And prayeth Forsake me not in the time of mine Age when my strength faileth me until I have shewed thy strength unto this Generation and they Power unto all c. Psal 72. He urgeth his holy Resolutions Give the King thy judgements c. Then shall he Judge the people according to right and defend the poor c. He shall keep the simple folk by their right and punish the wrong doer Psal 5.2 Hearken unto the voice of my calling my King and my God Motiv for unto thee will I make my my prayer my voice shalt thou hear betimes O Lord early in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up Psal 86.11 Teach me thy way O Lord the motive And I will walk in thy truth knit my heart unto thee the motive that I may fear thy name Psal 16. Preserve me O God the motive for in thee do I put my trust Psal 17. And in sundry other Psalms he urgeth the wickedness of his enemies as a motive ver 8. Keep me as the apple of the eye hide me under the shadow of thy wings from the wicked that oppress me the motive with their mouth they speak proudly c. In the 38 Psal he also urgeth the malice and wickedness of his enemies together with his own sorrow and misery by reason of his sins and his enemies ver 2. Thine arrows stick fast in me and thine hand presseth me sore There is no health in my flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there rest in my bones because of my sin ver 20. Of his enemies he saith they were against him because he followed the thing that is good but he will confess his iniquities these motives introduce this prayer Hast thee to help me O Lord God of my salvation In the 4 Psal He makes use of Gods former benefits as a motive for further beneficent saying Hear me when I call O God of my Righteousness the motive for thou hast set me at liberty when I was in trouble Psal 86. He urgeth his afflictions he suffered under Gods hand and his enemies malice and the goodness and mercy of God And concludes O turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me Usual in his prayers is that expression for thy Name sake They who would make use of this as all must must know him in that name which he himself proclaimed Exod. 34.6 For David did refer to this The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin c. The Lord cannot forget his own name therefore cannot forget to be gracious If we can use that inducement of Moses Lord if I have found favour in thy sight it is peculiar to his favourites and obligeth God to hear This is a large Field and may afford great plenty and variety but every man may supply himself with it that list to read and observe the Psalms It is noted by Bishop Cooper that it is not sufficient to seek from God because of that which he is but we must also consider what we are Otherwise as Jehu said unto one demanding Is it peace What hast thou to do with peace So the Lord may answer us though the Lord be gracious what is it to us As to the subject matter of Prayer the Children of God are sometimes mistaken about it and are in doubts St. Paul accordingly confesseth in the behalf of himself and others we know not what to pray for as we ought We find Moses also mistaken in the matter of his Prayer Exod. 33.18 Shew me now thy Glory for God answer'd him that no man could see his face and live and that he could not see it yet Almighty God to shew his propensity in hearing prayer came as neer his request as he could for God answered him in that which was as profitable and useful for him He made all his goodness to pass before him and let him see his back-parts so that Moses lost not his Prayer though he did not obtain the thing he asked Much more may we expect success in our Prayers when we ask such things as he hath commanded us to seek which we know are according to his will and our blessed Saviour also hath engag'd for our obtaining The invitations being so many so importunate and so free viz. To come and buy without money and without price to open our mouths wide to ask and have it appears and we must so believe that Gods bountifulness is such that he is more ready to give than we to ask or receive And like as a Mother whose breasts are full is more desirous to give suck to her Babe than that to crave or receive it such is Gods freeness to us It concerns us then to advise what these rich benefits are which we are to beg and buy without money or price And if we may have what we lack for asking certainly we shall be convinced of the greatest folly in the world if we will lose them for want of asking Many are ignorant of their own wants as the Church of Laodicea who knew not that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked but thought herself in the contrary estate But God adviseth her of her wants and the remedy of it which he sheweth her is to be had of him only viz. Gold tried in the fire that she might be rich and white raiment that she might be cloathed and eye Salve that she might see and freely invites her to buy them of him though she were poor blind and naked and had nothing to purchase them withall therefore we may infer that all men be their condition what it will may come to God in this duty of Prayer for all their needs as we read Jonah 1.5 The Mareners cryed every one to his God For our better direction that we may not miscarry in our suits as the Mother of Zebedees Children did our blessed Saviour hath plentifully instructed us what we should pray for as he here directs the Church of the Laodiceans Matth. 