Pompey when disswaded from a dangerous Voyage answered Necesse est ut eam non ut vivam It 's necessary that I go not that I live But this being fed only by a natural Spring can carry a man no higher than Nature and will flag at last If applause and the observation of the world supply it not it quickly ebbs and fails But as Grace raises men much higher so it maintains it even when there is nothing to encourage without when forsaken of all Creatures and visible supports 2 Tim. 4.10 and this it doth three ways 1 By giving him that hath it a view of far greater things which shrinks up all temporary things and makes them appear but trifles and small matters Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 4.18 By Grace a man rises with Christ Col. 3.1 It sets him upon his high places and thence he looks down upon things below as very poor and inconsiderable The great Cities of Campania seem but little spots to them that stand on the top of the Alps. 2 By teaching him to value and measure all things by another Rule than he was wont to do He did once measure life liberty riches honours by sense and time and then they seemed great things and it was hard to deny them or thus to slight them but now he values and measures all by Faith and Eternity and esteems nothing great and excellent but what hath a reference to the Glory of God and an influence into Eternity 3 Grace raises and enobles the Spirit thus because it is the Divine Nature 't is the Spirit of Christ infused into a poor Worm which makes a strange alteration on him transforms him into another manner of person as much difference betwixt his Spirit now and what it was as betwixt the Spirit of a Child that is filled with small matters and taken up with Toys and of a grave States-man that is daily imployed about the Grand Affairs of a Kingdom 3. A man can never suffer as a Christian till his will be subjected to the Will of God He that suffers involuntarily and out of necessity not out of choice shall neither have acceptance nor reward from God Of necessity the will must be subjected a man can never say Thy will be done till he can first say Not my will But it is Grace only that thus conquers and subjects the will of man to Gods Psal 110.3 This is it that which exalts Gods Authority in the Soul and makes the heart to stoop and tremble at his Commands 'T is this which makes our will to write its fiat at the foot of every Command and its placet under every Order it receives from God No sooner was Grace entred into the Soul of Paul but presently he crys out Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9.6 The Will is to the Soul what the Wheels are to the Chariot and Grace is to the Will what Oyl is to those Wheels When we receive the Spirit of Grace we are said to receive an Vnction from the Holy One 1 Joh. 2.20 and then the Soul is made as the Chariots of Aminadab Cant. 6.12 Non tardat uncta rota it runs freely after the Lord and chearfully addresseth it self to every Service 4. A man can never suffer as a Christian until his heart be composed fixed and determined to follow the Lord through all hazards and difficulties As long as a man is hesitating and unresolved what to do whether to go forward or turn back again to the prosperous World when a man is at such a pause and stand in his way he is very unfit for sufferings All such Divisions do both weaken the Soul and strengthen the Temptation The Devils work is more than half done to his hands in such a Soul and he is now as unfit to endure hardship for Christ as a Ship is to ride out a Storm that hath neither Cable Anchor nor Ballast to hold and settle it but lies at the mercy of every Wave James 1.8 The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways But it 's Grace and nothing besides it that brings the heart to a fixed resolution and settlement to follow the Lord. 'T is Grace that establishes the heart Heb. 13.9 and unites it to fear the Name of God Psal 86.11 This gathers all the Streams into one Channel and then it runs with much strength and sweeps away all obstacles before it So that look as it is with a wicked man that hath sold himself to do wickedly if he be set upon any one design of sin he pours out his whole heart and strength in the prosecution of that Design which is the ground of that saying Liberet me Deus ab homine unius tantum negotii Let God deliver me from a man of one only Design He will do it to purpose So is it also in Grace if the heart be composed fixed and fully resolved for God nothing shall then stand before him And herein lies much of a Christians habitual fitness and ability to suffer 5. The necessity of Saving-grace in all Sufferers for Christ will farther appear from this consideration that he who will run all hazards for Christ had need of a continual supply of strength and refreshment from time to time He must not depend on any thing that is failable For what shall he do then when that Stock is spent and he hath no Provision left to live upon Now all natural qualifications yea all the common gifts of the Spirit are failable and short-lived things they are like a sweet Flower in the Bosom that is an Ornament for a little while but withers presently Or like a Pond or Brook occasioned by a great fall of Rain which quickly sinks and dries up because it is not fed by Springs in the bottom as other Fountain-waters are And hence it is they cannot continue and hold out when Sufferings come Mat. 13.21 because there is no Root to nourish and support The Hypocrite will not always call upon God Job 27.10 Though they may keep company with Christ a few miles in this dirty way yet they must turn back at last and shake hands eternally with him John 6.66 These Comets may seem to shine for a time among the Stars but when that Earthly matter is spent they must fall and lose their glory But now Grace is an Everlasting Principle it hath Springs in the bottom that never fail It shall be in him saith Christ a Well of water springing up into eternal life Joh. 4.14 The Spirit of God supplies it from time to time as need requires It hath daily Incomes from Heaven munimur quatenus unimur 2 Cor. 1.5 Phil. 4.13 Col. 1.11 So that it is our Union with Christ the Fountain by Grace that is the true ground of our constancy and long-suffering 6. And then lastly It will appear by this also that there is an absolute necessity of a real change by Grace on all that will suffer for Christ because
one that hath a good Roof over his head when the Storm falls We glory in tribulation because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts Rom. 5.3 5. It is a Fountain of joy and comfort in the darkest and saddest hour Dem. 3 Hence the glorious triumphs of Saints in their afflictions Rom. 5.5 and in the Christians joy in the Lord lies much of his strength for sufferings Noh 8.10 If once the Spirit droop and sink the man is in a bad case to suffer holy joy it is the Oyl that makes the Chariot-wheels of the Soul free to follow the Lord Non tardat uncta rota To suffer with joyfulness for Christ is a qualification that Gods Eye is much upon in his suffering Servants Col. 1.11 How did the famous Worthies that went before us magnifie Christ and glorifie Religion by the holy triumphs of their faith and joy under tribulation One kiss'd the Apparator that brought him news of his Condemnation and was like a man transported with an excess of joy Another upon the pronouncing of the Sentence kneels down and with hands and eyes lifted up solemnly blesses God for such a day as that Oh how is Christ magnified by this And this cannot be until interest be cleared It 's true the faith of recumbency gives the Soul a secret support and enables the Christian to live but the faith of Evidence keeps him lively and prevents all those uncomfortable and uncomely sinkings and despondencies of spirit 2 Cor. 4.16 17. and therefore cannot but be of singular use to a Soul at such a time Lastly Dem. 4 It is of special use to a Christian under sufferings inasmuch as it enables him to repel the temptations that attend upon sufferings Nothing sets a keener edge upon his indignation against unworthy compliances than this Indeed a poor cloudy and dubious Christian will be apt to catch at deliverance though upon terms dishonourable to Christ but he that is clear in point of interest abhors compositions and capitulations upon unworthy terms and conditions Heb. 11.35 Heb. 10.34 He that sees the gain and reward of suffering will think he is offered to his loss when life and deliverance are set before him upon such hard terms as sin is And thus you see what influence it hath into a suffering condition 3. In the next place I promised to prescribe some Rules for the attaining of this Evidence and the dispelling of those doubts by which it is usually clouded in the Souls of Believers And oh that by the faithful use of them you may attain it against a suffering day come upon you And the first Rule I shall give you is this Rule 1 Make it your business to improve Grace more for the more vigorous it is the more evidential it must needs be 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8 9 10 11. Oh how much time have many Christians spent in enquiring after the lowest signs of sincerity and what may consist with Grace which had they spent in the diligent improvement of the means of Grace for the increasing of it they would have found it a shorter cut to peace and comfort by much Mistake not the Rule by which you are to try your selves lest you give a false judgment upon your selves Some are apt to make those things signs of Grace which are not and when the falseness of them is detected how is that poor Soul plunged into doubts and fears that leaned upon them As now If a man should conclude his sincerity from his diligence in attending on the Word preached this is but a Paralogism as the Apostle calls it Jam. 1.22 by which a man deceiveth his own Soul For that which is a note or mark must be proper to the thing notified and not common to any thing else There are divers sorts of marks some are exclusive the principal use of which is to convince bold Pretenders and discover Hypocrites Such is that 1 Cor. 9.9 It is a most certain sign where these are there is no Grace but yet it will not follow on the contrary that where these are not there is Grace See Luke 18.11 Others are inclusive the use of which is not so much for trying of the truth as the strength and degrees of Grace As now when Faith is described by the radiancy of it or by some of its heroick acts and promises made to some raised degrees and operations of it as that Ephes 3.12 c. Here a mistake is easily made Besides these or rather betwixt these are another sort of marks which are called positive marks and these agreeing to the lowest degree of Grace are for the tryal of the truth and sincerity of it Such are these 1 John 4.13 1 John 2.3 Matth. 5.3 Be sure to try by a proper mark Take heed of such sins as violate and wasteâ— the Conscience Rule 3 for these will quickly raise a Mist and involve the Soul in Clouds and darkness Psal 51.8 c. Such are sins against Light and the reclamations of Conscience Labour to shun those common mistakes that Christians make in judging of their state Rule 4 amongst which I shall select these five as principal ones 1. Call not your condition into question upon every failing and involuntary lapse into sin Iniquities prevail against me as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away Psal 65.3 In short thou needest not call thy condition into question provided thou find thy Spirit working as Paul's did under the surprizals of temptation viz. If 1 thou do approve of and delight in the Law though thou fall short of it in thy practice Rom. 7.12 14. 2 If thy failings be involuntary and against the resolution and bent of thy Soul vers 25 18 19. 3 If it be the load and burden of thy Soul vers 24. 4 If the thoughts of deliverance comfort thee vers 25. 2. Question not the truth of thy Grace because it was not wrought in the same way and manner in thee as in others For there is great variety as to the circumstances of time and manner betwixt the Spirits operations upon one and another Compare the History of Paul's Conversion with that of the Jaylor Zacheus or Lydia and see the variety of circumstances 3. Conclude not that you have no Grace because you feel not those transportations and ravishing joys that other Christians speak of If thou canst not say as Paul doth Rom. 8.38 yet bless God if thou canst but breath forth such language as that Mark 9.24 Lord I believe help thou my unbelief 4. Say not thou hast no Grace because of the high attainments of some Hypocrites who in some things may excel thee When some persons read the sixth Chapter to the Hebrews they are startled to see to what a glorious height the Hypocrite may soar not considering that there are these three things wherein they excel the most glorious Hypocrite in the world 1 That Self was never dethroned in Hypocrites as it is in them All that
