parity of manners conciliateth love but Gods love createth our likenesse to him hence is it that the most excellent creatures love him most whereby they are made such some think that ardency of love denominateth those Angells which stand in Gods presence Seraphim certaine it is such are we as is our love our manners are not estimable by that which we knowe but by that we love good or evill love maketh us such if we love God we are godly if the world worldly if sinne sinfulf all men the best of all doe sinne but the wicked only love sinne looke how the glasses species are as is the posture thereof if you turne it to heaven you see only heaven in it if to the earth only earth so is it in our love the soules looking-glasse wherein we may see and judge of our selves 6. Without this love there can be no true happinesse for the wrath of God the severity of his justice remaineth for those who hate him give him all that a sinfull soule can desire make him times minion the worlds favorite you can make him nothing better then a devill But with the love of God though a man may possibly seeme or be said unhappy he cannot be so for all things worke together for good to them that love God prosperity adversity life death all things shall finally advantage them he that seeketh the love of God must looke for many enemies but contrary to their intentions they shall doe him good the love of the world is sweet at first but bitternesse in the end and the love of God hath many sharpe trialls at first but in the end shall be most comfortable This love is that divine Elixer which maketh the vile pretious an indeficient treasure which whosoever hath can never lack that which is good he that hath it not can never be the better for all hee hath what good or salvation can he expect who is so unhappy as not to love the fountaine of all blessednesse what can hee reasonably feare who loveth an omniscient and righteous God who is a pleanteous rewarder of those that love him Though we cannot be saved for any desert of Love to God for it is his mercy not our merit wee cannot be saved without it if any man love not the Lord Jesus let him be anathema maranatha 1. Cor 16. 22. 7. So excellent is this one possession that Paul counted all but meere losse for it dying Joshua left this as the chiefe legacie to his friends and family concerning whom hee resolved as for me and my house we will serve the Lord take good heed therefore unto your selves that yee love the Lord your God he need no more it is better to love God then to be heire of the world if thou canst not know this living thou shalt when thou art dying let my children faithfully love God I wish them no greater blessing who with my soule pray they may be truly blessed A Prayer for love to God O Lord God Almightie great and glorious who art cloathed with Majestie the beauty of holinesse perfection of beauty who hath filled heaven earth with the gratious effects of love and goodnesse I thy poore creature prostrating my selfe before thy mercy seat humbly acknowledge the many sinnes which render me utterly unworthy ever to appeare before thee specially that great ingratitude which maketh me ashamed to speake unto thee who art the searcher of all hearts yet in assurance of my acceptance in the son of thy love who now sitting at thy right hand maketh requests for me I am bold to pray thee to fill my heart with thy love which is better then all things that with my soule I may desire thee in the night with my spirit within me seeke thee early O Lord though the remainder of sinne in me create me many distractions though fraile flesh and blood starteth at the apprehension and feare of thy just judgments or murmur at the bitternes of thy present corrections yet thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee though with a fraile yet with a sincere heart and love with thine owne spirit infused into me O Lord my soule thirsteth after thee and thy holy presence in my sanctification and full assurance of thy mercy Therefore according to thine owne promise who caâ—st not deceive sanctifie me herein that I may love thee more and more cleanse me from all my sinnes create that purity of heart in me which may assure me of a capacity to behold thy goodnesse in the land of the living fill my lips with grace diffusive of it selfe to thy glory and the ministration of grace to the hearers guide me in the whole course of my life in that holinesse which may please thee disburden my conscience of all that guilt which leaveth me in any feare of that way by which thou hast appointed me to come unto thee and thy kingdome of glory that no afflictions paines feaâ—es or terrours of life or death may be able to separate me from thy love in Christ Jesus Blessed Lord only assure me of thy love and let thy holy will bee done with me I am thine thou madest me to thine owne image thou redeemedst and repairedst the same by thy free spirit when I was dead in trespasses and sinnes thou neither madest redeemâ—dst nor sanctifiedst me for my selfe therefore when thou doest that with me which shall best please thee in the advancement of thy glory in my salvation thou makest me happy in the end of my creation redemption and sanctification Lord it was thine owne free love which by revealing thy selfe and the inestimable riches of thy mercy to mee made me knowe what I had to love in thee neither didst thou finde in me any thing worthy of thee but the effects of thine owne love which in my election before I was determined to make me an object of thy mercy therefore thou who art Love didst set thine own image on me thou best knowest that I am of my selfe but worthlesse dust and earth and by my sinnes a masse of corruption such as onely can displease thee and deserve thine anger but O Lord God of mercy who foundest me a child of wrath and madest me a sonne an enemy and reconciledst me by the death of thy holy sonne Jesus accomplish the worke of thine owne mercy in me and love me still give mee an heart to love thee so above all with all my soule minde and might love that which thou hast wrought in my heart cherish thine owne graces in me though my love be full of imperfections yet thy worke is perfect in thee is no shadow of change Lord for thine owne loves sake now make me such as thou maist love me to eternitie through the merits of thy sonne Jesus Christ my Lord and blessed Saviour AMEN CHAP. XVII § 1. Of love to our selves of the kindes thereof § 2. Of Love to our
