to himself and rule over mee as to bee my High-Priest to make atonement by offering up of himself for mee and washing mee in his blood by which I must bee justified 6 The Lord brought mee to see a soul-satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ alone and I think I should bee as fully satisfied with Christ alone as my heart can desire If I know my heart it panteth after Christ and Christ alone None but Christ none but Christ The whole world in comparison or competition with Christ is nothing to mee But in him I see full contentment To see and know my interest in him and to injoy communion with him is that which if the Lord would bestow upon mee I should with Jacob say it is enough and with old Simeon Now let thy servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen thy salvation Now I desire to set down some other Scripture Evidences that I finde upon search and examination of my heart by laying it to the Rule The Word of God My Second Scripture Evidence is Evidence Second taken from Mark 2. 17. Where Christ saith They that are whole have no need of the Physitian but they that are sick and hee came not to call the Righteous but sinners to repentance Now through Gods mercy I can say that I am a sin-sick-sinner the Lord make me more sick I am not righteous in mine own eyes but a Sinner and see my self undone for ever without the righteousness of Christ bee imputed to mee and therefore I hope I am amongst the number of those whom Christ was commissionated by his Father to come to save From Matth. 11. 28 29. I am weary Evidence Third and heavy laden now Christ hath promised to give ease to such And I am willing to take his yoak upon mee and would fain learn of him the lesson of meeknesse and lowlinesse and therefore am invited to come unto him I can say with David that my sins Evidence Fourth are a heavy burden to mee they are too heavy for mee Psal 38. 4. and I can say that I mourn because I cannot mourn no more for my sins now Christ saith Blessed are they that mourn for they shall bee comforted Matth. 5.4 From Matth. 5. 3. I think if my Evidence Fifth heart do not deceive mee I am poor in spirit now theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven saith Christ From Matth. 12 20. I am a bruised reed and smoaking flax and therefore Evidence Sixth Christ hath promised hee will not break such a reed nor quench the smoak of grace if it bee true grace but hee will increase it more and more as hee saith until judgement break forth into victory And hee came to set at liberty them that are bruised Luk. 4. 18. Therefore I hope I am such a one as hee came to binde up and set at liberty yea and that hee was anointed and sent by his Father to mee and such as I am Isa 61. 1. From 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful Evidence Seventh saying and worthy of all acceptation saith Paul That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners And so say I too it 's worthy all acceptation that Christ should come from the bosome of his Father who was infinitely glorious and happy that hee should come into the world to save mee mee a sinner mee the chief of sinners mee that if saved I do verily beleeve there is none in Heaven nor any that ever shall come thither that hath or will have the cause to magnifie and adore free grace as I shall have And herein doth God commend his love towards mee For if when wee were enemies wee were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled wee shall bee saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. I can say with Paul that I delight in Evidence Eighth the Law of God after the inward man and I am grieved that I cannot keep it I finde that spiritual war in mee between flesh and spirit which Paul complaineth of and I can say that Paul doth confess over my heart in his confessions Rom. 7. And I can go along with him there from vers 9. to the end of the chapter and from hence I gather that there is some spiritual life in my soul and an indeavour to walk after the spirit and therefore I hope and desire to conclude with him that there shall bee no condemnation to mee but that the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus shall make mee free from the law of sin and death I finde Rom. 8. 1 2. an earnest desire wrought in my soul to bee made like unto Jesus Christ and that it may bee my meat and drink to do and suffer his will as hee would have mee I can say that the Lord hath in Evidence Ninth some measure put his fear into my heart that I fear to offend him out of love to him and I love to fear him I can say with the Church to Christ Evidence Tenth Cant. 1. 7. O thou whom my soul loveth and if I know any thing at all of mine own heart Christ is altogether lovely and most desirable to my soul I think I can truly say with David that I have none in Heaven but thee and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee in comparison of thee in competition with thee Though all that is dearest to mee in the world should forsake mee yet if God whom I have chosen for my portion will not forsake mee I have enough 'T is my desire and indeavour more and more to account all things but loss and dung that I may win Christ I can with Peter make my appeal to him and say Lord thou who knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee and that it is the desire of my soul to love thee more and to love thee for thy self because thou art holy and good and gracious and the chiefest amongst ten thousand Yea God in Christ alone is worthy to be beloved and it is my highest priviledge that hee will give mee leave to love him who only can satisfie my soul and redeem it from death eternal who hath justified mee by his blood and sanctified mee by his spirit whom therefore I love with all my heart and all my soul and all my might and all my strength Finding therefore that God hath drawn out my heart to love him and make choice of him alone I from hence gather and ground my hope that God loveth mee according to that Scripture 1 Joh. 4. 19. Wee love him because hee first loved us I finde my heart much inflamed Evidence Eleventh with love to all the children of God because they are Gods children and the more I see or finde or hear of God in them the more I finde my heart cleaving to them and I think I can truly say with David that my delight is in the Saints and those that excel in grace not because they are friends to
