unlesse therefore the holy Ghost apply what Christ hath done the conscience will not be satisfied The best men in the estate of Grace would be in darkenesse and call their state into question if the holy Ghost did not convince them and answer all cavills for them and therefore we must not onely be convinced at the first by the Spirit but in our continued course of Christianity This therefore should make us to come to Gods Ordinances with a holy devotion Oh Lord vouch safe the Spirit of Revelation and take the scales from mine eyes that as these are truths so they may be truths to me doe thou sway my soule that I may cast my selfe upon thy mercy in Christ. Spirituall convincing is not totall in this life but alwayes leaves in the heart some dregges of doubting though the soule be safe for the maine as a shippe that rides at anchor is tossed and troubled but the anchor holds it so it is with the soule that is convinced weakely it is sure of the maine yet it is tossed with many doubts and feares but the anchor is in heaven The Spirit of God doth so farre convince every Christian of the Righteousnesse of Christ as preserves in him such a power of Grace as to cast himselfe upon the mercy of God God will send his Spirit so farre into the heart as it shall not betray it selfe to despaire he will let such a beame into the soule as all the powers of hell shall not quench When we neglect prayer and set upon duties in our owne strength and in confidence of our owne parts if we belong to God we shall be sure to miscarrie though another man perhappes may prosper and therefore wee should be continually dependant upon God for his direction and for his blessing in whatsoever wee goe about As many women because they will not endure the paine of childbirth doe kill their children in the wombe so many men who will not be troubled with holy actions doe stifle holy motions therefore let us take hee de of murdering the motions of the holy Spirit but let us entertaine them that when they are kindled they may turne to resolution and resolution into practise This is a common Rule that wee cannot converse with company that are not spirituall but if they vexe us not they will taint us unlesse we be put upon them in our callings wee should therefore make speciall choise of our company and walke in a continuall watchfulnesse It is rebellion against God for a man to make away himselfe the very Heathens could say that we must not goe out of our station till wee be called It is the voyce of Satan Cast thy self down but what saith S. Paul to the Iaylor Do thy self no harme for we are all here Wee should so carry our selves that wee may be content to stay here till God hath done that worke he hath to doe in us and by us and then he will call us hence in the best time He is a valiant man that can command himselfe to be miserable and hee that cannot command himselfe to endure some bondage and disgrace in the world it argues weakenesse Christ could have come downe from the Crosse but he shewed his strength and power by enduring their reproaches and torments The reason why many Christians stagger and are so full of doubts is because they are idle and labour not to grow in grace therefore we should labour to grow in knowledge and mortification for in that way wee come to assurance Whatsoever good is in a naturall man is depraved by a selfe-end selfe-love rules all his actions hee keepes within himselfe and makes for himselfe he is a god to himselfe God is but his Idoll This is true of all naturall men in the world they make themselves their last end and where the end is depraved the whole course is corrupted The sense of assured hope cannot be maintained without a great deale of paines diligence and watchfulnesse 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence to make your calling election sure Insinuating that it will not be had without it it is the diligent and watchfull Christian that hath this assurance otherwise the holy Ghost will suffer us to be in a dampe and under a cloud if wee stirre not up the Graces of the Spirit It is grace in the Exercise and love in the Exercise that 's an earnest and so Faith and Hope in the Exercise is an earnest Iâ— Grace be asleepe you may have Grace and not know it therefore wee should labour to put our graces into exercise Those that have assurance of their salvation have oftentimes troublesome distractions because they doe not alwayes stand upon their guard sometimes they are lifted up to heaven and sometimes cast downe even to hell yet alwayes in the worst condition there is something left in the soule that suggests to it that it is not utterly cast off He to whom this pilgrimage is over-sweete loves not his country yet the pleasures of this life are so sutable to our nature that we should sit by them but that God followes us with severall crosses therefore let us take in good part any crosse because it is out of heavenly love that we are exercised least we should surfet upon things here below In melancholy distempers especially when there goes guilt of Spirit with it we can see nothing but darkenesse in wife children friends estate c. Here is a pittifull darkenesse when body and soule and conscience and all are distempered now let a Christian see God in his Nature and Promises and though he cannot live by sight in such a distemper yet let him then live by Faith Though God doe personate an enemy yet faith sees a Fatherly nature in him it apprehends some beames of comfort Though there be no sense and feeling yet the Spirit workes a power in the heart whereby the soule is able to claspe with God and to alledge his Word and Nature against himselfe The reason why the world seeth not the happy condition of Gods children is because their bodies are subject to the same infirmities with the worst of men nor are they exempted from troubles they are also subject to fall into grosse sinnes and therefore worldly men thinke Are these the men that are happier than wee They see their crosses but not their crownes they see their infirmities but not their graces they see their miseries but not their inward joy and peace of conscience To walke by Faith is to be active in our walking not to doe as wee list but it is a stirring by rule Since the fall we have lost our hold of God and wee must be brought againe to God by the same way wee fell from him wee fell by infidelity and we must be brought againe by Faith and lead our lives upon such grounds as Faith affords We must walke by Faith looking upon Gods Promise and Gods Call and Gods Commandements and not live by
God in all things whereas a carnall man sees reason onely in all that hee doth but a Christian sees God in crosses to humble him and every thing hee makes spirituall yet because there is a double principle in him there will be some stirring of the flesh in his actions and sometimes the worser part will appeare most but here is the excellencie of a Christians estate that the Spirit will worke it out at the last it will never let his heart and conscience alone till it be wrought out by little and little The Spirit of God may be knowne to be in weake Christians as the soule is knowne to be in the body by the pulses even so the Spirit discovers it selfe in them by pulses by groaning sighing complaining that it is so with them and that they are no better so that they are out of love with themselves this is a good signe that the Spirit is there in some measure Where the Spirit dwells largely in any man there is boldnesse in Gods cause a contempt of the world Hee can doe all things through Christ that strengthens him his minde is content and setled he can beare with the infirmities of others and not be offended for it is the weake in the Spirit that are offended he is ready in his desires to say Come Lord Iesus come quickly but where corruption beares sway there is O stay a little that I may recover my strength that is stay awhile that I may repent For the soule is not fit to appeare before God but where the Spirit dwells in Grace and comfort When wee are young carnall delights lead us and when wee are old covetousnesse drownes us so that if our knowledge be not spirituall wee shall never hold out the reason why at the houre of death so many despaire is because they had knowledge without the Spirit God gives comforts in the exercise and practise of Grace wee must not therefore snatch comforts before we be fit for them when wee performe precepts then God performes comforts If wee will make it good indeed that wee love God wee must keepe his Commandements wee must not keepe one but all it must be universall obedience fetched from the heart roote and that out of love It is a true rule in Divinitie that God never takes away any blessing from his people but he gives them a better when Eliah was taken from Elisha into heaven God doubled his Spirit upon Elisha if God take away wife or children hee gives better things for them the Disciples parted with Christ bodily presence but hee sent them the Holy Ghost God will be knowne of us in those things wherein it is our comfort to know him In all our devotions the whole counsells of heaven comforts us joyntly the second Person prayes to the Father and he sends the third and as they have severall titles so they all agree in their love and care to comfort In trouble we are prone to forget all that we have heard and read that makes for our comfort Now what is the reason that a man comes to thinke of that which otherwise hee should never have called to minde the holy Ghost brings it to his remembrance he is a Comforter bringing to minde usefull things at such times when we have most need of the. Those that care not for the Word of God reject their comfort all comfort must be drawne out of the Scriptures which are the breasts of consolation many are bred up by education that they know the truth and are able to discourse of it but they want the Spirit of Truth that is the reason why all their knowledge vanisheth away in time of triall and temptation No man is a true Divine but the child of God hee onely knowes holy things by a holy light and life other men though they speake of these things yet they know them not Take the mysticallest points in religion as Iustification Adoption peace of Conscience Ioy in the holy Ghost the sweet benefit of Communion of Saints the excellent estate of a Christian in extremity to know what is to be done upon all occasions inward sight and sorrow for sinne they know not what those things meane for howsoever they may discourse of them yet the things themselves are Mysteries Repentance is a Mystery Ioy in the holy Ghost is a Mystery no naturall man though hee be never so great a Scholler knowes these things experimentally but he knowes them as Physitians know Physicke by their Bookes but not as a sicke man by experience It is a great scandall to Religion that men of great learning and parts are wicked men hereupon the world comes to thinke that Religion is nothing but an emptie name so that without this inward anointing they never see spirituall things experimentally but though they know these things in the braine yet secretly intheir hearts they make a scorn e of conversion mortification and though for his calling hee may speake of these things excellently and with admiration yet in particular he hath no power of thē in his heart It is good and comfortable to compare our condition with the condition of the men of the world for howsoever they may excell in riches and learning yet we have cause to blesse God as Christ saith in the 11. of Saint Matthew 25. I thanke thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes It is good in all outward discouragements when things goe not well with us thus to reason with our selves wilt thou change thy estate with the men of the world God hath advanced thee to a higher Order Let them have their greatnesse alas they are miserable creatures notwithstanding all that they doe enjoy If wee desire to have the Spirit wee must waite in doing good as the Apostles waited many dayes before the Comforter came we must also emptie our soules of selfe-love and the love of the things of the world and willingly entertaine those crosses that bring our soules out of love with them The children of Israel in the Wildernesse had no Manna till they had spent their Onyons and Garlicke so this world must be out of request with us before we can be spirituall let us therefore labour to see the excellency of spirituall things and how cheape and poore all the glory of the world is to those these things thought and considered on will make us more and more spirituall The holy Ghost would not come till Christ by his Death had reconciled his Father and after that as an argument of full satisfaction had risen againe because the holy Ghost is the best gift of God and whatsoever grace or comfort was received before was by vertue of this so that the sending of the holy Ghost is the best fruit of Gods reconciliation Let a particular judgement come upon any man presently his conscience recalls backe what sinnes have beene