thing for Christ which inclination ariseth from the Principles of Grace infused into the Soul But then as fire though it have a natural inclination to ascend yet may be violently deprest and hindered that it cannot ascend actually so may it be in this case and therefore before a man can be fitted for Sufferings as Paul was there must to this habitual be superadded an actual readiness which is nothing else but the rouzing of Grace out of the sleepy and dull habits and awakening it to its work in a time of need as the Lyon is said to lash himself with his Tail to rouze up his Courage before he fight The former is a remote power the latter a proxim and immediate power I must handle the former in this Chapter and you are to know that it consisteth in a sound and real work of Grace or Conversion wrought upon the Soul without which I shall make it evidently appear to you that no man can be fit or ready to suffer as a Christian What ever stock of Natural Courage Moral Principles or common gifts of the Spirit be lodged in any mans Breast yet all this without special grace can never fit him to suffer for Christ And had not this Work been really and soundly wrought upon the heart of this blessed Man as indeed it was Acts 9.3 4 5. he had quickly fainted under his Sufferings and so will every Soul sooner or later do that suffers not upon the same Principles he did 1. For first No man can suffer for Christ until he be able to deny himself See Mat. 16.24 Self-denial goes in order of Nature before Sufferings Beloved in a Suffering hour the Interests of Christ and Self meet like two men upon a narrow Bridge one must of necessity go back or the other cannot pass on If you cannot now deny Self you must deny Christ The Yoke and Dominion of Self must cast off or else Christs Yoke and Burden cannot be taken on It is confest that Self may not only consist with but be a Motive to some kind of Sufferings Ambition and Applause may carry a man far this way Pride is a Salamander that it seems can live in the flames of Martyrdom 1 Cor. 13.3 but to be a Servant to Self and a true Sufferer for Christ are incompatible Self may make you the Devils Martyrs but Grace only can make you Christs Martyrs So that let a man be seemingly carried for a while with never so high a Tide of Zeal for Christ yet if Self be the Spring that feeds it those self-ends like so many little Ditches joyned to the Banks of a River shall suck and draw away the Water into themselves that the lofty Stream will sink and come to nothing e're it have ran far So then of necessity Self must be dethroned in the hearts of Christs suffering Servants But now it is real Grace only that deposes Self and subjects its Interests to Christs for Sanctification is nothing else but the dethroning of exalted Self and the setting up of Christs Interest above it in the Soul This is it that alters the property of all a man hath and superscribes them with a new Title Holiness to the Lord Isa 23.18 Zech. 14.20 21. Thenceforth a man looks at himself as none of his own but past into anothers right 1 Cor. 6.19 and that he must neither live nor act ultimately for himself but for Christ Rom. 14.7 Heb. 13.7 8. Phil. 1.20 He is no more as a Proprietor but a Steward of all he hath and so holds upon these terms to lay it out or lay it down as may best serve his Masters ends and glory All that he is or hath is by Grace subordinated to Christ and if once subordinated then no more opposed to him subordinata non pugnant This is it that makes him say I care not what becomes of me or mine so Christ may be glorified Let Christ be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death Phil. 1.20 By Conversion Christ enters the Soul 2 Cor. 10.5 as an Army doth an Enemies Garrison by Storm and when he is possest of it by Grace he presently divides the whole spoil of Self betwixt himself and his Church This is the first that evinces the necessity of a Work of Grace to prepare the heart for Sufferings 2. And then in the next place It is as evident that a man can never be fit to suffer hard things for Christ until his Spirit be inlarged raised and enobled so that he be able to despise Dongers and look all Difficulties in the face That low and private Spirit must be removed and a publick Spirit must possess him If a man be of a feeble and effeminate Spirit every petty Danger will daunt and sink him Delicacy and Tenderness is as unsuitable to a Christian as to a Souldier 2 Tim. 2.3 They that mean to enter into the Kingdom of God must resolve to make their way through that Brake of Troubles betwixt them and it 2 Tim. 3.12 They that will be crowned with Victory must stand to it and play the men as that word imports 1 Cor. 16.13 Look over all the Sacred and Humane Histories and see if you can find a man that ever honoured Christ by Suffering that was not of a raised and noble Spirit and in some measure able to contemn both the allurements and threats of men So those three noble Jews Dan. 3.16 17. so Moses Heb. 11.27 and so our Apostle Acts 20.24 and the same Heroick and brave Spirit was found in the succeeding Ages amongst the Witnesses of Christ When Valence the Emperour endeavoured to draw Basil from the Faith by Offers of Preferment Offer these things said he to Children when he threatned him with torments Threaten these things said he to your Purple Gallants that live delicately And the same Basil relating the Story of the forty Martyrs saith That when great Honours and Preferments were offered them to draw them from Christ their answer was Why offer you these small things of the world to us O Emperour when you know the whole world is contemned by us So Luther Money could not tempt him nor the fear of man daunt him Let me said he in his Letter to Staupicius be accounted proud covetous a murtherer guilty of all vices rather than of wicked silence and cowardize in the Cause of Christ Thus you see to what an height and holy greatness the Spirits of suffering Saints in all Ages have been raised But now it is Grace that thus raises the Spirits of men above all the smiles and honours frowns and fears of men and no other Principle but Grace can do it There is indeed a natural stoutness and generosity in some which may carry them far as it 's said of Alexander that when any great danger approached him his courage would rise and he would say Jam periculum par animo Alexandri here is a danger fit for Alexander to encounter so
on us this will exceedingly tend to your strengthning and comfort in a suffering hour Blessed Paul who here professeth himself ready both for Bonds and Death was clear in this point 2 Tim. 4.6 7. 2 Tim. 1.12 And indeed had he been cloudy and dark in this he could not have said I am ready No no he had been in an ill case to undertake that Journey to Jerusalem And thou wilt find it a singular advantage in dark and difficult days to have all clear and right within Now for the opening of this I will shew 1. What the Evidence or Manifestation of the work of Grace is 2. How it appears to be of such great advantage to a suffering Saint 3. Prescribe some Rules for the obtaining of it 1. What it is And in short it 's nothing else but the Spirits shining upon his own work in the hearts of Believers thereby enabling them sensibly to see and feel it to their own satisfaction And this is exprest in Scripture under a pleasant variety of Metaphors Sometimes it is called the shedding abroad of the love of God in the heart Rom. 5.5 sometimes the lifting up of the light of Gods countenance Psal 4.6 and sometimes it 's exprest without a Trope by Christs manifesting himself to the Soul John 14.21 For the opening of it I desire you would consider these six things 1. That it is attainable by Believers in this life and that in a very high degree and measure Many of the Saints have had it in a full measure 1 Cor. 2.12 1 John 3.24 John 21.15 2. Though it be attainable by Believers yet it is a thing separable from true Grace and many precious Souls have gone mourning for the want of it Isa 50.10 This was sometimes the case of Heman David Job and multitudes more 3. During its continuance it is the sweetest thing in the world It swallows up all Troubles and doubles all other Comforts It puts more gladness into the heart than the increase of Corn and Wine Psal 4.6 Suavis hora sed brevis mora sapit quidem suavissime sed gustatur rarissime Bern. 4. Both in the continuation and removal of it the Spirit acts arbitrarily No man can say how long he shall walk in this pleasant Light Psal 30.7 By thy favour thou hast made my Mountain stand strong thou hiddest thy face and I was troubled And when in darkness none can say how long it will be e're that sweet Light break forth again God can scatter the Cloud unexpectedly in a moment Cant. 3.4 It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my Soul loveth There is such an observable difference in David's Spirit in some Psalms as if one man had written the beginning and another the end of them 5. Though God can quickly remove the darkness and doubts of a Soul yet ordinarily the Saints find it a very hard and difficult thing to obtain and preserve the Evidences of their Graces Such is the darkness deadness and deceitfulness of the heart so much unevenness and inconstancy in their practice so many counterfeits of Grace and so many wiles and devices of Satan to rob them of their peace that few in comparison live in a constant and quiet fruition of it 6. Notwithstanding all these things which increase the difficulty yet God hath afforded his people a sure Light and sufficient means in the diligent use and improvement whereof they may attain a certainty of the work of Grace in them And there is a threefold Light by which it may most clearly and infallibly be discovered 1. Scripture Light which is able to discover the secrets of a mans heart to him and is therefore compared to the Anatomizers Knife Heb. 4.12 2. The Innate Light of Grace it self or if you will the Light of Experience 1 John 5.10 It hath some properties and operations which are as essential necessary and inseparable as heat is to the fire and may be as sensibly felt and perceived by the Soul Psal 119.20 3. The Light of the Spirit superadded to both the former which is sometimes called its Earnest sometimes its Seal The Spirit doth both plant the habits excite and draw forth the acts and also shine upon his own work that the Soul may see it and that sometimes with such a degree of Light as only begets peace and quiets the heart though it do not fully conquer all the doubts of it And at other times the heart is irradiated with so clear a Beam of Light that it 's able to draw forth the Triumphant Conclusion and say Now I know the things that are freely given me of God I believe and am sure And so much briefly for the opening of the nature of this Evidence 2. I shall shew you the necessity of it to a suffering Saint in order to the right management of a suffering condition And this will appear by the consideration of five things 1. You will readily grant that the Christians love to God hath a mighty influence into all his sufferings for God This Grace of love enables him victoriously to break through all difficulties and discouragements The Floods cannot drown it nor the Waters quench it Cant. 8.6 7. It facilitates the greatest hardships 1 John 5.3 And whatever a man suffer if it be not from this Principle it is neither acceptable to God nor available to himself 1 Cor. 13.3 But now nothing more inflames and quickens the Christians love to God than the knowledge of his interest in him and the sensible perception and taste of his love to the Soul Our love to God is but a reflection of his own love and the more powerful the stroak of the direct Beam is the more is that of the reflex Beam also Never doth that Flame of Jah burn with a more vehement heat than when the Soul hath the most clear manifestations of its interest in Christ and his benefits Luke 7.47 It must needs be of singular use to a suffering Saint Dem. 2 because it takes out the sinking weight of affliction That which sinks and breaks the Spirit is the conjunction and meeting of inward and outward troubles together then if the Lord do not strangely and extraordinarily support the Soul it 's wrackt and overwhelmed as the Ship in which Paul sailed was when it fell into a place where two Seas met Act. 27.41 Oh how tempestuous a Sea doth that Soul sail in that hath fightings without and fears within How must that poor Christians heart tremble and meditate terrour that when he retires from troubles without for some comfort and support within shall find a sad addition to his troubles from whence he expected relief against them Hence it was that Jeremy so earnestly deprecates such a misery Be not thou a terrour to me thou art my hope in the day of evil Jer. 17.17 This is prevented by this means If a man have a clear breast and all be quiet within he is like
