he doth not afflict nor grieve willingly the sons of men to help me to make a sanctified use of them are these meditations Fides Fructifica 1 James 4. Let patience have her perfect work Meditation LORD teach us with thy blessed Apostles Paul and Silas to sing Psalmes in the midest of the Dungeon and with the three children when the furnace is made three times hotter than at other times And that we may have perfect patience make us sensible that the hand of God is upon us for our sins deservedly as the thief upon the cross was If we have no success either in our spiritual or Worldly affaires let us believe that it is the hand of God for our sins That we have not made better use of the afflictions which God hath laid upon us to purge us of some sin and do not search out the causes thereof and try our waies it is our sin for his hand is streched out still for if we know that God chastens and scourges every Son whom he loveth we may then understand that with one judgment God punisheth us for the sins passed and delivereth us thereby from sin and destruction for the time to come As when his Servant David had sinned by numbering the people God sent the Prophet to him to declare his will to punish him with one of those three evils he cried I have sinned so that whereever sin is there God detests and punisheth The righteous shall not go unpunished But the Sons of Ely when their Father reproved
body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be manifest in our bodys with which agreeth that Rom. 8. Nevertheless afterwards they yeild the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby Wouldst thou have the life of Jesus manifest in thy body or Jesus Christ to live in thy soul then be content with Afflictions sickness and paines continually or wouldst thou have an hyperbole on hyperbole of glory then embrace the Cross which worketh it for us and love God afflicting thee Wouldst thou have eternity of Blessedness hereafter then be content to be fitted and prepared for the injoyment of it by a moments misery if thou desirest these ends use those meanes Med. 6. The Lord hath said it in his word that the voice of joy and thanksgiving is in the dwelling of the righteous heaviness may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning He saith he creates Israel a rejoycing Trust thou then in the Lord O my soul that thy grief shall not always last That the Rod of the wicked shall not always rest on thy back That he hath not forgotten to be gracious to thee Thou hast found by thine own experience the truth of these gracious dealings of God and mayst break out into praises of his goodness with the words of the Prophet Isaiah 25. O Lord thou art my God I will exalt thee I will praise thy name for thou hast done wonderful things thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth v. 4. Thou hast been a strength to the poor a strength to the needy in his destress a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall Therefore according to thy loving kindness of old now O Lord in the midst of thy wrath remember mercy Med. 7. What Son is there whom his Father chastneth not let me see the love of a Father in thy chastisements that it is the cup which my Father giveth that it is thy loving correction as David calls it Psal That it is but when need reguires That it is less than I deserve that it is that I should not perish with the World That thou dost not afflict nor grieve me willingly but as unwillingly as a Father his Son in whom he delighteth 't is affliction to himself That thou layest no more upon me than thou wilt enable me to bear That in all my afflictions Christ suffers with me and he that touches me touches also the Apple of his eye that when the Lord afflicts me with one hand he supports me with the other That he corrects me not in wrath That fury is not in him That his wrath endureth but a moment That he will save the afflicted people Psal 18.27 That it is an undoubted evidence to me of my Adoption and filiation And that it shall work in my soul Patience Humility meekness and all other peaceable fruit of righteousness in this life and an unspeakable weight of eternal glory hereafter That as a Father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth me If this I be assured of I shall count afflictions matter of joy and rejoycing for as I desire the ends grace and glory I must embrace the means that God useth to subdue my iniquities and to teach me obedience and make me better and account it loving correction Med. 8. If I would attain the end I must be contented with the trouble and difficulty of the means Heaven is purchased at no less a rate than All for it Whatever is dear unto thee as thy right eye in this thou must deny thy self Hast thou tryed and found the difficulty of mortification forsaking of the world and self-denial and of thy self thou art not able to attain to them to conquer thy passions viz. thy anger by an invincible patience thy revenge and malice by doing good for evil and by submission to him who hath said Vengeance is mine or else thy covetous mind of possessing much and trusting to the multitude of thy riches or else the lusts of thy flesh and youth pride or vain-glory love of pleasure and ease and indulging thy self What thou findest thou art not able of thy self to do those acts of mortification thou hast prayed to God to inable thee to do viz. that these messengers of Satan that buffet thee may depart from thee The Lord by his visitations and afflictions takes away the strength of thy corruptions weakens them and brings them under and so doth that for thee which thou wert not able to do thy self thou hast cause to say with holy David Psal 119. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn the judgments of thy mouth whereas before I was afflicted I went astray Then thou hast cause to rejoyce also as the Apostle St. James bids the Brother of a high degree rejoyce when he is brought low It may be thou hadst need of subduing and keeping under thy body and instead thereof hast been rather inclined to pamper it feeding to the full and hast waxed fat and kicked The Lord out of his mercy to thee hath sent afflictions to purge thee and heale thee and to keep under thy body that thou shouldst subdue thy corruption and lusts which are ready to break out do what thou canst by mortification self denial fasting abstinance and prayer which dutys thou hast been unwilling to undergo or at least in such sort and measure as the Gospel requireth Thou must not only be conntent to use and undergo the means but if thou wilt have grace and glory thou must pray for the means also and desire it Thou knowest that visitations and loving corrections are those means which thy heavenly Father is forced to use to reclaim those that go astray and to improve those that are weak Thou knowest many of thy graces are weak and want improvement thou prayest to him to fulfil his promises of helping and strengthening his that are weak if so thou must pray for these means which he hath appointed and take up thy Cross that thou mayest be able to follow thy Saviour Med. 9. Thou knowest the Discipline which God useth to his prodigal and undutiful children If they forsake his waies he visits their iniquities with rods and their sins with scourges though he doth not utterly take his loving kindness from them We read not of any of the Saints of God who went unpunished for their sins Job cryed out that God made him possess the sins of his youth David's sins took such hold upon him that he was not able to look up he was even consumed by means of Gods heavy hand there was no health in his flesh nor rest in his bones by reason of his sin Psal 38.3 Then he confessed his wickedness and was sorry for his sins and they were ever in his sight when the rod was upon him v. 17 18. Though we also believe our selves to be the Garden
would lead me into all sins which God forbid And my own Conscience is ready to accuse me of all sins for this one Alledging to me that it was only Gods restraint by afflictions that hindred me from falling into all sins and that now he is like to leave me because I have left him and so I am like to be as guilty as any Man ever was Next that he finds another advantage to tempt me to a further degree of sin suggesting to my mind that I am so far engaged in Sin already that I am lost and God hath cast me off and I can be no more undone if I proceed further in sin to which suggestion if I am but once drawn to yield he will easily draw me deeper and deeper but I pray that he may never draw me to the belief of this A further evil I find as great as any that the guilt of all my sins both of Omission and Commission that ever I was guilty of in all my Life-time now flyeth in my face with aggravation as if they were unpardonable so doth my conscience aggravate them and my Spiritual adversary is ready to perswade me to despair because I lie under so much guilt and God so just that he punisheth sin where ever he findeth it as he did in our first Parents and all Mankind for the guilt of one sin All which evils and many more which sin bringeth and hath brought upon others I am sensible of with fear and grief in a great measure immediately after the commission of sin Yet I find it hard to keep in my mind a continual dread and fear of every sin and watch against it so strictly as I ought though I have felt the bitterness of it And though I can say with David my Iniquities are gone over my Head and are a sore burden too heavy for me to bear I pray therefore that they may ever be in my sight that I may be sensible of the burthen of them and of all the evil in them and weep for them day and night as he did for his and may bring forth fruit meet for repentance That God seeing it may turn his face from my sins and may blot out all my misdeeds when he shall behold my heart broke and beaten to pieces by the burthen and weight of my sins which sacrifice the Lord doth not despise And when he shall behold me abhorring my self he may not abhor me But when I confess them am sorry for them and forsake them he may blot them out and my soul may be assured that they are pardoned in Christ Jesus that he hath borne them And that he had an eye unto me in his sufferings and hath washed me clean with his blood and made me white as snow that by his stripes I am healed and that my name is written in that free pardon that he hath purchased And that I owe unto him all that I have or can do for this mercy Though I have forsaken God as an adulterous wife doth her husband for other lovers and given my affections to others and taken it off from God whereby I must confess that I have deserved that God should cast me off yet because he hath declared that though a man will not receive again such a wife yet God will receive again such people and invites them to return unto him therefore I returne again unto God trusting in this his word of promise that he will receive me again into his love and favour with everlasting mercy and kindness And I will henceforth resolve never more to entertain any thought that may tend to seduce my affections from so good a God or corrupt my love to him but will watch strictly against such as would allure me and deceive me and pray to God to assist me since these my spiritual enemies are too subtil and too strong for me alone to deal withall without his assistance which he hath faithfully promised to lend me when I heartily and earnestly crave it in my time of need and distress And then I shall be able to resist and overcome those that allure me to betray me and performe and keep my vows which were first made for me in my baptisme and often since that renewed by me in times of trouble and imminent dangers and at the sacrament of the Eucharist especially when I first I enjoyed the happy priviledg of those holy mysteries also when first I espoused my self by my own choise unto my Maker I am prone to look upon my own sins as little Oh that I could have the same apprehensions of my own sins as I have had of other mens for I have said If I had sined as they have I would have spent all my life in weeping fasting and praying cloathing my self in sackcloath washing my bed with my tears If so be the Lord would heare me and have mercy upon me and pardon me And how neere those very sins have I come Though I cannot attain the same degree of sorrow for my sins as Peter did when immediately after he denied his Saviour he went out and wept bitterly and as it is written of his life he wore channels in his eyes by his frequent tears for that sin Though I cannot with David Wash my bed and water my couch with my tears and mingle my drink with weepings because of my sin yet will I endeavour to supply what is lacking in the degree of my sorrow by the duration and continuance of it And make sin the only matter of my sorrow and thereby I shall be better inabled to avoid my falling into the same again and though I cannot wash my self clean from the guilt of my sins by mine own repentance because the blood of Christ only can cleanse us from our sins yet this is the condition necessary to make us subjects capable of being washed by the blood of Christ which is communicated to us in the Lords Supper to wash and cleanse and heal our penitent broken hearts Therefore will I look unto him hanging upon the Cross and sheding his precious blood to make satisfaction for my sins and bearing the iniquities of us all that we might have pardon of sin and peace of conscience in him And those which he hath invited to come unto him that he may give them rest are such only as are weary and heavy laden And he only can give it because the soul that receiveth it must come empty handed as it is intimated Isa 5.15 Come buy Wine and Milk without mony and without price Such whose consciences are weary and labour under the burden of sin and go mourning by reason thereof and are ready to sink and faint under Gods chastisements such a one can find no rest in the creature nor in it self till it come to Christ then mans misery is Christs opportunity They that are sick need a physitian not they that are hole Neminem venientem arcet a gracia sua There are none excepted out
in sin and wickedness hereby he that enterprizeth it is emboldened in it and takes occasion to question the Being of God as he Quis putet esse deos And God suffereth them to prosper sometimes grow mighty and heap up silver as dust that his own people should know how little to value the world when he gives the Kingdoms thereof to the basest of the people Jer. 12.1 2. The Prophet did require of God the reason of their prospering and prays against them Pull them out as sheep for the slaughter And sometimes God suffereth it for this reason which David mentioneth in Psal 27. that he may cast them down suddenly with the greater ruine So Psal 83.17 18. But we find that this was a grievance to David as it was to afflicted Job Job 21. Wherefore do the wicked live And so it is generally to all God's afflicted people but mark the end of them Job 27.13 Another Obstruction that Satan makes use of to hinder this glorious Light of the Gospel from shining into their hearts is That whatsoever sin they perpetrate yet they sit at ease like the people of Lachish and find no changes nor alterations in their estates and affairs but all things go on after the same manner as before their sins committed they did according to the course of nature and according to the means which they use in their callings Sometimes the Lord is resolved to make them see and be ashamed According to that in the Prophet Isaiah c. 26. v. 11. Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed Thus he made the Thunderer afraid of Thunder and ashamed So David prayed Put them in fear O Lord that they may know themselves to be but men When they forget themselves they forget God But oh how soon can God dismay them and make them recant whatever they dared against God in their pride of heart when he pleaseth to strike them with fear and consternation And then those who before prosessed themselves wise will confess themselves fools because they can no longer shut their eyes against the light but that they must see their shame I am sensible that Atheists make use of this argument of fear to perswade that it was nothing else that taught men the worship of God according to that saying Primus in orbe deos fecit timor To this first by way of admission I answer that if it should be admitted yet that is a necessary and a good fear which driveth us to God and restraineth from evil The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom But it is a bad fear which drives us from the face of God as Adam after he had sinned was afraid and hid himself So Peter's sense of his sinfulness made him beseech the Lord Jesus to depart from him Secondly By way of negation I conceive that love moveth good people to the service of God more than fear 'T was Abel's Love to God which made him offer the best and to think nothing good enough for God Likewise it was want of love in Cain that made him offer with an evil mind that which was not the best therefore it must needs be slavish fear in him that caused him to give God any Sacrifice But this motive of fear sometimes moveth the most wicked that are to worship God but when the fear is over the worship ceaseth Job 24. And though in their troubles they vowed Hecatombs they scarce will pay one of a hundred Besides it is manifest that the just and upright are little liable to fears Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil Psal 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom then shall I fear Psa 46. God is our hope and strength a very present help in trouble Therefore will we not fear though the earth be moved and though the hills be carried into the midst of the Sea Though the waters thereof rage and swell and though the Mountains shake at the tempest of the same As the Poet speaks of the just man Si fractus illabatur orbis impavidum ferient ruinae Because they that truly fear God know that they need not fear any thing else Therefore in the 37th of Isaiah upon Senacharib's great boastings and threatnings to destroy Juda the word of the Lord by the Prophet was concerning her The Virgin the daughten of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn I need not rehearse the examples of the undaunted courage of these people because they are so numerous I conceive that every one that hath a tongue to speak can tell a Catalogue of them as Abraham Gideon Sampson Baruck Jephta David and the Legio fulminatrix Christianorum And on the other side it is as notorious and commonly known that the most desperately wicked sinners and blasphemers are most timorous and fearful and are full of fears si vel herbam dimovere lacertae corde gemibus tremunt As Belshazzar trembled when he saw the hand-writing upon the wall before he knew whether it were good or bad Because their guilty conscience makes them fear where no fear is and fly when none pursueth It followeth that if fear did make gods to be they should be the greatest worshippers of them but the consequence is not truth and therefore not the antecedent or supposition Neither was it fear that made the differences of good and evil true and false just and unjust honest and dishonest c. but God who is the fountain of goodness and truth and being But if for all this they will not be convinced to take God for their strength and the fear of God and the wisdom which is from above for the true and sound wisdom and still will say to God Depart from us we will none of the knowledge of the Most High and strengthen and incourage themselves in their ungodliness and in the multitude of their iniquities boast themselves And notwithstanding they see their Policy Wit and Ingenuity whereof they so much boasted to be frustrated and baffled by those means which they disdained and their secret sins detected and punished and yet for all this they will not see the hand of the Lord. And their proud flashy wit leads them with Xerxes to fetter the Sea or the like vanities and extravagancies Then let them go on in the waies that they have chosen till such time as the Lord shall please to put a hook in their nose as he did in that Assyrian Monarchs And let those who embrace the true wisdom goodness and humility rest assured of this That the Virgin the daughter of Zion shall despise them and laugh them to scorn Isa 37.22 And so with David we may and must all pray against the enemies of our Lord and Saviour Christ Psal 59.13 Consume them O Lord consume them that they may perish and know that it is God that ruleth in Jacob and
anger malice revenge covetousness lust concupiscence or the like and mourning over it humbly intreat him to succour relieve help heal cleanse wash purge and purify them by the renewing of the Spirit Or else as he answer'd St. Paul praying against the Thorn in his flesh he will supply them with grace sufficient for them From these promises we may see the reason why our blessed Saviour in that form of Prayer teacheth us to pray in the plural number our and us for this includes our selves and our fellow-members of the mystical body of Christ some whereof are but Babes or Children in religion and cannot pray for themselves as not having received so great measure of the Spirit so that they have need of our Prayers and our charity including them doth not hinder our requests for our selves but rather promotes them We see also why sometimes they pray more particularly but for themselves as the Apostle Paul did against his particular malady and burthen which he groaned under And so David did pray against his own particular sins and sufferings Deliver me from bloody-guiltiness Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken me in thy Law Incline my heart to thy Testimonies and not to covetousness c. For which particular graces we may upon occasion pray in the behalf of others according to that precept of the Apostle If any man see his Brother sin a sin which is not unto Death he shall pray for him and it shall be forgiven him Likewise may we pray for the deliverance of them from their afflictions and perils which they lie under as the Apostle Paul desires the Saints to whom he wrote to pray for his deliverance for nature dictates these prayers for our selves but grace for others that are our Brethren in Christ The Hope of speeding is that which incourageth and excites with strength and courage in every undertaking we go about If we seek of God in prayer the things which are according to his will those gifts and graces and Improvements which he hath promised to give those things which he hath invited us to ask or commanded us to ask those that our Saviour and his Apostles have taught us to ask those which the experience of other Saints and servants of God proves to be acceptable and proper requests those graces which we are commanded to have those degrees of grace and those means which we are commanded to use and those spiritual joys and injoyments which we long for and cannot be happy without why should we doubt of our success or why should we not expect a quick Return Let us then apply our selves to seek out those things As the original of all graces we first are taught by our Saviour to pray to God to give us the Holy Spirit And he that obtains this obtains also the fruits of it Love joy peace meekness gentleness patience c. And all graces whatsoever for as the Lord taught us our whole duty in one word viz. Love so here he teacheth us in one word the sum of all we need to pray for for although we pray for many things yet the sum of all spiritual things is contained in this And if we seek the spiritual gifts and graces which is signified in that expression Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness the other things shall be added unto us without seeking In this also is summed up all that we ought to pray against viz. all our spiritual enemies the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and every thing that Satan overcomes the sons of men withal This general is branched into six petitions in the Lords prayer for by the Spirit of God in us we are made holy the Temples of the Lord and are made capable to sanctify Gods holy name the love of God is spread abroad in our hearts Gods law is written in our hearts and put in our inward parts By the Mission of the holy Spirit into us we all know him and know his Judgments and do them the Kingdoms of the World become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Righteousness will run down as a River and holiness to the Lord shall be writ upon us and all our comon things every pot in Jerusalem shall be like the bouls before the Altar And Jesus Christ shall have the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession when these and the like promises are fulfill'd And the earth shall be full of the knowledg of the Lord so that we pray implicity for these promises when we pray these petitions in the Lords prayer likewise when we pray Thy will be done we pray for the Spirit to enable us to do it and we pray to God for the fulfilling of those promises of the New Covenant which relate to it viz. That God will be our God and we shall be his people that we shall run and not be weary walk and not faint mount up with wings like an Eagle and renew our strength like an Eagle that we shall be a willing people So in the other petitions Namely that for remission of sins we cannot be assured of it nor have peace of conscience but by the operation of the Holy Ghost in our hearts by faith exciting in us unfeigned sorrow for those sins wherewith we have grieved it and working in us a stedfast resolution and purpose never to commit the like again Also when we pray against Temptations it is intended that we crave this aid by the assistance of Gods Holy Spirit to escape them for thereby we are made sufficient and able to fly them or to overcome them and to be more than conquerors so that no Spiritual weapon formed against us shall proper And if God gives us his holy Spirit we obtain also the other petitions namely to be delivered from evil and to enjoy food and raiment and all the necessaries of life for these are inseparably contained in the priviledges of the Saints For God is a Wall of fire round about them bread shall be given them and their water shall be sure so that petition also is by reason of the promise contained in that of asking the holy Spirit The rather for this that all other promises of the New Covenant are implyed in this This notwithstanding we find the Saints and Servants of God praying in other words and formes and by the Spirit too Whose Assistance I humbly crave for my further progress in these meditations Certainly when the Holy Spirit assists us in prayer it doth not only inable us to say or pray in a perscribed form but dictates the words and things prayed for according to the necessities of the person praying and prayed for Although we are not under the law but under grace that being dead wherein we were held that we should henceforth serve God in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the latter Yet must we pray against all
to be such then let us be sensible of our dangerous condition we are in or soon may be and we shall seek in time for strength supportation preservation and deliverance from him who hath promised to be with us in trouble and never to leave nor to forsake us And to keep us to guide help and deliver us and bring us to honour And not to suffer our feet to be moved Oh when shall it once be O Lord that thou wilt tread Satan under our feet make us more than conquerour over him We cannot be enough sensible of our spiritual dangers of our immortal souls The frequent admonitions of our blessed Saviour to watchfulness self-denial prayer seeking of God and other means to be used by us that we may be able to stand shew us how difficult a thing it is and God suffereth his servants sometimes to be brought to the highest top of the precipice and then plucks them as brands out of the fire of Hell that they may see their danger for unless they do see and know their danger they will be but cold in prayer and such prayers can never prevail or obtain any promise Quid quisque vitet nun quam homini satis Cautum est in horas Horat. But those who are sensible thereof will be fervent and frequent in prayer to God and they will take Heaven by force If they can by importunity and affiduity they will obtain of God the same answer that the Apostle Paul obtained sufficiency of grace and in their weakness he will perfect his own strength but if they had sufficiency of gifts and parts to conquer temptations they would not know that God doth it nor seek him nor depend on him Let us not imagine that such dangers and difficulties rarely befal the people of God When Jesus Christ tells his Disciples that through many tribulations they must go to Heaven They must be hated of the World That in the World they must have trouble Men shall say all manner of evil of them falsly for his sake and pronounceth a blessing upon such sufferers If we will come after him we must deny our selves and take up our Cross So the Apostle That we have need of patience that when we have done Gods will we may inherit the promise And they of their own experience testifie that they found the truth of his sayings David said Psal 119. My soul is alwaies in mine hand From my youth up thy terrours have I suffered with a troubled mind All the day long have I been afflicted and chastened every morning And the pains of Hell came about me the snares of death overtook me I am troubled above measure Psal 119. If my delight had not been in thy Law it had not failed but I had perished in my troubles My tears have been my meat day and night Shall we then expect to go to Heaven upon any easier terms nay but we must wade thorough with the same staff of comfort Consider what difficulties God's children do find in every good work and what opposition of contrary principles When they would do good evil is present with them What great necessity then have they of this duty Those things which are hurtful to our bodies we can easily leave them but not so the things which are hurtful to our souls though we are mortified as St. Paul was by keeping under our body and renewed in our hearts by the Spirit Be sensible then of these difficulties as the Apostle was and of thy remaining corruptions and thou wilt cry to God with importunity as he did and watch against thy spiritual adversary and thou shalt have cause also with him to glory in God through Jesus Christ Look upon temptations as fire and thy corrupt nature as the gunpowder Also those who by their own experience can affirm that they have called upon the Lord in their trouble and he hath delivered them out of their distress and saved them and delivered them from all their fears and that by him they have been unholden ever since they were born That he hath been to them a present help in trouble That he hath ever stood by them saved them and delivered them Hath never left them nor forsaken them That he hath known their soul in adversity That he hath been their helper That in the multitude of the sorrows of their heart his comforts have refreshed their souls And those whose conscience beareth witness to them of their sincerity and uprightness as Job's did Job 31. ch throughout And know that their Nature is renewed by their quickness in the actions of grace when they are tempted to sin even these are sometimes dismayed and cast down as David expressed it in this saying sc Psal Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled So Job 13. Wherefore hidest thou thy face But if the Lord doth shew the light of his countenance upon them and his presence go with them then they can rely upon the Truth of God's promises in the valley of the shadow of death in the midst of the fiery furnace and in the Lion's den and though he should kill them they will trust in him And they can praise him when he takes away as well as when he gives and pray unto him But our own experience of his Truth and our own purposes vows and resolutionns and watching without his presence his supportation and the light of his countenance will not be sufficient to bear us up in the fiery tryal no more than it did Peter and David and the other Saints therefore he hath promised to be with us in it In the sire he will be with us that it shall not burn us and in the water that it shall not drown us and so he was with Job though he hid his face and seem'd his enemy The spirit of a man can bear his infirmities but a wounded spirit who can bear Psal 42. These considerations teach us how great need and necessity all men have of diligence in this duty consider also whether it be not meet and necessary for the children of God to seek those priviledges which Jesus Christ hath purchased for them by this duty of prayer Because our Blessed Saviour did thus seek his priviledges and birthright as God appointed Psal 2.7 8. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession And thus the children of God do ask for and beg their rights and priviledges through the name merit and meditation of Jesus Christ by the Spirits assistance As the Lord taught them to do As in that particular priviledge of putting the Spirit into them promised by God in the new Covenant Christ Jesus commands them to ask it Therefore they ought also to pray that God would tread Satan under their feet That he would deliver them from every evil work that he would keep them night and