6.9 and Luke 11.2 The Disciples sensible of their own insufficiency do make it their suit to him to teach them thereupon he gives a pattern and rules for them and us to use In which Prayer the three first and the three last petitions are spiritual According to the rule which he gives ver 33. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof From this prayer of our Saviour and the rules by him given and from the precepts elsewhere and the prayers of the Saints we find but these three things necessary to be prayed for viz. Grace and the means of Grace and the rewards promised thereto For though the Children of God do most frequently use confession of their sins and thanksgivings together with their Prayers as Daniel did And Davids Psalms are most of them thus and whether we use them as
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
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
helpe in trouble I have wilfully opened a gap to let in a stream of corruptions a Breach is made in my spiritual Castle for all the enemies of my soul to break in at and I am disposed to greater sins which by little and little creep in and get ground by degrees till at last it reigns uncontrolled and brings us in the end to a hardned heart a seared conscience that cannot repent and eternal damnation I consider also what might and ought to have drawn me from my sin to the contrary virtue What strength of humane reason what moral precepts natural modesty and shame fear of being seen examples of moral serious and religious men to the contrary serenity of mind the publick good and my own private good contentation and transquility and happiness with many more motives from the light of nature and good education ready to inform and restrain a mind willing to be virtuous Besides innumeâ—able other restraints from the word of God the instructing of the Spirit The life of faith the fear of God and his alseeing eye the terror of the curse upon the disobedient Hope of Heaven and eternal recompences to the obedient the exceeding and eternal weight of glory which is laid up for us the exceeding precious promises able not only to support the soul of a believer in the greatest difficulties but also to ravish it which excess of joy under the greatest sufferings Besides if I had no such light of nature no education no knowledg of the scriptures and humane precepts no knowledg of histories of Gods dealing in judgment with other sinners who have felt the truth of all the threatnings denounced against sinners as Josephus and the scriptures and other writings testify the Jews did and all notorious sinners have done and daily do if I had no promises to allure no threatnings to drive me no conscience to testify unto me no testimony of other men in all ages both wicked and righteous yet this one argument were perswasive enough to have deterred me from wickedness to the service of God namely my dependance on him for the necessaries and conveniencies of life my supplys my sustentation and preservation from imminent dangers unexpectedly surprising me This might be sufficient to make me bewaile my own improvidence and folly in casting away my succour my hope my sustentation safeguard and preservation for that which hath not profited me I therefore with grief of heart bewail my self But that which may cumulate more grief is to consider the ungratitude of my sinful soul for so many mercies received which have transported me with admiration As when I received form the hands of the Lord houses that I built not and wealth that I laboured not for whereby I was delivered from getting my bread with the sweat of my brow and the labor of my mind and body in pain and sorrow with continual carping and caring and restlesness the benefit whereof I continually enjoy with comfort therefore my duty of gratitude obligeth me to consider what I shall render to God and to use these mercies to his honour and glory and not to abuse them to his dishonour in sinning against him And when I have done the contrary I have dealt unworthily with so good a God for if Hanna would needs retribute for one mercy what must I do for so many The many deliverances that God hath wrought for me in bringing me out of troubles which I have sometimes brought upon my self sometimes my enimies have brought upon me sometimes the hand of God hath brought upon me and my relations either for our sins or for our trials out of all which the Lord delivered me so that I can testify and set to my seale that God is true and hath performed all his gracious promises to me that he hath made to them that fear him He hath been with me in six troubles and in the seventh he hath not forsaken me his deliverances have exceeded both these numbers therefore I must confess that he hath also verified his largest promises to me saying I will never leave thee nor forsake thee And also when he saith No weapon formed against thee shall prosper