good in Books and to heare good of men that are dead but they cannot indure good in the lives of others to be in their eyes especially when they come to compare themselves with them they love not to be out-sh ined As the Sunne goes his course though we cannot see it goe and as plants and herbes grow though we cannot perceive them even so it followes not that a Christian growes not because hee cannot see himselfe grow but if they decay in their first love or in some other grace it is that some other grace may grow and increase as their humilitie their broken heartednesse sometimes they grow not in extention that they may grow at the roote upon a checke grace breakes out more as wee say after a hard Winter usually there followes a glorious Spring Gods children never hate corruption more than when they have bin overcome by corruption the best men living have some corruptions which they see not till they breake out by temptations Now when corruptioÌ„s are made knowne to us it stirres up our hatred and hatred stirs up endeavour and endeavour revenge so that Gods children should not be discouraged for their falls When the truth of grace is wrought in a Christian his desires goe beyond his strength and his prayers are answerable to his desires Whereupon it is that young Christians often times call their estate in question because they cannot bring heaven upon earth because they cannot be perfect but God will have us depend upon him for increase of Grace in a daily expectation Christ is our Patterne whom wee must strive to imitate its necessary that our Patterne should be exact that so wee might see our imperfections and be humbled for them and live by faith in our sanctification Consider Christ upon the Crosse as a publique person that when he was crucified and when hee died hee died for my sins and this knowledge of Christ will be a crucifying knowledge this will stirre up my heart â—o use my corruptions as my sinnes used Christ as hee hated my sinne so it will worke the same disposition in mee to hate this body of death and to use it as it used Christ answerably as we see this clearely it will transforme us With our Contemplation let us joyne this kind of reasoning God so hated pride that hee became humble to the death of the Crosse to redeeme mee from it and shall I be proud and when wee are stirred up to revenge consider that Christ prayed for his enemies when we are tempted to disobedience thinke God in my nature was obedient to the death and shall I stand upon termes and when wee grow hard hearted consider Christ became man that he might shew bowels of his mercy let us reason thus when we are tempted to any sinne and it will be a meanes to transforme us from our owne cursed likenesse into the likenesse of Christ. When wee see God blasphemed or the like let us thinke how would Christ stand affected if he were here when hee was here upon earth how zealous was hee against prophanenesse and shall I be so cold when hee saw the multitude wander as sheepe without a Shepheard his bowells yearned and shall wee see so many poore soules live in darkenesse and our bowells not yearne Wee must looke upon Christ not onely for healing but as a perfect patterne to imitate for wherefore else did hee live so long upon the earth but to shew us an example And let us know that wee shall be countable for those good examples which we have from others there is not an example of an humble holy and industrious life but shall be laid to our charge for God doth purposely let them shine in our eyes that we might take example by them As the spirits in the arteries quickens the blood in the veines so the Spirit of God goes along with the Word and makes it worke Saint Paul speakes to Lydia but the Spirit speakes to her heart As it was with Christ himselfe so it is with his members Hee was conceived by the Spirit anointed by the Spirit sealed by the Spirit hee was led into the Wildernesse by the Spirit he offered up himselfe by the Spirit and by the Spirit hee was raised from the dead even so the members of Christ doe answer unto Christ himselfe all is by the Spirit we are conceived by the Spirit the same Spirit that sanctified him sanctifies us but first wee receive the Spirit by way of Vnion and then Vnction followes after when we are knit to Christ by the Spirit then it workes the same in us as it did in him When a proud wit and supernaturall truths meete together such a man will have some thing of his owne therefore in reading and studying of heavenly Truths especially the Gospell wee must come to God for his Spirit and not venture upon conceits of our owne parts for God will curse such proud attempts Many men thinke that the knowledge of divine Truths will make them divine whereas it is the holy Ghost onely that gives a taste and rellish for without the Spirit their hearts will rise when the Word comes to them in particular and tells them you must denie your selfe and venture your life for his truth When men understand the Scriptures and yet are proud and malicious wee must not take scandall at it for their hearts were never subdued they understand supernaturall things by humane reason and not by divine light Those that measure lands are very exact in every thing but the poore man whose it is knowes the use of the ground better and delights in it more because it is his owne so it is with those Ministers that can exactly speake of heavenly truths yet have no share in them but the poore soule that heares them rejoyceth and saith these things are mine This life is a life of Faith for God will trie the truth of our faith