THE SOULES IMPLANTATION INTO THE NATURALL OLIVE By T.H. Carefully corrected and much enlarged with a Table of the Contents prefixed JAMES 1.21 Receive with meeknesse the ingraffed Word which is able to save your soules LONDON Printed by R. Young and are to be sold by Fulke Clifton on New-Fish-street-hill 1640. THE CONTENTS TWo wayes God prepareth the heart for Christ Pag. 1 It is also prepared by contrition and humiliation 2 Doct. None but a broken heart is an house for Christ 3 Two lets of faith removed by brokennesse of heart 6 By faith the soule goeth out to another for all-sufficiencie 11 Use 1. Reproofe to them that would have comfort without brokennesse of heart 15. and them that dislike broken-heartednesse in others 18 Use 2 To get comfort begin in sorrow 22 Use 3 Comfort to the broken-hearted in two respects 25 Doct. The heart must first be prepared for Christ 31 Preparation for Christ standeth in three things 35 Use 1. Those reproved who thinke to have mercie and heaven upon a sudden 40 Use 2 A miserable estate to live in the old sinnes 47 Use 3 Prepare for Christ or thinke not to enjoy him 55 Motives to prepare for Christ 56 Doct. The Ministery a speciall meanes to prepare us for Christ 68 A powerfull ministery consisteth in three things 71 How a powerfull Ministery workes upon the heart to prepare it for Christ 79 Affliction prepares the heart for the Word the Word for God 88 Use 1. Much fault in Ministers that their peoples hearts are not fitted for Christ 84 Use 2 Fearfull is their estate whom a powerfull Ministerie workes not upon 88 Use 3 Let the Word be powerfull to prepare thy heart for Christ 90 Two things keep from Christ 95 What ingraffing into Christ is 99 Doct. Christ delayes not to come into an humbled heart 106 Use 1. Great comfort to each humbled soule 114 Use 2 They are of a naughtie spirit who endure not broken spirits 118 Use 3 Chuse the broken-hearted for companions 120 Use 4 Be thankefull for this great respect of Christ to thy poore soule 122 Use 5 They that would have Christ dwell in them must be willing to be humbled 125 Christ neare the soule yet not discerned for foure reasons in us 133. and for three reasons in Christ 147 Doct. Christ takes possession of every humbled soule 157 Three wayes he disposeth the heart to himselfe 168 Use 1. Reproofe of them that keepe Christ out of possession 171 Use 2 Give all to Christ whose it is 176 Doct. Love and joy by the Spirit wrought in a broken heart for embracing mercie as it deserves 180 The reason of Gods order in working these graces 187 Gods promise the ground of our love and how 195 His love to us begets love in us toward him and how 201 Use 1. Nature breeds no love to Christ 206 Saints love not duly because they rely not on the promise 211 Use 2 Comfort to them that love Christ 213. and blessednesse 216 Notes of true love to Christ 217 Use 3 Reproofe of them that love not Christ in truth 231. sorts of them 238 Enmitie against Christ shewed three wayes 240 Glozing neuters described and shamed 243 Hypocrites enemies to Christ foure sorts of them 246 247 c. Discoveries of not loving Christ 250 Hee thas wrangles against truth never loved Christ 2. arg 254 Expression of sorrow for sin limited 258 Continuall sorrow as needfull as continuall beleeving 261 Use 4 Love the Lord Jesus in sinceritie 272. meanes 273 Three hinderances of loving Christ ibid. 274 Three things in Christ to make us love him 282 Three things done by Christ for a sinner though as yet hee want assurance 286 Two meanes to bring our hearts and the promises together 291 Doct. In greatest wants true Christians have cause enough to rejoyce in God 300 Use 1. Reteine comfort in God whatsoever thou wantest 302 Use 2 Reproof to them that grow uncomfortable for crosses 304 Use 3 Make this sure God is the God of my salvation 305 Six meanes to rejoyce in evill times ibid. Doct. The sorrowful seed-time of true Christians in the exercises of humiliation and mortification yeelds them a rich and joyfull harvest 312. 313 Causes of true joy assured by mourning 314 Use 1. Sharpe Preachers make you gainers ibid. 315 Use 2 Enemies helpe the joy of Christians 315 Use 3 Esteeme none by present grievances 316 Use 4 Sow still though in teares ibid. Use 5 Be patient in suffering for God 317 Use 6 Comfort in death our owne or friends 318 Use 7 Be painfull in thy calling ibid. Use 8 Encouragement to repent of sinne and renew our repentance 319 THE BROKEN HEART ESAY 57.15 For thus saith the high and loftie One that inhabiteth eternity whose Name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place that is in heaven which is his throne and I will dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the heart of the humble and the heart of the contrite ones THere are two maine parts of the preparative worke for Christ First the manner of the worke on Gods part and this discovers it selfe in these two particulars 1. In proposing Christ in the Ministerie of the Gospell as the most beautifull object which the soule can view or affect Psal 2.12 Cant. 5.9 with 6.1 2. That God doth by an holy kind of violence plucke the sinner from sinne to himselfe as in that place Iohn 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him The second is on our part a frame and temper of the heart that God workes upon us by this holy kind of violent drawing This discovers it selfe in these two particulars 1 Contrition 2 Humiliation For the handling of these two wee have chosen this place of Scripture And I intend not to trade with every particular in the Verse but so much in it as fitteth my intendment in hand Expos That which I aime at is in the middle of the Verse I dwell with him that is of a broken heart Give me leave to open the words The great God of heaven that inhabiteth eternity in glory for the comfort of every poore broken-hearted sinner Gods two houses saith hee will dwell with him The Lord hath but two standing houses the one is in heaven in glorie the other is every broken heart and every shivered soule How he dwels in the heart Now how doth God dwell in the heart of a poore sinner The Apostle Ephes 3.17 tells us Christ dwells in our hearts by faith and it implies the constant abode of Christ by his Spirit in the soule being received and entertained by faith So that first there must bee a broken heart before there can bee faith or before Christ will dwell in our hearts to our comfort Consider what a kind of heart it must be wherein God will dwell It must bee an humble and a shivered spirit
Hee dwells in heaven by his glory yet though thou wert as low as hell in thy selfe God will come and take possession of thy heart marvellous graciously In the words so farre as they concerne my purpose the thing mainly observable is the necessitie and excellencie of this broken and humble soule It is the only receptacle of the Lord Iesus Christ If you will have Christ and grace to dwell in you you must get humble spirits Doct. So the Doctrine in generall from hence is this The soule must bee broken and humbled None but the broken heart is an house for Christ before the Lord Iesus Christ can or will dwell therein and before faith can be wrought therein There must bee contrition before there will bee an inhabitation of Christ in the soule As men specially great men will have their houses ayred before they come to lie there so this contrition is the ayring or sweeping of the soule that so it may be inhabited Foretold This was typified and foretold in the old law When the people of Israel were to goe into the Land of Canaan which shadowed the kingdome of grace here and of glory hereafter they must goe through the vast terrible troublesome and roaring wildernesse and through those streights and extreme hazzards before God brought them to the Land of Promise Whereby the Lord typified thus much unto us that before the soule can bee truely possessed of Christ it must goe through these rockie wayes of contrition and humiliation Hos 2.14 Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse Ad