Selected quad for the lemma: saint_n
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A60139
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A new-years-gift: containing serious reflections on time, and eternity And some other subjects moral and divine. With an appendix concerning the first day of the year, how observed by the Jews, and may best be employed by a serious Christian.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing S3675; ESTC R219104
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105,675
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262
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Lusts or to draw me from God by the love of the World and the praise of Men by Evil Company Intemperance secret Wickedness c. I bless Thee with my whole Soul for calling me back from any of my Wandrings and by Infinite Goodness recovering me after great Falls enabling me to return when I had gone astray and seek thy forfeited favour that thou may'st heal my Backslidings giving me in order to it a deep sense of my own Sin and of thy Soveraign Grace leading me to a Saviour whose Blood cleanseth from all sin when my guilty defiled Soul so much needed its pardoning and cleansing Vertue awakening me to make holy Vows and calling upon me by thy Word and Spirit and Providence to perform them I bless Thee who hast guided my feet into the way of Peace when by the Terrors of an accusing Conscience and the sense of unpardon'd Sin and the Apprehensions of thy deserved Wrath I was ready to Despair that tho' thou didst most justly hide thy Face at any time it was but for a little while but didst seasonably and in Mercy return to wipe off my Tears restore the Joy of thy Salvation and chace away the clouds and darkness on my Spirit by the reviving Presence of thy own Thou who art the Author wilt be the Finisher of my Faith and therefore tho' thou hast visited mine Iniquities with a Fatherly Rod yet thy loving-kindness thou hast not taken from me or suffered thy faithfulness to fail or thy Covenant of Peace to be removed but hast refreshed me with hidden Manna after great Perplexities saying unto my Soul I am God even thy God Thou hast made me to hear thy Voice which was sweet and to taste thy Love which is better than Wine enabling me to say with thine Apostle Thomas My Lord and my God and to have had some Communion with Thee since in publick or private Duties For all these Innumerable Mercies I desire to praise Thee which yet are but in order to greater I hope in order to Everlasting Kindness in Heaven These are but the Taste and Earnest of what thou wilt bestow hereafter Oh how great is his Goodness that he hath laid up for those that fear him And now Lord what wait I for my hope is even in Thee I thank thee who hast thus put it into my Heart to render thee solemn Praise and once more to renew my Covenant with Thee I will magnifie the Lord and my Spirit shall rejoyce in God my Saviour Return unto thy rest O my Soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with me (a) Psal 104.33 While I live I will praise thee and sing Praises unto my God while I have a Being O come and behold the Works of the Lord what he hath done for my Soul The Lord liveth (b) Psal 18.46 Blessed be my Rock and let the God of my Salvation be exalted Let my Heart be glad and my Glory rejoyce for the Lord is not asham'd to be called my God Thanks be to God who hath caused me to triumph in Christ Jesus Sing unto the Lord O ye his Saints and give thanks at the remembrance of his Holiness (c) Psal 30. I cried unto Thee and thou hast healed and sav'd me I will give thanks to Thee for ever (d) Psal 119.62 I will shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night For the Lord is Good his Mercy is Everlasting and his Truth endures throughout all Generations O enter into his Gates with Thanksgiving and his Courts with Praise be thankful unto him and bless his Name Bless the Lord all ye his Works in all-places of his Dominions Bless the Lord O my Soul Let me add for a Conclusion That the particular Deliverances Supports and Consolations which at any time God hath given in Cases of great Exigence or in answer to importunate Prayer ought never to be forgotten Many experienc'd Christians have been wont to write down such remarkable Appearances of God for them with the particular Circumstances that did recommend and enhance the Mercy whether Spiritual or Temporal as an Encouragement to trust in God in future Difficulties And have afterwards found the Comfort and Advantage of being able to have recourse to such Papers This Practice I recommend as what hath been useful and consolatory to divers Christians for many years afterwards and to some others of their more intimate Friends to whom they might without vanity be imparted What Experiences might be recorded of signal Returns to Prayer and seasonable Manifestations of the Truth and Goodness and Wisdom of God if all the Instances thereof were duly recollected and preserv'd And how sweet and pleasant would the Work of Prayer and Praise then be With what rejoycing and delight should we set about it and live in it if the constraining Goodness and Love of God and a thankful Sense of his unspeakable Mercies did bring us to him and indict and animate every word What Support and Comfort and probable Hopes at least of the special Love of God might we derive from the various Passages of his Compassion and Kindness And hereby we may be able more heartily to give him Thanks for Pardon Sanctification and Adoption which we commonly mention with too much doubt and fear It may likewise be Advisable To examine and record the Workings of your own Spirit under such Dispensations What Thoughts you then had of God What Acts of Faith Love and Thankfulness you did then manifest What Evidences of God's Favour and what discovery of your own Sincerity you have had at such times When and how and by what means you were cur'd of your uncomfortable Unbelief and rais'd from your Despondency What Promises you had recourse to for relief What Considerations were most helpful to you What frame of Spirit you kept up in Prayer before and after What Resolutions and Engagements you made to God to love and trust and praise and serve him and give up All to his dispose for the future And what consequent Obligation may be inferr'd from thence to acquiesce in the Will of God and resign our selves entirely to Him saying This God is our God for ever and ever and He will be our Guide unto Death THE APPENDIX From what Time the Jews reckon'd the Beginning of their Year Of the Difference between their Sacred and Civil Account The Feast of Trumpets on the First Day of the Year Its Institution Nature and Design the Traditions and Customs of the Jews respecting that Day UPon the Deliverance of the Jews out of Egypt the first Month which began with the New Moon next to the Vernal Equinox was to be accounted Exod. 12.1 the beginning of Months it answers to the latter end of our March and the beginning of April and is sometimes called Nisan and sometimes Abib It was ordinarily after that Deliverance reckon'd the First Month of the Year in their Sacred or Ecclesiastical Account The Computation of
