his Love and Power shine with greatest Lustre Remember â—our Sanctifier but forget not his most Sanctified ones I conclude with a saying of one â—cquainted with God above thouâ—ands He never knew a heavenly â—onversation that pretending to know God alone hath no converse with his â—oly ones that attend Him and doth â—ot live as a Member of their Society â—n the City of God that doth not with â—ome delight behold their Holiness â—nity and Order But as it is time 〈◊〉 proceed to my next Observaâ—â—ion D. 2. The holy Faith and Conversation of godly Ministers and Friends deceased must be considered and followed So the Text in terms most plaiâ— Follow their Faith to wit considereâ— by you And that Comma consâ—dering the end of their Conversation imports evidently a command to follow it For the sake of these waâ— the remembrance of their Persons fore required Which without thâ—â— use of their Faith and Conversatioâ— would be to little purpose Bâ— it considered therefore strictly 1. What this Faith is 2. What this Conversation And 3. What the Reasons for our coâ—sidering and following both 1. Faith is considered as Objectively taken or Subjectively A the first it is the truth of the Goâ—pel by them held Viz. 1. Thâ— Gospel-History of the Primitiâ—â— Friendship between God and Man of the Enmity raised by the first siâ— between them and of the Reconcâ—liation made by the Son of God 2. The Gospel Offer and Invitation of Sinners unto Grace and Salvation â—y a New Covenant one of admiraâ—le Promises and most equitable and â—racious Demands 3. The Gospel-Rule and Directory for the Worship â—nd the whole Walk of all embracing â—nd entring that Covenant This History they Credited this Offer â—hey Accepted this Covenant they Entred this Rule they Followed â—ubjectively taken their Faith is that â—race of God in them whereby â—hey so received the Gospel Now â—his grace of Faith is either general â—nd so 't is their Assent and Consent â—nto all God's Revelation as perfectâ—y true Or special as it relates unâ—o Christ Jesus the sum of all God's Revelation and so it is their accepâ—ance of Him in all his Offices as Teacher Saviour Ruler The deâ—arted Saints we speak of had a Faith which was unto them instead of Possession and Sight One that made things said by God as credible as if they had seen them with their Eyes And things promised by God as comfortable as if they had had them in their hands I would be understood of the Truth only not of the degree of Credibility and Comfort They had also a Faith iâ— their Hearts which was unto them a Marriage Knot whereby they joyned themselves unto Christ Jesus in everlasting Covenant Resigning themselves to him to be Taught Saved and Ruled Committing themselves to God's saving Mercy lodged in Christ's Hand And submitting themselves to God's governing Authority lodged in the same This Faith of theirs in both acceptations is that which we are to consider and follow Conversation is the way and course of humane life Respectively of all Duties towards our Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier towards the Church the World and our Selves And this as under all Circumstances of our various Conditions in our Pilgrimage The way and course of the Saints we speak of was Holy and Exemplary Through their Faith in Christ working by Love purifying their Hearts conquering the World and chasing the Devil they sincerely and perseveringly glorified God They held Communion with the Father Son and Spirit in Faith Hope and Love in Worship and Obedience They loved the Church as Christ's Body served it and sympathized with it as members of it The Unregenerate World they pitied and spent their days in pains and prayers for it's conversion Their Hearts that is Themselves they kept with all diligence preferring always the man above the Brute the Soul above the Body In a word their life was an Exercise of Grace a Warfare against Corruptions and Temptations a putting of their Talents to Usury and merchandizing to and for Heaven All their days were Humiliation-days for their Sins their Own and their Relations and Thanksgiving days for their Mercies and Hopes They walked after the Spirit and not after the Flesh And this their walk is that their Conversation that we are called to eye and to imitate We shall briefly enquire the Reasons for this practice To wit of our considering the Faith and Conversation of our glorified Brethren And of our setting our selves to transcribe both Our own vanity is apt to charge the Divine Wisdom foolishly for commanding it And to ask Unto what purpose is this our cost and pains Being we have the perfect rule of the Gospel and of our Saviour's own transcendent Example St. Austin's word is of great weight WHY God commands any thing