come that hee would intrench about us and give us Armour and weapons to resist it and give us dominion over our enemies and that if wee be overcome hee would rescue and recover us out of them This is the sum of this Petition Now wee come to the frame of the heart that we should bring before God Quest that so wee may be fit to receive the good we sue for at the hand of God Now wherein doth it appeare The frame of heart and disposition of Soule Answ that best be-seemes us in the putting up of this Petition appeares principally in four things First when wee desire that the Lord would not let us bee drawne aside nor led into temptation wee must labour to avoid all occasions as may bee too strong for us or like to prevaile over us In vaine wee desire to bee delivered from evill when wee rush into evill and into temptations Hee that should take pitch into his hand and pray not to defiled put fire into his bosome and pray not to be burnt it is a sleighting of Gods mercy and a provoking of God to wrath rather then a begging of mercy We would count it a madnesse for a man to cast himselfe into the Sea and desire to be saved to make our selves sick that God may make us whole againe It is nothing else but as we may say to make God worke so to runne into evill and to pray to the Lord to deliver us from evill it is provoking and mocking of the Lord the wise mans rule is here memorable Prov. 23.23 If a man be given to his appetite let him put his knife to his throat If thou lovest the wine looke not upon it a man that is given to his apetite it is in vaine to pray against it and yet nourish it but thou must put thy knife to thy throat abstaine from that which may provoke it for if we please our appetite it will be a temptation to us Psal 30. The promises and the providence of the Lord go together He will succour us and relieve us but it must be in the way of providence we must be in the way He that goes out of the way and craves Gods assistance shall never have it but hales on evill on himselfe Matthew 10.18 our Saviour speaking of offences saith If thy hand cause thee to offend cut it off and if thine eye cause thee to offend pluck it out That is were thy sinnes as neere to thee as thy right hand in regard of profit or thy right eye in regard of pleasure cut them off pluck them out fling them away rather then be foiled by them In vaine wee crave the assistance of the Lord and in the meane time lay blocks before us it is presumption therefore no marvell if many times the Lord leaves a man in the lurch because he doth not that he praies for It is enough to cause the Lord to curse us when we do not avoid occasions of evill he that will not fall into the pit let him not come neer the brinke of it he that will not be snared by evill let him not come neer the occasions of evill Secondly if we be weake of our selves and cannot prevent the occasions of evill yet bee carefull to seeke all such meanes as may be succourable and helpfull to us if we cannot helpe it but that these will surprize us let us seeke the meanes that may succour us in our need The sicke man that craves succour of the Lord must use the meanes the Lord hath appointed happily thou findest temptations pressing on in thy calling thou canst not avoid it the more the occasions are the more seek for the meanes that may fortifie thee Hee that will be healed let him seeke the Physician he that is out of the way and would be set in the right way let him inquire it out and not sit still and say Lord have mercy upon me c. but seeke unto God in the use of the meanes It was that which Joshuah did chapter the seventh he called upon God but yet the Lord did not help him but said Why doest thou so Israel hath sinned looke to that in vaine it is to pray that the enemie may not prevaile and labour not to get sinne out of the camp but doe that and then the overthrow of the Enemies will bee farre enough from thee Thirdly when wee have found the meanes labour to bee content to bee ordered by all the meanes and helps that God hath been pleased to ordaine for our good It is a madnesse to crave as Balaam Oh that I might die the death of the righteous and not live their life to see the way and not to walke in it Jer. 42. they said to the Prophet Inquire at the mouth of the Lord and whatsoever he commandeth that wee will doe but when they heard and knew it they would not In vaine it is to crave the pardon of sinne when we looke not to the promise to desire sinne to be subdued and yet not to abide the meanes that should doe it but if a man faith he will not be counselled but will have his proud heart and will walke in all his owne waies how can he say deliver me from this proud heart when he will not have counsell take place When a man is in horrour of heart when conscience flies in his face it is in vaine to whine then and yet not to be ruled by the Word of God but be as vaine as ever as loose as ever and as iddle as ever Thou beggest one thing and desirest another and so long never put up this Petition Fourthly wee must relye upon the Lord for a blessing and