thou O my soul apprehend that these are only the peculiar priviledges and injoyments of the Saints and fearest thy self to be none of those but fain thou wouldst be such thou maiest sue to the Lord to perform those and the like promises of free grace Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me I will give them a new heart And that Micha 7.19 He will subdue our iniquities And that Isa 3.4 The heart of the rash shall understand And that Isa 11.6 The Wolf shall lye down with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid. And that Hosa 14.15 I will heal their backslidings And that Rom. 16.20 The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly And that Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgements and do them Luke 11.13 How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him And Isa 35.5 The ear of the deaf shall be unstopped And that Deut. 30.9 I will circumcise thine heart That thou maiest love the Lord thy God with all thine heart c. And that in Isa 40. v. 31. They shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint Since then God hath promised to give thee his Spirit if thou askest it of him and prooved it with an argument a fortiori that he will and hath promised to do all this for thee and work all these works in thee and thou findest in thy self desires pantings and longing for them and thereupon dost ask him in his Sons name and for his mercies sake his truths sake and his names sake to perform these promises and givest him no rest till he doth it doubt not but he will Meditation of the Love of God Psal 103.8 The Lord is full of compassion and mercy long suffering and of great goodness c. Those sweet compellations which almighty God useth to his poor creature man if they do but sink into our hearts they must needs make such impressions as will cause reciprocal love to him Is Ephraim a dear Son is he a pleasent Child what can endear thee more than this Oh my soul what love canst thou desire more he counts thee and calls thee in this Relation Son looks upon thee with compassion as his child and pittieth thee as a Father pittieth his Child delighteth in thee as a Father delighteth in a Child whom he loveth and helpeth thee as his Child Behold what manner of love God hath shewed thee that thou shouldest be called the Son of God Joh. 1.4 If a Son then an heir and joynt heir with Christ his only begotten Son for Christ is not ashamed to call us Bretheren in this relation to God and Christ what canst thou want or fear or what more canst thou desire in the 3d. Chap. of Mal. He calls them his Jewels and Rev. 1. Kings and Priests and Isa 62. a Crown of glory His portion he called Abraham his friend What canst thou fear a Master may be severe if his work be done he will pay wages if not stripes but a Father is indulgent and will spare his Child and require no more of him than he can perform with comfort and delight if then thou canst find in thy self the disposition of a Child be sure thou maiest find in him the disposition of a Father Mat. 3. Our Blessed Saviour hath owned them in these relations viz. His Bretheren his members his Spouse his betroathed his Sister and Mother his Garden his Church his beloved his branches his Servants his flock his lambs his friends and Revel 1.6 He hath loved us and washed us from our sins and made us Kings and Priests to God Could the Canaanitish Woman find incouragement for faith to lay hold from that of Dog who needs to dispair sure not a prodigal Son And every thing that is excellent beautiful and desirable beloved and endeared he compares his people to it and sees all those perfections in them as he expresseth in the Cant. O then my soul admire and be inamoured of him and find all excellencies perfections and desirable good things in him from whom thine excellency cometh and is derived thine head thy Husband thine elder Brother thy Father thy Maker thy Governour thy Redeemer for so doth the heavenly Spouse see and admire in Christ Jesus her Beloved If so thou dost then thou knowest that he is they Beloved thy Saviour thy Head thy Brother thy Portion thy Delight thou lovest him in all that he did or said his teaching his sufferings his miracles thy love to him is but the reflexion of the beam of his Meditations of Mercy Med. 1. Psal 103.11 As high as the Heaven is above the earth so great is his Mercy c. WOrthy of our meditation are all the workes of God and every word of his to be studied by us that we may thereby improve our graces but his workes of mercy and that part of his word which holdeth forth mercy and offers it and sets forth God in the Glory and excellency of his mercy is most necessary for sinful man and most comfortable to be considered All that are saved are saved by meditating of this all that are lost are lost and perish for lack of the knowledg of this this is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ The freeness then and largeness of it is to be our chief study free it is What motive found he in us to move him when enemies to give his Son up for us all and to beseech us but only from his own goodness because he delights in mercy The man that seeks his lost sheep may get the profit of it and so may the woman that seeks her lost groat but what profit can the Lord get by us for which he may seek us for when we have done all we are unprofitable Servants The largeness of his mercy is without limits for if he hath commanded us to forgive seventy times seven times will not he frankly forgive us what we are not able to satisfy since he makes his forgiving of us many talents the argument why we should forgive petty debts can we imaging that he will take the first forfeiture since he hath commanded us not only to forgive our enemies but to love them bless them pray for them to do good for evil will not he forgive us love us and bless us as freely for Christs sake though there be no motive in us for it would he make love to be the fulfilling of the law charity the covering of transgression prefer charity before piety by commanding us to leave our gift at the Altar to be reconciled to our Brother prefer it before faith and all gifts and graces making it as it were the ligament and sinews of all and that if we want that all other graces are but empty sounds make