and honors and undoubtedly it doth so much please God that a man doth in sense of his wants from his heart and before all things begge grace and sanctity of him that he will not deny him but adde to his grant more then wee are able to aske or thinke of A Praier for comfort and supply in case of spiritual wants O Lord God abundant in mercy and trueth who delightest not in the destruction of wretched creatures nor despisest the groanes of a troubled spirit I poore afflicted man in bitternesse of soule acknowledg my vilenesse and want of grace the corruption of my sinful nature the misery which I have procured my self by my wilful disobedience to thy holy lawes and my impotency to any thing that is good I am as that wretched traveller wounded and cast down only sensible of my wonnds utterly unable to move or helpe my selfe the Priest and Levite passe by and helpe mee not no creature can yea thy holy law which saith Doe this and live is so farre from helping or releeving mee that now by reason of my infirmity it becometh to mee a killing letter at best but like the Prophets staff sent before by the ministery of the servant not able to give life only shewing mee my sinnes and rendring me guilty as before thy dreadful tribunal so at the barre of mine owne conscience Lord let the good Samaritan the Prophet himselfe Christ Jesus my Saviour naw come to mee he only can binde up my wounded soul and heale it Thou hast wounded mee by an heavy apprehension of thy justice now heal mee by the assurance of thy mercy strengthen my faith in Châ—ist who freely justifieth sinners as thou hast in thine eternal love given him to death for my redemption so give me an infallible assurance that hee is my Jesus and Saviour that according to thine owne gracious promise in him I may live with thee Blessed Saviour who sentest the holy Ghost the comforter of all thine elect to thy afflicted Disciples to strengthen them send him to my more feeble and wretched soul it is neither of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of thine own goodnesse shewing mercy thou workest both the will and the deed of thy good pleasure be graciously pleased to sanctify my corrupted will and affections as thou hast given me a will and an hearts desire to serve and please thee that I might be saved so perfect thine owne worke in mee establish that thing which thou hast begunne will thou that I will not in vaine thou hast nothing the lesse by communicating thy goodnesse to others Lord give me true holinesse repaire thine own image in mee that thou maist own mee for thine manifest thine own worke in mee unto mee Let not the good spirit which dwelleth in mee be any longer hidden from mee Lord Jesus manifest thy selfe unto my soule let the light of thy spirit breake out in full assurance of faith that I may no more doubt of thy mercies give mee an evident victory over sinne and despaire by the manifest presence of the comforter Lord my afflicted soule knoweth no sanctuary but thy mercy unto thee it gaspeth as a thirsty land O showre downe that abundant dew of grace which may refresh my wearied spirit and fill mee with the fruits of righteousnesse which may appeare in my life and conversation to thy glory and the assurance of my election calling sanctification perseverance and salvation in thy beloved sonne my blessed Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with Thee and the holy Spirit three Persons one immortal incomprehensible omnipotent onely wise God be rendred all honour and glory in heaven and earth now and to all eternity AMEN CHAP. XXVIII § 1 Of the conscience afflicted with feare of tentations and falling away What wee are herein to consider § 2. How wee must examine the conscience herein § 3. What wee must practice WEe are next to consider the wounded spirit or conscience afflicted with feare of tentations and falling away through them enclining it to despair of grace sufficient to resist them hereby the soule is in heavinesse through manifold tentations in which case it is necessary to consider that 1. A tentation is a tryal or taking an experiment of some thing the Devil who cannot compel tryeth men whether he can allure them to sinne and this is tentation 2. There is a temptation of tryal see 1 Cor. 10. 13. Act. 20. 19. Rev. 3. 10. and so James saith My brethren count it all joy when yee fall into divers tentations for when he is tryed hee shall receive the crown of life and blessed is the man that so doth God who is said to tempt no man that is to evil because as there is no sin in him so neither is there any of him yet tryed Abraham to make him known to others and himself for no man untryed knoweth himself which is called tempting or proving as Deut. 13. 3. Ex. 15. 25. Ex. 16. 4. Deut. 8. 16. Psal. 26. 2. 1 Pet. 1. 6. And there is a temptation of seducement which is a solicitation to defection and falling from God by sinning and doing evil 1 Tim. 6. 9. 1 Thes. 3. 5. so that God tempteth that he may teach us but the Devil that he may destroy us 3. Some temptations arise from the corruption and sin inherent in the flesh Jam. 1. 14. Every man is tempted when hee is 〈…〉 his own lusts such as are mentioned Galat. 5. 19 20. Some are suggested by the tempter who being a spirit hath power to inâ—â—â—uate and convey his impious notions into our mindes suggestion between spirits being as contiguity and touching of bodies now whereas hee cannot know the unuttered secrets of the heart it being Gods peculiar to search that he marketh mens natural inclinations and their habits by their words and actions and so prepareth baits for them accordingly sishing in these depths the secrets whereof hee knoweth not till hee perceive his suggestions are swallowed and the sinner taken therefore he presenteth such thoughts as he conâ—ectureth will take by that which is obvious to the senses of men as hee sitteth an opportunity of treason to impious Judas by the malice of the high Priests of lust to Amnon of venturing on the cursed thing to Achan of revenge to Cain of idolatry to Ahaz by the altar of Damascus 4. There are foure degrees of tentations by which it cometh to full maturity 1. Suggestion 2. Delight therein 3. Consent to 4. Acting the same as James 1. 14 15. Man is tempted when hee is drawn away of his own lusts and eâ—iced thenwhen lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth sorth death the first of these a bare suggestion is not our sinne if there be no delight therein or consent thereto for Christ was tempted in all points like as wee are yet without sinne The
Act 1. 3. Wee are next to beleeve his ascension into heaven the third heaven where God manifesteth his glory to the Angels and blessed spirits this was in the sight of his Disciples when he had sufficiently instructed them and confirmed them by his often appearing to them and conversing with them He ascended from the Mount of Olives neere Bethanie when he had lifted up his eyes and blessed them hee went apart from his Disciples and while they beheld was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight to teach us no more to seeke him with carnall eyes The ancient Prophecies foretold this Psal 68. 18. Thou hast ascended up on high thou hast led captivity captive The high Priest entering into the holy of holies prefigured it It demonstrateth the Justice of God fully satisfied and our sinnes discharged Heb 9. 12. If any one sinne of the elect had beene unexpiated hee had still remained in death but he not only rose againe for our justification but is ascended into heaven the first fruits and earnest of our ascenâ—ion carrying up with him a portion of our flesh blood as it were to take livery and seison for us as he gave us the earnest of his Spirit thereby to make us secure of inheriting the kingdome of God Thus he declared himselfe the very Son of God who came from heaven ascending who before had descended from thence Eph 4. 