successe in all wee pray for or do We must so use the meanes as if there were no promise to helpe us and yet so depend on God for all as though the meanes could doe nothing Observe all thy occasions and say counsell and advise is good but the Lord must set them on man lives not by bread only but by the blessing of God in the meanes goe to the Spirit of the Lord and see there a greater power then in all meanes 2 King 2. If thou canst see me taken up then shalt thou have my Spirit double upon thee The meaning is if thou seest the God that takes me up then he will give thee his Spirit looke to God above all meanes and he that is thus disposed praies aright to be delivered For thine is the Kingdome VVE have done with the sixe Petitions three concerning God his Name Kingdome Will three concerning our selves concerning things of this life and of a better to wit justification sanctification we come now to the conclusion and considerin it two things First the thanksgiving Secondly the conclusion of faith in the word Amen In the thanksgiving is included both a reason of the Petition as also a forme of thanksgiving as who should say wee doe not presume wee can do
Son Isaac the Son of the promise and he must be the Sacrifice So for us not to be drunk and to commit outragious sins that all the Crowes cry out of that 's nothing but thy secret lusts thy beloved Isaac's they must be sacrificed and abandoned else thou dost no more then the Devill Thus thou must do the will of God not as thou wilt to sanctifie half a Sabbath but on Gods terms or else it is nothing Fourthly the Angels do the will of God constantly where they were they are Mat. 18. They are daily before the face of God they hold out and persevere to do Gods will This should be our practise though we cannot do it in that manner and so much as they yet endeavour for it Continue to the death saith the Text and what then I will give you the Crowne of life Our reward shall be for ever let our labour be so hold it out with constancie A Saint should be foure-square the same for ever the fruits of righteousnesse are according to the parts of the yeare spring and harvest autumne and winter and the first fruits is fatnesse not to fall back to be good in good company with professors professe and with swearers curse and with drunkards be drunkards and with Divels be Divels the blessed Angels do not thus the Lord commends the good steward Happie shall that servant be that when his Master shall come shall finde so doing When the Lord shall come and finde a Saint persevere to the end he shall be blessed indeed the Angels will out-bid us in the measure of performances of Gods will but yet we should be speedy and readie and faithfull and constant as they our hearts are holy in uprightnesse although not in that measure of exactnesse as theirs are What is the frame of the heart in putting up this Petition Quest It appears in two things Answ First it is willing to do it it self Secondly it is willing and desires to help and stir up others to the utmost of its power to do the will of God First the soul ought to be forward to know the will of God and to labour to do it it self and this appears in foure particulars First the heart is willing to do the will of God in laying down its own will so far as it may be a hinderance from doing Gods will for oftentimes our will and the will of God are contrary there is naturally a sturdy toughnesse that lifts up it self above the LORD this must be removed Not my will saith our Saviour but thy will be done If our will and Gods will cannot stand we must lay down ours but sometimes we say desperatly as they did We will walk in our own waies c. and we will have a King as other Nations we will have our base lusts to sway and rule us But so long as this is in us we cannot do the will of the LORD we cannot serve two masters I came not saith our Saviour to do my own will but my fathers that sent me It is often times with our will and the will of GOD as with two buckets the letting down of one is the lifting up of the other and the lifting up of the other is the letting down of that so when we let down our own wills we lift up Gods but the lifting up of our own wills is the letting down of the good will of the Lord. Now the cause why we stick in service and cannot come off is because we would have our pleasures we would be this and that so that the will of God is justled against the wall and shut out of doores but let this distemper be crush't and then the will of God will take place When we have done this then we must repaire to the Lord to know what his pleasure is take his Warrant before we set upon the work conscionable attendance of Gods will should be the root and spring of all our actions not to go without it but to have our spirits carried by it This is as a Master-comptroler that swayes the ballance and beares all before him Tell me not I cannot do it for my liberties sake c. But I have no Warrant of Gods will unlesse the good will of the Lord go before me I dare do nothing Eph. 5.10.11 Proving what is acceptable to the