heart is then most fit to pour out a prayer to God when it is lowest in the apprehensions of misery When you hear David praying for mercy it is a sign he is in misery There is no want so great but prayer will help Prayer is the most efficacious Engine a man can work by for what is in the power of God the same is in man by prayer Prayer is a calling upon God Prayer AS Christs prayer was not so ours must not be a bare manifestation of our mindes unto God but a holy arguing with God No natural man can pray he is muzzled You may be able to word it in prayer but you cannot have a prayer in the sight of God as well as in the sight of man without the Spirit of prayer Do not judge of your having the Spirit of prayer by your freedome of utterance in prayer by your constant performance of prayer nor by your extraordinary inlargements under prayer but by the inward reaching of your heart after God It is the panting soul that is the praying soul Watch unto prayer not onely to keep off drowsiness but to eye providence To pray and do nothing else is in effect to do nothing less Let not your practice bee a confutation of your prayers lest the day of supplication prove a day of provocation Remember this If you regard iniquity in your heart God will not hear your prayers Then is a good prayer when God doth not onely confirm thy hopes in prayer but conform thy life to prayer In duties wee can do nothing with God as they are our duties but God will do something in us If stoln waters bee sweet to wicked men begged meat is much more sweet to godly men Wee are too ready after wee have done well to lye down and catch cold When wee have pleased the Lord in lawful duties to please our selves in unlawful liberties ASk thy self often what sin have I left It is not the converting but the converted sinner that is the true penitent All that are converted shall bee saved but all that shall bee saved are not converted Hee that confesseth his sin and turns to it again repents of his repentance Hee that repents provides for after repentings God gives heaven to a man that is fit for heaven there is no aptness in a sinner for heaven that repenteth not Repentance REpentance is an universal turning from all sin even unto God Though repentance and turning from sin doth not deserve heaven yet it fits us for mercy and pardon It is against the Justice of God to give pardon without repentance though repentance doth not profit God yet repentance pleaseth God Such as are kinde and merciful to their sins that love not their sins should bee spoken against never repented Health and freedome from sickness is a great mercy pardon of sin is a greater for this is the ground of the other Take heed of sinning lest you teach God to punish you When you see a man sinning at a high rate do not sensure him but say Why am I so low in grace To delight in mens sins is the sport of Devils Recovery from those sins is the joy of Angels The eye of the Lord is more upon the root of sin than upon the act of sin Nature makes a soul sensible of the act of sin the Spirit of the root of sin Nature presents to us the painfulness of sin the Spirit the sinfulness of sin Nature makes sensible of gross sins the Spirit of the least sin as well as the greatest The Spirit teaches to measure every sin by the greatness of God and so no sin is little If you would keep from the act of sin avoid the occasion of sin They that confess and forsake not are onely dog-sick when they have disgorged their stomachs they will return to their vomit Every sin a beleever commits deserves damnation but no sin shall condemn but the living and continuing in it As it is not the falling into the water that drowns but lying in it so it is not the falling into sin that damns but dying in it Neither good nor bad at the last day shall bee judged by every one of his actions but by all not according to his steps but according to his wayes There will bee every dayes pollution let there bee every dayes purifying The Devil will bee at his work bee you at your work To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin It is not the body that sins it is the soul that sins A Christian should alwayes have this care that the iniquity of his hands may bee cleansed and the filthiness of his heart purged The Spirit of God loves clean hands and the holiness of God loves a pure heart To bee alwayes suffering and never repenting is the property of infernal spirits Wise men that set themselves against God they very wittily go to hell Could you but think what bitter pains your sweet sins will cost you would bee provident you durst not but bee innocent Sin drives a man from himself and from God Conversion it brings a man to himself and unto God when the Prodigal was come to himself hee returned to his Father Wee never go below our selves but when wee sin Wee do not go below our selves when wee suffer Holiness hath a silent excellency in it Sin hath a secret deformity No person in the world that sin doth so much defile as a childe of God and no person in the world that sin doth so ill with as a childe of God It is a spotting time let the Saints take heed The eclipse of the Sun is more observed than the shining of the Sun Sin becomes no man more ill becomes a wise man Finde out your sins before Gods judgements find you out It is good to bee beforehand with God If you are inclined to intemperance take heed of ill company When drunkenness sayes Come say No I have got a new acquaintance Wee must consider our own wayes before wee can turn our feet to Gods testimonies The house of God is the worst place to sin in The Lord is in the middest of his people there must bee no hypocrite there The City where God dwells must bee a holy City and the Mountain a holy Mountain Holiness becommeth thy house O Lord for ever There is nothing that the Law can call sin but the Gospel can pardon Do your sins reach as high as Heaven Christ is above them Christ hath as much compassion as thou hast iniquity Christ is sensible of a sinners condition every sin-labouring soul is a welcome guest to Christ But remember this sin cannot bee killed without the death of Christ nor mortified without the Spirit of Christ Conversion is your first work then mortification However Christ makes intercession in heaven for his own people hee doth not speak a word for the wicked AS the thread followeth the needle so death followeth sin Man had never fallen
