by beneficence and bounty and wonderful deliverances wherein his hand and almighty power onely could help us appears by Psal 10â— Which recites the wonders which God wrought for the Israelites in Egypt Whereby he delivered them from that thraldom and afterwards brought them to the promised land that flowed with Milk and Hony The end of all which is expressed in the last ver That they might keep his statutes and observe his laws When God bestowes such great mercies upon us as astonish our understanding as he did to them they were like men that dream when they were deliverd from Captivity when he delivereth us miraculously just then when we are at the very brink of destruction when the knife is at our throats or like brands pulled out of the fire so are we rescued and sometimes we are so rescued from the precipice of Hell before we are consumed it is no cause that may induce us to think that we are better than others or that it is for our own righteousness sake God forwarneth the Israelites from such misconceptions and that caution seemeth to imply that we are prone of our selves to such delusions God commands them when they bring their offering to say A Syrian ready to perish was my Father c. But the cause that moved God was from himself because of his love and favour which he had to them his goodness only was the efficient cause and the final cause his own glory and so it is of all our deliverances that we being delivered should serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all the daies of our lives Sutable thereto is the practice of Gods Servants for they ascribe them not to their own merit but reflect upon their own unworthiness that they may ascribe the more to Gods free goodness and mercy saying with David What am I and what is my Fathers house that thou shouldst do such great things for me Psal 116.9 And Psal 8. Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him And St. Paul admiers Gods mercy to him who he saith Was the least of the Apostles and not worthy to be called an Apostle Which humility of mind and sense of our own unworthiness kindles the flame of our holy love to God for all his goodness and excites our Zeal to do all we can for God And not only the mercies received are improved to inflame our affections to love God our great benefactor but the mercies also which we hope for and expect hereafter as in 2 of Sam. 7.19 David speaks to God Who am I O Lord and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto And this was yet a small thing in thy sight O Lord God but thou hast spoken also of thy Servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of men O Lord God! Though men the more they have done the less we can expect from them yet with God every mercy is an earnest of a greater therefore he argued well that said The Lord delivered me from the Lyon and Bear and will deliver me from this uncircumcised Philistine So did St. Paul saying The Lord hath delivered me and will deliver me And this assurance and hope alone in the want of all outward comforts by the strength of faith was able to support holy Job for therefore he was a conquerer over all these fiery darts of Satan and was able to do and suffer the good will and pleasure of God because he believed that his redeemer lived and that he should see him at the last day A further improvement the heavenly soul makes of mercies to engage its love and affections to God in the consideration of the overplus which God in his great goodness and liberality bestowes upon us above our desires and requests as when Solomon asked wisdom God bestowed upon him riches and honour and when David asked life God gave him a long life even for ever and ever So Abraham asked a child and God gave him seed as the sand of the Sea And we know of our own experience how God hath exceeded our requests for many temporal blessings which for the present when we had received them seemed great to us and to a thankful heart they will alwaies seem so and have the same operation to affect the heart with burning love to so great a benefactor But much more that overplus of eternal happiness which the Saints believe they shall receive For eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man what the Lord hath prepared for them that love him And as a Virgin beloved puts not an estimate upon the gifts of her Lover according to their meer value but according to the respect which she hath to his love whereof they are pledges so the heavenly soul also looks more upon the love and favour of God shewed in his mercies than upon the benefit it receives by them as David expresseth in the Psalmes Psal 63. saying Thy loving kindness is better than life it self Therefore saith the Spouse in the Cant. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better then Wine Which holy love the soul delights in and by it all duties in religion and works of piety charity and mortification are made easy delightful and desirable and not burthensome And so love may be said to be the fulfilling of the law because God accepts the will of them that are carried by this principle And they likewise accept of all that comes from God as from his love whether it be affliction or prosperity because they believe that God will bring good out of evils and cause all things to work together for their good and will shew his love and faithfulness in delivering them and will give them their hearts desire if they delight themselves in the Lord. Psal 37.4 And injoy themselves in serving him call the Sabbath a delight and as the Spouse in the Cant. ch 1. Sit under his shadow with delight If they trust in him hope in him rely upon him stay themselves upon him All which duties and all others they can do in some degree through Christ that strengthens them from whom they have all their sufficiency whose Grace is sufficient for them though of themselves they can do nothing not think a good thought for his strength is perfected in their weakness and his Spirit helpeth their infirmity for instance in the duty of Prayer they will approach the Throne of Grace to pray and praise God though they feel in themselves dulness and indisposition because they have found assistance in former duties from Gods Spirit enabling them when they were as much indisposed as at present therefore they do hope for and expect the like again and therefore they go on assured as Abraham was that God will provide himself a Sacrifice A parallel instance is that which St. Paul experienced when the