and hourly Begger at the Throne of grace for the Spirit of grace And I will never cease begging because thou hast shewed thy selfe more free to give than we to ask or receive and hast made such free invitations and offers to all that will come to thee or ask of thee And I am resolved to take no denial because I come upon thy importunate invitations If I should take a denial or go away without my errand I should seem to doubt of the verity and truth of thy promises and free and gracious invitations therefore I will never leave knocking till thou openest unto me But at evening and at morning and at noon day and also at midnight will I knock till thou pleasest to open unto me and relieve my needs 3 Preparatory Ejaculation 2 Chron. 16.3 Lord when ever Jsrael in their troubles did turn to thee thou wert found of them And thou promisest that thou wilt be found of them that seek thee we seek thee now and resolve to seek thy face evermore be thou found of us and be with us Lord since thou art open hearted handed why should we be close mouthed 4 Preparatory Ejaculution Lord since thou givest both the will and the deed that is good And we can have nothing to offer thee but what is thine own provide now O Lord a Sacrifice for thy self and put heavenly desires and affections into our hearts by thy holy Spirits assistance that we may seek those things which thou hast freely invited us to ask and art willing and desirous to give And then our prayers shall ascend up to thee as incence and the lifting up of our hands and hearts shall be as a Sacrifice do thou prepare our hearts and thine eare will harken thereto And thou O blessed Jesus perfume these our prayers and intercede for us 5 Preparatory Ejaculation Lord we have experienced how forward our natural parents are to succour and help their craving little ones they will often over-do their abilities in their kindness and they do only wait for opportunities to do them good as far as they are able But thy goodness infinitely surpasseth that of Humane Nature How then can we doubt but thou wilt hear and help us in all our needs when we fly unto thee for succour and take the opportunity to do for us above all we can ask and think for so thou hast heard some of thy Servants We are resolved to ask as largely as we can for all Spiritual gifts and graces because thou hast bid us to open our mouthes wide and thou wilt fill them it is they will that we should ask and receive that our joy may be full it is our interest and our inclination too so to do for our natural relief Incline thou our hearts to be as hungry and thirsty covetous and greedy for grace and the relief of our souls as ever we were for the relief of our bodies in our greatest distresses when pined for hunger or thirst for such thou delightest to releive 6 Preparatory Ejaculation Lord let us not think to offer thee such services as cost us nothing or the worst of our flock as Cain did or as those that draw nigh to thee with their lips when their hart goeth after their covetousness Lest thou shouldest bid us to go and offer them to our governour and see whether he will accept them but let us serve the with the first the best and perfectest as Abel did Lord why didst thou proclaim thy name merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness Why hast thou made so many gracious promises and invitations to us but to envite us to come unto the for releif A Prayer LOrd remember thy new Covenant and give us all those graces which thou hast freely promised to us thereby First love us freely Then give us the man Christ Jesus whom thou hast given for a Covenant to the people with him give us thy Spirit put it into our hearts let it dwell in us and cause us to walk in thy Statutes and to know thy Judgments and do them for it is this unction that teacheth us all things and inables us to do every good work when of our selves we can neither think nor do good And give us all the graces of thy Spirit Love Joy Peace Meekness Gentleness Brotherly kindness and Charity and then we shall know and be sure that thou hast put thy Spirit into us if we feel no Envy Lust Pride Wrath Malice Covetousness or Prophaneness stirring in our hearts And according to thy Covenant of Grace give us a new heart and put thy Laws in our hearts and write them in our inward parts and be thou our God and make us thy people and take away our unmalleable heart of stone Also make us all to know thee from the greatest to the least Let us also know Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Let us know thee as our God alsufficient that we may trust in thee As our gracious Father that we may cast our care upon thee and delight in thee and love thee though thou chastise us As our Shepherd that we may not fear the Wolves that would devour us As our Husbandman that we may submit to thy pruning And give us also to know our selves to be thy people thy children thy sheep thy vine and all other relations wherein thou hast put us Let us know thee to be our portion and that by our seeking thee and chusing thee to be our portion and our selves to be thy portion too and thy Jewels And that by our pureness holiness preciousness and humility and littleness in our own eyes and by thy watching over us and keeping us Make us to know Christ Jesus as our King to give us Laws and govern us as our Priest to atone thy wrath for us and reconcile us to thee and persume our services and intercede for us as our Prophet to teach and instruct us in the knowledge of thee and thy will Let us know him as our Lord our Saviour our Brother our Husband our Beloved our Ransom our Bread of Life and Water of Life and as our Head our Corner-stone on which we are built as our Vine whereof we are branches as our Shepherd as our All. That we may be able to say Whom have we in Heaven but thee or whom in Earth that we can desire in comparison of thee That we may rejoyce in him alwaies And fulfil thou in us that promise that we shall be all taught of thee and shall need no more one anothers teaching Make us to hear that voice behind us saying This is the way walk ye in it Let us not stop our ears nor turn from it Give thy Son the Heathen for his Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession and those who will not submit to him let him bruise them with a Rod of Iron Make Jerusalem a praise Let Righteousness run down like a mighty River and let
holiness to the Lord be writ upon us and all our common things Make every pot in Jerusalem like as the bolls before the Altar Pardon our iniquities heal our backslidings and receive us graciously Let the Sun of Righteousness arise on us with healing in his wings Subdue our iniquities and cast our sins into the bottom of the Sea Wash away our scarlet sins and make us clean and white as Snow Make the Lion to lye down with the Lamb and to cat straw with the Bullock Make the heart of the rash understand knowledge And let not the fool erre O Christ give thou light to them that sit in darkness Give sight to the blind Plant in the barren Wilderness the Fir-tree the Mirtle-tree the Cedar the Shitta-tree the Pine-tree the Olive and the Box-tree Make the barren Wilderness a standing water and water-springs in a dry ground Pour water upon the thirsty And give us all those means of grace which thou hast promised Give us Pastors according to thine own heart which shall feed us with knowledge and understanding and such as shall teach us by their lives as well as by doctrine And since thou hast appointed afflictions for means make us to rejoyce in them and hear the Rod. Water us every morning and every moment with the dew of grace and make our souls as a watered Garden As a Garden inclosed as a Fountain sealed that no polluting thing may come into us to defile us That we may be more pure in heart more holy delight in thee more and feed upon thy Word more That we may grow up like the Calves of the stall be fat and well liking That we may flourish in the Courts of the house of the Lord. That we may run and not be weary walk and not faint mount up with wings like an Eagle and renew our strength as an Eagle Give us all those means of improving our graces which thou hast promised Strengthen us sustain us support us and hold us up that we may not fall lead us and guide us in that way whorein we shall not stumble Make us to feed by the Rivers of Waters thy holy Ordinances upon thy holy Word and the Lord's Supper That the weak may be as David and the house of David as God That thy willing people may be more and more wiling that they may be zealous of good works alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that their labour is not in vain in the Lord. Quicken and water the means of Grace Make us able to mortifie our members more and deny our selves more to suffer losses sicknesses and afflictions more contentedly willingly and patiently put a new edge upon those motives which first moved us to forsake our lusts and the world to embrace the love of God and the fear of God the knowledge of God As the eyes of a servant are to the hands of his Master and the eyes of a Maid to the hands of her Mistress so let our eyes be ever upon thee for help strength and direction Give us the means of guarding and defending our selves against Satan All the Armour of Light the Shield of Faith the Sword of the Spirit the Breast-plate of Righteousness and for a Helmet the Hope of Salvation Teach us the Art of well using all these pieces of this spiritual Armour both the defensive and the offensive that we may with them beat down every thought that exalteth it self against God Teach us all our military postures that we may be able to stand Watch thou over us though we our selves watch too and do thou keep us night and day for thy promise sake Bear us in thy hand as a man beareth his child Go with us never leave us nor forsake us Make us to know thy will and do it Be thou our guide unto death Direct thou our way and order our steps in thy Word Incline our heart that we may delight in thee Deliver us from every evil work Let no spiritual weapon formed against us prosper Preserve our bodies and souls blameless unto the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and make us able to overcome all our spiritual enemies Lord whatever promises thou hast made to us thou madest them because thou didst desire to give us the things promised Thou only desiredst an opportunity from the receiver or to be sought to for them We seek to thee according to thy command therefore let thy mercy which first moved thee to promise them move thee now for thy Truths sake to give them as well all other thy promises as these mentioned And give us all those mercies which thou hast invited us to ask or thy Son hath invited us to seek Lord heal our blindness with thy eye-salve which thou hast invited the blind to seek of thee And strengthen our weak sight more and more that we may behold clearly the glory of the Lord and may be changed into the same image from glory to glory and may see the things of our eternal concernment Relieve our nakedness with those pure white Robes which thou hast invited the naked to buy of thee which will never be soiled nor wax old And relieve our poverty and penury with thy refined gold which will inrich to eternity which thou exposest to be sold to the poor and needy who have nothing to purchase it withall Shew us wherwith we poor blind and naked sinners shall purchase of thee these necessary supplies For if we continue without them we shall remain miserable and perish for lack of them Lord our raggs we are willing to part with for those unspotted Robes our wretched poverty for that refined gold and our blind eyes for that clear and quick sight which thy eye-salve will make in us that we may be capable of seeing the remedies of our poverty and nakedness Shew us how we may purchase of thee wine and milk without money and without price to relieve our thirsty souls Lord give us the thirst and desire of those precious liquors to satisfie our thirsts and do thou satisfie our souls with those Rivers of pleasure which are at thy Right hand for evermore And that we may lack no grace and thy relief may supply all our needs and spiritual wants Give us of the fulness of Christ Jesus grace for grace that we may know that be liveth in us as our Head and we in and by him Give us to be like him and to imitate him in all holiness Make us to walk as he walked that we may know that we are members of his body Give us Patience Humility Meekness Temperance Chastity and Charity Mortification and Vivisication Faith and Obedience of his fulness Give us all those graces that any of thy Saints and Servants have had and all those degrees of grace Give us all those graces which thou hast commanded us to have and all those degrees of grace Make us perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Give us all those
all our hearts and with all our souls Put thy fear in our hearts that we may not depart from thee all our daies Let thy Spirit alwaies dwell in us and abide in us as our Helper our Almighty Comforter our Light our Guide and Instructer our Teacher and Remembrancer Let our bodies alwaies be the Temples of the Holy Ghost Let thy Spirit be alwaies acting in us love joy in the Lord peace meekness gentleness long-suffering brotherly-kindness charity chastity purity temperance and sobriety zeal knowledg faith affiance in thee mortification vivification hope and humility patience contentation and submission to thee and every grace Give us Christ Jesus too whom thou hast promised to give for a Covenant to the people first give him us for a Covenant then give him to us for our King our High Priest and our Prophet our Wisdom our Righteousness our Sanctification and our Redemption for our Beloved our Bridegroom and our Husband The joy of our heart and the desire of our souls O blessed Jesus give us thy self in all those offices and relations which thou beest to thy people Give us the kisses of thy mouth and the sweet pledge of thy love and communion with thee in every duty and refreshment of our graces and particularly in this duty Bring us into thy Chambers and let thy left hand be under us and thy right hand embrace us Repose thy self as a bundle of myrth betwixt our breasts Vnvail thy beauties to us that we may be enflamed of thy perfections and may evermore run after thee Give us thy self for our Brother and make us the adopted children of thy Father and give us the same nature that thou hadst Give us thy self for our Head and do thou live in us and let us feel thee living in us evermore and let us live in thee and receive of thy fulness grace for grace Give us thy self for our root and let us be grafted into thee and bear such fruit as thou borest Give us thy flesh for the food of our souls and thy blood for the drink of our souls to nourish them to eternal life and to give them eternal life O God give us thy self for our God our King and Governour our Refuge our Tower of Defence and Safe-guard our Help in time of need our Father our Husband our Portion and exceeding great Reward And let us seek all our desires in thee and in Jesus Christ And let us know that we are thy People thy Saints and thy Servants thy Redeemed and Ransomed of the Lord and thy Portion and thy Jewels thy Children and thy Spouse and that thou rejoycest over us to do us good as a Bridegroom rejoyceth over the Bride and do thou watch over us and keep us night and day lest any evil befal us and hold us up that we may be safe And give us all those graces which thou hast promised by thy new Covenant and all those degrees of grace and all those means of Grace Give us all those graces that any of thy Saints and Servants have had and all those degrees of grace and all those graces that thou hast commanded us to have Make us perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect And give us all those blessednesses that accompany those graces Let all things work together for our good Let us want no manner of thing that is good Let us be like Mount Sion which cannot be removed And keep us secretly in thy Tabernacle from the strife of tongues and satisfie us with abundance of peace and accept of our praises too in Christ Jesus for a thousand mercies to me and mine for all the mercies wherewith thou ladest us and makest our lives comfortable especially for delivering us from Hell when we have been ready to throw our selves into it Thou canst not do a greater thing for us till thou bringest us to Heaven therefore let us retribute all we have or can do to thee and Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer Amen Of Thanksgiving to God A Meditation Exod. 23. None shall appear before me empty THIS practice of the Servants of God is general for we read of none of them who did not render unto God for his mercies received so that he is none of God's people who omits this neither doth he acknowledge God to be his benefactor One sacrificeth to his net viz. to the subordinate means another ascribes all to chance and fortune and howbeit many prophane people too have made their acknowledgments to God as Saul would reserve the best of the Cattel for sacrifice Cain would also sacrifice But of such Solomon saith The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord as Saul's was God speaking of the degenerate Israelites saith in the Prophecy of Isaiah They come before me as my people For the light of nature which is not easily extinguished dictates this to us Accordingly we read in the Proverbs of Solomon of the Harlot paying her vows They sing praises to God just then when they are freed from their affliction but within a while they forget God and the wonders which he hath done for them To render some thing is an acknowledgment which we perform to one another for we know we can hold nothing of another without a rendering But the rendering which we must make to God alwaies is our heart and all we can do and suffer for him Hanna did not think it enough to render the fruit of her lips but thought she had enough favour shewed her that her prayers were heard and was satisfied therewith and thankfully rendered the intire benefit received David did not satisfy himself with praising and magnifying God and resolving to praise him as long as he lived but he would have built a Temple to him too but that God would not suffer him yet he proceded in that purpose so far as he could for he provided the materials for the Temple And shall I think it enough to offer God thanks and praise for though this is honouring God yet why should I suffer my self to be out-done by the weaker sex why should I think to keep all Gods benefits to my self for my own use she for one prayer heard and for own favour received renders the same again because she had no other thing of equal value to her What shall I render for so many prayers heard and for so many mercies received I am at a loss what I shall render but I am resolved to do all I can and suffer all I can for him and to Sacrifice my most endeared lust to him I will praise the Lord with my mouth and my tongue shall faile when I tell of his mercies for I know no end of them But this shall not suffice me I must endeavour to build up his Temple too as far as I may not any Temple made with hands but I have frequent occasion to meditate how much God doth for me and how little do I for God! and taking a view of