that the world may see that God hath such servants as will depend upon his bare Word it were nothing to be a Christian if wee should see all here but God will have his children to live by Faith and take the promises upon his Word The nature of Hope is to expect that which Faith beleeves what could the joyes of heaven availe us if it were not for our Hope it is the Anchor of the soule which being cast in heaven it stills the soule in all troubles combustions and confusions that we daily meete withall It is too much curiositie to search into particulars as what shall be the glory of the soule and what shall be the glory of the body rather study to make a gracious use of them and in humility say Lord what is sinfull man that thou should'st so advance him The consideration of this should make us abase our selves and in humilitie give thankes afore hand as Peter did 1 Pet. 1. 1. when hee thought of an inheritance immortall and undefiled and that fadeth not hee gives
thou whosoever thou art if thou beest a man or a woman and wilt come and take Christ upon his owne termes for thy Lord and Husband for better for worse with persecutions afflictions crosses c. Take Christ thus and take him for ever and then thou shalt be saved When wee beleeve divine truths by the Spirit they worke upon the heart and draw the affections after them therefore if wee spiritually beleeve the story of the Gospell wee shall have our soules carried to love and imbrance it with joy and comfort Wee may be brought very low but we shall not be confounded yet wee shall be brought as neare confusion as may be to shew us the vanity of the creature in the judgement of the world wee may be confounded but a hand of mercy shall fetch us up againe let the depth of misery and disconsolation be what it will be we shall not be ashamed The reason why Gods children doe oftentimes with great perplexitie doubt of their salvation is because they have a principle of nature in them as well as of grace corruption will breed doubtings as rotten wood breedes Wormes and as Vermine comes out of putrefaction so doubtings and feares come from the remainder of corruption For want of watchfulnesse God oftentimes gives us up to such a perplexed estate that wee shall not know that we are in Grace and though wee may have a principle of Grace in us yet wee shall not see it but may goe out of the world in darkenesse Wee ought not at any time to deny the Truth nor yet at all times to confesse it for good actions and graces are like Princes that come forth attended with Circumstances and if Circumstances in Confession be wanting the action is marred It s true of actions as of words A word spoken in season is like Apples of gold with pictures of silver therefore direction must be our guide for speech is then onely good when it is better than silence It is not lawfull for any weake one to be present at the Masse Dinah ventured abroad and came crackt home its just with God that those that dally with these things should be caught as many idle Travellers are its pittie but those should perish in danger that love danger Hee that will not now denie himselfe in a lust in a lawlesse desire will not deny himselfe in matter of life in time of triall Hee that hath not learned the mortification of the flesh in time of peace will hardly be brought to it in time of trouble Wee must not onely stand for the truth but we must stand for it in a holy manner and not swagger for it as proud persons doe we must observe that in the first of Peter 2. 15. to doe it in meekenesse and feare wee must not bring passion to Gods cause nor must our lives give our tongues the lie There is such a distance betweene corrupt nature and grace that wee must have a great deale of preparation and though there be nothing in preparation to bring the soule to have Grace yet it brings the soule to a nearer distance than those that are wilde persons Nature cannot worke above its owne powers as vapours cannot ascend higher than the Sunne drawes them our hearts are naturally shut and God doth open them by his Spirit in the use of the meanes The children of Israel in the Wildernesse saw wonders upon wonders and yet when they came to be proved they could not beleeve Its Gods free love that hath cast us into these happy times of the Gospell and it s his further love that makes choise of some and refuses others This should therefore teach us sound humility cōfidering that God must open ro else we are eternally shut Seeing Grace is not of our owne getting therefore this should teach us patience towards those that are under us waiting if God at any time will give them repentance though God worke not the first time nor the second time yet wee must waite as the man that lay at the poole of Bethesda for the moving of the water Hee that attends to the Word of God doth not onely know the words which are but the shell but he knowes the things he hath spirituall light to know what Faith and Repentance is there is at that time a spirituall Eccho in the soule as Psal. 27. 