engage my self to the use of all possible means of thy appointment to suppress all Motions to Sin to strengthen and renew my Resolutions dayly to establish me against Temptations and carry me on in an assiduous Exercise of Repentance till I have no more Sin to repent of and yet will not account this any Amends for the Wrong I have done thee but in an absolute Renunciation of all that I am can be or do my repenting it self my holy Duties my striving against Sin the World the Devil and my Religious Performances as altogether insufficient and unavailable to give Compensation or secure me from Justice I come despairing of my self and all the stock I can be furnish'd with at home hopeless and helpless by the whole world and in an humble and hearty Prostration of Soul throw down my self at thy feet seeking Relief where alone it is to be found and that is in thy self Oh Lord thy Son and Spirit and therefore with my whole mind will desire delight and strength I freely heartily fully give up my self all my Powers and Possibilities unto thee alone avouching Thee only to be my God and All-sufficient Goodness and Happiness and therefore with a lowly Reverence and Submission I cast my self as thy sworn Vassal at thy gracious Foot-stool in a sincere and absolute Choice and Acceptance of Thee O blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost for my sole Portion and Rest dedicating my self from my very inmost Soul to Thee O Heavenly Father as my Soveraign Creator Owner and Governour to be wholly and unreservedly Thine entirely at thy Disposal from the very bottom of my Heart devoting the Remainder of my Spirits Strength and Life universally to thy Fear Love Honour Worship and Service in the Works of Repentance and Mortification of my Sin watchfulness against and resistance of Temptation and over my Heart and Way and diligence in exercising my self unto Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety And to this purpose as one utterly lost and undone in my self with a renewed humble Veneration I offer up my self wholly to thee O blessed Redeemer of the World the only begotten Son of the Eternal Father and with a bleeding broken Heart that hath no other relief but only in and through thee being in my self a very Hell of Wickedness and Woe condemned by thy Law condemned by mine own Conscience I lift up mine Eyes look unto and long for thee O dear Lord Jesus as my only Saviour Joy and Crown thee I earnestly press after I value above my Life my Hopes my Soul heartily approving of pleasing my self in and closing with that Method of Salvation ordained through thee as the only Mean and Help into the Favour and Love of God Therefore with the All of my Understanding and Will and Might I chuse and embrace and honour and love and delight and rejoyce in and venture my self my hopes my happiness my All upon thee for ever and ever trusting solely to thy Merit and Mediation accepting Thee in all thy Offices and Relations as Prophet Priest King Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification Redemption as my Soveraign Lord and Master the only Espoused Bridegroom of my Soul resolving through thy Grace to betake my self only to Thee to be Thine alone abrenunciating and disclaiming all that stands in competition with Thee and receiving cordially all thy Holy Counsels and Laws as the only Guide and Rule of my Thoughts Affections Words and Actions with a thorow purpose and endeavour to take the highest Care under the Aids of thy Grace both to conform in every thing thereto and boggle at no difficulties dangers or sufferings which I may expect or meet with in these thy ways but persevere therein to the end neither shall any Corruption within or Temptation from without have my heart or liking or allowance so as to withdraw my Soul from these Holy Resolves For which end I cast my self whole and entire upon thy Free Grace and Almighty Power and Holy Spirit to work in me both to will and to do all according to thy good pleasure being firmly engaged to be Thine and to take Thee to be Mine without a Moments farther Procrastination Come Holy Ghost Eternal God and breathe into my Soul infuse thy Gifts and Graces communicating thy Power to a poor impotent succourless Sinner that here lo consecrates himself to Thee and with a self-resigning Spirit resolves to venture all upon thy Conduct and Influence to be at thy Beck and Command in all things not knowing nor being able nor therefore willing to do any thing without thee Inspire my Mind direct my Heart awe my Conscience regulate my Life strengthen and uphold my goings that notwithstanding mine own insufficiency I may by Thee be enlarged in heart to run in the ways of thy Commandments And now Merciful God Father Son and Holy Ghost through that All-sufficient Merit that has procured all Blessings accept of me and own me as none of mine own but thy Portion and Inheritance who have taken Thee to be mine This this O my Soul is the One thing needful to be done in good earnest speedily with an uncontroulable Bent and Steadiness of Will and never to be repented of I am pained in my very Soul for and heartily bewail my Neglects Deferrings and Aversations And here I am blessed Lord setting to my Seal and firmly binding my self in this my Baptismal Covenant with an irreversible purpose to act all the remainder of my Life thro' thy Mercy and Assistance only according to the Tenour of it Be serious then here