and have a care to sanctifie the Lords Day Revel 1. 10. Iohn was ravished in the Spirit on the Lords Day God takes nothing away from his children but instead thereof hee gives them that which is better happy is that selfe-deniall that is made up with joy in God Happy is that povertie that is made up with Grace and comfort Therefore let us not feare any thing that God shall call us unto in this world It is hard to perswade flesh and bloud hereunto but those that finde the experience of this as Christians doe finde withall perticular comforts flowing from the presence of Christs Spirit Saint Paul would not have wanted his whippings to have missed his comforts Christ doth chiefely manifest himselfe unto the Christian soule in times of affliction because then the soule unites it selfe most to Christ for the soule in time of prosperitie scatters and looseth it selfe in the creature but there is an uniting power in afflictions to make the soule gather it selfe to God Christ tooke upon him our nature and in that nature suffered hunger and was subject to all infirmities therefore when wee are put to paines in our callings to troubles for a good conscience or to any hardshippe in the world wee must labour for contentment because we are hardly made conformable unto Christ. There is not any thing or any condition that befalls a Christian in this life but there is a generall Rule in the Scripture for it and this Rule is quickned by Example because it is a practicall knowledge God doth not onely write his Law in naked Commandements but hee enlivens these with the practise of some one or other of his servants who can read Davids Psalmes but hee shall read himselfe in them He cannot be in any trouble but David is in the same c. As children in the wombe have eyes and eares not for that place but for a civill life afterwards among men where they shall have use of all members even so our life here is not for this world onely but for another we have large capacities large memories large affections large expectations God doth not give us large capacities and large affections for this world but for heaven and heavenly things Take a Christian that hath studied mortification you shall see the life of Iesus in his sicknesse in a great deale of patience and heavenly mindednesse when his condition is above his power his strength above his condition As men doe cherish young plants at first and doe fence them about with hedges and other things to keepe them from hurt but when they are growne they remove them and then leave them to the winde and weather so God be sets his children first with proppes of inward comforts but afterwards he exposes them to stormes and windes because they are better able to beare it Therefore let no man thinke himselfe the better because hee is free from troubles it is because God sees him not fit to beare greater When wee read the Scriptures we should read to take out some thing for our selves as when wee read any Promise this is mine when wee read any Prerogative this is mine it was written for me as the Apostle saith What soever was written aforetime was written for our learning c. As the Spirit is necessary to worke faith at the first so is it necessary also to every act of Faith for Faith cannot act upon occasion but by the Spirit and therefore wee should not attempt to doe or to suffer any thing rashly but begge the Spirit of God and waite for the assistance because according to the increase of our troubles must our Faith be increased for the life of a Christian is not onely to have the Spirit worke Faith at first but upon all occasions to raise up our former graces for Faith stirres up all other graces and holds every grace to the Word and so long as Faith continues we keepe all other graces in exercise There is no true Christian but hath a publike spirit to seeke the good of others because as soone as he is a Christian hee labours for selfe deniall he knowes hee must give up himselfe and all to God so that his spirit is inlarged in measure unto God and to the Church and therefore the greater portion a man hath of the Spirit of Christ the more he seekes the good of others If we would have hearts to praise God we must labour to see every thing we receive from God to be of Grace and abundance of Grace answerable to the degrees of good whatsoever wee have more than nature is abundant Grace whatsoever wee have as Christians though poore and distressed in our passage to heaven is abundant Grace There are three maine parts of our salvation first a true knowledge of our misery and secondly the knowledge of our deliverance and then to live a life answerable The holy Ghost can onely worke these he onely convinceth of sinne and where hee truly convinceth of sinne there also of righteousnesse and then of judgements That wee may be convinced of sinne the Spirit must worke a cleare and commanding demonstration of our conditionin nature It takes away therefore all cavills turnings and windings even as when wee see the Sunne shine wee know it is day the Spirit not onely convinceth in generalls that wee are all sinners but in particulars and that strongly Thou art the man this convincing is also vniversall of sinnes of nature of sinnes of life sinnes of the Vnderstanding of the Will and of the Affections of the misery of sinne of the danger of sinne of the solly and madnesse of sinne of sinnes against so many motives so many favours proud Nature armes it selfe with deftnesse strong translations strong mitigations It s necessary therefore that the holy Ghost should joyne with mens consciences to make them confesse I am the man The convincing of the Spirit may be knowne from common conviction of conscience by this that naturall conviction is weake like a little Sparke and convinceth onely of breaches of the second Table and not of Evangelicall sinnes Againe common conviction is against a mans will it makes him not the better man onely he is tortured and tormented but a man that is convinced by the Spirit hee joynes with the Spirit against himselfe hee accuseth himselfe hee takes Gods part against himselfe hee is willing to be laid open that hee may finde the greater mercie It is not enough to know that there is a righteousnesse of Christ but the Spirit must open the eyes of the soule to see else we shall have a naturall knowledge of supernaturall things It s necessary to have a supernaturall sight to see supernaturall things so as to change the soule and therefore the Spirit onely workes Faith to see Christ is mine Further onely the Spirit can worke the conscience to be quiet because he is greater than the conscience and can answer all inward objections and cavills of flesh and blood
events strange massacres and tragicall deaths which have from time to time pursued the drowsie heart and carelesse minde and in these our dayes is the butchery of all the mischiefes which have already chanced unto our Countrimen for whilst Gods judgements are masked and not presented to the view of the minde by the serious worke of the same though they are keene and sharpe it being sheathed they seeme dull and of no edge unto us which causeth us to pricke up the feathers of pride and insolency and to make no reckoning of the fearefull and finall rekoning which most assu redly must be made will wee nill wee before Gods Tribunall Hence it commeth to passe that our English Gentlewomen doe brave it with such out-landish manners as though they could dash God out of countenance or roist it in heaven as they carve it here so that thousands are carried to hell out of their sweete perfumed chambers where they thought to have lived and are snatched presently from their pleasant and odoriferous Arbours daintie dishes and silken company to take up their roome in the dungeon and lake of hell which burneth perpetually with fire and brimstone And for the want of this Gods children goe limping in their knowledge and carrie the fire of zeale in a flintie heart which unlesse it be hammered will not yeeld a sparke to warme and cheere their benummed and frozen affections towards the worship and service of God and the heartie embracing of his truth By this Gods Workes of Creation are slipped over even from the Cedar to the Hyssope that groweth on the wall The Sunne the Moone the Starres shine without admiration the sea and the earth the foules fishes beasts and man himselfe are all esteemed as common matters in Nature thus God worketh those strange creatures without that glory performed which is due and his children receive not that comfort by the secret meditation of Gods creation as they might Hence it proceedeth that they are often in their dumps fearing as though they enjoyed not the light whereas if they would meditate and judge aright of their estates they might finde theey are the Sons of God heires of that rich kingdome most apparantly knowne and established in heaven and shall suddenly possesse the same even then most likely when their flesh thinketh it farthest off as the Heire being within a moneth of his age maketh such a reckoning of his lands that no carefull distresse can trouble him but this consideration being partly through Sathans and partly through their owne dulnesse and over-stupidnesse they fare like men in aswound and as it were bereaved of the very life of the Spirit staggering under the burthen of affliction stammering in their godly profession and cleaving sometimes unto the world through this they carry Christs promises like comforts in a boxe or as the Chirurgion his salves in his bosome Meditation applieth Meditation healeth Medditation instructeth if thou lovest wisedome and blessednesse meditate in the Law of the Lord day and night and so make use of these meditations to quicken thee up to duty and to sweeten thy heart in thy way to the heavenly Ierusalem Farewell E. C. DIVINE Meditations THat man hath made a good progressein Religion that hath a high esteeme of the Ordinances of God and though perhappes he find himselfe dead and dull yet the best things have left such a taste and rellish in his soule that hee cannot be long without them This is a signe of a good temper A Wife when shee marries a Husband gives up her will to him So doth every Christian when hee is married to Christ hee gives up his will and all that hee hath to him and saith Lord I have nothing but if thou callest for it thou shalt have it againe When wee come to Religion wee loose not our sweetnesse but translate it perhapps before wee fed upon prophane Authors now wee feede upon holy truths A Christian never knowes what comfort is in Religion till hee come to bee downe-right as Austin saith Lord I have wanted of thy sweetnesse over long all my former life was nothing but huskes God takes care of poore weake Christians that are strugling with temptations and corruptions Christ carries them in his armes All Christs sheepe are diseased and therefore hee will have a tender care of them Esay 40. 