8. When thou saidst seeke yee my face my heart answered thy face Lord will I seeke and therefore must men judge of their profiting by the Word not by their carrying of it in their memories but by how much they are made able by it to beare a crosse and how they are made able to resist temptation c. There should not be intimate familiaritie but where we judge men faithfull and those whom upon good grounds we judge faithfull we must be gentle towards them and easie to be intreated and wee wrong them if wee show our selves strange unto them True faith workes love and then it workes by love when it hath wrought that holy affection it works by it as when the Plant is ingrafted and takes it growes presently and shewes the growth in the fruits The Word of God is ancienter than the Scripture for the first word of the Scripture was the Promise The seede of the Woman should breake the head of the Serpent The Scripture is but that Modus that manner of conveying the Word of God this Scripture is the Rule whereby wee must walke and the Iudge also of all controversies of Religion and in spite of the Church of Rome it will judge them S. Augustine hath an excellent Discourse When there is contention betwixt brethren witnesses are brought but in the end the Words the Will of the dead man is brought forth and these Words determine Now shall the words of a dead man be of force and shall not the Word of Christ determine therefore looke to the Scripture All Idolaters shall be ashamed that worship Images that trust to broken Cesternes Let those be ashamed that trust to their wits and policies all those shall be ashamed that beare themselves bigge upon any earthly thing for these crutches will be taken away and then they fall these false reports shall make them all ashamed The way to bring faith into the heart is first there must be a judicious convincing knowledge of the vanitie of all things within us and without us that seemes to yeeld any support to the soule and then the soule is carried to lay hold on Christ as David saith I have seene an end of all perfection Secondly the soule must be convinced of an excellencie in Religion above all things in the world or else it will not rest for the heart of man would chuse the best and when it is perswaded that the gaine in Religion is above the world then it yeelds And thirdly a consideration of the firmenesse of the ground whereupon the Promise is built put God to it therefore either to make his
soules that God is our God when riches and treasures and men our lives faile yet God is ours we are now Gods Davids and Gods Pauls and Gods Abrahams wee have an everlasting being in him A speciall cause of too much dejection is want of resolution in good things when wee hault in Religion for as haulting is a deformed and troublesome gesture so in Religion haulting is alwayes joyned with trouble and disquiet God hath made the poorest man that is a governour of himselfe and hath set judgement to rule against passion and conscience against sinne therefore Reason should not be a slave to Passion It is the peculiar wisedome of a Christian to picke Arguments out of his worst condition to make him thankefull and if hee be thankefull hee will be joyfull and so long as he is joyfull he cannot be miserable God hath made himselfe ours and therefore it is no presumption to challenge him to be our God when once wee have interest in God he thinkes nothing too good for us hee is not satisfied in giving us the blessings of this life but he gives himselfe unto us As wee receive all from God so wee should lay all at his feete and fay I will not live in a course of sinne that will not stand with the favour of my God for hee will not lodge in the heart that hath a purpose to sinne Gods people have sweete intercourse with God in their callings when wee looke for comfort we shall finde it either in Hearing Reading or Praying c. or else in our Callings We glorifie God when we exalt him in our soules above all creatures in the world when we give him the highest place in our love and in our joy when all our affections are set upon him as the chiefest good This is seene also by opposition when wee will not offend God for any creature When wee can aske our affections Whom have I in heaven but thee There is no true zeale to Gods glory but it is joyned with true love to men therefore let men that are violent injurious and insolent never talke of glorifying God so long as they despise poore men If wee doe not finde our selves the people of Gods delight let us attend upon the meanes of salvation and waite Gods good time and stand not disputing perhappes God hath not a purpose to save mee but fall to obedience casting thy selfe into the Armes of Christ and say if I perish I will perish here The love of God in CHRIST is not barren kindnesse it is a love that reaches from everlasting to everlasting from love in choosing us unto love in glorifying of us In all the miseries of the world one beame of this loving kindnesse of the Lord will scatter all Our desires are holy if they be exercised about spirituall things David desires not to be great to be rich in the world or to have power to be revenged upon his enemies but that hee may dwell in the House of the Lord and enjoy his Ordinances Psal. 27. 4. Desires shew the frame of the soule more than any thing as where there is a Spring it discovers it selfe by vapours that arise so the breathing of these desires shew that there is a Spring of Grace in the heart Desires spring from the will and the will being as the whole man it moves all other powers to doe their dutie and to see for the accomplishing of that it desires Those therefore that pretend they have good desires and yet neglect all meanes and live scandalously this is but a sluggish desire An Hypocrite will not pray alwayes but a child of God never gives over because hee sees an excellencie a necessitie and a possibilitie of obtaining that hee desires hee hath a promise for it The Lord will fulfill the desires of them that feare him Psal. 145. 