O my Soul or thou abjurest all solid Consolation Thou canst never enjoy good Hopes without a good Conscience If thou desirest to build high in thy Comforts be sure thou lay a good Foundation If thou never enterest into such Meditations and Resolutions as these bid everlastingly adieu to all true Contentation If thou do not really turn to God thou turnest away thy Peace The Holy Ghost will never be a Comforter where He is not a Converter Except thou be born again of Water and the Spirit thou canst not enter into the Kingdom of God the Kingdom of Peace See to it therefore that thou be raised from thy Death in Trespasses and Sins as ever thou desirest a Resurrection of thy Joys No Purity no Peace 5. Having thus begun go on Make Repentance Mortification Watchfulness Faith Love Resignation to the Will of God thy daily uninterrupted Exercise and endeavour to grow in all and be upright in all else all 's nothing Make Sincerity thy great Aim and Endeavour Hypocrisie is Heritor no where but in the Land of Darkness and dismal Woe Thy Joys will resemble their Parents If they be a Cheat so will they also Be really good and eminently so too Aut Caesar aut nullus Lean Graces do but devour fat Comforts never enjoy them The sweetest promises yield no lasting Refreshment to fickle hearts unestablished with Grace If thy Spiritual Strength be small when thy standing in
up a dejected Mind which it found deeply buried in a doleful Hell of Wretchedness and Woe Oh sweet and amiable Peace How lovely are thy Looks How dear and pleasing thine Embraces What art thou not that is good desirable delightful contenting satisfying Riches in Poverty Health in Sickness Honey in Life Heart-ease in Death the Glory of Eternity But to give a Logical Description of it Formal Comfort is the inward Rest Quiet Contentment Satisfaction Ease and Refreshment of the Mind arising from the View Sense Consideration Application and feeling of such proper and suitable Remedies for all manner of Troubles as answer the Necessities Exigencies and Desires of the Soul in all things strengthning for Work supporting under Temptations inspiriting for Sufferings chearfully to bear them perfectly to conquer them and everlastingly to triumph over them Taken Actively and in Fieri it imports a Mans applying to himself the things which God hath provided to refresh and strengthen him Passively a Man is comforted when upon the Application of such things the Mind Heart and Conscience are satisfyed and settled within themselves in a calm and quiet Rest and Peace This is Comfort in facto esse as the Schools phraze it If we speak properly and according to the English Translation here This Formal Comfort is not that Comfort which the Psalmist reports but rather the delight in his Soul which did or might issue therefrom as an effect from its immediate Cause and therefore is not a stranger to the Text. Yet indeed the Comfort here mentioned is not to be understood Formally but Objectively or Materially for comforting things as in Physick a Cordial is not the Comfort the Heart receives but the Medicine which has Vertue and Power to Comfort the Heart as a means under Providence In Discoursing to this several things might be considered 1. The Matter or Thing it self which comforts which is God his Being Nature Perfections c. 2. The Instrument Vehicle or Means 1. Revealing Tendering Conveying The Word and in special its Promises 2. Receiving Appropriating Applying Faith 1. In the Mind Thoughts 2. In the Heart and Will Consent 3. The Condition or Qualification without which no right to Comfort is possible True Goodness particularly Goodness in Distress 4. The Principal immediate Efficient The Holy Ghost the Comforter Some of these I acknowledge concern Comfort Formally considered as well as Materially For though the matter or thing Comforting God have no cause and the Spirit cannot be said to be in respect hereof an Efficient but only of the Formal Comfort or Satisfaction in our minds and of the Instrument and Condition the Word being of his Immediate Inspiration and Sanctification his proper and peculiar Work Yet the Word is a means to beget Formal Comfort as well as convey the matter of it so also is Faith And Goodness is a Qualification necessary to inward Peace as well as right to the Material Cause of it I am not concern'd except about the Matter Means revealing containing and the Believing Thoughts that receive and apply with the Holiness that prepares the Heart for Reception and Application of Comfort Whatever Comforts is something of or from God The Father Son and Holy Ghost yet those things from them Comfort not in the same manner as they do themselves The Word and Promises are a Cordial as far as Messages of Love from Heaven no otherwise As they bring good News from our best Friend they revive us but nothing can give ease to our Minds which doth not report something of God If our Troubles be Spiritual for our Sins the assurance by any sound Evidence that God has pardoned them dispels our Sorrow Fear and Despair The feeling that God has purged away their Filth taken away their Dominion quiets us as an Evidence and Testimony that he hath pardoned us and is reconciled to us but all this only as a token of God's Love to us For a good Soul cannot sit down with its own Mercy without the God of Mercy Nothing Spiritually Comforts on Earth but what will solace in Heaven There God alone is the Eternal