not that these Afflictions work for them a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory It knows not that they are sent to make them partakers of his Holiness nor seeth the munition of rocks about them they know not the supports that they have in their sufferings from Jesus Christ and the holy Ghost nor the joy proceeding from the exercising and improving their Faith Patience and other Graces nor the carresses and embraces between Christ and his Spouse and although they may read his Love-letters to her yet they do not understand the hope which she hath by the comfort of the Scriptures And though they see them meet at the Ordinances they know not how that God makes them joyful in the house of prayer Isa 56.7 Psal 69. How they are satified with the pleasure of Gods house How their souls are satisfied as with marrow and fatness when they praise God with joyful lips Psal 63. Or how they rejoyce in the Lord. And sing for joy nor that it is their priviledge that God hath given them his statutes and his laws Nor how it is a priviledge to suffer for Christ and not to be dismayed while they have God for their shield Prov. 30. And because they know not of their joys and comforts they like not their waies nor chuse their portion because they are led by their senses and this life is lived by faith and not by sight And the God of this world hath blinded their eyes that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ might not shine unto them Our Saviour tells his Apostles that they are the light of the world their successours who preach to us should shew us fully the sweets pleasantness comfort safety and profitableness of Religion and draw us with the cords of love as Christ leads his Spouse into the banqueting-house into the garden of Nuts and allures her with all manner of sollaces and courtships Cant. 7.13 At our gates are all manner of pleasent fruits new and old which I have laid up for thee O my Love so ought Pastors to inculcate these priviledges of Gods Children as Gods word doth 54. of Isaiah at large And our blessed Saviour in the 6. of St. Matth. where he sheweth Gods paternal care over men to ease them of care that they may intend the matters of their eternal salvation And largly inculcates Gods love to them and his own love Fides Exultans Meditations of that Incomparable Priviledg which Gods Children only can have The joy in the Holy Ghost Motto The voice of joy and thanksgiveing is in the dwellings of the righteous The holy Scripture is very full of proofs to make it out that they have this priviledg Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace c. 1 Thes 1.6 Having received the word in much affliction and with joy of the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 7.4 I am exceeding joyfull in all our afflictions I am filled with comfort Psal 5.11 Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce Let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them Let them also that love thy Name be joyful in thee Psal 97. v. 12. Rejoyce in the Lord O ye Righteous Acts. Repent and be baptised every one of you for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost And Psal 59. My joy shall be in the Lord. Our blessed Saviour testifieth the truth of this Assertion John 14.16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him because he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Comfort gives joy The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit Besides the Authorities cited and many more which might be cited It is evidenced by reason that the Saints have such a priviledge The first Reason to prove it may be this That the chief object of their desire is grace Psal 42. As the Hart panteth c. Psal 63. From whence I argue That the desire accomplished is sweet to the soul Prov. 13.19 And their desire shall be accomplished Prov. 20.24 The desire of the Righteous shall be granted Psal 145.19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him Now that the object which is chief in their desires is grace is proved by Psal 26.8 The desire of our souls is to thy Name And Psal 119.97 Oh how I love thy Law all the day long is my meditation therein Desire is the act Love the passion from which it proceeds Psal 1.2 His delight is in the Law of the Lord. Delight is the enjoyment of that which is loved and desired Fruition or enjoyment is joy So the holy Spouse accompts it Cant. 1.2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better then wine The Holy Gost doth and will work these desired graces in their souls and Christ will returne reciprocal love and carresses to his Spouse and the fulness of joy and will come in and sup with him that opens to him Revel 3.20 Then the soul injoyes her self when she sits under his shadow with delight Can. It is satisfied as with marrow and fatness Psal 63. Another Argument to prove it may be a Congruo It well became the goodness of so good and gracious a Soveraign when according to his Kingly office he put the yoak upon the necks of his Subjects to facilitate the yoak and sweeten the lives of his faithful Subjects in the greatest measure when his goodness was such that he laid down his life for them John 10.11 I am the good shepherd the goodshepherd layeth down his life for the Sheep He draws them to obedience by love the gratest that can be imagined he promiseth them rewards greater than could be conceived Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man what the Lord hath prepared for them that serve him And to facilitate their obedience gives them the holy Spirit to help their infirmities And sends him for a comforter to relieve and comfort them when they are afflicted oppressed or destitute of comfort in the world which he foresaw they would be therefore promised to send it and his Truth will not suffer him to fail so that when their afflictions do abound their consolations do much more abound And when their outward man doth decay their inward man is renewed day by day that makes amends for what their outward man suffers with the certainty of their hope begotten and strengthened in them by the Holy Ghost That our vile bodies shall one day be made like to his glorious body That when this earthly Tabernacle is dissolved we have a building not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens which hopes the Holy Ghost doth assure to us and thus gives us