19. Prayer doth exercise all the graces of the Spirit wee cannot pray but our faith is exercised our love our patience which makes us set a high price upon that wee seeke after and to use it well God takes it unkindly if we weepe too much and over-grieve for losse of wife child or friend or for any crosse in the things of this life for it is a signe wee fetch not that comfort from him which we should and may doe Nay though our weeping be for our sinnes we must keepe a moderation in that wee must with one eye looke upon our sinnes and with the other eye looke upon Gods mercy in Christ and therefore if the best griefe must be moderated what must the other The religious affections of Gods people are mixed for they mingle their joy with weeping and their weeping with joy whereas a carnall man is all simple if hee joy hee is mad if hee be sorrowfull unlesse it be restrained it sinks him but grace alwayes tempers the joy and sorrow of a Christian because hee hath alwayes something to joy in and something to grieve for Wee are members of two worlds now whilest wee live here wee must use this world for how many things doth this poore life of ours neede wee are passing away and in this passage of ours we must have necessaries but yet we must use the world as if wee used it not for there is a danger least our affections cleave to the things of this life It is a poorenesse of spirit in a Christian to be over-joyfull or over-grieved for things worse than our selves if a man hath any Grace all the world is inferiour to him and therefore what a poorenesse of spirit is it to be over-joyfull or overmuch grieved when all things are fading vanish away Let us therefore beare continually in our mindes that all things here below are subordinate A sincere heart that is burdened with sinne desires not heaven so much as the place where he shall be free from sinne and to have the Image of God and Christ perfected in his soule and therefore a sincere spirit comes to heare the Word not so much because an eloquent man preacheth as to heare divine truths because the evidence of Spirit goes with it to worke those graces You cannot still a child with any thing but the Breast so you cannot still the desires of a Christian but with divine Truths as Esay 26. 8. The desires of our soules is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee There is a thousand things that may hinder good successe in our affaires What man can apply all things to a fit issue and remove all things that may hinder Who can observe Persons Times Places Advantages and Disadvantages and when wee see these things there is naturally a passion that it robbes us of our knowledge as when a man sees any danger there is such a feare or anger that hee is in a mist. So that unlesse God give a particular successe there is none As it is in the frame of a mans body it stands upon many joynts if any of these be out of
thankes Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us c. When wee see men looke bigge and swell with the things of this life let us in a holy kinde of st ate thinke of our happinesse in heaven and carry our selves accordingly If wee see any thing in this world le ts say to our soules this is not that I looke for or when wee heare of any thing that is good let us say I can heare this therefore this is not that I looke for or when wee understand any thing here below this is not the thing I looke for but for things that cye hath not seene nor eare heard nor that ever entred into the heart of man There are foure things observeable in the nature oflove first an estimation of the Partie beloved secondly a Desire to be joyned to him thirdly a Setled contentment fourthly a desire to please the Partie in all things So there is first in every Christian an high estimation of God and of Christ he makes choice of him above all things and speakes largely in his commendations secondly hee desires to be united to him and where this desire is there is an entercourse hee will open his minde to him by Prayer and goe to him in all his consultations for his counsell thirdly hee places contentment in him alone because in his worst conditions hee is at peace and quiet if hee may have his countenance shine upon him fourthly hee seekes to please him because hee labours to be in such a condition that God may delight in him his love stirres up his soule to remove all things distastfull it seekes out as David did Is there never a one left of the house of Saul to whom I may doe good for Ionathans sake Infirmities in Gods children preserves their grace therefore it is that in Gods Scripture where God honours the Saints their weakenesses are made knowne Iacob wrestled with God and prevailed but hee halted and Peter Vpon this Rocke will I build my Church yet get thee behind me Satan Paul was exalted above measure with Revelations but hee had the messenger of Satan to buffet him It is the poysonfull nature of man to quench a great deale of good for a little ill but Christ cherishes a little grace though there be a great deale of corruption which yet is as offensive to him as smoake therefore wee should labour to gaine all wee can by love and meekenesse Christians find their corruptions more offensive to them than when they were in the state of nature and therefore it is that they thinke their estate is not good but then corruption boyles more because it is restrained The more will the more sinne when wee venture upon sinfull courses upon deliberation it exceeding ly wasts our comfort when wee fall into sinne against conscience and abuse our Christian liberty God fetches us againe by some severe affliction there shall be a cloud betweene Gods face and us and hee will suspend his comforts