10. Thus became he our faithfull high Priest to appeare before God for us to open to us the way to the holy of holies to prepare vs place and give us confidence against all Satans machinations Who shall condemne us It is Christ who is dead for us yea rather who is raised againe who also sitteth at the right hand of God and intercedeth for us which was prefigured in the high Priests bearing the names of the people engraven on the stones upon the shoulder of the Ephod for a mâ—moriall of the children of Israel which he was to beare before the Lord. Next we must beleeve that Christ now sitteth at the right hand of God the Father So Mark 16. 19. so was it foretold Psal 110. 1. Math 22. so the Scriptures evidently speak yet must we not with the foolish Anthropomorphites dreame that God is like man that he hath a right hand and a left this is a translatitious and borrowed manner of speaking sitted to our understanding God pleasing thus to descend to our infirmitie Men give honour by setting others at their right hand as Solomon set his mother 1. King 2. 19. but there is indeed no leâ—t hand or inferiour place betweene the Father and the Sonne all is equall he is neither lesse then the Father nor inferiour to him It is said at his right hand in respect of the order of divine power not humane honour God is not circumscribed in place nor hath the Deity any left hand â—importeth here a wonderfull exaltation to power authoritie and majestie so the Apostle expresseth it Phil 2. 9 He hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name as also 1 Cor 15. 25. He must reigne till he hath put all his enemies under his fect It importeth an entrance into and full possession of his kingdome over all as he saith Luk 24. 26. Ought not Christ to suffer these things and so to enter into his glory So Act 5. 31. This Jesus hath God lifted up by his right hand to be a Prince and Saviour farre above all principalities and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to bee the head over all things the meaning is that Christ doth actually reigne in heaven with the Father in infinite glory and majestie And this honour is thus peculiar to him that God the Father will governe all things by him and that because he onely and none other is able thus to performe all parts of King and Saviour of his Church yet must we know that in his severall acts the Father and holy Ghost unite and worke by him All serves to terrifie the enemies of Christ and obstinate sinners by his present power to destroy them could not malitious Haman prevaile against Esther and her allies because of her interest in the kings favour and shall the enemies of Christ and his ever prevaile against them And to comfort the afflicted could Joseph being exalted and set next unto Pharaoh in the kingdome of Egypt provide for all his Fathers family and preserve them in the famin and shall not Christ much more be able to save and deliver us in all our necessities when he was in his state of humiliation and forme of a servant who ever came unto him for helpe and went away unrelieved sicknesse lamenesse deafnesse blindnesse wants stormes devils death no difficulty could intercept his mercy shall we feare he hath lesse power or will to helpe and succur us now he sitts at the right hand of God in heaven no no make thy requests to him feare not he that hath had experience of our miseries is both willing and able to succour us t is he that helpeth our infirmities we know not what to pray us we ought our best prayers are dull and inactive but he is our faithfull high Priest to intercede for us When Adoniah knew he could not of himselfe prevaile he intreated Bathsheba to speake for him in assurance that the king would deny her nothing how much more may we be assured of attaining seeing we have such an high Priest if we draw neere with a true heart in full assurance of faith to the throne of grace by this new and living way Court friends like Pharaohs butler eftsoone forget the afflictions of Joseph but Christ can never he prayed that Peters faith might not faile him and professed I pray not for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve in me through thy word I have many times feared that I have cryed and lifted up my hands in vaine and effectlesse votes till I remember that my Saviour â—itteth at Gods right hand able to helpe how and when he knoweth best I want faith patience and the spirit of prayer but therefore hee is ascended up on high that he may give these gifts unto men and he will supply me he will keepe me from evill When he was in the forme of a servant the devill could not enter into the heard of Swine before he gained leave and shall all the powers of hell be able to hurt me while he now in the state of glory protecteth me he to whom all power in heaven and earth is given Lord only give me a faithfull heart to depend on thee and thy saving health and I shall not
the graine of corne as God giveth every seed his own body so Job saith hee shall see his Redeemer with the same eyes so they shall see Christ come to judge who peirâ—ed him only the Saint shall change for glory and immortality 5. In the resurrection God will send out his Angells his harvesters to gather the elect from all parts The last trump shall blow the graves open and sea land give up their dead it was shewed in the Prophets vision Ezek 47. 2. 3. c. the dry bones lay scattered up and downe the fields when the power of the Almighty breathed on them the sinewes and flesh came upon them the skinne covered them and they lived so shall it be in the resurrection of the dead The power of God who made us all of dust and infused a living soule into every one of us will then bring back every soule into his own body and so Christ who is the resurrection and the life will convent them and set them before him in judgement who now sleep in death He that raised Jesus from the dead shall also quicken our mortall bodies The truth hereof may appeare 1. From the word of God evidently testifying the same Job 19. 20. Isai 26. 19. Dan 12. 2. 1. Cor 15. 1. Thes 4. Joh 5. 28. 29. The Apostle proveth it from divers grounds as the preaching of the Gospell and our beleeving which otherwise were vaine but so great and powerfull an evidence of God's spirit cannot bee vaine From the communion we have with Christ who is risen for we are indeed his members flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone he is the first fruits of the dead Now in his manhood is our slesh and blood glorified where he lives wee live as he hath begun we shall follow from the comparision of the first and second Adam as in Adam all dye even so in Christ shall all bee made alive from the power of Christ able to subdue all things from the earnest of the spirit dwelling in us Rom 8. 11. If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortall bodies by the spirit that dwelleth in you by the universality of Christs kingdome to which all must be subdued Ephes 1. 14. The same is proved from the blessednesse of the dead Rev 14. 13. as also from that Christ saith God is the God of the living not of the dead Math 22. 31. 32. 2. The truth hereof may appeare from the consents even of the prudent heathen much more of all the Saints seeking another city Heb 11. 