the end and means What little pleasure delight or satisfaction doth he take in his business that never thinks of it but when he is doing it or prepares not for it Certainly that work is but a burthen to him and is performed of necessity only not freely and cheerfully of love or liking but God will have his servants to delight in him Psal 37. Delight thy self in the Lord. I sate under his shadow with delight God loveth a chearful giver And the Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to him how much more when he giveth it with an evil mind Whatever we do unto him we must do it heartily I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is my hope Ps 1.2 His delight is in the Law of the Lord. What Art or Science can be attained what proficience can be made in any humane study without meditating and ruminating weighing and considering discussing and digesting in the mind every thing and term of Art So he that doth desire to be a proficient in the School of Christ as a good Disciple must attain it by study and must consider weigh examine and compare spiritual things with spiritual For example therefore consider that great proficient that obtained so great and honourable an Epethite as to be called The man after God's own heart how often doth he inculcate this very thing upon himself and others in the Book of Psalms from the beginning to the end In the first Psalm v. 2. he describes the blessed man thus His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law will he exercise himself day and night And this he avers of his own practice Psal 63. Have I not meditated of thee on my bed and thought upon thee when I was waking And Psal 119. O how I love thy Law All the day long is my study therein Sometimes his meditation is of God's works as in Psal 8. I will consider the Heavens the works of thy hands And he affirms That he will meditate of all his wondrous works And sometime he is meditating of his Precepts Psal 18. And gives the reason of his so doing Psal 119. All his delight is therein They are the joy of his heart sweeter to him than the Honey or the Honey-comb He had chosen them and loved them exceedingly And he esteemed them above all manner of Riches above all treasure of gold or precious stones and above his necessary food Having so great a value of them and knowing the worth of them it must follow that he loved them with delight and that brings the other frequent thinking of them and that brings the heart to a holy frame and disposition and keeps it so This is that which Solomon presseth Keep thy heart with all diligence And above all things keep thy heart For if we do pray for a clean heart Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me Yet original corruption of nature drawn from the loins of our first Parents is such that like a running sore though it be wiped clean yet still sends forth putrifaction therefore hath continual need of spiritual medicaments to heal it and keep it in health and suppress and purge away peccant humours which medicaments the Spirit by the word operates in those who seek them If then our nature is corrupted and degenerate and abominably wicked and is prone to follow corrupt principles and hardly restrained from them as every mans experience tells him Let him that hath tasted the heavenly gift and the power of the world to come if he like to retain the relish of it let him ruminate upon it keep it under his tongue as Job speaks of the wicked of their delight in sin If like water that is heated which soon will become cold again our affections to heavenly things soon grown dull and decay we must bring them again to that fire which first warmed them or if we can not to let this fire go out as the fire upon the Altar did not For in all duties of Religion perseverance is enjoyn'd and upon this very ground as that duty of prayer Continuing instant in prayer 1 Thes 5. Rejoyce evermore pray without ceasing Matth. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation This assiduity doth not only shut the door against vain and evil thoughts motions and imaginations lusts and temptations but also keeps in the good and virtuous resolutions and radicates them Therefore seek the Lord while he may be found seek his face evermore if thou have found him How little treasure have I in Heaven if my heart be not there often by holy meditation but if I am assured of my interest there I shall sollace my self with that in all conditions as the Athenian in Horace sollaced himself with his chests full of money which he contemplated so heavenly souls for whom those heavenly mansions are prepared and the Crown of Life that never fadeth they keep their hearts from sinking and sollace themselves in their distresses by the hope that they have of their eternal salvation This allays the bitterness of their affliction and so great it is and wonderful that the heart of man cannot conceive it But if we have an interest in them yet if we do not meditate of it what are we the better for it therefore with Moses have an eye to the recompence of reward And this makes it out that we have chosen God for our portion As love is the principle of all Religion and Duty which gives the life and heat to them without which they are but mercenary dull and formal without power because faith doth work by love The Spouse Cant. 2. is sick of love All the reciprocal society of the Spouse and her Beloved is Love So this practice of holy Meditation proceeds from Love Psal 119. O how love I thy Law all the day long do I meditate therein Psal 63. Have I not meditated of thee on my bed c. Consequently the meditation of and of upon our beloved object is our greatest enjoyment and happiness if our affections be rightly placed this proves that the speculative life is most pleasant All our graces are kept alive all our virtues strengthened all our good resolutions put in execution by this means And by the want and neglect of this they all slip out of our minds are weakned decay and dye and the contrary invade us as we read in 1 chap. to the Romans of those that God had given up to all wickedness they liked not to retain God in their thoughts or knowledge therefore God gave them up Psal 28. They regard not in their minds the works of the Lord c. therefore we often find illiterate persons who can discourse of most points of Religion better more knowingly soundly and more readily than the learned which comes to pass meerly by the help of Meditation which these practice and the others neglect David Psal 92.5 meditating of the wonderous works of