is of more than ordinary use and necessity Heb. 4.16 Jam. 5.13 and therefore it is reckoned among those choice pieces of Armour which suffering Saints are to put on Ephes 6.18 I will here briefly discover the necessity of it and then shew you that a Christian may improve himself to an excellent degree in it and lastly prescribe some means for an improvement The necessity of it to a suffering Saint will demonstratively appear if you consider 1. That this duty is the out-let of troubles and the best way the poor Christian hath to ease his heart when surcharged with sorrow Griefs are cased by Groans Such evaporations disburthen and cool the heart as the opening of a vein in some cases doth Oh the sensible ease that comes in this way When grief in the mind like vapours in the Air are condensed into black Clouds that over-spread the Soul and darken that beautiful Light that once shone there then Prayer like the Sun dispels and scatters them 1 Sam. 1.18 Many a Saint by Prayer hath sucked the breast of a Promise and then sell asleep by Divine contentment in the bosome of God A time may come when thy heart is ready to break with trouble and not a friend to whom thou canst open and ease it and then blessed be God for Prayer Micah 7.5 6 7. That which sinks others is That when troubles fill and everwhelm their hearts they try what Reason merry Company or outward Comforts can do but alas this is to palliate a Cure it returns again with the more violence but prayer gives sensible relief Psal 102. title Psal 62.8 For first this opens and gives a vent to troubles Jer. 20.12 2 It gives our troubles a diversion and so a cure Psal 5.1 and last verse compared Yea 3 by praying over them they are not only diverted but sanctified and so cease to be distracting or destroying troubles 2. As it gives a vent to our troubles so an in let to unspeakable comforts and consolations See a pregnant instance of this Act. 16.25 For 1 hereby they obtain gracious answers from the Lord concerning their troubles 2 Cor. 12.9 In this also they meet the gracious smiles of God which swallow up their troubles Psal 85.8 And lastly hereby they prevail with God to open a seasonable and effectual door out of all their troubles Psal 34.4 6. 3. Prayer begets and maintains holy courage and magnanimiâ—y in evil times when all things abouâ— you tend to discouragement It is your being with Jesus that makes you bold Acts 4.13 He that uses to be before a great God will not be afraid to look suâ—â— little things as men are in the face Th … clothed with the â—un had the Moon under her seet And what need you have of courage in evil times hath been already shewed 4. This is a duty you may perform at any time or in any condition No Adversary can cut you off from it It cannot be said so of many other duties None can hinder the intercourse betwixt Heaven and your Souls You may perform it in a Prison Acts 16.25 in a banished condition Psal 61.2 and so is fitted for a suffering condition Lastly you mâ—st strive to excel in this forasmuch as no Grace within or Service without can thrive without it God hath ordained the whole work of Grace to grow up to perfection this way Jud. 19.20 He will have all mercies fetched out this way Ezek. 36.37 Jer. 29.11 12 13. All that comes from God to you or to you from God must come in this Channel Be convinced then of the need you have to improve your selves herein as ever you hope to stand in the evil day But how are these praying abilities capable of improvement in the people of God Praying abilities are either external and common or else internal and special The external and common ability is nothing else but that dexterity and skill men get to express themselves to God in Prayer Thus many can put their meaning into apt and decent expressions to which the Spirit sometimes adds his common touches upon the affections And this Hypocrites rest on and glory in Or else they are special and internal whereby men are enabled to pour out their souls to God in a gracious manner And this may be considered either in the Habit or Act. The Habit is given by the Spirit when the principles of Grace are first infused into the soul Zech. 12.10 Acts 9.11 By being sanctified we are made near and by acting those principles in Prayer we are said to draw near Psal 10.17 Now in our actual drawing near to God the Spirit hath the chief and principal hand and his assistance therein is threefold 1. He excites the heart to the duty 't is he that whispers to the Soul to draw nigh to God Psal 27.8 2. He suggests the matter of our Prayers and furnisheth us with the Materials Rom. 8.26 guiding us as to the matter not only to what is lawful but also to what is expedient for us 3. He stirreth up suitable Affections in Prayer Rom. 8.26 and hence those groans and tears those gaspings and vehement anhelations But notwithstanding all our Abilities both habitual and actual be from the Spirit and not from our selves yet are they capable of improvement by us For though in respect of acquirement there be a great difference betwixt natural and supernatural Habits yet their improvement is in the same way and manner and this improvement may be made divers wayes For First Though you have the Spirit and can pray yet you may learn to pray more humbly then before Though you rise no higher as to words yet you may learn to lay your selves lower before the Lord as Abraham and Ezra did Gen. 18.27 Ezra 9.6 Secondly You may learn to pray with more sincerity then formerly Ah! there is much Hypocrisie and Formality in our Prayers much of Custom c. Now you may learn to pour out more Cordial Prayers See Psal 17.1 Psal 119.10 Thirdly You may learn to pray with more zeal and earnestness then before Some Saints have excelled and been remarkable for this Daen. 9.19 Hos 12.4 James 5.16 Fourthly with more assiduity and readiness at all times for it Ephes 6.18 Praying always with all Prayer Hence Christ gives that commendation to the Church Cant. 4.11 Thy Lips O my Spouse drop as the Honey Comb The Honey Comb often drops but always hangs full of Drops ready to fall Fifthly You may learn to pray with more Faith Oh the qualms of Unbelief that go over our Hearts in a Duty Faith is the Soul of Prayer and according to the Faith God finds in them he accepts and values them Now in all these things you may improve your selves abundantly 1. By being more frequent in the Duty Job 22.21 acquaint thy self with the Almighty in the Hebrew it is accustom thy self Those that have been excellent have also been abundant in it Psal 15.17 2. By taking heed
that you grieve not the Spirit on whose influences and assistances you so intirely depend Even as much as a Ship doth upon the Gales of Wind for its motion 3. By honouring the Spirit which enables you to pray and that especially two ways 1 By dependances on him go not forth in your own strength to the Duty trust not upon your own promptness or preparations 2 By returning and with thankfulness ascribing the praise of all to him Be humble under all Enlargements Say Not I but Grace 4. By searching your own Hearts and examining your Necessities and Wants when you draw nigh to God this will be a Fountain of Matter and give you a deep Resentment of the worth of Mercies pray'd for 5. Lastly By looking more at the exercise of Graces and less at the discovery of Parts by labouring for Impressions more and pumping for Expressions less And thus I have briefly shewed you how to furnish your selves with this needful Qualification also CHAP. XIII Wherein is shewed the necessity of going out of our selves even when our habitual and actual Preparations are at the greatest height and depending as constantly and intirely upon the Spirit who is Lord of all gracious Influences as if we had done nothing Together with the means of working the Heart to such a frame THus you have seen your habitual and actual readiness for Sufferings and blessed is the Soul that gives diligence to this work But now lest all that I have said and you have wrought should be in vain I must let you know that all this will not secure you unless you can by Humility Faith and Self-denial go out of your selves to Christ and live upon him daily for supplie of Grace as much as if you had none of all this Furniture and Provision for Sufferings I confess Grace is a very beautiful and lovely Creature and it 's hard for a man to look upon his own Graces and not doat upon them But yet know that if you had all these excellent preparations that have been mentioned yea and all Angelical Perfections superadded yet are you not compleat without this dependance upon Christ Col. 2.10 When ever you go forth to suffer for Christ you should say in the Head of all your excellent Graces Duties and Preparations as Jehosaphat did when in the head of a puissant and mighty Army 2 Coron 20.12 O Lord I have no might nor strength but my Eyes are unto thee This was one thing in which Paul excelled and was a special part of his readiness See 1 Cor. 15.10 What a poor Creature is the eminentedst Saint left to himself in an hour of trial the Hop the Ivy and the Woodbind are taught by Nature to cling about stronger Props and Supporters What they do by Nature we should do by Grace The necessity and great advantage of this will appear upon divers Considerations 1. Consid 1 The Christians own imbecility and insufficiency even in the strength and hieght of all his Acquirements and Preparations what are you to grapple with such an Adversary Certainly you are no Match for him that conquered Adam hand to hand in his state of integrity It is not your inherent strength that enables you to stand but what you receive and daily derive from Jesus Christ Joh. 15.5 Without me or never so little separated from me ye can do nothing all our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 Upon this very consideration it was that the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might i.e. not to depend upon their own stock and furniture but Divine Assistances and daily Communications for we wrestle not with flesh and bloud but Principalities and Powers Ephes 6.10 12. in his own strength shall no man prevail 2. Consi 2 It is the great design of God in the Gospel to exalt his Son and to have all glory attributed and ascribed to him That in all things he might have the preheminence Col. 1.13 That Christ might be all in all Col. 