purposes but by his promises The impulsive cause of Gods making promises was his love the meriting cause Christ They are purging healing raising up only as Christ is folded up in them The promises are the plaisters upon which the blood of Christ is spread the blood of Christ gives virtue to the promise They are all made in Christ and performed in Christ purchased by his blood and executed by his power The Saints are therefore heirs of promise because members of Jesus Christ Promises have a being because of Christ After the breach of the first Covenant God had never declared his good will to man in a second Covenant but for the sake of Jesus Christ and it is by our being in him that wee lay claim to those promises All promises are made for him and in him unto us so far as we are incorporated into him and are members of Jesus Christ All the promises are yea and amen in Christ Thy interest in one promise is worth all thy interests Gods promises which could not bee too dearly bought yet they are freely given Gods promises are free in respect of the making of them yet they are conditional in respect of the performance of them The promises are tendered without exception but not without condition Though they are made out of free mercy yet they are performed in relation to our subservient duty God never promised life absolutely but upon condition In the first Covenant Do and live In the second Covenant Believe and live Now faith is so poor a condition as puts no worth in us to receive and therefore justified freely of his grace You are saved of grace but through faith and it is therefore of faith that it might bee of grace If God made a promise to thee when thou wast wallowing in thy blood then certainly God will make it good By promising God hath made himself a debtor to himself God hath made promises of pardon consider not thy own weaknes so much as the strength of Gods promise look not to thy unworthiness but upon the truth worth and excellency of the promise GOds outward proceedings of providence do sometimes seem to contradict the truth of his promises Gods promises speak healing when Gods providences seem to speak trouble yet the position holds true that it is Gods purpose under all the pressures and troubles of his Church to deliver them There are two things that may bee written upon the Church of Christ Holiness and Victory Whatsoever the difference is betwixt the enemies of the Church and the Church Christs party shall overcome This should make us live by faith and not by sense If you look upon things necessary or contingent in both these providence rules There is a special providence over every hair of a childe of God all his hairs are numbred If a hair cannot fall from the head without providence the head shall not fall from the body without providence Troubles are the issues of neglected providences Labour to relieve thy self in thy greatest straights in Covenant-promises Hard throws have been made advantages to the birth of sweet mercies Though trouble may bee thy condition yet rest shall bee thy portion Though affliction may bee thy exercise yet deliverance shall bee thy inheritance providence orders all actions and agents to her own end Actions may move very strangely in our view and yet very orderly to the greatest good as their supernatural end Give not way then to sinkings and despondencies of spirit in any trouble in the lowest conditions and greatest sufferings there is yet ground of hope When vain is the hope of man then comes the salvation of God When the morning is darkest then comes the day When troubles are at the highest then deliverance is at the nearest Things wonderful to us are yet easie with God marvellous in our eyes and yet familiar with him Awaken thy heart to pray Nothing shall bee too hard for him to do whose heart God carries forth and holds up to beleeve and pray unto him Nothing hath been done without it nothing can bee done against it Providence GOds Providence is an act of infinite power and wisdome whereby hee preserves and governs all things in order to his glorious Mercy and Justice Gods will being immutable in its determination his Providence must needs bee infallible in its administrations Gods Providence is not limited by means therefore trust Providence when you see no means Let nothing puzzle you that doth not puzzle God When God makes use of means it is not from the deficiency of his Power but from the riches of his Goodness To establish the means and deny the providence of God determining the end is a part of Atheism to establish the providence of God determining the end and despise the means is great prophaneness Use means yet withall trust and attend Gods providence for the obtaining of the end True faith sets God highest in means sees God out of means and waits upon him in the opposition of means Endeavours are appointed by God not to alter his will but perform it and in what wee obtain not our desires wee testifie our obedience Use means as if there wereno God trust in God as if there were no means Bee not over-perswaded of particular means The water-man thinks his boat will save him but perhaps it is a twig To neglect helps is to tempt God to trust in them when we have them is to commit Idolatry with them WHen you come to pray look to what God hath promised and in prayer look into the promise When you pray labour to avoid two things calling upon God in your own strength and expecting an answer from God in your own worth You may direct your prayer to Father Son and holy Spirit but not as one separated from the other When you go to pray you give God a visit frequency of worship doth maintain a respect between God and you It is then very seasonable to attend upon and apply our selves to the work or duty of prayer when the working or grace of the Holy Ghost doth beget a disposition in us to pray When grace doth offer a seasonableness to pray you shall find it affords a sufficiency of strength for prayer Seasons of grace last not alwaies it is not at our command to have the Spirit of God moving in us when you know the motions of the Spirit act accordingly to them Keep heavenly things as thou wouldest keep heaven it self Strive for spiritual life A dead man and a dying Christian are two sad sights A dead prayer leaves a dead Spirit behinde it A dull Spirit is the fruit of a dead prayer A dead heart argues a dying soul God is coming into that soul with comfort who is mighty in duty Consolation and supplication go together When wee do our present duty God will not remember our former sin Pray unto God for a better praying heart there will nothing prevail with God if prayer will not The