Lord. As a Gold-smith laies the gold to the touch-stone so prove yourselves and find out what is acceptable to the Lord. In the time of the old Law they put on the linnen Ephod and went to inquire of the LORD whether the men of Kedar would come up so should we come to the LORD that is the touchstone and see what the LORD will have us to do and not to go to a company of carnall Counsellors to consult with honour ease wife and family c. whether shall I suffer saith the soul saith honour if you do thus I am laid in the dust saith ease and profit for my part if you take this course I am utterly undone and lost then saith the soul if it be thus I will not do it let all sinke and swim thus they do not GODS will but their owne but they that do the will of GOD let them inquire what his will is Let honour and profit and ease and world and all say what it will but they wil do the LORDS will we must not master conscience as it was the speech of a wicked wretch one of his companions being in horror of conscience he bade him master it as he did for before that he could never live quietly but now he was not at all troubled with it Mastering of conscience in English is searing of conscience but that must master you and lead you to the performance of duty Thirdly when this will of GOD is revealed we must yeeld to it without any quarrelling against it or questioning of it but let the soul be delivered up to the will of GOD as David saith let my will be done with thine when the LORD calls seek my face we should eccho thy face Lord I seek 2 Tim. 2.19 we should be prepared for the LORD so to have our affections strike as the LORD sets them and then we should have hearts like GOD then we should do his will aright then would it be in our hearts to do the will of the LORD as David saith Psal 40. Fourthly we should have a couragious constant resolution to go on with that work and in that way GOD hath revealed to us and hath laid open before us so that the soul should say not my will but give me a heart that may do thy will thus we should have a constant resolution to go on not to do it by fits and starts but as the Apostle saith Fight the good fight of faith and lay hold of eternall life And except a man have this he prayeth not this Petition aright but out of hypocrisie it is his own will he
for my sinnes past are sufficient for him to suffer and satisfie for my sinnes present and to come Thirdly the sinner stands justified not for any thing in himselfe but by the mercies of the LORD JESUS CHRIST Now then gather up all and the thing is cleare if our Saviour suffered for all sins and this being infinite is sufficient to pacifie all his wrath due to my sins past present or to come And if a man is not justified of or by any thing of his own but from CHRIST from this I argue by what death is my sin remitted by the death of CHRIST and have not I the whole death of our our Saviour to satisfie Yes for that death that suffered for my sins past suffered for my sins present or to come the death CHRIST suffered for all sins Now this death of CHRIST is applyed to the soul at the first act of beleeving in the LORD CHRIST therefore my sinnes past present or to come are remitted at the first act of beleeving That remission of sins that leaves no condemnation to the party offending is the remission of all sinnes for if there were any sin remaining a man is still in the state of condemnation but justification leaves no condemnation Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Argn. 2. Thus it is evident there is no condemnation to those that are in CHRIST therefore there is full remission of all sins past present or to come to the soul at the first act of beleeving If the remission of all sinnes be not at once Arg. 3. it is either because my faith cannot lay hold on it or because there are some hinderances but a man by the hand of faith can lay hold on all the merits of CHRIST the Word can reveale all the Sacraments seale and confirm the pardon of all and then there is no inconvenience for it makes the soul more carefull of a command Psal 130. If thou shouldest enter into judgement with us who were able to abide it but there is mercy with thee that thou mayest be feared Forgivenesse makes a man yeeld faithfull obedience then it is cleare that the forgivenesse of all sinnes past present or to come is made to the soul at once at the first act of beleeving First because CHRIST dyed for all and that is all applyed at once Secondly justification leaves a man without condemnation Thirdly there are no hinderances for my faith is able to lay hold on all the merits of CHRIST and the Sacraments able to confirm all therefore all the sinnes of the Elect whether past or present or to come are pardoned at once in CHRIST But then why do we pray for daily forgivenesse of sins It seems needlesse thus to do Quest if they be pardoned already what need we pray daily for the forgivenesse of them This is one of Bellarmines chief holds But I answer First if a man do beleeve Answ yet he prayeth for more faith Secondly we intreat the Lord