God and his thoughts which are to us-ward calls him unwise who doth not consider it and him that doth not regard it a fool But he that is wise he saith he will ponder them and shall understand c. intimating that without such pondering he cannot understand his principal concerns How then can the Law of God convert a soul if it be not meditated of by that soul or how can the Testimonies of God make wise the simple if they be not studied and learned How can they rejoyce the heart and comfort us in trouble and afford us hope unless the heart rejoyce in the meditation of them How could they be a light to our feet and lanthorn to our paths How can we be guided by them unless we thus keep them in our minds They can have no desire after the sincere milk of the word who have not tasted it by holy meditation nor can they grow thereby unless they thus feed upon it How can the good seed of God's word take root in our hearts and bring forth fruit in our lives if the cares of this world or deceitfulness of Riches hinder us from considering and meditating upon it so as to fasten it in our hearts and fix it upon our understandings and affections He that desires to draw near to God or to walk with him must do this duty He that desires to be taught of God and hear the voice behind him saying this is the way he must be conversant in this He that doth not this must either be a luke-warm Christian or an Hypocrite or no Christian for an Hypocrite may discourse and talk of the things of Religion Mortification Renovation and Regeneration Repentance Conversion of forsaking the world and taking off his affections from the things below and setting them on things above but he doth little think of those things which be powerful to take off his affections from the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life and to fix them on God and on the beauty of holiness but the Regenerate man that finds corruption in his heart will be restless in his thoughts when he finds some corruption ready to break out and lead him captive to sin until he hath found out some thing in the word of God that hath efficacy and power by his endeavour and the Assistance of God's Grace to conquer every thought inclination and imagination of his corrupt nature As if peradventure a slanderous tongue hath provoked him with such slanders as he most abhors and he finds himself too prone to return the like viz. Railing for Railing Cursing for Cursing He thereupon retires himself and either by his own memory calls to mind the behaviour of the Saints of God and the holy commands of him that hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light out of sin to sanctification and holiness And what he commands us to do that he hath called us to not to serve sin or live any longer therein but that we should walk as Christ walked and as he was Reviled and Reviled not again but submitted to him that judgeth righteously so he endeavours also and praies to God that he may conform himself or else he betakes himself for the help of his memory to the written word and will search what holy Job did in the like case being falsly accused by his Friends and there finding that the Holy man answered those false accusations thus My witness is in Heaven my Record is on high This directs him and inables him to conquer his passion and he rejoiceth that he hath found such a powerful Scripture and he endeavours to improve it by meditation that he may be able alwaies to make use of it upon the like occasion And God so much blesseth his people and directs and guides them in this business that he often helps them when at a loss and directs them by accident to hear such a Sermon or read such a place as most properly agrees with their meditation and present occasion whereby they receive satisfaction and will never leave the meditation of it till they conceive them selves able to conquer the like temptation So if they be encountered with the love of the world and find themselves hardly beset with the bate of covetousness or with the lusts of the flesh they intend with all their might those arguments which are prevalent with the Saints of God to take them off this sensual love to the heavenly love to love God and his Grace and spiritual gifts and injoyments and Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour and Redeemer who shed his precious blood for us and in deeds and words of the highest expressions hath manifested his love to us courting us to love him again with such significant and full expressions of his love as no tongue could ever express unless they use his very expressions which he useth in the Canticles to endear thee wherein he both advanceth the commendation of the several parts of the body of his Beloved and of the whole saith Thou art all fair my Love And he also promiseth to give her his loves Who so shall diligently consider of these he will easily break out into that expression of his love to Christ which the Spouse maketh viz. Thy Love is better than Wine and ver 4. The King hath brought me into his Chambers we will be glad and rejoice in thee and will find great satisfaction and delight in the name of him as in a sweet perfume Thy name is as ointment poured forth therefore the Virgins Love thee And with the Spouse cannot but seek him though she suffer injuries from rude persons when she enquires after him still she persists Tell me where thou feeds for the inlightned converted soul knoweth that it must not love the world neither the pleasures nor profits and if it doth the love of the Father is not in it nor the love of Jesus Christ for this love expels all other he that drinks of this water thirsts no more And when the heavenly Spouse hath sought her Beloved and besought him for the kisses of his mouth and is enamoured of his beauty and is satisfied with his beauty only and remembers his loves more than wine and delights to hear his name and is sick of love he will not fail then to bring her into his banquetting-house and defend her with his love as with a banner and stay her with flaggons and comfort her with Apples and also he will bring her into his chambers and unvail his beauties to her and give her his loves And now she may well despise all other Rivals of her love like the Eagle that catcheth not Flies or like him who hath drunk the sweet waters of the fountain he will not presently drink in a muddy puddle or seek to quench his thirst in broken Cisterns which hold no water And so for other temptations and perils which the soul findeth it self to lye under through the