3. From the wisedome of God which cannot be frustrate now in vaine had he made man in his owne image had it beene to perish with so shore a life 4. From the justice of God if the body should not rise againe then that which had sinned with the soule should not also suffer with it the blasphemous mouth which hath so highly dishonoured â—â—od the raylers tongue which hath wounded the innocent the lying lips the theevish and murderous hands the mischievous head which hath beene a full storehouse of pernitious inventions for hereâ—ies schâ—smes seditions ravage and oppression should escape the power of justice and eternally sleepe in the dust without any sense of evill as securely as if they had never beene stained with confederacy in sinne a thought so vaine as that the conscience of an heathen could not admit it and can wee thinke that the poore afflicted and tortured bodies of the Martyrs bearing life and death the markes of the Lord Jesus shall never live againe and see a time of refreshing Certainely justice must needs put great difference betweene the wicked and the just and it must be true which God saith We must all appeare before the tribunall of Christ that every man may receive in his body according to that which he hath done whether good or evill 5. From the power of God with whom all things are possible he that made all of nothing cannot he raise the dead He that created cannot he change creatures He made the dust of the earth of nothing and man out of that dust and is his arme shortned so that he caÌ„not repaire who made of nothâ—ng consider the agent and take away all doubting Some instances as praeludiums of the generall resurâ—ection Christ made to assure us that he that raised the Rulers daughter the widows sonne Lazarus and others appearing at his owne resurrection could and would accordiâ—g to his promise raise us also He gave the Apostles themselves then subject to mortality power to raise the dead Tabitha and Eutichus were examples and shall not he who gave others this power be able himselfe to doe the same He made Aarons withered rod as it were rise againe from the dead and shall not he raise Aaron himself 6. From the common course of nature which is God's ordinary power the seed is sowed lyeth long under winter clouds except it corrupt it remaineth alone but by a kind of yearly death and resurrection every seed bringing forth its owne body that which without such changes could have lasted but few yeares continueth to the use of man since the creation unto this present 7. Lastly from the consciences of the most obstinate unbelievers tell mee Atheist if there be nothing after death why art thou so afraid to die Of these things we are to make these uses 1. It must teach us to be afraid to sinne death cannot conceale thee thou must rise againe Cain Judas Dives would think themselves happy if with a thousand thousand deaths they could but once die to live no more it is a great part of the reprobates torment that he cannot die but must be raised to an eternall torment of body and soule 2 To be comforted against all pressures and calamities of this life persecutions imprisonments sicknesse sorrow contempt death it shall not be long be an impious and ingratefull world nover so malicious before a joyfull resurrection shall assert and acquit thee from all these grievances 3. To use the deceased Saints bodies with humane and holy reverence not to handle them despicably whom God will once glorifie 4. To make death familiar to us by frequent meditation on our resurrection from the dead feare not death seeing thou shalt certainly rise againe there shall be incorruption glory and immortality See Psal. 16. 9 10. 2 Cor. 5. 1. 5. Not to sorrow as men without hope for them that sleepe in Christ remember they shall rise againe This was the very argument wherewith Christ who shewed his sympathy at Lazarus grave weeping with the living if not for the dead allayed the sorrow of Mary and Martha and comforted them in their teares I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in mee if he were
to the wicked Princes and Priests is treason against the City Pauls madnesse to Festus moving of sedition and heresie to Tertullus and blasphemie to the Jewes 5. Pride as 't is written they dealt proudly and heâ—rkned not unto thy commandements they who in the height of a carnall heart resolve not to change their resolutions cannot abide to heare any thing dissenting the proud heart cannot endure any contradiction 6. Love of the world the tares thereof choke up the good seed so that it cannot finde roome in the heart to fructify this makes the negotiators excuse their not comming to the spirituall feast they must prove their Oxen and survey their new purchases the married thinke they owe no excuse this makes Felix put off hearing the Gospell to some convenient time when Satan and the world will this makes the formall hypocrite who will seeme a great servant and lover of the word goe away heavy if it bid him sell and give to the poore or secretly murmur if it touch his fraud of fals weights resolving to follow the word no further then it will comply with his gains the Prophet describeth such they heare thy words but they will not doe them with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousnesse c. 7. Satans subtilty distracting their thoughts so that they attend not and catching away that which is sowed in their heart perverting the sense embittering wholsome doctrine with some dislike distast irksomenesse of the hearer or suggesting some impertinent thoughts so to sill and busie the mind that it cannot attend to nor receive the word the mind of a good hearer must be like the arke of the testimony in which was onely the tables of the Law The conditions necessary to profitable hearing are that we take heed 1 Whom 2. What. 3. and how we heare 1. Christs sheep will not hearken to a stranger Joh. 10. 5. and God saith of seducers Thou shalt not hearken to the voyce of that Prophet 2. We must take heed what we heare Mark 4. 24. Evill Words corrupt good manners 3. We must he cautious how we heare Luk 8. 18. The gate of life and death had need be guarded with all diligence while Eve left it open to the Serpent shee quickly perished The conditions of hearing are that we must heare 1. Faithfully without which the word profiteth not the learner must beleeve specially in Gods schoole wee must not perversely affect to bring Gods assertions to the touchstone of our sense or carnall â—eason to make the Lawes of our owne faith with Thomas I will not beleeve except I see or to require demonstration and proofe of Gods truth whose part it is to pronounce not to proove because he is the onely competent witnesse to himselfe all the creatures can adde no credit to his assertions it is enough to conclude a thing true if we can prove that God said it because he is essentially truth whatsoever is not true is neither God nor of God It is impossible for him to lye as 't is impossible for him not to be or to change his being true now because wee are not capable of the infinite counsell and truth of God he complieth with our capacity and speaketh after the manner of men by litle litle destilling that dew of heaven on our understandings which may not overwhelme and drowne them but make them fruitfull not powring out his depths of knowledge on us as he can speake but as we can apprehend Therefore we must adore those mysteries which we cannot examine and beleeve every syllable of Gods word to be infallibly true though our reason come infinitely short of sounding the depth thereof 2. Attentively we must come to a sermon not for feare or fashion but with an hearty desire to be edified and therein shake off all oscitancie carelesse drouzinesse