And when he saith Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it For his mercies have been greater than my desires and my tongue would fail me to recount them All which fly in my face and testify against me when I sin for how can I recount all his benefits which I have received from him upon which I live beginning with that of being born of virtuous parents And all the deliverances which he hath wrought for me in abundance of mercy and chiefly that he hath delivered my soul from Hell But I must reflect upon my sin with shame and confusion of face with loathing and abhorring my self in sackcloth and ashes with fasting and depriving my self of all comforts and injoyments with humiliation and abasing my self with earnest and humble supplications sighs and tears of a contrite heart but when I consider the vows promises and protestations which I have made to God in my time of trouble when I sought to God for my deliverance and that he did pluck me as a brand out of the fire and did hear my prayers and delivered me and did grant my requests above my desire or hope as he did Jacobs These broken vows put me to shame and cause me to abhor my self and with Ephraim to smite upon my breast desiring in my heart that I could do any thing whereby I might but undo one sinful action or that I could expiate the same by any sufferings but my conscience tells me that all I can do or suffer through the whole course of my life will not be sufficient to expiate or attone for one sin so as to make me innocent again Therefore I have resolved and vowd to sin no more And I have wished my self dead that I might no more sin and I have resolved to separate my self from the world that I may spend all my time in serving God who hath not dealt by me after my sins Thy word O Lord hath shewed me that if thy people repent them of their sins and forsake them though they be as scarlet thou wilt make them white as snow and thou wilt abundantly pardon them and thou wilt repent thee of the evil which thou bringest upon them If Ahab go mourning thou wilt not bring the evil in his days and all thy threatinings are only conditional unless we repent So the City of Ninivie diverted thy wrath by turning unto thee and seeking thee with fastings and prayers This duty all the Prophets taught This St. John the Baptist preached Saying Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand This our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles taught Therefore let me practise this so necessary a duty but unless thou inablest me with thy grace and unless thou givest me repentance I cannot have it of my self because my heart is hard of it self
a noise in the ear without any profit would God require such love from us but that he is Love Gracious Merciful and full of compassion slow to anger hateth nothing that he hath made what can he say more free to thee though thou art as an adulterous Spouse to him yet thou maiest returne and he will receive thee again though thou bringest no merit but demerit to provoke He hath excluded none from his mercy unless they be such as will shew no mercy or else those that sin of malicious wickedness and sin in despight of the Spirit wilfully against light The entail of his mercy is to thousands of them that love him 2 Meditation on Gods Mercy Lord if thou shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss who may abide it but there is Mercy with thee c. LORD be merciful to me a sinner we have all sinned and hope in thy Mercy only through the merits of our Saviour If we were not sinners thy mercy would be of no use towards us And our Blessed Lord and Saviour would be of no use to us nor faith nor hope would be of any use nor prayer nor praises But because I am a sinner I pray for thy mercies I praise thee for thy mercies I hope for thy mercies I trust in thy mercy revealed to sinners I believe in the merits of my Saviour and renounce all merit in my self therefore Lord cast me not off because I am a sinner shut not out my prayers for this I will not sin that grace may abound but though I have sinned I am an object of Mercy and thy grace that abounded to Mary Magdalen to Paul to Publicans and sinners may also extend to me Thou hast sent thy Son to call not the Righteous but Sinners To the lost sheep of the house of Israel to seek and also to save that which was lost to quicken them who were dead in trespasses and sins To preach the glad tidings of the Gospel of our Salvation though thy Mercy in giving up thy Son to dye for us that by his death we might escape death and live because he bore the iniquities of us all and by his stripes we are healed That precious blood that he shed upon the ground when the speare was thrust into his body was a sufficient ransom for the lives of all man-kind And as my sins had a concurrent demer it procuring his death so I hope they are joyned in the effect the attonement and expiation That his righteousness may be imputed to me also as my sins were to him 2 Cor. 5. That I may be made the righteousness of God in him Therefore we have need that he should be made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption because we were foolish disobedient and