or like a dead Tree withered and plucked up In this forelorn and hopeless condition when no man regards our perishing we come to God for help and he in whose only power it is to help doth help us and deliver us and makes the dry bones live and we have seen the salvation of the Lord and the wonders that he doth for the Sons of men and have been transported with joy as the Israelites when they came out of Babylon were I acknowledge that there be some who come in no misfortune nor are plagued like other men But all those whom Christ Jesus hath chosen to be his souldiers he trains up in this discipline But if it were so that I had not gone thorow such perils such afflictions and such troubles as I see and hear to befall other men Have I not much more cause to praise God for keeping me in health than for raising me up again being fallen sick from keeping me from the perils which befall other men than for delivering me if I had been in danger and for keeping me from troubles wherein others are plunged If I consider the calamities of men far greater than my self As for instance of him who is more worth than thousands of us our Soveraign Lord the King Can I chuse but bless God that my distresses afflictions and perils of life have not been so many and great as his But how great and good above me was he that was after God's own heart What pains perils and troubles did he not go thorow first in his person his reins chastened him in the night he had no soundness in his bones then from his superiours Saul persecuting him as long as he lived from his inferiours his servant curseth him to his face from unkind neighbours as Doeg the Edomite from his Relations his wife scoffing him his Son rebelling and another commits a rape on his Sister c. Besides the temporal mercies he also tells us what God hath done for his soul too as Psal 103. and blesseth God for forgiving all his sin c. ib. For this we can never praise God enough Meditations and Ejaculations Go about Duties not as labours but thy only enjoyments Delight thy self in the Lord and expect the Reward LORD since thou hast promised thy holy Spirit to them who ask it of thee I beseech thee give it to me for without it I cannot serve thee nor walk in obedience to thy holy Commandments for by reading and hearing thy Word I can only know my duty I cannot retain my holy resolutions which are stirred up in the duties one hour Therefore do thou create in me a new heart and a new nature Regenerate me by thy Spirit and the immortal seed and write thy Law in my heart and give me thy holy Spirit the Almighty Helper the Comforter and hold thou me up and I shall be safe Make me willing to undergo conflicts with sin for hereby I shall have comfort in the hour of death and the day of trouble O give me peace of conscience the comforts of a well-spent life that I may be able to say with Hezekiah Lord remember how I have walked before thee in all simplicity when the day of death comes Make me wise to consider alwaies my latter end and what thoughts I shall have then of the world and all its comforts let this restrain me from giving up my self to them else I shall be a fool in my latter end as the wicked are and cry out that the world hath deceived them their consciences being then awakened which in their lime-time they stifled and then the Hypocrites have no hope Therefore Lord give me grace and prudence to make provision against that time that the sting of death may be taken out Let me believe the terrours threatned against the wicked that I may never come to feel them Let me find Christ my Advocate when death comes upon me And that I may not die in my sin make me by thy grace continually to die to sin Deliver me from every evil work and preserve my body and soul blameless unto the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Lord above all things give me to fear sin and the transgression of thy Law who art the great Soveraign of the world its Creator and Preserver to whom we owe both our persons and obedience and if the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the Law much more let me who have as well the written Law and the Gospel as the Law of Nature do the things contained in the Law else how shall I escape thy wrath But having tryed our obedience thou hast found us all rebels and in thy justice mayest damn us all if thy mercy in Christ Jesus do not save us Since Jesus Christ our Saviour was made under a Law and the glorious Angels fulfil thy commandments and hearken to the voice of thy word and man hath no such perfection as his Saviour or the Angels but our wisdom and our perfection is in obedience to the Law Inable us to keep it for herein God hath shewed us what is good Micah 6.8 Every child of God is as a souldier keeping a garrison in an enemies Country Therefore Lord as I put on my apparel let me remember to put on the Armour of light and to watch and be provided to fight thy battels let me not be destitute of any piece of this Armour but give me all Christian vertues I am naked naturally and without this Armour but unless I have it of thy gift I cannot put it on but must perish by my nakedness for I cannot have any truse from my spiritual adversary who watches to destroy us And give me the skill of an expert warriour to use these Armes against the Devil the World and the flesh inable me to put off all sins which hinder the planting and growth of grace in our hearts for we cannot serve God and mammon let me depart from evil that I may do good Let me feel the power of Christ's death that I may partake of his resurrection Let the sense of my forepast sins make me the more diligent in thy service Since my darkness is passed let me put off the works of darkness Let me not delay considering my danger and the shortness and uncertainty of life and the greatness of the reward if I do thy service For to him that is faithful in much thou wilt give much ten Cities for improving his five talents to that number That I may fear sin and not make light of it or a mock of it as fools are said to do let me consider the great evil of it That it is the foolishness and brutishness of a man the darkness and nakedness the blindness and sottishness and death of the soul which makes us said to be dead in trespasses and sins and that the effects of sin are the worst of evils That it makes us like to the Devils That one sin makes us
prone to all other sins As David's adultery made way for murther As the Heathen who liked not to retain God in their thoughts God gave them up to all uncleanness So it hardens the heart against repentance and blinds the mind that it cannot understand good from evil And finally that it loseth God's favour and all things that are worth desiring and makes us liable to endure all evils that are worthy to be feared and let these considerations work in me an antipathy to it And on the contrary that I may apprehend the excellency of holiness and the fear of the Lord which is the best of good things as sin is the worst of evils and as sin is the greatest folly and stupidity so holiness contrariwise is the greatest wisdom and to fear God and do thereafter is good understanding That the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour and they that are precious in God's eyes are honourable that it makes us like the Saints and like to Christ and like God to be perfect as God is perfect to be holy as he is holy That it is our security and ingages God to be a Sun of perpetual comfort and a shield of defence to us That if we do good none will harm us But to the wicked there is no peace And that it gains God's favour and all those things that are worth desiring in this life And eternally Lord Let these considerations work in me a hunger and thirst after grace O give me to apprehend the terrour of the Lord that I may fear him accordingly to consider that thou gavest the Law with thunder and lightning that those that despised Moses Law died without mercy that I may fear to offend against the Gospel and the blood of Jesus Christ counting it unholy as all that are not sanctified by it do Let me apprehend the strictness of thy precept Thou hast commanded that we keep thy precepts diligently That we have covenanted in Baptism to do it and upon our repentance likewise and renewing of cur Covenant with thee and every thought of our hearts is under this Law Therefore that I may walk accordingly let me be diligent in all God's Ordinances which are both food and physick to the soul Let me use frequent prayer which will surely make me weary of sinning if sin doth not make me weary of praying And give me unweariedness and constancy in the duty of reading searching and meditating in the Scriptures Let me hide thy Word in my heart that I might not sin against thee Let the Word convey the Spirit into me since it is received by the hearing of faith and not by the works of the Law and let me often renew my Covenant with thee in the blood of Jesus Christ LORD since thou promisest a reward to him who overcomes Let me have grace to fight thy battels and let me not expect the reward till I have done thy service let me contemn the labour and the allurements that would divert me while I look upon the incouragement Though Satan offereth present rewards for sin and puts an edge upon the temptations and makes them suit my temper either in the things of the world or the flesh and my heart is ready to betray me within and my reason is ready to follow my appetite yet let my jealousy over my heart and my constant watchfulness prevail against them all through Christ Jesus by whom only we can overcome so powerful an adversary as Satan is who is unwearied in his temptations For we wrestle not against flesh and blood nor by flesh and blood but by Faith in Christ upon whom we rely for the victory Therefore give us the shield of faith Faith reflecting upon the glory to come and the love of Christ past who left Heaven for us that we might leave earth for him And let us know that we fight Christs battels an that he is our Captain and will succour his that are tempted and we shall be able to do all things through him that strengthens us when we call upon him And fighting thy battels and overcoming thy enemies give me the promised reward of blessedness the white stone the sentence of absolution from the guilt of sin and the seal of thy favour to my soul whereby I shall taste the joys of Heaven which the men of the world apprehend not THAT I may fear to sin let me weigh seriously the seeming pleasure and profit it offers with its losses it brings What profit have carnal pleasures satisfying the senses and the pleasing of the fancy the vain breath of mans applause unless I view Heaven and happiness as fables how can I neglect them for these base things or Satan and my own lusts beguiles me and deceive me for if I were indifferent in my Judgment I must needs contemne these poor bates as Solomon did after he had made tryal of them O Lord inlighten my understanding and rectify my Judgment and my depraved will and affections that I may not be cheated nor be willing to be deceived that I may not buy pleasure at so dear a rate being a lover of it more than of God who is blessed for ever let me not set so light by God and blessedness and Heaven and my true eternal interest teach me to fear the loss of my soul and the favour of God and the peace of conscience all which either early or late the sinner finds he loseth Give me that spiritual eye salve whereby I may discern the vizard and sucus of sin Teach me to consider all the seeming gainers by sin youthful persons who are in the strength and vigor of their age who make the most and the best of their pleasure of whose merry meetings the wise man hath said Their laughter is madness And the sins of their youth are the sorrows of their age when they cry out with Job Remember not the sins of my youth and thou makest me possess the sins of my youth or what gaine can the great ones of the earth boast of though they drink a greater draught of pleasures than other men who the more they seem to gain the more they lose they lose the peace of conscience and the favour of God and his blessings but if any gaine it is those who after sining are saved by repentance But these all their life after do complain of nothing but there sins and with great difficulty do recover their peace with God and their conscience for what likelihood is there that that should prove profitable to any that God doth forbid or would God gaine any profit by it if it were my loss to forbear it the Lord doth not envy us he that can afford us Heaven would he grudge us the pleasure of sin which the Devel will allow us can this be good for us that is against God is that like to be a mans good which deprives a man of internal peace and injoiment of himself and which every man either in
denying the Lord and his justice and his holiness all which blasphemies are hereby committed and God summoned to the creatures bar and we condemn him of injustice LORD heal us of these our iniquities and reform our complaints that we may have none but filial complaints to thy self as our Blessed Lord Jesus who said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And whatever we suffer to say with Jeremy in his expostulation Lord thou art Righteous yet let me reason with thee Why doth the ungodly prosper And in all extremity of afflictions retain this thought of God that he is righteous and good And let our complaints of the instruments of our afflictions be mixed with prayers for them as Stephens were And let us strive to bring up our wills to God's will and to submit all to thee saying as our Saviour did Lord if it be possible let this cup pass from me Nevertheless not my will but thy will be done And that thou mayest remove thy afflicting hand and thy Rod and thy servants sins and punishments may be removed let us first amend our lives and forsake our sins Search and try our waies to find out the sins we lie under For thou hast said If thy people which are in Captivity shall bethink themselves and turn unto thee thou wilt help them but if when thou hearknest thou hearest no man speak righteously or to say what have I done how canst thou repent of the punishment when we repent not of our sins Let us therefore remember from whence we are fallen and let us turne again to the Lord and forsake our wicked waies lest thou sayest to us as to Israel thou sayedst 10 Judg. 10. You have forsaken me go and cry unto the Gods that ye have served And having tried our waies and forsaken our wickedness let us in humble holy fervent prayer lift up our hearts with our hands to our God in the Heavens Saying we have transgressed and rebelled but thou hast pardoned Thus Davi'd Princes took counsel against him but he gave himself to prayer and thus the Marriners in the storm to Jonas awake thou sluggard and call upon the name of thy God And then our God will save us as he did the Israelites in Babylon under Ahasuerus when commissions were out to slay them And his hand is not shortned to us neither hath he forgotten to be gracious to them who confess their sins with their aggravations as the Prophet doth we have transgressed and rebelled And justify God as Ezra Thou hast punished us less then our iniquities have deserved Made upon hearing of a Sermon to the same effect LORD whatever duties I perform unto thee let me do them from the principle of love and not of custom or necessity to silence the natural or awakened conscience since thou acceptest the will more than