aperiendam spem Hieron and speake comfortably to her And in vers 15. I will give her the valley of Achor for the dore of hope and shee shall sing there as in the dayes of her youth and as in the dayes when she came out of Egypt Compare that 15. verse with Ioshua 7.25 The sloodgate of sorow a dore of hope The doore of hope is nothing else but the expectation of all good things from God which hee hath promised And here remember the story of Achor Achan had stollen the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment and therefore God departed away from the Campe. Now the Lord pursued him and caused the people to stone him with stones and they called the place The Valley of Achor to this day .i. The Valley of trouble and affliction The Lord hath reference to his former dealing As he did before in the time of Ioshua hee first subdued Achan and then hee gave them successe against all their adversaries As if he had said I will give them the Valley of contrition and humiliation for the Gate to all comfort and sweet refreshing here and hereafter So you must goe through the wildernesse to this Valley of Achor before you can come to this doore of hope to this Land of Canaan you must stone these corruptions of yours which have troubled the Spirit of God and then there is a doore of hope set open for you And as it was foretold so it was the end why the Lord Iesus Christ was sent as Isa 61.12 The Spirit of the Lord is upon mee saith Isaiah in the stead of Christ because the Lord hath annointed mee to preach glad tydings unto the meeke hee hath sent mee to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaime libertie to the captives and to comfort all that mourne Nay 2. Accomplished the Lord hath not onely sent Christ to this end and promised this but he hath done as hee did promise And this is the condition upon which he hath promised and given all comfort to his people as in Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit Hee is neere them to comfort them and to assist them and deliver them and thus the Saints of God have found it as 2 Chron. 33.12 where the Text saith that Manasses humbled himselfe mightily before the Lord and hee found peace to his soule and the Lord pardoned his sinne Hee was a mighty sinner and had mighty rebellions and mighty pride of heart and therefore the Lord laid him as low as the dust though hee were a King As hee had beene a mighty sinner so hee was now a mighty patterne of humiliation and the Lord had mercy on him Two reasons of the point The reasons and grounds of Gods dispensation this way are these two especially 1 Whether we consider the receiving of faith and Christ with it or 2 The keeping and maintaining of faith being received In both these it is plaine that God will breake our hearts before hee gives us Christ or faith I say it is necessary in the way of his providence Reas 1 1 It is an especiall meanes to make way for faith and for Christ because all the lets and impediments which hinder the entrance of faith into the soule are removed by humiliation and brokennesse of spirit Two let ts of faith removed by brokennesse of heart Now besides many other bolts and springs as in a locke there are many springs and little bolts besides the maine bolt so I say there are two maine bolts which make the soule uncapable of faith which being removed faith will come into the soule The first let which is an hinderance to the worke of faith is this 1 Lett. To seek contentment in the naturall condition there is a settled kind of contentment which the soule taketh up in its owne estate and the heart of a sinfull creature sitteth downe well apaid in that sinfull miserable condition wherein he is and hee desireth no other nay hee would have no change in this kind This is one maine bolt which stoppeth the way and keepeth faith from comming into the heart This is the frame of every mans heart naturally So we see in Deut. 29.19 And if it come to passe that when hee heareth the words of this curse that he blesse himselfe in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walke in the imagination of mine owne heart or adde drunkennesse to thirst The Lord will not spare him but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoake against that man and all the curses that are written in this booke shall fall upon him and the Lord shall blot his name from under heaven People blesse themselves in their condition notwithstanding all the promises of blessing and threatning of judgement If any man have such a root of bitternesse in him and shall blesse himselfe in this condition and say I will promise my felfe an happy end let Moses threaten what he can I tell thee the wrath of the Lord shall smoake against that man See that notable place in Iob 21.14 It imports so much For they said to God Depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes that is wee are as we would be When wholsome counsels and exhortations are ministred namely that
can be transplanted from the old Olive into the true Olive God must first cut us off from our old sinnes by contrition and secondly pare us and fit us by humiliation and then wee are fit to be ingrafted into Christ Where these two graces are wrought the soule cannot be void of faith and as surely as God is in heaven hee will undoubtedly poure faith into the soule So the substance is this If by this brokennesse of heart and this contrition and humiliation of spirit the two maine barres and lets of faith are removed then it is necessary that God worke this in the soule But the first part is cleered and marvellous plaine and therefore the other cannot be denied If you will be in your sinnes and in yoâ—rselves you cannot be in Christ you cannot bee in your selves and in Christ too This is enough for the first argument and it is the life of the point 2. This brokennesse of heart is marvellous necessary Reas 2 because by this meanes faith is preserved For when the heart is truly broken there followes this thing The soule prizeth faith and Christ and is thankfull for the least mercy God giveth Hee that stands in need will be thankfull for any mercy or favour as in Psal 35.10 All my bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee Me thinkes I see David in his distresse besieged with many miseries and when the Lord had eased him and freed him see how hee reasons with himselfe O Lord the heart that thou hast healed this broken spirit that thou hast bound up nay all these bones which were once shattered all to pieces thou hast set them againe and they shall say Lord who is like unto thee As if hee had said Here is mercy indeed for mine heart hath found it and mine eye hath seene it and mine hands and all my bones can say Lord who is like unto thee Before he was burthened with his sins and now he prizeth mercy wonderfully One dramme of faith is worth a hundred thousand worlds to a weary burthened soule As it was with the Iewes they had a yeare of Iubilee wherein every servant was set free and every bondman and every debtour set at libertie this is nothing else but the yeare of the Gospell The acceptable yeare of the Lord Esa 91 2. and the glad tydings of Salvation that is offered to all in the same The Master or hee that lent the money cared not for this yerre but the servant and the borrowers they only longed for that yeare and for that day that they might be delivered So it is here with a poore soule he that never felt the burthen nor the bondage of sinne cares not for the glad tydings of the Gospell but the poore oppressed creature that hath beene in the house of bondage by Satan tempting and his owne sinfull heart plaguing him when the day of salvation is offered he receives it thankfully And as the soule prizeth grace so it will hardly part with it when it hath it because it was got with so much difficulty We use to say Lightly come lightly goe but when the soule hath gotten faith with so much difficulty and had many troubles of soule before ever God gave an assured evidence of his love and favour hee will not suffer sinne or Satan