I need not trouble my self He will look to that Let me ever look well to WHAT he commands Whether we see them or no there are infinite reasons for every thing God requires But yet when those reasons are obvious their use is rich and various Of the Practice foresaid I shall therefore point out a few such as are most clear and apparent R. 1. This practice unites the upper and lower House of God The Church above and that below It holds together the Members of the Family in Heaven and upon Earth It engageth us to keep eyeing of them As Scholars of the lower Form eye those of the higher whom they must imitate It even necessitateth the Houshold of Faith to hold great conversation with them that live by Sight This is no light reason with such as consider how God stands for his Children's Union and Association Such as hath been forespoken of and therefore shall have no more here said of it R. 2. This Practice doubles our help to the Life of Faith and Holiness The Instructions and Precepts of the Gospel are a blessed Help But not all that we need Who feels it not After that we have heard our Master's best and brightest Doctrines we need our Fellow Servants instructive and motive Examples Which are indeed the most instructive Comments to the understanding of them and most motive Encouragements unto the obeying of them as Experience certifieth By what is here said no disgrace is cast upon the Gospel 'T is meerly from our own dulness that we need superadded Examples And the shame of that want rests singly upon our own Head While in the mean time unto God belongs the glory of the additional Mercy Admirable Mercy For the Gospel shews us but the Duty But the Example of deceased Saints shews also the possibility of living by Faith and in Holiness Because what has been done may certainly be done again We are emboldned to believe we may so live when we consider others to have lived so And let it not startle you if I say this Jesus Christ's own Example is in this one respect a much less encouragement than one of his least and poorest Servants For it doth
fed and nourished you in his â—aith after your New Birth Your godly Friends were full often the Ministers of God for good unto you in things Temporal and Spiritual Brethren you were all Companions and mutual Benefactors serving one another in love Now fain I would know what you think Doth such Relation signifie little or nothing Or if it doth was the Relation and it's Obligations too dissolved at their Death In the language of Practice too many do so speak but you cannot so think What! Doth Death separate from God and Christ Away with that frightful thought Dead Saints be God's Friends He calls Abraham his Friend many hundred years after his decease Dead Saints be Christ's Friends also He saith concerning dead Lazarus Our Friend sleepeth Now are they still related to God and Christ and yet cut off from you Dreadful imagination But if as it is most certain the Relation is immortal and stands in full force what then It follows evidently that as sins against Relations be the most aggravated forgetfulness of glorified Friends is a sin against everlasting Relations And the guilty do in a very ill sense Forget their own people and their Father's house C. 4. Your Gratitude binds you to remember godly Ministers and Friends deceased The Apostle and all the Churches of the Gentiles owed thanks unto Aquila and Priscilla And owe you not any unto these that have been your Helpers in Christ Jesus If you do Contemptuous forgetfulness is a sorry payment Let it not offend but excite to farther enquiry such as may doubt the truth of that which follows I cannot but think that our godly Friends in Heaven do much more Love and Remember us now than when they dwelt in this cold and dark World Their Love of God is now incomparably greater than before And why not the Love of all his Children proportionably greater Their Memories now are perfected And how then should they forget the Brethren they but lately knew and delighted in Their Souls by entring Heaven receive an amplitude that we can little express And they can there remember us without diverting their minds from God Yea and be it heeded well their Enjoyment of God above as ours here below doth not only Admit but Require affectionate thoughts of his Children Our Prayers here are amiss if in them we forget our Brethren above as shall be afterwards shewn And their praises above would be amiss if in them they forgat us their Brethren below The reason is obvious the King of Glory will be honoured and loved by the honour and love of his Servants for his sake And gives law unto those in Heaven and Earth too that they love each other as themselves Those in Heaven do fully observe it The greater is our sin and