deceived serving divers lusts and therefore hast thou proclaimed thy self abundantly pardoning because our sins abound Isa 55. As our Blessed Saviour is the chiefest and greatest of all mercies because he is of more value than all so is he also to be esteemed because in him as in the Fountain are all others contained for by him and faith in his merits only we pray for all others which we need therefore above all we praise thee for him and in him and by him we praise thee for all 3. Meditation All our spirituall mercies as well grace here as glory and eternal happiness hereafter are free without any merit of ours of meer gift and mercy Tit. 3.3 5. We our selves were sometimes disobedent c. But after the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by workes of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ c. He is the medium by whom they are derived to us and not our own merit of his fulness we have received grace for grace as the members derive their vital Spirits from the head The converting grace and the confirming graces are both free Ephe. 1.13 In whom after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance He worketh in us both the will and deed that is good when of our selves we cannot think a good thought Therefore above all we pray that thou wouldst give us thy Son whom thou hast given for us all freely and then with him thou givest us all things and as a Father pittieth his own Children so doth the Lord pitty them that fear him Thy bowels cannot see them want any thing Let him live in us by his word by his Spirit by his image in us by his graces which we receive from his fulness let him be formed in us and by him dwelling in our hearts let us be crucified to the world and dye daily and be buried with him and yet live but so that we may be said not to live our selves but Christ in us Thus let the word and the Sacraments convey him to us Since thou hatest nothing that thou hast made and thy delight is among the Sons of men Pro. 1. Certainly thou dost not afflict nor grieve willingly the Sons of men Therefore when we cry unto the Lord in our trouble he delivers us out of distress Psal 104. He cannot forbear to kiss and embrace his prodigal Son O let thy revelation of thy love to man recall mans straying affections to God If we believe this our faith will work love to him again and we shall be as willing to be reconciled to him as he to be reconciled to us 2 Cor. 5.20 If while we were enemies Christ died for us whom hath he not died for who is excluded from his mercy much more being justified by his blood will he save us seeing he hath done so much for us when we were worse now that we are put in a better relation by the blood of Christ and are reconciled to him and made just persons much more now will he do the rest which is but the consequence of the justification to save us All this is free mercy Not of workes which we have done but of his own good will he begot us and accordingly we are justified freely by his grace 4. Meditation I find no condition annexed to be precedent to make a subject capable of mercy but only want and desire of mercy want I have without my own act or endeavour desire of relief too ariseth spontaneously without my endeavour and largeness of desire proceeds from a covetous mind an eye unsatisfied yet such is the ocean of mercy that it requires but only that we open our mouth wide and he will fill it as he promiseth As long as the widow brought empty vessels the Oyl ran he giveth liberally and upbraideth not he giveth more then we are able to ask or think the debtor doth but desire forbearance but the Lord forgives him the debt Jacob only desired food and
raiment and God increased him to two bands Abraham desired but a Son and God increaseth his seed as the sand of the Sea The prodigal desires to be but as a Servant and the Father entertaineth him with embracings and feastings But as for his people that trust in him mercy imbraseth them on every side God satisfieth their mouth with good things they shall want no manner of thing that is good He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him if he doth not give the thing desired he will take away the desire of it Psal 32.4 Delight thy self in the Lord and he will give the thy hearts desire We starve our souls for want of asking Joash struck three times on the ground and the Prophet was angry and said to him Thou shouldest have strucken six or seven times Paul to the Corinthians saith you are not straitned in us but in your own bowels And t is said of Christ that he could not do many works because of their infidelety to be often upon our knees shews our faith in him believing his goodness and Fatherly care of us Infidelity doth as it were bind the hands of God who is not wanting in his bowels of mercy Be sensible then O my soul of thy wants know where to go for thy supply namely to him that inviteth thee give way to thy most inlarged desires when thou goest to an infinite supply be not straitned in thine own bowels open thy mouth wide come boldly as he biddeth thee And ask the things that are pleasing in his sight since thou knowest thou shalt receive them if they be such things as the