the gift as thou didst the poor widows two mites and it is this that perfumes our Sacrifices and it is thiâ— that thy word calls the fulfilling the law And all that thou hast required of us is contained in thiâ— as it is writen what doth the Lord require of thee but that thou love the Lord thy God and my Son give me thy heart O Lord God take this poor worthless heart too good for the World and those brutish pleasures which we so willingly give it to and eagerly and earnestly affect but not any way good enough for thee who by thy bounty and beneficence to us every day dost oblige us more than all we have or can doe will requite but the world can do no such things for us and if beauty excellency worth wisdom kindness beneficence parentage free love pardon or any other motive whatsoever would prevail to win and allure us in thee it is I will therefore resolve to devote my affections to thee and ever to begin my meditation in the morning when I awake with the sweet remembrance of thy undeserved kindness to me When we were cast out in our blood in the open field in the day of our nativity when no Eye pitied us to wash us swaddle us salt us bath us and bind us up then thou passedst by and castedst thy eye of love upon us and didst all these things for us and nourishedst us and broughst us up and then the time of love was and thou madest us beautiful and comely in thy own righteousness and marriedst us to thy self and bestowedst upon us thy self And all that is thine And all that are thine And all this didst thou to us as a stranger passing by and unconcerned for what had our perishing been to thee but thou as the good Samartan didst freely pity us nay while we were thy enimies thou didst all this for us shall not all this love move us nor is this all Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what the Lord hath prepared for them that love him If we consider the particular benefits we have received from the hand of God and how highly we valued them and earnestly sought them before we had them and the great evils we have been deliverd from and how much we feared them and how restless we were in the fear till we were delivered from them we shall admire thy goodness and love thee with admiration And if we consider thy excellency we may love and admire the perfection and beauty of thee and thine infinite wisdome and power in all thy works in the Heavens in the earth and in the ocean in the Sun Moon Stars the Seasons of the year the living creatures and in the smallest of them O Lord since we cannot but see all loveliness excellency and desirableness in thee let our first and last meditations begin and end the the day with thee eager to take the first opportunity of approaching thy throne and as loath to leave the sweet contemplation of thy exelencies and goodness O Lord God almighty thy holy word teacheth us That except we eat thy Sons body and drink his blood we have no life in us And that whoso eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood hath eternal life Joh. 6.53 54. Give us worthily to receive this Sacrament that we may have eternal life Give us to come to it with grace in our heart that our graces may be increased and strengthened as by the food of our souls as the body is by the food of the body which is not betterd by food if it be not living no more can our souls be if we be dead in trespasses and sins and as the body turns the most wholsom nourishment to its hurt to diseases if the stomach be full of ill humours so our souls shall be worse as Judas was for these holy Sacraments if we come not to them prepared with repentance Therefore as the Lord was pleased to wash his Disciples feet before he gave them the Sacrament of his body and blood that they might be clean and fit for
like manner forget thy mercys and require meat for our lusts we fear thy wrath will be kindled against us to destroy us but we trust that we have a greater than Moses Jesus Christ to turn away thy wrath by his offering up his life as a ransom for us and bearing the iniquities of us all Let my life be hid with Christ in God that when Christ who is our life shall appear we also may appear with him in Glory Lord let me remember how scarcely the righteous are saved and with what difficulty as it were by the gates of Hell how difficulty St. Paul keept his body under fearing lest while he preached to others himself should become a reprobate and give me that spiritual puissance and holy fortitude to bear my self undaunted with difficulties in the heavenly warfare O Lord God my afflictions are sometimes full of horror they seem to come from the same justice by which thou castest the wicked into Hell And they are to me like Hell whilst they so dismay and terrifie me and thou seemest to have forsaken me in my afflictions and temptations and I have no hope that thou wilt ever remove them but that thou hast sent them to confound me And I can hardly refrain from the expression of the wicked Cain That my afflictions are greater than I am able to bear And being at my wits end I am afraid that thou wilt not enable me to bear them and hast rejected me as thou didst Saul and hast taken thy holy Spirit from me and that thou art mine enemy I fear I am unreconciled to thee because I don't feel filial affections to thee when thou chastisest me neither do I say thou hast chastised me less then I deserve but I am ready to murmure and to have hard thoughts to think it more than I deserve because I think it greater than any other mans affliction also because I find thou hast been more ready to hear the prayers of others for deliverances than thou art to hear mine As that of Hanna when she was despised for barrenness she prayed to thee once and thou heardest her and her countenance was no more sad And at the third time thou answeredst Paul when he desired to be delivered from the thorn in the flesh and didst give him grace sufficient for the temptation But as for me I mourn being desolate and take no comfort night and day and thou regardest not But now that I consider that the man who was according to thine own heart when he had grieved the holy Spirit as I pray God I never more may do cryed out as I do The pains of Hell came about me the snares of death overtook me Take not thy holy Spirit rom me And again From my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind And a horrible trembling hath overwhelmed me And My confusion is daily before me and the shame of my face hath covered me I take it to be the portion of the Saints to be much afflicted and to go to Heaven by the gates of Hell O shew me Lord wherein I may enjoy my self and find satisfaction and content without remorse regret or subsequent sadness If it be in any action or contemplation of mine it must be in religious duties when I serve thee with a quiet undistracted well composed spirit and am sensible that I enjoy thy favour and approbation But certain I am that I could never enjoy my self so as not to be sensible of emptiness unprofitableness wearisomness unsatisfactoriness desire of change tediousness and vanity and vexation In all those things which the natural man can do think or speak or enjoy unless the Spirit directs me in them to spiritual ends to the honour and glory of God This therefore makes a clear conviction That the happiness of man and the end for which he was made is to glorify God in keeping his commandments with an upright heart And to love him with all the soul herein only can man find true joy content peace rest quiet satisfaction and injoyment for his soul Let me be always satisfied delighted and ravished with these joys let my soul be satisfied as with marrow and fatness when my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips let me sit under thy shadow with delight and let thy fruit be pleasant to my tast even thine only and let me be ravished with the joys of thy house let the breasts of thine ordinances satisfy me at all times let me be always ravished with thy love With joy let me draw water out of the wells of salvation and make me joyful in the house of prayer Let my soul thirst for thee and my flesh long after thee even as the â—art panteth after the water Brooks so let my soul long after thee my God Let my delight be in thee and in those rivers of pleasure that are at thy right hand for ever more Let me set me set my affections on things above where Christ Jesus sitteth at the right hand of God for ever and take of my affections from things below and my conversation and let it be above Let all my fresh springs be in thee at midnight let me rise and give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments Let me be a companion of all them that fear thee and keep thy commandments Let me be assured of thy love to me by all thy spiritual and temporal mercys and means of grace and hope of glory And let me be assured of my reciprocal love to thee by my willing obedience to all thy commandments That I may know that my beloved is mine and I am his And if at any time thou hearest my prayer and grantest my request let me consecrate those things unto thee which I obtain by prayer as Hanna did her Son O Blessed Lord Jesus these sweet kisses are better than wine SINCE all who will live Godly must suffer persecution and it is said that if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him prepare fit and strengthen me to undergo all the troubles and afflictions of this day and of the whole course of my life which Satan and the wicked and ungodly men of the World shall contrive against me And let me expect every day afflictions for Christs sake and reproach and a cross and trouble in this World since our Hope is not in this World but is reserved for us in Heaven and in this World we are to be of all men most miserable therefore let me not expect beds of roses here but to go through many tribulations and a fiery trial patiently waiting for the time when the Lord shall tread down Satan under our feet And when the Lord shall avenge the blood of the souls that lye slain under the Altar crying for vengeance upon the inhabitance of the earth remembring that none of all these things shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus but we
are with him And if God be with us who can be against us And we must convince our selves of this comfortable presence of God with us by our presence with him If we walk with him desire and love him for if he be with us he warmes the Soul and the love of God is spread abroad in our hearts then we must continue seeking till we find him Cant. 1.7 Tell me my Spouse where thou restest Because she thought he was all Lovely therefore she sought him And because she could not be without him Psal 80. v. 87. All my fresh springs are in thee She trusts in him and stays her self upon him when she is in darkness and sees no light as it is expressed in those words Though he slay me I will trust in him It is like death unto the soul and it can find no joy nor content no rest nor quiet in this condition When Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me it was her misunderstanding of her own condition for it follows But I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands When we know we have God's presence with us we are ravished like the Spouse in the Canticles Ere ever I was aware my soul was like the Chariots of Aminadab She is vigorous in holy duties and carried with an Impetus to desire an enjoyment of God in his Ordinances But in the withdrawings of God and the hiding of his face the soul is troubled If any trial be a fiery Trial this is It it more fiery than that of the three children in the furnace But comfort thy self with these promises I will be with thee in the fiery tryal that is to come upon all the world to try them The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart And I will never leave thee nor forsake thee The Angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him and delivers then of Look upon them as sent from a merciful Father for good ends either to restrain thee from sin to humble thee or to drive thee to seek God by prayer and fasting and other holy duties which thou haply hast neglected and therefore the Messengers of Satan are sent to buffet thee Look upon Christ bearing a part of thy sufferings and suffering with thee Look upon the Holy Spirit helping thy infirmities and look upon the Crown and the exceeding weight of glory which they work But if thou hast walked with God in prosperity put him in mind of it as Hezekiah and Job did Also comfort thy self with the Love of Je-Jesus Christ thy Saviour revealed to thee who suffered the like that he might know the better to succour thee his unspeakable Love For seeing it is so that he seeth such beauty loveliness and perfection in his beloved Spouse as he expresseth Canticles 4. throughout If he be so inflamed of her love as is there expressed he cannot if he would long absent himself from her nor brook her absence from him In the first sixth verses he admireth her several beauties and in the seventh verse least he should seem to have overlook'd any imperfection he giveth a large commendation of the whole and exempteth it from all imputation of Imperfection Thou art all fair my Love there is no spot in thee Vers 8. It followeth Come with me my Spouse c. He must needs desire her company in whom he seeth such excellent beauty and perfection Further reasons he expresseth of this his desire of her company in the following verses In â—â—e 9th Thou hast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse thou hast ravished me of my heart with one of thine eyes with one chain of thy neck How fair is thy Love my Sister my Spouse How much better is thy Love than Wine and the smell of thine ointment than all spices Thy lips O my Spouse drop as the hony comb hony and milk are under thy tongue and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebenon A Garden inclosed is my Sister my Spouse a spring shut up a fountain sealed Thy plants are an Orchard of Pomegranats with pleasant fruits Camphire with Spikenard c. These are the amorous Courtships which thy most loving and lovely Saviour courteth thee with These and many more of like love and kindness he useth to thee to satisfy thee of his love and to gain thine And having said all that in love could be said and done all for thy love that could be done unless it were the last Act of giving thee his hearts blood suppose him thus speaking to thee immediately before his passion And now my Sister my Spouse what wilt thou have me say or do more wilt thou have my hearts blood If thou wilt I am ready to give it thee Methinks I see the Spouse astonished at this ravishing kindness and grieving fore that her need is such that she must have her lovers hearts blood to heal her she answereth thus O Blessed and most dear Lord worthy of all love and service for this real expression of thy love how can I entertain such excess of love but be inflamed with love to thee again and if I am inflamed with love and desire of thee how can I admit of this thy wonderful offer the effusiion of thy blood And yet I must accept of this thy offer to cure those my greifs which otherwise are incurable And so with tears she breaks off her speech because her heart is broak and she knoweth not how to answer such high and reall expressions of love But yet the Lord who is love resteth not there he doth for us above all that we are able to ask or think And seeing that thou must needs have his hearts blood to cure thee or perish he suffereth death and inviteth thee to the funeral banquet and there under the complexion of of noble wine presenteth thee with his hearts blood to drink and under the complexion of bread presents thee his heart to eat And now thou must needs feel thy self revived and healed with the heat and virtue of this heavenly food and thou knowest thou hast ravished him of his heart therefore maiest rejoyce in thy Beloved Ejaculations LORD Since I cannot experience thy goodness and mercy in my deliverances or thy faithfulness in keeping promise to them that trust in thee hope in thee call upon thee delight in thee and love thee unless I first experience troubles dangers calamities and the malice of my enemies and fiery trials from which thy promise is to deliver us to save us and be with us in them Then make me be contented to fall into these troubles and trials the fire and the water of affliction and let them not seem strange to me though never so fiery Neither let me be cast down or dismayed faint or sorrow as those that are without hope and have no promise of God to trust to LORD Supply me with all suffering graces as well as doing graces