in love It was not ira quae reprobat but ira quae purgat It was not ira hostilis exterminativa but ira paterna medicinalis As it is a great punishment for God sometimes not to punish Isaiah 1. 5. Hos 4. 14. So it is a great mercy sometimes for God to withdraw his mercy 3 Afflictions are a part of divine predestination That God which hath elected us to salvation hath also elected us unto afflictions 1 Thes 1. 3. That no man should bee moved by these afflictions for you your selves know that wee are appointed thereunto The same love with which God elects us and bestoweth Christ and his spirit upon us with the very same love hee afflicts us 4 They are part of the gracious Covenant which God hath made with his people Psal 89. 31 32 33. In which words wee have three things considerable 1 A supposition of sin if his children forsake my Law c. For sin is alwaies causa sine qua non the cause without which God would never chastise us and for the most part it is the cause for which 2 Wee have a gracious promise Then I will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes 3 Wee have a merciful qualification Nevertheless my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to fail my Covenant will I not break c. Afflictions are not only mercies but Covenant-mercies Therefore David saith Psal 119. 75. and that thou in faithfulnesse hast afflicted mee God would bee unfaithful if hee did not afflict his children 5 Consider that afflictions are part of the Saints blessednesse Job 5. 17. Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth c. Behold saith Eliphaz and wee had need behold and consider it for there are few that beleeve it and yet it is most true That afflictions when sanctified when they are not only corrections but instructions then they are evidences that wee are in a blessed condition Eliphaz his saying must bee interpreted by what David saith Psal 94. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chasteneth O Lord and teachest out of thy Law it is not correction simply but correction joyned with instruction which intitles us to happiness Job even while hee was upon the dung-hill wonders that God should set his heart so much upon him as to visit him every morning and trye him every moment Job 7. 17 18. Job upon the dung-hill was happier than Adam in Paradise Adam in paradise was conquered by the Devil but Job upon the dung-hill overcame the Devil Lazarus in his ragges was happier than Dives in his robes Philpot in his Cole-house than Bonner in his Palace and godly Mr. Whitaker upon his bed of pain than a wicked man upon his bed of down There were many in Christs time who would never have known him or come to him had it not been for their bodily diseases 6 Consider the gracious and merciful ends aims and designs that God hath in afflicting his people what these are yee have heard already 7 The sweet and precious promises which hee hath made to his children in the day of their adversity to comfort them and support them what these are you shall hear afterwards 8 Consider that all afflictions shall work at last for the good of Gods children Rom. 8. 28. Though they are not bonae yet they shall bee in bonum Though they are not good in themselves yet they shall turn to their good God beats his children as wee do our cloaths in the Sun only to beat out the Moths God puts them into the fiery furnace not to hurt them but only to untie the bonds of their sins as hee dealt with the three children Dan. 3.25 God will either deliver them out of their afflictions or send them to Heaven by them Wherefore comfort one another with these words Use 3 If the best of Saints are subject in this life unto many great and tedious afflictions then let us 1 Expect  Afflictions 2 Prepare for Afflictions 3 Improve  Afflictions 1 Let us expect Afflictions for Christ hath said expresly Joh. 16. 33. In the world yee shall have tribulation There is in every child of God 1 Sufficiens Fundamentum A sufficient Foundation for God to buld a house of correction upon There is sin enough to deserve affliction 2 There is sufficiens Motivum Motives sufficient to prevail with God to chastize them when they sin against him some of these you have heard already let mee adde one more Because hee is more dishonoured by the sins of his own children than by the sins of wicked men As it is a greater discredit to an earthly Father when his own children than when other mens children live wickedly so it is a greater disparagement to our heavenly Father when his own Sons and Daughters than when the Devils children transgresse his Law And therefore God will chastize them sooner surer and more than others 1 Sooner Rom. 2. 9. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile First the Jew and then the Gentile 2 Surer than others Amos 3. 2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities 3 More than others Lam. 4. 