renewing some holy duties which have been omitted or else by some judgment befallen to others we are warned and stirred up to do our first workes and to quicken the holy graces which are dying as by the return of the Sun in the spring-time the several Plants of the earth seem to revive and send forth their leaves and fruits again The causes of this deadness of faith holiness charity hope and other graces are various but may be found out and in some persons a wilful sin committed and unrepented of is the cause in some sloth in holy duties in others worldlyness in others pride some too much relying upon their own strength and opinion of the grace they have gotten already not endeavouring after a fuller measure every true Christian feels in himself some times these swoonings away of his graces and diligently endeavours to get more quickning by prayer to God for it and the use of Gods word and ordinances reflecting upon the first motives that excited and allured him to the pursuit of those dying graces and all such other motives as have since confirmed him in the liking of them and the rewards that he hath obtained from God for the service he hath done him and the hope of the eternal recompences The absolute necessity of it enforceth his awakned affections reflecting upon those texts which so absolutely press the necessity of it as Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live And v. 29. Whom he did foreknow them he also did predestinate to be comfortable to the image of his Son and in the Canticles ch The Spouse is said to be all fair That holiness is attainable is proved First because it is the main end of Christs passion and he cannot be frustrate of his ends Luke 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives 2d Because he hath redeemed us unto himself that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works That we should no more serve sin nor live the remainder of our days after the flesh But that we should be conformed to the image of him that made us For whom he foreknew he did predestinate that they should be conformed to the image of his Son Therefore our old man is dead and we are borne again of water and the Spirit whoso hath the hope of Heaven purifieth himself as God is pure the man after Gods own heart testifieth that he had an eye to all Gods commandments and Zachary and Elizabeth walked unblamably And that this is the end of our blessed Saviour in our redemption is made out by that which was the Type of the Isralites deliverance out of the Egyptian bondage Psal 105.42 And he brought forth his people with joy and his chosen with gladness and gave them the lands of the heathen and they took the labours of the people in possession 44. That they might keep his statutes and observe his laws But expresly Luke 17.1 That we might serve him without fear in holiness c. The whole design and scope of all the Scripture is our holiness and the restoring the image of God in us all the precepts command this and the promises encourage and invite us to this and the promises of grace are for making us thus the threats and cursings drive us to it the rewards and punishments tend only to shew us that God will be sanctified in us and that every transgression shall receive a due recompence of reward all the history of the Scripture proves it by examples of Gods wrath and vengeance upon the wicked and deliverances wrought wonderfully for them that feared and sought God with an upright hart Under one of these heads might be quoted every text in the Scripture The History of the Creation of the World which sheweth forth Gods infinite power and goodness working so great benefits for the use of mankind sheweth us our dependance on him and the duty we owe to him for our being and well being The fall of men and Angels shews our frailty without Gods supportation and the miserable condition that attends sin Gods dealings with the two Sons of Adam one he accepted for his sincerity in his worship the other he rejected because his heart was not upright the deluge that swept away all save only Noah the Preacher of righteonsness the rest that were ungodly were drowned the reason alledged because they had corrupted their waies And Noah only God had espied upright wherefore was Sodom and Gomorra destroied and Lot saved wherefore did God bless Abraham and all the nations of the earth in him wherefore was profane Esau deprived of the blessing and Jacob preferred before him what caused Sampson to lose his eyes wherefore were the murmuring Israeltes destroied in the Wilderness for what cause did the Philistians hold them in bondage why was the Kingdom taken from Saul and given to his neighbour that was more rightious than he how did God deal by him when he had sinned in the matter of Vriah and for numbring the people his successors that were good Kings how were they blessed the bad how did God deal with them in judgment when Israel sinned their enimies oppressed them when they returned and sought the Lord he saved them and delivered them when the sins of the Amalakites were grown to the hight he destroyed them and planted the Israelites in their Country and when the measure of their sins were full he distroyed them and brought upon them all the curses threatned against sinners All the Prophets were sent of no other errand but to press them to forsake sin and turn unto God all the evil they foretold was conditionally unless they would repent and forsake their sin The promise of the Messiah was to bring salvation unto his people he was to deliver them from all their iniquities to purify to himself a peculiar people that might offer a pure offering to bring into the right way such as went astray to bring the disobedient to the wisdom of the just his preching proveth the truth of these prophesies for Matth. 4.17 Jesus began to preach and say Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand And Matth. 5. The promises of giving the Holy Spirit to them that ask it And of writing his lawes in their inward parts of making them a willing people that all shall know God c. What other end have they but to make us holy John the Baptist the fore-runner of Christ taught repentance and good works he practised the same in abstinence humility and piety Our Blessed Lord and Saviours Doctrine was the perfection of holiness teaching charity to our enemies to sell all to buy this Pearl of exceeding value and in Matth. 5.22 Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the Judgment ver 28. Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath comitted adultry v. 33 34. He tells them it is not sufficient not to forswear themselves but saith swear not at all and ver 39. bids them not to resist wrongs therefore we ought to be such persons and that commanding word that made the world can make us to be what he commands us to be and he hath prayed Sanctify them by thy truth and his prayers were alwaies heard and it is the office of the Holy Ghost to sanctify us It is the only end and design of the ministry as it is said by St. Paul of whom I travel in birth till Christ be formed in you The Apostle writes to the Disciples do as you have us for an example and Revel 2.8 The Church of Smyrna their graces wanted nothing but God would try them whether they would hold on to the end and the Church of Philadelphia God commends her and bids her hold on That Holiness is the only true Interest 2. Meditation Mot. A Good conscience is a continual feast The Authority of the Scriptures do prove it generally and particularly and do refel and destroy and baffle all other Interests according to that saying of the Apostle Godliness hath the promise of this life and of that which is to cemo Consider my soul a while the interests of of the mistaken men of the world whose ends designs and restless endeavours is after the vaine and transitory things of the world which they think to enjoy and repose themselves in the injoyment thereof as in their happiness Oh my Soul thou hast made some trials in these vaine sollacies but hast not found that satisfaction which thou promisedst to thy self and therefore hast vext thy self to see what thou hast ventured even thy soul and body and eternal happiness for a thing of nought that could not satissie thee and of thine own experience thou canst say that in the acquiring and in the keeping and injoying too they are meere vanity and vexation of Spirit and so full of labour as man cannot utter it Thus Solomon found before thee Thus Ammon having enjoyed his lusts desired object in a moment loathed it Thus Judas threw away the bate of his unsatisfied covetousness the like fruit attended all Sinners whether they repented or not So Naboths Vineyard yielded bitter grapes to Ahabs family and Davids bitter sweets which he found by stolen pleasures are by himself sufficiently deplored in Psal 51. The sweet enjoyment of Noahs Wine brought shame to himself and a curse upon his Son and his seed Ambitious Haman fell by his Ambition just then when he expected the greatest height of honour and Herod assuming to himself divine honours immediatly was seized upon and devoured by vermine the same cause procured Julius Caesar murther Many like instances my Soul thou hast heard and read both sacred and civil writers testifying what sad exits have attended pursuers of these sensual interests of covetousness lust gluttony drunkenness ambition c. Thou hast seen in thine own time many of these examples chiefly of lust drunkenness pride and covetousness All Historians testifie these and the like vanities and vexations attending the pursuers of these worldly Interests though carried on with power and with villany Sensual persons themselves notwithstanding the beam in their own eye can see the vanity of one anothers Interest and design and reproach them And do thou compare those vicious persons with the opposite virtuous But for an instance of that which most brave heroick valiant and eminent persons adorned with many excellent virtues stumble at in the height of their honour when to extinguish all their happiness and enjoyment in a moment some mean and unworthy person envious at their height and worth because it is above himself endeavours to suppress and abase that worth which he dispairs himself to attain to reviles calumniates or otherwise puts an affront upon them The examples hereof abound This they conceive they are bound to revenge that they may vindicate their honours which otherwise will be lost but this by which they pretend to assert their honour taints it The vanity of this mistaken worldly interest David's example towards his reviling enemies reproveth because by the eyes of faith he beleived that God was the Author of his sufferings and would reward his patience therefore he submitted to it And if God be provoked by us poor dust and ashes every day we may be contented if he causeth our meaner Bretheren sometimes to provoke us or our Servant Eccles 7.22 Nam lingua mali pars pessima servi Juv. And it serves to humble us which is necessary both to make us know our selves and also to know God And consider that detraction alwaies follows worth as Scipio Annibal or rather Jesus Christ and his Saints have felt And as for anger it resteth in the bosom of fools Eccles 7.10 Therefore he warneth as the Apostle doth to be slow to it It transporteth to lunacy as it did Saul to the destruction of Nob as it did Caracalla to the destruction of the Alexandrians the madness and folly of anger sufficiently manifests it self in the countenance speech habit gesture actions and effects which is repentance for that which cannot be undone again therefore brave and virtuous minds are not so much troubled with this passion as the base weak sick and infirm are for it shews greatness of mind to be unmoved and to disdain affronts and to keep it self serene and clear like the pure Heavens when free from clouds And become like to God himself and shew the greatness of our mind by being merciful to pardon injuries by clemency and slowness to anger and this Princely quality made the Emperour Titus so beloved and honoured And if we would have God so to us we should be so to our Brethren but we suffer our selves to be deceived with shadows as Titus 3.3 We our selves were sometimes disobedient deceived c. So that this may suffice to convince that godliness is most profitable for all things in this life and that which is to come But if thou wilt not be satisfied with this do but examine thine own heart whether every holy action which thou dost upon holy principles doth not yield present tranquility and satisfaction and sweeten thy life ever after And on the contrary whether every sinful action doth not disquiet and disturb thy mind and conscience with often flashes of horrour and imbitter thy life ever after viz. if not repented of with horrour and if repented of with grief and discontent with thy self for the unkindness done to so good a God for a thing of nought Let thy examination be made first in this particular viz. for what injuries received by thee which thou hast forgiven or else revenged and what joy or sorrow thou hast had thereof And how little thou enjoyest thy self or any thing else which thou possessest when thou art enraged