Ravishment of glorified Souls Now God as the matter of our Comfort solaces us merely as apprehended and applied by Believing Thoughts If we think not of him we derive no Content from him and our Thoughts taking in some comfortable Notion of God lay it before our Concupiscible and Irascible Affections that being embraced by the former it may appease still and quiet the other which is heedfully to be observed this being the true and natural Method to attain solid and substantial Peace and Consolation For they are Brutish not Rational Comforts that we are not led to by Light in the Mind observing the suitableness of the Object to our Condition which prevails with our Will to close with and embrace it Till this be done our Passions cannot be rationally calmed God doth not work upon them as Christ upon the raging Sea by way of Empire and immediate Power to hush them in a moment by Miracle That Peace which springs in the Conscience immediately without any antecedent Actings and Perceptions of the Mind or Election of the Will is Delusory not to say Satanical There 's nothing that can any ways Comfort but God is that very thing either Formally or Eminently He is the summ and substance of all Appetibles Eligibles Comfortables as the Chief Good and Happiness of Man who as he wants nothing for his own everlasting solace and contentation so neither for ours Whatever is of a refreshing Influence either to Body or Mind is the Ordination of God both in its Matter and that peculiar Formality For he both made all things and endowed them with all their Powers and Vertues which all are superlatively in himself i. e. either in his Nature or Power in Essence or Equivalence God's Love is a Comfort to our Souls and God is Love Meat and Drink are a comfort to our Bodies God is not these but he can create and give them and in Heaven supplies the want of them by causing us not to need them and giving us better in himself that Countervails them Thus 't is also in all other Cases whatever satisfies us is from him is in him Thy Comforts delight or look favourably upon my Soul Thy Comforts which thou Ar't Givest CHAP. XIII Comforts in God I. THE Comforts which God is delight the Soul These or none For nothing issuing from God is greater or better than himself He is much more than all without him therefore a more sufficient satisfaction both because there is a plenitude of Perfection in him and because he can inlarge the capacity of the Recipient and quicken the perceptive Powers more exquisitely to sense and relish the Sweetness of all those delectable Excellencies that adorn his Nature Now as God is every thing which is comfortable so every thing in God is a Well-spring of over-flowing Consolation to a good Heart his Being Names Attributes
57.20 21. But when the Lord Heals and Leads he will restore comforts to Mourners Vers 18. Art thou then Spiritually alive O my Soul or dead Dead thou art if destitute of Soul Thy Soul is God Christ is thy Life Col. 3.4 The Life thou livest in the Flesh ought to be by the Faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.20 And he also is thy Peace Mic. 5.5 Eph. 2.14 If thou livest in God and God in thee by Faith and Love thy Peace is solid and genuine but in Disunion and Separation from God and Christ there 's neither true Life nor Peace Enjoyest thou a Christ within thee He is then thy hope of Glory therefore thy Haven of Rest Joy and Consolation Do'st thou experience any Communion of Life betwixt thy self and Holy Jesus Do'st thou feel any thing of his powerful gracious Influence Holy Souls are Spiritually moved by the Holy Ghost which is the bond of Union betwixt them and God By him Christ dwells in us 1 Joh. 3.24 Rom. 8.9 10 11 15. Hath this quickening Spirit enliven'd thee Thou may'st know that the Spirit of Grace hath quickened thee by his Fruits Gal. 5.22 23. For if thou livest in the Spirit thou wilt walk also in the Spirit Vers 25. And the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus will free thee from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 which naturally thou walkest by that thou wilt affectionately savour so is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Matth. 16.23 Col. 3.2 mind relish the things of the Spirit not of the Flesh Vers 5. If thou art or hast a Spiritual Being according to the Spirit Vers 5. or in the Spirit Vers 9. he houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in thee and makes thee Spiritually minded which is Life and Peace Vers 6. and by degrees destroys out of thee the minding or savour of the Flesh which is Death or Enmity against God Vers 7. Hast thou studied these things to know them and thy self whether thou dost really feel them throughly considering and fearching all within to see what one thing thou canst pitch upon that will be a sure Evidence that thou livest in the Spirit and he in thee without which thou canst never groundedly say My God as the Psalmist for thou art none of his Rom. 8.9 therefore he none of thine that is by federal Vnion What then are thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are the surest Testimonies of a Life in God by his Spirit 'T is a very comprehensive Word full of sense no one in our language can express it For it includes the noblest Actings of the whole Soul in knowing considering minding regarding thinking wisely discreetly prudently powerfully effectually with affection savour and a spiritual