6. The punishment of the iniquity of the Daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom c. Dan. 9. 12. under the whole Heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem 3 There is sufficiens necessitas sufficient necessity to provoke God to afflict them It is needful that the Wheat be winnowed that so the chaffe may bee separated from it It is needful that the Wind blow upon the Wheat to cleanse it and that Gold bee put into the furnace to purge and purifie it When the Sheep of Christ are divided one from the other in judgement and affections when separated in Doctrin worship and Discipline It is very needful that God should send afflictions and distresses which may bee as the Shephearas dog very serviceable and instrumental to unite them together and to gather them into one Sheepfold And therefore let the Saints of God expect afflictions 2 Let us prepare and provide against Gods people are to prepare for afflictions the day of tribulation Let us provide 1 A stock of graces For sicknesse is a 1 A stock of graces time to spend grace but not to get grace A Christian in sicknesse without grace is like a souldier in warre without armour like a house in stormy weather without a foundation and like the men of the old world when ready to bee drowned without an Ark. Woe bee to that person that hath his graces to get when hee should use them And therefore if wee would bee comforted in the day of tribulation wee must provide aforehand a furniture of graces 1 A true Faith for a painted Faith
properties to receive all Christ with all his appurtenances and to receive him only in every room in health and for ever And therefore let not the Devil or thy mis-giving heart or thy melancholique-phancy keep thee off from beleeving that Christ Jesus is thy portion and that thou hast an interest in the main and fundamental Promise and by that in all the other Do to Christ as the Shunamitish woman did to the Prophet lay fast hold on him and suffer not the Devil to cause thee 2 King 4. 27. to let go thy hold Oh that there might bee this day a blessed and happy marriage between Jesus Christ and every distressed Christian Object But suppose I am willing to take Christ upon Christs termes can I rest assured that Christ will receive mee Ans Yes doubtless For hee hath John 6.37 said hee will and hee is truth it self and cannot lye Indeed a poor wounded Isa 55.1 Rev. 22.15 sinner will sometimes confess that hee is willing with all his heart to receive Christ upon his own termes but hee is afraid lest Christ should refuse to receive him But this is a needlesse fear For Christ will in no wise refuse those that come to him To as many as receive him to all those hee will give power to become the Sons of God even to them that beleeve in his name Hee that beleeveth John 1. 12 hath everlasting life and shall never come into condemnation but is passed John 5.24 from death to life So much for the fourth Rule If these Rules and Directions already named will not inable thee to apply the Promises so as to keep thee from perishing in the day of distresse let mee adde Rule 5. 5 If thou canst not lay hold upon the The fifth Rule for the right Application of the Promises Promises made to those who are in the highest form in Christs school lay hold upon the Promises made to those who are in the lower forms In Christs school there are divers sorts of Scholars some are in the high form some in the middle some in the lowest some are babes in Christs school some are grown Christians some are as tall Cedars some are as low shrubs Now you must know that it is our duty to labour to bee of the highest form Hee that saith he hath Qui dixit sufficit deficit Non progredi est regredi grace enough hath grace little enough Hee that stints himself in his indeavours after grace never had true grace Wee must labour to bee perfect as God is perfect But yet you must also know that hee that is a real Scholar in Christs school is in an happy condition though hee bee not the best scholar And that it is our duty so to eye the eminent graces which are in others as to bee thereby incited to a further progress in grace but not so as to bee thereby disheartened and discouraged There are many distressed Christians like to those who gaze so long upon the brightness of the Sun that when they come into their houses they cannot see at all they pore so much upon the transcendent excellencies which are in their Brethren that they are stark blinde in their own concernments and cannot see any grace in themselves and hereupon are apt to conclude that they are out of Gods favour But this is a non sequitur The foot must not say that it is no part of the body because it is not so eminent a part as the head or heart Wee must rather say with the Martyr Blessed bee God that I am a member in Christs body though but the weakest and lowest Wee must not rest satisfied with being low Christians but yet wee must not therefore say wee are no Christians And when wee are under great tribulations and temptations if wee cannot apply to our selves for our comfort those Promises which are made to eminent Saints of the highest form let us apply those which are made unto true Saints though to such who are the lowest of the lowest form and hereby wee shall through Gods blessing finde our souls marveilously supported and comforted As for example Christ hath said Blessed are the poor in spirit Mat. 5. 3 for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven And therefore though thou art not rich in grace yet if poor in spirit thou art blessed Christ saith Blessed are they that mourn for they shall bee comforted Mat. 5. 