let the Children of Life learn this Wisdom of the Children of the World for our most wise Authour of our Salvation hath taught them so to do Do thou fly sin as they fly poverty and shame seek understanding and the knowledge of God as the World seek Silver and search for her as they search for hid Treasures Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God Prov. 2.4 5. Let it not suffice thee to seek him by night in thy bed whom thy Soul desireth But rise and go about the City enquire for him of the Watchmen and of all that can probably make any discoveries of him charge them if they find him to manisest him to thee cry after knowledge lift up thy voice for anderstauding as well in thy private prayers to God as in thy eager pursuit after it in such places as it is to be found in Where thou sowest sparingly thou dost make expectation of reaping sparingly or else thou may'st be ashamed of thy sparing But a far more sordid and shameful thing it is to be sparing of thy cost and pains when thou sowest for Glory Immortality and Eternal Life and hast God and Jesus Christ engaged for thy satisfaction Thou needest not to fear to part with all thou hast to purchase this precious Pearl that is invaluable the Kingdom of Heaven and the Crown of Righteousness that never fadeth since there is no hazard of spoliation nor any of Anticipation or prevention or for uncertainty as St. Paul argues on his own behalf touching his running fighting and striving for all that use the same means must attain it certainly Be zealous against sin as he was that vexed his Soul with the unclean conversation of the wicked but beware of zeal for God against God such as Pauls was before his conversion If every vertuous action affordeth satisfaction to him that atchieveth it then the more strenuous he is in doing it the more perfect it will be and the more satisfaction it will yield Lord let this cure the Green-sickness of my Soul Meditat. Psal 34.4 I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me out of all my sear A preparatory Ejaculation Lord if Christ Jesus our head thy dear Son suffer with us then deliver us we beseech thee for Christ's sake for why should he be afflicted A Prayer In extremity of sickness and peril of Death O thou that art the Father of the fatherless the comfort of the comfortless the helper in all needs the healer of all sickness the succourer in all wants the ease in all pains the calm in all storms the composer of all perturbations the asswager of all grief the deliverer from all dangers the refuge from all fears stand by me now and save me as thou hast promised and let me see Heaven opened to receive me and the Angels ready to convey my Soul into Abraham's bosom And thou blessed Jesus who art mighty to save and hast finished the work of our Redemption alone and subdued all our enemies draw nigh to us in the time of our sickness when Man's help is vain when our bodily pains are so many and great in every part of our body that no part can relieve the other The mind being altogether unable to fix upon any inward solace whereby to sustain and bear up it self put forth thy Almighty power to succour me be my comforter and conquer death for me and keep away Satan and all his Temptations A Meditation upon peril of Death If Croesus when taken prisoner by Cyprus and sentenced to be burned upon the instant when he expected his execution was exceedingly rejoyced by calling to mind the wise sayings of Solon and was willing to die Shall not I much more rejoyce in death and be willing to change this unconstant transitory life for the joyes of Heaven when I call to mind the comfortable words of my Saviour and the never-fading joy which he hath assured me of in the world to come Med. 2. LORD I have had such a great delight in the sweet conversation of some of thy Saints and Servants departed this life that I have desired to be dissolved that I might be with them shall I not much more desire to be dissolved to be with Christ the Lord whose sweetness infinitely surpasseth the Sons of men Meditations in my sickness Med. 1. Dost thou pass the tedious nights of thy sickness in restlesness and Dolours Let it not greatly trouble thee if thou spendest those restless hours in holy Meditation for those Meditations are a sweet savour to God and service wherein he delighteth and God draweth nigh to thee to instruct and teach thee in his ways and thou drawest nigh to God to learn his righteous Judgements and to delight thy Soul in him And better it is that thou shouldest want thy rest than God to be without such services or thou without thy Spiritual comfort Med 2. As every step of our journy to Heaven is beset with Temptation so it is with tribulation of necessary consequence therefore expect it and not halcion days of tranquility the expectation of them will make them more easy to be born Med. 3. If thy temporal losses are the cause of inward and spiritual gaines and improvements to thee in thy graces and thou hast found them so formerly then are they still no cause of grief And do thou O Lord make thy Servant amends for the want of temporal comforts with the affluence of Spiritual Med. 4. If the time of sickness or Affliction be the time and season of the comforts of the comforts of the Holy Ghost and not prospetiry This is to be chosen and embraced rather than that Moses made this choice And thy allurements to the contrary cannot be compared to his which he dispised Med. 5. All Afflictions are either from God or for God if from God they are the chastisements of a merciful Father for our good if for God they are our glory Philip. 1.29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake Consider then that they work for us not against us and what they work for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 4.17 No Tongue can express the greatness of the eternal glory which they work for us nor any hyperbole upon hyperbole for being borne with love and child like submission they endear us more to God and kindle and inflame his love towards us Consider them in themselves they are but light and for a moment for before v. 8. He saith We are troubled on every side perplexed v. 9. Persecuted cast down yet neither distressed nor in dispare nor forsaken nor destroyed which words fully express both their heaviness and their lightness and concludes with their lightness And he makes a double end or final cause of these Afflictions grace and glory for in the next verse v. 10. He saith Always bearing about in our
of God we too must be content sometimes to endure the pruning hook that our superfluous and dead branches may be cut off And that the cold North wind and tempestuous South wind arise and blow upon us that our spices may flow out and our Beloved may eat his pleasant fruits Cant. 4.15 16. Med. 10. Examine thy self whether thy heart be not more tender of offending God in the time of thy affliction than it is in the time of prosperity and whether thou findest thy self so well disposed for works of piety and charity in the time of thy prosperity when the world smileth on thee as thou art in the times of thy Visitation If so thou findest and that thou desirest to reap those fruits of righteousness Thou must then endure to have the fallow fields of thy heart brake up Meditat. 11. The many temptations that a Christian encounters in his heavenly race are not to be numbered or expressed It is so large a field that I might sooner lose my self in it than make a full survey of it Yet to help a little that we may know what to expect and prepare for we may Meditate of the terms which are used to describe and express them as namely that it is called a warfare a wrestling against principalities a runing a race a Pilgrimage a so journing here taking up the Cross the yoak of Christ bearing a burthen labour of love working in the vinyard a passing through the vail of Baca a strait Gate a narow way That he that will venter for it must sell all to purchase it also they are described by preparations for war and for building We must seriously weigh and consider of these difficulties least we fall upon the like absurdities as those do who undertake building or warfare instanced by our Saviour without due calculations of the charge with their own abilities and thereby are forced to desist from their work shamefully with the loss of all their charge and estates Med. 12. God is pleased to exercise the graces of his Servants by various sorts of afflictions this affliction in the body by sickness seems the greatest therefore Satan moved the Lord to smite Job in his body after he had afflicted him in the loss of his Estate and Children and for all that Job retained his integrity still yet the malice of the subtle Tempter surmised That if God would put forth his hand and touch his bone and his flesh he would curse God to his Face thereupon God put him into Satan's hand to do with him what he would only saving his Life The enemy of Mankind having obtained this liberty who but a Devil can imagine the cruelty by him used to this poor Man in every part of his body certainly all the torments that he could inflict he did inflict them he thus being afflicted and with the noisomeness of his sores driven from the society of Men loathing himself and loathed of all Men setting himself down among the Ashes and scraping the filth from his body with a Potsherd Satan then insinuates his Temptation by an instrument of all that can be imagined most prevalent his Wife she thus bespeaks him Dost thou still retain thine integrity Curse God and dye But what success doth he get not such as he had when he made use of the same subtilty against our first Parent uxorious Adam but the contrary a repulse as course and severe as the motion was absurd and impious but yet then after seven days silence and consternation of himself and Friends he cursed the time of his Birth and Conception because they gave life to him with so much misery Health being in the Judgement of wise Men the choicest Jewel that God hath to bestow on mankind in this Life the loss of that depriving us of all other Earthly blessings and comforts of Food Raiment Wealth Honour the Light of the Sun Wife Children Friends and Relations and of the enjoyment of our selves it must consequently be the very greatest affliction This being added to the other two namely the loss of all his substance which might have relieved his distressed condition and defended him from the contempt of the base people and that other loss of his beloved off-spring that were formerly his solaces and might now have stood by him and ministred to him when all others had forsaken him filled the bitter cup of his affliction yet in all this did not Job sin he retained his Integrity and disproved Satan's Objection that he served God for the gifts and benefits he enjoyed If this should be thy condition resolve thou to trust in him though he should kill thee and wait till thy change come And though he hath left thee nothing for which thou mayest be obliged yet bless him and remember that he that took thy comforts from thee is the same who gave them to thee and he may do what he will with his own and as thou art his creature thou owest submission to him and to do him all the sevice thou canst and having done all yet canst not pretend the least merit Besides which thou expectest eternal recompence for all thou doest or sufferest Med. 13. God had but one Son without sin but never a on without suffering since that thou canst not escape afflictions resolve with thy self to wade through them with as little loss as thou maiest and prefer the temporal loss though never so great to avoid the eternal loss bearing in thy body 2 Cor. 4. Alwaies the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life of Jesus may be manifest in thy self Med. 14. If thou wilt have the things of the world thou must take them with their charges and burthens Transit cum onere Terra So must thou take Heaven also with the charge and burthen through many tribulations thou must enter into it Great must be thy troubles if thou be righteous If thou forsake Father Mother Wife Children Houses and Land for Christs sake the hundred fold reward is promised but with trouble Compare then O my Soul the immence series of thy own Afflictions of bodily sicknesses and infirmities also thy inward perturbations of mind with these Scriptures which have foretold thee of them compare them also with the Afflictions of other Saints David Job the three Children Abraham Isaac and Jacob all the Patriarks Prophets and Apostles and the head of us and them our blessed Lord and Saviour and be thou contented to suffer with him and them the Servant is not above his Master if they do these things in a green Tree what will they do to the dry c. The preface to the following Meditation Having considered Gods people in their adverse and melancholly state of suffering intend a while my soul the issue end and success for thus they are contemned in the eye of the world and their life looked upon as madness for the world knows not that they have a better and more enduring substance in Heaven Heb. 10.34 It knows
Adoption and the Pardon of our Sins and that God is at peace with us and assures us of Gods favour and of Life and Blessedness to come and so sweetens the bitterness of the Cross by a better hope Thus God is to us a Sun and a Shield And in this sense it is the earnest of Heaven as it is said 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath Sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts The nature of an earnest is to be but a little part of a greater benefit to come 'T is also called the First Fruits which shews That the Saints enjoy Heavenly Happiness here in some degree for the first Fruits and the full Crop are of the same nature and so is the Earnest and the whole reward God kisseth the Child whom he chastised to assure him of his love and his Bowels yearn till he doth it But yet it is not peculiar to Gods afflicted People only to live upon their Earnest their Hopes and the promises of Heaven and prelibations of Glory But those also who are not in a suffering condition do so as Abraham did in the Land of Promise and Moses in Pharoah's Court and all the Servants of God do mortifie the Deeds of the Body and are Crucified with Christ that they may live to him and Christ may live in them Rom. 8.22 The Third place or Head to which these Spiritual Joys and Comforts may be referred is In appropriating those many High and Glorious Priviledges of Blessedness and Happiness which Christ hath purchased for his People Isa 45.24 Isa 62. v. 1 2 3 4. and Revel 1.5 These Priviledges can only be rightly understood I conceive by those who are heirs of them for if the Carnal Man could understand the value of them he would seek the World less and them more and would like the wise Merchant-man in the Gospel sell all to Purchase them for therein is all Blessedness and safety Yet I conceive That all that have right to them do not at all times know their Interest in them because the suffering priviledge seems to cross the injoying For Isa 49.14 Sion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me when the Lord said He hath graven her upon the palmes of his hands And David Psalm When I made haste I said I am cast out of the sight of thine Eyes nevertheless thou heardst me He did not then injoy these Priviledges because God sometimes works by contrary means to accomplish his Promise And not by those means on which we had our expectation God hath not tied himself to means Hence the Soul rashly concludes against it self as David did Psal I shall one day perish by the hands of Saul So in Lam. 3.18 The Church concludes against her self My strength and my hope are perished from the Lord. But the Holy Spirit doth make out to the Soul its Right and Title to these Priviledges First summarily and comprehensively when the Spirit certifieth us of our Adoption into Filiation with Christ Jesus throughout his Passion and merit making us his Brethren and so Children of the same heavenly Father as it is Rom. 8 16. The Spirit it self bears Witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God the soul knoweth its title to all other priviledges and blessings as it is said all are yours ye are Christs and Christ is Gods but it doth not alwaies thus satisfy the soul because sometimes we grieve the Spirit they have the effect of their Adoption but they have not alwaies the comfort of their Adoption nor the sense of it therefore Tim. 3.5 We are commanded to give deligence To make our calling and election sure Because he doth not give us the sense and comfort of it without diligence and it is not preserved without diligence all that are lead by the Spirit of God are the Children of God though God might sometimes hide his face from them As the unregenerate are all their life time under the Spirit of bondage and intitled to all curses and put out of Gods protection and though they are not all their life-time in terror as Cain was when he said Whosoever meets me will slay me Sometimes they are free from the impressions thereof And Gods children are sometimes without the impressions of joy and the certain apprehension of their title to it or their joy is less sometimes and is not full for want of diligence in exercising their graces or else it may be through weakness in grace or it may be for want of seeking it of God by prayer and Meditation thereupon or for some unkindness done to the Spirit of grace or may be only because God pleaseth to give it but at special seasons But who is there so strong but may sometimes feel corruption stirring in his heart either an inclination to hearken to the tempter or some sinful thought injected or else perceiveth his corruptions not so much conquered as he would have them and his heart so much renewed as he would have it These cause much grief and sadness in the soul which desires to be delivered from them For the regenerate soul is more sensible of one grace that it wants or is weak and defective in than it is of many graces which it possesseth But when it overcomes that temptation which it hath most cause to fear then hath it double joy Also who is there so watchful careful and tender of offending the Holy Spirit but sometimes is unkind to it and causeth a breach of love But as it happeneth in friendship he that falls out with his friend presently falls out with himself for it and seeks all opportunities of reconciliation So the Child of God when he hath grieved the Spirit doth afflict himself for it and will not rest till the knot of friendship is stronger tied and the love made greater Now when this Irradiation of the Spirit of God upon our Spirits is thus interrupted by the hiding of Gods face or the light of his countenance from us we are then troubled as David was or as the Spouse in the Cant. When her Beloved had withdrawn himself And she sought him and could not find him but never left seeking him till she did find him Being wholly inamoured of him as she expresses by her delight in the persume which his fingers touch left up the locks If he leaves so much sweetness behind him where he but toucheth and goes away what glorious ravishments doth he bring into that soul wherein he is entertained here the Spouse suffered as it were an ecclipse but not total when the light of Gods countenance returnes againe then her light returnes also this is the Spirits bearing witness with our Spirit and these bear witness to one another of Gods love to us and our reciprocal love to God and consequently of our Adoption and title to all priviledges and blessings this testimony also inflames our love more and more to God and makes these high and holy