word of God teaches thee to ask fear not because thou art sensible of thine own unworthiness since such are invited and the best are unprofitable Servants And when they have done all they may and must acknowledge themselves such and stand in need of the merits of their Saviour and are justified freely by grace if so much more must such sinners as I and such as Mary Magdalen see our own unprofitableness But Oh that I could love as much as she did because much is forgiven me and I believe that he will forgive me because he hath given me many things and it is easier and lesser in the esteem of men to forgive a debt than to give I shall undoubtedly believe his love to me If I can feel in my heart such love to him 5. Meditation When I find the Lord reckoning up the greivous sins of his auncient people the Jews that they were a rebellious people lying Children that would not hearken to the law of the Lord which say to the seers see not and to the Prophets prophesy not unto us right things but deceits cause the holy one of Israel to cease from before us for which iniquity he threatens them v. 13. And v. 15. Promiseth them salvation if they return but finding them obstinate they would not whereby they procure their own ruin Therefore he saith Isa 15.18 He will wait to be gracious unto them He will be exalted that he may shew mercy unto them as if he had said though their sins were never so great yet his mercy should not be overcome his mercy is infinite as he is their sins are the sins of men his mercies the mercies of God that where iniquity doth abound grace doth superabound his mercy is free without any merit in us or any motive unless it be our misery the motive of his patience and mercy is only from himself but that he waited to be gracious implies that though his mercy were never so free yet he could not find a season to shew it then when they were so averse from him Since then the motive of mercy is only in God himself we may infer that there is nothing in him to discourage faith and recumbency upon him so that although we have been guilty of such sins as these are or the same though we have been rebellious lying averse and would not hearken unto his voice nor to his Prophets and have hindred them from speaking right things yet let us remember our selves and returne unto him as the Ninevites did when they were warned who knowes but he may wait to be gracious to us also but let us not presume upon his mercy and make that which should be our Physick our Poison We know that he hath given us a High Priest who doth not only know our insirmities and impotencies but therefore knew them that he might have compassion upon us Blessed Jesus thou knowest that no man can come after thee unless the Father draw him help thou our weak nature by thy Holy Spirits assistance draw us we will run after thee Quicken us who by nature are dead in trespasses and sins take away our heart of stone and give us hearts of flesh for thy promise sake A Prayer LORD when I am tempted to revenge pride Emulation Abition wrath or any other sinful action to satisfy my sensual carnal appetite to maintaine my honour to repress my adversary to Correct his insolency inlighten me with thy Heavenly grace thy word and thy Spirit that I may pull off the Mask of these sensual carnal waies of the men of the world which shall perish and see their vanity and deformity and anoint thou my eyes that I may cleerly see the beauty of every vertue grace meekness charity humility patience longanimity that I may view them in themselves and in those who excelled therein and esteeme them more honourable than to be accompted brave gallant bold valiant and heroick as sometimes I have esteemed when I have seen heard and read of any exemplar and rare act of the graces as to instance the patience of Job when he had lost his estate children and bodily health murmured not but blessed God and Eli 'T is the Lord let him do what seemeth good in his eyes Hanna when she was reproved for drunkenness answered without anger nay but in the bitterness of my soul I prayed Forgive us our trepasses as we forgive them that trespass against us 1. Meditation If our forgiving the trespasses of others be the pattern of Gods forgiveness to us how few can be saved for none ever forgave every injury that hath been done to him some they have revenged But if God doth not pardon every sin to us we are damned Lord give us thy grace to be as free in the pardoning of all trespasses without exception though never so many as we would have thee forgive us for we cannot have so many committed against us as we have committed against thee therefore we have need of a larger pardon from God to us than we can have occasion to give others If God would take accompt of us we shall have need of forgiveness for a thousand talents Mat. 18.24 More than we are able to satisfy yet when we fall down before him beseeching his pardon he freely forgives us all But if we for a hundred pence or
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
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
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
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