4 Though thou canst not live without sin yet if a mourner for thine own and other mens sins thou art blessed Christ saith Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after Righteousnesse Mat. 5. 6 c. Though thou findest an exceeding great want of righteousness in thee yet if thou hungrest and thirsteth after it thou art blessed Christ saith Come unto mee all yee that labour and are heavy laden and I Mat. 11. 28. will give you rest This Text is as an Alabaster box full of precious consolation If thy sins bee a burden to thee Christ will give thee rest if thou carriest them about thee not as a golden chain about thy neck but as an Iron chain about thy feet if thou beest heavy laden with them Christ will take them off thy shoulders and put them upon his Christ saith That hee will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Mat. 12. 20. flax till bee send forth judgement unto victory If thou hast grace but as a smoaking flax Christ will not quench it but assist it till it come to a great flame Christ saith That the whole have no Mat. 9.12 13. need of the Physitian but they that are sick And that hee came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance If thou art a sin-sick-sinner thy name is in Christs commission hee came to save thee Christ saith The Son of man is come Mat. 18. 11. to save that which was lost If thou apprehendest thy self to bee in a lost condition thou art amongst the number of those whom Christ came to save The Apostle saith There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Rom. 8.1 who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Though thou hast much flesh in thee and art sometimes overtaken with sin yet if thou dost not walk after the flesh as a servant after his Master if thou walkest after the Spirit there is no condemnation to thee The Apostle saith If wee confesse John 1. 9 our sins God is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse If wee confesse our sins out of a detestation of sin with bleeding hearts and a sincere purpose of forsaking them God is bound by vertue of his promise to forgive us else hee were unfaithful The Apostle saith That hee that hath begun a good work in us will perform Phil. 1.6 it until the day of Jesus Christ And therefore if thou hast truth of grace though but as a grain
for the comforts of the Scriptures in his heart There are eight things may be said amongst many other in commendation of the Word of God 1 It is the Magazin and storehouse of all comfort and consolation There is no condition but one that a man can bee in but hee may finde soul supporting comfort for it our of the Word Indeed if thou resolvest to go on in sin the Word cannot comfort thee it threatneth hell and damnation to all such If the God of Heaven can make such miserable they shall bee miserable But excepting this one there is no condition so miserable but a man may fetch a cordial out of the Word to support him under it Art thou as empty of riches and as full of diseases as Job under the Old Testament and Lazarus under the New Testament are the sins with which thou art willing to part many and great Is thy conscience exceedingly wounded and disquieted doth the Devil roar upon thee with hideous temptations let thy condition bee never so sad the Word of God is able to afford thee comfort under it For it is the Word of that God who is the God of all consolation There is no kinde of true comfort but here it is to bee had here are cordials of all sorts Comforts under bodily troubles and comforts under soul-troubles There is no Monarch can furnish his table with such variety of delicates as God hath furnished his Word with variety of comforts 2 The Word of God is not only the Magazin of all true comfort but the Fountain from whence it is derived All the comfort that you receive by reading of good books is fetcht out of this book All the refreshings that the Ambassadors of Christ administer to you are borrowed from this Fountain As the King of Israel answered the woman that cryed out saying Help my Lord O King If the 2 King 6. 26 27. Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee So will all the true Ministers of Christ say to any distressed soul that cries out for comfort How can wee comfort you if the Word of God doth not comfort you All our comforts must bee fetcht from thence 3 It will comfort us at such a time when no outward thing can comfort us And that is when wee are under soul-agonies and when our soul sits upon our lips ready to depart when wee are sailing into the Ocean of eternity then even then the promises of the Word will comfort us When gold and silver Father and Mother friends and Physitians are miserable comforters then will one promise out of the Word fill us full of joy unspeakable and glorious 4 The Comforts of the Word exceed all other comforts for they are pure and purifying sure and satisfying they are soul-supporting soul-comforting and soul-ravishing they are durable and everlasting The comforts of the world are not worthy to bee named that day in which wee speak of the comforts of the Word They are not consolationes but consolatiunculae At best they are but bodily unsatisfying and transitory Many times they are sinful and soul-damning 5 The Word of God is not only a Magazin and a Fountain of comfort but also a touch-stone by which wee must trie all our comforts whether they bee true and real or no. All joyes hopes and assurances must be tried by the Word and if not rightly grounded thereupon are false and soul-delusions 6 It is as an Apothecaries shop or a Physitians dispensatory out of which wee may fetch all manner of Medicines to cure all the diseases of our souls Art thou spiritually lame blinde or dumb c. The Word will open blinde eyes make the dumb to speak and the lame to walk If dead in sins and trespasses the Word when it is the sword of the spirit will quicken thee It is as a corrasive to eat sin out of thy heart therefore David saith I have hid thy Word in mine heart that I might not sin against thee 7 It is a spiritual Armory out of which wee may fetch all manner of weapons to conquer the Devil and his temptations 2 Cor. 10. 