11. Whatsoever is good for Gods Children they shall have it for all is theirs to further them to heaven therefore if poverty be good they shall have it if disgrace be good they shall have it if crosses be good they shall have them if misery be good they shall have it for all is ours to serve for our maine good Gods Children have these outward things with God himselfe they are as Conduits to convey his favour to us and the same love that moved God to give us heaven and happinesse the same love moves him to give us daily bread The whole life of a Christian should bee nothing but praises and thankes to God we should neither eate nor drinke nor sleepe but eate to God and sleepe to God and worke to God and talke to God doe all to his glory and praise Though God deliver not out of trouble yet hee delivers from the ill in trouble from despaire in trouble by supporting the Spirit Nay he delivers by trouble for hee sanctifies the trouble to cure the soule and by lesse troubles hee delivers from greater What are we but a Modell of Gods favours what doe wee see or what doe wee taste but matter of the mercyes of God the miseries of others should bee matter of praise to us the sinnes of others should make us praise God and say Lord it might have beene my case it might have befallen me God pitties our weakenesse in all our troubles and afflictions he will not stay too long least wee out of weakenesse put our hands to some shifts hee will not suffer the rodde of the wicked to rest upon the lot of the righteous Psal. 125. 3. Is it not an unreasonable speech for a man at midnight to say it will never be day and so it is an unreasonable thing for a man that is in trouble to say O Lord I shall never get out of this it will alwayes be thus with me Doe the wicked thinke to shame or feare good men No a Spirit of grace and glory shall rest upon them they shall not onely have a Spirit of Grace rest upon them but a Spirit of Glory So that their countenances shall shine as Stephens did when hee was stoned Act. 6. 15. If God hides his face from us what shall become of our foules wee are like the poore flower that opens and shuts with the Sunne If God shines upon the heart of a man it opens but if hee withdrawes himselfe we hang downe our heads Thou turn ' dst away thy face and I was troubled Psal. 30. 7. When wee have given up our selves to God let us comfort our
soules that God is our God when riches and treasures and men our lives faile yet God is ours we are now Gods Davids and Gods Pauls and Gods Abrahams wee have an everlasting being in him A speciall cause of too much dejection is want of resolution in good things when wee hault in Religion for as haulting is a deformed and troublesome gesture so in Religion haulting is alwayes joyned with trouble and disquiet God hath made the poorest man that is a governour of himselfe and hath set judgement to rule against passion and conscience against sinne therefore Reason should not be a slave to Passion It is the peculiar wisedome of a Christian to picke Arguments out of his worst condition to make him thankefull and if hee be thankefull hee will be joyfull and so long as he is joyfull he cannot be miserable God hath made himselfe ours and therefore it is no presumption to challenge him to be our God when once wee have interest in God he thinkes nothing too good for us hee is not satisfied in giving us the blessings of this life but he gives himselfe unto us As wee receive all from God so wee should lay all at his feete and fay I will not live in a course of sinne that will not stand with the favour of my God for hee will not lodge in the heart that hath a purpose to sinne Gods people have sweete intercourse with God in their callings when wee looke for comfort we shall finde it either in Hearing Reading or Praying c. or else in our Callings We glorifie God when we exalt him in our soules above all creatures in the world when we give him the highest place in our love and in our joy when all our affections are set upon him as the chiefest good This is seene also by opposition when wee will not offend God for any creature When wee can aske our affections Whom have I in heaven but thee There is no true zeale to Gods glory but it is joyned with true love to men therefore let men that are violent injurious and insolent never talke of glorifying God so long as they despise poore men If wee doe not finde our selves the people of Gods delight let us attend upon the meanes of salvation and waite Gods good time and stand not disputing perhappes God hath not a purpose to save mee but fall to obedience casting thy selfe into the Armes of Christ and say if I perish I will perish here The love of God in CHRIST is not barren kindnesse it is a love that reaches from everlasting to everlasting from love in choosing us unto love in glorifying of us In all the miseries of the world one beame of this loving kindnesse of the Lord will scatter all Our desires are holy if they be exercised about spirituall things David desires not to be great to be rich in the world or to have power to be revenged upon his enemies but that hee may dwell in the House of the Lord and enjoy his Ordinances Psal. 27. 4. Desires shew the frame of the soule more than any thing as where there is a Spring it discovers it selfe by vapours that arise so the breathing of these desires shew that there is a Spring of Grace in the heart Desires spring from the will and the will being as the whole man it moves all other powers to doe their dutie and to see for the accomplishing of that it desires Those therefore that pretend they have good desires and yet neglect all meanes and live scandalously this is but a sluggish desire An Hypocrite will not pray alwayes but a child of God never gives over because hee sees an excellencie a necessitie and a possibilitie of obtaining that hee desires hee hath a promise for it The Lord will fulfill the desires of them that feare him Psal. 145. 19. Prayer doth exercise all the graces of the Spirit wee cannot pray but our faith is exercised our love our patience which makes us set a high price upon that wee seeke after and to use it well God takes it unkindly if we weepe too much and over-grieve for losse of wife child or friend or for any crosse in the things of this life for it is a signe wee fetch not that comfort from him which we should and may doe Nay though our weeping be for our sinnes we must keepe a moderation in that wee must with one eye looke upon our sinnes and with the other eye looke upon Gods mercy in Christ and therefore if the best griefe must be moderated what must the other The religious affections of Gods people are mixed for they mingle their joy with weeping and their weeping with joy whereas a carnall man is all simple if hee joy hee is mad if hee be sorrowfull unlesse it be restrained it sinks him but grace alwayes tempers the joy and sorrow of a Christian because hee hath alwayes something to joy in and something to grieve for Wee are members of two worlds now whilest wee live here wee must use this world for how many things doth this poore life of ours neede wee are passing away and in this passage of ours we must have necessaries but yet we must use the world as if wee used it not for there is a danger least our affections cleave to the things of this life It is a poorenesse of spirit in a Christian to be over-joyfull or over-grieved for things worse than our selves if a man hath any Grace all the world is inferiour to him and therefore what a poorenesse of spirit is it to be over-joyfull or overmuch grieved when all things are fading vanish away Let us therefore beare continually in our mindes that all things here below are subordinate A sincere heart that is burdened with sinne desires not heaven so much as the place where he shall be free from sinne and to have the Image of God and Christ perfected in his soule and therefore a sincere spirit comes to heare the Word not so much because an eloquent man preacheth as to heare divine truths because the evidence of Spirit goes with it to worke those graces You cannot still a child with any thing but the Breast so you cannot still the desires of a Christian but with divine Truths as Esay 26. 8. The desires of our soules is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee There is a thousand things that may hinder good successe in our affaires What man can apply all things to a fit issue and remove all things that may hinder Who can observe Persons Times Places Advantages and Disadvantages and when wee see these things there is naturally a passion that it robbes us of our knowledge as when a man sees any danger there is such a feare or anger that hee is in a mist. So that unlesse God give a particular successe there is none As it is in the frame of a mans body it stands upon many joynts if any of these be out of
thou whosoever thou art if thou beest a man or a woman and wilt come and take Christ upon his owne termes for thy Lord and Husband for better for worse with persecutions afflictions crosses c. Take Christ thus and take him for ever and then thou shalt be saved When wee beleeve divine truths by the Spirit they worke upon the heart and draw the affections after them therefore if wee spiritually beleeve the story of the Gospell wee shall have our soules carried to love and imbrance it with joy and comfort Wee may be brought very low but we shall not be confounded yet wee shall be brought as neare confusion as may be to shew us the vanity of the creature in the judgement of the world wee may be confounded but a hand of mercy shall fetch us up againe let the depth of misery and disconsolation be what it will be we shall not be ashamed The reason why Gods children doe oftentimes with great perplexitie doubt of their salvation is because they have a principle of nature in them as well as of grace corruption will breed doubtings as rotten wood breedes Wormes and as Vermine comes out of putrefaction so doubtings and feares come from the remainder of corruption For want of watchfulnesse God oftentimes gives us up to such a perplexed estate that wee shall not know that we are in Grace and though wee may have a principle of Grace in us yet wee shall not see it but may goe out of the world in darkenesse Wee ought not at any time to deny the Truth nor yet at all times to confesse it for good actions and graces are like Princes that come forth attended with Circumstances and if Circumstances in Confession be wanting the action is marred It s true of actions as of words A word spoken in season is like Apples of gold with pictures of silver therefore direction must be our guide for speech is then onely good when it is better than silence It is not lawfull for any weake one to be present at the Masse Dinah ventured abroad and came crackt home its just with God that those that dally with these things should be caught as many idle Travellers are its pittie but those should perish in danger that love danger Hee that will not now denie himselfe in a lust in a lawlesse desire will not deny himselfe in matter of life in time of triall Hee that hath not learned the mortification of the flesh in time of peace will hardly be brought to it in time of trouble Wee must not onely stand for the truth but we must stand for it in a holy manner and not swagger for it as proud persons doe we must observe that in the first of Peter 2. 