taste and sense of sweetness and delectable goodness with the result hereof those stated Principles which these actings establish as a Law to our Consciences Affections and Practices not only the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or agency of the mind but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fruit of its Operation the thinking of the mind and the thought formed by the mind Upon what Objects dost thou fix thy Mindings and Willings of this Nature And what kind of things of what Vertue and Efficacy are the savoury Cogitations that issue from these mindings When thou settlest these Workings of Soul upon the Flesh and the World thou makest them thy gods as the carnal heart does Truly nothing deserves or can be worthy of this contention of Mind but what is Spiritual and Celestial Wherever this is engaged from thence is thy Life and thy Peace is Congenerous to thy Life If the best things habitually and statedly enjoy these endeavours and motions of thy superiour Powers and maintain an inviolable Authority over them thy Life is the best and no other thy Consolations Lastly real and deceiving Comforts may be differenced by their tendency and effects They both end as they begin The cheating Peace of the Prophane and Hypocritical will never produce any conscionable persevering cares and endeavours to please God and profit Men. But the joy of the Lord is the Souls strength in his service and evermore leads to him in Holiness of Heart and Life and to more lively actings of Faith Love and Gratitude to growth in Grace and Godliness as is not obscurely intimated in the example of the Psalmist We will suppose the actings of his Grace to proceed in the same tenor with the Expressions thereof in the Psalm For we have no other Evidence thereof and may Rationally judge this to be a Report of his inward Sensations in their Nature Order Progress and Perfection as we find in other Psalms Well his Faith which at the beginning appears something pendulous weak and wavering as to that particular thing about which it was first engaged viz. the Interposal of Divine Justice to secure the Church from the rage of its Enemies and could only look for this in a Petitionary way and view it in its causes Vers 1 2 3 c. does after this favourable Aspect of Divine Comforts in this Verse grow up to a prophetical confidence in the certain futurity of the event Vers 23. And as it had eyed the cause Divine Vengeance in a Duplication of the Address to it in the first weak act of affiance Vers 1. So also Vers last presents a double Testimony of the more established and strong act of confident assurance that the effect which he expected should undoubtedly be produced What he only saw the possibility of in the first workings of his Faith he foresees the Existence of in the last what he only beg'd that it might be in the infancy of his Faith he peremptorily concludes and promises himself that it would be in this its Maturity Then his Faith only wishes here it determines there was his Supposition here is desinitive Sentence and Decision that his Prayer this his Answer The Victory of his Faith over all preceding fears and dubitations Hope triumphing over his Despondency And that Comfort has a special Influence thus to heighten Faith and perfect its actings is apparent from the nature of the thing For since it is the quiet and rest of the Mind upon good Evidence of the Love of God to a Man in particular through Christ it can do no other than embolden his Addresses and encourage his confidence Even as when a tender Father receives into and cherishes in his bosom a reconciled Child and speaks to his Heart This removes fully all those Jealousies and Doubts which the remembrance of former unkindnesses and distances might create and invites the Child to a more inhesitant and free recumbence upon and committing himself to this so amply attested love and tenderness of his now no more angry Father So by the like reason it introduces an additional fervour and flame to the Child's love and engages him to a more full and ingenuous Expression of his dutifulness and filial observance And no less may be gathered from
Christianity is great some secret Disease keeps thee down Thy Stomach is foul makes no good Digestion some under-ground Corruption draws in that Nutriment those Spirits that should invigorate and encrease thy Graces like a Worm in the Paunch or Bowels feeding upon that which should feed thee and so defrauding thee Kill then thou must or be kill'd Repentance and Faith and Mortification and Watchfulness alone must sublevate thee Engage thy self herein and make these a daily Task Let not thy Sloath the World or any sweet Lust ravish thy Heart into an hours Neglect no not a Moments Resolve and act with the first and to the uttermost Thou art upon the Pits Brink ready to drop down into everlasting Horrours and till thou repentest hast no Foot-hold nay thy Foot is already slipt thou art tumbling down head-long and no Mercy can or will hold thee up but only as far as it engages thee in Repentance This is the sole Relief that thou eanst have from Heaven nothing else can bring thee back raise thee out of the Ditch return thee into a state of Safety but only thy returning this way to God 'T is absolutely impossible under the present Oeconomy of Divine Grace for Mercy it self to save thee to satisfie thee with Peace without Repentance And no less impossible