4. It is that little brook out of which every David may fetch five smooth stones to destroy the Devil These five smooth stones are five texts of Scripture three of these Christ took out of the brook of the Word by which hee subdued the Devil Matth. 4. 4. 7 10. 8 It is the Sun of the Christian world As the Sun is the light of the natural world and without it the world is but a Chaos and a dungeon full of darkness So is the Word of God the light of the spiritual world without which a Christian is under an eternal night Therefore David saith Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Psal 119. 105. What would all the world avail if no Sun to illighten it and what comfort would all the wealth of it afford us if no word to instruct and counsel us For this is the Christians compass to sail to Heaven by his staffe to walk withal to Heaven his spiritual bladders to keep his soul from drowning The Cork to keep up the net of his soul from sinking Afflictions are like the lead of the net which weigheth it down but the Word is as the Cork which keeps it up that it sinks not So saith David in the Text Unless thy Law had been my delights c. Use If the Word of God bee of such invaluable excellency absolute necessity and of such admirable use 1 Let us bless God exceedingly for revealing his will unto us in the Word Use 1 It was a great honour and priviledge to the Jews that to them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. And it is our great happiness that wee have not only the same Oracles of God which they have but an addition of the New Testament for the clearer discovery of the mysteries of salvation unto us If God bee to bee praised for every crumme of bread wee eat much more for giving us his VVord which is the bread of life and the only food of our souls Blessed bee God who hath not only given us the book of the Creatures and the book of Nature to know himself and his will by but also and especially the Book of the Scriptures whereby wee come to know those things of God and of Christ which neither the Book of Nature nor of the creatures can reveal unto us Let us blesse God not only for revealing his will in his word but for revealing it by writing Before the time of Moses God discovered his will by immediate revelations from Heaven But wee have a surer word of Prophecy 2 Pet. 1. 19. surer to us than a voice from Heaven For the Devil saith the Apostle transforms himself into an Angel of light Hee hath his apparitions 2 Cor. 11. 14. and revelations hee is Gods ape and in imitation of God hee appears to his
better than the riches of many wicked Psal 37. 16. And the reason is 1 Because blessings given by vertue of a Promise are signes of Gods special love and come flowing to us from the same love with which God gives us Christ they are the fruit of Covenant-love 2 Because wee have them as blessings A man may have a blessing and yet not have it as a blessing The Israelites had Quails sent them immediately from God which was a blessing in it self but was not sent to them as a blessing For while the meat was in their mouthes the wrath of God came Psal 78. 30 31. upon them The wicked have blessings but not as blessings but as the cup in Benjamins sack which proved a snare to him rather than a mercy But the godly have blessings as blessings They have grace with them to improve them for Gods glory they have not only the blessings but a thankful heart for them and a fruitful heart under them which is a certain sign that they have them as blessings 3 Because they are pledges to them of better mercies and beginnings of better They are not merces but arrha not their wages but an earnest of Heaven Now a farthing given as an earnest of a thousand a year is more worth than many pounds given as a reward A wicked man hath outward blessings as his portion his Heaven his All but a godly man that hath them by vertue of a Promise hath them as a pledge of Heaven and as a beginning of eternal mercies 5 The Promises are precious because they produce great and precious effects They are not only excellent in themselves but are also very powerful and operative upon all beleevers The Promises as one saith sealed by the blood of Christ ratified by the Oath of God testified by the spirit of truth delivered by the hand of mercy and received by the hand of Faith are operative words and produce rare effects in the soul They have 1 A Sanctifying Power 2 A Comforting Power 1 A Soul-sanctifying Power Therefore they are said to make us partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. I say of the divine nature not by the communication of the divine essence but by participation of divine graces Not in a Familistical sense as if wee were Godded into God and Christed into Christ but in a spiritual sense wee are by the Promises made partakers of the divine nature that is of the divine graces by which wee are made like to God in holiness The Apostle tells us that they have a power to cleanse us from all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit and to inable us to perfect holiness in his fear 2 Cor. 7. 