to make him rich So it is said of Jehosaphat that his heart was lifted up in the waies of God This joy and rejoycing in the Lord is enjoyned us as a duty and it proves our sincerity When God is sweet unto us for himself in the want of outward blessings when we can trust God and not see him 't is a sign we trust him in truth when all the providences of God seem to run counter to his promises That fruit is sound that can hang in a windy day T was a proof of Abraham's love to God that he could follow him into a strange place where he had no place to set a foot on This joy as it begets mortification and self-denyal so these begets this joy It is a sure preservative against Apostacy He that can rejoyce in God when he is in adversity will not be removed by adversity the joy of the Lord is our strength and stability Phil. 4.7 The Peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Coloss 3.15 Let the peace of God rule in your hearts It rules in us if we can rejoyce in a God All-Sufficient Then the Soul saith to all the Devils offers we have enough already according to that saying of the Apostles to our Saviour Lord whether shall we go thou hast the words of Life The reason why Satans offers seems great to Men is because Gods seem little This is a holy disposition of the Soul that doth most glorifie God Therefore 't is said of Abraham that he gave Glory to God he did not stagger through unbelief It may well be called a Treasure as the Apostle saith we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels and our blessed Saviour speaketh of the Treasure in the Heart for by this we are assured that all things are ours if we are Christs Whereas on the contrary if we are none of his we may think that we are rich and encreased in goods and have need of nothing yet we are in truth wretched miserable poor blind and naked as it is said of the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3.17 and this treasure is Christ formed in us of whose fulness we receive Grace for Grace And 2 Pet. 1.4 we are said to be partakers of the divine Nature because it is in us and our blessed Saviour saith that we are grafted into him and unless we abide in him we cannot bear fruit That is the fruit of the Spirit which is by him derived to his Members as he saith If I live ye shall live also The same are the fruits of Righteousness and fruit unto Holiness and all have the same end viz. everlasting Life Treasure where ever it is is matter of joy If sin and departing from God be an evil as every Man finds early or late when he casts away the bait that beguiled him with anger then Holiness must needs be good and yield joy Though the Children of God are often sad yet every act and working of the Spirit upon the Soul of Man either is matter of joy immediately or mediately the heart that is broken by the Spirits operation finds it self bound up when it hath been broken enough and hath joy Particular instances of the Assertion That the Saints have joy from the assurance of the pardon of their sins is express that the knowledge of our pardon is matter of joy our Lord and Saviours speech to the sick Man proves Be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven thee for by this speech our Saviour did intend to give him more comfort than by restoring to him his bodily health Blessed is the Man whose Iniquities are forgiven the Apostles knew they had this blessedness as it is expressed In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of our sins David was assured of his pardon by Nathan sent to him upon that very message and as we pray daily Forgive us our Trespasses so we find that David after he knew he was pardoned his sin did so pray likewise for remission and did also believe that they were remitted and rejoyce in it as he expresseth Ps Praise the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sins c. And all other Servants of God pray for and obtain it in due time Priviledges of Saints Those that are Gods Servants have the Tutelage of the Angels Ps 34. They tarry round about them that fear him They have God God standing by them to save them Ps They have Jesus Christ strengthning them I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me and the Spirit helpeth them The knowledge of our Interest in God and Christ that he is our God and we his people he our Father we his Children he our Shepherd we his Flock that he is our Strength our Rock Castle and Defence Psal 18. he our Beloved we his he our portion and we his portion he our Head we his Members he our Redeemer c. And all those Texts which express his Relation to us or ours to him And what he hath done doth or will do for us must needs comfort us and rejoyce us in all conditions Psal 23. The Lord is my Shepherd therefore I shall not want he maketh me to lye down in green Pastures c. And holy David when the people talked of stoning him he encouraged himself in the Lord. And our blessed Saviour would banish all fear from the hearts of his people by vertue of their Relation Luke 2.32 Fear not little Flock it is the Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom And none can deprive us of enjoying our interest in him as the Prophet Habakkuk expresseth it no condition no time nor no place when the Apostles were cast into the Dungeon they sung 1 Thess 5. Rejoyce evermore God would not command it always if it were not possible to be This enjoyment of our interest in God is greater than any other enjoyment and the Soul most desires it Cant. 1. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth his Love is better than Wine That the Saints have peace of conscience and joy proceeding thereof is proved by that Rom. 5. That being justified towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access through Faith unto this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce under the hope of the Glory of God They are called the peaceable fruits of Righteousness They are said to be found in peace of them that love peace And every Man that hath made tryal of it hath reaped this fruit peace and tranquility and enjoy it in their Souls according to the promise of our Saviour Matth. And ye shall find rest to your Souls and it is the design of the Gospel to give this peace and rest to the Souls of Gods people by assuring them of pardon of sins and Salvation according to that Prayer of David say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation The excellency of the
become the Sons of God even to as many as believed in his Name John 1.12 But he that eats not his Body and drinks not his Blood hath no fellowship in him he that doth eat and drink them hath Eternal Life The receiving then of him and believing in his Name being the qualification that makes us the Sons of God and his Brethren and that Text excluding all from that priviledge that do not eat and drink his Body and Blood sheweth that by receiving him and believing in his Name they eat him not by diminishing him by their Teeth or digesting him in their Stomach but by drawing Life from his Death by Faith and strengthning and maintaining that new Life which it hath from Christ by believing his Body to be crucified and his Blood shed for them and by the Bread and Wine is given to them And if we should understand this eating of Attrition or diminishing with the Teeth and the Drinking of taking by the Mouth into the Stomach by drops and digesting there then God should suffer his Holy One to see corruption For although we should suppose it did not corrupt in our body so long as we live yet when these vile bodies turns to Earth and rottenness then all that is in them must corrupt And the Text that excludes all that eat not his Body and drinks not his Blood would exclude all Believers from Adam until this Sacrament was Instituted by our blessed Saviour But if this eating and drinking be believing then Abraham and the rest of the faithful might eat and drink him as well as they saw his day For all of them eat the same Spiritual meat and drink the same Spiritual drink and receive their Eternal Life and Salvation from the same Jesus Christ And if we do by this eating find our penitent Souls to revive and live a new Immortal and Eternal Life from the belief of his Death and Passion for us his Body Crucified and his Blood spilt for us to give us Life then we eat his body and shall live for ever And thus the faithful people of God by eating the Passeover under the Law did eat Christ the true Passeover by eating that which was the Type of him whom it represented fide non ore at it is said all eat the same Spiritual Bread Of the Eucharist Meditation I feel a hunger in my Soul which neither Manna nor all the World can satisfie though I have all the necessaries and conveniences of Life yet I hunger and thirst as for Rivers of Water in a dry place Isa 32. Do thou then O blessed Saviour give me of the Water of Life out of thy Fountain The living Water and Blood that cometh from that Fountain of Living Water thy side upon the Cross which still is open to the House of Judah and Jerusalem and seals unto us all the promises upon which we live thou hast Instituted this Bread and Wine to represent thy Holy and blessed Body and Blood shed and broken upon the Cross and thereby givest them to the Soul that thirsteth for Eternal Life in thee Isa 32.4 Though my weakness of Faith should be such that I am not able to discern whether virtually or really they become such or whether they be consubstantiated transubstantiated or new-substantiated in their Natures by the blessing and the Faith of the Receiver or neither yet thus far thou hast enlightned me to know that all the promises are Yea and Amen in thee that thou hast Eternal Life and givest it and that by these Elements which signifie and exhibit thy Body and Blood to be eaten and drank by Faith Spiritually and for thy Body and Blood I eat and drink them but as separable for I fear least I should through unbelief receive but only the Bread and Wine and not thy Body and Blood which give Eternal Life which every one that hath that eateth thy Body and drinketh thy Blood and if an unbeliever or an unprepared impenitent person the worst of thy enemies he that betrayed thee or any other creature could but eat and drink of them they also would thereby have Eternal Life But thou alone hast power to give it to whom thou pleasest To thee therefore I address my Prayer when the Priest reacheth to me the Bread and Wine that thou wouldest reach to me thy sacrificed Body and Blood that was shed upon the Cross and make these Natural Elements to become those Eternal Aliments to me not by Faith in them but by Faith in thee who hast made them to signifie those and represent them which though I cannot discern by my senses I pray that I may by my Faith in thy Word which makes them operate as thy Body and Blood to me through thy benediction though materially I discern them not and give me thy holy Spirit that I may discern them Spiritually and eat panem Dominum if by looking up to thee we are saved what other thing can I understand this Mystery to be than looking up to thee on the Cross and shedding thy precious Blood for my sins which thou communicatest to us Of Holiness Meditations Mot. Holiness to the Lord shall be writ upon the Bells of the Horses Med. All the graces are so linked together like a golden chaine that they cannot be without each other This is a collective word and containes in it piety charity and humility and all that the first and second table of the law of God containes all the duty of man towards God his neighbour and himself It is the fruit of faith out of which Root this grace springs The necessity of this grace is laid down in this expression that without it no man shall see God the same is implied Psal 63.3 I have sought thee in holiness that I might behold thy glory The precepts are many that command us to get it in general and in the particular branches of it every commandment and precept in the Scripture are to this end Not any one minute of a Christian life nor any one action be it natural action of the body or civil gesture or behaviour but it must have holiness imprinted on it for in the Temple the candlesticks and the snuffers were of pure Gold and Christ came to perfect it and advance it therefore ' tls prophesied of his Kingdom that under it holines to the Lord shall be written upon the Bels of the Horses which inscription was on Arons miter The rights and ceremonies of purification under the law typified as much Although it be said that faith hath this and all other graces for its fruits yet there is a time when a child of God may not percieve in himself much nay scarce any life of Holiness Humility Patience Zeal Meekness Charity or other graces as in the Winter the herbs and Plants shew no life at all usually they are excited again by some extraordinary providence of God either in afflicting us or delivering us from some danger or affliction or by