fully known What inexpressible Sweetness might Believers tast by rejoycing in Hope did a more lively Faith realize all this to their Souls We might listen as it were to the Shouts and Acclamations of the Saints above and say Amen to their Thanksgivings We might behold them about the Throne of God and of the Lamb with Psalms of Victory in their Hands a Crown of Glory on their Heads and Songs of Triumph in their Mouths saying Allelujah * Rev. 4. c. 11. 5. c. 12 13. Worthy art thou O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy Pleasure they are and were created And worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing And again Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto him who sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Whence is it O my Soul if indeed I believe and expect all this that I can Hear and Read and Think and Speak of these great Things with no more ardent Affections suitable Preparations importunate Prayers and vigorous Desires How should the believing Thoughts of that Day promote my Heavenly-mindedness Self-denial Contempt of the World Patience and Perseverance Quicken my Zeal secure my Stedfastness and give Life and Spirit to my Prayers for the hastening of it How should my Soul rise towards Heaven by holy Love and Desire Ascend and meet him get as near him as I can breathe after more of his Presence and beg him to prepossess my Heart to anticipate his second Coming by clearer Discoveries of his Love and fuller Communications of his Grace Even so Come Lord Jesus XXIV Concerning the Examination of a man's Heart and Life the Reasonableness Advantages and Necessity of it Some Direction and Advice concerning the Time and Manner That we may know in what Preparedness we are for Eternity I Am hastening every Year every Day to the period of this Life I must shortly appear before my Glorious Judge and experience these Terrors or Comforts this Blessedness or Misery which I have now read of Shall I not therefore inquire which of the two belongs to me Is it not worth considering whither I must go and how I shall fare when I quit this Body What is like to be my next Habitation To which of the two unchangeable States I shall be adjudg'd Shall an Inquiry of so much consequence be put off to an indefinite hereafter Do I not desire to know the worst while a remedy may be found Or am I content to dye through an unwillingness to discover that I am Sick The Question to be resolved is of infinite weight Shall I not spend a few hours to know what will become of me for ever An error is more than possible 't is easie to mistake and the hazard of doing so is unspeakeably great How many thousands perish eternally even under the Light of the Gospel who never suspected their Danger How ordinary how common a thing is it for Men to be thus deceived How successful is the Devil in this Stratagem against the Souls of Men Is it not then a most criminal Stupidity to be contentedly ignorant and unresolved whether I am reconciled to God or no whether I am led by the Flesh or by the Spirit whether I am in the broad or narrow way which lead to such contrary ends that is whether if I die in this condition I shall be saved or perish Can such an enquiry be frivolous or indifferent Is the subject of it so contemptible or my concern in it so small that it merits not to be attentively considered Shall I never ask my Soul till I am leaving this World the unfittest time of all to begin so important an Affair what am I To whom do I belong Whose Image do I bear How have I lived and what do I do What do I love most What do I most constantly desire and chuse and seek How doth the Pulse of my Soul beat Is it quickest towards God or towards the World Whither am I going What will be the final upshot and issue of my present course Is it Heaven or Hell I must be translated to by dying What security have I got for Eternal Life What provisions have I made What Foundation have I laid How strangely infatuated are most Men who talk of an Everlasting Life as an Article of their Creed and say they count upon it that they must dwell in Happiness or Misery for ever and seldom or never bethink themselves in good earnest and for any time with a setled composed exercise of thoughts which of these Two is like to be their Lot Or if they begin to search and try themselves they come to no Conclusion or conclude too hastily they pluck off the Plaister as soon as it begins to smart they are either frighted with the horrid prospect of past Crimes or having escap'd the grosser Pollutions of the World judge too favourably of their own case They commonly do the Work but by halves and so go from the Glass and forget what manner of Persons they were Let me therefore O my Soul Sequester my self from the World to commune with my own Heart to reflect upon my past Life and look into my present State to recollect and review the most considerable Passages of my course and time hitherto O how neglected and disused a Practice is this which doth challenge and require our principal and most serious Concerns about it And how many begin it and are discouraged and leave off without reaching the end of such an Enquiry How much wiser in this respect are the Children of this World in their Generation than the Children of Light Who is so exact in his Accompts between God and his own Soul as Tradesmen in their Dealings with one another Who is at the pains to write down his Sins and his Mercies the grounds of his Fear and the Encouragements of his Hope or keeps a Journal and Diary of his Spiritual State Who doth at set times once a Month or once a Quarter or even once a Year take a just view of himself his Heart and Life and State as a Christian that he may see what he hath received and done what he owes and what he may expect that he may know whether he thrive or decay whether he increase or decrease whether he go backward or forward whether he be Richer or Poorer this Year than the last And is it not a Symptom that you are declining when you love not to examine your Accounts Is there not ground of jealousie and suspicion that you are behind-hand because you are loth to inquire whether you are or no And unwilling to know the worst of your Condition Nevertheless without such Enquiries and bringing the matter to a Determination at what uncertainties must we live And how unconceivable an hazard do all Hypocrites and unrenewed Sinners run And how reasonable how