1. 2 A Comforting Power They are able to comfort us in the worst of daies and dangers O how precious is a Promise to a distressed Christian in the hour of extreamity The Sun is not more comfortable to a man in a dark dungeon or food to a man ready to starve or water to a man ready to die for thirst The Promises of God are alwaies precious but never more precious than in times of misery and calamity and therefore let us in such times especially meditate upon the preciousness of them 3 You must meditate upon the Freeness of the Promises The Promises The third Meditation meditate on the freeness of the Promises are the outward discoveries of Gods eternal love to his people Now nothing moved God to enter into Covenant with them and to ingage himself to them by Promise and thereby to become their debtor but his free love and mercy and therefore they are said to bee given us of God 2 Pet. 1. 4. whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises God promiseth in his Word not only to love us but to love us freely Hos 14. 4. I will heal their backsliding and love them freely The reason why God makes us his people is not from any worth in us but only because it pleaseth him so to do 1 Sam. 12. 22. The Lord will not forsake his people for his great names sake because it pleased the Lord to make you his people The Lord Jesus Christ who is the great and fundamental Promise the root of the other Promises is freely tendred in the Gospel and freely given Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the World that hee gave his only begotten Son c. Rev. The fourth Meditation Meditate on the stability of the Promises 22. 17. Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely 4 You must meditate on the firmness faithfulness unchangeableness and immutability of the Promises they are the Promises of that God who cannot deny himself Promissa haec tua sunt Domine saith Austin quis falli timet cum promittit ipsa veritas Heaven and earth shall pass away but one jot or tittle of the Word shall not pass There Mat. 5. 18 is no Promise which God hath made though never so improbable and impossible to flesh and blood but it shall come to pass in due time whatsoever hee hath promised in his goodness hee will perform by his power God is not a man that hee should lye neither the Son of man that hee should repent Hath hee said and shall hee not do it or hath hee spoken and shall hee not make it good Numb 23. 19. God hath promised that the same bodies that dye shall rise again at the last day This is incredible to natural reason The Stoicks and Epicures derided it when it was preached by Paul Act. 17. 32. But hath God said it and shall hee not do it Is the Lords hand shortned Therefore Christ tells the Sadduces Matth. 22. 27. You erre not knowing the Scriptures and the power of God God is omnipotent and therefore able to do above what wee can ask or think God hath promised at the Resurrection to make our vile bodies like unto the glorious body of Christ This is impossible to natural reason but mark what the Apostle saith Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile bodies and fashion them like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby hee is able even to subdue all things unto himself God hath promised that before the end of the world there shall bee a national conversion of the Jews that the Kingdomes of the world shall become the Kingdomes of our Lord and Saviour And that Babylon shall fall These are the Promises of God who cannot Rom. 11. 25 26. Rev. 11. 15 Rev. 18.2 lye Faithful is hee who hath said it who also will do it 1 Thes 5. 24. though the things promised seem impossible to men yet with God all things are Mat. 19. 26 possible Therefore the Apostle proves the future conversion of the Jews by an Argument drawn from the power of God Rom. 11. 23. God is able to graft them in again The like is brought to prove the ruine of Antichrist Rev. 18. 8. Her plagues shall
Spirit to those that ask it Lord Thou art faithful fulfil these thine own promises And wee must remember this great truth That the Promises God makes to us to mortifie our sins for us are greater helps against sin than our promises to God to mortifie sin Many men in the day of their distress vow and promise to leave sin and fight against it in the strength of these promises and in stead of conquering sin are conquered by sin But if wee fight against sin in the strength of Christ and of his promises if wee urge God in prayer with his own Word wee shall at last get victory over it For hee hath said that sin shall not have dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. 5 They are the foundation of industry The Promises are the foundation of industry The promises do not make men lazy and idle as some scandalously say but they are the ground of all true labour and industry therefore the Apostles perswade us from the consideration of the promises unto the 2 Cor. 7.1 Heb. 13. 5 1 Cor. 10. 13 14. 2 Cor. 6. 17 18. study of soul-purification to have our conversation without covetousness to flee from Idolatry and to separate our selves from sinful communion Divine promises are great incouragements unto spiritual diligence Object Though conditional promises bee the foundation of industry because wee cannot have the thing promised unless wee perform the conditions yet absolute promises say some are foundations of laziness and therefore they affirm there are no absolute promises in Scripture Answ Absolute promises are made foundations of industry in Scripture as well as conditional The Apostle exhorts us to worke-out our salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who worketh in us both to will and Phil. 2. 