that he would be pleased to renew this repentance write over and renew this our evidence of the remission of our sinnes and more and more confirm it to our selves this a man doth though he have faith Thirdly that he would be pleased to continue this his evidence Fourthly that he would make it increase and be more strong This a faithfull man craves Lord saith the soul that my sinnes may not only be pardoned and the evidence of it sealed to my soul but that the evidence may be more and more increased Whether doth this act of beleeving leave any frame Quest or put any disposition into the soul First Answ our justification which we call forgivenesse findes nothing in us or any thing done by us by which we come to be justified when we are said to be justified by faith or are not said to be justified for faith that is popery but by faith we lay hold on Christ by whose merits we are justified as a man is said to live by his hands not that he eates them but by the labour of his hands he gets money which buyes his meat which nourisheth him So a mans sins are not forgiven by vertue of beleeving but only thus because faith as an hand laies hold on this as a man gets a prey by his hand so we get this prey by the hand of faith faith doth not make a man just before God for God might condemne us for the imperfection and weaknesse of our faith but it layes hold on him who justifies Secondly forgivenesse or justification leaves no gracious frame upon the soul but it is only a legall and judicial forgiving of a man a pronouncing of the soul believing acquitted As a man that is arrested the surety paying all the debt the law is frustrate and hath nothing against that man and he is pronounced acquitted by the law but this acquitting doth not make a man any honester That of the Proverbs He that justifies the wicked and he that condemneth the righteous they both are abomination to the Lord. Not to make a man honester then he was but to account him so and justifie him when he is not You see then this leaves no stamp upon the soul this cuts the throat of many a mans comforts here is the maine difference between justification and sanctification justification is not for any thing in a mans self neither leaves any stamp but sanctification proceeds from some ability in the soul and leaves him holy Thirdly though the act of beleeving doth not put grace into the soul yet wherever this is there will be another work and bring grace into the soul For we forgive others THis is made an argument to prevaile with God we beseech God to forgive us because we forgive others as if we should say if we forgive others forgive thou us but we forgive others therefore Lord forgive us as though first we could forgive others before God forgive us Hence the question drawes on namely Whether is the soule able to forgive trespasses to others before the Lord forgives its trespases Quest No our forgiving others doth not goe before our owne forgivenesse Answ God must first forgive us before we can forgive others because it is a work of grace to doe this as God requires and it comes from a gracious disposition of soule which God must put into us before we can do it But now sanctification follows justification as a man should say a tree bringsforth fruit from the sap in the root But this is used as a cause Quest for we forgive others because we forgive others therfore forgive us it seems then to be a cause of our justification No Answ it is a fruit and effect to make way for the conveyance of the assurance of it it makes us not to be just but dedares us to be just Every reason propounded by the word because doth not imply a cause as I prove fire
turne our eyes from beholding of vanity That there may not bee in us the violence of sinne assaulting us Wee pray also that wee may not come into the Battaile if it bee possible and that sinne or pollution may not come in against us Secondly that the LORD would assist us in the temptation that the temptation may not prevaile It is a mercie not to bee tempted but if we must bee it is a great mercie not to bee overcome by temptation If hee will not wholly prevent us by his Grace yet that hee will assist us graciously in it It is a mercie not to be assaulted and though assaulted yet that we may be assisted Now this assistance of GOD is two-fold either extraordinary or mediate by the meanes wee speake not so much of the first though that be true but we crave both at the hand of the Lord. First sometimes wee crave for the extraordinary help and assistance of the LORD to assist us either above meanes or in the meanes Wee know the Lord in the time of the Martyrs sufferings did helpe wonderfully their temptations were grievous and afflictions great and yet the Lord did helpe them extraordiarily God did let in abundance of sweetnesse But we passe this and come to the other Secondly we pray especially for such meanes as may helpe us and that appeares in foure particulars First that the Lord would discover the enemie before hee comes that hee would make knowne unto us the engines and wiles and depth of Satan