shame that we are so little won by their admirable kindness For Upon the supposition of this their kindness and mindfulness of us this will be granted by all To be unthankful is to be ungodly And they are the most ungrateful Creatures on the Earth who live forgetful of their Friends in Heaven Being that ingratitude unto the greatest Lovers of us is the worst that is possible to be in us C. 5. Your Character binds you to remember your Godly Ministers and Friends deceased You are Believers are ye not If so the Spirit that can neither be deceived nor deceive describes you as persons Come up unto the Spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.22 23. Believers while they are in the State Militant are took into the Society of their Brethren in the State Triumphant They are come unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem They are made free Denizons and spiritual possessors of it their Conversation is in it They are come to the innumerable Company of Angels in that City Not to this or that particular Tutelar Angel but to the whole Company Not come to them with their Prayers as is the way of Romish Idolaters who wildly worship the Servants to the reproach of the Lord. And against the Servants own holy Will Worship me not saith the Angel to St. John I am thy fellow Servant and of thy Brethren They are come to the Angels Society who are gathered into that one Body whereof Christ is the head They are become Fellow Members with them and have a Communion in service with them Angels rejoyce in their good and minister to it and they rejoyce in Angels Blessedness and Glory Nor is this at all Incredible or Wonderful if it be considered that they are come unto the very Lord of the foresaid City Unto God the judge of all Come into a state of Filial favour with Him Have Access unto him and the Throne of his Grace with sweetest liberty and boldness By means whereof they come also to the Spirits of their Brethren made perfect Being admitted thus to their Father they are admitted unto all their so dignified Brethren about his Throne They are come to the Spirits of the just made perfect The Dream of Spirits of just men departed and not made perfect but sent to Purgatory to be refined was never in the Apostle's Head He knew none but perfect And unto the Society of all such he declareth Believers access Unto them Believers all come Not â—s to Objects of their Worship and Invocation or Mediators of Intercession That were wretched Blasphemy towards God and Injury unto them They come to them in way of Friendship and Communion with them With them who in their separate state from their own Bodies do hold Communion with God and Christ and all his Mystical Body With Christs Members on Earth as truly as those above in Heaven with them Loving and loved of all A learned Man's words upon this Text are memorable We are said here to come unto the Spirits of juâ—â— men made perfect in those actings 〈◊〉 our minds wherein Evangelical Communion doth consist And this requireâ— that there be like actings in them without which there can be no sucâ— Communion This being supposed what musâ— we conclude of Souls estranged from their godly Friends departed Whâ—â— very rarely afford unto perfected Spirits one serious and steddy look oâ— their thoughts Who are far from taking it for their Duty and making it their practice to have theâ— in their minds And in the affectionate Memory due unto such a Society The least we can say is this â—uch Christians do foully blot their â—ames and fall short of their Chaâ—acter and live not up to their Estate â—nd Dignity C. 6. Your Faith binds you to remember your godly Ministers and friends deceased I had almost said 〈◊〉 necessitates you But of that â—dge ye your selves when you have â—onsidered what follows Faith â—ou must needs know is the evidence of Persons as well as of Things â—ot seen not seen by Eyes of Clay â—t were a sorry business if it were not 〈◊〉 For it is only for the sake of Persons that we do or ought to vaâ—e any sort
of Things But it is out â—f question the Eye of Faith sees Him that is Invisible Heb. 11.27 â—he Life of Faith is fellowship â—nd Communion with the Divine Persons 1 John 1.3 Say then I â—eseech you Can Faith see the Faâ—her of Spirits and hold Communiâ—n with the Father and Son and not with them that stand continually before his Face and nearesâ— his Throne The same Eyes of Flesh that see the King see his Attendantâ— that surround him Why should not the same Eyes of Faith see thâ—â— Spiritual King and his Attendants King's Children at greatest distance use to have considerable Acquaintance and Friendship with the neaâ— est in their Father's Court. Whaâ— should hinder yours with your glorified Brethren if indeed you havâ— it