15. to doe it in meekenesse and feare wee must not bring passion to Gods cause nor must our lives give our tongues the lie There is such a distance betweene corrupt nature and grace that wee must have a great deale of preparation and though there be nothing in preparation to bring the soule to have Grace yet it brings the soule to a nearer distance than those that are wilde persons Nature cannot worke above its owne powers as vapours cannot ascend higher than the Sunne drawes them our hearts are naturally shut and God doth open them by his Spirit in the use of the meanes The children of Israel in the Wildernesse saw wonders upon wonders and yet when they came to be proved they could not beleeve Its Gods free love that hath cast us into these happy times of the Gospell and it s his further love that makes choise of some and refuses others This should therefore teach us sound humility cōfidering that God must open ro else we are eternally shut Seeing Grace is not of our owne getting therefore this should teach us patience towards those that are under us waiting if God at any time will give them repentance though God worke not the first time nor the second time yet wee must waite as the man that lay at the poole of Bethesda for the moving of the water Hee that attends to the Word of God doth not onely know the words which are but the shell but he knowes the things he hath spirituall light to know what Faith and Repentance is there is at that time a spirituall Eccho in the soule as Psal. 27. 8. When thou saidst seeke yee my face my heart answered thy face Lord will I seeke and therefore must men judge of their profiting by the Word not by their carrying of it in their memories but by how much they are made able by it to beare a crosse and how they are made able to resist temptation c. There should not be intimate familiaritie but where we judge men faithfull and those whom upon good grounds we judge faithfull we must be gentle towards them and easie to be intreated and wee wrong them if wee show our selves strange unto them True faith workes love and then it workes by love when it hath wrought that holy affection it works by it as when the Plant is ingrafted and takes it growes presently and shewes the growth in the fruits The Word of God is ancienter than the Scripture for the first word of the Scripture was the Promise The seede of the Woman should breake the head of the Serpent The Scripture is but that Modus that manner of conveying the Word of God this Scripture is the Rule whereby wee must walke and the Iudge also of all controversies of Religion and in spite of the Church of Rome it will judge them S. Augustine hath an excellent Discourse When there is contention betwixt brethren witnesses are brought but in the end the Words the Will of the dead man is brought forth and these Words determine Now shall the words of a dead man be of force and shall not the Word of Christ determine therefore looke to the Scripture All Idolaters shall be ashamed that worship Images that trust to broken Cesternes Let those be ashamed that trust to their wits and policies all those shall be ashamed that beare themselves bigge upon any earthly thing for these crutches will be taken away and then they fall these false reports shall make them all ashamed The way to bring faith into the heart is first there must be a judicious convincing knowledge of the vanitie of all things within us and without us that seemes to yeeld any support to the soule and then the soule is carried to lay hold on Christ as David saith I have seene an end of all perfection Secondly the soule must be convinced of an excellencie in Religion above all things in the world or else it will not rest for the heart of man would chuse the best and when it is perswaded that the gaine in Religion is above the world then it yeelds And thirdly a consideration of the firmenesse of the ground whereupon the Promise is built put God to it therefore either to make his
Promise good or to disappoint us and he will be sure to make it good in our forgivenesse of sinne proceeding in Grace and strength against temptations in time of trouble Man is naturally of a short spirit so that if hee have not what hee would and when he would hee gives up and shakes off all there is not a greater difference betweene a child of God and one that wants faith then to be hastie such men though they may be civill yet they are of this minde they will labour to be sure of some thing here they must have present pleasures and present profits if God will save them in that way so if not they will put it to a venture There be many things to hinder this Grace of waiting there is a great deale oftedious time and many crosses wee meete with as the scorne and reproach of this world and many other trialls God seemes also to doe nothing lesse than to performe his promise but le ts comfort our selves with this that hee waites to doe them good that waite on him Wee should labour to agree mutually in love for that wherein any Christian differs from another it is but in petty things grace knowes no differeÌ„ce the Wormes know no difference the day of judgement knowes no difference In the worst things wee are all alike base and in the best things wee are all alike happy onely in this world God will have distinctions for order sake but else there is no difference Christians are like to many men of great meanes that know not how to make use of them we live not like our selves bring large Faith and wee shall have large Grace and comfort wee are scanted in our owne bowells therefore labour to have a large Faith answerable to our largeâ— Riches And though Christians be low enough in outward things and often times poorer than other men yet they are rich for Christ is rich unto them in their crosses and abasements that which they want in this world shall be made up in grace and glory hereafter Wee ought daily to imitate Christ in our places to be good to all as the Apostle saith be abundant alwayes in the workes of the Lord le ts labour to have large hearts that we may doe it seasonably and abundantly and unweariably the love of Christ will breede in us the same impression that was in him None come to God without Christ none come to Christ without Faith none come to Faith without the meanes none enjoy the meanes but where God hath sent it therefore where there was no meanes of salvation before the comming of Christ there was no visible intendment of God ordinarily to save them Preventing mercy is the greatest how many favours doth God prevent us with Wee never asked for our being nor for that tender love which our Parents bore towards us in our tender yeares we never asked for our Baptisme and ingrafting into Christ What a motive therefore is that to stirre us up that when we come to yeares wee may pleade with the Lord and say Thou hadst a care of mee before I had a being and therefore much more wilt thou now have a care of mee whom thou hast reconciled unto thy selfe and remember me in mercie for time to come If Gods mercy might be overcome with our sinnes wee should overcome it every day it must be a rich mercy that must satisfie and therefore the Apostle never speakes of it without the extensions of love the height and depth wee want words we want thoughts to conceive of it wee should therefore labour to frame our soules to have rich and large conceits and apprehensions of so large mercie God is rich in mercy not onely to our soules but in providing all wee stand in neede of Hee keepes us from ill and so hee is called a Buckler He gives us all good things and so he is called a Sunne Hee keepes us in good estate and advanceth us higher so farre as our nature shall be capable The Sunne shines on the Moone and Starres and they shine upon the earth so doth God shine in goodnesse upon us that we might shine in our extentions of goodnesse unto others especially unto them of the houshold of Faith Wee are stiled in Scripture to be good and righteous because our understandings our wills and affections are our owne but so farre as they are holy they are the holy Ghosts we are the principle in our actions as they are actions but the holy Ghost is principle of the holinesse of the action the gracious governement of the new creature is from the Spirit if the holy Ghost take away his Governement and doe not guide and assist us in every holy action wee are at a stand and can goe no further Every man naturally is a God unto himselfe not onely in reflecting all upon himselfe but in setting upon divine things in his owne strength as if hee were principall in his owne actions comming to them in the strength of his owne wit and in the strength of his owne reason this seed is in all men by nature untill God have turned a man out of himselfe by the power of the holy Ghost Those that care not for the Word they are strangers from the Spirit and those that care not for the Spirit never make right use of the word the word is nothing without the Spirit it is animated and quickned by the Spirit the Spirit and the Word are like the veines and arteries in the body that give quickning and life to the whole body and therefore where the Word is most revealed there is most Spirit but where Christ is not opened in the Gospell there the Spirit is not at all visible When Christ comes into the soule by the Spirit then hee carrieâ— himselfe famiâ—iarly discovering the secrets of God the Father and shewing what love there is in God towards us it teacheth us how to carry our selves in all neglects and when we are at a losse it opens a way for us it resolves our doubts it comforts us in our discouragements and makes us goe boldly to God in all our wants As wee may know who dwells in a house by observing who goes in and them that come out so we may know that the Spirit dwells in us by observing what sanctified speeches hee sends forth and what delight hee hath wrought in us to things that are speciall and what price wee set upon them whereas a carnall man pulls downe the price of spirituall things because his soule cleaves to some thing that hee joyes in more and this is the cause why hee slights the directions and comforts of the Word but those in whom the Spirit dwells they will consult with it and not regard what flesh and blood saith but will follow the directions of the Word and Spirit A Christian will not doe common things but first hee sanctifies them and dedicates himselfe his person and his actions to God and so sees
hee is the best discerner of the fittest time when to give us comfort When God meanes to bestow any blessing on his Church or children hee will power upon them the Spirit of Prayer and as all pray for every one so every one prayes for all this is a great comfort to weake Christians when they cannot pray the prayers of others shall prevaile for them A fooles eye is in every corner and fooles afflictions are scattered The onely object of the soule Is that one thing needfull and this will fill all the corners of it when a man hath sucked out the pleasure of worldly contentments they are then but dead things but grace is ever fresh alwaies yeelds fresh and full satisfaction Desires are the spirituall pulse of the soule alwayes beating to and fro and shewing the temper of it they are therefore the Characters of a Christian and shew more truly what he is than his actions doe In the Arke there was Manna which was a Type of our Sacraments and the Testament which was a Type of the Word preached and the rod of Aaron was a Type of governement wheresoever therefore there is spirituall Manna and the Word preached and the rod of Aaron in the governement there is a true Church though there bee manie personall corruptions The bitterest things in Religion are sweete there is a sweetnesse in reproofes when God meetes with our corruptions and whispers to us that those and those things are dangerous and that if we cherish them they will bring us to hell the Word of God is sweete to a Christian that hath his heart touched Is not Pardon sweete to a condemned man and riches sweete to a poore man and favour sweete to a man in disgrace and liberty sweete to a man in captivitie so all that comes from God is sweete to a Christian that hath his heart touched with the sense of sinne It is not happinesse to see but sight with enjoyment and interest there are but two powers of the soule