3.11 Hence no Saint must have a self-sufficiency or be trusted with a stock as Adam was but Christ being filled with all the fulness of God and made the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or first Receptacle of all Grace For it pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell all the Saints are therefore to go to him for supplies and of his fulness to receive John 1.16 This fulness being a Ministerial fulness like that of the Sun or of a Fountain intended to supply all our wants And hence is it that Faith a self-emptying and denying Grace is appointed to be the Instrument of fetching our supplies from Christ All must be derived from him that all the praise and glory may be ascribed to him Phil. 4.14 And this is a most wise and congruous Ordination of God for hereby not only are his People the better secured but by this also the reproach that lay upon Christ is rolled away He was reproached on earth as barren empty weak Can any good come out of Nazareth He was looked upon as a Root springing out of a dry ground but by this shall his Reproach be wiped away So that unless you will go about to cross the great design of God in the exaltation of his Christ you must go out of your selves and humbly and constantly rely upon supplies from Christ and his grace to help in the times of need 3. Consi 3 A Christ an is constantly to depend upon Christ notwithstanding all his own preparations and inherent qualifications because the activity even of inherent Grace depends upon him Inherent Grace is beholding to exciting and assisting Grace for all it is enabled to do You cannot act a Grace without his Spirit * 1 Cor 15.10 2 Cor. 3.5 John 15.5 It may be said of Grace in us as it was of the Land of Canaan Deut. 11.10 11 12. It is not as the Land of Egypt whence ye come out where thou sowedst thy seed and waterdst it with thy foot as a Garden of Herbs But a Land of Hills and Vallies drinking water of the Rain of Heaven a Land which the Lord thy God careth for his Eyes are always upon it from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year As the life and fragrancy of Vegetables depends on the Influences of Heaven so do our Graces upon Christ And hence he is called 1 a Root Isa 11.10 2 An Head Col. 1.18 3 A Sun Mal. 4 2. 4 A Fountain Zech. 13.1 all which Comparisons do fully carry this Truth in them 4. Consid Lastly In this life of dependance lies your security And indeed this is the great difference betwixt the two Covenants In the first Adam's stock was in his own hands and so his security or misery depended upon the unconstrained choice of his own mutable and self determining Will But now in the New Covenant all are to go to Christ to depend upon him for
professors to prepare themselves for greater trials where several motives are propounded to excite them to their duty CHAP. XVI Containing the last use of the point by way of support and comfort to poor trembling souls who though they do take pains to make themselves ready for sufferings yet finding such strength in Satans temptatitions and their own Corruptions fear that all their labour is in vain and that they shall faint and apostatize when their tryals and troubles shall come to an height PREPARATION FOR SUFFERINGS ACTS XXI XIII Then Paul answered What mean ye to weep and break my heart for I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus CHAP. I. Wherein the Text is opened and the Doctrine propounded THe Divine Providence is not more signally discovered in governing the Motions of the Clouds than it is in disposing and ordering the Spirits and Motions of the Ministers of the Gospel who in a mystical sense are fruitful Clouds to dispence the showers of Gospel-Blessings to the World The Motion of the Clouds is not spontaneous but they move as they are moved by the winds neither can Gospel-Ministers chuse their own Stations and govern their own Motions but must go when and where the Spirit and Providence of God directs and guides them as will evidently appear in that dangerous Voyage to Jerusalem in which the Apostle was at this time ingaged Acts 20.22 And now behold I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem bound in the Spirit alluding to the watery vapours which are bound up in Clouds and conveyed according to the motion of the Winds This Journey was full of danger Paul foresaw his business was not only to plant the Gospel at Jerusalem with his Doctrine but to water it also with his blood but so effectually was his Will determined by the Will of God that he chearfully complies with his duty therein whatsoever difficulties and dangers did attend it And indeed it was his great advantage that the Will of God was so plainly and convincingly revealed to him touching this matter for no sooner did he imploy himself to obey this Call of God but he is presently assaulted by many strong temptations to decline it The first Rub he met in his way was from the Disciples of Tyre who pretending to speak by the Spirit said unto Paul that he should not go up to Jerusalem Acts 21.4 the Lord by this trying the Spirit of his Apostle much as he did the young Prophet coming from Judea to Bethel 1 Kings 13.18 but not with like success His next discouragement was at Caesarea where Agabus whom Dorotheus affirms to be of the seventy two Disciples and had before prophesied of the Famine in the Reign of Claudius which accordingly came to pass takes Paul's Girdle and binding his own hands and feet with it said Thus saith the Holy Ghost so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that oweth this Girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles ver 11. And surely he was not ignorant what he must expect when ever he should fall into their hands yet neither could this affright him from his duty But then last of all he meeteth with the sorest tryal from his dearest friends who fell upon him with passionate entreaties and many tears beseeching him to decline that Journey O they could not give up such a Minister as Paul was This even melted him down and almost brake his heart which yet was easier to do than to turn him out of the path of Obedience Where by the way we may note two things First That Divine Precept not Providence is to rule out our way of duty Secondly That no hinderances or discouragements whatsoever will justifie our neglect of a known duty All these Rubs he passes over all these discouragements he overcame with this Heroick and truly Christian resolution in the Text What mean ye to weep and to break my heart for I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus In which words we have 1. A loving and gentle rebuke 2. A quieting and calming Argument First He lovingly and gently rebukes their fond and inordinate sorrow for his departure in these words What mean ye to weep and break my heart as if he should say What mean these passionate Entreaties and tempting Tears to what purpose is all this a-do they are but so many Snares of Satan to turn my heart out of the way of Obedience You do as much as in you lies to break my heart let there be no more of this I beseech you Secondly He labours to Charm their unruly passions with a very quieting and calming Argument For I am ready c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parate habee I am prepared and fitted for the greatest sufferings which shall befall me in the pursuit of my duty be it a Prison or be it Death I am provided for either Liberty is dear and Life much dearer but Christ is dearer than either But what was there in all this to satisfie them whose trouble it was to see him so forward let the words be considered and we shall find divers things in them to satisfie and quiet their hearts and make them willing to give him up First I am ready that is God hath fitted and prepared my heart for the greatest Sufferings this is the work of God flesh and blood would never be brought to this were not all its interests and inclinations subdued and over-ruled by the Spirit of God What do ye therefore in all this but work against the Design of God who hath fitted and prepared my heart for this service Secondly I am ready that is my will and resolution stands in a full bent my heart is fixed you cannot therefore study to do me a greater injury than to discompose and disorder my heart again by casting such temptations as these in my way to cause the flesh to rebel and the Enemy that is within to renew his opposition Thirdly I am ready that is my heart is so fixed to follow the Call of God whatever shall befall me that all your tears and entreaties to the contrary are but cast away they cannot alter my fixed purpose you had as good be quiet and chearfully resign me to the Will of God Thus you see the Equipage and preparation of Paul's Spirit to receive both Bonds and Death for Christ at Jerusalem this made him victorious over the temptations of Friends and the malice and cruelty of his Enemies by this readiness and preparation of his mind he was carried through all and inabled to finish his course with joy From hence the Observation is That it is a blessed and excellent thing for the people of God to be prepared Doct. and ready for the hardest services and worst Sufferings to which the Lord may call them This is that which every gracious heart is reaching
thy destruction therefore is of thy self CHAP. IV. Demonstrating the Excellency of a prepared heart for the worst of sufferings and what a blessed thing it is to be ready to be bound or to die for Christ as Paul here was I Am ready O blessed frame of Spirit how hard but how happy is it to get a heart so tempered Every Christian can say I would be ready and the Lord make me ready for sufferings but few can say I am ready my heart is prepared and fitted for such a work yet this Example shews us it is attainable and what a blessed thing it is to attain it the following particulars will abundantly convince us First Readiness for sufferings will bring the heart of a Christian to an holy rest and tranquillity in a suffering hour and prevent that anxiety perturbation and distraction of mind which puts the sinking weight into afflictions the more cares fears and troubles we have before our sufferings come the more calm quiet and composed we are like to be when our sufferings are come indeed It is admirable to consider with what peace and patience Job entertained his troubles which considering the kinds degrees and manner in which they befell him one would think they should at least have startled and amazed him and put his Soul as gracious and mortified as it was into great disorder and confusion but you find the contrary never did the patience of a man triumph at that rate over adversity he worships God owns his hand and resigns himself up to his pleasure Job 1.20 21. and whence was this Surely had his troubles come by way of surprize he could never have carried it at that rate but in the days of his peace and prosperity he had prepared for such a day as this Job 3.25 26. I was not in safety neither had I rest yet trouble came The thing that I feared saith he is come upon me He laid it to heart before it came and therefore it neither distracted nor brake the heart when it came In like manner the Prophet Habakkuk stood upon his Watch Tower i. e. he made his Observations by the Word upon the probable events of Providence whereby he got a clear foresight of those troublous days that were at hand which though it made him tremble in himself yet it gave him rest in the day of evil Hab. 3.16 17 18. There is a twofold rest in the day of evil Viz. 1. A Rest of Deliverance 2. A Rest of Contentation It is a singular mercy to find rest in a mans own spirit to enjoy inward peace and tranquillity of mind when there is no rest without and the way to obtain this is to foresee count upon and make due preparation for troublous times before-hand evils that come by way of surprizal are not only amazing but very frequently destructive evils 't is a sad aggravation to feel a misery before we fear it those calamities that find men secure do usually leave them desperate the Enemy that comes upon our backs