to plucke it away Oh it cost him many a heavie heart and many a troublesome day before he got a little mercy and shall hee now part with it for a little pleasure or profit that he will never doe Then it is very reasonable that God should wound a man and breake his heart to make him taste his meat and to relish mercy Thus you see the heart must bee broken and humbled before the Lord Christ will come to dwell therein Now what 's the Use Vse 1 The first Use is for reproofe Of reproofe to them that would have comfort without brokennesse of heart and it checks the opinion and practice of two sorts of people If this be Gods way that before he will come into the soule he must have the heart fitted and prepared the house must bee ayred then I say it confutes the conceits of a company of carnall persons that bee in the world 1. The meere civill Professour that would sleepe in a whole skinne hee could be content to have heaven and mercy and hee hopeth he is in the right way but this melting of the soule and this bruising of the heart is more than God requireth or more than God looketh for onely he hath invented a new way and a shorter cut to heaven than ever God revealed Hee thinkes some melancholy man only may bee troubled and perplexed but otherwise it is not that which God requireth at the hands of men And therefore after a sleepie kind of profession without any life or power or soundnesse he goes on Iob 21.13 They spend their dayes in ease saith the Text and in a moment goe downe to hell There are a world of poore sinners that are thus deluded and because God hath given them some restraining grace to keepe them within compasse therefore they goe on in a kind of chearfull contentednesse and thinke that all is well And when they come to their sicke-beds In sicknesse false comfort fayleth they have nothing to say for themselves nay we cannot force comfort upon them for then they flie out and say it is not for them And if wee tell them of what they have done and that they have made a faire profession and have prayed and done many duties and beene well accounted of and so forth see what they answer It is true I have done this or that but this is onely the outside but oh this heart of mine was never broken truely onely I reformed my selfe outwardly and made a profession indeed but the bottome was never truly laid As it is in sailing so it is in living Though a man have a faire calme day and see the Sunne yet this will not bring him to the haven he must have a wind to drive the ship So it is with many a sinfull creature in the world hee puts forth to Sea and he will needes goe to heaven and taketh a sweet kinde of sleepie lazie course and will reforme himselfe outwardly but his heart was never broken nor humbled hee will never be landed before hee was never tossed Tossed hee must bee and that with some violence too but this man that was never troubled shall never bee comforted I have observed it as it was in the materiall Temple which Solomon built all the stones were hewed and polished before they were put in the building so here Christ is the Temple and every true Christian is a stone for it as the Apostle Peter saith 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye also as liuely stones be made a spiritual house Will the stones come close together in any building except first they be hewed and fitted or wil the heart ever come to close with God
sutes best with the hearts of wayward sinners onely hee lets in some incklings of his favour and grace and upholds the heart with so much mercy as may beare it up and yet but with so much Thus the Lord deales with us as a wise father doth with his child Simile hee seeth if he had his portion in his hands he would be riotous and carelesse and therefore it is wisedome not to trust him with his estate but to keepe him low and to keepe him upon dependance that hee may have better subjection from his hands So it is with the Lord he seeth that wee have unruly hearts and that if wee had that evidence of Gods mercy made knowne to us that wee would have we would be so proud and so haughty and so full of contempt and so censorious that there were no living with us therfore the Lord keepes us short and holds such soules low and keepes us only in some hope to hold up our soules and the more dependance the soule hath the more observance hath the Lord from us Experience proveth it true I have many things to write unto you but you are not able to beare them now you are not capable of them yet As it is with a little barke Simile if it should have a great maine mast and broad saile cloathes then in stead of carrying it it would bee overthrowne by them therefore men proportion their mast according to their shippe or barke and if it have skilfull Mariners they strike saile when they come into the shallow or narrow Seas This is the reason why the Lord deales so with us the soule is like the ship and the sense of Gods love and mercy is like the saile that carries us on in a Christian course and if we get but a little saile of mercy and favour we goe on sweetly and comfortably but if God give us aboundance of assurance our cursed rotten hearts would overturne and in stead of quickning of us it would ouerthrow us so that though God doth it the fault is in our selues That I take to bee the ground why many a poore Saint of God hath smoaked out his dayes in doubting and making question of Gods mercy and goodnes and at the houre of death God hath given them a full assurance of mercy Note and so carried them full saile to heaven they were not able to beare this before As a faithfull Minister of God once said to a poore woman that had beene long time questioning her selfe and doubting of her salvation when at last the Lord made it good unto her soule that Christ was her owne then the Minister sayd to her The Lord will not alwayes giue his children a cordiall but he hath it ready for them when they are fainting The comfort of Gods spirit is better then wine Cant 1.2 Now when a man hath a proud haughty selfe-conceited heart if he had much of this cordiall hee would forget himselfe and trample upon every one and therefore the Lord reserues this great mercy to the last this deprives a Christian of abundance of sweetnesse that otherwise God would bestow upon him Let every man therefore goe to his owne heart and examine it if while God is pleased to keepe us under hatches and to knock off our wheeles and leaue us in the dust if yet in the meanest degree we can snarle with Gods providence and say Why do I pray and God answers not others crie and God heareth them and why doth hee not heare me If when we are under wee doe thus then what would we doe if we might haue what we would we would say as the people in Ieremies time Wee will come no more at thee we are Lords Ieremy 2.31 Therefore that the Lord may prevent this proud spirit of ours and that we may walke in humility before him it is just with God to withdraw his Spirit from us if you haue not comfort thanke your selues for it So then gather up all and the summe is this If wee have not the apprehension of Christs presence with us though hee is there then either it is because of our owne ignorance or carelesnesse wee know him not or attend not when hee comes or else we mis-judge the presence of Christ and onely esteeme of his favour and presence according to the extraordinary sweetnesse that we would haue and that wee imagine should accompany the presence of Christ or else because our eyes are held with the hurry of some temptation and some worldly inconvenience that wee cannot see the Lord Christ though hee bee within us or else the Lord justly hideth himselfe from us because we are fallen into some grosse sinne or else parly with some private infirmities and doe not labour to humble our selues mightily for them and strive against them or else we doe abuse the favour of God or else wee have proud hearts that wee are not able to beaâ—e that comfort that we would have therefore I say the Lord hides himselfe from us to prevent evill in us