and the subtilty of our owne corrupt hearts which are ready on every hand to surprize us for to be surprized before wee are aware is great danger therefore we pray that the Lord would give us the Spirit of Revelation that wee may take notice of the engines of Satan that hee may be discovered to us the discovery wee know of an evill is to prevent an evill and not foreseeing we cannot prevent He that sees not an evill before it comes will bee overthrowne by it when it comes Many a man perisheth by pride and knowes not what hurts him Thus corruption blowes up the soule This the Lord promiseth Isay 30.21 Thou shalt heare a word behinde thee saying This is the way That GOD may keep a man from sinne hee sends the Spirit of CHRIST to say this is the way walke in it The Text saith 2 Cor. 2. there speaking of the incestuous man Wee are not ignorant of the methods of Satan to us Mat. 20. When the great skirmish was to come our Saviour forewarned Peter and saith I will smite the Shepherd c. and saith Watch and pray for the houre is come c. Hee gives him this warning-peece We pray then that God would make knowne to us the engines of sinne and Satan before they come Wee know it is a great helpe in warre to know the quarters and orders of enemies that so a man may order his actions according thereunto So wee must know where the Devill and our corruptions lye quartered and what be the haunts of our wretched hearts and so to order the help God hath put into our hands for the resisting of them Secondly that the Lord as it were would intrench about us If hee will not foretell us of the enemy that seeing sinne wee may prevent it yet that hee would lay some heavie impediment upon us c. and build some trench about us that wee may not commit those evils wee are tempted unto That though hee doe not reveale the policie of Satan yet that hee would lay some snares that wee may not commit that sinne which otherwise wee would doe And this is a marvellous mercie Gen. 20.7 Abimelech tooke Sarah as though shee had beene Abrahams sister as hee himselfe told him and no question hee had a purpose to take her to be his wife but the Lord laid an impediment the Lord kept Abimelech from Sarah hee took off the edge of his desire and laid a barre betweene them Hos 2.6 7. The Church was running after her abominations now how did the Lord prevent her the Text saith I will hedge thy wayes with thornes and build a wall about thee The Lovers were corruptions and the following of them is the eager pursuit of them Now hee hedges the wayes with Thornes that is hee layes desperate afflictions on them that shee had no liberty to sinne so that shee hath enough to doe to minde her owne miseries Sometimes a man is addicted to base company and then the Lord layes sicknesse to imprison him and to keep him from sinne This is mercy Thirdly the Lord puts armour and weapons on them to fight against their enemies that are opposite to his grace and children Ephes 6. from the 10. to the 19. Be yee strengthened in all might putting on all spirituall abilities 1 Cor. 2. to bee strengthned in every good worke God saith hee covers the heads of his 1 Pet. 1.5 God keepes them by the power of his grace God gives his the whole armour the shield of faith the breast-plate of righteousnesse c. to quench the fiery darts of Satan and to resist him Fourthly God gives a dominion over and conquest against all our enemies and over all our victorious corruptions hee gives a happy issue and successe With the fight hee gives the issue with the victory Revel 1.6 Hee hath made us Kings that is hee hath given us a Kingly authority over all our corruptions Rom. 6 14. Sinne shall not have dominion over you Psal 119.133 so David prayeth Let no iniquity have dominion over mee Thus the Lord assists his in trouble Thirdly as wee pray that the Lord would prevent the occasions of evill and if they come to assist us in them so lastly if wee be foiled and brought under by the temptations of Satan and our own corruptions that the LORD would rescue us from them that have had too much power over us and too too much prevailed against us This wee know was the request and desire of the Prophet David Psal 39. Restore mee to my former health before I goe away from hence and be no more seene As who should say my base lusts are too strong for mee these hands were stout but now feeble therefore LORD give me that former strength His sinnes were as sicknesse Davids case was as when a man hath been sicke and after comes to get up his crummes as though hee had said I knew the time when I had a broken heart for my sinne but now hardened therefore O God spare mee a little while before I goe hence and bee no more seene that I may recover my former courage zeale and strength before I goe hence Rom. 8.2 The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ hath made mee free from the Law of sinne and death Sinne makes Lawes Wee then intreat the Lord that hee would prevent corruption that hee would assist us in temptation ordinarily and extraordinarily that hee would discover the enemy before hee