and wandering thoughts which will else render all our worke fruitlesse the Auditors thirst to heare is the speakers supply when they attend the spirit powreth out abundantly as the widowes oyle encreased while there were vessels to receive it bee thou present in minde indeed to receive the word or else a bodily presence will no more profit thee then did Satans appearance among the Saints advantage him bring me an heart free from all worldly distractions said Chrysostome hearing is the port of wisdome the sense of descipline admirable is the power of the tongue which the good God gave to be the soules interpreter that the spirits of men otherwise close prisoners in those houâ—es of clay might convay a mutuall intelligence and communicate their secret senses to each other through the eare the heathens intimated 〈◊〉 their legends of Amphion building the walls of Thebes and Orpheus charming the eare with notes so sweet that he made brutes attentive brought some from the dead we better knowe the morall in the admirable power of speaking able to unite men in civill societies and an holy communion to edifie and by the power of Gods spirit working therein to raise the dead in sinne to newnesse of life but all this must be done with an attentive eare the hearing eare so the Hebrewes put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cor audiens for an understanding heart 1 King 3. 9. without whose attention it cannot be 3. Prudently which is 1. By resolving to obey Gods word in every part this is the end of our hearing not the hearers but the doers of the Law shall be justified be yee doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves Happy are they who heare and do thereafter too many are all for hearing and nothing for practice like those monstrous Fanetii who had eares disproportionably great for the body if the whole were hearing where were the smelling 't is the symtome of a queazie stomacke to desire to tast many things and to be able to digest nothing The word of God is quicke and active like the snow and raine it doth not in vaine descend but doth his will who sent it making the good grow up to the blessing and the evill like fowle weedes more ranke for the fire 't is as the Arke at Obed Edoms house a blessing at Ashâ—od a curse we must not thinke 't will lye dead it maketh the disobedient like the first sinner slie and strive to hide from God it leaves him excuselesse to the more stripes by how much more he knew his masters will and would not doe it read Deut â—9 19 20 21. wee many times wonder why the Lord afflicteth us we may easily know 't is for the contempt and neglect of his word we heare but obay not except where we please which is indeed to idoll our own affections not to serve God we at our pleasure make free choice which of Gods
the opinion of the unwise wicked doe but consider that wise men looke most to the end that they have rightly proposed to themselves which if they attaine their worke is done whether by force or counsell they passe not they looke to the end through just meanes Suppose thine end is to overcome thine enemie if thou mightest make free choice of the meanes tell me wouldst thou overcome him by good or evill by vertue or violence by excelling him in goodnesse or equalling him in evill 'T is an epidemick madnesse to thinke there is no victory but in violence and requiting evill with evill becomming as damnable as their enemies 9. Lastly resolve that every injurie shall better thee doth thine enemie hurt thee Let it occasion thee to pray for him aud to enter into a serious examination of thine owne heart whether thou hast not injured him or some other upon discovery of injury done by thee repent and give satisfaction that God may give thee thy quietus est so will hee in his good time judge for thee ever looke to the hand that smiteth thee Assyria is but the rod of Gods anger God raised up enemies to Solomon It may be that God bad Sheimei curse be not like the foolish dog to bite the stone cast at him but looke to the cause which being removed the effect shall cease There are who bend their tongues to shoot out bitter words which God permitteth to admonish his servants of some unrepented sinnes which being discovered and repented of they proove ike Jonathans arrowes shott to warne not to wound Thy friends may possibly not see or seeing dissemble thy faults marke well what thine enemies say of thee let their vigilant malice apt to accuse thee make thee more carefully watch over thy waies least thy failings advantage them or give them just occasions of reviling thee and as Theseus is said to have cut off his comely lockes least his enemies should finde advantage by catching hold of them so doe thou all occasions of calumny how many men haâ—â— perished in their sinnes unseene had not the malice of enemies awaked admonished them And like Jason Phereus enemy cured them by wounding them Selfe-love is ever blinde and true friendship sometimes but malice hath a thousand eyes this Serpent is quick sighted to find out others faults seeing I cannot but be faulty and would not be so I had rather want many acquaintance then some enemies who may amend mee though for ill will I owe much to many good friends for other offices but most to mine enimies for this who yet through Gods mercy never hurt me but to the greater advantage of my soule I hope they who never could never shall A Prayer for Love and Charity O Lord God of mercy and compassion we humbly acknowledge that so many continuall have our rebellions been against thee that we deserve thine anger and that thoâ—â— shouldst arme all the hoste of heaven and the creatures under heaven against us but we humbly pray thee to pardon us for Jesus Christ his sake give us hearts to repent before the consummation of thy feirce wrath the day of thine anger come upon us to agree with our adversary quickly while we are yet in the way to seeke righteousnesse that we may be hid in the day of thine anger Lord our hope is in thee make us not a reproach to them that hate us withold not thy tender mercy from us let thy loving kindnesse and thy truth preserve us Thou who art the God of love and unity set thine own image again upon us and as thou hast loved redeemed us in the son of thy love Christ Jesus so give us hearts to love one another that thereby all men may knowe that we are his Disciples Lord deliver us not to the will of our enemies and oppressours but forgive us all that wherein we have any waies injured or justly offended our brethren make our waies so pleasing in thy sight that thou maist bee pleased to make our enemies at peace with us Turne their hearts and mischievous intentions as thou didst revengefull Esau's give them a true sight and sorrow for their sinnes that they may repent and bee saved Prevent and divert their malice that it may not proceed further to hurt themselves or us restraine the tempter that he may no more be able to set variance and his owne bitter influence malice and enmity between those whom thoâ— hast united by their adoption in Christ Thou hast promised the blessing on brethren who live together in unity give us that spirit that we may hold the sacred band thereof in peace that we may not bring a scandall on thy truth that our prayers be not hindred that our soules may be delivered from the snares of death in which