Covenant applies this promise and rests upon Christ for justification Therefore of faith that it might bee by grace therefore of faith to the end the promise might bee sure to all the seed Faith is the root of a Christians conversation and a Christians conversation is the fruit of faith Many measure their faith by perswasion but I had rather measure my faith by the power of mortification so much as it sanctifies so much it is faith cannot conduce to the act of redemption but faith conduces to our justification You are to act faith upon God that the promise may bee returned Wherefore do I believe because God hath promised Wherefore do I hope because faith believes Wherefore do I wait because hope expects An easie faith is always a false faith Hee that never found it hard to believe never believed A fruitless faith is alwaies a false faith It is not the work faith nor the works of faith but faith with her proper work by which wee are justified By faith the person is justified and by works the faith is justified Though faith alone doth justifie yet not that faith which is alone Christians should not onely labour to be justified by faith but they should labour to justifie their faith Shew mee thy invisible faith by thy visible life God doth justifie a man by his faith hee doth not justifie him for his faith Faith is the Engine by which wee do all by which wee prevail with God and overcome the world it must not onely live in us but wee must live by it Faith it grows in the exercise Do what you can for faith though your doing will not come up to believing and say not that you cannot believe for if you go not thus far to do what you can your unbelief is not from your cannot but from your will not Go and put forth that faith thou art able to put forth and in the end God will make it a spiritual believing As the water Christ commanded to bee poured out was turned into wine by the pouring of it out so deal with Christ Jesus for believing and in the end God will turn thy faith which is but water into wine Thou wilt believe thy self into believing You ought to believe till you bee perswaded that you do believe for the more you do believe the more you shall bee perswaded to believe By frequency of believing you shall feel at your very heart that you do believe 1 Joh. 5.10 If repentance accompany faith it is no presumption to believe but it is presumption to look for mercy in a way of unbelief Beware of unbelief for it is a shelter to sin all your life As faith is the shield of the new man so unbelief is the shield of the old man As the shield of faith doth quench the fiery darts of the Devill so unbelief doth quench the fiery darts of God This unbelief removes all the blocks that lie in the way of sin as belief removes all the blocks that lie in the way of holiness Unbelief it robs God the Father at once of all his Attributes it robs God the Son of the Glory of his triumph over Sin Death and Hell it robs God the Holy-Ghost of his seals to thy evidence of pardon The Spirit seals to thy soul the pardon of thy sins and unbelief comes and tears thy evidences and breaks the seals Labour as much for faith in the threatnings as for faith in the promises And remember this though other sins merit hell yet it is this sin of unbelief onely that puts you into damnation AS great sins are not easily to bee reformed so great mercies are not soon obtained When the stream of thankfulness is not returned the tide of mercy stops Although God looks for nothing in us to bestow his love upon us nor for nothing from us as the ground of the continuance of his love to us yet wee are to bee highly thankful for any little the Lord gives and to be humble and judge our selves worthy of nothing when the Lord denies Mercy is not the purchase of the creature but the gift of God Follow God close with your praises that goes before you in his mercies As praises are the seasonable fruit under mercies so humiliation and prayers are the seasonable fruit under troubles Sinners may speak good words of God it is only comly for the upright to praise God Thanksgiving it is the proper work of Christians and the natural work of Angels A little makes a thankful man admire much Oh how big are a thankful mans mercies and how little hee Bee careful for nothing but by prayer and supplication make your requests known to God with thanksgiving Daies of thanksgiving and prayer are helps to the duties God requires from us they are not our onely business When wee pray and give thanks it is not the onely business of the day but these are helps to us that wee may persevere and improve our obedience Though our goodness reaches not to God yet it should to the Saints If God be rich in mercy unto us it is that we should be rich in good works unto others It is good to receive a mercy from God it is better to improve a mercy Great and renewed receivings from God should beget fresh quick and strong resolutions of obedience unto God The more holy fire there is in the service the more pleasing the service When ever you serve God it must bee with fear when ever you praise God it must bee with trembling Though I cannot praise God sufficiently yet Christ can ALl have a call of inexcusableness few have a call of effectualness Grace is not denied to the wicked but it is onely given to the weary By grace is meant the love and favour of God within himself and is the spring and fountain of all that good which hee doth give out unto his children As grace is communicative so it is called goodness As it is with delight so it is called love as it is given out to man in state of misery so it is called mercy as it is dispensed freely so it is called grace When the Spirit works a man for salvation then doth the Spirit pour forth those graces and exercises those operations without which you cannot live grace Notwithstanding Christ hath paid the price of salvation yet you shall not bee saved without the Spirits application The Spirit is the executor of that will of which Christ is the Testator Christ gives the Legacies but the Spirit paies them Christ is the Mediator of the new Covenant and the Spirit is the Administrator of that Covenant You can no more expect to be renewed without the Spirit than to bee saved without the Son As you cannot bee saved unredeemed so you cannot bee saved unrenewed A graceless man shall never inherit heaven A graceless man is a cruel man to his own soul As sinners are given up to sin so those that have really profited by