This I take to be the answer to the question in hand Come into his Temple Here is a word that giues us foot-hold for the second Doctrine into his Temple This is a word of propriety as in that place when Christ came into the Temple and saw those that bought and sold in it He made a scourge of small cords and drave them all out of the Temple and the sheepe and the oxen and cast out the changers of money and overthrew the Tables Iohn 2.15 and he claimed the house for his owne saying My house shall be called a house of prayer Mat. 21 13. This word I say is a word of propriety Hee comes not like a stranger or like a forreiner but like a King to his Palace to take possession of it So the Doctrine is this Doct. 2 Doct. 2. Christ takes possession of every humbled soule When the Lord Iesus comes to a soule truely humbled hee taketh possession of it as his owne he comes into his Temple This is the scope of the comparison he comes as a King to his Throne where hee sits and to the Kingdome where hee rules I told you before that the ingraffing of the soule into Christ is nothing else but when the Lord by his Spirit comes to take possession of the humbled soule so that the soule stands possessed of Christ and is made partaker of all those spirituall good things that are in Christ This is generall to all the workes of application of Christ and the footsteps are to be seene in all the workes of of vocation justification adoption sanctification and the like the Lord Iesus gets ground in the heart by all these As in vocation the Lord drawes the soule to himselfe and the soule followes him in justification the Lord undertakes for the sinner and unites the soule to himselfe and makes it one with himselfe in adoption the Lord makes him a sonne and in sanctification
not worthy of mee He that prizeth any thing more in love or delights in any thing more with joy than in Christ is not worthy of Christ So then whosoever bestowes love or joy upon any carnall contents more than upon Christ his love and joy is not brought from Heaven it is a false love that will fade and will not bring him that comfort which hee lookes to receive from it This love is called the spirituall love 2 Tim. 1.7 For God hath not given us the spirit of feare but of power of love and of a sound mind wee have not received the spirit of bondage that is in preparation but the spirit of love that is in vocation It is called spirituall love because the Spirit of God in the promise kindles it and joy goes with it as you shall heare anon and it is that affection also in the example of Zacheus Luke 19.6 hee had a moneths mind to see Christ and as the learned well interpret it he had a blind desire but well set on by Christ and therefore see how hee labours to preventall opportunities and occasions he runnes before the croude and gets up into a tree and when hee was there Christ saw him and said Come downe quickly for I must dine at thy house Here was the voyce of Christ and the kindnesse of Christ too and this kindled the fire and wrought love and ioy for these two goe together and therefore the Text saith Hee came downe and received him joyfully This seemes to me to be the reason and meaning why sometimes in the phrase of Scripture love is put for beleeving as in Ioh. 3.18 19. Hee that beleeveth is not condemned but hee that beleeveth not is condemned already because he beleeveth not in the name of the onely begotten Sonne of God And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darknesse more than light The Text saith He that beleeveth not or he that receiveth not for they are both one hee proves this that a man not beleeving shall be damned why for this is the great condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darknesse more than light because he will not love Christ and will not receive him he receives darknesse and loves darknesse more than Christ intimating the neere combination betweene these two and the working and acting of them There are many other places that speake of love and ioy but none that fits this place of vocation Now to make this good there are two things necessarie to bee propounded and handled First to shew the reason of the order of Gods worke why after hope and desire there comes this love and ioy Secondly the ground of this love and what it is in the promise that will kindle and strike fire upon these two affections and bring them home to the Lord this being cleared it will then appeare how the Spirit of God in the promise doth kindle this love and ioy First for the former What is the reason of the order of Gods worke Why after hope and desire God workes love and joy in the soule why comes love and ioy next after hope and desire I answer There are but two affections and there need no more God being perfectly wise hath appointed it whereby the soule should send to meet with any good that is absent if the good be absent then the understanding saith that is a good to be desired and very comfortable oh that I had it then it sends out hope and that waits for that good and stayes till it can see it and if that good come not then desire hath another proper worke it goes up and downe wandering and seeking and suing for Iesus Christ and this desire goes from place to place from East to West from North to South saith When shall I and how may I come to the sight of Iesus Christ As the Spouse in the Canticles sought to the watch-men to enquire after Christ so desire wanders up and downe For so I told you it is the wandering of the heart and it never ceaseth going and enquiring if it can gaine any intelligence of Iesus Christ It goes to prayer to see if it can speake with Christ there and from thence it goes to the Word to see if that will reveale Christ and to conference if that will mention it and saith See you the Lord Iesus Christ The hungrie soule comes to the Church to see if it can heare any newes of Christ And thus it continues till at last the Lord Iesus Christ is pleased to come himselfe after the soule hath hungred for him and sought for him as Marie said Oh if you can tell me where my Lord is So the soule goes from one place to another from Prayer to the Word and from the Sacrament to Fasting and asketh of the ordinances Where is my Saviour and saith If you know where hee is tell me of him that I may be possessed of him After this the Lord Iesus Christ is pleased to come himselfe into the view of the heart which longeth thus after him and saith as the Prophet Behold thy King commeth So he saith Oh thou poore broken-hearted sinner here is thy Saviour hee is come downe from Heaven this day to speake peace and comfort to thee and thou that hast so long time prayed to thee he saith Here I am and all my merits are now become thine and to thee that doest thus hunger and desire Christ hee is now come to comfort thee Now when the Lord Iesus Christ is come within thy view and thy desire hath met with him then there comes the other two affections he is come within sight and now there are other affections stirred up and sent out by the Spirit of the Lord to give entertainment to Christ Iesus Love leads him into the soule and tels the will of him and saith Loe here is Iesus Christ the Messiah that hath ordered these great things for his Saints and people and Ioy is the attendant to wait upon him when he is come Suffer me to expresse my selfe thus in this manner because I would shew the guise of the frame of the heart in this worke It is with a poore humbled sinner Simile as it is with a malefactour or traitor who is pursued with a Pursuivant that hath laid wait for him as farre as the Sea and at last hee is resolved to yeeld and come in He hath offended his Soveraigne and hee is driven to a stand he cannot procure a pardon nor hee cannot escape therefore hee is content to come in and yeeld his necke to the blocke that as he hath offended so he may receive his punishment accordingly Now as hee is going he heares an inckling that there is some hope of a pardon and thereupon the poore man begins to reioyce in hope that he may be pardoned and then heareth other newes which saith if hee will but bee humbled before his Maiestie