hath a great advantage to ruine us yet this is the common case of the world For man knoweth not his time but as the Fishes are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds that are caught in the snare so are the Sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth on them suddenly Eccles 8.12 Thus perished the old World There was but one Noah provided for the Flood and he only with his Family were preserved in it all the rest were eating and drinking marrying and given in marriage until the Flood came and swept them all away Mat. 24.38 Men will not use their foreseeing faculties but because it is all quiet to day they conclude it shall be so to morrow Those that are at rest in their habitations and have got a soft Pillow under their heads are apt to fall asleep in security and dream pleasantly of continued rest and peace and loath they are to interrupt their sensual pleasure with melancholly thoughts of changes and sufferings Philosophers tell us that immediately before an Earthquake the Air is very quiet and serene and before the great Rain falls the Wind usually lies Were the aspect of second causes much more favourable and encouraging than it is yet there were cause enough for all that are wise in heart to fear and tremble under the consideration of that National guilt which is treasured up and will certainly produce distress and trouble O Christians look out for days of Visitation prepare for a Storm and provide you an Ark an hiding place in Christ and the Promises as ever you expect rest and peace in your own spirits when the Earth shall be full of Tumults Uproars and Desolations Secondly Our preparations for sufferings is an excellent argument of the honesty and sincerity of our hearts in the matters of Religion He that makes account of sufferings and is daily at work with his own heart mortifying its corruptions weaning its worldly affections exciting and making ready its suffering Graces resolving in the strength of God to take his Lot with Christ where-ever and howsoever it shall fall this is the man that hath deliberately closed with Christ upon his own terms and is like to be the durable and victorious Christian As for hypocrites Christ's Summer friends they have either their Exceptions against the severities of Religion and study to secure to themselves a retreat from danger or else they rush inconsiderately into the Profession of Christ never debating the terms which he proposes to all that will follow him Mark 8.34 The necessity of a rational and well-advised closure with Christ upon suffering and self-denying terms is by himself fully set forth in that excellent Parable Luke 14.25 26 27 28. there was a great multitude that followed him at that time Christ began to grow in request among them they flocked from all parts to see and hear him but he foresaw that if once a sharp tryal should befall them it would quickly thin and diminish that great multitude and reduce them like Gideons Host into a little handful and therefore he resolves to deal candidly and plainly with them he propounds his terms and sets down his conditions which every one of them must subscribe that will follow him the sum of which is this Let him deny himself take up his Cross and follow me And to evince the rationality of these terms he argues from the most common and obvious practices of men in their Civil Affairs No man that exerciseth reason will begin to build an house and lay a large foundation when he is not provided with a Stock to carry up the Walls and compleat the work no man in his wits would ingage with an handful of men against a great armed multitude possibly they may intend to face but no man would think they intended to fight the Enemy on such a disadvantage Just so stands the case in our profession of Christ if we really intend to go through
Ark and this was it by which he condemned the World left them excuseless For they not only heard of an approaching Flood by his Ministry but now saw he himself believed what he preached by his daily preparations against it came O consider this how much it would tend to the Worlds Conviction Now they will see that you are in good earnest and that there is a reality in godliness This will induce them to search into the matter more than ever and remove those prejudices they have taken up against the good ways of God as if they were but Phantasms and Conceits 5. In the next place this fore-sight and preparation must needs be an excellent thing because the Spirit of God every where sets an honourable Character upon it and always mentions such persons with some singular and commendation and respect These only are wise men in the Judgment of God and all the rest what great Polititians soever they are famed to be among men are accounted Fools Prov. 22.3 Eccles 2.14 The Wise mans Eyes are in his head that is he is a foreseeing man but the Fool goes on and is punished Rushes on without consideration suspecting no danger that he at present sees not and so smarts for his folly Beloved there are Signs of the Times as well as of the Weather Mat. 16.3 You may see the Clouds of Judgment gathering before the Storm falls upon you And this is the meaning of Zeph. 2.1 2. Gather your selves together before the Decree bring forth and the Day pass as the Chaff Where there is a Conception of Judgment there will be a Birth unless the Reformations and Prayers of the Saints give it a miscarrying Womb. But it requires Wisdom to discern this they must be men of much Observation that can descry it at a great distance yet this may be done by considering what GOD hath done in like Cafes in former Ages when Nations have been guilty of the same sins as now they are For God is as just now as then and hates sin as much as ever he did and partly by attending to things present to what fulness and maturity the sins of a Nation are grown Joel 3.16 or what beginnings of Judgment are already upon a people as Harbingers and Fore-runners of more at hand Luke 3.30 31. 1 Sam. 2.12 Or what is the universal Vote and Cry of Gods Ministers who are his Watch-men to foresee danger Ezek. 3.17 and his Trumpeters to discover it Numb 10.8 and when these have one mouth given them certainly there is much in it Luke 1.70 Or lastly by pondering those Scripture-Prophecies that yet remain to be fulfilled They must all go out their times and accomplish their full number of Years and Months but certainly they shall be fulfilled in their Seasons By attending to these things a Christian may give a near guess at the Judgments that are approaching a Nation and so order himself accordingly Eccles 8.5 A wise mans heart discerns both time and judgment And this is even in the Judgment of God a choice point of Wisdom Whereas on the contrary heedless and careless ones that regard not these things are branded for Fools and upbraided with more bruitishness than the Beasts of the Field or Fowls of the Air Mat. 16.3 Jer. 8.7 The Stork in the Heavens the Swallow Turtle and Crane observe their Seasons of departing and returning upon the approach of the Winter and Spring and that by a natural instinct whereby they prolong their lives which else must perish But though God hath made Man wiser than the Fowls of the Air and Beasts of the Earth which by instinct will quit colder Climates or run to the Hedge when Winter or Storms approach yet the Heavens may be astonished at this to see Nature cast by sin so far below it self and that in reasonable Creatures But now if this be fore-seen then there is a singular advantage in a mans hand either to â—se the means of preventing those approaching Calamities Zeph. 2.3 or if it cannot be prevented yet to take Sanctuary in Christ Mic. 5.5 to run to the Promises and Attributes Esa 26. ult and so have a good Roof over his Head while the Storm falls and the Weather is tempestuous abroad And therefore certainly this Preparation is an excellent thing Whatever the Spirit of God speaks in the commendation of fore-seeing Evils is with respect to this Duty of preparing for them for fore-sight of Evils without preparation rather increases than diminishes the misery 6. A sixth Excellency of Preparation lies in the influence that it hath into a Christians stability in the evil day You cannot but know that your stability in that critical hour of Temptation is a choice and singular Mercy in as much as all you are worth in the other World depends upon your standing then Rev. 21.7 8. Rom. 2.6 7. Luke 22.28 Neither can you be ignorant how much you are like to be tryed and put to it then whether you respect the Enemy that ingages you Eph. 6.12 or your own weakness who have been so often foiled in lesser tryals Jer. 12.5 All the Grace you have will be little enough to keep the Field and bear you up from sinking and therefore it cannot but be a blessed thing to be able to stand and cope with the greatest difficulties in such a nick of tryal as that will be Now he that expects to do this must put on the whole Armour of God See Ephes 6.12 13 14. There 's no expectation of standing in the evil day except your foot be shod that is your wills prepared with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace It is true that our ability to stand is not from our own inherent grace for by his strength shall no man prevail 1 Sam. 2.9 and yet it is as true that without grace both inherent in us and excited and prepared for action we cannot expect to stand For these two Grace inherent in us and Grace exciting and assisting without are not opposed but co-ordinated Grace in us is the Weapon by which our Enemy falls but then that Weapon must be managed by the Hand of the Spirit Well then look upon this as a choice mercy which tends so much to your stability 7. A seventh Excellency of a prepared Heart is that it is a very high testification of our love to Jesus Christ when we thus shew our willingness to take our Lot with him and follow him where ever he goes What an high expression of love was that of Ruth to her Mother Naomy I will not go back but where thou lodgest I will lodge and where thou goest I will go 'T is excellent when a Soul can say to Christ as Ittai to David 2 Sam. 15.21 Surely in what place my Lord the King shall be whether in Death or in Life even there also will thy Servant be This is love indeed to cleave to him in a time of such distresses and dangers This is love which