the malitious are holden that we may all meet cheerefully before thy tribunall in the holy communion of Saints and blessed unity of the body of Christ to whom with thee O Father of love God of peace and the holy Ghost the comforter be rendred all honour glory praise and dominion in heaven and earth for ever and ever AMEN CHAP. XVIII § 1. Of the soule faculties thereof affections minde and thoughts in generall § 2. Of the corruptions of the heart the danger and difficultie of the cure § 3. Of the necessitie of right ordering our thoughts § 4. Rules of practice 1 THere are many things of whose being we know whose quality we knowe not all confesse wee have a soule which commandeth and restraineth in us what a one it is none can tell hence are those many disputes about its essence seat and subject with the subordinate faculties of it no man hath throughly beene acquainted with this secret governour in man some have defined it an harmonie some a divine vertue a particle of the deity some the most exile slender aire some a blood some heat or fire some number so innate is errour that we most erre concerning our owne selves more rightly doe they say who call it an immortall spirit an incorporeall substance created by infusion and infused in its creation made to the image of the Creatour capable of the light of understanding wisdome holinesse blessednesse and eternity so that in its conjunction with the body it ammateth giveth life action and motion wherein it differeth from an Angell and in its separation from the body for a time untill it shall be reunited in the resurrection it subsisteth as doe the Angells and then hath its proper acts and apprehensions as they Now as the eye seeth the eye in a glasâ—e so the soule knoweth it selfe by a kinde of â—reflex The soule is a divine ghest sent from heaven into these earthly Tabernacles to give them life and governe them yet is it neither seene comming nor departing it is an immortall forme of moâ—tall man the body decayeth the soule doth not being
taketh not away faiths confidence but the security of the flesh 3. Lay up the promises of God therefore were they written that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope 4. Set not up thy rest in this world neither trust in any thing thereof it is but like a staffe of reed a loose rope at Sea a false friend forsaking in adversity the quick-sands on which foolish builders lay their foundation as Moses told Israel yee are not come to your rest all Worldly things change continually here can be no constancy among the sonnes of Men prosperity is but like a faire morning quickly overcast with hideous stormes like the morning dew soon vanishing like a faire flower a Jonah's gourd such is all Worldly joy there is no sure hope but in the living God who changeth not neither deceiveth trust 5. Take heed of vaine hopes specially those which are against right reason lest thou tempt God they deceive men such is their trust who contemne the ordinary means in expectation of miracles and they who doe things against the expresse word of God in vaine hope of pardon 6. Propose not too great things to thy selfe we are often the evident authors of our own sorrowes when we promise peace health and prosperity to our selves this high-flying ambition sometimes looseth it feathers and we fall into bitterness when we come short of that which we vainly promised our selves 'T were better never climb then rise to fall 7. Pray to the God of hope and consolation to infuse a sure hope and confidence into thy soule A Prayer for Hope O Lord God my earnest expectation and my hope my fortresse helper and deliverer though my numberlesse sinnes have deserved thy wrath so that thou maist justly cast me off into hopelesse despaire and finall destruction yet look upon me in mercy through thy Christ in whom thou hast commanded me to beleeve and promised remission of my sinnes and eternall life for his sake assure me thereof that there may be hope in my end Though thou now fill my wounded spirit with bitternesse removing me from peace and comfort so that forgetting prosperity I goe mourning all the day long though thou humblest my dejected soule with grievous weights of sorrowes and makest my eyes fountains of teares driving me to solitude and silence with them that mourne in Zion yet art thou good to them that waite for thee and to the soule that seeketh thee thy mercies are renewed every morning thy compassions â—aile not thou hast opened unto me the riches of thy mercies in Christ 〈◊〉 caused me to trust in thee thou hast according to thine abundant 〈◊〉 begotten me againe to a lively hope by the resurrection of Christâ—om â—om the dead of an inheritance incorruptible therefore my soule hath â—id thou art my portion therefore will I trust in thee Truth it is ô Lord that the hopes of the hills are vaine so is all confidence in man unhappy is that hope which is not in thee but in spight of Satans malice blessed must he be whose hope thou art he shall be like a tree planted by the waters of life which cannot faile because thou canst not deceive trust ô God of all consolation therefore now at last speake peace to my afflicted soule let me not be disappointed of my hope though thou please to weane me from the love of an unkind and trustlesse World by permitting me to such griefe and sorrow yet seeing thou art my trust from my youth let me not be ashamed of my confidence let thy mercy be still my hope and thy grace my strength amidst all the stormes and surges of afflictions fasten my soules Anchor on the land of the living my rock who is entred within the vaile to make requests for me give me patience to beare untill the time of comfort and refreshing shall come from thy gracious presence give me the helmet of salvation assurance of all that which thou hast promised in thy word and layed up for me in heaven let the experience of thy former goodnesse in many deliverances give me a doore of hope for the future that I may more and more trust in thee Thou who art the God of hope fill me with joy and peace in beleeving that I may abound in hope through the power of thy holy spirit Give me strong consolation and full assurance of thy mercy that continuing grounded and established in a stedfast hope of my resurrection to a life of glory at the appointed houre my flesh may rest in hope and my soule be cheerfully rendred into thy gracious hands to rest with thee through Jesus Christ my ever-blessed Lord and Saviour Amen 1. Feare is a pensive and sorrowfull expectation of some evill to come imminent or so supposed wee feare any thing which is evil reall or apparent many times that which is not feare is opposite to fortitude as one extream of participation and as it allayeth too much daring limits it and so is good but as it exceedeth in it extream pernicious There can be no vertue where there is no fortitude hee can never be holy toward God or honest toward men who dareth not to be so because Satan will be sure to work upoâ— the timerous putting before him continual though 〈◊〉 and vaine feares like hunters Suells to put the fearfull 〈◊〉 from the safe wayes so driving through pusillanimity 〈◊〉 timidity that he maketh them evill for feare of men whom the true feare of God cannot make good 2. To omit many acceptations of the word 1. There is a natural feare and that of two sorts in respect of the object first concerning the avoidance of sinne for the love of God so Adam in his innocency having heard the threatning feared to sin because he would not offend God whom he loved above all for however Adam in the temptation lost this feare and so sinned yet in the rectitude of his minde he had it before the temptation prevailed upon him and secondly concerning the avoidance of sorrow in apprehension of God's anger against sinne committed so Christ feared Matth. 