they would take up a better course and be more holy before God and yeeld obedience to him in his Word and the Minister biddeth them take a farewell of their pleasures and profits and they thinke wee invite them to losse now all the while that a poore sinner quiets his heart in this condition it is meerely impossible in the course of providence nay it is a flat contradiction that ever grace should be bestowed upon that soule or that ever faith should come there For faith purgeth the heart wheresoever it comes as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.17 All things are become new all old things are passed away There must be a new frame of the heart and a new course of life and conversation Now for the soule to approve of its condition and yet desire to goe out of it these two cannot stand together in reason and therefore know that while people please themselves in this condition and let the Minister say what the will and let God reveale what hee will still they thinke they cannot be in a better estate I say it is impossible that ever upon these termes faith should come into the heart for faith will bring a change Therefore when the Lord will doe good to a soule hee will make him see his sinnes and make him weary of them and tire him with the sense of his condition and shew him the necessity of faith and that he must be a new man and then he is content to take that way whereby he may be better disposed of by the Spirit of God In the Gospell the phrase is this Mat. 9.12 The whole need not the Physitian He thinkes himselfe well and therefore what need he goe to Physick And it is so in common reason No man can reare up a new house but he must first pull downe the old If a man be fish-whole what need doth he see of Christ as many people see no need of this humbling and this strictnesse and they thinke they love God in their owne apprehension and therefore they quiet themselves in that condition But God will plucke downe this old frame and then there is a way to build a new frame in the heart Before the heart is broken the soule would not bee otherwise and therefore it cannot be content to be under the power of faith which would worke a change of the heart The second maine hinderance of faith is this 2. Let. To seeke a sufficiencie at home Suppose the soule were sensible of its condition and were wounded and broken and could bee content to have ease and reliefe yet the soule seeketh for succour from its owne sufficiencie and when as the Word hath discovered our condition unto us and now we see we have need of reliefe we have recourse to some shift of our owne And this doth wonderfully crosse and oppose faith nay faith cannot come into the soule till the Lord undermine this corruption of heart This is a fruit of Adams rebellion for when the Lord put into his hands a stocke of grace that hee was made perfectly happy and righteous and able to doe whatsoever God commanded while hee continued in this estate of innocencie hee needed not to goe out of himselfe to find succour and reliefe he had no need of Christ This is the sinfull temper that hangeth upon all the posteritie of Adam that though fallen from God we will scramble for our owne comfort and doe what wee can by our owne strength to procure comfort and ease and shelter to our owne soules in the day of distresse Happely God layeth a man upon his sicke bed and awakeneth his conscience and in this condition men will promise and resolve any thing that if God would spare them they would doe any dutie to get Gods favour toward them and they thinke it is some outward reformation of some ungodly practises that will give God contentment and so they rest in themselves still And hence it is that after a great deale of horror of conscience in conclusion they fall backe to their old courses or else they content themselves with an outward and overly reformation of life and take up a calme civilized course till they come to their death-bed and then their hearts faile them and the reason is this because the heart was never throughly humbled And it may be a man thinkes if he shall now pray and heare and doe some duties then all will bee well never seeing an utter insufficiencie in himselfe that hee may receive mercie from the Lord. This is the lowest and last hinderance of all and there is nothing more crosse to faith than this It is commonly the shift that Satan puts upon men in their troubles meerely to make them doe something out of their good parts and good gifts and there to rest themselves and so to sinke downe into the Pit before they bee aware Now this crosseth the worke of faith By faith the soule goeth out to another for all-sufficiencie for the nature of faith is this it is the going out of the soule to another and to see all sufficiencie in another and to fetch all from another To have supply in a mans selfe and to see all-sufficiencie in Christ these two cannot stand together So that while the soule is thus possessed with his owne sufficiencie to procure ease to himselfe it is certaine this stops the worke of faith and hinders the pouring in of faith into the soule whereby you should goe wholly out of your selves and fetch all from Christ Therefore marke now what followes As contrition tooke away the former hinderance so the Lord hath this worke of humiliation whereby hee shuts backe this bolt and makes him to see an utter inabilitie in himselfe to procure or receive any good For there are many sinnes which formerly he hath committed and many weaknesses and wants whereof he is guilty Now when this is done then the barre is removed and the lets taken away by these two contrition and humiliation Consider that place 1 Cor. 3.18 If any man would be wise hee must be a foole that he may be wise and if any man will be made rich hee must see himselfe poore and if any man will have succour in his miserie he must see himselfe unable to relieve himselfe and then the Lord will doe it for him There cannot be faith in the soule if either of these doe remaine in the soule still Now these being taken away the soule is fit to receive the worke of faith Simile As it is with a man that would take a graft from a tree and graft it into a new stocke first it must be cut off from the old and then secondly be pared and made fit for the other so it is here all the sinfull sonnes of men grow upon the root of Adams rebellion and wee prosper and thrive there Adam was the old and wild Olive and Christ the true Vine and the new Olive Now before wee
will say How doe you gather the doctrine out of the Text what ground have you for the doctrine out of the words of the Text Answ Yes it is one of the maine passages of the Text it was the scope and purpose and sending of Iohn the Baptist for the Text saith He shall goe before him in the spirit and power of Elias Who shall goe before Iesus Christ Iohn the Baptist How shall hee be fitted He shall have the spirit and power of Elias And what shall he doe He shall goe before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turne the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdome of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord Luke 1.17 The Lord prepares a fit workeman for this worke Iohn was to prepare a people for the Lord and therefore hee comes in the spirit and power of Elias That is hee had a wonderfull abilitie bestowed upon him by God whereby he might deliver the Word of God to mens hearts so powerfully as thereby he might fit and prepare them for the receiving of the Lord Iesus and hee made a company of desperate sinners to quake yea hee made Herod who was a sinfull wretch to stand in feare of him So then we see God fitted Iohn with a powerfull ministerie with the spirit and power of Elias and being so fitted of God hee was sent for the purpose to prepare mens hearts for the receiving of the Lord Iesus And therefore this must be a speciall meanes soundly to prepare mens hearts for the entertaining