although we may ingage our selves in sufferings without it yet we can never manage our sufferings like Christians without it They will neither be honourable or acceptable to God nor yet beneficial and comfortable to our selves or others except they be performed from this Principle of Grace For upon what Principle soever beside this any man is acted in Religion it will either cause him to decline sufferings for Christ or if he be ingaged in them yet he will little credit Religion by his Sufferings They will either be spoiled by an ill management or his own pride will devour the praise and glory of them I do not deny but a man that 's graceless may suffer many hard things upon the account of his Profession and suffer them all in vain as these Scriptures manifest See 1 Cor. 13.3 Gal. 3.4 And although you find many sweet Promises made to those that suffer for Christ yet you must consider that those pure and spiritual Ends and Motives by which men ought to be acted in their sufferings are always supposed and implyed in all those Promises that are made to the external action And sometimes it is exprest 1 Pet 4.16 to suffer as a Christian is to suffer from pure Christian Principles and in a Christian manner with Meekness Patience Self-denial c. and this only Grace can enable you to do So that by all this I suppose what I have undertaken in this Character viz. to evince the necessity of a Work of Grace to pass upon you before Sufferings for Religion come is by all this performed to satisfaction CHAP. VI. Wherein the Nature of this Work of Grace in which our habitual fitness for suffering lies is briefly opened and an account given of the great advantage the gracious person hath for any even the hardest work thereby HAving in the former Chapter plainly evinced the necessity of saving Grace to fit a man for sufferings it will be expected now that some account be given you of the nature of this Work and now it advantages a man for the discharge of the hardest services in Religion Both which I shall open in this Chapter by a distinct Explication of the parts of this description of it This work of Grace What Saving Grace is of which I am here to speak consists in the real change of the whole Man by the Spirit of God whereby he is prepared for every good work In which brief Description I shall open these four things to you 1. That it is a Change this is palpably evident both from Scripture and Experience 2 Cor. 5.17 Old things are past away behold all things are become new and it is so sensible a Change that it 's called a turning from darkness to light Act. 26.18 and a new Creature formed and brought forth But to be a little more distinct and particular there are several other Changes that pass upon men which must not be mistaken for this and therefore 1. It is not a meer change of the Judgment from Errour to Truth from Paganism to Christianity Such a Change Simon Magus had yet still remained in the gall of bitterness and fast bound in the bonds of iniquity Act. 8.23 2. Nor only of a mans practice from Prophaness to Civility this is common among such as live under the Light of the Gospel which breaking into mens Consciences thwarts their Lusts and over-awes them with the fears of Hell Which is no more than what the Gentiles had Rom. 2.15 3. Nor is it a change from meer Morality to meer Formality in Religion Thus Hypocrites are changed by the common gifts of the Spirit illuminating their Minds and slightly touching their Affections Heb. 6.4 5. 4. Nor is it such a Change as Justification makes which is relative and only alters the state and condition Rom. 5.1 2. 5. Lastly it is not a Change of the Essence of a Man he remains essentially the same person still But this Change consists in the infusion of New Habits of Grace into the Old Faculties which immediately depose Sin from its dominion over the Soul and deliver up the Soul into the Hands and Government of Christ so that it lives no more to it self but to Christ This is that Change whereof we speak And this Change 2 I assert to be real no phansie nor delusion not a groundless conceit but it is really existent extra mentem whether you conceit it or not Indeed the blind World would perswade us it is suppositious and phantastick and that there is no such real difference betwixt one man and another as we affirm Grace makes And hence it is that whoever professeth it is presently branded for a Phanatique and that Scripture Esa 56.5 Stand by thy self I am holier than thou c. clapt in their Teeth in their absurd and perverse sence of it But I shall briefly offer these seven things to your consideration which will abundantly evince the reality of it and at once both stop the slanderous mouths of ignorant men and silence those Atheistical Surmises which at any time Satan may inject into the hearts of Gods own people touching this matter And first let it be considered that the Spirit of God hath represented to us this Work of Grace under such Names and Notions in Scripture as if they had been chosen purposely to obviate this Calumny It 's called a Creature Gal. 6.15 a Man 1 Pet. 3.4 a New Birth Joh. 3.3 Christ formed in us Gal. 4.19 all which express its reality and that it is not a conceited thing 2. It appears to be real by the marvellous effects it hath upon a man turning him both in Judgment Will Affections and Practice quite counter to what he was before This is evident in that famous instance of Paul Gal. 1.23 which is abundantly attested and sealed by the constant experience of all gracious Souls that are Witnesses of the truth hereof 3. A Divine and Almighty Power goes forth to produce and work it and hence Faith is said to be of the Operation of God Col. 2.12 Yea that the same Power which raised Jesus Christ from the Dead goes to the production of it Ephes 1.19 20. And if so how much less than Blasphemy is it to call it a Conceit or Phansie Doth God set on work his infinite Power to beget a Phansie or raise an imagination 4. Conceits and Whimsies abound most in men of weak Reason Children and such as are crackt in their Understandings have most of them Strength of Reason banishes them as the Sun doth Mists and Vapours But now the more rational any gracious person is by so much the more he is fixed setled and satisfied in the Grounds of Religion Yea there is the highest and purest Reason in Religion and when this Change is wrought upon men it 's carried on in a rational way Esa 1.18 Joh. 16.9 The Spirit overpowrs the Urderstanding with clear Demonstrations and silences all Objections Pleas and Pretences to the contrary 5.
Darkness overspreading the Face of it that he can see nothing I wonder how such as pretend to live above and enjoy communion with God can ever relish such sweetness in the World or have their hearts enticed and captivated by it Fifthly Remember always that by your love and delight in worldly things you furnish the Devil with the cheifest Bait he hath to catch and destroy your Souls Alas ' were your Hearts but dead to these things he would want an Handle to catch hold on What hath he more to offer you and tempt you off from Christ with but a little Money or some such poor Temporal Rewards And how little would that Soul be moved by such a Temptation thot looks on it all but as Dirt. Sixthly Lastly take notice of the approaches of Eternitie Remember you are almost at the end of Time and when you come to lanch out into that endless Ocean how will these things look then It seems glorious whilest you are in the chace and pursuit of it but upon a Death-bed you will overtake and come up with it and then you 'l see what a deceitful and vain thing it is Stand by the Beds of dying men and hear how they speak of it Oh the difference betwixt our apprehensions then and now Thus labour to wean off your Affections and crucifie them to the World 2. Mortifie your Ambition and vain Affectation of the Repute and Credit of the World Oh stand not on so vain a thing as this judge it but a small thing to be judged of man to have your Names cast out as evil Let not Scoffs and Reproches be such terrible things to you It is without doubt a great trial else the Holy Ghost had not added a peculiar Epithete to it which is not given to any other of the sufferings of the Saints not cruel Tortures nor cruel Stonings Burnings slayings with the Sword but cruel mockings Heb. 11.36 Yet learn to be dead to and unaffected with these things set the reproaching World as light and as low as it sets you Despise the shame as your Master Christ did Heb. 12.2 and to promote Mortification in this take these Helps 1. Consider this is no new or strange thing that hath happened to you The holiest of men have past through the like if not worse Trials Heb. 10.33 Psal 44.14 Reproaches have been the Lot of the best men They called Athanasius Sathanasius Cyprianus Coprianus a gatherer of Dung Blessed Paul a pestilent fellow Doctor Story threw a Fagot at sweet Mr. Denlies Face as he was singing a Psalm in the midst of the flames saying I have spoiled a good old Song 2. It may be Religion hath been reproached and scoffed at for your sakes and if so think it not much to be reproached for Religions sake 3. It 's much better to be reproached-by men for discharging Duty than by your own Consciences for the neglect of it If all be quiet within never be moved at the noise and clamour without if you have a good Roof over your Head be not troubled though the Winds and Storms bluster abroad 1 Pet. 4.14 Take heed what you do and be heedless what the World sayes 4. Always remember that you neither stand or fall at the Worlds Judgment and therefore have the less reason to be troubled at it 1 Cor. 4.3 If your condition were to be cast to Eternity by it it were somewhat 5. There is a worth and excellency in the Reproaches of Christ as bad as they seem and such an excellency as is not to be matched by any Earthly Enjoyment Heb. 11.26 The Reproaches of Christ are of more worth than the Treasures of Egypt though Egypt then was the Magazeen of the World for Treasures The Apostles counted them their honours Acts 5.41 When Ludovicus Marsacus a Knight of France saw those that were to suffer with him in the Chains and that they put none upon him because of the Nobility of his Birth he said to the Executioner Cur me non quoque Torque donas illustris illius ordinis militem non creas Why do you not honour me with a Chain too and create me a Knight of that Noble Order 6. Lastly should Scoffs and Reproaches scare you from Christ and Duty then though you should escape the Reproaches of men yet shall you fall under the everlasting Contempt of God Angels and good Men Therefore Fear ye not the Reproaches of men that shall die nor be afraid of their revilings for the Moth shall eat them up like a Garment and the Worm shall eat them like Wooâ— but my Righteousness shall be for ever and my Salvation from Generation to Generation Isa 51.7 8. 3. Mortifie your inordinate offectation of liberty pleasure and delicate living O let not a Prison seem so formidable to you It 's true as Christ told Peter Joh. 21.18 When thou wast young thou girdedst thyself and walkedst whither thou wouldst but when thou shalt be old thou shalt strotch forth thy hands another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not You have now your liberty to go whither you will and it 's a precious mercy if well improved The Birds of the Air as one saith had rather be in the Woods at liberty though lean and hungry than in a Golden Cage with the richest Fare But yet if God will call you to deny this also for Christ see that you be ready to be bound as Paul was and receive the Chain and Bonds of Christ with thanksgiving To which end consider 1. That the affliction in such cases of Restraint is more from within than from without you There 's no place but may be delectable to you if your heart be heavenly and the presence of God be engaged with you What a sweet Night had Jacob at Bethel Paul and Silaes in the Stocks See that precious Letter of Pomponius Algerius Transtulit in caelum Christi praesentia claustrum Quid faciet caelo quae Caelum jam creat antro It 's your own Vnbelief and Impatiency that gives you more trouble than the Condition 2. No Keeper can keep the Comforter from you if you be the Lords Prisoners Act. 16. if they could bar out the Spirit from you it would be a dismal place indeed But ordinarily there the Saints have their clearest Visions of God and sweetest presence of the Spirit You are the Lords Free-men whilest Mens Prisoners All the World cannot divest you of the state of liberty Christ hath purchased for you John 8.36 3. Though a Prison look sad and dismal yet it is not Hell Oh bless God for that that 's a sad Prison indeed Beloved Men have their Prisons and God hath his Gods Prison is a terrible Prison indeed Thousands are now there in Chains 1 Pet. 3.19 and there you deserved to have been sent long ago If God exchange an Hell for a Prison have you any cause to complain 4. How obdure and cruel soever men are to you