with their Father in Heaven Let me tell you Sirs the Goâ— of Heaven is a Lord of most numerous Hosts The Father of Spirits is not to be conceived of as Childless Nor the King of Glory as sitting on a Throne solitary Or dwelling in a thin Court There is nâ— such God in Heaven as is withouâ— his thousands and ten thousand time ten thousand Spirits ministring untâ— Him And all as spectable as visible unto Faith as He himself Alâ— so near unto him that one would â—hink it impossible to see Him and â—ot see Them All so like to Him â—nd so beloved by Him that conâ—empt of them is no small contempt â—f Himself The plain Inference then is this The Faith of living Saints faileth before their Memory of the dead ones â—oth so And the reason why we â—o not more by Faith live with them 〈◊〉 because we do not by Faith live â—ore upon God For a right Remembrance of Him is inconsistent with the Forgetfulness of them so â—ear unto Him C. 7. Your Interest binds you to Remember your godly Ministers and Friends deceased The interest of â—our Grace and the interest of your Peace and Comfort doth bind you The Interest of your Grace Need â—ou be told the Efficacy of Company You have your glorified friends in â—our company as oft as you have them in thoughtful memory And of such their company great is the double force To wit the Natural and the Institutive For naturally we follow admired Examples There 's not one mind of a thousand but receiveth impressions from them just as Wax receiveth the figure of an applied Seal Besides God hath ordained a Communication of Qualities from chosen Associates He that walks with the wise shall be wise God hath promised illapses of their Wisdom into them that chuse and hold their Communion It cannot be therefore but we must derive into us their heavenly Dispositions if in our thoughts we converse much with our heavenly Friends We must derive of their Love of God Contempt of this World c. The Interest of your Peace and Comfort doth no less oblige you That which serves your Grace doth in so doing serve your Peace But not alike all Nor scarcely any thing so immediately and sensibly as â—leep and pious thoughts of glorified Friends Which will soon be but of question if you use but a â—ittle consideration If you think a â—ittle what a refreshment it must â—e to be took now and then out of â—n Hospital of sick and crying Souls â—r a Bedlam of mad and ranting â—nes into an house wherein all are â—erry and wise Alas what is this World but a mad Bedlam What is â—he Church on Earth but a very Hospital wherein no one is perfectly tured What is Heaven but the Colledge of all Souls without sin or sorrow To retire in our minds from â—he Bedlam and Hospital into this Colledge To leave a while the objects of our Grief and go and entertain our thoughts with them who have none but of Joy No words â—an picture forth the sweetness of â—his Which is then always and â—hen only known when tryed I mean solemnly not in slight and â—nelaborate thoughts They are therefore their own Enemies who bury in forgetfulness their deceased godly Friends They rob themselves of not the least means of Grace and Peace Wrong their own Souls and that in their greatest Concerns Averting from so soveraign a course both to Refine and Revive them C. 8. Your God's Commands bind you to remember your godly Ministers and Friends deceased In my Text he commands as you have heard Heb. 6.12 He commands you to be followers imitaters of them and consequently I hope to remember them For Copies forgotten can by no means be imitated or used for Examples as is required Jam. 5.10 All the Texts that set forth the state of departed Saints have so many commands going with them of your Remembrance contended for You cannot think that God leaves you at liberty whether you will take and improve his Revelations or no. Or that any holy improvement can be made of the same while left in Oblivion Waving all others I will singly propose that one Text more which I conceive â—xtraordinary Heb. 12.1 Seeing we also are â—ompassed about with so great a cloud â—f Witnesses let us lay aside every â—eight and the sin which doth easily â—eset us and let us run with patience â—he Race that is set before us Belieâ—ers are here compared to men â—nning a Race They are exhorted â—o the means of running it so that â—hey may obtain the prize To wit â—y laying aside weights and sins and â—xercising Patience with Diligence â—hey are encouraged so to run also â—ncouraged by Witnesses given â—hem a cloud or great number of â—hem and this number placed â—und them encompassing of them â—hese Witnesses are the Saints gone â—efore us to Heaven Their Testiâ—ony is either of that which we do or of that which we ought to do As in the Races to which the