Vnderstanding and Will when both these have their perfection that is happinesse when the Vnderstanding sees and the Will drawes the Affections so there are these things concurre to make up our everlasting happinesse the excellencie of the thing with the sight of it and interest in it Wee see by experience that there is a succession of love Hee that loves for beauty will despise when hee sees a better so it is in the soule betweene heavenly and earthly things when the soule sees more excellencie and more fruitfulnesse in heavenly things then the love of earthly things falls downe in his heart as Saint Paul saith Phil. 3. I account all things arosse and dung in comparison of Christ. In prayer wee tempt God if wee aske that which we labour not for our endeavor must second our devotion for to aske maintenance and not put our hands to the work it is as to knocke at the doore and yet pull the doore unto us that it open not in this case if wee pray for Grace and neglect the Spring from whence it comes how can we speed It was a rule in the ancient time Lay thy hand on the Plough and then pray No man should pray without ploughing nor plough without praying Wisedome is gotten by experience in varietie of estates hee that is carried on in one condition hee hath no wisedome to judge of anothers estate or how to carry himselfe to a Christian in another condition because he was never abased himselfe hee lookes very bigge at him And therefore that wee may carry our selves as Christians meekely lovingly and tenderly to others God will have us goe to heaven in variety not in one uniforme condition in regard of outward things There is no condition but a Christian picks good matter out of it as a good Arts-man sometimes will make a good peece of worke of an ill peece of matter to shew his skill a gracious man is not dejected over-much with abasement nor lifted up over-much with abundance but hee carries himselfe in an uniforme manner becomming a Christian in all conditions where as those that have not beene brought up in Christs Schoole nor trained up in variety of conditions they learne to doe nothing if they abound they are proud if they be cast downe they murmure and fret and are dejected as if there were no providence to rule the world There is a venome and a vanitie in every thing without Grace wherewith we are tainted but when Grace comes it takes out the sting of all ill and then it finds a good in the worst Christianity is a busie trade if wee looke up to God what a world of things are required in a Christian to carry himselfe as hee should doe a spirit of faith a spirit of love a spirit of joy and delight in him above all and if wee looke to men there are duties for a Christian to his Superiors a spirit of subjection to Equalls he must carry a spirit of love and to Inferiors a spirit of pitty and bounty if wee looke to Satan we have a commandement to resist him and to watch against the Tempter if we looke to the World it is full of snares there must be a great deale of spirituall watchfulnesse that wee be not surprised if wee looke to our selves there are required many duties to carrie our vessells in honour and to walke within the compasse of the holy Ghost to preserve the peace of our consciences to walke answerable to our worth as being the sonnes of God and coheires with Christ hee must dispense with himselfe in no sinne hee must be a vessell prepared for every good worke he must baulke in no service that God calls him unto and therefore the life of a Christian is a busie trade Sincerity is the perfecti on of Christians Let not Satan therefore abuse us we do all things when we endevour to do all things purpose to do all things are grieved whē we cannot do better than in some measure we doe all things A Christian is able to doe great matters but it is in Christ that strengthens him the Vnderstanding is ours the Affections are ours the will is ours but the sanctifying of these and the carrying of these supernaturally to doe them spiritually that is not ours but it is Christs We have not onely the life of Grace from Christ at the first and then a spirituall power answerable to that againe whereby our powers are renewed so as wee are able to doe something in our will but we have the Deed it selfe the doing is from Christ hee strengtheneth us for the performance of all good God preserves his owne Worke by his Spirit first he moves ' us to doe and then hee preserves us in doing and armes us against the impediments Though Christ be a Head of influence that flowes into every member yet he is a voluntary Head according to his owne good pleasure and the exigents of his members sometimes we
that rather than wee should be condemned with the world hee will take this course with us Though our salvation be sure and that wee shall not be condemned with the world yet the knowledge of this doth not make us secure for though God doth not damne us with the world yet hee will sharpely correct us here and by a carefull sober life we might obtaine many blessings and prevent many judgements and make our pilgrimage more comfortable therefore it argues neither grace nor wit that because God will save mee therefore I will take libertie no though God will save thee yet he will take such a course with thee thou shalt indure such sharpenesse for thy sinne that it shall be more bitter than the sweetest of it was pleasant Gracious persons in times of peace and quiet doe often underprize themselves and the graces of God in them thinking that they want faith patience and love who yet when God calleth them out to the crosse shine forth in the eyes of others in the example of a meeke and quiet subjection God oftentimes maketh wicked men friends to his children without changing their disposition by putting into their hearts some conceit for the time which inclineth them to favour as Nehemiah 2. 8. God put it into the Kings heart to favour his people so Gen. 33. 4. Esau was not changed onely God for the time changed his affe ctions to favour Iacob so God puts into the hearts of many groundedly naught to favour the best persons Vsually in what measure we in the times of our peace and liberty inordinately let loose our affections in that measure are we cast downe or more deepely in discomfort when our adulterous hearts cleaves to things more than become chaste hearts it makes the crosse more sharpe and extreame A man indeede is never overcome let him be never so vexed in the world by any till his conscience be crackt If his conscience and his cause stand upright he doth conquer and is more than a conquerer Partiall obedience is no obedience at all to single out casie things that doe not oppose our lusts which are not against our reputation therein some will doe more than they neede but our obedience must be universall to all Gods Commandements and that because he commands us In every evill worke that we are tempted unto wee neede delivering grace as to every good worke assisting grace That Christian who is privie to his owne soule of good intentions to abstaine from all ill hee may presume that God will assist him against all ill workes for the time to come Wee should watch and labour daily to continue in prayer strengthening and backing them with arguments from the Word and Promises and marking how our prayers speede when wee shoote an Arrow wee looke to the fall of it when wee send a shippe to sea wee looke for the returne of it and when wee sow seede wee looke for a harvest and so when we sow our prayers into Gods bosome shall wee not looke for an answer and observe how we speed it is a seede of Atheisme to pray and not to looke how we speed but a sincere Christian will pray and waite and strengthen his heart with promises out of the Word and never leave till God doe give him a gracious answer Take a Christian and whatsoever hee doth hee doth it in feare if hee call God Father it is in feare hee eates and drinkes in feare as Saint Iudc speakes of them that eate without feare the true servant of God hath feare accompanying him in all his actions in his speeches and recreations in his meate and drinke but hee that hath not this feare how bold is he in wicked courses and loose in all his carriages But marke a true Christian and you shall alwayes see in him some expressions of an holy feare The relation of servant is of great consequence to put us in minde of our dutie if wee will be Gods Servants wee must make it good by obedience wee must resolve to come under his governement and be at his command or else hee will say to us as to them in the 10. of Iudges Goe to the gods whom you have served Therefore emptie relations are nothing to purpose if wee professe our selves Gods servants and not shew it by our obedience it s but an emptie title therefore let us make our relations good at least in our affections that wee may be able to say I desire to feare thy name In reading of the Scriptures let us compare Experiments with Rules Nehemiah 1. 8 9. If you sin you shall be scattered and if you returne againe I will be mercifull wee should practise this in our lives to see how God hath made good his threatnings in our corrections and his Promises in our comforts Those that have had a sweete communion with God when they have lost it doe count every day tenne thousand till they have recovered it againe and when Christ leaves his Spouse he forsakes her not altogether but leaves something on the heart that maketh her to long after him He absents himselfe that hee may enlarge the desires of the soule and after the soule hath him againe it will not let him goe hee comes for our good and leaves us for our good wee should therefore judge rightly of our estates and not thinke wee are forsaken of God when we are in a desertion When men can finde no comfort yet when they set themselves to teach weaker Christians by way of reflection they receive comfort themselves so doth God reward the conscionable performance of this dutie of discourse that those things wee did not so sweetly understand before by discourse wee understand them better this should teach us to be in love with holy conference for besides the good wee doe to others we are much bettered our selves We may use Gods creatures but not scrupulously nor superstitiously singling out one creature from another nor yet may wee use them as wee list there is a difference betweene right and the use of right the Magistrate may restraine the use of our right and so may our weake brother in case of scandall so that all things be ours yet in the use of them wee must be sober not eating nor drinking immoderately nor using any thing uncharitably whereby others may take offence for albeit wee have a right to Gods bountie yet our right and use must be sanctified by the Word and Prayer Many men fall to questioning Oh that I had assurance of my salvation Oh that I were the childe of God why man fall to obedience I but I cannot for it is the Spirit that enables but yet come to holy Exercises though wee have not the Spirit for many times in the middest of holy Exercises God gives the Spirit and therefore attend upon the meanes untill wee have strength to obey waite upon Gods Ordinances till hee stirres in thy soule all that love your soules attend upon the meanes