things of God and delight our selves in the Lord and count all the waies of his Commandments pleasantness search for them as for hid treasure dig for them seek them evermore we have obtained the greatest and chiefest matter and the rest we may assure our selves that we shall by the like means obtain and by degrees be able to run the waies of Gods commands discretion shall preserve us and understanding shall keep us and deliver us from the temptations and allurements to these and other sins we shall be able to keep our watch against our spiritual enimies that would destroy us But although our heart be thus changed and we renewed so that with our mind we do the Law of God yet it is great danger but that sometimes with our flesh we shall serve the Law of sin because when we would do good evil is present with us unless the hand of God continually hold us up which that it may we must invocate his mercy and almighty power using all the means premised and with watchfulness against the first beginning of evil Oculus ad coelum Manus ad clavum So that our surest perservative is this of prayer although we are renewed in the Spirit of our mind Our own wofull experience tells us so as this holy Apostle tells us by his experience For we know how that we have often endeavoured our selves to hallow the name of God and to 〈◊〉 his will in the resisting of these sins of our complexion and to avoid the temptation And to that end and purpose have read meditated heard the word preached and resolved upon the practice of it we have made that covenant with our eyes as Job made with his or the like to avoid and shun the occasions of that sin which we most fear But yet upon trial we have found in our corrupt hearts so much of the old unregenerate man that when we would do good evil hath been present with us and ready to surprize us and lead us captive And how to do the good we would we know not and we could only bewaile our wretched condition crying out with the Apostle O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death Therefore we must be alwaies at the Throne of Grace as those holy men were David Psal 119. v. 27. Make me to understand the way of thy Commandments v. 35. Make me to go in the paths of thy Commandments v. 36. Incline my heart to thy testimonies and not to covetiousness 37. Turne away mine eyes lest they behold vanity and quicken me in thy Law 38. Stablish thy word in thy Servant that I may fear the. Expressing his holy desires with fervency and earnestness and Importunity Behold my delight is in thy Commandments O quicken me in thy Righteousness And protests to God how he had used the meanes in studying and meditating of Gods word If we accordingly practice And with such holy desires pantings and breathings with such servency of affection with 〈…〉 purpose resolutions and vows with such Importunity under the sense of our needs and dependencies on him For the Spouse her self though she be assured of her Beloved's kindness and love towards her and her own love reciprocally towards him so prayes Draw us we will run after thee which sheweth what great need we have of craving God's almighty help when we are strongest and with David have sworn and are stedfastly purposed to keep his righteous judgments If we do accordingly pray then we may also obtain to be men after God's own heart as he was for we have a promise for it viz. The weak shall be like the house of David He will incline our hearts to his Testimonies He will work in us both the will and the deed He will order our steps in his Word He will draw us and we shall run after him And we shall do his will on Earth as it is done in Heaven And he will order our feet in his Word Direct our going Make us to delight in that which is good And though our soul be alwaies in our hand yet we shall not forget his Laws but claim them for our heritage and portion for ever Because he is true who hath promised to guide us lead us keep us uphold us strengthen us watch over us to be with us in trouble to deliver us to tread Satan under our feet that no weapon formed against us shall prosper that he will water us every morning and every moment and we shall run and not be weary mount up with wings like Eagles and renew our strength like the Eagle and he will make our way perfect and those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Court of God they shall grow from strength to strength and grow up like the Calves of the stall And though we do fall when we are confident in our own strength as the Apostle Peter did yet shall we rise again But he that feareth alwaies is more happy for he will watch against the beginnings of evil actions and will use these means premised and shall not fall for God will hold him with his hand because he trusteth in him only and will bear him as a man doth bear his Son Deut. 1.31 And as we are taught in the precedent instances so may we suitably be instructed out of the holy Scriptures in all other temptations to other sins If it be excess in drinking which raging vice hath invaded a great part of the world And men are not content to allow themselves in it but generally strive to draw in all those with whom they converse in spight as it were of all holy admonitions moral precepts natural restrictions policies prudential constitutions and councels of the most renowned wise men vertuos men most excellent Law-givers And their own daily experience of the mischiefs and ruines that this sin brings upon those that are guilty of it The remedies whereof being so much predicated and so little practised must needs convince the world of a great deal of practical Atheism and Infidelity But thou that seest this fault in thy self and art grieved at it desiring to be delivered from it and findest it as difficult as to cut off thy right hand or pull out thy right eye follow the prescribed instructions and imitate those prayers and thou shalt reap thy desired grace and quit thy soul and body too of the sin and with it of many more which accompany it and are occasioned by it Because God hath ingaged to be found of them that seek him to help them that have no power nor strength to be with thee in the fire that it shall not burn thee and in the water that it shall not drown thee That thou shalt call upon him in time of trouble and he will deliver thee and thou shalt praise him He will pour water upon him that is thirsty Isa 44.3 He will subdue our iniquities Mic. 7.19 He giveth