12 13. to do of his own good pleasure And the reason is because God performeth nothing which hee promiseth though never so absolutely but in the diligent and conscientious use of the means on our part God promiseth Ezekiel 36. 26. to give us a new heart and a new spirit c. but then hee adds vers 37. I will yet for this bee inquired of by the house of Israel 6 They are the raies and beams as The Promises are the raies and beams of the Sun of righteousness one faith of Christ the Sun of Righteousness in whom they are founded and established As all the lines in a circumference though never so distant carry a man to one and the Dr. Reynolds on the sinfulness of sin same center So all the Promises carry us to Christ the Center For the Promises are not made for any thing in us nor have they their stability from us but they are made in and for Christ unto us unto Christ in our behalf and unto us so farre as wee are Members of Christ Now Jesus Christ is the ground of all soul-purification soul-consolation and soul-salvation And therefore I may safely conclude that the promises are most singularly useful and advantagious And that it is the duty of all those that desire to live holily and comfortably to consider and ponder the profitableness and beneficialness of the promises The ninth Meditation meditate on the necessity of getting an interest in the Promises 9. And lastly you must meditate on the great necessity that lyeth upon all men to get a Scripture interest in the promises This I adde to awaken Christians to attend diligently to this discourse about the promises and to shew them the necessity of minding and of studying them For hee that hath no right to them is in a faithless hopeless comfortless desperate and damnable condition All the happiness of a Christian both here and hereafter consisteth especially in his right and title to the promises The Scripture tells us in express words that hee that is a stranger from the promise is without Christ without God without hope Sad Ephes 2 12. is the condition of that man who hath no interest in God nor in Christ and who is without hope And such is the condition of him who is a stranger to the Promises for all hope of Heaven which is not bottomed upon a promise is presumption and soul-delusion All comfort and joy which is not grounded upon a promise is soul-cousenage and all Faith not anchored upon a Promise is nothing else but flattery and soul-mockery Consider this you that are full of joy and comfort and as you say rely upon Christ for salvation Tell mee what promise have you to build this Faith this hope this comfort upon For there are thousands that flatter themselves into Hell by a false hope of Heaven thousands which promise to themselves to go to Heaven but have no Promise for it from God Such were the five foolish Virgins such was the Church of Laodicaea such were they Matth. 7. 24. Hos 8. 2 3. Micah 3. 10 11. Remember this and let it bee daily in your thoughts you that have not true right to the Promises your Faith is faction your Hope is presumption and your joy is delusion To bee a stranger from the Promise is to bee without God without Christ and without Hope So much for the second particular viz. Meditate on the Promises The End of the third Sermon RULES FOR THE Right Application of the Promises SERMON V. PSAL. 119. 92. Unless thy Law had been my delights I should then have perished in mine Affliction NOw I come to the third and last particular He that would make the Promises as spiritual bladders to keep him from drowning in the deep waters of affliction must not only make a Catalogue of them and meditate upon them but hee must make Application of them to his own soul as belonging to him in particular Hee must as it is said of the godly Patriarchs Heb. 11. 13. bee perswaded of them and imbrace them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee must hugge and kisse them as his rich portion and glorious inheritance And this is the chief of all For no man can receive any comfort from a Promise who is not able to make out his interest in that Promise As the life of a Sermon is in the Application of it unto our selves so the life of a Promise is in the appropriation of it Quid est Deus si non est meus What am I the better saith Origen that Christ took upon him the flesh of a Virgin if hee took not my flesh what was the great Prince the better for the miraculous plenty in Samaria when the Prophet told him that hee should see it with his eyes but not eat of it As the man who when hee was ready to bee drowned saw a Rain-bow which was a sign that the world should never bee again drowned said Quid mihi proderit haec Iris si ego peream What am I the better for this Rainbow if I perish So may I say what is a man the better for the rich Mine of treasure contained in