26. 38. Heb. 5. 7. both without sinne neerest to this cometh the filial fear of the regenerate who though through infirmity they often sinne and feare to displease God by any offence as it is said The â—ear of the Lord is to hate evil This is the beginning of wisedome and it is principally in foure things 1. That wee set God ever before our eies living as in his sight and presence 2. That we know and acknowledg him as the omniscient witnesse and just Judge of all our thoughts words and actions 3. That wee feare not creatures in respect of him 4. That wee ever do that which is just and acceptable to him though none other can witnesse against us so did good Joseph and who ever is offended with us for the same so did Daniel and those other servants of God 2. There
Lord God wee humbly pray thee for Christ Jesus sake to pardon all our sins and failings in our dueties this day strengthen our faiths unto our ends and in our ends Suffer us not for any tryals to fall from thee neither lay thou more upon us then thou wilt make us able to beare cheerfully create clean hearts in us renew right spirits mortifie all our corrupt affections subdue and subject them all to thy holy will and pleasure enable us daily more carefully and holily to serve thee so that the neerer we draw unto our deaths the more conâ—idently we may rest assured of immortality and eternal life in the world to come assist us with a measure of thy grace proportionable to our tryals so that at our last houre against all the feares and terrors paines and sorrows of death we may be enabled to render up our soules into thy gracious hands in full assurance of thy mercy and our redemption and salvation in Jesus Christ. Blesse the universall Church specially that part thereof in Great Britan and Ireland let thy blessing and mercy rest on this family from the first to the last Keep us bodies and soules forgive all our sins let our sleep be refreshing and comfortable this night grant us grace to plant all our confidence in thee that wee may love thee fear thee and rest in thee assured of thy gracious protection whose providence sleepeth not into thy hands O Lord wee commend and commit our selves bodies and soules all that we have and are sleeping waking living and dying let us be ever thine through Jesus Christ our Lord and blessed Saviour AMEN An Evening Praier for a Family more enlarged O Lord God great and glorious who hast made the heavens thy throne and the earth thy foot-stoole God of justice and mercy terrible in thy wrath against obstinate sinners but long-suffering and of great mercy to them who with sincere hearts can seek thee and thy saving health our miseries compell us and thine owne gracious mercy inviteth us wretched creatures to call upon thee in the day of trouble But O Lord thou art a God of pure eies and canst not behold iniquity and wickednesse in which as we are conceived and born the children of wrath disobedience so have we continually walked therein and wherewithall shall we now come before our Lord and how our selves before the high God a thousand burnt-offerings and ten thousand rivers of oile cannot satisfie an infinite justice for the sinne of one soule and we are a sinful nation a people laden with iniquity wee have forsaken the covenants of our God and provoked the holy one of Israel to anger wee have gone backward and revolted more and more from the sole of the foot unto the head there is no soundnesse in us but dangerous wounds bruises and putrifying sores ripe for the lancet of thy judgments so that we deserve to have this good land laid waste that we who have forsaken thee should as thou hast threatned be consumed with the sword famine and pestilence until this numerous people be leâ—t as a cottage in vineyard a besieged city like Sodom and Gomorrha sad monuments of the fire of thine indignation that thou shouldst take no delight in us when we tread in thy courts and appear before thee with petitions for mercy but that our oblations of praise and incense of praiers should be abomination and our solemne assemblies a tâ—ouble and wearinesse unto thee that when wee spread forth our hands and make many praiers with strong cries thou shouldst hide away thy face from our miseries and stop thine ears to our cries as we have done ours to those gracious conditions of mercy which thou hast continually offered us by thy Prophets whom thou sentest to warn us that wee might retur from our vaine and unprofitable wayes and not die wee humbly acknowledge that such are we that the severest curses of the law and all the judgments sealed up therein are due to us confusion and helplesse destruction in this present woâ—â—d and unspeakable torments in hell fire in the eternity to come And now whereas wee must all appeare before thy judgement seat what shall wee plead before thee O thou great and just Iudge of all the world what can wee but guilty what shall wee say unto thee O merciful preserver of men what can wee more then be merciful unto us for our Lord Jesus sake Wee know O Lord that wee neither doe nor can deserve any favour at thy gracious hands whom wee have so often and so wilfully provoked to shew thy justice on our sinnes but therefore didst thou give thy sonne Christ Jesus that his merits might satisfie for us wee condemne our selves that thou maist spare us for his sake who dyed not in vaine O Lord though our iniquities testifie against us deale with us according to thy name wee have sinned against thee O thou hope of Israel and the saviour thereof in the time of trouble wee acknowledge our sinnes are for greatnesse unmeasurable and for multitude innumerable but as is the price of our redemption so are thy mercies infinite abhorre us not for thine owne mercy sake thou art our strength and refuge in the day of affliction correct us not in thine anger chasten us not in thy heavy displeasure but heale us that we may be saved Lord though we have many waies failed yet thou knowest all things thou knowest that the desire of our soule is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee through thine owne grace giving us that desire we would above all things in the world become so holy that we might no more displease thee O our God who only canst make us holy and unblameable give us ability to do that which thou hast given us grace to desire thou hast caused us to put our confidence in thee O God who canst not deceive trust let us not be disappointed of our hope restrain not from us thy zeal thy strength and the multitude of thy mercies and compassions O Lord our God if thou wilt thou canst make us clean cleanse us from all our iniquities that we may put away the wickedness of our doings from before thine eies that we may indeed cease to do evil and learn to do well that thou mayest make our scarlet sins twice died in original and actual guilt white as snow in Salmon that we may consent and obey and so enjoy the good things of this land and not be devoured by the sword as we are this day for our transgressions Though we deserve that the fire of thine anger should consume us as the stubble that our root should be as rottennesse and that our blossom when we hope should go up as the dust until our cities become desolate and our houses without a man because we have cast away the law of the Lord of hostes yet O Lord unto thee belongeth mercy and the issues from death though thou hast been terrible in thy