and Oyl is increased and may say truly my joy shall be in the Lord as he did and every child of God is commanded this duty in this saying Rejoice in the Lord ye Righteous This excellent grace makes the soul happy wherein it is because he that possesseth it possesseth Christ and all the benefits and priviledges that he hath purchased that incomparable benefit of justification first as it is Rom. 4. and last v. and the 5th and first v. Who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification Rom. 3. Being justified freely by his grace Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ This peace is a second benefit or priviledg which faith derives from Christ a third follows by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand the favors of God wherein we stand or the blessed condition of justified and sanctified persons to which we come by Christ through faith and rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God both our present and future condition is made happy by faith and it assures to us that happiness It followes and not only so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation works patience So that calamities are by faith made consolatory through the sanctified use which faith makes of them they are not only made not formidable as David his fears vanished by relying upon God which he expressed saying What time I am afraid I will put my trust in thee Psal 56.3 He made use of his faith in the time of his fears as he did also in the time of his wants Psal 8. The Lord is my shepherd therefore I shall lack nothing So that faith imboldens the Servants of God against all evil Christ gives and ensures them these priviledges partly by the testimony of his Spirit partly by faith in his merit Ephe. 3.12 In whom we boldness and access with confidence through faith in him Heb. 10.19 We have entrance into the holiest through the blood of Jesus The Spirit assures us that all the Privileges which Christ hath purchased for his people are ours and causeth us to rejoyce in them as ours That all the promises are ours and causeth us to rely upon them because we are assured that Christ is ours by Faith when he is laid hold on as ours all things are ours then it follows that we have peace of Conscience and tranquility in our Souls for he is our Peace Ephe. 2. And we acquiesce in him because we have chosen him for our portion He is reconcilation between God and us he satisfieth our debts makes God at peace with us and our conscences at peace in themselves and our souls satisfied as having nothing more that they can desire but more communion with God as that which satisfieth it We know that God hath no wrath at all towards us nor our consciences any dread or fear of Gods wrath or any terror but assurance of his favour and love and that our sins are washed away by the blood of Christ according to that in Colos 1.20 Having made peace through the blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things to himself 21. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight if you continue in the faith Hence the soul assures it self that none of the works of Gods severity have any wrath at all against it for in the 24. v. St. Paul saith He rejoyceth in his sufferings But positively they are assured of their adoption and of the love and friendship of God that he will preserve them supply them teach them heal them guide and support them visit them with spiritual consolations and joy in the Holy Ghost and that all things shall work together for their good which makes them willing to submit to Gods chastisements as it is Psal For thy sake are we killed all the day long yet do we not forsake thee This keeps them from murmuring and from covetousness The nature of it is that it can only be where the Son of peace is This peace is a league offensive and defensive whereby the soul hates sin and all that God hates and loves holiness and all that God loves That salutation which our blessed Lord perscribed to his Apostles must needs be the most excellent and desirable that saies Peace be to this house This peace makes all other things at peace with us for he is said To make a league with the foules of the air and the beasts of the field for us in Job and Prov. 16.17 When a mans waies please God he makes his enemies at peace with him Psal 91.10 The plague shall not come neer his dwelling or if it do it shall be no plague Rom. 8.31 If God be with us who shall be against us That is though they are against us the sting is taken out The excellency of it is so great that it passeth human understanding It is an everlasting peace it doth not forsake us in the time of trouble nor in the hour of death Isa 55.3 His mercies are called everlasting It makes us peaceable with men to those we have offended it makes us willing to satisfy them and willing to pardon those that have offended us but the wicked are like the rageing Sea alwaies unquiet It quickens the soul to holy duties the soul considers what it shall render to the Lord for all his mercies towards it Psal 103.3 Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thy sins The excellency of it must needs be great because it is the legacy which Christ dying left to his Church not as the world gives gave he it to them but more largely liberally and bountifully and absolutely without any limitation of time or condition David calls it great peace which they have which love Gods word but yet he saith that many are the troubles of the righteous That which followeth makes amends The Lord delivereth them out of all and the Lord will stand by them and deliver them as we know he did the three children out of the fiery furnace and Daniel out of the Lyons den and Job out of the fiery Trials The fruits of righteousness are sown in peace not in discord they which love peace sowe them And this shield of faith is both an offensive and defensive weapon whereby these holy warriours in their spiritual warfare fought the Lords battels under the bloody banner of the Cross of Christ who for the glory that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame these follow the lamb and suffer with him that they may also raigne with him and take joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing that they have a more enduring substance in Heaven And willingly they spend and are spent for God
crucified to us and we unto the world that is as well the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life which containes all that is in the world all which the faithful soul counts but dross and dung for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus whom as the Spouse in the Canticles she esteemes fairer than ten thousand And esteemes sin the most ugly vile eformed and abominable thing in the world pulling off its mask and vizard whereby it deceives the men of the world as it is said Rom. 7.10 Sin deceived me and thereby slew me The understanding thus inlightened ingageth all it can against sin as its enemy and sometimes by vigilancy it prevailes against all assaults of temptations whereby sin is quite excluded from entring and sometimes by flying the occasions of sin as Joseph fled from his Mistress and by the Spirit assistance we mortify the flesh God and Christ susporting Sometimes by prayer faith prevailes against the tempter the soul fearing its own weakness seeks for help of him who is able to succour and hath succoured it The last refuge which faith hath is repentance early and hearty sorrow for the sin committed as Peter when he had denied his Lord and Master immediately he went forth and wept bitterly By these means faith quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked The light of nature teacheth that the soul is borne to more noble things than to wait upon the pleasure of the senses But the supernatural life which the Apostle lived when he said I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Shews another inabling principle of life in the regenerate proceeding from that union which is betwixt Christ and his members because Christ and they are one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.10 Therefore he saith Not I because he is not the same man he was before that man is Crucified with Christ and buried with him he hath derived a new life from Christ as he expresseth I laboured more abundantly than all yet not I but Christ Christ is the spring of it the matter of it and end of it Consider the end of your conversation Jesus Christ and if Christ live in us we shall do think and speak as he did As all other graces of Gods children are sometimes weaker than they are at other times so is faith But thâ— decay of this grace is the cause of decay of many others and sometime the decay of others may cause a decay of this the Psal 51. Entituled a Psalme of David when Nathan the Prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba the Title and the Psalme it self shew what sins and what punishments he lay under and because his sins were the cause of the loss of Gods Spirit or of the danger of it and of the loss of the joy of his salvation viz. His assurance he confesseth his sins first and prays for pardon through the multitude of Gods tender mercys then prays for washing healing cleansing and renovation Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me It followes Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and support me with thy free Spirit This implieth that before he had it but now he had lost it and was deprived of it which was the cause of so great grief to him that he expresseth it to be the breaking of his bones Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce And the like doth every penitent broken soul feel in himself when he fears the loss of Gods holy Spirit and feels himself deprived of the joy of his salvation and this joy when it is restored is so great that it will make the broken bones rejoyce he apprehended the greatness of the joy now in the loss of it Psal I have roared for the very disquietness of my heart God deprives us of it for our sins that we may be the more careful to preserve it and fearful by sin to loose it or hazard it and to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling for though Gods lays not upon his children all that they deserve yet they shall not go unpunished Judgment shall begin at the house of God Jer. 22.24 Though Coniah the Son of Jehojakim King of Juda were the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence Now for as much as the motions workings of the holy Spirit in the faithful people of God by inlightning them in the understanding of heavenly truths bringing to mind and applying the word of God to their comfort inabling them to converse and walk with God in holy Meditation contemplation prayer and thanksgiving making melody in their hearts to the Lord delighting them and rejoycing them in the want of all things as the Prophet Habakkuk expresseth chap. 3. Though the Fig Tree should not blossom nor fruits be in the vines c. And making them to abound with inward joy when their afflictions do most abound slighting and contemning alike both worldly joy and sorrow for the joy which they have in the Lord these are the study imployment and business of a regenerate person wherein he desires to be alwaies exercised because he cannot find satisfaction nor delight in any thing else hence he may be more truly and properly said to live by faith and by the Spirit than to live the life natural as St. Paul argues he did when he saith I am crucified with Christ yet I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who hath loved me and given himself for me Therefore they are as it were out of their lives and void of all injoyment and comfort when they want the comforts and assistance of the Holy Spirit as Holy David did greatly resent the absence of it and fear lest it should be taken from him and that he should be cast away so do most of Gods people Isa 49.14 Sion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Though God had graven her in the palms of his hands When God hides his face and withdraws himself they are cast down as Psal I said in my prosperity I should never be cast down but thou hidest thy face and I was troubled This withdrawing of God was the very bitterest of our Saviours sufferings If this should be our condition let us not be weary of well doing but wait on the Lord for God hath said Isa 49. That he that waits on the Lord shall be like an Eagle And consider that Christ Jesus suffered the like and therefore hath a fellow feeling of our suffering that he might succour us who are tempted But if Christ doth not succour us our heart cannot indure our hands cannot be strong in the days that God shall thus deal with us as it is Ezek. 22. v. 14. But he hath bid us to call upon him
in the time of our trouble and promised that he will deliver us But how can they now pray when they want the assistance of the Spirit it may be answerd That God sometimes takes away the comfort of the holy Spirit and yet the other effects of it remain Isa 63.15 16. Look down from Heaven and behold from the habitation of thy holiness where is thy Zeal and thy strength and the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained Doubtless thou art our Father thou O Lord art our Redeemer c. Some incouragement the Church found for prayer and if it should be so with us that we cannot call God Father yet the duty of prayer is not to be neglected Luke 11.8 Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity he will c. Though we think our selves unworthy to call God Father like the prodigal Son which desired to be but as one of the hired Servants this humility is the way to obtain our requests Another way whereby we may come to him in prayer is to pray to him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus for Christ is not ashamed to call us his Bretheren therefore God will not be ashamed to be our Father And with fervent prayer let us use reading and meditating in the word of God 2 Pet. 1.10 Give all deligence to make your calling and electtion sure Assurance differs from security in this that Assurance fills the soul with admiration of the grace of God and his unspeakable love Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewed us that we should be called the Sons of God but security never urgeth the soul to thankfulness Another difference that assurance urgeth the soul to free obedience but security not when the soul knoweth that what ever her infirmities failings and wants are she shall receive of his fulness grace for grace When the Spirit beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Sons of God When we have received the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given unto us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 When the Heavenly Bridegroom brings his Spouse into his Banqueting House and his banner over her is love Cant. 2.4 He treats her with flagons and comforts her with apples then she is sick of love to him and then is the season when he will give her his loves his left-hand under her head and his right hand embracing her and as he charesses her so she doth the like to him as lovers vie with one another in love If she finds him without she promiseth to kiss him Chap. 8. And to lead him and bring him into her Mothers house and Chap. 3. She finds him and holds him and will not let him go until she brings him into the Chamber of her that conceived her Chap. 1.13 She calls him a bundle of myrrh and layes him all night between her breasts namely in her heart by love to him and she gives him the pledges of her love Thus the soul at times doth enjoy her beloved then she is sure of him and of his love But he knocks when she is in bed and she makes excuses for not rising to him though her bowels were moved for him as soone as he put in his hand at the door but her love was too slow and did not keep pace with his love for this unkindness he withdraws himself when she opens to him she called him and he gave her no answer she sought him and she could not find him but while she seeks him she is taken by the Watch stripped smitten and wounded and her vail taken from her So also may a true believer loose in part the knowledg and sense of his assurance which he hath sometimes enjoyed though they continue in the faith rooted and grounded therein so as they never waver nor fall away yet they may slumber so as to be awakened by the motions of the holy Spirit though possibly not so soon but that he may have withdrawne himself as it is there described in those words I sleep but my heart waketh The voice of my beloved that knocketh Open unto me my Sister my Love my Dove my undefiled But yet when her beloved hath withdrawn himself he doth leave behind him such a sweet perfume upon the handles of the locks as may inflame the well disposed soul to seek him with such eager and restless pursuit as to retrive her beloved again and then she will hold him fast and will not let him go until she hath brought him into the Chamber of her that conceived her that is shee will go to those ordinances and those opportunities of grace where she first tasted the prelibations of glory the first kisses of his mouth and pledges of his love and when she doth again tast them and these pledges of his love are again renewed and she again sits under his shadow with delight What other thing can I esteeme this but the injoy ment of Heaven in the first fruits for where Christ is there is Heaven he makes it so he gives all as is desirable here then must needs be assurance for the posture of fitting and the manner of the posture with delight both do imply it As also that other expression doth imply viz. Her bringing him into the Chambers of her that conceived her And that also ch 2. his left-hand was under me and his right-hand embraced me for if she be in the armes of Jesus her Saviour she can not be safer no not in Heaven And faith thus acted and acting liveth in and by her beloved and breaks out into these and like expressions with the heavenly spouse in the Canticles And makes her boast of God all the day And by him is able to do mighty acts and to suffer any thing for the love of him Meditations Art thou dejected O my soul in the apprehension of thy meanness or vileness as Jacob was when he seemed but as a worme look upon the goodness of God to such persons He doth not abhor thee Levit. 26.11 Nor despise thee Job 36.5 He will love thee freely Hose 14.4 And Deut. 7.13 He saith I will love thee And our Blessed Saviour Jo. 14.21.23 Saith He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him And Hos 2.19.20 God saith I will betroath thee unto me for even yea I will betroath thee unto me in righteousness and judgement and in loving kindness and in mercys and I will betroath thee unto me in faithfulness He will not forsake thee 1 Kings 6.13 He will be with thee and will not fail thee Deut. 31.8 Though thou fall thou shalt not be cast down utterly for the Lord upholdeth thee with his hand for the Lord loveth Judgment and forsaketh not his Saints but preserveth them for ever And Matth. 1.21 He shall save them from their sins Dost