Opinion Example and Reason In the exercise of our callings when wee thinke wee shall doe no good but all things seeme contrary yet Faith faith God hath set me here I will cast in my net at thy Commande ment Let us looke upon God and see what hee commands and then cast our selves upon him A Christian hath sense experience of Goes love together with his faith it is not a naked faith without any rellish but that sense and experience wee have here is given to strengthen faith for time to come and therefore when wee have any sweete feelings we must not rest in them but remember that they are given to incourage us in our way and to looke for fulnesse in another world There is a double Act of Faith First the direct act whereby I cast my selfe upon Christ and there is a reflect Act whereby I know that I am in an estate of Grace by the fruits of the Spirit it is by the first act that wee are saved feelings are oftentimes divided from the first act for God may enable a man to cast himselfe upon Christ and yet for some ends he shall not know it because hee will humble him God gives the reflect act which is assured hope as a reward of exact walking but wee must trust to that closing act of Faith as to that which saveth us wee ought to live by this direct act of Faith till wee come to heaven but adde this that there is no man walkes by Faith that wants comfort God oftentimes deferres to helpe his children untill they be in extremity till they be at their wits end because he will have them live by Faith and not by sight as good Iehosaphat Wee know not what to doe but our eyes are towards thee So Saint Paul received the sentence of death in himselfe that he might trust in the living God This is the cause of Divine desertions why God leaves his children in desperate plunges seeming to be an enemy to them because hee will have us live by Faith and when wee live by it then hee rewards it Howsoever things are in fight yet wee should give God the honour to trust to his Promises though his dealings towards us seeme to be as to Reprobates yet let us beleeve his Word he cannot deny it say Lord remember thy Promise to thy servant wherein thou hast cause me to trust Therefore wrestle with God for thereby hee doth convey secret strength to his children that they may be able to overcome him The reason why many men at the houre of death are full of feares and doubts and their hearts are full of misgivings is because in their life time they have not beene exercised in living by Faith Confidence doth then arise from Faith when troubles makes it the stronger therefore it is a true evidence when confidence increaseth with opposition great troubles breeding great confidence Againe it s a signe a mans confidence is well bred when a man can carry himselfe equall in all conditions when he hath learned to want and to abound he needes a strong braine that drinkes much strong water now when a man hath an even Spirit to be content in all conditions it argues a well grounded confidence None can be truely confident but Gods children other mens confidence is like a mad mans strength he may have the strength of two or three for a time but it is a false strength and it is when they are lifted up upon the wings of ambition and favour of men but these men in the time of triall sinke The hope of the Hypocrite shall perish Wicked men depart out of this world like malefactors that are unwilling to goe out of prison but Gods children when they die they die in obedience Lord now let thy servant depart in peace according to thy Word To be in the body is a good condition because we live by Faith but it is better to be with the Lord because then wee shall live by sight An Ambitious man is an undermider of others and if any stand in his way he will make way through blood he will tread upon his friends to get to honour so a soule that is graciously ambitious considers what stands in his way he hates Father and Mother nay his owne life he pulls out his right eye he cuts off his right hand he offers violence to every thing that stands betwixt him and his God Wee should study the Scriptures that wee may finde what is acceptable to God and Christ. Now that which most pleaseth God is holinesse so doth Grace and Mercy therefore wee should study to be holy and gracious and mercifull This is the Will of God saith the Apostle 1 Thes. 4. even your sanctification that is to be holy as God is holy Those that will be acceptable to God must be good in private in their Closet because sinceritie supposeth that God sees all they must be humbled for the rising of sinne because these things are seene of Christ with griefe and hatred If in our Recreations or other lawfull things wee be so religious as wee should wee will then have Christ in our eye and see how this may further mee in his Service or how this may hinder me for the most glorious Actions of Religion are no service at all if not done in faith and with respect to Christ. Let no man be discou raged in the doing of good actions though otherwise they may be bad men having no interest in Christ for so farre as any outward action is outwardly good it shall be rewarded The Scribes and Pharisees had the promise of men for their reward the Romanes were straight in their civill governement and God so blessed them for it that their Common-wealth flourished for many hundred yeares Let the people be what they will if civill they shall have their reward sutable to that good they doe as for heaven and happinesse in another world they care not for it yet every man shall have his penny It is a great art in Faith to apprehend Christ suteable to our present condition as when we are fallen into sinne thinke of the terrours of the Law but when we are broken hearted then present him as a sweete saviour inviting all to come unto him and thus neither shall Christ be dishonoured nor our soules wronged It is much to be desired that there were that love in all men to teach what they know and that humility in others to be instructed in what they know not God humbles great persons to learne of meaner and it s our dutie to imbrace the truth whosoever brings it and oftentimes meane persons are instruments of comfort to greater than themselves as Aquiia and Prisilla instructed Apollo Acts 18. ver 26. He that seekes us before wee sought him will he refuse us when wee seeke after him Let no man therefore despaire or be discouraged if there be in thee the height and depth and length and bredth of sinne
there is also much more the height and depth and length and bredth of mercy in God and though we have played the Harlot with many lovers yet returne againe Ier. 3. 1. For his thoughts are not as ours and his mercies are the mercies of a reconciled God When wee are under a cloud of temptations let us take heede of opposing our comforts for it wrongs Christs intention who would not have us at any time to be uncomfortable and besides whil'st wee are in such a condition wee are unfit to glorifie God for feare doth binde up the soule and makes it in a palsie temper wee are not fit to doe any thing as we ought without some love and some joy and though we be at present under a cloud yet the Sunne is alwayes the same wee may therefore for a time want the light of his gracious countenance but never his sweete influence Most men if they could they would alwayes live here but whosoever is partaker of Christs Resurrection his minde doth presently ascend and here we are alwayes inlarging our desires because wee are under a state of imperfection Many men that make a profession are like Kytes which ascend high but looke low but those that looke high as they ascend high are risen with Christ for a Christian being once in the estate of Grace hee forgets what is behinde and lookes upon ascending higher and higher till hee be in his place of happinesse and as at Christs rising there was an earth-quake so such as are risen with him doe finde a commotion and division betweene the flesh and the spirit Christ hath an especiall care of his children when by reason of the guilt of sinne they have most cause to be disconsolate and therefore where the heart of any man is upright towards God it is not to be expressed what indulgence there is in him towards such a poore sinner for though Peter had denied him yet in Marke 16. 7. Goe tell his Disciples and tell Peter so that Christ tooke great care to secure him of his love though he had most shamefully denied him God hath not in vaine taken upon him the name of a Father and hee fills it up to the full It is a name of Indulgence a name of Hope a name of Provision a name of Protection it argues the mitigation of punishment a little is enough from a Father therefore in all temptations it should teach us by prayer to flie under the wings of our heavenly Father and to expect from him all that a father should doe for his child as Provision Protection Indulgence yea and seasonable corrections also which are as necessary for us as our daily bread and when we die we may expect our inheritance because hee is our Father but yet wee must understand also that the name of a Father is a word of Relation something also he expects from us we must therefore reverence him as a Father which consists in feare and love He is a great God and therefore we ought to feare him he is also mercifull yea hath bowells of mercy and therefore wee ought to love him if wee tremble at him wee know not that hee is loving and if wee be over bold wee forget that hee is a great God therefore we should goe boldly to him with reverence and godly feare Those that are at peace in their owne consciences will be peaceable towards others A busie contentious quarrelous disposition argues it never felt peace from God and though many men thinke it commendable to cēsure the infirmities of others yet it argues their owne weakenes for it is a signe of strength where wee see in men any good to beare with their weaknesses who wasmore indulgent than Christ hee bore with the infirmities of his Disciples from time to time therefore we should labour to carry our selves lovingly towards them that are weake and know that nothing should raise us so high in our esteeme above others so as to forget them to be brethren in as much as those infirmities we see in them shall be buried with them Many men will make much of eminent persons and men of excellent parts but there may be a great deale of hypocrisie in that and therefore the truth of our love is tried in this if wee beare a sincere affection to all the Saints Eph. 6. 18. Wee must take heede of comming to God in our owne persons or worthinesse but in all things looke at God in Christ if we looke at God as a Father wee must see him Christs Father first if wee see our selves acquitted from our sinnes let us looke at Christ risen first if we thinke of glorification in heaven let us see Christ glorified first and when wee consider of any spirituall blessing consider of it in Christ first all the Promises are made to Christ he takes them first from God the Father and derives them to us by his Spirit the first fulnesse is in God and then he empties himselfe into Christ And of his fulnesse wee all receive grace c. God is said to be our God or to be a God unto us when as he applies for the good of his creature that all-sufficiencie that is in himselfe God is our God by covenant because hee hath made over himselfe unto us every beleeving Christian hath the title passed over to him so that God is his portion and his inheritance There is more comfort in this that God is our God than the heart of man can conceive it s larger than his heart and therefore though we cannot say that riches or honours or friends c. are ours yet if we be able to say by the Spirit of Faith that God is ours then wee have all in him his wisedome is ours to finde out a way to doe us good if wee be in danger his power is ours to bring us out if under the guilt of sinne his mercie is ours to forgive us if any want his all-sufficiencie is ours to supply or to make it good if God be ours then whatsoever God can doe is ours and whatsoever God hath is ours God is the God and Father of all the Elect and hee is also a God and a Father unto every one of the Elect God is every Saints Solidum even as the Sunne is wholly every mans so is God he cares for all as one and for every one as if he had but one There is not onely a mystery but a depth in the mystery as of Election and Reprobation so of Providence there is no reason can be given why some of Gods children are in quiet and others are vexed why one should be poore and another rich In Psal. 97. 2. Clouds and darkenesse are round about him you cannot see him hee is hid in a cloud I but Righteousnesse and Iudgement are the foundation of his Throne howsoever he wrappe himselfe in a thicke cloud that none can see him yet hee is just and righteous therefore when any thing befalls