his children we can have no stronger motive than this to draw us to seek all good things we stand in need of from him For if we can by faith in Jesus Christ apprehend this relation how can we doubt of receiving the things we ask and stand in need of for we must needs know his love to be great to us if we find a reciprocal love towards him And although we be prodigals and but of little faith our blessed Saviour tells us that yet we are children and under his care And this argument he makes use of to invite us to come to God in prayer the force of Nature must needs be strongest in him who made Nature The motives which excite him must needs be stronger and greater than those which excite us as he is greater And he makes use of the argument to those who are evil If you being evil know c. To prove that God will give his Spirit to them if they ask it though before they had received the Spirit of Christ they were none of Gods children by adoption for this is given by Christ to those only who believe in his name Joh. 1.12 Between God and his adopted children there is a double Relation of paternity That citation in the Acts of the Apostles out of the Poet Aratus that we are Gods off-spring doth relate to the general relation whereby God is the Father of all man-kind as he was Adams So Abraham is the Natural Father of the Jews But the Relation by faith between God and us and Abraham and the Jews is the only saving Relation By the first Relation we do know that we must worship God and pray to him and we may hope to prevail but by the second we are sure to speed we have boldness and title to all the promises and access with confidence to the throne of grace The motives from necessity are of two sorts The first are fetched from the necessity of the absolute Command of God laid upon us The second from our own needs and necessities which press us to it Those commands already mentioned in the precedent motives may be resorted to without repeting them In every thing let your requests be made known to God This duty in many places is perswaded to us with gracious promises rather than commanded which manifests the Infinite goodness of almighty God thus to draw us to our duty with the cords of love as in the precedent heads Here follows some absolute commands engaging us to it Ezek. 36.37 I will be cried after Jer. I will be called upon 1 Pet. 4.7 Watch unto prayer 1 Thess 5. Pray without ceasing Continuing in stant in prayer Praying alwaies with all manner of prayer and supplication 10. Zac. 1. Matt. 6.6 And pray Our blessed Lord and Saviour joynes to the precept the strongest argument to inforce it that can be conceived Joh. 14.13 He propoundeth and promiseth for our reward whatsoever we ask the like Joh. 15.7 And as the use of this duty gaineth us every thing so was it the use of this that first gained us an interest in God as to our feeling and the more frequent use of it we make the more interest we gain in him and again disusage of this loseth the sense of our intrest in God and Christ and this is the finding promised such shall know God and them selves to have interest in him The motive which most strongly forceth us to this duty whether we will or no is our own wants which force us to seek to him as our refuge Josephus tells how that in the siege of Jerusalem the Romans army passing over a lake that was frozen the Ice began to crack and the whole army together fell down upon their knees and prayed The Mareners that were in the ship with Jona in the Tempest did the like So David shews in the 107 Psal How people afflicted with all miseries for their sins when they are at deaths door call upon the Lord in their trouble and are delivered for he saith in another Psalm The Lord is known as a sure refuge Let us therefore find out our needs for soul and body for they are sent for this purpose to move us to resort to God in this duty which for lack of the sense of them is often neglected And we forget our Creator and our dependance upon him till by the rod upon our backs we are made to hear him that hath appointed it and to seek to him as our God our Rock our Castle our Buckler the horn of our salvation and our present help Generally First consider the slipry estate of thy youth wherein thou standest environed with daily temptations and dangers through which of thy self thou art not able to pass without many falls man knoweth not how to walk Eccles This consideration will move thee to seek to him to be guide of thy youth who only can guide thee and hath promised to guide thee continually and to keep thee Isa 40.17 I am the Lord which teacheth thee c. Which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go Psal 25.22 Thy soul will hang on him if thou consider that his right hand upholdeth thee Psal 63.8 Confider what is in thy heart naturally what thoughts and Imaginations come spontaneously into thy mind are they holy thoughts and motions which stir and are fomented at such times as this duty is either wilfully neglected or through much business omitted or are they vain worldly profane and sinful if these be then be careful that when thou awakest thou be present with God and let thy soul instantly fly unto him And seek him early in those words of David in the 63 Psal througout O God thou art my God early will I seek thee c. Or in the like words and Let thy soul fly unto him before the morning watch Psal And continue seeking him ever more All those that know God as theires their Interest in him gives them this boldness of seeking him in all occasions And if any seek him not early they doubt of their interest and property in him Or of their needs for we are not afraid to lose that we never had nor desire to have neither do we think we can make use of that which neither owneth us nor we own that That which we seek early constantly and solicitously is that which we know we need and live upon and cannot live without Therefore thus seek thy God and thus shew thy carefulness to preserve thine Interest in him and to improve it and to make use of it at all times and to acknowledge him in all thy waies in thy outward blessings and preservations and inward gifts and graces c. Thou that art at thy best as Adam was thou must needs know thy mutability and instability and that thou also though strong art in danger of falling at all times and in all places as he fell And the Rock it self the Apostle Peter fell and David by slender