for a long time therefore let no man venture upon sinne for God will take a course with him that shall be little to his ease The reason why meane Christians have more loving soules than men of greater parts is because great men have corruptions answerable to their parts great gifts great doubts they are intangled with arguments and study to informe their braines when others are heated with affection A poore Christian cares not for cold disputes in stead of that hee loves and that 's the reason why a poore soule goes to heaven with more joy whilest others are intangled Many men are troubled with cold affections and then they thinke to worke love out of their owne hearts which are like a barren Wildernesse but wee must begge of God the Spirit of Love wee must not bring love to God but fetch love from him When wee love things baser than our selves it s like a sweete streame that runnes into a sinke as our love therefore is the best thing wee have and none deserves it more than God so let him have our love yea the strength of our love that we may love him with all our soules and with all our mind and with all our strength As the Sunne when it hath gotten to any height it scatters the clouds so a Christian is then in his excellencie when hee can scatter doubts and feares when in distresse hee can doe as David did comfort himselfe in the Lord his God Many men would be in Canaan as soone as they are out of Egypt they would be at the highest pitch presently but God will leade us through the wildernesse of temptations and afflictions till we come to heaven and it is a part of our Christian meekenesse to submit to God and not to murmure because wee are not as we would be but let us rather magnifie the mercies of God that workes in us any love of good things and that hee vouch safes us any beginnings As noble mens children have Tutors to guide them so Gods Children have the Spirit telling them this you should doe and that you should not doe the Spirit not onely changeth but leades forward unto holinesse wicked men have the Spirit knocking and faine would enter but they will not heare but Gods children have the Spirit dwelling in them A Christian is now in his Nonage and therefore not fit to have all that hee hath a title to but yet so much is allotted to him as will conduct him and give him passage to heaven If therefore hee be in want hee hath contentment and in suffering hee hath patience c. All things are his as well what he wants as what he hath The Word of God is then in our hearts when it rules in the soule when it rules our thoughts affections and conversations so that wee dare not doe any thing contrary but wee shall be checked who shall get out that which Gods finger hath written in our hearts no Fire nor Faggot no temptation whatsoever Wee shall never be satisfied to our comfort that the Scripture iâ— the Word of God unlesse we know it from it selfe by its owne light and it shewes it selfe abundantly to a Beleever in casting downe the soule and altering the minde and conversation when the Word is onely in the braine if there come a temptation stronger than our faith then we despaire the Word is farre off from those that can onely discourse and talke of it when they see it onely as a naturall truth when they looke upon holy things not in a divine but in a humane manner When the Word dwels as a familiar in the heart to direct counsell and comfort then its a signe it is there the devill knowes good and hates it therfore knowledge alone is nothing but when the promise doth alter the temper of the heart it selfe then it is ingrafted God excepts against none if wee doe not except our selves therefore thou and
all and therefore oftentimes God in justice to them suffers good men to fall that such men may take scandall at them to their ruine A man may know that the Word hath wrought upon his conscience when hee comes to it that hee may heare and learne and reforme A man that hath a heart without guile is glad to heare the sharpest reproofes because he knowes that sinne is his greatest enemy but if we live in a course that wee are loath should be touched it is a signe our hearts are full of guile corrupt men they mould their Teachers and fashion them to their lusts but a good and upright heart is willing that Divine truths should have their full authoritie in the soule giving way to our dutie though never so contrary to flesh and blood It is the duty of Ministers to labour to prevent objections that may arise in the hearts of the people so as to hinder the passage of their Doctrine and that truths may more readily come into the heart wee should labour to rellish the person for secret surmises are stones to stumble at therefore both Ministers and people should be carefull to remove them A man ought not to commend himselfe but in some speciall cases first because pride and envie in others will not indure it secondly it toucheth upon Gods glory and therefore we should take heed thirdly it deprives us of comfort and hinders the Apologie of others The Heathens could say that the praising of a mans selfe is a burdensome hearing Le ts take heede therefore that wee snatch not our right out of Gods hand but now on the contrary in some cases wee may praise and commend our selves as when we have a just calling to make an A pologie in way of defence and for the conviction of them that unjustly speake evill of us secondly wee may speake well of our selves in way of example to others as Parents to their children and this doth well become them because it is not out of pride or vaine-glory because the end is