the greatest wisedome and sobrietie Iohn the Baptist was accused to have a devill and Christ to be besides himselfe and the Apostles to be full of new wine and Paul to be madde and the reason of this is because as Religion is a mysticall and spirituall thing so the Tenents of it seeme Paradoxes to carnall men as first that a Christian is the onely Free-man and other men are slaves that hee is the onely Rich-man though never so meane in the world that he is the onely Beautifull man though outwardly never so deformed that hee is the onely happy man in the middest of all his miseries Now these things though never so true in themselves seeme strange to naturall men and then again when they see men earnest against sinne or making conscience of sinne they wonder at this commotion for trifles as if we made Tragadies of toyes but these men goe on in a course of their owne and make that the measure of all those that are below them are prophane and those that are above them are indiscreete by fancies and affections they create excellencies and then cry downe spirituall things as folly they have principles of their owne to love themselves and to love others onely for themselves and to hold on the strongest side and by no meanes to expose a mans selfe to danger But now when men beginne to be religious they deny all their owne aimes and that makes their course seeme madnesse to the world and therefore they labour to breed an ill conceit of them as if they were mad men and fooles Gods children are neither mad men nor fooles as they are accounted it is but a scandall cast upon them by the mad men of the world They are the onely wise men if it be well considered for first they make the highest end their aime which is to be a Childe of God here and a Saint hereafter in heaven secondly they aime to be found wise men at their death and therefore are alwayes making their accounts ready thirdly they labour to live answerable to their rules they observe the rule of the Word to bee governed according to the same fourthly they improve all advantages to advance their end they labour to grow better by blessings and crosses and to make a sanctified use of every thing fiftly they swimme against the streame of the times and though they eate and drinke and sleepe as others doe yet like the Starres they have a secret course and carriage of their owne which the world cannot discerne and therefore a man must be changed and set in a higher ranke before he can have a sanctified judgement of the wayes of God Those that lay the imputation of folly and madnesse on Gods children will be found to be fooles and madde men themselves Is not he a foole that cannot make a right choice of things and how doe carnall men make their choice when they imbrace perishing things for the best secondly a carnall man hath not parts to apprehend spirituall things aright hee cannot see things invisible thirdly in his heart he accounts it a vaine thing to serve the Lord fourthly he judges his enemies to be his best friends and his best friends to be his worst enemies fiftly the principles of all his actions are rotten because they are not directed to the right object therfore all his affections are madde as his joy his love his delight his love is but lust his anger vexation for his confidence hee calls Gods love into question but if a false suggestion comes from the devill that hee imbraces and therefore is hee not now a mad man And this is the condition of all naturall men in the world True freedome is when the heart is inlarged and made subordinate to God in Christ. A man is then in a sweete frame of soule when his heart is made subject to God for he being larger than the soule sets it at libertie God will have us make his glory our aime that hee may bestow himselfe upon us When the love of Christ is manifested to mee and my love againe to Christ is wrought by the Spirit this causes an admiration to the soule when it considers what wonderfull love is in Christ and the Spirit shall witnesse that this love of Christ is set upon me from hence it begins to admire Lord where fore wilt thou shew thy selfe to us and not to the world what is the reason thou lovest mee and not others when the soule hath beene with God in the Mount and when it is turned from earthly things then it sees nothing but love and mercie and this constraines us to doe all things out of love to God and men When Ioshua cursed the man that should build the walles of Iericho hee was not in commotion and fury but in a peaceabletemper So that when cursing comes from such a one he is a declaratory instrumēt and the conveigher of Gods curse Therefore every man must not take upon him to curse for men oftentimes curse where they should blesse which is an arrow shot upright that falls downe upon his owne head but those that come in the name of the Lord and are qualified for that purpose their cursings or blessings are to be esteemed for they are a meanes oftentimes to conveigh Gods blessings or his cursings upon us It is over-curious to exact the first beginnings of Grace because it falls by degrees like the dew undiscernably and further there is a great deale of wisedome as well as power in the working of Grace God offers no violence to the soule but workes sweetely yet strongly and strongly yet sweetely he goes so farre with our nature that wee shall freely delight in Grace so that now he sees great reason why hee should alter his course God doth not overthrow Nature the streame is but changed the man is the same Where the soule desires the forgivenesse of sinne and not Grace to lead a new life that desire is hypocriticall for a true Christian desires power against sinne as well as pardon for it if we have not sanctifying Grace wee have not pardoning Grace Christ came as well by water to Regenerate as by blood to Iustifie It should therefore be our continuall care and indeavour to grow and increase in Grace because without it wee shall never come to heaven without this endeavour our sacrifices are not accepted without this wee cannot withstand our enemies or beare any crosse withou◠it we cannot goe on comfortably in our course without this wee cannot doe any thing acceptable and pleasing to God God will be as the dew unto Israel and hee shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth his rootes as Lebanon Hos. 14. 5. These are not words wastfully spent for wee have great need of such promises especially in a distressed estate for then our spirits are apt to sinke and our hearts to faint and therefore wee have neede to have the same comforts often repeated Prophane hearts thinke
will doe nothing without great ends and the more wise the greater are their ends shall wee attribute this to men and not to the wisecome of God Christ would never have appeared in our nature and suffered death but for some great end shall we thinke that this Mystery of Gods taking flesh upon him was for a slight purpose Now the end of his comming was to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. He came to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3. 18 But he that will save us must first bring us out of Sathans bondage therefore Christ came to destroy the workes of the devill 1 Ioh. 3. 8. It must needes follow therefore that the salvation of our soules is of great consequence seeing for this onely end Christ tooke our nature upon him and suffered for us Christ came to destroy the workes of the devill in us but yet hee makes us Kings under him to fight his battels and as by his Spirit in us hee destroyes the workes of the devill so he doth it in the exercise of all the powers and parts of soule and body and by exercising the Graces of his Spirit in us Hee hath made us Kings and Priests not that wee should doe nothing but that wee should fight and in fighting overcome The chiefest grace that God doth exercise in overcomming our corruptions is faith we fell by Infidelitie and Disobedience now Christ comes and displants Infidelity and instead thereof hee plants Faith which unites us to him and then by a divine skill it drawes a particular strength from Christ to fight his battells against corruption Temptations at first are like Elias cloud no bigger than a mans hand but if we give way to them they overspread the whole soule Sathan nestles himselfe when wee dwell upon the thoughts of sinne we cannot withstand suddaine risings but by grace we may keepe them that they doe not abide there long let us therefore labour as much as wee can to be in good companie and good courses for as the holy Ghost workes by these advantages so we should wisely observe them It s hard to discerne the working of Sathan from our owne corruptions because for the most part hee goes secretly along with them he is like a Pirat at sea hee sets upon us with our owne Colours hee comes as a friend and therefore it is hard to discerne but it s partly seene by the eagernesse of our lusts when they are suddaine strong and strange so strange sometimes that even nature it selfe abhorres them the Spirit of God leads sweetly but the devill hurries a man like a Tempest that hee will heare no reason as we see in Ammon for his sister Tamar Againe when we shake off motions of Gods Spirit and mislike his Government and give way to passion then the devill enters Let a man be unadvisedly angry and the devill will make him envious and seeke revenge when passions are let loose they are Chariots in which the devill rides some by nature are prone to distrust and some to be too confident now the devill hee joynes with them and so drawes them on further hee broods upon our corruptions hee lies as it were upon the soules of men and there broods and hatches all sinne whatsoever All the devills in hell cannot force us to sinne he workes by suggestions stirring up humors and fancies but hee cannot worke upon the will wee betray our selves by yeelding before hee can doe us any harme yet hee ripens sinne There are some sinnes that 's let Sathan loose upon us as first pride wee see it in Paul 2 Cor. 12. 7. Secondly conceitednesse and presumption as we may see in Peter Matth. 26. 33. Thirdly securitie which is alwayes the fore runner of some great punishment or great sinne which also is a punishment as we see in David fourthly Idlenesse it s the houre of temptation when a man is out of Gods businesse fifthly Intemperance either in loosenesse of Diet or otherwise therefore Christ commands us to be sober and watch and looke to sobrietie in the use of the creatures sixtly there is a more subtill intemperance of passion for in what degree we give way to wrath and revenge and covetousnesse in that degree Sathan hath advantage against us seventhly when a man will not beleeve and submit to truths revealed though but a naturall truth therefore God gave them up to vile affections Rom. 1. 26. because they would not cherish the light of nature much more when we doe not cherish the light of Grace As Christ wrought our salvation in an estate of basenesse so in our way to glory wee must be conformable to our head and passe through an estate of basenesse wee are chosen to a portion of afflictions as well as to Grace and Glory God sees it needfull also because we cannot easily digest a flourishing condition wee are naturally given to affect outward excellencies when we are trusted with great matters we are apt to forget God and our dutie to others This should therefore teach us to justifie God when wee are any wayes abased in the world There are a world of poore who yet are exceeding proud but God sanctifies outward povertie unto his children so as it makes way for poverty of Spirit that as they are poore so they have a meane esteeme of themselves it makes them inwardly more humble and more tractable Therefore when wee are under any crosse observe how it workes see whether wee joyne with God or no when hee afflicts us outwardly whether inwardly wee be more humble when hee humbles us and makes us poore whether we be also poore in spirit When God goes about to take us downe we should labour to take downe our selves Poverty of spirit should accompany us all our life long to let us see that we have no righteousnesse of our owne to sanctification that all the grace we have is out of ourselves even for the performance of every holy duty for though wee have grace yet wee cannot bring that grace in to Act without new grace even as there is a fitnesse in trees to beare fruit but without the influence of heaven they cannot That which oftentimes makes us miscarry in the actions of our callings is because wee thinke wee have strength and wisedome enough and then what is begunne in selfe-confidence is ended in shame wee set upon duties in our owne pride and strength of parts and finde successe accordingly therefore it s a signe that God will blesse our indeavours when out of the sense of our owne weakenesse wee water our businesse with prayer and teares It is not sufficient for a Christian to have habituall grace there is no Vine can bring forth fruit without the influence of heaven though it be rooted so wee cannot bring forth fruit unlesse God blow upon us our former strength will not serve when a new temptation comes it is not enough to have grace but we must use it we must exercise our faith love patience