them for their sins 't is said They hearkned not because the Lord would destroy them Therefore it appeares that it was a toaken of Gods Fatherly love to David that he punished him for his sin that he might repent of them and not lye in them and die in them But whom God suffers to run on in sin without any crosses and afflictions rebukes and chastisements they are none of his children Another reason why God afflicts his children is to take their hearts from off the love of the world that we may use the world as if we used it not Jer. 45. I bring evil upon all flesh and seekest thou great things If any one loveth the world the love of the Father is not in him But when we are in prosperity we say as holy David did Psal 30. Tush I shall never be cast down but it followeth Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled he then sees his weakness and vanity and too much security which he expressed in his prosperity the Lord was pleased to withdraw the light of his countenance that he might not set his affections upon the world nor rejoice in the things of the world but in the enjoiment of God and live upon that Thirdly consider that God doth suffer his people to be afflicted for the exercise of their graces as he did Jobs patience hope faith spiritual fortitude and his other graces Job 13.15 Though the Lord should kill me yet would I trust in him said he in his affliction James 1.23 Count it all joy when you fall into temptation Knowing that the tryal of your faith worketh patience Solomon said Chasten thy Son and thou shalt have comfort of him so doth our heavenly Father so that to the faithful afflictions should be cause of joy because they are the means of grace The worst creature that ever was will oftentimes make as great a show as the best in prosperity silver is tried in the fire consider God never laid any thing upon his children but he gave them strength to suffer it or did mitigate the pain He staieth his rough wind in the day of the east wind Isa 27. Psal 94.12 Blesis the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him in thy law 13. That thou maiest give him patience in time of adversity until the pit be digged up for the ungodly Rejoice in the Lord ye righteous c. My joy shall be in the Lord though the fig tree should not blossom c. yet would I rejoid in the Lord. No chastning for the present seems joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yeilds the peaceable fruits of Righteousness as David testifieth Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have learned the judgments of thy mouth That is he learned the practising of them for though he knew them he went a stray and by affliction was reclam'd Psa 'T is good for me that I have been afflicted Meditation LORD let it be thy will to perfect my graces by my afflictions and to purify and refine me of all my corruptions as silver is refined in the fire for if I still feel pride and envy wrath scorn and contempt of my meaner brethren in my heart or be inclined to revile such as have fallen I may justly fear that though thou hast removed one judgment from me yet thou wilt bring another greater upon me and if I will not be thereby humbled and taught to bear with the infirmities of my brethren so as to pitty restore and help them thou mayest justly heap more and more plagues upon me and mine till thou hast destroyed me And since thou hast said that the same measure that we meet to others shall be measured to us again Teach me that I may forbear all distastful words and scornful behaviour and all passion and censure towards others that are under me though but my Servants least those who are above me or under me should requite me with the like If thou sufferest me to be railed at and reviled as thy Servant David was often and as all holy men of God and Saints have been and must expect to be let me not look upon the persons so railing but receive it as from God as he did saying if the Lord hath said to Shimei curse David who shall say why hast thou done so So let him curse for who can tell but the Lord will requite good for his railing and so the Lord did requite it and let me learn not to judge others by what they suffer but consider the bitter mockings which the Disciples of Christ underwent as the Lord had foretold them but chiefely let us consider what contradiction of sinners our blessed Lord and Saviour underwent lest we faint in our minds and be weary And let us learn thereby to speak evil of no man though most highly provoked no not in our passion lest we seem to disbelieve or contemn the blessing pronounced upon such sufferers Meditation IN their Affliction they will seek me early When by Affliction we are deprived of all worldly comfort then we will seek it in God therefore it is necessary for some people to be alwaies afflicted and I may be one of them Heb. 12.10 11. They viz. our parents Chastened us for their pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Now no chastening for the present seemeth joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby So that the end of Gods Afflicting us is to improve our faith patience holiness and other graces and he will make these means efual Isa 26.9 Meditation O My soul let not lying lips slanders backbitings nor false accusations provoke thee to let loose the reins to revenge and wrath but rather give place to injuries lest thou justifiest the Sons of Zerviah saying let us cut off this dogs head and condemnest holy David And thou mayest hope for the like requital if thou do accordingly but thou hadst rather that the Lord would keep thee secretly in his Tabernacle from strife of tongue Another end why God afflicts his people is to make them like to Christ as it is 2 Tim. 2.12 For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him If we deny him he also will deny us and Rom. 8.17 Joynt heirs with Christ If so be we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him we are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world They suffer with him who suffer innocently The third end is the trial of faith as the St. Peter 6.7 Though now ye are in heaviness if need be through manifold temptations 7 v. That the trial of your faith being much more precious than Gold though it be tried in the fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory c. So they try our love too Meditation O