of the Lord Iesus Christ So the doctrine is cleere and plaine out of the Text. Ier. â—3 29 the Lord there speaking of his Word compares it to fire in the 28. verse the Lord was speaking of dreamers There are a company of dreamers saith he but let him that hath a dreame tell a dreame and hee that hath my Word let him speake my word faithfully Is not my word like fire ver 29. there is the power of the Word Simile Looke as it is with the Gold smith his mettall is full of drosse and hee must trie it and clense it and purifie it in the fire before it bee fit to make a vessell of so it is with the drossie soules of sinners every heart hath abundance of drosse for many sinfull abominations harbour in the poore soule of a man It must be a powerfull ministerie that is able by the power of the Lord to set fire on the hearts of men to melt their soules to pull downe their haughtie spirits thereby to fit and prepare their soules for the receiving of the Lord Iesus Christ that so they might receive comfort and consolation from him In Hosea 6.5 it is a phrase wee shall meet withall for there the Text saith I have hewen them by my Prophets The Church is compared to a Vineyard the godly to the Branches the Word to the pruning and cutting of these Branches As it was with the building of the materiall Temple of Solomon there were many sturdy Oakes and tall Cedars that were to be hewen and fashioned before they would be fit for the building so it must bee here with the trees of righteousnesse our sinfull soules some of us have sturdy hearts like Oakes and some have proud and lofty hearts like the tall Cedars of Lebanon these stout hearts and lofty spirits must bee cut downe by the axe of Gods word and levelled and fitted to lay hold upon and bee settled unto the Lord Iesus Christ Every mans soule especially those soules that belong to the election of grace are ground that must be tilled and plowed by the word of God their fallow grounds must be broken up before any seed of grace can be cast into their soules 1 Cor. 3 9. there the Apostle saith You are Gods husbandrie and therefore God by his word must plow up the weeds of sinne and corruption which are in you before he can sow the graces of his holy Spirit in your hearts And that place Acts 2.37 will make the Doctrine cleere and evident Saint Peter was a man of a stout and courageous spirit and hee spake home unto the Iewes hee tells them that God hath made that Iesus whom they crucified the Lord and Christ And when they heard these things saith the Text that is the word powerfully delivered and brought home to their soules they were pricked in their hearts and said Men and brethren what shall we doe Now they were prepared in some measure to seeke after salvation For the better understanding of this point two things are to be considered first what a powerfull ministerie is and wherein the power and efficacie of it consists secondly how this powerfull ministerie doth worke upon the soule to prepare it for Christ First what is this powerfull ministery 1. A powerfull Ministery consisteth in 3. things wherein doth the power of the ministerie and of Elias consist It is discovered in three particulars First in a particular application of the truth to the soules of men with courage When a faithfull Minister out of undauntednesse of spirit doth in a speciall and particular manner apply the Word vnto the soules of them over whom he is set this is a powerfull minâ—stery 1 Kings 18.21 there the ministery of Elias is mentioned for the Text saith Elias came unto all the people and said How long halt ye betweene two opinions If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal be God follow him It was in a time when people had departed from the Lord. Elias at this time did not come to one man alone in a corner and say You should doe well to consider of the case how it stands it is very desperate I would wish you to returne unto the Lord it will be your best course hee doth not doe thus but he came to all the people and marke how hee speakes If Baal be God follow him if the Lord be God follow him Away with this halting what neither hot nor cold A man cannot tell where to have you intend one thing or other if Baal be God why so if the Lord bee God so make something of it in this case thus hee spake to all the people saith the Text. And we shall observe the same in Iohn Baptist that had the power and spirit of Elias Matth. 3.7 hee did not goe there behind the doore to speake but hee spake to the Pharisees and Sadduces after this manner O yee generation of vipers who hath forewarned you to flee from the wrath to come As if he had said You are they that opposed Christ and set your selues against the Gospell you have hardned your hearts you will not enter into heaven your selues not suffer others to enter in Why who hath forewarned you to flee from the wrath to come Neither is this a strange course or unprofitable for our Saviour Christ himselfe useth it in Mat 23.23 from thence to the
which immediately prepares mens hearts for the Lord. These crosses and afflictions may make a man to thinke and consider of himselfe and of his sins yea they may make him thinke of a better estate and to desire the word and send for a faithfull minister and heare him but the word that must worke beyond afflictions to prepare men for the Lord. Ob. But some may obiect againe that the word of God doth sometimes harden men how doth it then alone prepare mens hearts for the Lord Answ I answer that the word of God is but an instrument now the Lord is a free-worker a voluntary agent as we use to say he may doe what he will and when he will with his instrument A powerful ministery is the only ordinary means to prepare mens hearts for Christ but God worketh with this means where hee will and upon whom he will And as hee may prepare a man for himselfe by this meanes so he may harden him by it the word is able to prepare a man but God worketh with it upon whom hee will and how he will as it pleaseth him Vse 1 The Vse of this point is first for Ministers Is it so that a powerfull ministery is the speciall means ordinarily to prepare the soule for the Lord Much fault in Ministers that their peoples hearts are not fitted for Christ then from hence the Ministers of God may see the reason of the little good they doe in that course and place wherin God hath set them here lieth the ground of it we preach and take paines but the worke of God prospereth not in our hands after many yeeres hewing there is not one mountain levelled scarce one sinner brought home to the Lord Iesus and truely prepared for him What is the reason of this Surely leaving secrets and times unto God for God may convert when he will and there are seasons wherein God will not vouchsafe any saving grace unto men but leaving these things to God this wee know in general that God is as powerfull as ever he was the ministery is as effectuall as ever it was if it be performed in a right manner We need not complaine as Elisha did Where is the God of Elijah He is not wanting but if the spirit and power of Elias be wanting in us the fault is ours For the sword of the spirit is as powerfull as ever it was If the ministery of God were dispensed as it should it would be as effectuall as ever it was it would worke to saluation But where lies the fault Alas that lieth in the ministers of God who doe not performe the worke of the ministery as it should and with that power they ought A sword in a childs hand though never so sharp will doe no harme but if it be put into a strong mans hand he wil make it cut deeply Too many of Gods Ministers haue weak hearts little affection have they to the people of God little labour is there in their hearts to pluck men unto heaven they doe not strive with soules as they ought to doe they doe not struggle with the hearts of men if they have their profits and liberties they care not And hence it is that little good is done by them they do so marvellously faile in the former particulars Where is that particular and