for thee to satisfie thy self in the soundness of thy first Repentance without Cordial Resolutions Cares Endeavours in a second daily life-long Repentance and Mortification Go over again then with this Work never present thy self to the Lord without this Sacrifice of a broken contrite Heart As thou renewest thy falls renew thy rising by Repentance That day upon which thou sinnest not repent not but be sure thou omit this Duty upon none other If there be any failures in thy first Work a recognition and renewal of it may redintegrate and rectifie thee No Man is hearty in that Work which he is loath to reiterate Suspect that Repentance which stands all alone in a single act and hath no Seconds Be dayly therefore searching thy Heart and examining thy Life cast up thy Accounts at even reckon with God and thine own conscience for the day and all thy Life past that thou may'st not lie down a Debtor to Justice least it be requir'd of thee ere the Morning This is safe and use will make it sweet Should a Traytor to God and thine own Soul lodge with thee in peace but for a Night with what face could'st thou present thy self before thy Judge should he arraign thee and tell thee this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee 'T is dangerous to dally with Sin desperate to irritate God The Curse of any one Sin unrepented of and the Wrath and Fiery Indignation of God are no easie Pillows to lay thy head upon Thy sleep will then be sweetest when thy Sin is sourest and thy Rest will be most refreshing and comfortable upon the soft Downy Bed of a good and pure conscience purged by Repentance purifyed by Faith But 't is not enough to forsake thy Sin and turn to goodness with a broken bleeding Heart but the root of Sin must be bound about with a Hoop of Iron that it may be deaden'd and spring out no more Crucifie then the Flesh and the World and be Crucified to them and deny so as to mortifie Vngodliness as well as Worldly Lusts else thou art not taught by the Grace of God that brings Salvation Tit. 2.11 Repentance cuts off the Branches the acts of Sin that are already sprouted out but thy cares must not only respect what is past or present but what may be in future Therefore must thou engage thy preventive cares and endeavours in Mortification Draw out the Heart-Blood of thy Lusts by cutting them off intirely from thy Heart and Affections That accounted so truculent a Word of Caesar to his Soldiers at Pharsalia strike at the face which gave him the Victory is no cruelty but good policy here and mercy to thy self and will be Crown'd with like Success That which is most lovely in thy Corruptions most pleasing to thy sense must be first laid at strike at their Beauty turn that into deformity and thou winnest the Day They live only in thy love as far as approving themselves to thy carnal Affections whence they are call'd Lusts Set up a Cherub with a flaming Sword turning every way to keep them out of that their Paradise and to guard thy Heart that Tree of Life and thou effectually condemnest them to an irremediable Mortality thou really executest and destroyest them Especially if hereto thou superadd the Exercises of Faith and its social Graces For to crucifie Sin without Faith deriving vertue and strength from the Cross i. e. the merit of Christ or that Holy Spirit and his Aid which Christ by his merit purchased is not at all to be hoped It would never have had its Christian Name from the Cross if this had no Influence upon Mortification The Moral is pretty but short of that Perfection of the Spiritual to which we are directed and enabled as Christians 'T is not if ye by Reason and Philosophy but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8.13 What Spirit he speaks of the next verse declares For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God This certainly imports something more than mere Nature and natural Improvements I love the Platonical and Stoical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and am pleased to read those Precepts whereby they direct it But the Philosophical Death in voluntarily loosing the Soul from the Body and bodily Life Porphyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7.9 and Passions to which it was ty'd by converting it self to the service of bodily Affections will only introduce a Philosophical Peace i. e. not to grieve or be angry to be necessitated to nothing to be unconcern'd about Extrinsecals untouched and free Arrian l. 3. c. 13. as they describe it Christian Mortification is a higher thing 'T is the Work of Grace subduing the Sins that are contrary to it especially the Corruption of Nature The Work of Grace influenced by the Holy Ghost The Spirits work by Grace in relation to Christ and his Crucifixion wherein the grace of Faith in special hath a peculiar Province I mean not Christianity in general which sometimes is entitled Faith but that particular Grace which the Old Testament oft calls Trust the New committing our Souls to God When in a sense of Sin Impotency and Emptiness we give up our selves to God in Christ entrusting our Souls with him and expecting all from him alone in the way of his Covenant and Promises which hope is an inseparable fruit of Faith and therefore included with it in the same title of Trust which is indeed both Thus then do Christians mortifie Sin Being sensible that they are insufficient by the power of their own reason and moral Vertue to get