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
thou O my soul apprehend that these are only the peculiar priviledges and injoyments of the Saints and fearest thy self to be none of those but fain thou wouldst be such thou maiest sue to the Lord to perform those and the like promises of free grace Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me I will give them a new heart And that Micha 7.19 He will subdue our iniquities And that Isa 3.4 The heart of the rash shall understand And that Isa 11.6 The Wolf shall lye down with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid. And that Hosa 14.15 I will heal their backslidings And that Rom. 16.20 The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly And that Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgements and do them Luke 11.13 How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him And Isa 35.5 The ear of the deaf shall be unstopped And that Deut. 30.9 I will circumcise thine heart That thou maiest love the Lord thy God with all thine heart c. And that in Isa 40. v. 31. They shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint Since then God hath promised to give thee his Spirit if thou askest it of him and prooved it with an argument a fortiori that he will and hath promised to do all this for thee and work all these works in thee and thou findest in thy self desires pantings and longing for them and thereupon dost ask him in his Sons name and for his mercies sake his truths sake and his names sake to perform these promises and givest him no rest till he doth it doubt not but he will Meditation of the Love of God Psal 103.8 The Lord is full of compassion and mercy long suffering and of great goodness c. Those sweet compellations which almighty God useth to his poor creature man if they do but sink into our hearts they must needs make such impressions as will cause reciprocal love to him Is Ephraim a dear Son is he a pleasent Child what can endear thee more than this Oh my soul what love canst thou desire more he counts thee and calls thee in this Relation Son looks upon thee with compassion as his child and pittieth thee as a Father pittieth his Child delighteth in thee as a Father delighteth in a Child whom he loveth and helpeth thee as his Child Behold what manner of love God hath shewed thee that thou shouldest be called the Son of God Joh. 1.4 If a Son then an heir and joynt heir with Christ his only begotten Son for Christ is not ashamed to call us Bretheren in this relation to God and Christ what canst thou want or fear or what more canst thou desire in the 3d. Chap. of Mal. He calls them his Jewels and Rev. 1. Kings and Priests and Isa 62. a Crown of glory His portion he called Abraham his friend What canst thou fear a Master may be severe if his work be done he will pay wages if not stripes but a Father is indulgent and will spare his Child and require no more of him than he can perform with comfort and delight if then thou canst find in thy self the disposition of a Child be sure thou maiest find in him the disposition of a Father Mat. 3. Our Blessed Saviour hath owned them in these relations viz. His Bretheren his members his Spouse his betroathed his Sister and Mother his Garden his Church his beloved his branches his Servants his flock his lambs his friends and Revel 1.6 He hath loved us and washed us from our sins and made us Kings and Priests to God Could the Canaanitish Woman find incouragement for faith to lay hold from that of Dog who needs to dispair sure not a prodigal Son And every thing that is excellent beautiful and desirable beloved and endeared he compares his people to it and sees all those perfections in them as he expresseth in the Cant. O then my soul admire and be inamoured of him and find all excellencies perfections and desirable good things in him from whom thine excellency cometh and is derived thine head thy Husband thine elder Brother thy Father thy Maker thy Governour thy Redeemer for so doth the heavenly Spouse see and admire in Christ Jesus her Beloved If so thou dost then thou knowest that he is they Beloved thy Saviour thy Head thy Brother thy Portion thy Delight thou lovest him in all that he did or said his teaching his sufferings his miracles thy love to him is but the reflexion of the beam of his Meditations of Mercy Med. 1. Psal 103.11 As high as the Heaven is above the earth so great is his Mercy c. WOrthy of our meditation are all the workes of God and every word of his to be studied by us that we may thereby improve our graces but his workes of mercy and that part of his word which holdeth forth mercy and offers it and sets forth God in the Glory and excellency of his mercy is most necessary for sinful man and most comfortable to be considered All that are saved are saved by meditating of this all that are lost are lost and perish for lack of the knowledg of this this is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ The freeness then and largeness of it is to be our chief study free it is What motive found he in us to move him when enemies to give his Son up for us all and to beseech us but only from his own goodness because he delights in mercy The man that seeks his lost sheep may get the profit of it and so may the woman that seeks her lost groat but what profit can the Lord get by us for which he may seek us for when we have done all we are unprofitable Servants The largeness of his mercy is without limits for if he hath commanded us to forgive seventy times seven times will not he frankly forgive us what we are not able to satisfy since he makes his forgiving of us many talents the argument why we should forgive petty debts can we imaging that he will take the first forfeiture since he hath commanded us not only to forgive our enemies but to love them bless them pray for them to do good for evil will not he forgive us love us and bless us as freely for Christs sake though there be no motive in us for it would he make love to be the fulfilling of the law charity the covering of transgression prefer charity before piety by commanding us to leave our gift at the Altar to be reconciled to our Brother prefer it before faith and all gifts and graces making it as it were the ligament and sinews of all and that if we want that all other graces are but empty sounds make