humility and for this purpose God hath furnished us with the Spirit of all Grace Let us therefore remember when we have any dutie to doe to pray unto Christ to blow upon us with his Spirit God doth not so much looke at our infirmities as at our uprightnesse and sinceritie and therefore when we are out of temptations wee should consider and examine what God hath wrought in us and then though there be infirmities and failings yet if our hearts be upright God will pardon them as wee finde that David and others were accounted upright and yet had many imperfections Watching is an exercising of all the graces of the soule and these are given to keepe our soules awake we have enemies about us that are not asleepe and our worst enemy is within us and so much the worse because so neere we live also in a world full of temptations and wicked men are full of malice wee are passing through our enemies Countrey and therefore had neede to have our wits about us the devill also is at one end of every good action and therefore we had neede to keepe all our graces in perpetuall exercise we should watch in feare of jealousie taking heede of a spirit of drowsinesse labouring also to keepe our selve unspotted of the world It may be asked how we shall know the Scripture to be the Word of God For answer Doe but grant first that there is a God it will follow then that he must be worshipped and served and that this service must be discovered to us that wee may know what hee doth require and then let it be compared what Word of God can come neare to be the same with this Besides God hath blessed the superstition of the Iewes who were very strickt this way to preserve it for us and the Heretickes since the Primitive Church have so observed one another that there can be no other to this Word But now wee must further know that we must have some thing in our soules suitable to the truthes contained in it before we can truely and savingly beleeve it to be the Word of God as that we finde it to have a power in working upon our hearts and affections Luke 24. 32. Did not our hearts burne within us when he opened to us the Scriptures Againe it hath a divine operation to warme and pacifie the soule and a power to make a Felix tremble it hath a searching quality to divide betweene the marrow and the bone we doe not therefore onely beleeve the Scriptures to be the word of God because any man saith so or because the Church saith so but also and principally because I finde it by experience working the same effects in me that it speakes of it selfe and therefore let us never rest till when we heare a promise wee may have some thing in us by the sanctifying Spirit that may be suitable to it and so assuring of us that it is that Word alone that informes us of the good pleasure of God to us and our duty to him There is in God a fatherly anger after conversion he retaines that and this Fatherly anger is also turned away when in sinceritie we humble our selves There is one saith well A child of anger and a child under anger Gods children are not children of wrath but sometimes they are under wrath when they doe not carry themselves as sonnes when they venture on sinnes against conscience c. but if they humble themselves and reforme and flie to God for mercie then they come into favour againe and recover the right of sonnes Wee may know that God loves us when by his Spirit he speakes friendly to our soules and wee by prayer speake friendly to him againe when wee have communion and familiaritie with him whom God loves to them hee discovers his secrets even such secrets as the soule never knew before Hee reveales them to us when our hearts are wrought to an ingenuous confession of sinne and when we have no comfort but from heaven even as a father discovers his bowells most to his child when it is sicke so God reserves the discoverie of his love especially untill such a time when wee renounce all carnall confidence therefore if wee can assure our soules that God loves us let us then be at a point for any thing that shall happen to us in this world whether it be disgrace or contempt or whatsoever because we may fetch patience and contentednesse from hence that Gods love supplies all wants whatsoever After a gracious pardon for sinne there are two things remaining in us Infirmities and Weakenesses Infirmities are corruptions stirred up which hinders us from good and puts us forward to evill but yet they are so farre resisted and subdued that they breake not forth into action Weakenesse is when we suffer an infirmitie to breake out for want of watchfulnesse as if a man be subject to passion when this is working disturbance in the minde it is infirmitie but when for want of watchfulnesse it breakes forth into action then it is weakenesse and these diseases are suffered in us to put us in minde of the bitter roote of sinne for if we should not sometimes breake forth into sinne wee should thinke that our nature were cured Who would have thought that Moses so meeke a man could have so broken out into passion we see it also in David and Peter and others and this is to shew that the corruption of nature in them was not fully healed but there is this difference betweene the slippes and falls of Gods children and of other men when other men fall it setles them in their dregges but when Gods children falls they see their weakenesses they see the bitter roote of sinne and hate it the more and are never at quiet till it be cast out by the strength of Grace and Repentance Therefore let no man be too much cast downe by his infirmities so long as they are resisted for from hence comes a fresh hatred of corruption and God lookes not upon any sinne but sinne ungrieved for unresisted otherwise God hath a holy end in suffering sinne to be in us to keepe us from worse things There is none that out of sinceritie doe give themselves to holy conference but are gainers by it Many men aske questions and are inquisitive to know but not that they might put in practise this is but a proud desire to taste of the tree of knowledge but the desire of true affected Christians is to know that they might seeke Christ we gaine oftentimes by discourse with those that are punies in Religion Saint Paul desires to meete with the Romanes though they were his converts that he might be strengthened by their mutuall faith Rom. 1. 12. When once the Spirit doth fasten the wrath of God upon the conscience of one whom he meanes to save then there followes these afflicting affections of griefe and shame and from hence comes a dislike and hate of
sinne hence beginnes a divorce betweene the soule and the beloved sinne so that whereas there was before a Scepter of sinne in the soule now God beginnes to dispossesse that strong man and then followes a strong desire to be better and a holy deseparation that if God in Christ benot mercifull then the soule saith what shall become of me and as the Spirit lets in some terrours so he lets in also some hopes as What shall I doe to be saved implying are signation of the will totake any course so he may be saved and then all the world for one droppe of mercy Christ never comes into any heart but where hee is valued and esteemed yet he delights not to hide himselfe from his poore creature but when we are fit when wee truely judge our selves unworthy of any savour then hee receives us Here is comfort therefore for the worst of men if they will come in and submit to Gods Ordinances they will be effectuall to subdue our corruptions and when once God hath taken up the heart of man for his Temple hee will then bring into it all his Treasures there will be a mutuall fellowship betweene God and the soule when we are once subdued God is so powerfull an Agent that hee can overthrow all hee can overthrow the carnall principles of reason which everie naturall man hath in the Fort of his soule He presents to men the condition they are in by nature and le ts in a taste of his vengeance when God in his Ordinances shewes grea ter reasons for goodnesse than Sathan can in his carnall courses then all falls downe Those therefore that are not fully subdued yet let them come to the Ordicances for then they are within Gods reach when the Word of God discovers the basenesse vilenesse and danger of sinne then the soule stoopes therefore let none despaire for though thy heart be stone yet God can worke powerfully nothing is difficult to infirmities but it s a divine worke to pull downe a wicked sinner However we take paines in our callings yet the abitie and blessing comes from God Wee pray for daily Bread and yet hee gives it though we labour for it there is a gift of successe which unlesse it be given us from above wee shall with the Disciples catch nothing Gifts are for Grace and Grace for Glory Gifts are peculier to some men but Grace is common to all Christians Gifts are peculier to many and com mon to such as are not good Gifts are joyned with great sinnes but Grace hath love and humilitie to take downe the soule the devill hath lost little of his accutenesse but yet hee remaines mischeivous so many men have great parts but they have also a divellish spirit Grace comes from more speciall love and yet men had rather be accounted devills than fooles account them men of parts and then count them what you will It is a hard matter to finde out the least measure of Grace and the greatest degree of formalitie for as Painting oftentimes exceedes the thing so doth an Hypocrite oftentimes make a greater shew but the least measure of saving Grace is from desires and these are knowne to be saving if they proceede from a taste of the thing and not meerely from the Object and therefore we must distinguish betweene affections stirred up and the inward frame for those that are suddenly stirred up doe presently returne the waters in the Bath have a naturall hotnesse but water when it is heated will returne to its former coldnesse Though wee be sure of victory over our spirituall enemies yet we must fight The conquered Kings must be fought with all Christ that fights for us fights with us and in us and crownes us when all is done and the time will come ere long when wee shall say of our enemies as Moses said of the Egyptians Those enemies that wee now see wee shall see them no more for ever Be strong therefore in the Lord and in the power of his might Ephe. 6. FINIS Iudg. 5. 23.