courageous applying of the truth to mens foules and consciences Alas what coverings they have freinds they must not be displeased and great men they are afraid they should bee offended It is pitty but their tongues should cleave to the roofes of their mouthes if they speake any thing the lesse for these base and by respects than God reveales and requireth of them Their slighting and passing by is the reason that men profit so little by their ministery they are ashamed to tell and affraid to speak to the hearts of men and reprove them for those sinnes which they are not ashamed or affraid to doe in the face of the world They convince not so soundly as they ought to doe they doe not gather in those arguments which may make those truths undeniable and mens consciences at a stand If they can but carelesly and idely talke out the houre what becomes of the seed what becomes of the word what becomes of mens soules they care not againe they want that holy spirituall affection which they should deliver Gods word withall unto his people This is the summe of all Ministers doe not deliver the word with a heavenly hearty and violent affection they doe not speake out of the abundance of their affections If they would speake against sin with a holy indignation it would make men stand in awe of sin they talke of it overly and say It is not good to profane Gods Name his Sabbaths and to live an ungodly life but they doe not speake from their hearts in this kind A sturdy messenger if hee come to a mans house to speake with him he will not be put off he will take no deniall but he will speake with him if it be possible before he goes away but send a child of a message to a man if a servant doe but tell him his maister is not at leisure or that he may speake with him another time he will easily be put off and goe away before hee hath delivered his message So it is with a Minister that performes his office with a hearty affection For when a man speakes from his heart in this case he will haue no answer he will not bee dallied withall he will take no deniall but will haue that he came for If a man should say he is not at leisure to speake with him or to heare him now he will speake with him another time he will not goe away with this answer but he will tell him I came to speake with your hearts and I will speake with your hearts he will say to the people Tell your hearts you that love the world and the profits and pleasures thereof and my heart tels you did you but know the good things that are in Christ Iesus did you but know what a happy thing it is to have the assurance of Gods mercy you would never love sin or delight in wickednesse as you have done heretofore I came to speake with your hearts and will speake with them before we part Grieve no more for the things of this world but for your sins The day is comming when the heavens shall melt with fire and ye shall heare the voice of the Arch-angell saying arise ye dead and appeare before the judgement seat of God where you shall heare that woefull and bitter sentence Away from me all yee workers of iniquity I know you not Mat. 7 23 Oh this may be one day your case And wee that are Ministers of God doe mourne for you and tell your soules we must have sorrow from you wee came to speake to your hearts we came for hearts and we will haue
thou the hope of Israel why dost thou depart In Gen. 19.2 when the two Angels came to Lot in Sodome the one was Christ Lot compelled them to go in Christ is not now unwilling but hee knockes and calls and saith Open to me my love my dove my undefiled he entreats the loose person to forsake his base practises and the covetous person to leave his oppression and to receive mercy but you suffer Christ to lye in the street and despise that word of his and will bee at your owne carving This especially falls foule upon two sorts of persons The first sort is all carnal profane opposers of the Lord Iesus The carnall Gospeller is content that Christ should undertake for him and bee his Protectort to defend him from the plague of sin but he is not content that Christ should rule in him He doth as the Inne-keeeper that receives a guest into his house to make an advantage of him for as the Inne-keeper will come to his guest and pretend great matters to him not because he would have his guest to possesse him but because hee would bee possessor of his money so the carnall Gospeller would have Christ for his owne turne hee would dispose of Christ and mercy for his owne purpose and hence come all those speeches God is mercifull and Hath the Lord Christ created men to damne them Oh but mercy is sweet and pardon is good This is thus much you would have Christ to pardon sinne that you might commit it with lesse feare and more freedome If you did see no Saviour but that you must needs be damned for it you would startle at it But you would have Christ to stand by you that you might sinne the more freely Oh be not deceived doe you thinke that Christ will come to be an underling to your lusts and a drudge to your base distempers whose condemnation is iust saith the Apostle No you are deceived you shall not have Christ a servant to carry your lusts and pleasures to heaven with you The truth is the Lord Iesus will never bring comfort nor consolation to thee that wilt not bee possessed of him either haue both or neither chuse whether you will The second sort to be reproved are a company of slie hypocrites that would part stakes with Christ and part houses with him they could bee content that hee should have some roome in the house but they will dispose of all themselues as a man that lets some roomes in his house Simile upon this condition that he may have them when he lists You willl pray against sinne provided that now and then Christ will give you leaue to practise it and you will cry out against it provided that you may have a privy seale or some secret licence for it and you will professe bitterly against base courses so you may haue some backe doore and inward lust still The Lord Iesus doth not share with any man can he have a part and the Divell a part nay hee will have either all or none It was the tricke of an adulterous heart for when there was contention for the children the harlot said 1 King 3.26 Let it be neither thine nor mine but divide it Nay saith the mother let her have all Shee was the harlot that would have the child devided So it is with an adulterous and dissembling heart that saith Let Christ have a part and the world a part let lusts and pompe have a part and Christ a part this is dissimulation with GOD and shall receive condemnation there must bee no sharing If your hearts be guilty of this I charge you in the name of the Lord Iesus consider it the Lord never came into your soules you must resigne all to him and then he will saue all he will pardon all sin and give power against it What a fearfull thing were it if the Lord should deale with you as you deale with him Suppose thou couldst be halfe damned wouldst thou be content to have thy heart go to hell and thine eye to heaven or thy body to hell and thy soule to heaven therefore that thy body and soule may both be saved resigne up up all into the hands of thy Saviour and let him dispose of all here in the kingdome of grace and then he will take all to himselfe in glory for ever Vse 2. If the Lord Iesus be the possessor of all the house then let every one haue his owne Give all to Christ whose it is doe not with draw from Christ that which is his Whose image and superscription hath the soule Christ Iesus hath the protection of it therefore let him have all Let thine eye see his works and wonder and admire at them let thy minde know Iesus Christ whom to know is eternal life but do not withdraw any thing from the true owner therof that hath purchased it full deare 1 Cor. 5.15 Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid Thine eye and thy tongue and thy hand and thy heart they are all Christs members he hath bought all with his blood and thou hast nothing to do with that