Apostle alludeth those that did run used to have many Friends looking on them and encouraging them by testifying either that thus they had done or thus and thus they might and ought to do In like manner all the Saints above do as it were stand looking on us Not in proper Speech or intuitively we have no such Dream But upon Scripture-record they do still stand round about us And are by their Examples for that purpose recorded encouraging us in our Christian race Ready to testifie how we acquit our selves Though dead yet they in a sort see speak and testifie By their richly rewarded Duties they testifie to the wisdom of our most costly ones Those for which we are thought to be beside our selves and are most inhumanly dealt with by our Adversaries They are ready also to testifie what may be done in every case by us Principally this â—hat Faith will carry sound Believers â—hrough all their Duties and Dangers Upon many occasions we fall into â—ontest with our selves and dispute what is best To go back or to go â—n And in a Wood and lost we â—re Now these holy blessed Friends of ours encompass us And their â—erdict they do from the Holy Scripâ—ure
not nearly and immediately so teach the possibility of the foresaid Life as his Servant's example doth A Soul under Temptation exclaims that be it ever so necessary 't is altogether as impossible to live by Faith in this World and hold a rightly ordered Conversation in such a Catholick Sodom Go you and tell him that the Son of God did live by Faith and fulfil all righteousness even in this World He shall reply upon you that it is a wild inference that he may because the Son of God did so do He shall tell you Christ had none of his sins in him and he has little or none of Christ's strength in his dejected Soul Christ had all created and uncreated holiness and might well overcome World and Devil but it were a wonder if they should be overcome by him a weak and sinful Dust He shall ask you what Logick of yours it is that thus argues An Angel slew an hundred thousand Enemies therefore a Worm may slay as many But on the other hand tell you this bruised Reed that yonder in Heaven be multitudes and many of his own Acquaintance that were Worms as weak as himself as tempted as himself and many a time as dejected as himself who did nevertheless keep the holy Faith and finish their holy Course and win the Crown of Righteousness What then Why then you do bind his contradiction hand and foot and it is odds but you cast out his despairing Spirit To be sure you silence him and very probably you make him by and by to speak Evangelically And to fall to chiding of his legal self and counselling it in Davids Rhetorick Why cast down O my Soul why disquieted in me Trust in God For I even I may yet Praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God And now I ask Should such a Tower of David such an Armory as this whereon there hang a thousand bucklers and shields for tempted despondent Souls should such a practice suffer disuse It would be unspeakable loss to the whole generation of the righteous But blessed be his excellent name He that delights of bruised Reeds to make polished Pillars in his Temple and of smoaking flax to make burning and shining lights He is more wise and kind than to admit it Glory be to him in the highest R. 3. This practice doubles the glory of God from the Faith and Conversation of Saints deceased If I may so speak God had from themselves one crop Or tribute of glory And would have had it tho' no eye but his own had seen their Faith and Conversation Tho' no mortal man had observed and followed them But now now that Faith and Conversation are not buried in Oblivion but are lifted up and draw men after them behold a second crop another tribute springs up So fruitful do living Christian's Meditation and Imitation make them that it may be said of deceased ones much like as of Sampson The Praises they bring unto their God in their death be more than they which they brought in their life Can therefore any Lover of God be without a deep sense of the reason of this practice Or need to be farther told that he who hath made all things for his glory hath required this practice for the same Here I must believe that none are Blind but those that will not see R. 4. This Practice doth likewise add unto the joy of Saints deceased Heaven is the element of Joy There 's less water in the Sea and light in the Sun than Joy in Heaven But we are generally taught that the Inhabitants have various degrees even after the Resurrection However it be it is this only that I would here propose viz. Of their Joys in Heaven this must needs be one that they did in their measure glorifie God in their day upon Earth And if they have knowledge of it it must