discovered to be out of love unto them It s the dutie of those that are Gods children when they have just occasion to take the defence of others upon them and thus did the blind man Iohn 6. He defended Christ against the Pharisees and Ionathan spoke to his Father in the behalfe of David though hee was called the sonne of a rebellious woman yet he knew that hee ought this unto the truth God hath a cause in the world that must be owned and therefore when the cause of Religion is brought upon the stage then God seemes to say as Iehu did Who is on my side who God commends his cause and his children to us And therefore curse yee Meroz said the Angell of the Lord curse yee bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the helpe of the Lord to the helpe of the Lord against the mightie so a curse lies upon those that when the truth suffers have not a word to defend it Vsually the defamers of others are proud vaine-glorious persons if a man will search for the spirit of the devill in men let him looke for it amongst vaine-glorious Teachers Heriticks and superstitious persons the ground of it is from the neerenesse of two contraries there the opposition is the strongest as fire and water when they are neere make the strongest opposition and who are so neere Gods children as vaine-glorious Teachers that are of the same profession Pilat a Heathen shewed more favour to Christ than the Pharisees and this use we should make of it not to take scandall when we see one Divine deprave another for it hath beene so and will be so to the end of the world All things out of God are but grasse when wee joy in any thing out of God it is a childish joy as if wee joyed in Flowers that after we have drawne out the sweetnesse we cast them away all outward things are cōmon to Castawayes as well as to us and without Grace they will provesnares at the houre of death what comfort can wee have in them further than we have had humilitie and love to use them well Therefore if wee would have our hearts seasoned with true joy le ts labour to be faithfull in our places and endeavour according to the gifts wee have to glorifie God To glorie in any thing whatsoever is Idolatry because the minde sets up a thing to glory in which is not God secondly its spirituall adultery to cleave to any thing more than God thirdly its false witnesse bearing to ascribe excellency where there is none wee have a prohibition Let not the wise man glory in his wisedome nor the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches God will not give his glorie to another and therefore when men will be medling with glory which belongs to God alone he blasts them and sets them afide as broken vessells and disdaines to use them A Christian joyes aright when it proceedes from right principles from Iudgement and Conscience not from Fancie and Imagination when Iudgement and Conscience will beare him out when there is good termes betweene God and him for our joy must spring from peace Rom. 5. Being justified by Faith wee have peace towards God The Apostles beginne their Epistles with Mercy Grace and Peace Mercy in forgivenesse Grace to renew our natures and Peace of conscience here these are things to be gloried in if wee finde our sinnes pardoned our persons accepted and our natures altered then we may comfort our selves in any thing in health in wealth in wife in children in any thing because all come from the favour of God we may joy in afflictions because there is a blessing in the worst things to further our eternall happinesse and though we cannot joy in affliction it self as being a contrary to our nature yet wee may joy in the issue so that we may joyaright when having interest in God wee glory in the testimony of a good conscience when looking inward we finde all at peace when wee can say upon good grounds that God is mine and therefore all is mine both life and death and all things so farre as they may serve for good The hearts of men yea of good men are apt to be taken up with outward things when the weake Disciples had cast out devils they were ready to be proud but Christ quickly spies it and admonishes them not to rejoyce that the devils were subject to them but that their names were written in the Booke of life Therefore when wee finde the least stirrings to glory in any thing wee must checke our selves and consider what Grace wee have to temper them what love wee have to turne these things to the common good for whatsoever a man hath if hee have not withall humilitie and love to use it aright it will turne to his bane It hath beene an old imputation to lay distractednesse upon men of
humility and for this purpose God hath furnished us with the Spirit of all Grace Let us therefore remember when we have any dutie to doe to pray unto Christ to blow upon us with his Spirit God doth not so much looke at our infirmities as at our uprightnesse and sinceritie and therefore when we are out of temptations wee should consider and examine what God hath wrought in us and then though there be infirmities and failings yet if our hearts be upright God will pardon them as wee finde that David and others were accounted upright and yet had many imperfections Watching is an exercising of all the graces of the soule and these are given to keepe our soules awake we have enemies about us that are not asleepe and our worst enemy is within us and so much the worse because so neere we live also in a world full of temptations and wicked men are full of malice wee are passing through our enemies Countrey and therefore had neede to have our wits about us the devill also