and to thy glorious Father so that I poore worme dust dung even I might be one even as thou art in the Father and the Father in thee that I might be one in both Ob height depth bredth and length of thy love how incomprehensible is thy grace how heavenly my consolation And how hast thou wrought all this for me O my God my Lord my gracious Redeemer where shall I seek words or thoughts to set out this mercy wonderfull is thy love in all the rest and that my soule knoweth right well but in this how farre beyond all possibility of apprehension all expressions of wonder That my miserable mortality might be clothed upon and I be borne anew in the divine nature thou didst strip thy selfe of those robes of divine Majesty in which thou knewest it to be no robberie to be equall to God and wast borne in my weake nature and found in the servileforme of my fleshly infirmities Thou gavest thy body thou gavest thy soule for my sinne thou wast bound thou wast mockt thou wast scourged condemned nailed and dead on the crosse Thou oh mirrhor oh infinite miracle of mercy thou the love of the Father didst taste not onely gall and vineger but even wrath hel for me the child of wrath and brand of hell Oh my dead soule canst thou see all this and want coÌ„fort Can one cup of wine cheere thy heart and shall not such fruit of such a Vine fill thee with joyes unspeakeable and glorious Oh what is thy portion wheÌ„ such is the price what thine inheritance when such the purchase Rejoyce then oh my soule rejoyce evermore in such a Lord and such a love for whatsoever thou hast lost thou hast gained Christ lost but dung with him thou receivest whatsoever is truly good and partest for him with nothing but what in some respect is evill Have I lost Parents Children friends lands livings yet I have not lost Christ nor my Lord will not lose mee If I lose my life with the rest yet shall I not lose the life of Christ he is my life hee in life and death is my advantage Let Father Mother Brother Sister Wife Children forsake and hate me yet the Lord Jesus will never leave me never cease to love me and hee is better than a world of friends and kindred Oh my Lord to be in heaven without thee were exile but a sicke bed a loathsome prison with thee is an heavenly Paradise Why then should I be troubled seeing thou hast made mee to dwell in thee by faith and thou vouchsafest to dwel in me by thy blessed Spirit Onely thou my Saviour who hast loved mee to death make me ever to live in thee and in thy love thou who hast dyed for mee plant thy death in mee and burie my corruptions in thy grave Tho who wast crucified for me crucifie the world to me the flesh in mee and graft in mee the life of thy resurrection make oh make me to reâ—oyce in the fellowship of thy sufferings and in thy good time change this crowne of thornes into that of glory CHAP. XXI Comforts which flow from the holy Ghost AGaine with those former drawn from the two first persons of the blessed Trinity annexe the consolations of Gods holy Spirit who dwelleth in the faithfull Sweete and excellent are these comforts Neither is it in vaine that in specialty the holy Ghost is called the Comforter as being that person who is sent by the Father and the Sonne by himselfe to worke this effect in us Let us then remember that this blessed Spirit doth not onely dwell in us by his gifts faith love c. but personally which is evidently expressed Ephes. 1.13,14 You are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which or rather who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke cannot in ordinarie construction of Grammar agree with that of Spirit the one being of the neuter the other of the masculine but the gender purposely changed against use to shew that the person of the blessed Spirit is with us in us and so continues and stayes as an earnest of our inheritance and our full redemption in which respect wee are called his Temples 1 Corinth 6. 19. Thus also when the holy Ghost is promised us Ioh. 16. 13 14. our Saviour alters the gender and useth the masculine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee the Spirit of Truth and againe he not it shall glorifie me to shew that the very third person of Trinitie is given us yet hee dwels not in us as sometime in the Temple made with hands but as the soule rather dwels in the body so doth the holy Ghost dwel in the faithfull quickening sustaining leading them on to the rest of their soules and Lieging with us Look as in the body the hart and Head produce life sense and motion by the vitall and animall spirits which being sent by them and diffused into every particular member quicken and move it So the Spirit of Christ flowing from him into his mysticall bodie fils every part with life sense and motion It is the Spirit saith our Saviour so his Apostle that quickens Therefore is he called our life and they that live in the Spirit walk also or move in the Spirit There is also spirituall sense a taste whereby wee perceive the sweetnesse of God of the grace of God and the word of his grace whereby the spirituall man savours the things of the Spirit a spirituall touch and tendernesse when the Lord takes away the heart of stone and gives an heart of flesh a spirituall eye whereby the spirituall man discernes all things a spirituall hearing delighting in the Word and promise of God more than any musicall harmony a spirituall sent whereby the verie name of Christ is as an Oyntmeâ—t powred forth Now the holy Ghost doth not onely worke this comfort in us by faith giviâ—g us power to apprehend things absent or to come but applieth them more immediately by this verie sense so that the soule shall even feele with joy unspeakeable the consolations of God flow into it Thus the blessed Spirit doth first speake peace unto us from God and then gives oâ—r spirits an open eare to heare his voyce and know our peace that so we may come to finde our selves children of God and heires with Christ. Thus he doth not only spread a Table for us and there sets forth that Bread of heaven in the holy Ordinances of God but gives us power to eate making them more sweete to us than the hony-combe and thus brings us on to more fulnesse of growth and eternall life thorough Christ. Hence commeth it that a Christian can rejoyce in tribulation because this holy spirit sheds abroad in our harts that love of God which is better than life and gives us so palpable a sense of it that it beareth downe all other feelings before it See