be another Joy to have their Faith and Obedience live and bear fruit after that they are transplanted To have their old Graces and Duties for many years after to edify their Brethren and glorifie their Father And why we may not conceive them soon to know it when it is so let them say that can I cannot With humble submission I conclude that they are informed of it when the matter of their Joy is obtained Whether the holy Angels give them notices or what way they receive the same I take not on me to determine Some have thought that this is true concerning men Damned Such whose Errors are remembred to the diffusing of their enmity and malignity after their death they have proportionable encreases of their torment in Hell made presently made and with full significations given of the meritoriously procuring cause of it And on the other side concerning Saints in Heaven some have presumed this viz. That such whose Faith and Holy Life are commemorated c. made use of to the edification of the Church they receive like encreases of Joy As soon made as the foresaid sinners increases of Torment Learned men have thought Jer. 17.10 to make this way I the Lord search the heart I try the reins even to give to every man according to his ways and according to the FRUIT of his doings and with full certification of the service that is so of grace rewarded I contend not but to as many as with me do suppose this which I think no one will pretend an ability to disprove To such at least I shall think this reason of good force Upon the very single account hereof I dare ask them Is there not a cause for the commended Practice If we on Earth have Power should we not have Will to add to the Joy of our Brethren in Heaven R. 5. This Practice of good men exalts the saving grace of God Grace unto a Sinner is and will be an eternal Wonder Saving grace even most restrainedly considered is above all the blessing and praise that can be given it in the very state of Glory Abraham himself even after the Resurrection will be unableadequately to praise the grace of his own Salvation The grace that took him out of his misery and qualified him and brought him unto Glory That said to him in his blood Live That when he was alive gave him Life more abundantly And when he waâ— Meet placed him in the inheritanâ—â— of the Saints in Light This gracâ— unto his single Person will transcenâ— all his possible conception But leâ—â— this Grace to him be considered iâ— its just extent As saving him anâ— making him an Instrument of savinâ— many others In a sense the Fathâ—â— of thousands of heirs of Salvation An Exemplar unto them Making his Faith and Obedience blessâ— means of grace unto multitudeâ— Causing generations to call him blesseâ— Using him when Alive and alâ—â— when Dead as a Co-worker with Goâ— What an addition is this Thiâ— that makes Salvation it self somewhâ—â— more than it self Yea much more As to save a man from
Powers Upon earth the Fire of their Love was a little Spark it is now a Mount That spark as Kitchen-fire often languished almost expired for want of feeding by proper Considetations But in their present Mount of Celestial fire there is no variableness or shadow of change The Divine glory so holds their Eyes and heats their Hearts So that their enamoring Thoughts are never interrupted and their enflamed Affections never abated Certainly therefore They possess blessed Life Valere vita est To be Alive is to be in fulness of Joy And where is that fulness but in Love Where is Water if not in the Sea Where is Light if not in the Sun Where is Joy if not in Love Light doth not more naturally kindle sacred Love than Love creates supream Joy For what can there be less than all Delight where there is nothing but Love and that as this is without Diminution or End It is sure that our Friends Live in the Triumphs of Joy if they live in the Sunshines of Knowledge and Flames of Love True it is great is the number of them that dwell in this Light Love and Life Tho comparatively few are saved the City that is above is Populous but the multitude of its Citizens doth not Impoverish but Honour and Adorn it For why GOD is its Treasure And good INFINITE is not by any numbers exhausted or lessened The Sun's light is but finite Yet all men enjoy the light of it and every one as sufficiently as if no ones Eyes but his own received it God is Infinite And much more may all his Favourites above enjoy Him every one as fully as if he enjoyed him only Be it added Earthly excellencies are all of them like to rich Perfumes By Custom they wax less sensible at least less grateful to such as carry them And cease to be sweet when they cease to be New But it is not so with Excellencies heavenly God's own happiness is now as pleasant