which Christ hath bought therefore whensoever thy corruptions stirre and Satan tempts and begges for the use of thy mind or heart make answer and say Shall I take that heart that is Christs and thinke basely God forbid Shall I take the hand of Christ and worke wickednesse with it The holy Apostle is marvellous peremptory in this case as 1 Cor. 6.19 Glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods and hee hath bought you with a price your bodies and soules are the Lords hee undertakes for both therefore glorifie God in both If a man did come to your house and take the meat and drinke that you have provided and rob you of your money you would take it very hardly and say It is my owne So you are not your owne Therefore if the Divell or the world would prevaile with you and enter into the use of your heart or minde tell him they are not thy owne they are the Lords IESVS CHRIST hath come into thy heart and minde in mercy and therefore say it is the Lords let him doe what hee will with it â‚ SPIRITVALL LOVE AND IOY Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is love ioy goodnes faith c. THE sure mercies of David which faith beleeveth love embraceth And who so getteth this field and treasure must needs go away rejoycing in so good a bargain All this and all other graces and comforts worketh one and the same Spirit directing the heart to God uniting it unto Christ and thereby comforting it abundantly All is his fruit in us At this time of loue and joy The point of Doctrine is this Love and joy by the spirit wrought in a broken heart for embracing mercy as it deserves Doct. The Spirit of the Father kindles in the soule of
love Christ I say neither thou nor I can doe it by any power or vertue in our selues nay I say thou art as able to save thy owne soule and to redeeme thy selfe without Christ as thou art able to love Christ unlesse he by the power of his spiritenable thee to doe it Nay you that make nothing of it to loue Christ marke what I say If a man might have happinesse in hand and heaven laid downe upon the nayle if he could love the Lord Iesus of himselfe I say if he had no more but nature he would never goe to heaven nor never bee happy Nay it will cost more than so it will cost time and paines and many teares and prayers you must have the Father come downe from heaven to teach you and you must goe to another schoole than ever you were at yet before you can learne it and unlesse the Father make you able to loue Christ you can never doe it It is true if it were nothing but pratling and professing and yet to stand in open opposition to the power of grace and the spirit this cannot bee for to welcome a Saviour to receive Christ answerable to the worth of him a man cannot doe it by the meere power of nature it is the worke of the Lord as the Apostle Saint Iohn saith 1 Ioh. 1.5 God is light and in him is no darknesse and Ephes 5.8 You were darknesse God is nothing but holines and you are nothing but darknesse Now you know darknesse can oppose light and wickednesse can oppose holinesse but never give way to it nor receive it This is thy nature and condition thou hast an ignorant darke heart of thine owne but the Lord is altogether holines and light and thou canst not receive it nor wilt thou receiue him As 2 Thess 2.10 they would not receive the truth of God in the loue of it the truth of God makes love to thy carnall heart and would plucke thee from thy base lusts and corruptions and would woo and winne thy soule that it might take place in thy heart the world will not receive it Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners but the world would not receive him so farre were they from seeking to a Saviour that they would not receiue him though he came to offer himselfe to them thou hast a heart that hatest Iesus Christ and cannot loue him and thou hast a heart that can oppose him and his grace but canst not take contentment in that grace and rich mercy of his if thou hast not grace and mercy thou hast but what thou wouldst haue and therefore it is just thou shouldest never haue it The second cause Saints Iove not as they might and should because they rely not on the promise why I presse this instruction is this To shew the disorderly proceedings of many poore Saints that labour extremely to worke their owne soules and to bring their hearts to love Christ that they even fall out with themselues and curse their base hearts that can loue the world and cannot loue Iesus Christ they labour much and would bring their hearts to loue him but they cannot doe it because they goe to worke the contrary way they would bring loue to the promise and not receive love from the promise as if a man should bring water to the sea or light to the sunne It is as if he would have a sun of his owne and yet there is but one sunne of righteousnesse that can kindle this loue of Iesus Christ to carry it selfe worthy of him Therefore be wise herein and thinke not to bring love to the promise but come to the promise for it and goe to the sea for water and looke up to the sunne of Gods loue and be under the beames of Gods mercy and looke not down into that dead frozen heart of thine own for if thou wouldst never so faine thou canst not receive one sparkle of this love from thy owne abilities See his love therein and bee thereby drawne to love him againe and see the fulnesse of those pleasures at his right hand which endure for ever Ioh. 16.14 the Lord Christ saith He shall send the Spirit the Comforter and he shall take of mine that is take of Christs All spirituall graces are Christs therefore goe thou thy way and tell the Lord thus much saying In truth Lord I have not a heart to love thee it is thine owne worke and thou hast sayd that thy spirit shall take of thine and give it to thy servants that thy servants may also give thee of thine owne againe that love and that delight is thine to give that wee may giue thee of thine owne as David spoke of the building of the Temple Thus much of the use of instruction Vse 2. Comfort to them that love Christ In the second place here is a strong consolation to sustaine and refresh the hearts of those that have received this gracious worke though they haue some small weaknesses it skills not be the worke sound it is enough thy soule may bee comforted that the Lord hath enlarged himselfe to thee in this gracious worke I say it is a ground of admirable sweet refreshing of soule to any that finde this gracious love unto Christ A man by nature cannot have this therefore hast thou this by grace Goe thy way as he that hath found a treasury and make much of it and say and know thou hast something more than all carnall wretches can have and thou hast more than all the cunning close-hearted hypocrites under heaven can have let them pretend and fain and flatter what they will Me thinks this should wonderfully refresh the hope of you poore ones for though many times other things goe not well with you yet this is enough to cheare up your hearts for ever You know a childe will loue his father though hee can doe little for him he is a child and therefore though he can doe little for his father yet if he love his father hee is contented so they that haue little meanes and small sufficiencies towards any servants of God and it may be their understandings are not so deepe as others be and their tongues runne not so glib as such and such and they cannot talke so freely of the things of grace and salvation and thou hast meaner parts and canst not enlarge thy self in holy duties and holy services though this is commendable where it is and thou canst not dispute for a Saviour and perform such duties as others can doe yet thou canst loue Iesus Christ and reioyce in him Methinkes there is many a poore soule would say I blesse the name of the Lord that 's all that I haue the Lord knowes that all the friends I have and parts and meanes and abilities in the world they are but as dung and drosse in comparison of Christ Oh it were the comfort of my soule if I might be euer with him Goe thy