God for above a year with great and most grievous pains shall at the close of her life when shee is upon the very brink of eternity have such a sweet refreshing and heart-chearing impression upon her spirit when heart fails and flesh fails When shee can hardly speak to express the greatnesse of her joy then to hear a voice as it were saying to her This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise This in all probability was the voice of God and not of man This was the Lords doing and it is marveilous in our eyes I for bear saying any more Shee is gone from a prison to a palace from a purgatory to a Paradise Shee is at rest with God where all tears are wiped away from her eyes The Lord fit us by has grace to follow her in due time into the Kingdome of glory Amen Mris. Elizabeth Moores EVIDENCES FOR HEAVEN Collected by her self in the time of her health in such manner and method as they are here presented to Publick view 1 Her Design in this Collection IN the examination of my self I finde that my Aims and Ends why I desire to gather together and clear up my Evidences for Heaven if my deceitful heart doth not deceive mee are these following 1 THat hereby as a means I may bee inabled to glorifie God in Design 1 the great work of beleeving that hereby with Gods blessing the dimme eye of my Faith may more clearly see the Lord Jesus Christ to bee a Peace-maker and Reconciler and Surety for mee even for mee who am by nature a fire-brand of Hell The time was I am sure when I was the Devils picture and had the black brand of Reprobation upon mee and therefore it doth neerly concern mee to search and trye what Evidences I have to prove that God fetching Arguments out of his own bowels and the riches of his free grace hath redeemed mee out of this lost estate 2 MY Aime is to strengthen that Design 2 longed for grace of Assurance A grace which though it bee not of absolute necessity for the being and salvation yet it is of absolute necessity for the well being and consolation of a Christian without this grace I can neither live nor dye comfortably and I have been often exhorted by Gods faithful Ambassadors to gather together my Scripture Evidences and to have the approbation of some godly and experienced Minister or Christian and this by Gods blessing may bee a means to strengthen Assurance Yea I finde in Scripture that the Lord saith that the Priests lips shall preserve Mal. 3.7 knowledge and thou shalt seek the Law at his mouth for hee is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts 3 MY Aime is to obey God in his Word who hath commanded Design 3 mee by his Apostle to work out my own Phil. 2.12 2 Pet. 1. 10. 2 Cor. 13. 5. salvation with fear and trembling and to give all diligence to make my calling and election sure And I am exhorted to examine my self and prove my self whether I bee in the faith or no know yee not saith the Apostle that Christ is in you except you bee reprobates And if any man bee in Christ bee is a new Creature old things are passed away and all things are become new Now then to prove whether I bee in deed and in truth born again is my desire at this time the Lord help mee and give mee a sincere and upright heart and guide mee herein by his holy Spirit for the honour of his holy Name 2 A brief Collection of her Evidences for Heaven Blessed bee God who hath through his free mercy begotten mee to a hope Evidence First that I am regenerated and born from above and converted unto God Reason Because the Lord hath gone the same usual way with mee as with those hee pleaseth to convert to himself and this I shall make to appear in five or six particulars 1 The Lord by his Spirit accompanying the preaching of his Word caused the scales to fall from my eyes and opened them and set up a clear light in my understanding and made mee to see sin to bee exceeding sinful out of measure sinful and to look on it as the loathsomest thing in the world and on my self as a loathsome creature in Gods sight and in my own sight by reason of the Leprosie of sin wherewith I was over-run 2 The Lord brought mee to see the misery that I was in by reason of my sins I thought I was utterly forsaken of God and I thought that God would never accept of such a wretch as I saw my self to bee I could not think otherwise but that hell was my portion and that I by reason of my sins must go thither expecting every day when the Lord would glorifie himself in my damnation I saw my self in more misery because of my sins than I could then or now expresse to any body I looked upon God as a consuming fire and on my self as stubble ready to bee consumed by him c. 3 The Lord brought mee to a spiritual astonishment that I cried out What shall I do to bee saved and said with Paul Lord what wouldest thou have mee to do Do but make known to thy poor creature what thy will is and I thought I could do any thing or suffer any thing for the Lord. But since I have had some more knowledge of the holy Will of God woe is mee what a barren and unfruitful heart have I a heart that can neither do nor suffer any thing for the Lord as I ought to do But this I can say that the astonishment I was in by the sight of my sins and the misery I was plunged into put mee on the performance of holy duties especially prayer 4 The Lord took mee off my own bottome off my own righteousness and made mee to see that that was but a sandy foundation and would not hold out I was not taken off from the performance of holy duties no I thought with my self that I am commanded by God to perform holy duties which is the way and means whereby wee may meet with God For hee is ordinarily to bee injoyed no where but in his own ordinances but the Lord took mee off from resting and trusting in Ordinances And as hee made mee to see that without the practise of them hee would not accept of mee so also hee made mee to know that it was not for holy duties for which I was accepted The sins that cleave to my best performances are enough for which the Lord may justly condemn mee if I had no other sins 5 The Lord brought mee to see a Superlative beauty and excellency in the Lord Jesus Christ and my soul was deeply in love with him even with whole Christ in all his offices and if I know any thing at all of my own heart I desired Christ as much to bee my King and Prophet to teach and guide mee and subdue mee