unto Him as it was millions of ages agone It was never at all New but ever most sweet And he has provided his Children also a Felicity that shall not need to be commended by Novelty One that shall relish as well with them to eternal ages as at the first moment Which we cannot doubt if we do not forget this viz. That Heavenly Joy is Perfect And what is Perfect is indeficient never abates never can Die or be Sick or be weaker at one time than at another Things of limited goodness admit change and weariness of them It being necessary to leave one for another Yea and having in them somewhat that is hurtful too and not delicious no wonder if they sometimes become nauseous But good that is unbounded and reaches to the satisfaction of all our Desires and is unmixed and ministers nothing beside delights such as the Heavenly good is this must alway taste alike Unto the sweetness of this nothing can be added nor can any thing be taken away from it Well this and more than this is the blessed state of our godly Friends deceased A state whereof every Possessor lives in most delitious and eternal Rapture Heaven is it self and they we speak of are in Heaven But concerning both it must be said 't is but a little portion of them that is heard The one half is not told us Nor doth it yet appear save very imperfectly what they are As to that which through Gods grace doth appear it follows in our next particular P. 3. Their glorious Escape unto Heaven ought to be well Considered by as on Earth The word of command is in the text And is a very remarkable one used but once more in all the New Testament viz. Act. 17.23 where it is put to express the careful and severe consideration that the Apostle took of the Athenians Devotion In minds not atheistical â—here must needs be ever and anon â—ome occasional Thoughts bubling â—p But they are bubbles indeed that signifie little and effect nothing They make not that Consideration which is here demanded Which consists in much and serious speech with our selves concerning the Victory of our godly Friends Streams fed by a living Spring flow constantly and do enrich and give delight where they come And such are the Thoughts and Soliloquies which do ever much better our Hearts and our Ways Such as flow from a vital Principle and Disposition and are maintained daily by the same Even without those outward occasions of them with which slight and transient thoughts do flow and ebb or rather dry away Fix it in your minds that it is the Will of God that is here declared so to be That he requireth you to have this said glorious Victory much in your minds That your Thoughtfulness of it will truly please Him And your Forgetfulness and Neglect incense him Let your Wills submit to this acknowledged Will of God and command all that is within you so to do Become you Convinced of your duty herein and Disposed to do it You shall then find within you a Fountain whence numerous delicious and efficacious Thoughts shall spring Your own reins shall instruct you daily Without other Monitors the Holy Spirit excepted it shall become of your daily Business and Recreation also to consider the Conquest forepraised Without other calls your minds will run to it and on it They will be often speaking to this purpose each of them Here am I in my passage through the red sea Hope and Fear divide my Life Hope of Escaping Fear of Drowning Escaping as an Israelite Drowning as an Egyptian O ye my godly Ministers and Friends that are sweetly got ashore I cannot but think of you Of your safe Landing and joyful Reception above Methinks I hear you recounting your old Weaknesses Fears and Dangers And wondring at the arm of Grace that carried you through them Rejoycing in the change you feel Triumphing over Sin Satan and the World that withstood you And saying how little danger the Sea hath if the true Pilot be but duly trusted How safely all must go and how sweetly all must end How reasonable is it for all he carrieth to trust him in the worstâ— storms To bear most patiently every Difficulty being they are but for a moment and their reward is Glory of exceeding weight How you would have even gloried in all your Tribulations had you but known the ten thousandth part of what you now see How you would advise us that be still on the Sea were you to speak with us What you would tell your Followers of Sins folly the Creatures vanity Gods bounty Christs excellency Holiness its beauty Holiness of State of Heart of Life O what a deal would you tell that do know now what a Rewarder God is Of all that in patient continuance in well-doing do seek and serve him You would make us all ashamed of our selves Ministers of their Preaching People of their Hearing Both of their worse living O ye blessed Spirits and