not on her with honour tender love and duty nothing can fully recompence the ingratitude of this generation of Vipers their Mothers sorrow and destruction but hell Gods children love and honour his Ordinance in their parents For direction and comfort before their Travaile let Women 1. Spend the time of their expectation as they would doe the howers of their last day in hearty repentance for all their sinnes making their peace with God labouring to strengthen their faiths by recounting the comfortable promises of God in Christ Jesus rendring themselves with patience meeknesse and confidence into his mercifull hands who alone can keep them strengthen and comfort them in their paines and make them joyfull Mothers 2. Consult with God in all their fears and sorrowes as Rebecca did by the holy scriptures which are his Oracles giving certaine and infallible answers conference with the prudent Saints meditations and ascensions of the afflicted soule into Gods gracious presence 3. Reconcile themselves to all those whom they have injured by repairing them what they can for it is a condition of their salvation in childbearing that they continue in Faith and Charity and if all must quickly agree with their adversaries while they are in the way then they specially who as they say of Seamen may be reckoned between the living and the dead and in hazard of a sodaine convention at the barre by the end of this life 4. It must be a grave document as to all so specially to married Women of modesty and chastity I know not what comfort the adultresse can have who bringeth forth her Husbands irreparable injury her own shame Children of Whoredomes the indelible staine of their blood and their posterities dishonour all this with paine and horrour or more dangerous stupidity of a sinfull conscience whereas the good conscience of the chast is the soules rest bed of perfumes Garden of spices sorrowes lenitive griefes faire havens the soules Paradice and afflictions sanctuary with which though they have externall sorrowes yet are they blessed happy is the way however rough and fearefull by which they come to eternall life as the externall prosperity of the wicked can never make their waies better then destructive and unhappy So neither can any afflictions sorrowes feares or paines of the elect make them lesse then truely blessed because all these are but as the stepps in Jacobs ladder whose last shall land them in the presence of God as it is written we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdome of God 5. Let them pray frequently and fervently that God would be pleased to measure their sufferings by that assistance which he will give them strengthen them to their labour mitigate their paines grant them a speedy and safe deliverance that they may enjoy the blessing of propagation to the encrease of his Kingdome the glory of his holy name and their eternall rejoycing after their temporall sorrowes which hee hath appointed them A prayer for Woemen in or neere their Travaile MOst glorious and holy Lord God almighty creator and mercifull preserver of all thy creatures who hast commanded the weary and heavy laden to come to thee and promised by the sonne of thy love and truth Christ Jesus to ease them we prostrate our selves before thy throne of mercy with bended knees and trembling hearts yet with assurance of thy faithfulnesse to performe who hast freely promised Truth it is O Lord when we consider our own deservings we can look for nothing but the severity of thy justice and rejection from thy gracious presence that thou shouldest take no delight in us when we come before thee but that the spreadiâ—g out of our hands in Prayer should be a trouble and wearinesse unto thee we confesse that destruction of body and soule by all those judgements which thou hast denounced against the first sinners is due unto us if thou enter into judgement with us we accuse and condemne our selves as most vile and utterly unable to stand in judgment before thee the searcher of the heart and reines and most unworthy of the least of those favours which our necessities compell us to beg at thy mercifull hands in confidence that thou wilt not breake the bruised reed reject the penitent nor condemne them who condemne themselves we renounce our selves that we may be found in the righteousnesse of our Lord Jesus It was he ô blessed Father who being the eternall Word Wisdome and Power by whom the World was created and is still sustained yet to save us miserable sinners and so his enemies was made flesh for us became man to set us free took on him the forme of a Servant to sanctify and redeeme us from sinne begun in our conception and encreasing from our birth vouchsafed to be conceived in the Virgins wombe by the Holy Ghost and to be borne the man of sorrowes to suffer the severity of thy wrath against sinners 't was he that dyed for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification that thereby he might pull out the sting of death and change the judgements into fatherly corrections 't was he that became a curse for us to redeeme us from the curse of the law that by his stripes we might be healed that the blessing the promise of the spirit the comforter might come on us through faith in him for his sake holy Father be reconciled to us for his sake encline thy gracious cares to our prayers now according to thine own appointment calling on thee Thou hast indeed threatned the first sinner to multiply her sorrowes in her travailes and that sentence as the sinne in which we fell is become hereditary in paines sorrow feare and anguish in these bitter effects of sinne we acknowledge thy just judgements but Lord correct us not in thine anger consider the frailty and infirmity of this poorâ— dust and earth wherewith thou hast clothed us consider not what we have done but what thy holy Sonne Jesus in that sacred flesh indivisibly united to the Godhead hath suffered for us accept his obedience who hath done and suffered all things which thy determinate counsaile had before all worlds appointed for the worke of our redemption We are unworthy to be heard but Lord heare him ascended into heaven to take possession thereof for us and now sitting at thy right hand a faithfull mediator for us and bearing the remembrance of us before thee he is truely God able to heare and help all them that call upon him faithfully and truly man who hath had experience and can be toucht with a sense of humane miseries for his sake heare us speaking the same things to thee here on earth which his own spirit helping our infirmities both dictateth to us from heaven and presenteth to thee for us in heaven Lord for his sake helpe us give us true and hearty repentance assure us of our sinnes remission and our discharge from the curse and rigor of the law