supplies and are so secured against all destructive dangers Jude 1. 1 Pet. 1.5 Should you go forth in your own strength against a Temptation either your Grace would fail and you fall in the Conflict Or if you obtain any Victory over it by your owa strength yet 't is a thousand to one but your Pride would conquer you when you had conquered it Like him that slew an Elephant but was himself slam by the fall of that Elephant which he slew But now by this way as God hath secured you against the Dangers without so also the frame and constitution of this New Covenant is such as prevents the danger arising from our own Pride too Not. Ego Deus meus I and my God did this as was once said by a prophane Mouth But self is abased and the Lord lifted up in his own strength 1 Cor 4 7. And thus I have briefly evinced the necessity of this daily dependance But next it concerns you to know what this dependance we speak of is This also I shll abriefly open to you laying down somewhat negatively and omewhat positively about it It is not to deny the Grace wrought in us by the Spirit this were both injustice and ingratitude Neg. 1 We may know our own Graces so as to be thankful for them though not so as to be proud of them 1 Cor. 15.10 It is not a lazy excuse from our duty Neg. 2 You do not depend but rather dishonor Christ by so doing You must not say Because Christ must do all therefore I must do nothing but rather work out your salvation because it 's he that worketh both to will and do Phil. 2.12 13. These are not opposed but subordinated But then positively it lies in three things 1. In seeing and acknowledging the infinite sufficiency and fulness that is in Christ Posit 1 To acknowledge him to be all in all not only by way of Impetration procuring all Heb. 9.12 but also by way of Application bringing home to the Soul all the blessings purchased by his blood and setling us in the possession of it Joh. 14.3 and so from first to last to eye him as the Author and Finisher of our Faith 2. Posit 2 In seeing the necessary dependance that all our Graces have upon him That look as you see the Stream depending on the Fountain the Beam upon the Sun the Branch upon the Root the Building upon the Foundation even so do our Graces upon Christ On him they live and cut off from him they die Our life is hid with Ghrist in God Col. 3.3 When you see this and also see that all your activity and striving is but as the hoysting up of the Sails in order to the motion of the Ship which can do nothing sill there come a Gale When you look upon your Grace as a Creature that must be upheld fed acted and preserved by Christ Col. 2.19 then you are prepared for this act of dependance As for instance You can never depend upon Christ for the acting of that Grace of Hope until you see Christ to be the prop and foundation of it and that it depends upon him as upon its cause 1 Pet. 1.3 as upon its object Hebr. 6.19 and as upon its foundation and ground work Col. 1.27 You can never depend upon Christ for your joy and comfort until you see what a necessary dependance this also hath upon him Phil. 3 3. and that both as to its being and acting John 16.22 You can never depend upon him for strength in any duty until you see how your duties depend upon Christ not only for the strength by which they are performed John 15.4 5. but also for acceptation when they are performed 1 Pet. 2.5 It were easie to instance in any other Grace 3 It lies in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—ooking off â—o the Auâ—â—our of our â—aith looking off from your own Grace when ever you are put upon the acting of it I mean in regard of any dependence upon it and looking by an eye of Faith for acceptation to Christ Heb. 12.2 To the putting forth of which acts of dependance upon Christ holy ejaculations in our on-sets upon duty or those quick and vigorous lifting up of our souls to God that way are of special use it being a duty fitted for the purpose when there is no room for set and solemn Prayer And thus briefly of its nature And to urge you to this duty I shall offer these seven Considerations which oh that they might prevail upon your hearts and make you for ever to clâ—sp and cling about Christ more than ever you have done You have little reason to rely upon the strength of your own Graces for you may be easily deceived in that matter and think you have much more Grace then you have How often are the common Gifts of the Spirit mistaken for his special Graces The sixth Chapter to the Hebrews is able to make a man tremble in this thing Suppose you have much Grace Consid 2 yet have you not strong Corruptions and may you not meet with strong temptations also He that hath less of other Graces then you may have more humility and self-denial then you and so may stand when you fall Great enlargements are often attended with great temptations of Pride c. Whatever measures of Grace you have arrived at yet all is not able to secure you from falling Consid 3 if God withold or withdraw his aids and influences Abraham had more Faith then you and yet he fell into a sin contrary to that very Grace wherein he so excelled others Gen. 20.2 Job had more patience then you which of you could behave your selves as he did had you been in the like circumstances as he was Chap. 1.2 He is renowned for it in Scripture Jam 5.11 yet he fell into that sin which was contrary to this Grace also Chap. 3. Moses had more mâ—ckness then you Now the man Moses was the meckest man upon the Earth If you be but reproved and that justly for your faults how Waspish are you Yet see how this Grace failed even in him in an eminent trial of it Numb 11.13 14 15. Adam was much more advantaged in this respect then you being made upright and no corruption inherent in him yet he fell The Angels more again yet they fell Oh when will you learn the vanity of self-dependance Nothing more provoketh the Lord to withdraw his Spirit and let you fall Consid 4 then this sin of self-confidence doth Luke 14.29 30 31. God will teach you by sad experience your own weakness and what frail and vain things you be if you will learn it by no other means If God permit you to fall as doubtless he will if you be self-conceited then the more eminent you have been Consid 5 or are for Grace the more will the Name of God be reproached by your fall This will furnish the triumphs of the uncircumcised and
be truly godly and have the root of the matter in them who are yet far from an actual readiness and so continuing are like to be a reproach to Religion when their Trial comes For it is not a little Grace in the sleepy habit that will secure you from falling scandalously by the hand of temptation And although that Seed of God which is in you will recover you again and prevent total and fiual Apostacy yet oh consider what a sad thing it is to enter into and be conquered by temptation to be led away in triumph by the Tempter and made a reproach to Christ O it 's a sad consideration to think how many there be amongst the people of God that discover little or no actual preparation for sufferings As first 1. Upon how many of the Saints is the Spirit of slumber poured out Even the wise as well as foolish seem now to be sleep There is a twofold spiritual sleep the first is total upon wicked men and it 's one of Gods sorest and dreadfullest strokes upon their soul * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 29.10 The Hebrew word there is the same with that which is used of Adam when God cast him into a deep sleep whilst he took out his rib 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in 2 Tim. 2.26 it signifies such a sleep as that which is occasioned by drunkenness out of such a sleep doth the Lord awaken all that are saved and they never fall into it any more The other is partial Cant. 5.2 and is incident to the people of God Matth. 25.5 This is nothing else but that torpor or sluggishness of spirit which seizeth upon the Saints and never did it prevail I fear among them more then now For where is their activity for God Where is he that stirreth up himself to take hold of God Isa 64.7 Where is there such a generation as that Psal 24.6 we pray confer and hear for the most part but as men speak betwixt sleeping and waking Where can you find except here and there one that hath a quick and lively sense of Gods indignation upon him or that trembles at his judgements Is not that the very case of the most which God describes Isa 42. ult 2. How many are seized by a private and worldly spirit every man turning to his own house and eagerly pursuing the world Hag. 1.9 Jer. 45.4 5. Oh! how are we intangled in the Wilderness how doth the World eat up our time and eat out our Zeal cowardize and soften our spirits and render us utterly unfit for the Yoak and Burden of Christ You that see so much Beauty and taste so much sweetness in the Creature will you have an hard Tugg when call'd to deny it you are not yet prepared to drink of the Cup or take up the Cross of Christ 3. How many poor Christians are of a low and timerous spirit ready to tremble at the shaking of a Leaf Ah poor hearts how unfit are you for Bonds or Death This passion of fear that so predominates in you is the very passion which Satan assaults and layes siege to in the hour of Temptation as was before noted and commonly it 's occasioned where it flowes not from the Natural Constitution from an excessive love to the world or from some guilt upon the spirit It 's true the Lord can so assist weak Faith and so subdue strong Fear◠as that you may be enabled to stand the shock when it comes for as I noted formerly our strength lies not in any thing inherent in us but we are strong or weak according to the divine presence and assistances that we enjoy but yet if you labour not to mortifie this Evil and stir not up your felves in the use of all appointed means to rouze your Zeal and Courage for God I know no Warrant you have to expect such assistances Lastly how many poor Christians among us are to this day dark and cloudy in their Evidences for Heaven Had they walked closely with God been laborious in the disquisition and search of their own hearts they had long since obtained a clearness and satisfaction about the state of their own hearts But as the case stands with them how unfit are they for Bonds or Death Oh! 't is a sad case when inward and outward Troubles meet together as you may see Gen. 42.21 22. when there shall be fightings without and fears within When such a pang as that Lam. 3.17 18. shall come over thy heart what wilt thou do By all that hath been said it appears that the most of Professours are in a very unready posture for sufferings So that as Troubles come to an height we are like to see many sad Spectacles Many offences will come Religion is like to be wounded in the house of it's friends Oh! What a day of Mercy have we enjoyed What helps and choice advantages above any precedent Age and yet unready How sad and inexcusable is this CHAP. XV. Containing another use of the Point by way of Exhortation perswading all the People of God whilest the Lord respites and graciously delayes their trials to answer the end of God therein and prepare themselves for greater trials where several Motives are propounded to excite to the Duty UP then from your Beds of sloth awake from your security O ye Saints get upon your Watch-Towers tremble in your selves that ye may rest in the Day of Evil Hab. 2.1 3 16. Put on the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to stand in the evil day and when you have done all to stand Eph. 6. O let it never be said of your Dwellings as it is of the Tabernacles of the wicked Job 21.9 Their Houses are safe from fear Augustus hearing of one that was deeply in debt who yet slept heartily sent for his Pillow supposing there was some strange vertue in that Pillow I wonder what Pillow you have gotten O ye drowsie Saints that you can sleep so quietly upon it now that all things about you are compiring trouble and threatning danger Can you sleep like Jonah when Seas of wrath are tumbling and roaring round about you and threatning to entomb you and all your enjoyments Behold The Stork in the Heavens knows her appointed time Jer. 8.7 and hath not God made you wiser then the Fowls of the Air Job 35.11 It may be the sound of some present Judgment may a little startle you like a sudden clap of Thunder in the Air but how soon doth Sloth and Security prevail and over come you again They say Poyson by being habituated may be made Innocent We are so used to or rather hardned under calamities that nothing moves or effectually awakens us Lord What will the end of these things be Wilt thou surprise thy people at unawares Shall thy judgments find them secure and leave them desperate O that God would perswade you to gather your selves together yea to gather together not in an unlawful