is at one end of every good action and therefore we had neede to keepe all our graces in perpetuall exercise we should watch in feare of jealousie taking heede of a spirit of drowsinesse labouring also to keepe our selve unspotted of the world It may be asked how we shall know the Scripture to be the Word of God For answer Doe but grant first that there is a God it will follow then that he must be worshipped and served and that this service must be discovered to us that wee may know what hee doth require and then let it be compared what Word of God can come neare to be the same with this Besides God hath blessed the superstition of the Iewes who were very strickt this way to preserve it for us and the Heretickes since the Primitive Church have so observed one another that there can be no other to this Word But now wee must further know that we must have some thing in our soules suitable to the truthes contained in it before we can truely and savingly beleeve it to be the Word of God as that we finde it to have a power in working upon our hearts and affections Luke 24. 32. Did not our hearts burne within us when he opened to us the Scriptures Againe it hath a divine operation to warme and pacifie the soule and a power to make a Felix tremble it hath a searching quality to divide betweene the marrow and the bone we doe not therefore onely beleeve the Scriptures to be the word of God because any man saith so or because the Church saith so but also and principally because I finde it by experience working the same effects in me that it speakes of it selfe and therefore let us never rest till when we heare a promise wee may have some thing in us by the sanctifying Spirit that may be suitable to it and so assuring of us that it is that Word alone that informes us of the good pleasure of God to us and our duty to him There is in God a fatherly anger after conversion he retaines that and this Fatherly anger is also turned away when in sinceritie we humble our selves There is one saith well A child of anger and a child under anger Gods children are not children of wrath but sometimes they are under wrath when they doe not carry themselves as sonnes when they venture on sinnes against conscience c. but if they humble themselves and reforme and flie to God for mercie then they come into favour againe and recover the right of sonnes Wee may know that God loves us when by his Spirit he speakes friendly to our soules and wee by prayer speake friendly to him againe when wee have communion and familiaritie with him whom God loves to them hee discovers his secrets even such secrets as the soule never knew before Hee reveales them to us when our hearts are wrought to an ingenuous confession of sinne and when we have no comfort but from heaven even as a father discovers his bowells most to his child when it is sicke so God reserves the discoverie of his love especially untill such a time when wee renounce all carnall confidence therefore if wee can assure our soules that God loves us let us then be at a point for any thing that shall happen to us in this world whether it be disgrace or contempt or whatsoever because we may fetch patience and contentednesse from hence that Gods love supplies all wants whatsoever After a gracious pardon for sinne there are two things remaining in us Infirmities and Weakenesses Infirmities are corruptions stirred up which hinders us from good and puts us forward to evill but yet they are so farre resisted and subdued that they breake not forth into action Weakenesse is when we suffer an infirmitie to breake out for want of watchfulnesse as if a man be subject to passion when this is working disturbance in the minde it is infirmitie but when for want of watchfulnesse it breakes forth into action then it is weakenesse and these diseases are suffered in us to put us in minde of the bitter roote of sinne for if we should not sometimes breake forth into sinne wee should thinke that our nature were cured Who would have thought that Moses so meeke a man could have so broken out into passion we see it also in David and Peter and others and this is to shew that the corruption of nature in them was not fully healed but there is this difference betweene the slippes and falls of Gods children and of other men when other men fall it setles them in their dregges but when Gods children falls they see their weakenesses they see the bitter roote of sinne and hate it the more and are never at quiet till it be cast out by the strength of Grace and Repentance Therefore let no man be too much cast downe by his infirmities so long as they are resisted for from hence comes a fresh hatred of corruption and God lookes not upon any sinne but sinne ungrieved for unresisted otherwise God hath a holy end in suffering sinne to be in us to keepe us from worse things There is none that out of sinceritie doe give themselves to holy conference but are gainers by it Many men aske questions and are inquisitive to know but not that they might put in practise this is but a proud desire to taste of the tree of knowledge but the desire of true affected Christians is to know that they might seeke Christ we gaine oftentimes by discourse with those that are punies in Religion Saint Paul desires to meete with the Romanes though they were his converts that he might be strengthened by their mutuall faith Rom. 1. 12. When once the Spirit doth fasten the wrath of God upon the conscience of one whom he meanes to save then there followes these afflicting affections of griefe and shame and from hence comes a dislike and hate of