into this narrow way of affliction will safely lead us through it and bring our feet into a large place even the liberty of Gods children going along with us in all our evil and upholding us in it for our good and Gods glory Surely if the Furnace heated at once as for seven times could not consume the bodies of those stout Confessors nay could not singe a thred of their garments so long as the Angell of the Lord was among them what affliction or trouble shal hurt us when the Lord of Angels is with us nay in us supporting our weaknesse and bearing it out in all our troubles Lastly the many excellent delightfull fruits springing from this bitter roote will abundantly recompence and with great yea infinite usury repay all that evill which can possibly bee in any affliction First which before was mentioned The blewnesse of the wound serueth to purge the evill and the stripes within the bowels of the belly It purgeth out the old leven and maketh us a new lump Secondly the fire of affliction softneth our yron hearts and prepareth them for the hammar of the Word to frame us after the image of God and to set upon us the beauty of his holinesse It bringeth forth the pleasant fruit of righteousnesse Now what is there in all the world which if wee might wish and have wee would preferre or equall with this holinesse Neither should it too much trouble nay in some respect it should cheere us that we find inward terrors grievances doubts desertions buffeters of Satan we apply outward medicines to infants and weake ones but inward Physicke as it is given by expert Physicians to the strong so it worketh more strongly Inward stripes worke on the bowels clense the inward man this shaking rooteth our faith more stroÌ„gly and this disease of doubting occasionally seâ—leth us in more fulnesse and assurance of faith CHAP. VI. The application of this comfort by meditation NOw when we have well tasted and swallowed this Cordiall let us by some meditation and particular appliâ—ation labour to digest it and even incorporate this spirituall food into our soules For as it is with this earthly so is it with that heavenly fire of the Word it will soone bee extinguished or else lye dead uselesse unlesse it be blown up by meditation Thus therfore let the afflicted spirit confer and commune with it selfe Is it not my gracious God who reacheth forth this bitter cup of wormwood to me Commeth it not from his wonderfull love and faithfulnesse in his Covenant who promising to doe mee good hath therefore in my necessity tempered this potion for me My unfaithfull heart requireth it his faithfulnesse giveth it My dead cold heart and the sicke sinfull matter in my soule calleth for it his flagrant love his wisedome and compassion administreth it and shall not I then receive it If hee sent it in wrath should not I take it with humility and patience and if he reach it to mee in love and faithfulnesse shal not I receive it with chearefull thankfulnesse Oh shal not I drinke of the Cup which my Father hath given me Had it beene a Messenger of confusion well might I tremble and mourne yet not murmure but being an Embassadour of peace employed purposely for my Soveraigne and Supreme good and his glory shall I not make it welcome And will not hee worke his owne ends by it Shall noâ— this bitter root by his sanctifying power shoot forth that most pleasant fruit of holinesse and glory Oh thou ravishing beauty of Divine holinesse thou most excellent Image and nature of God! Oh thou unspeakeable and unconceivable happinesse with God in glory Shall any thing be unwelcome which bringeth you to me or carrieth me to you Were it water fire were it hell it selfe should I not passe through it to attayne you This light affliction bringeth with it a weight of glory This momentary affliction an eternall glory this despised affliction an excelling excellent glory and can then the root bee so bitter as the fruit delightfull Can I with a good will nay with pleaâ—ure eat a bitter or sowre sallat as helping to purge out some mellancholy humours and to whet the dull appetite and shall I not much more swallow this Pil which is bitter onely in the mouth but in the stomacke ful of sweetnesse and nourishment Nay are not all these afflictions being sanctified by God especiall evidences of my adoption and filiation through Christ Are not these stripes so many witnesses that I am his child And this smart a sure testimony that I am genuine and no bastard And with all the resâ— hath not he promised and assured me not to fayle nor forsake me but to uphold mee in it and bring mee through it and comfort me by it and glorifie me after it Have not all the members of that glorious body and the Head himselfe the Prince of glory beene perfited through afflictions Have they not all Head and members passed through this vale of teares this roaâ—ing wildernesse through many feares terrors grievous desertions crying out with strong cryes and bitter to him that is able to save them yet setting the joy before them have endured the crosse despised the shame and are now set downe in the glory of God Now therefore rejoyce my soule in tribulations knowing that tribulation bringeth forth patience and patience experience and expertence hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost who is given to to us Nay count thou it exceeding joy when thou falleâ—t into these temptations knowing that the triall of faith bringeth forth patience Onely thou oh my gracious God who scourgest every Sonne whom thou receivest receive mee whom thou scourgest Thou who chastisest where thou lovest oh love this poore soule which thou chastisest Thou who correctest not for thy pleasure but for our profit oh teach me to profit by thy correction Make my soule to partake of thy Sonnes holinesse and then lay on what measure thou seest good of his affliction Oh let me be conformed to his death and sufferings that I may bee conformed to his life and resurrection Gracious Father after thou hast crowned mee with his thornes crowne mee also with his glory CHAP. VII Comforts arising from the Word NOw as good Chyrurgians often heale some sores with lancing and cure with wounds so the Lord most frequently openeth some passage by affliction and maketh an issue for the sinfull corruption of our soules to drayne them and draw out the sinfull matter which is in them and maketh a lesser wound to cure the greater But as hee useth these lancers and corrosives so also hath he singular lenitives and anodynes to comfort and strengthen the wounded Spirit Three especiall meanes hath the wisedome of God set out for sovereigne Cordials to a sicke soule First his Word Secondly those holy