and seditious way but in the way of duty before the Decree bring forth and the day pass as the chaff Zeph. 2.1 2. O prepare to meet your God Amos 4.12 Prepare your faith love courage c. before God call you to the exercise of them And to excite you to this duty besides all the fore-mentioned benefits of a prepared Spirit consider these following particulars hy way of motive The many Calls which God hath given you to this work Mot. 1 The Lord hath uttered his voice and called from Heaven unto you will you be deaf to his Calls He hath called upon you 1 By the Word God would have it cry to you first because he would give the first honour to his Word He hath given all his Prophets one mouth Luke 1.70 and they have warned you faithfully 2. By the Rod This also hath a loud voice Micah 6.9 Psal 2.5 Men of understanding will hear this voice and those that will not hear it shall be lashed by it even till they are sick with smiting vers 13. 3 By prodigious and portentous signs in the Heavens and Earth such as no Age can parallel these have a loud voice to all that regard the works of the Lord or the operations of his hands Eusebius calls them Gods Sermons to the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist lib. 3. cap. 8. Oh that we were wise to consider what Gods Ends are in these things One observes That as they are the plainest and most obvious to sense so they are commonly the last Sermons which God intends to preach to Nations before he inflicts his punishments on them if they repent not O let not God speaking in ordinary and extraordinary ways to you still speak in vain Your preparation for sufferings Mot. 2 is the most probable means of preventing your fall and ruine by those sufferings Sufferings prove fatal and destructive to some but it is to secure and careless ones such as are diligent and faithful in the use of Gods means are secured from the danger Christ lays our constancy and perseverance very much upon our fore-casting the worst that may fall out Luke 14.28 Put on the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to stand Ephes 6. He that hath first severed Christ in his thoughts from all worldly advantages and put the case thus to his own Soul O my Soul canst thou imbrace or love a naked Christ Canst be content to be impoverished imprisoned and suffer the loss of all for him He is most likely to cleave faithfully to him when the case is really presented to him indeed And can it seem light thing in your eyes to be inabled to stand â—n such an evil day If you fall away from Christ then all that you have wrought is lost â—zek 33.13 Gideons one Bastard destroyed all is seventy Sons This act renders all former â—ctions and professions vain If you fall you â—â—all thereby be brought into a more perfect â—ondage to the Devil than ever Matth. 12.23 â—ea ordinarily Apostates are judicially given up to be Persecutors Hos 5.12 1 Tim. 1.20 and are seldome or never recovered again by Grace Heb. 6.4 6. They that lick up their vomit seldome cast it up any more It is a fall within a little as low as the unpardonable sin whence never any rise again In some cases the Judge will not allow the Offender his Book And is it not then a choice and desirable mercy to escape and prevent such a fall as this O good Souls ply your Preparation-work close then prepare or you perish 3. This will best answer the Grace of God in affording you such choice helps and advantages as you have enjoyed How long have you enjoyed the free liberty of the Gospel shining in its lustre among you This Sun which to some other Nations hath not risen and to divers on whom it hath shined yet it is but as a Winters Sun remote and its Beams but feeble But you have lived as it were under the Line It hath been over your heads and shed its richest influences upon you Yea Gods Ministers who are not only appointed to be Watchmen Ezek. 3.17 but Trumpeters to discover danger Numb 10.8 these have faithfully warned you of a day of trouble and given you their best assistance to make you ready for it And is not their joy yea life bound up in your stability in such a day of Tryal Doth not every one of them call upon you in the words of the Apostle Phil. 4.1 Therefore my Brethren dearly Beloved and longed for my joy and Crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved Will it not cut them to the very heart if after all their spending labours among you they still leave you unready Enemies still to the Cross of Christ impossible to be reconciled and perswaded to suffering-work for Christ I remember I have read of the Athenian Codrus who being informed by the Oracle that the people whose King should be slain in Battel should be Conquerours He thereupon disrobed himself and in a disguize went into the Enemies Quarters that he might steal a death to make his people victorious Oh! how glad would your Ministers be if you might conquer and overcome in the day of temptation whatever become of their lives and liberties Yea and if they be offered up upon the sacrifice and service of your faith they can rejoyce and joy with you all Such is their zeal and longing after your security and welfare But if still you remain an unready people and do become a prey to temptation Oh how inexcusable will you be 4. Remember how ready the Lord Jesus was to suffer the hardest and vilest things for you He had a bitter Cup put into his hands to drink for you into which the wrath both of God and man was squeezed out Dolor Christi fuit major omnibus doloribus Aquin. Never had man such sufferings to undergo as Christs Whether you consider 1 the dignity of his person who was in the form of God and might have stood upon his Peerage and Equality with him he is the sparkling Diamond of Heaven Acts 7.56 The Darling of the Fathers Soul Isa 42.1 glorious as the only begotten of the Father John 1.14 yea glory it self James 2.1 yea the very brightness of glory Heb. 1.3 He is the delicia Christiani orbis fairer than the Sons of men And for him to be so debased below so many thousands of his own Creatures become a Worm and no man this was a wonderful humiliation It was Jeremiah's lamentation that such as were brought up in Scarlet imbraced Dunghills that Princes were hanged up by the hands and the faces of Elders were not reverenced But what was that to the humiliation of the Lord of Glory Or 2 that he suffered in the prime and flower of his years when full of life and sense and more capable of exquisite sense of pain than others For he was optime
Father but they are all mercies purchased and paid for and therefore fear not the failing of your Graces 5. From the Spirit of Christ which dwelleth and abideth in thee and hath begun his saving work upon thee I say saving for else it would afford no argument His common works on Hypocrites come to nothing but in thee they cannot fail For 1. His Honour is pawned and ingaged to perfect it That reproach of the foolish Builder shall never lye upon him that he began to build but could not finish Besides this would irritate and void all that the Father and the Son have done for thee both their works are compleat and perfect in their kinds and the Spirit is the last efficient in order of working 2. Besides the Grace he hath already wrought in thee may give thee yet further and fuller assurance of its preservation inasmuch as it hath the nature of a Seal Pledge and Earnest of the whole Rom. 8.23 2 Cor. 1.22 So that it cannot fail 6. From those multitudes of Assertory Promissory and Comparative Scriptures the rich veins whereof run through the Book of God as so many streams to refresh thy Soul Of Assertory Scriptures see John 6.39 John 10.28 1 John 2.19 Of Promissory Scriptures see Issa 54.10 Jer. 34.40 1 Cor. 1.8 c. Of Comparative Scriptures see Psal 1.3 Psal 125. 1. John 4.14 c. The principal scope of all which is to shew the indefectible nature of true Grace in the Saints And now how should this refresh thy drooping Soul make thee gird up the loyns of thy mind since thou dost not run as one uncertain neither fightest as one that beats the Air 1 Cor. 9.26 but art so secured from total Apostacy as thou seest thou art by all these things O bless ye the Lord. But the Lord seems to be departed from my Soul Ob. 2 God is afar off from me and troubles are near I seem to be in such a case as Saul was when the Philistines made war upon him and God was departed from him and therefore I shall fall Not so Sol. for there are two sorts of Divine desertions The one is absolute when the Lord utterly forsakes his Creatures so that they shall never behold his face more The other is limited and respective and so he forsook his own Son and often doth his own Elect And of this kind some are only Cautional to prevent sin some are meerly Probational to try Grace and others Castigatory to chastise our negligence and carelesness Now though I have not a word of comfort to speak in the case of total and absolute Desertions yet of the latter which doubtless is thy case much may be said by way of support be it of which of the three sorts it will or in what degree it will For 1. This hath been the case of many precious Souls Psal 22.1 2. Psal 77.2 Psal 88.9 Job 13.24 25 26. This was poor Mr. Glovers case as you will find in his Story and it continued till he came within sight of the Stake therefore no new or strange thing hath happened to you 2. The Lord by this will advantage thee for perseverance not only as they are cautional against sin but as they make thee hold Christ the faster and prize his †Cam. 3.4 Presence at an higher rate when he shall please graciously to manifest himself to thee again 3. This shall not abide for ever it 's but a little Cloud and will blow over It is but for a moment and that moments Darkness ushers in everlasting Light Isa 54.7 Yea lastly The light of Gods Countenance shall not only be restored Certainly but it shall be restored Seasonably when thy Darkness is greatest thy trouble 's at the highest and thy hopes lowest He is a God of Judgment and knows how to time his own mercies Psa 138.3 But I am a weak Woman Ob. 3 or a young Person how shall I be able to confess Christ before Rulers and look great ones in the face Christ delights to make his Power known in such Sol. 2 Cor. 12.9 for he affects not Social glory 2. Thou shalt be holden up for God is able to make thee stand Rom. 14.4 Thou that art sensible of thine own infirmity mayest run to that Promise 3. Such poor weak Creatures shall endure when stronger if Self-confident fall Isa 40.30 31. Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men utterly fall but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength They shall mount up with wings as Eagles run and not be weary walk and not faint Youths and young men are bold daring and confident persons that trust to their own strength to whom such as wait upon the Lord stand here opposed They shall faint but these shall renew their strength Art thou one that waitest and dependest upon an All-sufficient God in the sense of thine own weakness This Promise then is for thee 4. You may furnish your selves at pleasure with Examples of the mighty Power of God resting upon such as you are out of our own Martyrology Thomas Drowry the poor blind Boy Fox Vol. 3. p. 703. What a presence of Spirit was with him when examined by the Chancellor Eulalia a Virgin of about twelve years of age see how she was acted above those years yea above the power of Nature Fox Vol. 1. p. 120. Tender Women yea Children act above themselves when assisted by a strong God And thus you have some help offered you by a weak hand in your present and most important work The Lord carry home all with Power upon your hearts that if God call you to suffer for him you may say as Paul did I am now ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which God the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to them also which love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.6 And as you expect so to finish your course with joy be diligent in the use of all means to prepare and make your selves ready to follow the Call of God whether it be to Bonds or to Death for the Name of the Lord Jesus FINIS